page_title: History of Iceland
section_title: Independence movement
hierarchical_section_title: History of Iceland / Iceland under Norwegian and Danish kings (1262–1944) / Independence movement
caption_attribution_description: Jón Sigurðsson (1811-1879),leader of the Icelandic independence movement.
context_page_description: The recorded history of Iceland began with the settlement by Viking explorers and their slaves from the east, particularly Norway and the British Isles, in the late ninth century. Iceland was still uninhabited long after the rest of Western Europe had been settled. Recorded settlement has conventionally been dated back to 874, although archaeological evidence indicates Gaelic monks from Ireland, known as papar according to sagas, had settled Iceland before that date.
  The land was settled quickly, mainly by Norwegians who may have been fleeing conflict or seeking new land to farm. By 930, the chieftains had established a form of governance, the Althing, making it one of the world's oldest parliaments. Towards the end of the tenth century, Christianity came to Iceland through the influence of the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason. During this time, Iceland remained independent, a period known as the Old Commonwealth, and Icelandic historians began to document the nation's history in books referred to as sagas of Icelanders.
context_section_description: Throughout the 19th century, the country's climate continued to grow worse, resulting in mass emigration to the New World, particularly Manitoba in Canada. However, a new national consciousness was revived in Iceland, inspired by romantic nationalist ideas from continental Europe. This revival was spearheaded by the Fjölnismenn, a group of Danish-educated Icelandic intellectuals.
  An independence movement developed under the leadership of a lawyer named Jón Sigurðsson. In 1843, a new Althing was founded as a consultative assembly.  It claimed continuity with the Althing of the Icelandic Commonwealth, which had remained for centuries as a judicial body and had been abolished in 1800.
caption: Jón Sigurðsson.
exif: {}