Iceland is halfway on the Eurasian Plate, and halfway on the North American Plate. In my youth, my dad had taught me how Greenland and Iceland were colonized by "Vikings who deliberately switched the correct names to attract settlers." Since then, I had assumed Iceland was part of the Americas, with the whole colonizing thing and all. Gradually, I lumped it and Greenland into Europe. However, Greenland is in the Americas, but Iceland isn't. Was this decided during WWII when Iceland became independent and wanted to be involved with Europe?
Who Decided Iceland was in Europe?
- Thread starter Plumber
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I have never thought of it as part of the Americas and do not know of any sources that ever did...
I think it's mostly a historical/cultural phenomenon, not unlike the idea that Europe is a continent separate from the rest of Eurasia. I'd say the ambiguity is less with Iceland and actually with Greenland, which was once even part of the European Union but withdrew after fishing disputes. While Iceland and Greenland were both colonized by Norse settlers in the Middle Ages, Iceland never fell out contact with the rest of Europe and has always been assumed part of it. Greenland needed to be "rediscovered" at the same time the colonization of the rest of the New World was going on.
There's also the factor that the majority of Greenland's modern population descends from Inuits, who are also indigenous to Canada and Alaska, but this factor is less problematic when you consider that Yupik people live in both Alaska (North America) and the Russian Far East (Asia).
There's also the factor that the majority of Greenland's modern population descends from Inuits, who are also indigenous to Canada and Alaska, but this factor is less problematic when you consider that Yupik people live in both Alaska (North America) and the Russian Far East (Asia).
It's historical/cultural, and a tad political; like Armenia and Cyprus are considered at least somewhat European.
Also, you'd have to consider that Iceland was quite well-known many Europeans years before folks even thought up the possibility of there being another continent to the west.
Also, you'd have to consider that Iceland was quite well-known many Europeans years before folks even thought up the possibility of there being another continent to the west.
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Cook
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This seems to be one of those dodgy stories that develop later. Greenland really was green at the time of Norse settlement, at least the southern part they settled in was.
Hmmm because of the Medieval Warm Period?
Thank you for destroying my vision of the world
Hmmm because of the Medieval Warm Period?
Thank you for destroying my vision of the world
Don't take it so hard Plumber. I heard the same story; quite the marketing strategy. "To encourage settlement here we'll call it Greenland and to discourage settlement there we'll call it Iceland."
Yep, and that's probably what happened in reality. There may have been a Medieval Warm Period, true, but I seriously doubt that Greenland really was green at any point during that time.
Not all of it but there is quite a lot of evidence that the southern coast was quite hospitable before the cold period started in the middle ages.
As to the original question I believe the most important reason why Iceland is not considered part of the New World is that it there was constant contact between it and Europe since it was settled, well before the Age of Discovery.
read Jared Diamond's book "Collapse", it goes into detail on conditions. Greenland remained primarily covered in ice cap throughout history, but during the Medieval Warm Period sizeable areas were suitable for agriculture and diary farming.
And then the climate changed back....
wasn't Iceland settled and (presumably) named long before the Norse even knew that Greenland existed? I think the whole 'Greenland' thing was Eirik the Red's fault; he named it that, but I think Iceland was already named and settled before he did.
IIRC, yes and no... the Inuit were in Greenland before the Norse, but they had left the southern parts of it; the warmed up climate didn't suit their way of life. Later, the Norse reported finding signs of them, although the people were gone. And even later, the Inuit came back when the climate went cold again...
maybe it wasn't the 'Inuit by name' people, but they lived in pretty much the same way...
You know, technically, while it lays across two tectonic plates, does that really mean it's a part of either continent? There are parts of Asia on the North American plate too, and parts of North America lay on the Pacific Plate.
I would say that it's part of neither, since it doesn't share a continental shelf with either. Greenland, however, clearly shares a continental shelf with North America.
IIRC those were Dorset culture people. But the Inuit settlement seems to have been the first significant American foothold Greenland. Not sure if either were there "first" as far as we know, but they met in the course of expanding their respective spheres.
A significant chunk of Japan is on the North American plate.
It is never normally said to be in the Americas though, it is Asia all the way.
The way humans define geography has little to do with plate tectonics. Due the way plates define geography the names of plates and continents often match up but the plates are very much behind the scenes actors.
It is never normally said to be in the Americas though, it is Asia all the way.
The way humans define geography has little to do with plate tectonics. Due the way plates define geography the names of plates and continents often match up but the plates are very much behind the scenes actors.
Iceland is part of Europe culturally. It's medieval literature preserved the heritage of pagan Northern Europe; it generated Christian writings; it produced prose sagas, amounting to novels, hundreds of years before the modern novel emerged. Most of this literature was not well known to the English-speaking and continental European world until the 19th century when it was "rediscovered" along with Beowulf, the Kalevala songs and the Mabinogian, along with other medieval works. But the literature of medieval Iceland is alone enough to qualify Iceland as a "European" territory. Oh, and the Icelandic language--European too.