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This Iceland trivia quiz has 49 free questions with answers and covers the whole country: the geology that put it on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the Viking settlement of 874 and the world's oldest parliament, the Cod Wars, the Reykjavík Summit and the Fischer-Spassky match, and the culture that makes Iceland odd and wonderful, from patronymic surnames and the Naming Committee to the thirteen Yule Lads, fermented shark, brennivín and the Viking Thunder Clap. The first questions are easy enough for anyone planning a first trip; the last ones will test people who have driven the whole Ring Road. Every question is multiple choice with a short explanation after you answer. Every answer has been checked against a primary source, and each question links to the page that confirms it.
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Q 01Roughly what share of Iceland's population lives within its capital city's limits?
35%
About 35% of Icelanders live inside Reykjavík's city limits, roughly 140,000 of some 390,000 people, while the wider Capital Region holds close to two-thirds.
Q 02Iceland's capital holds what distinction among the capitals of sovereign states?
Northernmost
Northernmost of all sovereign-state capitals, Reykjavík sits at about 64°08′ N on Faxaflói bay; Nuuk lies farther north but is not the capital of a sovereign state.
Q 03The name Reykjavík translates roughly as what?
Smoky bay
Reykjavík means 'Smoky bay': reykja- is 'smoke' and vík is 'bay', the smoke being steam rising from the area's hot springs.
Q 04According to the Landnámabók, who became Iceland's first permanent settler in 874?
Ingólfr Arnarson
Ingólfr Arnarson is named in the Landnámabók as the first permanent settler; he reportedly cast his high-seat pillars overboard and settled where they came ashore, at Reykjavík, in 874.
Q 05Which Norseman gave Iceland its name after climbing a mountain and seeing an ice-filled fjord?
Flóki Vilgerðarson
Flóki Vilgerðarson, called Hrafna-Flóki, named the island Ísland after seeing a fjord full of drift ice; earlier Naddodd had called it Snæland and Garðar Svavarsson Garðarshólmur.
Q 06Iceland's parliament, the Althing, was founded in which year, making it one of the oldest in the world?
930
The Althing was founded in 930 at Þingvellir, where it met each summer and the Lawspeaker recited the laws from memory before they were written down.
Q 07In which year did Iceland's Althing last sit at its ancient Þingvellir site?
1798
The Althing last sat at Þingvellir in 1798; the Danish crown abolished it two years later, and when it was revived decades afterwards it convened in Reykjavík instead.
Q 08In which year was the Republic of Iceland proclaimed?
1944
The Republic of Iceland was proclaimed at Þingvellir on 17 June 1944 while Denmark was under German occupation; King Christian X nonetheless sent a message of congratulations.
Q 09Iceland's 'Cod Wars' of the 1950s-70s were fishing disputes with which country?
United Kingdom
The Cod Wars set Iceland against the United Kingdom; Icelandic coast-guard ships towed net cutters that severed the trawl wires of British trawlers, and Iceland prevailed in each dispute.
Q 10The final Cod War of 1975-76 followed Iceland extending its fishing zone to how many nautical miles?
200
The limits crept out from 3 to 4 miles in 1952, then 12, then 50, then 200.
Q 11Which two leaders held a 1986 summit at Höfði House in Reykjavík that helped end the Cold War?
Reagan and Gorbachev
Reagan and Gorbachev met at Höfði House in October 1986; the talks broke down over SDI testing, yet the ground they covered led to the 1987 INF Treaty.
Q 12Reykjavík hosted the 1972 'Match of the Century' in which game?
Chess
Chess was the game: Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky 12½–8½ in Reykjavík in 1972, ending 24 years of Soviet hold on the world title.
Q 13In 1980, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir of Iceland became the world's first woman to do what?
Win a national presidential election
Q 21Roughly what proportion of Iceland's total primary energy comes from domestic renewables?
85%
About 85% of Iceland's primary energy is domestic renewable, roughly two-thirds geothermal and a fifth hydro; the remainder is imported fossil fuel, mostly for transport and the fishing fleet.
Q 22Which is Europe's largest island, ahead of second-placed Iceland?
Great Britain
Great Britain, at about 209,000 km², is Europe's largest island; Iceland, at about 103,000 km², is second in Europe and 18th in the world.
Q 23The Arctic Circle does not cross mainland Iceland, but it does pass through which small Icelandic island?
Grímsey
Grímsey, about 40 km off the north coast, is the only inhabited part of Iceland crossed by the Arctic Circle; the mainland lies entirely south of it, its northern tip near 66°32′ N.
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was the first woman anywhere to win a national presidential election, taking office on 1 August 1980 and serving four terms until 1996.
Q 14Iceland is the only NATO member with no what?
Standing army
Iceland alone among NATO members keeps no standing army; its Coast Guard handles defence, and the US-run Iceland Defense Force left Keflavík in 2006.
Q 15Iceland straddles the boundary between which two tectonic plates?
Eurasian and North American
Eurasian and North American plates pull apart beneath Iceland along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which widens by roughly 2 cm a year and surfaces above sea level at Þingvellir.
Q 16What does the Icelandic verb 'geysa', root of 'geyser', mean?
To gush or rush forward
'To gush or rush forward' is the sense of geysa, the Old Norse verb behind the name of the Great Geysir in Haukadalur, from which English took 'geyser'.
Q 17Which volcano's 2010 eruption grounded air travel across northern and western Europe for a week?
Eyjafjallajökull
Eyjafjallajökull erupted in April 2010; meltwater from its ice cap entering the vent made the eruption explosive, and the fine ash carried into the jet stream closed much of Europe's airspace for about a week.
Q 18The 1783 eruption of which volcano triggered a famine that killed a quarter of Icelanders?
Laki
Laki erupted along a 27-km fissure from June 1783 for eight months; its sulphurous haze hung over Europe, and over half of Iceland's livestock died in the 'Mist Hardships'.
Q 19Surtsey, an island that rose from the sea off Iceland's south coast in 1963, is named after what?
A Norse fire giant
A Norse fire giant, Surtr, gives Surtsey its name; the island broke the surface in November 1963, and only scientists studying how life colonises new land may set foot on it.
Q 20What gives the Blue Lagoon spa's geothermal water its milky-blue colour?
Silica
Silica particles suspended in the water scatter light and give the Blue Lagoon its milky-blue colour; the man-made lagoon is fed by runoff from the Svartsengi geothermal power plant.
Q 24Which of these is TRUE of Icelandic surnames?
Most are patronymic, from the father's name
Most are patronymic, from the father's name: Jón's son is Jónsson and his daughter Jónsdóttir, so the phone book lists people by first name and even the president is addressed by first name.
Q 25A new given name in Iceland must be approved by which body?
The Icelandic Naming Committee
The Icelandic Naming Committee (Mannanafnanefnd) vets names not already on the approved register; it refused the girl's name Blær as a masculine noun until a court overruled it in 2013.
Q 26Icelandic is the only living language whose alphabet keeps which runic letter?
Þ
The 'thorn' letter, pronounced like the 'th' in 'thing', appears in Þingvellir.
Q 27What is the closest living relative of the Icelandic language?
Faroese
Faroese, spoken in the Faroe Islands, is Icelandic's closest living relative; both descend from Old West Norse, and written Faroese is largely readable to Icelanders though the spoken languages differ.
Q 28How many Yule Lads visit Icelandic children in the nights before Christmas, one per night?
13
The 13 Yule Lads arrive one per night from 12 December, the last coming on Christmas Eve, and each leaves a small gift in the shoe of a well-behaved child.
Q 29In Icelandic folklore, the Yule Cat eats people who have failed to do what before the holiday?
Receive new clothes
Those who fail to receive new clothes before Christmas are prey for the Jólakötturinn, the giant Yule Cat of the ogress Grýla; the threat spurred households to finish the autumn wool work before Yule.
Q 30The 'Jólabókaflóð', literally the book flood, refers to what Icelandic habit?
Buying most of the year's books before Christmas
Buying most of the year's books before Christmas is the Jólabókaflóð: Icelandic publishers release the bulk of new titles in autumn, a catalogue (Bókatíðindi) goes to every home, and books are the classic Christmas Eve gift.