Lögberg-Heimskringla - 21.11.1980, Blaðsíða 6

Lögberg-Heimskringla - 21.11.1980, Blaðsíða 6
6-WINNIPEG, FÖSTUDAGUR 21, NÓVEMBER 1980 Dr. Lárus A. Sigurdson: Iceland is different An address delivered at the annual meeting of the Icelandic Canadian Frón INTRODUCTION: Thrainn Kristjánsson on behalf of the Icelandic Canadian Frón asked me to speak to you on Iceland. This pleased me because I have a great fondness for the land and its people. Although I have been to Iceland twice, I am, of course, no authority of the country or its people. The first time I went to Iceland was in 1930 when I took my wife, Helen, with me to celebrate the 1000 years since the establishment of the Generai Assembly or Althing at Thingvellir. The second visit to Iceland was to visit the parts of the country where my ancestors lived. My mother's people came from Borgarfjörður in the South and my father's people came from Thingeyarsýsla in the North. Professor Haraldur Bessason of the University of Manitoba and editor of the Lögberg-Heimskringla asked me to write an article for the paper. I complied with the first request by reading this article to the Annual meeting of the Club and then submitted it to the paper. Þingvellir Mývatn The contrast between Iceland and other countries is very great, as is the contrast between the people of Iceland and the people of other countries. Iceland is a little island of about 40,000 square miles in the North Atlantic that touches the Arctic Circle. It is a little larger than Ireland. Iceland is a very rugged country. The northern part is so bleak that Neil Armstrong, the first astronaut to set foot on the moon, trained in the area near Mývatn with his fellow astronauts for the famous and fantastic Apollo missions. 1. THE STORY OF ICELAND Vilhjálmur Stefánsson, a great ex- plorer of the vast unknown North country of Canada was a Western Icelander. He was born near the town of Arnes about sixty-five miles north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. He gave me a book he had written named "Iceland", when I visited him in New York. In it he stated that "The Icelandic nation seems to be the only one in the world that can trace its history back to its very beginning and also through more than a thousand years". 2. THE SETTLEMENT OF ICELAND BY IRISH MONKS Before the Norse settlers arrived in Iceland there were Irish monks there who wanted peace and quiet; thus they came to Iceland to pray and meditate. They did this for many years. During this time it could be stated that the religion of Iceland was Catholic and that Christianity was practiced there. 3. THE SETTLEMENT OF ICELAND BY PAGAN VIKINGS The quiet and tranquil life of the Irish monks was rudely shaken when the pagan Norseman came to Iceland, first to explore, and then to settle. Harald the Fair-Haired was determin- ed to subdue all the viking chiefs in order to unify Norway. He broke their power but not their spirit. Many of them left Norway to settle in Iceland rather than to pay taxes on land that they onoe owned. 4. THE FIRST PARLIAMENT OF ICELAND In the year 930, the first democratic government in the world was estab- lished. Certain laws were enacted enabling the people of Iceland to be governed by themselves — not by a king or a dictator. This form of govern- ment survived for centuries. The Icelanders firmly believed that by the law the land shall be built and without the law the land shall be destroyed. 5. ICELAND AND THE LAW From earliest times the Icelanders have had a great respect for the law of the land. One of these laws was that if a man committed a murder the punish- ment, if found guilty by the Althing, was banishment for three years. If he came back within that period any citizen could put him to death. Erik the Red was found guilty of murder. He therefore chose to go west to some land that had been seen by other Icelanders. These remarkable voyages began in 982. Erik reached the land which he called Greenland and was the first man to settle and colonize it. Eighteen years later in the year 1000, Erik's son, Leif was the first European to set foot on the mainland of North America. In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered an island many miles east of America. Adultery was considered to be a capital crime in ancient times. If the man was found guilty by the Althing he was beheaded. The woman was quietly drowned in a nearby river or lake. Dancing was at-one time forbidden by law for about 110 years or three generations due to religious reasons. The metric system was studied by the government. In due course in the year 1912 it was instituted in Iceland. In Canada we are gradually adopting the metric system, but the United' States have not yet introduced the system in their land. In Iceland if a couple decide to get a divorce the process in most cases is relatively simple. They appear at the appropriate bureau of the government and state the facts. This is recorded and amicable arrangements are arriv- ed at regarding children, property and support. A certain sum of money is agreed upon to support the wife and Surtsey children. The government pays the sum to the wife regardless of whether he pays the government or not. A delinquent husband is dealt with by the bureau. In a year or so the divorce is final. Over one thousand years ago the citizens of Iceland gathered at Thingvellir to settle their differences, at which time one of the leaders would stand on Lögberg (law rock) and recite the laws of the land. This procedure was repeated annually and continued for centuries. 6. THE DARK AGES IN ICELANDIC HISTORY As in the history of other European countries, Iceland experienced many dismal events which catapulted it into what is known as the "dark ages". The decline began in 1264 when Iceland took an oath of allegiance to the Norwegian king. What began at the Althing as the first free republic in the world ceased to exist. The catalogue of woe for Iceland began 36 years after Iceland lost her freedom with a volcanic eruption in 1300 and others followed in 1308, 1311, 1341, 1389, 1618, 1619, 1625, 1636, 1660, 1693, 1727, 1755, 1783 and recently Surtsey in 1963 and Heimaey in 1973. There were deadly epidemics, famines and death in 1300, 1301 and 1502 when two-thirds of the popula- tion perished and in 1707 when smallpox killed one third of the population. ^ There were earthquakes in 1300 and 1732, as well as in the 20th century. English pirates plundered the Vestf- jords in 1579 and Algerian pirates pillaged the Eastfjords and the West- mann Islands in 1627. Norway and Iceland united with Denmark in the year 1380. As Den- mark gained control of Iceland, the Icelandic chieftains were replaced by royal officials. The Althing was retain- ed as a court of law with judges chosen by the royal officials. However, its power began to wane considerably when in 1662 Iceland accepted the ab- solute monarchy of Denmark which had been introduced two years before. Things began to look brighter in 1787 with the partial lifting of the Danish monopoly, but the Althing was abolished 13 years later. The supreme court of law took its place. In 1843, the Althing was reinstituted in the capital city of Reykjavik. However it was limited in that it was vested with only advisory powers and only a few privileged owners of property were elected to office. Although Norway withdrew from Danish control in 1814, Iceland remained under Danish rule and did not become completely in- dependent until June 17, 1944. Two years later, Iceland became a member of the United Nations. The Dark Ages lasted 300 years for the Europeans, but for a full 600 years for the Icelanders. They began in 1264 when Iceland lost its independence and ended in 1944 when independence was regained. 7. TRANSPORTATION The Norsemen and others that settl- continued on page 7

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