Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland (Icelandic: sland sland or L veldi , IPA: li v lt istlant ) is a country located on the northwest corner of Europe, whose territory includes the island of Iceland and some small adjacent islands and islets in the Atlantic Ocean between the rest of northern Europe and Greenland.On 9 January 2006 exceeded the figure of 300,000 for the first time on 1 January 2008 the country had a population of 313,376 people. Its capital and largest city is Reykjav k (Reykjav k), with 117,898 inhabitants (1 January 2008). Because of its location in the Mid-Atlantic ridge, Iceland is a country with highly active volcanic and geological, and this factor greatly affects the landscape. The interior of the country consists of a plateau characterized by deserts, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands.Because of the Gulf Stream, Iceland has a temperate climate relative to its latitude and provides a habitable environment. Human settlement in Iceland dates back to 874 when, according to the Landn mab k or Book of the settlement, the leading Norwegian Arnarson Ing lfur became the first permanent settler of the island.Others visited the island before and spent the winter there, but never settled. Citation needed Over the following centuries of ethnic Nordic and ga lico settled in Iceland.Until the twentieth century, the Icelandic population relied on fishing and agriculture, and it was from 1262 to 1944 a part of the Norwegian kingdoms and then Danish.