--- title: Kingdom of Iceland: Vintage Photos From a Long-Ago Island description: Photos -- most of which never ran in LIFE magazine -- shot in 1938 by a photographer whose name, alas, is lost to history canonical: https://time.com/3603382/kingdom-of-iceland-vintage-photos-from-a-long-ago-island/ author: Liz Ronk article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-15T18:36:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:56.030Z og:title: Kingdom of Iceland: Vintage Photos From a Long-Ago Island og:description: Photos -- most of which never ran in LIFE magazine -- shot in 1938 by a photographer whose name, alas, is lost to history og:url: https://time.com/3603382/kingdom-of-iceland-vintage-photos-from-a-long-ago-island/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bca536d457003ed/69876ab2cd6848620809834c/141124-iceland-04.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2133 og:image:height: 1200 og:image:alt: Iceland 1938 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kingdom of Iceland: Vintage Photos From a Long-Ago Island twitter:description: Photos -- most of which never ran in LIFE magazine -- shot in 1938 by a photographer whose name, alas, is lost to history twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0bca536d457003ed/69876ab2cd6848620809834c/141124-iceland-04.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kingdom of Iceland: Vintage Photos From a Long-Ago Island > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Nov 15, 2014 6:36 PM UTC  Caption from print: "A saddle-horse and a pack-horse are sufficient for the Icelander to cross wide tracts of barren country." Caption from print: "A saddle-horse and a pack-horse are sufficient for the Icelander to cross wide tracts of barren country."Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Nov 15, 2014 6:36 PM UTC With a population of just over 300,000 people and an alternately forbidding and breathtaking landscape of lava fields, geysers, seascapes and majestic waterfalls, Iceland has always been something of a curiosity to the rest of the globe. Small in stature, the island nation can seem, at times, like a land outside of time. In recent years, Iceland has been in the news more frequently than usual, for reasons as varied as the major disruption of European and North American air traffic during the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in 2010 to its swift economic near-collapse — and rapid recovery — a few years ago, while the 17-nation eurozone (of which Iceland is not a member) remains convulsed by incessant predictions of financial collapse. In July of 1941, Iceland was in the news as American troops landed on the island to protect a critical North Atlantic seaway — replacing British and Canadian troops who had served there while the Second World War raged in Europe. (The U.S. Navy would maintain a post in Iceland until 2006.) In the July 21, 1941, issue of LIFE, the magazine touched on preconceived notions that Americans may have harbored about the Nordic land a mere 2,600 miles from New York City: --- > “” --- Here, LIFE.com offers a series of images — most of which never ran in that 1941 issue of LIFE — shot in 1938 ([when Iceland was a constitutional monarchy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom%5Fof%5FIceland)) by a photographer whose name, alas, is lost to history. The only details included on the prints from which these digital images were made suggest the photos were made by someone likely based “in Germany.” But whoever the photographer might have been, one aspect of the shoot is perfectly clear: he or she was fortunate enough, more than 75 years ago, to experience a striking beauty and a singular, distinguished culture in a way that will not feel all that unfamiliar to anyone lucky enough to visit Iceland today. _Liz Ronk is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at_ [_@LizabethRonk_](http://twitter.com/#!/lizabethronk)_._  Caption from print: "The geysers of Iceland tell the story of the country's volcanic origin. The cameraman was especially lucky in being able to photograph the 'Great Geysir' in action. A huge jet of boiling water (reaching height of about 20 feet) spurts up from the earth. But then the resources of Nature are exhausted for quite a long time until another gigantic display like this overwhelm the spectators. On his visit to Iceland, the King of Denmark (who is also the King of Iceland) waited in vain for two days for an eruption of the geyser." Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  In the middle of green meadow-land boiling hot water spurts from earth. Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Water bubbling and boiling in a geyser. Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Looking into the crater of a mud volcano. Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A "mud volcano," practically inactive. The striking mud in its crater is continuously boiling, but is hardly ever expelled. All located in the Haukadalur geothermal area east of Reykjavik. Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from print: "Land without railroads. The roads in Iceland may seem inadequate to the American tourist, but in view of the rough climate and the sparse and scattered population the more than 1,330 miles of roads are an excellent achievement. For hours you sometimes drive on roads like this through miles and miles of lava fields which would be impassable for man or horse." Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from print: "A saddle-horse and a pack-horse are sufficient for the Icelander to cross wide tracts of barren country." Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE: "The landscape of Iceland is almost treeless and, on the coastal fringe where Icelanders live, resembles the lonely moors of Scotland. The uninhabited interior highland, comprising four-fifths of the island, is strewn with lava, rocks, glaciers and snow fields. It looks bleak and desolate as the moon. Sheep-raising and fishing are the chief livelihoods of the Icelanders." Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from print: "Sheep, numbering about 700,000, are the basis of Iceland's agriculture, furnish 80 percent of her exports. Photo shows an Iceland peasant shearing his sheep. During the summer, the sheep graze in complete freedom in the mountains and grass covered plateaus." Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from print: "Wool is handled in the traditional primitive way. Here we see a farmer woman boiling the wool in a large pot, after which it will be carefully rinsed in the clear water of the brook." Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from print: "Photo shows the primitive way in which wool is washed. While the women boil the wool in a large pot on an open fire, the men are occupied with rinsing it in the clear water of the brook." Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from print: "Traveling is not always easy and comfortable in Iceland. When it has been raining for days, tents and night things are all drenched, you are very glad to find shelter in an old sheep-fold like this." Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from print: "There is hardly any country in the world as exposed to winds and storms as Iceland. They sweep the country and only once in a while formations like this remind us that in former times, the ground was considerably higher and covered with grass." Pix Inc.—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from print: "Fishing is one of Iceland's most important industries. Thousands and thousands of cod and haddock are caught in the winter and salted. On porous lava blocks at the foot of volcanoes the fish are dried in the sun." 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