Europe

Iceland
Last reviewed: 03 April 2009

Country information

Iceland today
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HISTORY

Iceland was the last country in Europe to be settled, by Vikings and Celts, in the 9th and 10th century AD. The nation converted to Christianity in 1000 (the year in which Iceland-born Leif Eiríksson was the first European to set foot in the Americas). From the Middle Ages she was a Norwegian and later a Danish colony. She gained Home Rule in 1904 and then separate sovereign status under the Danish crown in 1918. During WW II, the country was benignly occupied, first by British and then by US forces. Iceland became an independent republic on 17 June 1944.

BBC News Country Timeline: Iceland