1) What is the Cultural Identity of your country?

The people living in Iceland can be identified with the Icelandic Culture. Icelandic Culture
involves working on average about 2 to 3 jobs, having shopping centers closely linked to each
other, value nature, and many more.
2) Define Pop and Folk Culture then give 3 examples of each in your country.
Pop Culture: modern popular culture transmitted via the mass media and aimed particularly at
younger people.
Folk Culture: More of a traditional way of life. Follows strict customs and beliefs; very hard to
influence.
Pop culture can be seen expanding throughout most of the world, and Iceland shows many
examples of Pop trends in their country. For example, Iceland is famous for having many movies
filmed there, ex: Game Of Thrones, and etc. T.V is the number one way to get influenced in Pop
culture and Iceland produces many hit movies. A second example would be people made indoor
pools since its always cold in Iceland, they made indoor pools so they can enjoy a hot climate
swim. The third example can be seen because Iceland is ranked number one for gender equality,
which has become a big topic on social media. Folk culture examples can be seen throughout
Iceland as well. For example, landscapes and artifacts of Viking heritage are left behind and
many people who have descended from that, live in small huts on snow hills. A second example
is people still read sagas and ancient literature which was a direct descendent from the Old
Norse. Lastly, ghost sighting and the belief of trolls are accepted as normal activities throughout
the day, and they have museums dedicated to them.
3) How has globalization of pop culture changed the cultural landscape of your
country? ( How is land used )
The cultural landscape in Iceland changed because due to its geographic location, the population
remained isolated and quite homogeneous until recently. The economy of Iceland started to
grow, and tourism increased which meant that more immigrants came in as well. This created
diversity. More people = more new cultures and customs. One example of pop culture that can be
seen due to globalization is, Icelanders finally accept immigrants and are not closed off to other
cultures. They are acceptive and supportive which leads to newer cultures settling in and making
an imprint. For example, instead of the Icelandic language, people in Iceland adopted English as
their Lingua Franca which meant people adopted American culture along with this as well.
Instead of traditional foods like seal, they have stands near tourist places for burgers and fries.
4) Make three maps of your country. 1 representing Language, 1 representing
Religion, and one representing Pop and Folk culture.
Language Map:
Religion Map:
Pop Culture:
Folk Culture:

5) Analyze the maps above and tell how they change your perspective ( view ) of your
country as a whole.
The first map is a Language map that displays all the Languages found over Europe. Since a map
of Iceland’s languages was not found, the map of Europe displays a wide range of languages. It
can be seen that Iceland speaks Icelandic. It changes my perspective for the whole country
because Iceland seems to have a common language used around the world.
The second map is a religion map. The religion map shows what religions Iceland follows. As
one can see on the map, many people follow the Christian religion. The third map represents a
Pop Culture map. This map represents all the famous location that can be visited through
Iceland, all man-made. The last map is a Folk Culture map. The Folk Culture map has many
landscapes that previously existed, and many natural landforms that are popular among tourists.

6) Make a Language tree for your country’s standard language.

7) What is the official language of your country and define the term.
Icelandic is the official language of Iceland.​ ​It’s an Indo-European language of the North
Germanic Languages. This language is closely related to Faroese and Norweigen languages.
8) What language is used for trade? ( Lingua Franca )
The language used for trade is English, since English is the largest lingua franca. Iceland is one
of the most developed nations, so it uses English as its lingua franca.
 9) How did Colonialism and Imperialism affect your country’s culture?
To understand how Colonialism and Imperialism affected Iceland, one must understand the
definition of both. Colonialism means when a country takes control over another land and makes
it their own. Imperialism means a country expands its territory by taking over another country.
The colonization of Iceland by Norse settlers and people from the western lands, Ireland and
Scottish islands, took place in the second half of the 9th century. By around 1000 A.D​. ​Iceland
was more or less fully settled. Vikings were yet not tamed and kept coming over the sea from
Norway and Norse settlements in Ireland and Scottish islands. Thus came to a close the first
European venture to the New World. Some 500 years later a man named Christopher Columbus
sailed west and opened the European route to America that changed the world. In his ​younger
days​ Columbus came to Iceland. Colonialism and Imperialism affected Iceland because they left
a cultural imprint on the landscape. For example, there are many places the Viking lived, like
their houses that still remain.
10) What is more prevalent in your country Universalizing or Ethnic Religions? What is
the major religion in your country?
The majority of Iceland follows Chirstiantiy, and is apart of the Lutheran State Church, while the
other five percent are apart of the Free Church of Iceland and attend the Roman Catholic Church.
They use more of a universalizing religion. ( Chirstianity )
11) Using a map of the world, you will need to map the top 4 universalizing and ethnic
religions in the world. What patterns of diffusion do you see in the map?
The top 4 Universalizing religions are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judiasm.

The diffusion is strong at the hearth, but it still spreads, so it could be expansive diffusion.
The top 4 ethnic religions are Hindhusim, Buddhism, Shintoism and Shamanism. All of these
religions on the map are examples of hierarchical diffusion because they are not seeking to
convert, and they are strong at the core, but they move down slowly to other countries.
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Booth, Jessica. “Insider.” ​Insider​, 28 May 2018, 5:29pm, ​www.insider.com/​.

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E-International Relations,​ 9 May 2019,
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iExplore. “Iceland — History and Culture.” ​Iexplore​, 2017,

www.iexplore.com/articles/travel-guides/europe/iceland/history-and-culture​.

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www.iceland.is/the-big-picture/quick-facts​.