Interesting Facts About Iceland

We went to Iceland this past June and it was so incredible! We had a wonderful tour guide who shared so many interesting facts about Icelands history, culture and lifestyle so I wanted to share it with you all.

Land

Iceland is covered in a beautiful purple flower, which is actually Alaskan Lupines. They were only brought over from North America to Iceland about 6 years ago. They cover the whole island by the month of July. The Icelandic people love them because they are beautiful but they are actually not biologically good for the land because they are taking over and not letting anything else grow.

Iceland has endless geothermal resources and they use this energy for everything.

Thermal plants started in Iceland which makes energy from the steam from the volcanos, they are starting to look into how they can sell it to other countries.

Iceland was the first to create the Green House in the 1930s in a little town outside of Reykjavik. In the 40s Iceland was growing their own bananas in their green houses but by the 60s the tax on imported goods went down, so they started to import them.

The only farming that happens in Iceland is hay for animal consumption, nothing is grown for human consumption.

Iceland is a young volcanic island, only 60 million years old.

The middle part of the island is where most of the volcanos and glaciers are.

Only 1.5% of the island is covered in trees today and there was only about 30% when the first settlers arrived. They cut down most of the trees to build their homes and now the people are working on growing their forests back. The only native tree to Iceland is the Bush tree, all others are imported.

The Arctic Fox is the only native animal to Iceland. All other animals have been brought over from other countries. Occasionally polar bears will reach island on drift ice but they have never colonized on the island.

History

WW2 was a turning point for Iceland and brought them into the modern world. Up until WW2 some people were still living in caves. The war brought airports, hotels and jobs to the Icelandic people and changed their way of living. At the time it was the poorest country in Europe.

The Ring Road in the main road that goes along the coast all the way around Iceland. It goes through 98% of the towns in Iceland because almost all of the towns are along the coast. This road was only built about 50 years ago.

Since the year 982AD there has been a law put into effect that does not allow new horses to be brought over to Iceland. So the horses you see today are from the original settlers horses they brought over all those years ago. That is why they are considered the purist breed of horse. If you want to bring an Icelandic horse to a competition in another country you would not be able to bring it back to Iceland due to risk of diseases. People call Icelandic horses ponies because some of them are short and that is not correct they are all horses.

Culture

Icelandic people speak old Norse. Their language has not been changed for 12 centuries and has had no outside influence from other languages. So if you want to hear what the Vikings sounded like you would want to walk down the street and listen to two people speaking Icelandic.

Icelandic people love licorice and chocolate together and they aren’t sure why but they do!

Hi Hi: Hello

Tak Tak: Thank You

Bless Bless: Goodbye

Icelanders believe in elves and trolls and when asked if they believe in them they will not admit or deny their beliefs. So many people believe in them that the church had to come up with an explanation for elves and trolls. The story goes back to Adam and Eve and while Eve was washing her children to be presentable for God, she was unable to finish washing them before God knocked on the door so she hid the children that were still dirty. When God found out he said, “What man hides from God, God hides from man.” So her children became the Hidden People.

Icelandic people believe that trolls live in the volcanic tunnels that are created when the volcanos erupt.

Icelanders believe that the water is smelly in Reykjavik because they take water from underground and that is where the troll is taking a shower

They believe that elves have started to live amongst humans and are living modern lives. They believe that people who do not have a philtrum line between their nose and their mouth are elves hiding amongst us.

It is a tradition to exchange a book and chocolates for Christmas.

Icelanders don’t believe in Santa Clause but believe in the Yule Lads which are 13 brothers who each do something different for the 13 nights leading up to Christmas. Their mother is a witch who has a black cat, and the story was told that if children were naughty that the black cat would eat them on Christmas. The story was so scary for children that they have changed it and now say that the black cat is too old now to eat children.

Random

It is the law that everyone wears seatbelts in every vehicle you are in. This includes riding in a tour bus. If you do not wear your seatbelt, the driver is not the one who gets the ticket, it is you who is not wearing the seatbelt that gets the ticket. (Pretty smart if you ask me!)

Reykjavík means “Smokey Bay”.

Reykjavík is exactly the half way point between New York and Moscow.

2/3 of the whole population of Iceland (which is 400,000) in the metropolitan area of Reykjavik.

Icelandic people do not use umbrellas because it is so windy there. So when they see people using an umbrella, they know you are a tourist.

Iceland has the lowest infant mortality rate and they are not sure why.

When given a DNA test of Icelandic people, most men are 80% Norwegian and 20% Irish, but most women are 20% Norwegian and 80% Irish.