Portal:Iceland/Selected article/12
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Icelanders are the nation or ethnic group of Iceland descended primarily from Norseman of Scandinavia. The language spoken is Icelandic, a North Germanic language, and the religion is overwhelmingly Lutheran.
Icelanders, especially those living on the main island, have had a tumultuous history. Development of the island was slow due to a lack of interest from the countries controlling it for most of its history; Norway, Denmark–Norway and ultimately Denmark. Through this time, Iceland had relatively few contacts with the outside world. The island became independent in union with Denmark in 1918. Since 1944, Iceland has been a republic, and Icelandic society has undergone a rapid modernisation process in the post-independence era.
Due to the isolated location of Iceland, the immigration and genetic inflow was limited in its indigenous population for hundreds of years; thus the population was considered to be highly homogeneous in terms of its genes. This genetic similarity and unusually well-documented genealogy of the Icelanders are being utilized today for genetic studies.
