The Reykjavík Grapevine's Almost Completely True History of Iceland

Send a text In this Bonus episode, hosts Valur Gunnarsson and Jón Trausti Sigurðarson discuss the president elect Donald Trump's recent remarks that the USA should acquire Greenland.  Greenland and Iceland are not members of the EU but are on the front lines as disputes erupt between NATO states. We dive into the history of the Danish Empire, ponder the connotations of Trump's remarks an...

Send a text You can also watch this podcast as a video by pressing this link . Icelanders discovered America, and lost it again. Or did they? How long did the Viking voyages to the new continent last? How did the first longship vs. canoe battle go? And where - and what- was the legendary Vinland that the Sagas speak of?  Hosted by historians and Grapevine founders Valur Gunnarsson and Jón Trausti...

Send a text The Last Viking Mystery: Erik the Red; the worst neighbour in history The Vikings sailed across the North Atlantic, from Norway to Iceland to Greenland and all the way to North America. They only stayed for a few years in the New World but in Iceland, their descendants live to this day. In Greenland, however, a Norse colony survived and even thrived for almost five hundred years.  Then...

Send a text What happened in the autumn of 2008 that made the country's whole economy seemingly go under?  What had brought a country with very little experience of banking to believe it could be the financial capital of the world? And how did an erupting volcano eventually save Iceland?  Hosted by historians and The Reykjavík Grapevine founders Valur Gunnarsson and Jón Trausti Sigurðarson

Send a text Iceland had a rather comfortable war, being occupied by the British and later Americans.  Yet, it was a time that changed everything, the beginning of modernity and Iceland emerged from the war as one of the richest countries in the world. But what if the Nazis had come instead?  Valur and Jón explore what did happen and what could have.   Hosted by historians and The Reykjavík Grapevi...

Send a text The Nordic Countries are prosperous but small countries on Europe's periphery, peaceful now but given to feuding in the past. What if they had united? Would they play a greater part on the world stage as a single power? Could a united Nordics have stayed out of World War II? Or even averted the rise of Germany or Russia? There were several instances in history when they very nearl...

Send a text In the autumn of 1921, Ólafur Friðriksson came back home from Moscow where he had attended the 9th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. With him he had a boy whom he intended to adopt. When the 15- year-old  was diagnosed with glaucoma, an eye disease which was feared could be contagious the authorities decided to deport him.  This was seen as a political act by Ólafur...

Send a text In Tasmania, off the coast of Australia, there is a grave marked "King of Iceland." Even more bizarrely,  the title of the person was  actually real. Sort of.  During the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark and Britain found themselves fighting on opposing sides. An English soap salesman and a Danish POW decided this was an opportune time to conquer the Danish colony of Iceland. This co...

Send a text For almost a thousand years, nature had been torturing the poor residents of Iceland. Then, in 1783, it decided to finish the job. A volcano erupted that was felt around the world, nowhere more so than in Iceland itself. About a third of the population perished and the Danes considered transporting the survivors to Denmark. What if they had? How would they have fared? And what would ha...

Send a text There is little arguing with the maxim attributed to Oscar Wilde that Icelanders are the smartest people in the world, they found America but had the good sense to lose it again. Wisely or not, how exactly did Icelanders manage to misplace a whole continent? Did they do it on purpose? Why didn’t Icelanders settle in North America as later Europeans were to do? What if a religious war i...

Send a text The year 1066 is remembered for the Normans conquering England, which was to be the last successful invasion of that country (so far). Just a few weeks earlier, however, Vikings from Norway also invaded England but were repulsed at Stamford Bridge. What if they had succeeded? Could a Viking Empire have come into being? And would something close to modern-day Icelandic have become the w...