Cultural Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cultural Analysis - Essay Example Government statistics of Iceland note that 94 percent of the inhabitants of Iceland live in the urban regions whereas up to 63 percent are the residents of the Reykjavik metropolitan area ("People"). The history of Iceland can be understood to be based on survival prosperity. Iceland was discovered by the Scandinavian sailors around the mid-ninth century. The first settler arrived in Iceland in 874. Landnà ¡mabà ³k, the book of settlements, compiled in the 12th century contains information about the initial 400 settlers in Iceland. A famous story set down there is that Floki, a Norse Viking made a voyage to Iceland but he spent all his time and energy on fishing and hunting and thus could not lay up any hay for the livestock, because of which they died during the winters, thus giving the land its name as Iceland. Icelandic history is shaped by the Norsemen settlers from the British Isles, Celts, and Scandinavia around the 9th and 10th centuries and is significantly shaped by the events occurring on the Nordic Countries larger political stage (â€Å"History†). Christianity was adopted in Iceland around the year 1000 (â€Å"History†). Nearly 33 per cent Icelanders were wiped out during the Black Plague infection in 1402. In 1940, the British Troops occupied Iceland. The Republic of Iceland was formally established in 1944 (â€Å"History†). The Icelandic language has remained almost the same since the 12th century and its similar to the Old Norse language. Letters of the Icelandic alphabet are not recognized in the modern English. For example, Þ is an Icelandic alphabet that is pronounced as "th". The most prominent religion in Iceland is Christianity. This is evident from the fact that the population following the Lutheran Church in Iceland is 80.7 per cent, those following the Roman Catholic Church make 2.5 per cent of the total, and other populations include â€Å"Free Church 2.4%,