Icelandic Independence Movement

The Icelandic Independence movement (Icelandic: Sjálfstæðisbarátta Íslendinga) was the collective effort made by Icelanders to achieve self-determination and independence from the Kingdom of Denmark throughout the 19th and early 20th century.

Iceland received a constitution and limited home rule in 1874. A minister for Icelandic affairs was appointed to the Danish cabinet in 1904. Full independence was granted in 1918 through the Danish-Icelandic Act of Union. This was followed by the severance of all ties to Denmark with the declaration of the republic in 1944.

Through the signing of the Old Covenant in 1262, following the civil strife of the Age of the Sturlungs, Icelanders had relinquished sovereignty to Haakon IV, King of Norway. Iceland remained under Norwegian kingship until 1380, when the death of Olav IV of Norway extinguished the Norwegian male royal line. Norway (and thus Iceland) then became part of the Kalmar Union with Sweden and Denmark, in which Denmark was the dominant power.

Unlike Norway, Denmark did not need Iceland's fish and homespun wool. This created a dramatic deficit in Iceland's trade, and as a result, no new ships for continental trading were built. In the ensuing centuries, Iceland became one of the poorest countries of Europe.

While attempts have been made to find evidence of pre-19th century nationalist sentiments, not much comprehensive evidence has been found of nationalism as we understand it today.

Around the middle of the 19th century a new national consciousness was revived in Iceland, led by Danish-educated Icelandic intellectuals who had been inspired by romantic and nationalist ideas from continental Europe. The most notable of these were the so-called Fjölnismenn—poets and writers for the journal Fjölnir— Brynjólfur Pétursson, Jónas Hallgrímsson, Konráð Gíslason and Tómas Sæmundsson.

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