Portal:Iceland/Selected article

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Surtsey, sixteen days after the onset of the eruption.
Surtsey (Icelandic: "Surtur's island") is a volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland. At 63.30° N 20.62° W it is also the southernmost point of Iceland. It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began 130 metres below sea level, and reached the surface on 14 November 1963. The eruption may have started a few days earlier and lasted until 5 June 1967, when the island reached its maximum size of 2.7 km². Since then, wind and wave erosion has seen the island steadily diminish in size: as of 2005 it is only 1.4 km² in size.

The new island was named after the fire giant Surtur from Norse mythology, and was intensively studied by volcanologists during its creation and, since the end of the eruption, has been of great interest to botanists and biologists as life has gradually colonised the originally barren island. The undersea vents that produced Surtsey are part of the Vestmannaeyjar (Westmann Isles) submarine volcanic system, part of the fissure of the sea floor called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Vestmannaeyjar also produced the famous eruption of Eldfell on the island of Heimaey in 1973. The eruption that created Surtsey also created a few other small islands along this volcanic chain, such as Jolnir and other unnamed peaks. Most of these eroded away fairly quickly.

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The pond in Reykjavík.
Reykjavík is the capital of Iceland, its largest city, and the world's most northern national capital (its latitude being 64°08' N, not far from the Arctic Circle). It receives only four hours of daylight per day in the depth of winter, and during the summer the nights are almost as bright as the days.

Reykjavík is located in southwest Iceland at the shores of Faxaflói bay. The Reykjavík area coastline is characterized by peninsulas, coves, straits and islands. The population of Reykjavík in 2005 was 114,800, the combined population of the Greater Reykjavík Area being about 190,000.

The first permanent settlement in Iceland by Nordic people is believed to have been established in Reykjavík by Ingólfur Arnarson around AD 870; this is described in Landnámabók, or the Book of Settlement. Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have decided the location of his settlement using a traditional viking method; by dumping his high seat pillars, Öndvegissúlur, in the ocean when he saw the coastline and then settled where the pillars came to shore. Steam from hot springs in the region is supposed to have inspired Reykjavík's name, as Reykjavík translates to "Bay of Smokes".

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19th-century rendering of the Law Rock in Þingvellir.
The Althing is the national parliament: literally, the "all-thing" of Iceland. It was founded in 930 at Þingvellir, (the "assembly fields" or "Parliament Plains"), situated some 45 km east of what would later become the country's capital, Reykjavík, and this event marked the beginning of the Icelandic Commonwealth. Even after Iceland's union with Norway, the Althing still held its sessions at Þingvellir until 1799, when it was discontinued for some decades. It was restored in 1844 and moved to Reykjavík, where it has resided ever since. The present parliament building, the Alþingishús, was built in 1881, of hewn Icelandic stone.

The constitution of Iceland provides for six electoral constituencies with the possibility of an increase to seven. The constituency boundaries are fixed by legislation. Each constituency elects nine members. In addition, each party is allocated seats based on its proportion of the overall national vote in order that the number of members in parliament for each political party should be more or less proportional to its overall electoral support. A party must have won at least five percent of the national vote in order to be eligible for these proportionally distributed seats. Political participation in Iceland is very high: usually over 85 per cent of the electorate casts a ballot (87.7% in 2003). The current president of the Althing is Sólveig Pétursdóttir.

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Nominations

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