Iceland's population and 259,577 most of these people are of Scandinavian and Celtic origin. Because Icelanders are descendants of Vikings they are some of the tallest people on earth. Most of the people live in cities and towns after the 1940's. Iceland's language is Icelandic, which is the language the Vikings used that first settled there and this language is still unchanged after 1000 years. Iceland has reilgous just freedom but 93 percent are evangelical Lutherans. Iceland's mythology and history comes from epic poems written in medieval ages.And what about Viking cuisine? Well, it's still here, too, and in the month of February you can find it in almost every restaurant. This goes back to an old feast the Vikings used to hold to celebrate the last weeks of winter. The two main delicacies are not for faint-hearted. One is a shark that has been rotting in the ground for four months, the other is ram testicles. One of the most breathtaking images to emerge from Iceland in the last quarter century is that of an Icelandic Coast Guard vessel defiantly shadowing a British warship, during the Cold War of 1976. At the time, the two countries were involved in a territorial dispute over fishing rights, and the photograph became a symbol of resistance against British encroachment on the island's main industry. It is all the more extraordinary when one takes into consideration that Iceland has no standing army. Few societies exhibit such national pride. In fact, Icelanders have a reputation of being passionately defensive when people criticize their country, a trait that a few local philosophers and psychologists humorously call a national inferiority complex. The truth is that Icelanders have many reasons to be proud. They have a strong cultural heritage, and people here have achieved a remarkable quality of life. Crime is practically nonexistent, and Icelanders currently have the longest life expectancy on the planet. Visitors to the c...
