Thingvellir National Park

Our first stop today was at Thingvellir National Park. Thingvellir is known for both historical and geological significance. Historically, it is the site of the world's oldest Parliament. It was established by Vikings in the year 930. At the time, Iceland consisted of many groups of people, and there was a need to unite the various groups. They chose Thingvellir as their meeting location, where they held outdoor meetings. Thingvellir is located where 2 of the earth's tectonic plates meet: the North American plate and the Eurasian plate. Iceland is located atop the mid-Atlantic ridge and at Thingvellir, the rift is visible where the ridge rises above sea level. The mid-Atlantic ridge runs diagonally from southwest to northeast and causes the frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that Iceland experiences. The plates are moving away from each other at a rate of 2.5 cm per year. This landscape created a natural outdoor meeting space for the Iceland Parliament (called Althingi) which met at Thingvellir, or as Joe called it, Thingie Village. (We wondered, when they called roll at Parliament, did they start with Thing 1 and Thing 2?) Parliament met here until 1844, when it moved to Reykjavik. There are 63 members of the Iceland Parliament from a number of different political parties. There is a Prime Minister who is the head of government and a president who is the head of state. Iceland gained its independence from Denmark in 1944. At Thingvellir, many laws were passed. One of the laws stated that women who were unfaithful to their husbands were thrown into a lake and drowned. The country's religion was also determined here. In the year 1000, they were trying to decide whether to remain heathen or become Christian. While the debate was taking place, a messenger came and announced news of a lava flow, and news of the impending tragedy stopped the fight over religion. This caused them to choose to become Christian, and the lava flow was called Christian Lava Flow (English translation of name). In 1550, the country became Lutheran. Today Lutheran is the state religion, with 90% of the Iceland population having Lutheran affiliation.