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geography Iceland

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The Republic of Iceland is located in the northen part of Europe, and comprises of the island of Iceland and several iselets set in the North Atlantic Ocean. Iceland has an area of 103 000 square kilometers and is among the least populated countries in the Nordic region. Its capital and largest city is Reykjavik. In year 2007, Iceland was proclaimed the most developed country in the world. It has rich cultural heritage and mixed economy which relies on fishing, finance and service and various industry sectors. Today Iceand is a member of the United Nations, NATO, EFTA, and EEA but is not part of the European Union.

Being a volcanically and geologically active, Iceland has a diverse landscape including a plateau of mountains, glaciers and sand fileds, plus many glacial rivers ang geysers. The most powerful waterfall in Europe is called Dettifoss and is set in the northeastern part of the country. The country is set south of the Arctic Circle and is neighboring Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Thanks to its cultural heritage, linguistic similarities and historical past, Iceland is considered part of the Scandinavia region and the European continent; despite the fact that geologically it belongs to North America as well. The closest distance between Iceland and the continental Europe is 970 km to Norway. Iceland is the second largest European island after Great Britain. More than 60 % of its territory is considered wasteland, while 14 % are covered by glaciers and lakes. Iceland has four enormous national parks.

The large coastline is covered by many fjords and it s here that most of the Iceland settlements are located, as the highlands of Iceland are occupied by sands and mountains. The major Icelandic towns include the capital Reykjavik, Kopavogur, Hafnarfjordur and Reykjanesbaer where is set the international airport of the country. The climate of Iceland is greatly influenced by the Gulf Stream, which makes it temperate in most parts and cold oceanic around the coast. The winter months here are windly and mild, while the summers are cool and usually damp. The coldest area in the country is at the Central Highlands.

Iceland has scarce flora and fauna as the last ice age happened only 10 000 years ago and that short period did not allow the plants and the animals to come or evolve locally. In Iceland could be found 1300 species of insects and arctic foxes, Iceland sheeps and cattle as well as Icelandic horses. Also found are many varieties of fish, rabbits, mice, sea birds. Polar bears visited the island on icebergs before and after the 1900s. The flora consists greatly of grassland and the northern birches.