Evening star., 1941-07-08
u. Coup in Iceland
First Action Under
Emergency Decree
Occupying Of Approach
To Hemisphere Called
Defense Measure
BY BLAIR BOLLES,


1celanders consider their country
q part of Europe. This point of
view is iterated time and again in
the handbook published at Reykja-
vik on the 50th anniversary of Ma
tional Bank of Iceland, which the
Danish Legation keeps in it's Ii
brary here. American geographers
regard Iceland simply as North
Atlantic island, without reference to
continents. So it is moot whether
yesterdays landing of United States
naval forces in Iceland constitutes
an American invasion of Europe.
Whatever it is, European Arctic,
Western Hemisphere, or independ-
ent, Iceland traditionaly is closely
attached to the New World. For
Left Ericsson, the pre- Columbian
Viking discoverer of America, was
the son of fugitive from Iceland
to Greenland, Eric the Red. The
saga of Eric the Red reports in
wild verse that Left made his way
to what he called Vinland, proba-
bly, Labrador or Nova Scotia, about
the year 1000 AID.
If Iceland is east of the Western
Hemisphere, the dispatch of the
naval contingent to Iceland is his
toric. 1t marks the first action
taken under the doctrine set forth
by President Roosevelt in his I'M
limited emergency speech of May
n, when he said that control or
occupation by Nazi forces of any
OF the islands of the Atlantic would
Jeopardize the ultimate safety
Of the Continental United States
itself" Defense of the Western
Hemisphere, in other words, means
the defense of the approaches to
the hemisphere.
Has Bond With America.
1celand's ancient devotion to
political liberty gives her a bond
with the United States. The Al
thing, the Icelandic parliament, is
the Oldest representative assembly
in the world. 1t dates from $50,
year when the continent of Europe
was welded to feudalism, with rule
of the people by dukes and kings
and hereditary robber barons.
Iceland, with 1880 inhabitants,
Is an island the size of Kentucky,
heaved up from the ocean floor by
successive volcanic eruptions and
earthquakes. Geologically, it is a
baby born in the tertiary period It's
upper tip, Cape Rifstongi, scrapes
the cold Arctic Circle, while its
southern and western shores are
washed by the warming Gulf stream.
But polar ice, not far away, spreads
a chill over the island which will
make the American sailors there
realize they are living in a far
Northern cline. The average July
temperature is SIG degrees Fahren- |
heit. Far to the west. in the same |.
latitude, is Nome, Alaska.
1t Is a country of rough noun |
tainS, fierce winter winds, great |
snow fields and ancient culture.
Only about one-fourteenth of the |
whole island is habitable, the low |
lands along the shore, The high
lands are studded with volcanoes, /
over 20 of which have erupted dur
ing the 1,065 years Iceland has been |
inhabitated by men who kept rec
ords. Most of the volcanic noun
tains are situated in the south. !
whence volcanic chain extends |
northWard across the eastern part of |
the highlands to the Myvatn in /
the north. The most famous VOL |
cano is Mount Hekla.
Flatland for AirfieIds.
The Icelanders have made the |
most of their loWlandS, where the !
principal economy is sheep-raising. /
From the earliest times, however.
the chief pursuit of these people |
has been fishing, with cod and her
ring the main catch. Fish provide
Iceland with her commercial life
line to the outer world. Before the
war began, Great Britain was her
best cod and herring customer, with
Portugal next, Spain third and
Sweden fourth.
The greatest spread of lowlands
Is on the western side of Iceland.
facing toward America and away
from Europe. Reykjavik, the cap
ital of Iceland and it's main city,
had 34,231 inhabitants in 1885.
Reykjavik sits on the southwestern
corner of Faxaf1oi, Iceland's longest
gulf and good. ample harbor for
a naval base. The outline of Fax
af7oi looks like the head of a wolf
with its mouth opened. Thin spurs
of mountainous, snow-sheeted land,
like lupine snout and maxillary,
form the southern and northern
margins of the bay.
There is fiat land enough around
Reykjavik for airfields, but 20 miles
north, above the tongue of water
called the Borgarfjorour, is broad
er expanse of lowland useful for