Iceland

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Iceland is an island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Greenland Sea and just short of the Arctic Circle. The island is home to little over 300.000 people and has a landmass of 103’000 square kilometres, giving it a population density of 2.79 inhabitants per square kilometre. The country is characterized by heavy geothermal activity and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common. Its terrain is mostly plateau, interspersed with mountain peaks, ice fields and fjords along the coasts. Glaciers cover over 11.5 per cent of the total surface area of Iceland. Most of the country’s interior regions are uninhabitable. The majority of people live in the capital area around Reykjavik. Due to isolation over many centuries and no immigration until recently the country is homogeneous and the national language Icelandic, has changed very little from the original tongue spoken by the first settlers who came from Norway about 1000 year ago. The country’s parliament Alþingi is the world’s oldest parlament, it was set up in the year 930.