Iceland
An active volcanic island where Vikings began organizing their civilization over a thousand years ago while standing at the very place where two visible tectonic plates are diverging is sure to have an intriguing history and future. What is now a warmer climate with rapidly melting glaciers, this Nordic land lying just under the Arctic Circle once supported the giant sequoias and magnolia trees that are predominant in even warmer climates. This truth is preserved in fossils between layers of lava and clay from the same time in pre-human history when one of the largest continental flood basalts was flowing across the Pacific Northwest to create the Columbia River Gorge.
The entire native population of Iceland is less than half the number of residents within the proper city limits of Portland, Oregon, and Icelandic sheep outnumber them by more than double. A preserved language and Book of Settlement gives them strong documented cultural roots, with a notable presence of British women in more than half of their matrilineal DNA since their early migrations from Norway. The Icelandic horse is one of the purest breeds in the world and handsome in their double winter coats and shaggy beards. How can I not deeply admire these resilient, resourceful, and independent people who created life in such a harsh place, escaping the usual oppressive taxation by a new monarchy? Their shapely long boats carried everything for a new life across cold misty waters with the help of ravens to find this new land. The stories and the handmade relics resemble a fairy tale, much like the huldufolk who are believed to live within the volcanic rocks.
