Timeline Iceland

Return to home

---

---

Excite: http://www.excite.com/travel/countries/iceland/
Iceland.org: http://iceland.org/list8.html
Lonely Planet: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/eur/ice.htm
Map: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/cia99/Iceland_sm99.jpg
USSD: http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/iceland_9910_bgn.html

---

Iceland is about the same size as Kentucky.
(SSFC, 10/9/05, Par p.27)
Icelanders, using the old Norse calendar celebrate the beginning of summer, Summardagurinn Fyrsti, on the first Thursday between April 19 and 25.
    (SSFC, 4/15/12, p.P3)

---

8,000BC    About this time Thingvallavatn Lake, a flooded graben in southwestern Iceland, was born in a valley gauged from volcanic rock and ash by the Langjokull Glacier.
    (NH, 6/96, p.48)

c600-800AD    Irish monks began to seek solace in Iceland.
    (NH, 6/96, p.53)

800-900    Vikings brought ponies to Iceland.
    (SFC, 3/21/98, p.A9)
800-900    In Scandinavia Futhark evolved around the 9th century. Instead of 24 letters, the Scandinavian "Younger" Futhark had 16 letters. In England, Anglo-Saxon Futhorc started to be replaced by the Latin alphabet by the 9th century, and did not survive much more past the Norman Conquest. Futhark continued to be used in Scandinavia for centuries longer, but by 1600 CE, it had become nothing more than curiosities among scholars and antiquarians.
    (www.ancientscripts.com/futhark.html)

822        In Iceland an eruption of the Katla volcano about this time led to a rupture of the Myrdalsjokull, a glacier overlying the volcano. This led to a major flood that knocked over a forest 35 km away. Temperatures plunged and the following winters in Europe turned particularly cold with hailstorms and snow that led to plague and famine.
    (SFC, 12/27/17, p.64)

870        Swede Garoar Svavarsson led the first Vikings to Iceland.
    (SSFC, 8/23/15, p.N4)

874        Vikings from Norway began to survey Iceland. The monks withdrew to Ireland. The 40,000-square-mile island situated 500 miles northwest of Scotland was first settled by Norwegians.
    (NH, 6/96, p.53)(Economist, 8/25/12, p.64)

930        Jun 23, Icelanders established the Althing, an open-air national parliament and the world‘s oldest surviving parliamentary body. This was later credited as the first example of representative government.
    (NH, 6/96, p.53)(DrEE, 1/4/97, p.4)(SFC, 1/1/00, p.C3)(MC, 6/23/02)

935             In the Icelandic "Egils-saga" there is an account of how Thorolf and Egil harried in Curonia (along the eastern Baltic shore) about this time.
    (DrEE, 11/23/96, p.3)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)

960        Thorvald Asvaldsson, the father of Eric the Red (950-1003), committed a murder about this time and was banished from Norway. He took his family to Iceland.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_the_Red)

982        Eric the Red (950-1003), killed a neighbor and some other men about this time and was banished from Iceland for 3 years.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_the_Red)

985        Eric Thorvaldsson, aka Eric the Red, left Iceland and returned to Greenland establishing his 1st settlement there.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_the_Red)

986        Greenland's west coast was settled by Icelanders and Norwegians, through a contingent of 14 boats led by Erik the Red.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland)

1000-1100    In 2002 the remains of a longhouse from this time were uncovered in northern Iceland. It was believed to be associated with Snorri Thorfinnson, son of Viking explorers and the 1st European born in the New World.
    (SFC, 9/16/02, p.A2)

1002        Thorer Eastman (d.1002), a Norwegian sea captain, was blown off course on a trading voyage from Iceland to Greenland. He and his wife, Gudrid, along with a crew of 13 became stranded on a rock near the coast of Newfoundland for weeks until they were rescued by Leif Eriksson, who was on his way home to Greenland from North America with a cargo of timber. That fall an epidemic swept Greenland and Eastman died.
    (ON, 12/07, p.4)

1006         Thorfinn Karlsefni arrived in Greenland from Iceland and married Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir. She soon talked him into leading an expedition to the New World.
    (ON, 12/07, p.5)

1007         Thorfinn Karlsefni and Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir embarked with a 3-ship expedition to the new World. Snorri Thorfinnson, son of Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir and Thorfinn Karlsefni, was born in Vinland (probably Newfoundland), the 1st European born in the New World. The family later returned east and settled in Iceland.
    (SFC, 9/16/02, p.A2)(ON, 12/07, p.5)

1010        Thorfinn Karlsefni and Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir returned from the New World to Greenland and then moved to Iceland the following year, where they raised a large family.
    (ON, 12/07, p.5)

1151        In Iceland the first known fire and plague insurance was offered.
    (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)

1241        Sep 23, Snorri Sturluson (b.1179), Icelandic historian, poet, and politician, died. He was the author of the Prose Edda or Younger Edda, which consists of Gylfaginning ("the fooling of Gylfi"), a narrative of Norse mythology, the Skáldskaparmál, a book of poetic language, and the Háttatal, a list of verse forms. He was also the author of the Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian kings.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorri_Sturluson)

1262        After a long and bloody conflict between the various families and clans, the Icelanders accepted the rule of the Norwegian kingdom.
    (DrEE, 1/4/97, p.4)

1294        The Great Geysir was discovered in Iceland and gave rise to the community named Geysir. Geyser became the generic name for all water spouts.
    (SSFC, 7/17/05, p.D6)

1362        In Iceland the Oraefajokull volcano erupted. This eruption was later believed to have eclipsed the 79AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
    (Econ, 4/24/10, p.62)
 
1413        Iceland used dried fish for money.
    (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)

1602        Denmark imposed a strict trade monopoly and cut off the island's products from lucrative markets.
    (SFEC, 9/19/99, p.A18)

1643         The Icelandic medieval manuscript known as the Codex Regius came into the possession of Brynjólfur Sveinsson, then Bishop of Skálholt. At the time, versions of the Edda were known in Iceland, but scholars speculated that there once was another Edda, an Elder Edda, which contained the pagan poems that  Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) quotes in his Edda. Poetic Edda is a modern attribution for an unnamed collection of Old Norse anonymous poems.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetic_Edda)

1773        Iceland held its first census.
    (Economist, 8/25/12, p.64)

1783        Jun 8, In Iceland the Lakagicar volcano began erupting. Over the next 6 months it built a lava dam 40 miles long and 540 feet high in a month. The Laki volcano wiped out 75% of the crops, which led to a severe famine that killed some 10,000 people, 20% of the population, reducing the population to some 40,000 people. This was described by Haraldur Sigurdson in an article titled Volcanic Pollution and Climate: Eos 63, Aug. 10, 1982. The Laki eruption sent poisonous gases across Europe. In 2014 Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe authored “Island on Fire: The Extraordinary Story of Laki: the Volcano that Turned Eighteenth-Century Europe Dark.”
    (NH, 9/97, p.38)(SFEC, 9/19/99, p.A18)(AM, 7/00, p.40)(ON, 2/04, p.9)(Econ, 12/22/07, p.132)(Econ, 4/24/10, p.62)(Econ, 5/29/10, p.85)(Econ, 7/19/14,p.71)
1783        Jun 8-1784 Feb, A series of 10 eruptions from the Laki Craters on Iceland changed atmospheric conditions in most of the Northern Hemisphere. This also generated a cascade of events that led to record low levels of water in the Nile River and brought famine to the region.
    (http://tinyurl.com/y9xemq)

1784        Feb 7, In Iceland the Lakagicar (Laki) volcano ceased its eruptions. Smoke from the 8 months of eruptions caused one of the longest and coldest winters in Europe. [see Jun 8, 1783]
    (ON, 2/04, p.10)

1800        The Althing was abolished by the Danish king.
    (HNQ, 4/28/00)

1821-1823    In Iceland the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted over this period.
    (Econ, 4/24/10, p.62)

1831        The Lewis chessman, 92 walrus ivory pieces, were unearthed on the Isle of Lewis off the coast of Scotland. In 2010 Gudmundur Thorarinsson tried to convince scholars that these pieces were the work of Margret, an Icelandic woman carver commissioned by medieval Norse Bishop Paul Jonsson. In 2015 Nancy Marie Brown authored ”Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them.”
    (Econ, 8/29/15, p.68)

1843        In Iceland a nationalist movement re-established the Althing.
    (HNQ, 4/28/00)

1859        The present church in Thingvellir was constructed.
    (NH, 6/96, p.53)

1869        Iceland made it illegal to sell or distribute pornography.
    (Econ, 4/20/13, p.64)

1874        A constitution was granted to Iceland.
    (HNQ, 4/28/00)

1900        The puffin was almost made extinct in the Westmann Islands about this time because of harvesting. The puffin was hunted for its down which was exported to Denmark. The hunting was banned for 30 years and when it was harvested again Icelanders started using a hunting method from the Faroe Islands, where the puffins are caught in a net on a long pole.
    (http://iceland.vefur.is/Iceland_nature/wildlife/puffins.htm)

1902        Apr 23, Halldór Laxness, Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic novelist (The Fish Can Sing, Paradise Reclaimed), was born.
    (HN, 4/23/01)

1904        Iceland won home rule.
    (DrEE, 1/4/97, p.4)

1918        Dec 1, Danish parliament passed an act to grant Iceland independence.
    (HFA, ‘96, p.20)(MC, 12/1/01)

1936        Halldor Laxness, novelist, published "Salka Valka".
    (SFC, 2/11/98, p.A24)

1937        In Iceland an airline was founded that developed into Icelandair.
    (WSJ, 10/14/08, p.B10)

1937-1940    Halldor Laxness wrote "World Light," the tale of an alienated Icelandic folk poet.
    (SFC, 2/11/98, p.A24)

1938        The Loki volcano in the center of the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland erupted.
    (SFC, 10/3/96, p.A14)

1941        Feb 10, Iceland was attacked by German planes.
    (HN, 2/10/97)

1941        Jul 7, Although a neutral country, the United States sent troops to occupy Iceland to keep it out of Germany's hands.
    (WUD, 1944, p.1683)(HN, 7/7/98)

1941        Oct 17, The U.S. destroyer Kearney was damaged by a German U-boat torpedo off Iceland; 11 people were killed.
    (AP, 10/17/08)

1941        Oct 31, The US Navy destroyer "Reuben James" was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Iceland, killing 115, even though the United States had not yet entered World War II.
    (www.archives.gov/exhibits/a_people_at_war/prelude_to_war/uss_reuben_james.html)

1944        May 24, Icelandic voters severed all ties with Denmark.
    (MC, 5/24/02)

1944        Jun 17, Iceland declared full independence from Denmark and became a republic.
    (DrEE, 1/4/97, p.4)(AP, 6/17/97)

1946        Halldor Laxness (1902-1998) of Iceland published "Independent People." It helped him win the Nobel Prize in literature in 1955.
    (SFC, 2/11/98, p.A24)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halld%C3%B3r_Laxness)

1949        Apr 4, The (NATO) North Atlantic Treaty Organization pact was signed by the US, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Canada. It provided for mutual defense against aggression and for close military cooperation.
    (www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm)(TOH, 1982, p.1949)

1955        Halldor Laxness (1902-1998), Icelandic author, won the Nobel Prize in Literature. His 1946 novel "Independent People" helped him win the prize.
    (SFC, 2/11/98, p.A24)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halld%C3%B3r_Laxness)

1959        May 6, Iceland gunboats shot at British fishing ships.
    (MC, 5/6/02)

1959        Nov 20, Seven European nations (Austria, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland) signed the Stockholm Convention to form the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The organization becoming operative on May 3, 1960. After the accession of Denmark, Ireland, and the UK to the EEC in January 1973, the EFTA began to falter. Portugal (1985), followed in 1995 by Austria, Finland and Sweden, left to join the EU. In 2017 Four members remained: Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Free_Trade_Association)

1961        Halldor Laxness, novelist, published "The Atom Station."
    (SFC, 2/11/98, p.A24)

1962        Halldor Laxness, novelist, published "Paradise Reclaimed."
    (SFC, 2/11/98, p.A24)

1963        Nov 14, Iceland got a new island when a volcano pushed its way up out of the sea five miles off the southern coast.
    (HN, 11/14/00)

1972        Aug 17, The International Tribunal in The Hague pronounced that the Icelanders did not have sovereignty over the areas between 12 and 50 miles. The Icelandic government protested and decided to take no notice of this decree.
    (www.nat.is/travelguideeng/50_miles_limit_and_the_cod_war_1.htm)

1972        Sep 1, American Bobby Fischer won the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland, defeating Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. In 2004 David Edmonds and John Eidinow authored "Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time."
    (AP, 9/1/97)(SSFC, 2/07/04, p.M1)

1973        Jan 23, Helgafell, an island of Heimaey, Iceland, erupted for the 1st time in 7,000 yrs.
    (www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1702-01=&volpage=var)

1974        Iceland completed its first road around the island.
    (Econ, 5/29/10, p.84)
1974        Sigurdur Hjartarson began collecting penis memorabilia. In 1997 he opened his Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavik.
    (SSFC, 10/19/03, p.C8)(Reuters, 5/16/08)

1975        Oct 15, Iceland moved its intl. boundary for fishing rights from 50 to 200 miles.
    (www.american.edu/ted/ice/CODWAR.htm)

1976         Jun 2, Great-Britain & Iceland terminated their codfish war. It was agreed that only 24 British vessels would be allowed in the 200 mile zone and four conservation areas would be completely closed to the British.
    (www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/article/Iceland/Cod-War-in-Iceland/527)

1976        Rabbits were imported to Iceland from Spain about this time. Some were later released into the wild and began to compete with the native puffin birds, which breed in burrows.
    (WSJ, 8/4/06, p.A1)

1980        Aug 1, In Iceland Vigdis Finnbogadottir (b.1930) began serving as president and the world’s first female head of state. She was re-elected 3 times and retired in 1996.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigd%C3%ADs_Finnbogad%C3%B3ttir)(SFC, 6/30/96, B7)

1983        Jul, The Tuna Task Force (TTF) issued a draft plan of management. It contained 14 recommendations, the most important of which include the use of catch-quotas, minimum limits on fish-size, limited-entry and further limits on purse-seine operations. It was proposed that the plan should come into effect at the beginning of the 1983-84 fishing season (on 1 October 1993). Because of difficulties in reaching agreement on all aspects, this target was not achieved. Australia, New Zealand and Iceland pioneered Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) for commercial fisheries.
    (http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y2684E/y2684e20.htm)(Econ, 9/20/08, p.97)

1986        Oct 11, President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev opened two days of talks concerning arms control and human rights in Reykjavik, Iceland.
    (AP, 10/11/97)

1986        Oct 12, The superpower meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, ended in stalemate, with President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev unable to agree on arms control or a date for a full-fledged summit in the United States.
    (AP, 10/12/97)

1989        Iceland stopped whaling.
    (SFC, 5/10/97, p.A8)

1989        Jon Asgeir Johannesson (20) and his unemployed father opened a discount grocery store, Bonus, in Reykjavik, Iceland. Until this time dominant grocery chains had kept food prices high throughout the nation.
    (WSJ, 7/11/06, p.A1)

1991        Feb 11, The parliament of Iceland confirmed that the recognition of Lithuania from 1922 was fully valid and that diplomatic relations would be established as soon as possible. Lithuania received de jure recognition from Iceland.
    (DrEE, 1/4/97, p.4)(LHC, 2/11/03)

1991        Iceland’s corporate tax rate on profits stood at 50%.
    (Econ, 2/19/05, p.61)

1991        David Oddsson became prime minister of Iceland.
    (AP, 6/5/06)

1992        Iceland left the Int’l. Whaling Commission when a resolution was passed to outlaw commercial whaling.
    (SFC, 5/10/97, p.A8)

1992        Mar 5, In Copenhagen the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden, in the presence of the representative from the European Commission, opened a 2-day meeting and decided to establish a Council of the Baltic Sea States to serve as a forum for guidance and overall coordination among the participating states. Iceland joined the CBSS in 1995
    (Econ, 6/7/08, p.63)(www.bmwi.de/English/Navigation/European-policy/baltic-market.html)

1993        Bjorgolfur Bjorgolfsson (26) left Iceland and started a soft-drink company in St. Petersburg, Russia. He later expanded into brewing, banking, telecommunications and discount pharmaceuticals. By 2006 his stake in the Iceland-based Actavis Group was valued at $1 billion, making him Iceland’s first billionaire.
    (SFC, 4/1/06, p.C3)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.80)

1995        Iceland stopped requirement immigrants to adopt local names.
    (Econ, 1/14/12, p.59)

1996        Jun 27, Gay marriages were legalized in Iceland.
    (SFC, 6/28/96, p.A14)

1996        Jun 30, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, a left-wing career politician, claimed victory in presidential elections.
    (SFC, 6/30/96, B7)

1996        Sep 19, The Arctic Council was founded to promote joint scientific research and to study pollution, conservation and mapping. The Ottawa Declaration named eight members of the Arctic Council: Canada, Russia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, the United States, Sweden and Finland. The first step towards the formation of the Council occurred in 1991 when eight Arctic countries signed the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS).
    (Econ, 3/24/12, p.61)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Council)

1996        Oct 1, The Loki volcano in the center of the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland erupted.
    (SFC, 10/3/96, p.A14)(SFC, 11/6/96, p.A25)

1996        Oct 12, The eruptions ceased in the Loki volcano but a large amount of water was melted from the glacier.
    (SFC, 11/6/96, p.A25)

1996        Nov 5, The glacier’s ice cap cracked and unleashed millions of gallons and 2 bridges were swept away.
    (SFC, 11/6/96, p.A25)

1997        May 10, It was reported that Iceland would resume whaling. Whaling had stopped there in 1989.
    (SFC, 5/10/97, p.A8)

1997        The Icelandic Phallological Museum opened in Reykjavik. It later moved to the quiet fishing village of Husavik, 480 km (298 miles) northeast of the capital. Sigurdur Hjartarson began his collection in 1974 with a single bull's penis that looked something like a riding crop. By 2008 it included 261 preserved members from 90 species.
    (Reuters, 5/16/08)

1998        Feb 8, In Iceland Halldor Laxness (b.1902), novelist and Nobel Prize winner, died at age 95. His books included "Independent People" (1946), "the Great Weaver of Cashmere," "Salka Valka," "The Atom Station," and "Paradise Reclaimed."
    (SFC, 2/11/98, p.A24)

1998        Sep 10, Keiko the killer whale, star of the 1993 "Free Willy" movie, was returned to Iceland, where he was captured in 1979 at age 2. Much of his early life was spent at a Mexico City amusement park.
    (SFC, 9/11/98, p.A10)(SFC, 10/17/03, p.D1)

1998        Oct 12, Canada planned to begin discussion with Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Liechtenstein for the first trans-Atlantic free-trade pact.
    (WSJ, 10/12/98, p.A1)

1999        Mar 10, In Iceland the parliament passed a resolution to resume whale hunting within its territorial waters.
    (SFC, 3/12/99, p.A15)

1999        May 9, In parliamentary elections the right-wing Independence Party of Prime Minister Oddsson won 40.8% of the vote.
    (WSJ, 5/10/99, p.A1)

2000        Feb 27, In Iceland the Mount Hekla volcano erupted.
    (WSJ, 2/29/00, p.A1)

2001        Iceland’s corporate tax rate on profits were cut to 30%.
    (Econ, 2/19/05, p.61)

2002        May 20, In Japan the Int’l. Whaling Commission rejected Iceland’s bid for full membership for a 2nd year in a row.
    (SFC, 5/21/02, p.A16)

2003        Apr 24, Iceland opened a filling station for hydrogen-powered vehicles.
    (AP, 4/24/03)

2003        May 10, Iceland voters re-elected David Oddsson, Europe's longest serving prime minister supporting his conservative economic policies rather than the progressive spending plans of the former Reykjavik mayor.
    (AP, 5/10/03)

2003        May 22, Iceland PM David Oddsson announced that he will step down in September 2004 in favor of the current foreign minister, who leads the other party in his coalition government.
    (AP, 5/22/03)

2003        Aug 17, Iceland launched its first whale hunt in more than a decade in the name of scientific research. The US, Britain and several other governments opposed to whaling labeled the hunt unnecessary.
    (AP, 8/18/03)

2003        Iceland privatized 2 of its largest banks.
    (Econ, 10/11/08, p.96)

2004        May 24, It was reported that Alcoa planned to build a $1 billion aluminum smelter on the island of Trinidad and another in Iceland.
    (WSJ, 5/24/04, p.A1)

2004        Aug 16, The children’s TV show “Lazytown” made its US premier. Magnus Scheving spent over a decade building the brand in Iceland before moving overseas.
    (Econ, 3/31/07, p.76)(www.tv.com/lazytown/show/29257/episode_listings.html)

2004        Iceland’s PM David Oddsson pushed through a media law aimed at limiting Baugur’s interests. Baugur had large retailing interests and in the fall purchased Denmark’s Magasin de Nord department-store group. Oddsson, Europe's longest-serving prime minister, stepped down this year following 13-year tenure that transformed Iceland with a strong dose of free market medicine.
    (Econ, 7/25/05, p.54)(AP, 6/5/06)
2004        Halldor Asgrimson took over as PM of Iceland.
    (Econ, 3/4/06, p.48)
2004        In Iceland Hjalti Sigurjon Hauksson was convicted of raping his stepdaughter almost every day for 12 years.
    (AP, 9/16/17)

2005        Mar 21, Iceland's Parliament awarded citizenship to chess champion Bobby Fischer.
    (AP, 3/23/05)

2005        Mar 24, Chess legend Bobby Fischer walked free from a Japanese detention center and immediately headed to the airport to fly to his new home in Iceland.
    (AP, 3/24/05)

2005        Jul 1, Police in Iceland charged Jon Asgeir Johannesson, multimillionaire and CEO of Baugur, with fraud. Baugur was taken private in 2003. In October the Supreme Court dismissed 32 of 40 charges. A district court acquitted him of the remaining 8 charges in March, 2006.
    (Econ, 7/25/05, p.54)(Econ, 7/1/06, p.A9)(WSJ, 7/11/06, p.A9)

2005        Dec 10, Miss Iceland, Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir (21), an anthropology and law student and part-time policewoman, was crowned Miss World on the southern Chinese resort island of Hainan.
    (Reuters, 12/10/05)

2005        Iceland’s corporate tax rate on profits dropped to 18%.
    (Econ, 2/19/05, p.61)

2006        Mar, Iceland’s currency and stock market fell as its current-account deficit stood at 16% of GDP. Similar problems due to high current-account deficits faced New Zealand, Australia, Turkey and Hungary.
    (Econ, 4/8/06, p.19)

2006        Apr 20-2006 May 10, This is considered the prime hunting season for puffin birds in Iceland. Up to 200,000 puffins are killed by hunters each year.
    (WSJ, 8/4/06, p.A1)(www.huntingiceland.com/)

2006        Jun 5, Iceland's PM Halldor Asgrimsson (58) announced he was stepping down in the wake of his party's poor performance in recent local elections.
    (AP, 6/6/06)

2006        Jun 15, Geir Haarde became Iceland's new prime minister, marking a return to the office for Iceland's largest political party and a likely shift toward a tighter fiscal policy.
    (AP, 6/16/06)

2006        Sep 8, The United States Naval Air Station Keflavik (NASKEF) closed at Iceland’s Keflavik Int’l. Airport.
    (Econ, 10/11/08, p.70)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Air_Station_Keflavik)

2006        Oct 17, Iceland said it would resume commercial whaling after a nearly two-decade moratorium, defying a worldwide ban on hunting the mammals for their meat.
    (AP, 10/18/06)

2006        Nov 6, Transparency International, a watchdog group, reported that nearly three-quarters of 163 countries ranked in a new survey suffer from a perception of serious corruption, while in nearly half it is seen as rampant. Finland, Iceland and New Zealand ranked as the least corrupt, while Haiti, Guinea and Myanmar ranked as most corrupt.
    (AP, 11/6/06)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.69)

2006        The Iceland population was about 300,000.
    (AP, 6/6/06)

2007        Apr 22, The annual Goldman Environmental Prizes were announced on Earth Day. The winners included Julio Cusurichi of Peru for his work to fight illegal logging; Willie Corduff of Ireland for his work to halt an energy project that disregarded local and environmental concerns; Sophia Rabliauskas of Canada for her work to help protect the boreal forest in Manitoba; Orri Vigfussen of Iceland for his work on the North Atlantic Salmon Fund; Ts. Munkhbayar for his work against unregulated mining in Mongolia; and Hammerskjoeld Simwinga for his work in organizing microloan programs in Zambia.
    (SSFC, 4/22/07, p.E1)

2007        May 13, Icelandic PM Geir Haarde's centre-right Independence Party came out on top in weekend general elections but it was unclear if his coalition government will stay in power.
    (AP, 5/13/07)

2007        Oct 9, In Iceland Yoko Ono urged the world to give peace a chance as she unveiled a monument in memory of her husband, former Beatle John Lennon (d.1980). Ono lit up the Imagine Peace Tower on Videy island near the capital's harbor on what would have been Lennon's 67th birthday.
    (AP, 10/9/07)

2007        Nov 8, Nordic countries again dominated the World Economic Forum's ranking of gender-equal countries. New Zealand squeezed into the top five and the US fell to 31st place. Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland retained the top four spots in the 2007 Gender Gap Index released by the Swiss-based think tank.
    (Reuters, 11/8/07)

2007        Nov 27, Iceland has overtaken Norway as the world's most desirable country to live in, according to an annual UN table that again puts AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states at the bottom.
    (Reuters, 11/27/07)

2008        Jan 17, Bobby Fischer (b.1943), the reclusive chess genius, died in Iceland. He became a Cold War hero by dethroning the Soviet world champion in 1972 and later renounced his American citizenship.
    (AP, 1/18/08)

2008        May 20, Whale hunting season began in Iceland as the country's first whaling ship of the year set sail in defiance of a worldwide moratorium on the practice.
    (AP, 5/20/08)

2008        Sep 29, Britain seized control of mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley. Germany organized a credit lifeline for blue-chip commercial real estate lender Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, while Iceland's government took over Glitnir bank, the country's third largest.
    (AP, 9/29/08)

2008        Oct 5, Iceland’s government and banks scrambled to rescue the country’s banking system. Its economy was one of the hardest hit by the global financial crises.
    (WSJ, 10/5/08, p.A13)

2008        Oct 7, Iceland nationalized its second-largest bank under day-old legislation and negotiated a euro4 billion ($5.4 billion) loan from Russia to shore up the nation's finances amid a full-blown financial crisis.
    (AP, 10/7/08)

2008        Oct 8, Britain added to the financial chaos engulfing Iceland by declaring it planned to sue over lost deposits held by thousands of Britons with Icelandic bank accounts. The news from London overshadowed an emergency loan from Sweden to Iceland's biggest bank.
    (AP, 10/8/08)

2008        Oct 9, Iceland suspended trading on its stock exchange for two days and took control of the country's largest bank, the third to be placed under its protective umbrella, as it grappled with a banking crisis that is threatening to engulf the entire country.
    (AP, 10/9/08)

2008        Oct 14, Iceland's blue chip stocks plunged 77 percent when trading reopened on after a near week-long suspension and an official delegation from the island sought Russian help in saving the economy from collapse.
    (AP, 10/14/08)

2008        Oct 15, Iceland moved to shore up its ravaged economy by slashing borrowing costs and officials pursued efforts to get help from Russia in tackling the worst financial crisis in the island's history.
    (Reuters, 10/15/08)

2008        Oct 24, Iceland, where the financial system has all but collapsed, reached a deal with the IMF for $2 billion to help fix its broken banking system, restart currency trading and soften the blow from the global downturn.
    (Reuters, 10/25/08)(WSJ, 10/25/08, p.A9)

2008        Oct 28, Iceland’s PM Geir Haarde said his country needs about $6 billion in loans to recover from the financial meltdown, just as the country's central bank separately hiked its interest rates by a massive 6 percentage points to 18%.
    (AP, 10/28/08)(WSJ, 10/29/08, p.A10)

2008        Nov 17, Iceland moved to secure $6 billion in loans to refloat its collapsed financial system as Britain said it would welcome a government promise to guarantee its citizens' deposits in collapsed internet bank Icesave.
    (AP, 11/17/08)

2008        Nov 19, The IMF approved a two-year, $2.1 billion support program for Iceland designed to restore confidence and stabilize the country's shattered economy.
    (AP, 11/20/08)

2008        Nov 20, Finland's Finance Ministry said four Nordic countries will lend Iceland $2.5 billion (euro1.98 billion) to help the country recover from its economic meltdown.
    (AP, 11/20/08)

2009        Jan 26, Iceland's coalition government collapsed, leaving the island nation in political turmoil amid a financial crisis that has pummeled its economy and required an international bailout to keep the country afloat.
    (AP, 1/26/09)

2009        Jan 27, Iceland's center-left Social Democratic Alliance Party was chosen to lead the country following the collapse of the island nation's government amid deep economic troubles and intense political discord.
    (AP, 1/27/09)
2009        Jan 27, Iceland raised it quota on whale hunting to 250 a year, a dramatic increase over past levels.
    (AP, 1/27/09)

2009        Jan 28, In Iceland both parties of the new coalition government supported the appointment of social affairs minister Johanna Sigurdardottir (66), an openly gay former air hostess, as interim prime minister.
    (SFC, 1/29/09, p.A8)(Econ, 5/2/09, p.52)

2009        Feb 8, Sigurdur Helgason (b.1921), former Icelandic airline CEO (1974-1984), died on the Caribbean private island of Mustique. He pioneered cheap flights that carried legions of backpackers between Europe and the United States in the 1960s and '70s.
    (AP, 2/21/09)

2009        Mar 9, The Icelandic government took control of Straumur Burdaras Investment Bank hf., the last of the major Icelandic banks to collapse after running out of liquidity.
    (AP, 3/9/09)

2009        Apr 25, Icelanders voted in an early parliamentary election. Iceland's leftist coalition won the country's general election, a blow for the pro-business Independence Party that many blamed for the collapse of the country's banking system. Johanna Sigurdardottir, the acting prime minister, was expected to be named prime minister.
    (AP, 4/25/09)(AP, 4/26/09)(Econ, 5/2/09, p.52)

2009        Jun, Iceland made a deal to borrow some $5.5 billion from the British and Dutch governments at an annual rate of 5.5% to meet its Icesave banking obligations.
    (Econ, 8/15/09, p.46)

2009        Jul 16, Iceland’s Althingi (parliament) voted 33 to 28 to apply to join the EU.
    (Econ, 7/25/09, p.50)

2009        Jul 23, Iceland formally applied to join the European Union but said it would not accept a "rotten deal" for its fishing industry, a key sector of the island nation's troubled economy.
    (AP, 7/23/09)

2009        Aug 28, Iceland's parliament approved a controversial deal to pay back billions of euros (dollars) lost by British and Dutch savers in the collapse of the online Icesave bank. The deal provided for the payment of 3.8 billion euros by 2023 to the British and Dutch governments for the compensation they forked out to disgruntled savers.
    (AFP, 8/28/09)

2009        Iceland introduced fines and jail terms for those who patronize prostitutes.
    (Econ, 4/20/13, p.63)

2010        Jan 5, Iceland’s Pres. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson rejected a bill passed by parliament on Dec 30 on a state guarantee for €3.9 billion owed to British and Dutch governments. This amount would cover compensation paid to savers in those countries following the collapse of Landsbanki and its internet-banking scheme, Icesave, one of three stricken Icelandic banks nationalized in October 2008.
    (Econ, 1/9/10, p.52)

2010        Mar 6, Icelanders voted in a referendum on a $5 billion deal to repay Anglo-Dutch loans. The referendum resoundingly rejected a deal to pay Britain and The Netherlands billions for losses in the Icesave bank collapse.
    (Reuters, 3/6/10)(AFP, 3/7/10)

2010        Mar 21, In southern Iceland a volcano erupted overnight, forcing some 600 hundred people to evacuate the area and diverting flights after authorities declared a local state of emergency.
    (Reuters, 3/21/10)(AF, 3/22/10)

2010        Mar 24, Iceland’s parliament voted to ban striptease shows, making it an offense for any business to profit from the nudity of its employees. The ban became effective on 1 July.
    (http://news.scotsman.com/world/Strip-shows-offlimits-in-.6178649.jp)

2010        Apr 6, Moody's Investor Service downgraded Iceland's debt ratings outlook to negative from stable over concerns about the tiny island nation's ability to tap the foreign credit it needs to stay afloat.
    (AP, 4/6/10)

2010        Apr 14, In Iceland a volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier erupted for the second time in less than a month, melting ice, shooting smoke and steam into the air, closing a major road and forcing hundreds of people to flee rising floodwaters.
    (AP, 4/14/10)

2010        Apr 15, British airport operator BAA Ltd. said all flights at London's Heathrow Airport have been suspended for the rest of the day, causing travel chaos as ash clouds from Iceland's spewing volcano halted air traffic across Europe.
    (AP, 4/15/10)

2010        Apr 16, Volcanic ash blanketed parts of rural Iceland and left a widening arc of grounded aircraft across Europe, as thousands of planes stayed on the tarmac to avoid the hazardous cloud. Travel chaos engulfed major European cities and the UN warned of possible health risks from falling ash.
    (AP, 4/16/10)

2010        Apr 17, A lingering volcanic ash plume forced extended no-fly restrictions over much of Europe, as Icelandic scientists warned that volcanic activity had increased and showed no sign of abating, a portent of more travel chaos to come. Nearly 17,000 flights to and from Europe were cancelled out of about 22,000 on a normal day.
    (AP, 4/17/10)(Econ, 4/24/10, p.63)

2010        May 4, Iceland's volcanic ash renewed its threat to European air space, forcing Ireland to shut services temporarily for the first time in 12 days. Ireland and Britain lifted flight restrictions after temporarily closing airspace due to the return of ash.
    (AP, 5/4/10)(AFP, 5/4/10)

2010        May 21, Norwegian browser developer Opera Software said it is moving its data processing capacity to a newly-built center in Iceland, one of the first foreign investment deals for the crisis-hit island as it tries to rebuild its economy.
    (AP, 5/21/10)

2010        Jun 17, Iceland’s parliament voted to create what supporters hoped will be the world’s strongest protections for free speech and journalism, passing measures intended to make Iceland a safe haven for investigative reporting.
    (SFC, 6/18/10, p.A2)

2010        Jun 27, Iceland's PM Johanna Sigurdardottir (68) married her partner under a new law legalizing same-sex marriage in the country.
    (AP, 6/28/10)

2010        Jul 5, Authorities in Iceland exhumed the body of American chess champion Bobby Fischer to determine whether he is the father of a 9-year-old girl from the Philippines.
    (AP, 7/5/10)

2010        Nov 1, Icelandic Meteorological Office geophysicist Gunnar Gudmundsson said that floodwater is coming from the subglacial Grimsvotn volcano, but there are no signs of the underground tremors that would signal an eruption.
    (AP, 11/1/10)

2010        Sigurdur Gylfi Magnusson authored “Wasteland With Words: A Social History of Iceland.”
    (Econ, 5/29/10, p.84)
2010        Iceland’s Parliament indicted former PM Geir Haarde for violating the laws of ministerial responsibility. He was charged with doing too little to protect the country against expansionary lending by bankers that resulted in financial disaster.
    (SFC, 3/6/12, p.A2)

2011        Feb 20, Iceland's Pres. President Olafur R. Grimsson triggered a referendum on an updated plan to pay $5 billion to Britain and Netherlands for debts incurred from the financial crisis, creating new uncertainty over the island's economic recovery.
    (Reuters, 2/20/11)

2011        Apr 9, Icelanders voted in a referendum on whether the nation will repay Britain and the Netherlands in full for compensating their citizens who had deposits in Icesave, a failed online bank. Voters rejected the government-backed deal, sending the dispute to an int’l. court.
    (SFC, 4/9/11, p.A2)(SFC, 4/11/11, p.A2)

2011        May 22, Iceland closed its main international airport and canceled all domestic flights as the Grimsvotn volcano sent a plume of ash, smoke and steam 12 miles (20 km) high.
    (AP, 5/22/11)

2011        May 24, About 250 flights to northern Britain were canceled over concerns about the ash cloud spewing from an Icelandic volcano, but British and Irish officials dismissed fears of a mass shutdown of airspace.
    (Reuters, 5/24/11)

2011        Oct 1, Icelanders, angry over citizen costs for the country’s economic crises, pelted lawmakers with eggs during a protest at the opening of the new parliamentary session in Reykjavik.
    (SSFC, 10/2/11, p.A4)

2011        Nov 25, Iceland's interior ministry said it had rejected an application by Huang Nubo's Zhongkun Group to buy 120 square miles (30,639 hectares) of land on the north shore of Iceland for a vast nature retreat in a deal that would have been worth about 1 billion Icelandic kronur ($8.8 million). On Nov 27 Huang said the rejection was indicative of anti-Chinese attitudes in the West.
    (AP, 11/27/11)

2011        Dec 15, Iceland formally recognized the Palestinian state at a ceremony in Reykjavik, becoming one of the few Western European countries and NATO members to do so.
    (AFP, 12/15/11)

2012        Apr 20, China signed accords on energy cooperation and the Arctic in Iceland as Premier Wen Jiabao started a tour of northern Europe that will focus on Chinese investment in a continent eager for funds and to trade with the rising world power.
    (Reuters, 4/20/12)

2012        Apr 23, In Iceland former PM Geir Haarde was acquitted on the major counts in a trial probing his responsibility for the country’s 2008 economic collapse.
    (SFC, 4/24/12, p.A2)

2012        Jun 30, Iceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson was re-elected to a fifth term with 52.8% of the vote.
    (AP, 7/1/12)

2013        Jan 31, In Iceland a 15-year-old Icelandic girl was granted the right to legally use the name "Blaer," which means "light breeze," given to her by her mother, despite the opposition of authorities and a strict law on names.
    (AP, 1/31/13)

2013        Apr 15, Iceland President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson announced the formation of the Arctic Circle at a Press Club meeting in Washington, DC, The new nonprofit will be dedicated to bringing together the many international stakeholders in an open venue to address the challenges facing the rapidly-changing Arctic.
    (http://tinyurl.com/mggqw4c)
2013        Apr 15, China signed a free-trade deal with Iceland as PM Johanna Sigurdardottir made a 6-day visit there. This was China’s first free-trade with a European nation. Some saw China’s goal as better access to shipping routes through the Arctic.
    (Econ, 4/20/13, p.50)

2013        Apr 24, Wikileaks said it has secured a victory in Iceland’s Supreme Court against the financial blockade imposed by Visa and Master Card on donations for the secret-spilling site.
    (SFC, 4/25/13, p.A2)

2013        Apr 27, Icelanders voted in a parliamentary election. The center-right parties that led the country into economic collapse five years ago returned to power. The conservative Independence Party won the most votes but it and the rural-based Progressive Party each won 19 seats in the 63-seat parliament. The Pirate Party, just a few months old, took 5.1% of the vote, gaining three seats in the Althingi.
    (AP, 4/27/13)(SFC, 4/29/13, p.A2)(AP, 4/30/13)(Econ, 5/4/13, p.56)

2013        May 22, In Iceland Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, head of the Progressive Party, was chosen as the new prime minister. He immediately announced a halt to talks with the EU about joining the 27-nation block.
    (SFC, 5/23/13, p.A2)(Econ, 5/4/13, p.56)

2013        Jun 20, An Icelandic businessman linked to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said he had readied a private plane in China to fly Edward Snowden, who has admitted leaking secrets about classified US surveillance programs, from Hong Kong to Iceland if Iceland's government would grant asylum.
    (Reuters, 6/21/13)

2014        Aug 23, Iceland said its Bardarbunga volcano has begun erupting under the ice of Europe’s largest glacier, prompting the country to close the airspace over the volcano. Iceland the next day said no eruption took place, but that one remained imminent following increased seismic activity.
    (SSFC, 8/24/14, p.A10)(SFC, 8/25/14, p.A2)

2014        Iceland declared the Okjokull glacier dead, as it was no longer thick enough to flow across the landscape.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okj%C3%B6kull)(Econ., 8/8/20, p.68)
2014        The population Iceland was about 315,000.
    (SSFC, 2/2/14, p.M8)

2015        Jan 2, The Icelandic Coast Guard ship Tyr towed a cargo vessel to Italy with about 450 migrants after Italian rescue teams managed to secure the wave-tossed Ezadeen for towing toward the southern Calabrian region. The migrants were abandoned by smugglers, leaving the vessel in rough seas without a crew.
    (AP, 1/2/15)

2015        Mar 12, Iceland announced that it was suspending its application to join the 28-nation EU.
    (AFP, 3/13/15)

2015        Jun 8, Iceland announced the lifting of capital controls imposed in 2008.
    (Econ, 6/13/15, p.69)

2015        Aug 4, Russia's PM Dmitry Medvedev ordered preparation of retaliatory measures against several non-EU European nations that have joined the European Union's sanctions against Russia. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine joined the EU sanctions last week.
    (AP, 8/4/15)

2015        Aug 13, Russia broadened a food embargo imposed in retaliation for Western sanctions over Ukraine to include Iceland, a significant fish importer, as well as Montenegro, Albania and Liechtenstein.
    (AFP, 8/13/15)

2015        Oct 30, Coast Guard leaders from the US, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden signed an agreement setting up the Arctic Coast Guard Forum dedicated to stewardship of Arctic waters.
    (SFC, 10/31/15, p.A4)

2015        Thor Bjorgolfsson, Iceland’s first billionaire, authored “Billions to Bust: How I Made, Lost And Rebuilt a Fortune, And What I learned on the Way.”
    (Econ, 1/10/15, p.78)
2015        Oct, Iceland repaid its debt to the IMF, which had given it a big bailout in 2008.
    (Econ, 4/9/15, p.53)

2016        Apr 4, Iceland's opposition called on PM Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson and his government to resign and planned a no confidence vote after a leak of documents, the so-called Panama Papers, stoked anger over his wife owning a tax haven-based company with large claims on the country's collapsed banks.
    (Reuters, 4/4/16)

2016        Apr 5, Iceland's PM Sigurdur David Gunnlaugsson (41) asked Pres. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson to dissolve parliament as his government reeled from a political crisis over the so-called Panama Papers, but the president refused. Gunnlaugsson stepped down, the first major political casualty to emerge from the massive leak of 11.5 million documents detailing hidden offshore accounts held by world leaders and celebrities.
    (AFP, 4/5/16)(AFP, 4/6/16)

2016        May 13, President Barack Obama welcomed a group of Nordic leaders to the White House and celebrated the five Nordic nations (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) as models of reliability, equality, generosity, responsibility, even personal happiness. Obama said that he and the five Nordic nations agreed on the need to maintain sanctions against Russia.
    (AP, 5/13/16)(Reuters, 5/13/16)

2016        Jun 25, Iceland voted in a presidential election expected to see newcomer Gudni Johannesson waltz to victory with voters angry at the establishment. History professor Gudni Johannesson won the election after riding a wave of anti-establishment sentiment. Johannesson has never held public office and has no party affiliation, as he celebrated his 48th birthday on June 26.
    (AFP, 6/25/16)(AP, 6/26/16)

2016        Oct 29, Icelanders voted in a snap election that could see the anti-establishment Pirate Party form the next government in the wake of the Panama Papers tax-dodging scandal and lingering anger over the 2008 financial meltdown. The governing coalition of the Independence Party and the Progressive Party together won 29 seats in the 63-member parliament. The Pirates and its three center-left allies won 27 seats.
    (AFP, 10/29/16)(AFP, 10/30/16)

2016        Nov 2, Iceland's President Gudni Johannesson asked Bjarni Benediktsson, the leader of the center-right Independence Party, to form a new government after the party emerged on top in the Oct 29 general election.
    (Reuters, 11/2/16)

2017        Jan 10, In Iceland new center-right coalition announced it had agreed to make conservative Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson the country's next prime minister, 10 weeks after a snap election. The Independence Party formed a coalition with the smaller Reform and Bright Future parties holding 32 of 63 seats in Parliament.
    (AFP, 1/10/17)(SFC, 1/12/17, p.A2)

2017        Jan 14, In Iceland Birna Brjansdottir (20) went missing after a night out with friends. Her body was found in Selvogsviti, 58 km (36 miles) from the capital on the other side of the country after a weeklong search. She was reportedly strangled before being thrown into the ocean where she drowned.
    (AP, 1/25/17)(AFP, 2/7/17)

2017        Mar 8, Iceland on International Women's Day said it will be the first country in the world to make employers prove they offer equal pay regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality or nationality. Iceland wants to eradicate the gender pay gap by 2022.
    (AP, 3/8/17)

2017        Mar 28, Iceland became the first country to introduce legislation requiring employers to prove they are paying men and women equally.
    (SFC, 3/31/17, p.C2)

2017        Mar, Iceland lifted remaining controls on capital outflows, set up during the financial crisis of 2007-2008, allowing pension and investment funds to invest their money abroad. Controls on inflows were tightened.
    (Econ, 3/18/17, p.77)

2017        Sep 15, Iceland's nine-month-old, center-right government collapsed after a small coalition member quit over an attempt by the prime minister's father to help clear a convicted pedophile's name.
    (AP, 9/15/17)

2017        Sep 16, Iceland's Pres. Gudni Th. Johannesson accepted the resignation of PM Bjarni Benediktsson, and said a new election mostly likely will be held on Nov. 4.
    (AP, 9/16/17)

2017        Oct 28, Icelanders voted for the third time in four years as the nation tried to shake off the latest political crisis on an island roiled by divisions since its economy was ravaged by the global financial crisis. Conservative PM Bjarni Benediktsson (47) won the snap election despite a string of scandals. He was named last year in the "Panama Papers" worldwide tax-evasion leaks. His Independence Party won 16 seats in the 63-seat parliament. The Left Green Movement finished second with 17%.
    (AP, 10/28/17)(AFP, 10/29/17)(SFC, 10/30/17, p.A2)

2017        Nov 29, In Iceland over 400 women political leaders from around the world met for an annual summit, sponsored by the Women Political Leaders Global Forum, aimed at promoting gender equality inside and outside of the political sphere.
    (AP, 11/29/17)

2018        Jan 1, In Iceland a new law took effect requiring all companies to prove that their wage practices don't discriminate against women, in what is thought to be a global first in the effort to reduce gender pay gaps.
    (AP, 1/4/18)

2018        Apr 10, The Newport Arctic Scholars Initiative convened in Newport, Rhode Island, with representatives from the Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and the US.
    (AP, 4/10/18)

2018        Jul 27, The International Fund for Animal Welfare said the controversial hunt for minke whales in Iceland has come to end after declining profits led to the local industry closing.
    (AFP, 7/27/18)

2018        Aug 2, One of Iceland's top whaling companies said it has stopped hunting minke whales this year, in response to a new government regulation that enlarged the protected area for baleen whales.
    (AP, 8/2/18)

2018        Oct 31, Iceland's Foreign Ministry said Icelandic citizens in Britain and British citizens in Iceland will keep their residence rights after Brexit, even in the case of no deal with the European Union.
    (Reuters, 10/31/18)

2018        Dec 27, In southern Iceland an SUV carrying seven members of a British family plunged off a high bridge, killing three people and critically injuring four others.
    (AP, 12/27/18)

2019        Feb 8, Iceland's government said Britain and the so-called EEA EFTA countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, have reached an agreement on citizens' rights should Britain leave the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
    (Reuters, 2/8/19)

2019        Feb 15, US and Iceland diplomats said they have agreed to set up formal economic channels to boost trade and business investment.
    (Reuters, 2/15/19)

2019        Mar 28, Icelandic budget airline WOW Air collapsed under its financial problems, leading it to ground planes and leave passengers stranded across two continents. The airline had delivered more than a fourth of all visitors to the nation.
    (AP, 3/28/19)(SFC, 9/2/19, p.D1)

2019        Aug 18, Iceland honored the passing of Okjokull, its first glacier lost to climate change, as scientists warn that some 400 others on the subarctic island risk the same fate.
    (AFP, 8/19/19)

2019        Nov 13, Namibia's justice and fisheries ministers resigned over bribery claims involving Icelandic fishing firm Samherji.
    (Reuters, 11/13/19)

2020        Jan 17, Samherji, the Icelandic fishing company at the center of Namibia's biggest corruption scandal, announced that it is withdrawing from the southwest African nation.
    (Reuters, 1/18/20)

2020        Mar 2, Andorra, Armenia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Iceland and Indonesia confirmed their first cases of coronavirus.
    (AP, 3/2/20)

2020        Mar 13, The Icelandic government said it would ban public gatherings of 100 or more people and that secondary schools and universities would close for four weeks to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. So far, 117 cases of coronavirus infections have been confirmed in the country.
    (Reuters, 3/13/20)

2021        Mar 19, In Iceland the Fagradalsfjall volcano awoke from a slumber that has lasted about 6,000 years. A long-dormant volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland flared to life after tens of thousands of earthquakes were recorded in the area in the past three weeks. It was the area’s first volcanic eruption in nearly 800 years.
    (AP, 4/5/21)(AP, 5/15/21)

2021        Mar 25, In Iceland gym classes, happy hours and the near-normal life enjoyed so far by the people ended abruptly, when the government ordered new restrictions after detecting six coronavirus cases believed to be the variant first found in Britain. Iceland has had just 5,384 cases and 29 deaths from COVID-19, according to official figures.
    (AP, 3/25/21)

2020        Apr 28, Airline Icelandair said it would cut 2,000 jobs across its entire operation to stop the outflow of cash primarily going to salaries, as the firm struggles to keep going during the coronavirus pandemic.
    (Reuters, 4/28/20)

2020        May 4, In Iceland high schools, hair salons, dentists and other businesses began reopening after six weeks of lockdown. Iceland has confirmed 1,799 cases of the coronavirus, but just 10 people have died.
    (AP, 5/4/20)

2021        Sep 8, In Iceland the world's largest plant that sucks carbon dioxide directly from the air and deposits it underground started operating. Swiss start-up Climeworks AG, which specializes in capturing carbon dioxide directly from the air, has partnered with Icelandic carbon storage firm Carbfix to develop a plant that sucks out up to 4,000 tons of CO2 per year.
    (Reuters, 9/8/21)

2021        Nov 28, Iceland's current government coalition, consisting of three parties from the left to the right, said it has agreed to continue for another term after they bolstered their majority in a Sept 25 general election.
    (Reuters, 11/28/21)

Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Iceland
End of file