Map Exercise: Greenland and Iceland

Mývatn is a volcanic lake in northern Iceland.

Jökulsá á Brú is a river in eastern Iceland.

Snæfellness is a mountain in western Iceland.

Reykjanes is a peninsula, also in western Iceland

Lambert Land is on the north-eastern coast of Greenland, just south of Kronprins Christian Land.

Site and Situation

Greenland is a very large island, covered almost entirely with an ice cap. The coastal regions are sparsely populated and comprised of fjords (narrow bays with steep banks). The ice cap has created a depression in the land, and if it all melted, it would be an island with a big sea in the center ... kind of like a doughnut.

Iceland is a mountainous and volcanic island. The landscape is barren, covered in tundra and small glaciers. Iceland is home to a moderate population, concentrated near the coastal regions. Interestingly, Icelandic is the closest language to English (source Mario Pei's History of Language).

Greenland and Iceland are situated in the north Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America. To the north lies the Arctic ocean, to the west lies Canada and to the right lies northern Europe, including the British isles and Norway.

Iceland has recently requested admission into the European Union. Greenland became a country in its own right in 2009.

Bonus

Describe the ethnic composition of the population of Iceland and Greenland.

Greenland: Inuit 89%, Danish and other 11%; Iceland: homogeneous mixture of descendants of Norse and Celts 94%, population of foreign origin 6%