Wow, thank you for your thorough answer Alda! I have never thought of it this way, but what you are saying makes a lot of sense. We were exploited here in Norway too, under the Danish rule (400 years of darkness). We were robbed of our resources, but most of all, I think, our language and identity. It was for instance not allowed to write in Norwegian, everything was in Danish, everything published was in Danish, for centuries. So we lost a lot of our Norse heritage. But we weren't exploited to the same degree as you describe, at least not as many of us. And we got out of it earlier than Iceland did. We were handed over to the swedes in 1814 as part of the war profit after the Napoleon war, and in that deal we were handed over and even though we were placed under the Swedish king instead of the Danish king, we were allowed to have our own constitution and some level of independence. We didn't get full independence until 1905. And I think you can still see effects of this even today. So I think you're right! It is sad, that it takes so long to recover from all of this. But very interesting, thanks again!
I love Akureyri! My last visit to Iceland was spent mostly there. It was at the end of February. Decided to take the "bus" (it was a van, which also had mail and parcels) to Husavik for the day.
Now, I've had many professional driving jobs - buses, taxis, trucks, etc., and I grew up with snowy roads in Michigan. After watching the driver speeding along in the middle of the road to Husavik, talking with a passenger and waving his arms around, windows open, heat on full...no, I plan to avoid winter driving in Iceland.
Maybe that is because I've never driven with studded tires. Possibly I just haven't eaten enough hakarl (or any, I couldn't get past the smell). Or I'm just a wimpy American. But I couldn't even tell where the road was half of the time.
It was a wonderful trip. Lunch at the library, museums, friendly people. One of the best bits was when I came across a cat in the old part of town who was waiting to be let inside. When I told her she was a beautiful kitty, she came over to be petted.
When I finally looked up, the cat's human was sitting in the open door, smiling. I think she knew that I was missing my cat. I was obviously a tourist, especially since I was talking to the cat in English.
Wow, thank you for your thorough answer Alda! I have never thought of it this way, but what you are saying makes a lot of sense. We were exploited here in Norway too, under the Danish rule (400 years of darkness). We were robbed of our resources, but most of all, I think, our language and identity. It was for instance not allowed to write in Norwegian, everything was in Danish, everything published was in Danish, for centuries. So we lost a lot of our Norse heritage. But we weren't exploited to the same degree as you describe, at least not as many of us. And we got out of it earlier than Iceland did. We were handed over to the swedes in 1814 as part of the war profit after the Napoleon war, and in that deal we were handed over and even though we were placed under the Swedish king instead of the Danish king, we were allowed to have our own constitution and some level of independence. We didn't get full independence until 1905. And I think you can still see effects of this even today. So I think you're right! It is sad, that it takes so long to recover from all of this. But very interesting, thanks again!
I love Akureyri! My last visit to Iceland was spent mostly there. It was at the end of February. Decided to take the "bus" (it was a van, which also had mail and parcels) to Husavik for the day.
Now, I've had many professional driving jobs - buses, taxis, trucks, etc., and I grew up with snowy roads in Michigan. After watching the driver speeding along in the middle of the road to Husavik, talking with a passenger and waving his arms around, windows open, heat on full...no, I plan to avoid winter driving in Iceland.
Maybe that is because I've never driven with studded tires. Possibly I just haven't eaten enough hakarl (or any, I couldn't get past the smell). Or I'm just a wimpy American. But I couldn't even tell where the road was half of the time.
That would have freaked me out, too, but it sounds very Icelandic!
It was a wonderful trip. Lunch at the library, museums, friendly people. One of the best bits was when I came across a cat in the old part of town who was waiting to be let inside. When I told her she was a beautiful kitty, she came over to be petted.
When I finally looked up, the cat's human was sitting in the open door, smiling. I think she knew that I was missing my cat. I was obviously a tourist, especially since I was talking to the cat in English.
It was very kind of her.