Iceland

Melanie Waldron

Description

Iceland offers complete coverage of this fascinating country, including sections on history, geography, wildlife, infrastructure and government, and culture. It also includes a detailed fact file, maps and charts, and a traceable flag.

Sujets

• Iceland
• Islande

Informations

• Publié par: Capstone Global Library
• Date de parution: 12 mars 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781406246766
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Countries Around the World Iceland

Melanie Waldron

Raintree is an imprint ofCapstone Global Library Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales having its registered office at 7 Pilgrim Street, London, EC4V 6LB – Registered company number: 6695582

Text © Capstone Global Library Limited 2012 First published in hardback in 2012 The moral rights of the proprietor have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS (www.cla.co.uk). Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission should be addressed to the publisher.

Edited by Laura Knowles Designed by Victoria Allen Original illustrations © Capstone Global Library Ltd 2012 Illustrated by Oxford Designers and Illustrators Picture research by Mica Brancic Originated by Capstone Global Library Ltd Printed and bound in China by CTPS

ISBN 978 1 406 23576 0 (hardback) 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Waldron, Melanie. Iceland. -- (Countries around the world) 949.1'206-dc22 A full catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce photographs: Alamy pp.9(© Bjarki Reyr REK), 25(© Bjarki Reyr FCR),28(© Jeremy Hoare); Corbis pp.5 (© Julian Calverley),7(© Atlantide Phototravel/Guido Cozzi), 11(© Arctic-Images),17(© Wilfried Krecichwost),22(epa/ © Justin Lane),30(© Imaginechina); iStockphoto pp.13 (© Subtik),27(© hughalison),32(© Dan Booth), Shutterstock pp.15(© Tomasz Parys),18(© Arnold van Wijk - Landscape Photographer),19(© Arto Hakola),20(© Tatonka),21 (© Ventura),29(© Petur Asgeirsson),33(© ElenaGaak),35 (© Renewer),39(© David Brynjar Sigurjonsson ),46 (© Christophe Testi).

Cover photograph of a group of climbers on the Vatnajokull Glacier, Iceland reproduced with permission of Photolibrary/ Ingram Publishing RF.

We would like to thank Daniel Block for his invaluable help in the preparation of this book.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in subsequent printings if notice is given to the publishers.

Disclaimer All the Internet addresses (URLs) given in this book were valid at the time of going to press. However, due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, some addresses may have changed, or sites may have changed or ceased to exist since publication. While the author and publisher regret any inconvenience this may cause readers, no responsibility for any such changes can be accepted by either the author or the publisher.

Contents

Introducing Iceland ................................................................................... 4 History: a young country ......................................................................... 6 Regions and resources: landscape and economy ........................12 Wildlife: a pristine environment..........................................................18 Infrastructure: running the country...................................................22 Culture: language, literature, and leisure.........................................28 Iceland today .............................................................................................34 Factfile.........................................................................................................36 Timeline .......................................................................................................40 Glossary .......................................................................................................42 Findoutmore............................................................................................44 Topic tools...................................................................................................46 Index .............................................................................................................48

Some words are printed in bold,like this. You can înd out what they mean by looking in the glossary.

4

Introducing Iceland

In early 2010, Iceland was being watched by people all over the world. Many aeroplanes could not fly because of an enormous cloud of ash that was covering the skies over northwest Europe. The ash was coming from a volcano in Iceland called Eyjafjallajökull, which was erupting. Aircraft engineers were worried that this ash could clog aeroplane engines and cause them to crash. The eruption eventually stopped in May 2010, and flights resumed as normal.

You may have heard about the ash cloud and Iceland. What else do you know about the country? Its name suggests a cold,barrencountry, covered in snow and ice. But there is so much more to Iceland.

Land of fire and ice Iceland is often called “the land of fire and ice“. Much of the country is covered by hugeice capsandglaciers, but these frozen areas are dotted with volcanoes. Many of these are active. Along the coast there are many fjordsand little islands. Most people live around the coastal areas.

Iceland is an island in northwest Europe, located in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. The United Kingdom and Norway are to the south and east and Greenland and Canada are to the west. Iceland is only slightly smaller than England, but has a very small population of just over 300,000 people. It is a beautiful island, with amazing scenery and some vast empty spaces. Icelanders live a very modern andcosmopolitanlife. There is much more to Iceland than just fire and ice!

How to say... hellohalló(HAL-low) goodbyebless(bless) I’m fromég er frá(yeg air frow) my name iség heiti(yeg HAY-it)

yes no thank you

já(yow) nei(nay) takk fyrir(TAC FEAR-ir)