I was sitting around witha couple of friends, one form ENgland, one form Northern Irela d and one from Belgium. I asked whether they thought of Iceland as part of Europe and the two from the UK said No and even seemed surprised that I had to ask. The one from Belgium was quite emphatic, that yes, it was. So is it or isn’t it?
I know Iceland is in considered part of UEFA the European Football association, but so is Israel, which clearly is not Europe. Iceland is not part of the European Union but several European countries are not, so…
I’m wondering the same, and once asked about it (on another board) but could got only unconclusive answers. I suspect there’s no clear-cut definition of what europe is exactly. I hope there will be some enlightened responses, though.
What are you talking about? It’s Northwest Europe. If not, it’s certainly never anywhere near a thousand miles of any part of Asia, whether minor or otherwise, it’s near the Arctic circle ffs. Jeez.
Iceland is in most aspects European and most Icelanders feel Icelanders first, Scandinavian second and European third. A bit of trivia: Iceland is torn by as much as 7cm every year between the American raft and the NW European. Buy a hektar now, on the faultline and watch it grow.
We are also more American in many aspects than most European countries. American produce is more visible here than in the rest of Europe. The US has a base here and american culture permeates the whole island. Our “sister” nations are Norway, færoyar and Denmark, then Sweden and finland.
Socioculturally, and politically, European. Scandinavian. And way
Geologically, though, it’s not part of the continent of Europe, it’s a large mid-oceanic “hotspot” island, arising out of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge’s volcanic activity.
As to the Caucasus, Armenia is historically considered a SWAsian nation.
I’m American and lived in Germany for a year as a student. Not on a US base. I’ve visited Iceland twice. I find Iceland more European than North American. Why? It’s the toilets and urinals. The bedding in the beds. The foods served at meals. The high gasoline prices. The lack of English words used in everyday language - you Icelanders should be proud of that. I find too much everyday English creeping into German usage. International symbol traffic signs used on the highways. Strong coffee. Small cars. And my favorite souvenir - the Icelandic phonebook. Probably the only phonebook in the world where you look someone up by their first name. You read that right; you look someone up in the book by their first name. Guess that’s kinda American because I worked with some Germans for weeks before I learned their first name.
I returned to Germany in 2002 via Iceland. Iceland provided the passport control for Germany, stamping my passport with the European ring of stars with IS in the middle. Upon arrival at Frankfurt, there was no passport control just customs. The return home was the same. Passport was stamped again in Iceland not Germany providing proof I’d departed the something agreement nations.
On the American side, Iceland does have a shopping mall or two - very American.
Icelandair has some great deals from North America especially from October to March. Check them out on the web, buy a package, and see for yourself.
Island is a Nordic country, NOT Scandinavian. There are four Nordic countries: Iceland, Findland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. On the last three are Scandinavian.
Let’s put it this way: if Iceland were to be considered part of America, the 9th century discovery of Iceland would have to be considered the European discovery of America, and I for one have never seen this stated anywhere.
Traditionally, the Caucasus Mountains are considered the boundary between Europe and Asia in that region. Georgia, Armenia, and most of Azerbaijan are south of the Caucasus (“Transcaucasian”) and thus technically Asian. (A small part of Azerbaijan is in Europe.)
Otherwise the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia is through the Black Sea (and its outlet to the Mediterranean), the Caspian Sea, and along the line of the Ural River and Ural Mountains.
Actually, though, the ridge splits Iceland roughly in half between the North-American and Eurasian continents. So I guess everyone wins. We are European through and through, mixed norse and celtic blood.
No, it took us just over 100 years to discover America, around 985 A.D. The first child of European descendant born in America was Snorri Thorfinnson in 1003, the son of explorers Thorfinnur Karlsefni and Gudrun Thorbjornsdottir. The discovery of Iceland is not considered the European discovery of America but the two do go hand in hand.
In yet another nitpick, Finland isn’t a nordic country. Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic are all very similar languages, and are more distantly related to German and English. But Finnish is a non-Indo-European language completely unrelated to the other Scandinavian languages. It is related to Estonian and very distantly to Hungarian and some other minority languages spoken in Russia.
There two schools of thought regarding the boundary between Europe and Asia in the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. By one definition the boudary is the Caucasus main mountain range, by the other it is the Manych basin, which is significantly north of the Caucasus mountains.
I don´t know what the traditional definition is, but I was taught in school it´s the Manych basin, and it still seems to be the “official” definition in Austrian geograhpy schoolbooks.
Also depending on which convention you use, the highest mountain in Europe is either Mont Blanc or Mt. Elbrus. The “boundary” between Europe and Asia is somewhat arbitrary anyway, but I personally think using a mountain range makes more sense geographically.
