Historical Dictionary of Iceland (3rd edition)

Iceland is the most detached part of Europe: stuck out in the middle of the Atlantic half-way between Norway and Canada, perched up near the edge of the Arctic Circle. It is demographically one of the smallest European countries, with less than a third of a million inhabitants. It seldom features in the international news – a long-drawn-out squabble with Britain over Cod which finished in the 1970s with a British defeat, a spectacular failure of its grossly over-expanded banks in 2008 (also ending to Britain’s disadvantage), and some disruptions to air traffic due to volcanic ash clouds, more or...