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Hobby Forum Index » Arts - Books - Reviews » Book Review - The History of Iceland
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| Danny Yee |
 Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2003 9:05 pm |
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The History of Iceland
Gunnar Karlsson
University of Minnesota Press 2000
418 pages, bibliography, index
A book review by Danny Yee
http://dannyreviews.com/h/Iceland.html
"Most general surveys of Icelandic history in English are unfortunately
either old and dated or written for tourists in a way that will inevitably
seem superficial." So writes Gunnar Karlsson in the brief introduction
to his own _History of Iceland_, which fortunately for us fills the
gap admirably. It is a professional work, with references, but it is
accessible, never dry or dull, and structured so readers can easily find
or skip particular topics.
_The History of Iceland_ is divided chronologically into four parts,
within which short chapters focus on particular topics. Gunnar neatly
mixes political, social, cultural, and economic history, with some
glances at historiography. And he drops into first person occasionally,
sometimes in the plural to reflect an Icelandic viewpoint on events,
sometimes in the singular for a personal note.
Part I covers medieval Iceland. Gunnar describes the colonization
of Iceland, the constitution of the Icelandic Commonwealth, and its
attempts to manage honour, revenge and feud through a legal system with
no executive -- and then the increasing concentration of power and levels
of violence, leading to the 1262 treaty by which Iceland was annexed
to the kingdom of Norway. Other topics covered include the adoption of
Christianity (associated with a specific decision of the Althing -- the
assembly -- in 1000), the development of a separate Icelandic identity,
the settlement of Greenland and voyages to North America, and demographics
and resources. And there's room for a brief discussion of poetry and
sagas and their use as sources.
Covering more than five hundred years, part II runs down to 1800. Much of
it is concerned with foreign affairs: the Norwegian North Atlantic
kingdom and the union with a more continentally focused Denmark, the
introduction of absolutism, the dominance of British and then German
merchants, followed by the restriction of trade to Danish citizens.
The Church succeeded in taking control of churches from local landowners
in the 13th century, but the 16th century Reformation saw it lose most
of its income and its judicial power.
Fishing was economically important, but society was dominated by a landed
elite, which also provided the officials; there were however no hard
social barriers. The use of Icelandic as a church vernacular was a key
factor in preserving the language. There was something of a cultural
renaissance towards the end of the period, with broad home-schooling and
mass literacy. But urbanisation was very limited: "In the 1801 census
the Reykjavik which was about to become the administrative centre of
Iceland had 307 inhabitants".
Much of the period seems like a chronicle of disasters. Near the
beginning and end of the 15th century, outbreaks of pneumonic plague
killed around half the population. The 17th century saw a "Turkish"
slave raid and witch-hunts (whose victims were almost all men). And in
the 18th century came a smallpox epidemic, then famines in mid-century
and again around 1784 following a catastrophic volcanic eruption.
"[I]t is not easy to abandon the idea that Icelandic society
degenerated in fairly general terms from the early settlement
until the 18th century. There are objective indications that
the material standard of living fell considerably."
Evidence for this comes from both demographic analysis and climate
statistics.
Part III chronicles Iceland's century-long search for independence.
Gunnar uses the brief "rule" of a British adventurer in 1809 to illustrate
the lack of any kind of national consciousness: "the Icelanders of the
early 19th century offer a good example of a people with a clear ethnic
identity but no sense of political nationalism". But new currents brought
Romanticism and a national awakening, Jón Sigurđsson was an effective
leader, and steady progress followed: the Althing was revived in 1843,
Denmark itself became a constitutional monarchy in 1848, and Iceland
gained legislative powers in 1874. Debates over the form -- and symbols
-- of Home Rule continued until independence in 1918. There was a steady
extension of the franchise through the period, and a women's rights
movement from the 1880s, leading to a near-universal franchise in 1911.
There was general economic growth in the first half of the 19th century,
but an outbreak of sheep scab and lower temperatures caused a rural
crisis around 1859. "[A]pproximately 17,000 Icelanders emigrated
to America in the period 1870-1914", perhaps 15% of the population.
The rise of the cooperative movement, "together with the growth of the
fishing villages in the age of decked vessels, brought the bulk of foreign
trade in Iceland into the hands of Icelanders". But standards of living
remained low, and domestic servants faced challenges in starting families.
Icelanders remained largely reliant on home- and self-education, with
state-run schooling a relatively late arrival.
Part IV continues down to the present. The first half of the 20th
century saw an industrial revolution in fishing, general modernization,
the rise of working-class movements, and the Depression. The Second
World War ended the latter, but led to occupation first by Britain and
then the United States, with the US base at Keflavik an ongoing issue.
And in 1944 Iceland became a republic, severing the last formal ties to
the Danish monarchy.
The post-war period saw the development of a welfare state, conflict
with Britain over the extension of fishing limits (the Cod Wars), and a
struggle to control inflation, which ran at around 35% from 1970 to 1990.
Gunnar gives a brief history of party politics during the period, in which
he locates Iceland's four main political parties -- the People's Alliance,
the Progressive Party, the Labour Party, and the Independence Party --
on a two-dimensional grid, with an isolation-integration axis as well
as a left-right one.
Gunnar concludes with a chapter weighing up the importance of Iceland's
literary heritage in shaping its national self-image and political
history, touching on Halldór Laxness and Iceland's purist language policy.
That is perhaps a topic most likely to interest Icelanders, but there's
plenty in Icelandic history even for outsiders with no previous knowledge
of the country. Iceland's isolated position on the extreme edge of
Europe, for example, makes it an obvious choice for comparative history.
--
%T The History of Iceland
%A Gunnar Karlsson
%I University of Minnesota Press
%C Minneapolis
%D 2000
%O paperback, bibliography, index
%G ISBN 0-8166-3589-7
%P xii,418pp
%K Iceland, history
%Z from settlement to the present
20 July 2003
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Copyright (c) 2003 Danny Yee http://danny.oz.au/
Danny Yee's Book Reviews http://dannyreviews.com/
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