Overview
About Icelandic independence
The campaign for self-government
The independence movement connected constitutional demands with language, literature and historical memory. Þingvellir became a meeting place and symbol for campaigners, although the restored Alþing first met in Reykjavík in 1845 as an advisory body. A constitution followed in 1874. Home rule in 1904 transferred important executive authority to Iceland and established government responsible to the Icelandic parliament. These changes gradually altered the political relationship with Denmark.
Sovereignty and the republic
On 1 December 1918 Iceland became a sovereign state through the union arrangement with Denmark, while retaining a shared monarch. On 17 June 1944 the republic was proclaimed at Þingvellir, and Sveinn Björnsson became its first president. The two dates describe different constitutional developments: sovereignty arrived in 1918, and the monarchy ended in 1944. Keeping those stages distinct avoids compressing a long political process into a single independence event.
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