Settlement
The first known permanent Norse settler was Ingólfur Arnarson, who built his homestead in present-day Reykjavík in the year 874. Ingólfr was followed by many other emigrant settlers, largely Norsemen and their thralls, many of whom were Irish or Scottish. By 930, most arable land had been claimed and the Althing, a legislative and judiciary parliament, was initiated to regulate the Icelandic Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted until the 13th century, when the political system devised by the original settlers proved unable to cope with the increasing power of Icelandic chieftains.
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Middle ages agesThe internal struggles and civil strife of the Sturlung Era led to the signing of the Old Covenant in 1262, which ended the Commonwealth and brought Iceland under the Norwegian crown. Possession of Iceland passed to Denmark-Norway around 1380, when the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark and Sweden were united in the Kalmar Union.
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The kingdom of IcelandThe Danish-Icelandic Act of Union, an agreement with Denmark signed on 1 December 1918 and valid for 25 years, recognized Iceland as a fully sovereign state in a personal union with Denmark. The Government of Iceland established an embassy in Copenhagen and requested that Denmark should handle Icelandic foreign policy; Danish embassies around the world would display two coats of arms and two flags: those of the Kingdom of Denmark and those of the Kingdom of Iceland.
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The republicOn 31 December 1943, the Danish-Icelandic Act of Union expired after 25 years. Beginning on 20 May 1944, Icelanders voted in a four day plebiscite on whether to terminate the personal union with Denmark, abolish the monarchy, and establish a republic. The vote was 97% in favor of ending the union and 95% in favor of the new republican constitution. Iceland formally became a republic on 17 June 1944, with Sveinn Björnsson as its first president.
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Sources:
www.arnatofaun.is/page/the_origins_of_the_icelanders
www.allscandinavia.com/foundersoficeland.htm
www.allscandinavia.com/foundersoficeland.htm