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The term Icelandic free state takes us back to the 11th century when its legislative assembly called Althing came into existence. This established Iceland as a democracy and marked the beginning of the Icelandic Commonwealth. There existed a municipal cooperative which was the closest thing to government the Icelanders had known. They followed “no king but law”.Administrative reins lay in the hands of parliament headed by 4o officers called chieftains. The parliament had a legislative aspect and a judicial aspect, though there was no executive branch.
The concept of Icelandic free state soon disappeared with the rise of the feuds between the political leaders which led to the civil war in 1262.Icelandic free state and the commonwealth reached its end with the beginning of the authoritarian rule of the Norwegians and the enforcement of Christianity.
Iceland became a Danish colony after the short period of Norwegian rule. The Danes allowed free trade in 1855 and self rule in 1874. Home rule in Iceland began from 1904. The island was made a free state within Denmark in 1918 by the Act of Union though nominally it still remained under the monarch of Denmark. During the second world war when the Nazis occupied Denmark Icelandic free state took over its destiny in its own hands. In 1944 Iceland gained its status as a republic.
Icelandic free state let U.S.A take responsibility of its defense system by allowing them an airbase in its lands. Iceland became a member of NATO in 1949. Presently, though not a member of European Union, it is a member of the European Common Market. Today Icelandic free state refers to a peaceful and civilized island with a welfare and democratic rule the seeds of which lie far back in the pages of history.
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