Iceland

Iceland is an island nation located at the confluence of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. The island was first settled by the Norse in the 9th century.

Iceland became a possession of the Norwegian crown in 1262, and joined with Norway in the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Sweden in 1380, with Denmark as the dominant member. Denmark imposed stringent trade restrictons on Iceland in the 17th and 18th centuries, in line with the mercantilist trade theories of the time. The eruption of the Laki volcano in 1783 killed up to 80% of the country's livestock, and in the famine that followed a quarter of the human population died.

Iceland's climate continued to decline in the 19th century, and there was a steady stream of emigrants to other countries. This outmigration reversed temporarily in the 1880s, when there was a sudden influx of Germans fleeing the disorders of the Bloody Eighties.

After the outbreak of the Global War, Icelandic Premier Olaf Henderson signed a mutual defense pact with the Confederation of North America in January 1940. This defense pact allowed Governor-General Bruce Hogg to provide covert military aid to Great Britain, as North American military personnel disguised as Icelandic fishermen "stole" North American military equipment, terramobiles, aquamobiles, and airmobiles and brought them on board waiting British ships.

Iceland's political affiliation with the rest of Scandinavia is unknown. Iceland has its own head of government and legislature, but it is unknown whether the head of state is a Scandinavian monarch or a ceremonial Icelandic president. Iceland does not have an entry in Sobel's index.

In For All Nails, Iceland is part of a Scandinavian confederation.