This Little Country surprised the whole world - seditious facts about Iceland

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

How much does an official and a cleaning lady get in Iceland? How did a small but proud island rebel against bank slavery? Why is there not a single McDonald's in Iceland? We will answer these and many other questions in this seditious issue.

Iceland is one of the most mesmerizing places on earth. It is the largest island in the world, where millennial ice meets the heat of volcanoes. There are real natural monuments on the territory of the country: huge waterfalls, geysers, ice blocks that go under the water. To put it simply, one part of the country is covered with lava fields and the other with ice.

The population of the entire island is comparable to a provincial Russian city, for example, Saransk, and does not even reach Penza. In general, there are fewer inhabitants in Iceland than sheep: 350 thousand people - a hundred thousand more sheep. Small Icelandic horses are bred to collect sheep, and it is forbidden to import horses into Iceland, even if it is a horse taken from the island itself. Because local horses are not immune to a number of diseases that can be easily imported from the mainland.

The capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, is the northernmost capital in the world, but the temperature here is 0.2 degrees higher than in New York, thanks to the action of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. In 2010, comedian Jon Gnarr was elected mayor of Reykjavik, who approached the campaign with humor. One of his promises was not to keep a single promise. Such a program could not fail to inspire the confidence of the electorate.

Ancient sagas are part of the local culture. The Icelandic language, even after several centuries, remained close to the original version and practically did not change. Modern Icelanders can easily read the first book written in their native language - the Bible of 1500.

But it will be much more difficult to read the surname of a friend in the address book, because in Iceland … there are no surnames! Instead of surnames, here are patronymics. They can be compared with our patronymic. The particle "sleep" is added to the name of the father, that is, the son, or "dottir" if it is a daughter. In the event that the father does not recognize the child, he receives a matronym as a surname - the same patronymic, but by the mother's name. The names of the children are chosen only from the list approved by the state committee. With such a small number of people in the country, there is a real possibility of incest. Therefore, Iceland has a special application that allows you to find out the degree of relationship with any person.

What else is not in Iceland, besides surnames? This country does not have an army, air force or navy, while it is a member of NATO. Of all the law enforcement agencies, the most influential is the Coast Guard. In the history of the country there was only one "war" - with England. It was called WAR of COD, that is, the war of cod. It was a disagreement in the 70s over the area where you can fish.