| The Iceland Guide | ||
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Books by David Williams |
The land and the people The Icelanders: Traditional living conditions Any attempt to describe the modern–day Icelanders must take as its starting point the astonishing transformation their everyday life and society has undergone in the twentieth century. It is no more than two generations since they emerged from six centuries of oppression by foreign powers and resultant destitution. During those two generations Icelandic society has developed from a near-mediaeval existence to its present–day, outward–looking prosperity. The dawning of the twentieth century saw the Icelanders living in conditions that had changed little since 1100. Icelandic society was overwhelmingly rural, as Reykjavík and Akureyri had not yet started to grow and begin their domination of economic life. On the farms the lack of natural building materials such as workable stone, wood or slate, meant that the houses had to be made of roughly–hewn lava blocks and turf. The farmhouses were single–storey affairs with low roofs made from planks (often driftwood), birch bark and turf. Sometimes a number of these hovels were placed side by side, joined by an interconnecting passageway, with earth piled up around the walls to keep out the bitterly cold winds. The family's living quarters consisted of a single room which served as kitchen, workplace and bedroom; there would be a fire in this single small room, the smoke filling its damp corners before rising through a hole in the roof. Some of these old buildings still survive, usually as farm outhouses, while others have been preserved as museums. |
What`s in the website ? The land and the people History |