The vegetation depends on location. Fields of brilliant green moss that begins to grow on the lava within a year or so of an eruption cover magma spills. Downy birch and dwarf birch, which reach only about six feet, and rowan (mountain ash) are native here.
Photo credit Dorothy Dobbie
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Iceland is a very insular and self-contained country. It has no military beyond a coast guard, and no mother country; it severed its governing connection with Denmark in 1944. There were never any indigenous people living here for the Vikings to conquer, and it has no single European inheritance to fall back on, as its people are of varied Nordic origins; Norse people from Scandinavia and Gaelic people from Scotland and Ireland. All are now blended into this new people with a language and a 36-letter alphabet of its own.
Even though Icelandic is the first language, nearly everyone speaks English. There is fear that the younger population is losing its mother tongue, even though Icelandic is the language used in school and Danish is also taught.
Iceland is a small country – just under 400,000, with slightly over 250,000 living in Reykjavik. There are no railroads, but there is a highway that runs some 820 miles around the island connecting 30 to 40 small communities and hamlets. Fishing sustains the country, although today, the largest contributor to its $38 billion USD economy is tourism. The country hosts about 2.3 million visitors each year. Aluminum is an important export. The raw materials are imported from Ireland and manufactured here because of abundant green energy. Currently, though, data centers are springing up all over because of the energy, abundant cold water and the cool, moderate climate. It seldom gets over 20 C or goes below -10 C.
The population is hesitant to say anything negative about Mr. Trump. Nor does it have much to say about Canada, although the great migration to Canada after the 1875 volcanic eruption is often mentioned. Up to 25% of its population left the Island, most of them settling in Manitoba around Gimli.
Photo credit Dorothy Dobbie
Politically, Iceland is grateful to the United States for its military protection. The population is hesitant to say anything negative about Mr. Trump. Nor does it have much to say about Canada, although the great migration to Canada after the 1875 volcanic eruption is often mentioned. Up to 25% of its population left the Island, most of them settling in Manitoba around Gimli.
Like the United States, the country elects a president directly. It also elects parliamentarians to the Althing, founded in 930 and said to be the oldest parliament in the world. The president appoints the cabinet, including the prime minister. There are as many as nine parties in the country, so simple majorities are rare for any one group; right now, there are six. The Social Democratic Alliance is the dominant party forming a coalition with the Liberal Reform Party and the People’s Party.
Remarkably, women hold most of the key positions, including the presidency and the prime ministership, seven of the eleven ministerial posts, and 46% of the seats in the Althing. The police commissioner, the bishop, and all the university heads are women, as are many of the mayors.
Although it is very small, Iceland is not ignored by other countries. Canada has a full-time ambassador, and we were treated to a visit to the Embassy for a reception with Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anita Anand, who was in town for the Arctic Circle Assembly. Also in town this week was U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Iceland is a member of NATO and has a long standing bilateral defence agreement with the U.S.
The fjords, the snow-covered mountains in the background, the extraordinary discovery of the rupture between the tectonic plates that saw us travel from the continent of North America to Eurasia over wide gashes in the earth.
Photo credit Dorothy Dobbie
Reykjavik is a typical thriving City that feels much bigger than its population suggests, with lots of museums, restaurants, and souvenir shops. There is also with a quirky law that bars tour buses from parking in front of hotels, so it can be a hefty walk with your bags from the nearest bus stop.
But people don’t come here for the city, in my view, except perhaps for the hot spring spas, because it is the scenery that captivates. The fjords, the snow-covered mountains in the background, the extraordinary discovery of the rupture between the tectonic plates that saw us travel from the continent of North America to Eurasia over wide gashes in the earth. Nowhere else on Earth does this happen above sea level. It allows magma to rise and fill the gap, stimulating volcanic activity on the Island. The plates are pulling apart at the rate of about an inch per year.
Once out of the city, it is possible to understand the real allure of this beautiful island. The vegetation depends on location. Fields of brilliant green moss that begins to grow on the lava within a year or so of an eruption cover magma spills. Downy birch and dwarf birch, which reach only about six feet, and rowan (mountain ash) are native here. Now many new species such as poplar, Siberian larch, Sitka spruce and Lodgepole pine, sourced from Alaska, have been introduced, so there is a beautiful contrast between the brilliant gold of heath and birch and the dark green of the spruce and pine.
The second largest in Iceland is Akureyri, and it is here that you get a better sense of the country, even though it, too, is now inundated with visitors. But you can feel the history and see it in the carefully preserved houses. A lovely quirk is that the red lights are in the shape of hearts. I am thinking that Winnipeg should steal this idea!
So that’s it for the travelogue, folks. It has been nice to get away from politics for a couple of weeks, but I am really looking forward to getting back into the groove as I find out all the details of the exciting events since I left town.
—Dorothy Dobbie is a Manitoba businesswoman and former politician. She served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1993, as a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Winnipeg South, and she is a guest columnist for Klein Media.