Denmark–Iceland relations are the diplomatic relations between

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

. Both countries are full members of the Council of the Baltic Sea States,

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomo ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, and Council of Europe.

History

Denmark recognized the independence of Iceland on 1 December 1918 and the two countries remained in

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more State (polity), states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some e ...

until 1944. While in union with Denmark, the diplomatic relations of Iceland with the rest of the world were handled by Denmark. Denmark opened their embassy in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a pop ...

on 4 August 1919 with Johannes Erhardt Bøggild appointed as ambassador, while Iceland opened their embassy in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

on 16 August 1920 with Sveinn Björnsson as ambassador. The Icelandic embassy was temporarily closed from 1924 to 1926 due to financial costs. King Christian X visited Iceland on 26 June 1921. Iceland became fully independent from Denmark on 17 June 1944 during the German occupation of Denmark, as diplomatic relations between the two countries were suspended. When Denmark with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

turned to the proposed North Atlantic alliance after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Icelandic leaders believed that they had to follow suit as a necessity for both Iceland and its two Nordic neighbors. During the debate, Stefánsson described the ties with Denmark and Norway as "family ties". All three countries became founding members of

in 1949.

Return of Icelandic works

From September 1945 on, Iceland demanded the return of the sagas and

codexes The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

, which Árni Magnússon had collected and brought to University of Copenhagen. Between 1971 and 1992, Denmark returned thousands of works to Iceland including the Codex Regius and Flateyjarbók.

Resident diplomatic missions

* Denmark has an embassy in

. * Iceland has an embassy in Copenhagen and consulates-general in Nuuk, Greenland and in

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

. File:Iceland-Reykjavik-Danish-Embassy-1.jpg, Embassy of Denmark in Reykjavík File:Kbh Nordisches Kulturzentrum 1.jpg, Embassy of Iceland in Copenhagen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denmark-Iceland Relations

Bilateral relations of Iceland Relations of colonizer and former colony