The White Falcon - 05.12.1986, Side 8

Iceland Entertainment
Compiled from News From Iceland
Films
There are eight cinemas in Reykjavik, showing a
total of about 20 films per day. There's always a
good choice of films; most are American, but
several European films are invariably playing as
well as an Icelandic film or two. Films are shown
in their original languages with Icelandic subtitles.
The local newspapers print a schedule of the
movie theaters selections every day.
Nightspots
Artun, Vagnhofdi 11, Reykjavik. Old-style
dancing to live music, Friday and Saturday nights to
3 a.m.
Broadway, Alfabakki 2, Reykjavik. Live music,
discotheque, floorshows.
Glaesibaer, Alfheimar 74, Reykjavik. Live
music and disco. Open Friday and Saturday until 3
a.m. Olverbar open 11:30 a. m. to 3 p. m. daily
and 6 p.m. to 3 a. m. Friday and Saturday.
Hotel Esja, Sudurlandsbraut 2, Reykjavik.
Skalafel! penthouse bar open every evening.
Fashion shows on Thursdays, live music at
weekends.
Hotel Saga, Hagatorg, Reykjavik, Sulnasalur
ballroom: Dancing on weekends.
Evropa, Borgartun 52,Reykjavik. Live music
and disco. Open Thursday 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.,
Friday and Saturday 10:30 p. m. to 3 a. m.
Kreml, Austurvollur Square. Discotheque,
open every evening.
Leikhuskjallarinn, The National Theater
(basement). Dancing to live music Friday and
Saturday evenings unitl 3 a.m.
Roxzy, Skulagata 30, Reykjavik. Live music,
disco. Open weekends until 3 a. m.
Sigtun, Sudurlandsbraut 26, Reykjavik. Live
music, disco. Open Friday and Saturday evenings
until 3 a.m.
Thorscafe, Brautarholt 20, Reykjavik. Open
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings until 3
a.m. Live music, disco, and entertainment.
Iceland's population struggled to survive natural hazards
No one knows for certain what the size of Iceland's
population was during the first 800 years after
settlement.
Landnamabok (Book of Settlements) gives the
oldest estimate of the population, but the records
are incomplete. Another old record, Islendingabok
(Book of Icelanders) said the population was 4,500 in
1095. The count was made as a prelude to taxing and
consisted paying "assembly-attendance dues'.
Another count, made in 1311, gives a total of less
than 4,000, but it is hard to compare this figure to
the older one because of changed farming and fiscal
conditions.
Population estimates vary a great deal. Some
authors thought it was more than 100,000 in the
twelfth to fourteenth centuries, but today the
estimates are lower, at 60-80,000.
Years are sometimes named after epidemics or
other calamities, with short explanations added.
Icelandic annals show how the population fluctuated.
There was a steady increase in the population during
the first few centuries with famine and epidemics
becoming more frequent around 1200.
By the thirteenth century, deteriorating climate
and over-exploitation were taking their toll on
vegetation, making the country less able to feed the
population. Famine was inevitable whenever the hay
crop or fish catch failed. People seemed to become
less resistant to epidemic diseases, of which small-
pox and the bubonic plague were the worst. Smallpox
usually raged once a generation, but the plague
visited Iceland only twice, in 1402-04 and again in
1445. In the first reported cases, the plagues was
reported to have taken a bigger toll than any other
epidemic in Iceland's history.
Around 1700, economic conditions became bad. A
committee of two prominent Icelanders was appointed
by the Danish king to look into the economic situation
and find ways to improve it. Part of their task, a
census, was carried out in 1703. It was one of the
first in the world, and the entire census survives to
modern times. The population in 1703 was 50,358.
Not long after that, the worst smallpox epidemic in
Iceland's history killed 18,000 people in 1707-09,
leaving a population of 34,000. This is considered to
be the smallest number of people after the tenth or
eleventh century. The population didn't go above
50,000 again until the nineteenth century.
Annual figures show two more periods of
considerable decline during the eighteenth century.
During the last one, 1783-86, more than 10,000
people died or famine, which resulted from one or
Iceland's most violent eruptions.
The population once again exceeded 50,000 in
1823. It doubled in 102 years, reaching 100,000 in
1925, and in 1967 it doubled once more to 200,000.
Iceland's present population is estimated to be
240,000.
Editor's note: This article was compiled from
'Iceland 1986, Handbook' published by the Central
Bank of Iceland.
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The White Falcon