New Iceland
Encyclopedia
New Iceland is the name of a region on Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg is a large, lake in central North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada, with its southern tip about north of the city of Winnipeg...

 in the Canadian province Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

 which was named for settlers from Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

. It was settled in 1875.

Background

The first Icelandic émigrés to Canada were Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

s from the Westman Islands; Halldór Laxness
Halldór Laxness
Halldór Kiljan Laxness was a twentieth-century Icelandic writer. Throughout his career Laxness wrote poetry, newspaper articles, plays, travelogues, short stories, and novels...

' novel Paradise Reclaimed tells their story. The more general migration followed an offer from Lord Dufferin of land in Manitoba to establish what amounted to a "free state".

Due to harsh environmental and economic conditions in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

, including the eruption of Mount Askja
Askja
Askja is a stratovolcano situated in a remote part of the central highlands of Iceland. The name Askja refers to a complex of nested calderas within the surrounding Dyngjufjöll mountains, which rise to , askja meaning box or caldera in Icelandic-Location:The region is only accessible for a few...

, some 20,000 Icelanders left their homeland between 1870 and 1915 - roughly a quarter of the population of Iceland. In 1875 a large group of Icelandic immigrants migrated from Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 to Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

, leaving Kinmount, Ontario
Kinmount, Ontario
Kinmount is a village with a population of approximately 500, located on the Burnt River in Ontario, Canada. The village is now part of the City of Kawartha Lakes. The village's hinterland covers large sections of both Haliburton and Peterborough counties for which it is a shopping and cultural...

, on September 25, 1875, for the shores of Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg is a large, lake in central North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada, with its southern tip about north of the city of Winnipeg...

. One of the main reasons for the choice of the colony site was “the abundance of fish” in Lake Winnipeg, but according to Icelandic People in Manitoba, “their first attempts at fishing on Lake Winnipeg were not successful.” Moreover, the “winter of 1875–1876 was one of the coldest on record in Manitoba, and the settlers’ clothes, including the leather shoes from Ontario, were not suitable for the rigorous weather.” However, the immigrants eventually learned to handle the axe, prepare the soil, fish through ice, and hunt game. They also learned how to drain the land, grow crops, and build better houses.

These Icelandic settlers, known in their native language as Vestur-Íslendingar (meaning Icelanders in the West; initially many Icelanders did not see emigration as a change of country, and there was some discussion of moving the entire population), called their settlement "New Iceland", and the region remains a symbolic centre of the Icelandic heritage in Canada today.

Other information

  • According to Statistics Canada
    Statistics Canada
    Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....

    , Manitoba is home to the largest Icelandic population outside of Iceland. There are about 26,000 people with Icelandic ancestry living in Manitoba, making up about 2% of the total population of Manitoba. About 35% of the Icelandic Canadian
    Icelandic Canadian
    Canada has the largest ethnic Icelandic population outside Iceland, with about 88,875 people of Icelandic descent as of the Canada 2006 Census. Many Icelandic Canadians are descendants of people who fled an eruption of the Icelandic volcano Askja in 1875....

     population lives in Manitoba.
  • Currently many ethnic festivals related to New Iceland, such as Íslendingadagurinn, are held in these areas, and also the weekly newspaper Lögberg-Heimskringla is printed in Winnipeg
    Winnipeg
    Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

    .
  • In the University of Manitoba
    University of Manitoba
    The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...

    , there is an Icelandic Department, and students can learn the Icelandic language and literature there.
  • Gimli, Manitoba
    Gimli, Manitoba
    Gimli is a a rural municipality located in the Interlake region of south-central Manitoba, Canada, on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg. It is about north of the provincial capital Winnipeg...

     was within the "Icelandic Reserve" granted to Icelandic settlers by the Government of Canada in 1875. Contrary to popular misconception, New Iceland was never a "republic", though the settlers did organize their own local government for New Iceland, which until 1880 was outside the boundaries of Manitoba. The reserve, at that time within the District of Keewatin, Northwest Territory, was always under Canadian jurisdiction, and the Icelanders were keenly aware of their new loyalties and obligations as Canadians and British subjects - as evidenced during speeches made at Gimli during the visit of Lord Dufferin
    Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava
    Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, KP, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC was a British public servant and prominent member of Victorian society...

    , Governor General of Canada, in 1877.

See also

  • Council of Keewatin
    Council of Keewatin
    The Council of Keewatin was an unelected legislative body and territorial government for the now-defunct District of Keewatin in Canada. The District of Keewatin was created by the passage of the Keewatin Act on April 12, 1876 from a portion of Canada's North West Territories...

  • Demographics of Manitoba
    Demographics of Manitoba
    Manitoba is one of Canada's 10 provinces. It is the easternmost of the three Prairie Provinces.Manitoba's capital and largest city is Winnipeg...

  • Gimli, Manitoba
    Gimli, Manitoba
    Gimli is a a rural municipality located in the Interlake region of south-central Manitoba, Canada, on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg. It is about north of the provincial capital Winnipeg...

  • David Arnason
    David Arnason
    David Arnason is a Canadian author and poet who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with his partner Mhari Mackintosh.-Life:...

  • Jón Bjarnason (minister)
    Jón Bjarnason (minister)
    Jón Bjarnason was born in Thvottá, Iceland and became a Lutheran minister. Later, he and his family came to North America and settled in Manitoba....

  • Sigtryggur Jonasson
    Sigtryggur Jonasson
    Sigtryggur Jonasson was a community leader and politician in Manitoba, Canada. He played a major part in establishing the Icelandic community in Manitoba...

  • Leif Ericson
    Leif Ericson
    Leif Ericson was a Norse explorer who is regarded as the first European to land in North America , nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus...

  • Lake Winnipeg
    Lake Winnipeg
    Lake Winnipeg is a large, lake in central North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada, with its southern tip about north of the city of Winnipeg...

  • Lake Manitoba
    Lake Manitoba
    Lake Manitoba is Canada's thirteenth largest lake and the world's 33rd largest freshwater lake. It is in central North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba, which is named after the lake...

  • Fraserwood
  • Interlake
    Interlake
    Interlake is a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by redistribution in 1979, and has formally existed since the 1981 provincial election. Previously, much of the Interlake region was included in the constituency of St. George...


External links

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