A page from a vellum manuscript of Landnáma in the Árni Magnússon Institute in Reykjavík, Iceland

Landnámabók (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈlantnaumaˌpouk], “The Book of Settlements”), often shortened to Landnáma, is a medieval Icelandic written work describing in considerable detail the settlement (landnám) of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries AD.

Landnáma[link]

Landnámabók is divided into five parts and over 100 chapters. The first part tells of how the land was found and the absolute first settlers but the later parts count settlers quarter by quarter beginning with west and ending with south. It traces important events and family history into the 12th century. More than 3,000 people and 1,400 settlements are described. For each settler it is said where they settled and a brief genealogy is provided, and sometimes short anecdote-like stories are also included. Landnámabók lists 435 men as the initial settlers, the majority of them settling in the northern and south-western parts of the island. It remains an invaluable source on both the history and genealogy of the Icelandic people. Some have suggested a single author while others have believed it put together when people met at things.

Surviving versions[link]

The surviving versions of Landnámabók date from the second half of the 13th century or a little later, though it has been suggested that it was composed in an early form by Ari Þorgilsson (1068–1148). The initial settlement of Iceland largely took place during the Viking Age between 870 and 930, but Landnámabók definitely mentions descendants significantly later than the actual settlement period, at least into the 11th century.

There are five surviving medieval versions of Landnámabók.

• Sturlubók by Sturla Þórðarson
• Hauksbók by Haukr Erlendsson, based on Sturlubók and a lost version by Styrmir Kárason
• Melabók
• Skarðsárbók
• Þórðarbók

External links[link]

• Online publication of Landnámabók
• Place-Names in Landnámabók
• The Árni Magnússon Manuscript Museum's Website

This Iceland-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson
President of Iceland
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 August 1996
Prime Minister	Davíð Oddsson Halldór Ásgrímsson Geir Haarde Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
Preceded by	Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Minister of Finance
In office 28 September 1988 – 30 April 1991
Prime Minister	Steingrímur Hermannsson
Preceded by	Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson
Succeeded by	Friðrik Sophusson
Personal details
Born	(1943-05-14) 14 May 1943 (age 69) Ísafjörður, Iceland
Political party	Independent (1996–present)
Other political affiliations	People's Alliance (Before 1996)
Spouse(s)	Guðrún Katrín Þorbergsdóttir (1974–1998) Dorrit Moussaieff (2003–present)
Children	Guðrún Ólafsdóttir Svanhildur Ólafsdóttir
Residence	Bessastaðir
Alma mater	University of Manchester University of Iceland
Profession	Professor
Religion	Lutheranism
Signature

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson [ˈoːulavʏr ˈraknar ˈkrimsɔn] ( listen) (born 14 May 1943) is the fifth and current President of Iceland.^[1] He has served as President since 1996; he was unopposed in 2000, re-elected for a third term in 2004, and re-elected unopposed for a fourth term in 2008.

Early life[link]

Ólafur was born in Ísafjörður, Iceland. From 1962 to 1970, he studied economics and political science at the University of Manchester; in 1970 he was the first person from Iceland to earn a PhD in political science. He became a lecturer in political science at the University of Iceland in 1970, then a Professor of Political Science at the same university in 1973. He was the University's first Professor of Political Science.^[1]

In 1984, he participated, along with other three left-wing intellectuals, in a debate with the known economist Milton Friedman, who was in Iceland to give a lecture on the "tyranny of the status quo" at the University of Iceland.

Political career[link]

As part of the left-wing People's Alliance, Ólafur was a Member of Althing for Reykjavík from 1978 to 1983; during this time he was Chairman of the People's Alliance parliamentary group from 1980 to 1983. Subsequently, he was Chairman of the People's Alliance executive committee from 1983 to 1987; additionally, from 1983 to 1985 he was editor of a newspaper, Þjóðviljinn. From 1987 to 1995, he was Leader of the People's Alliance; during this time, he served as Minister of Finance from 1988 to 1991 and as a Member of Althing for Reykjanes from 1991 to 1996.^[1]

As member of the Althing, Ólafur was among the most controversial politicians in Iceland.^{[citation needed]} Originally elected as President from a field of four candidates with 42% of the total votes, Ólafur has from the outset been a controversial figure in the office of President,^{[citation needed][2]} an office that has mainly ceremonial functions meant to symbolise national unity and bears little responsibility for government affairs.

President of Iceland[link]

Ólafur with President of Russia Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on 19 April 2002.

In the 1996 presidential election, he was elected with 41.4% of the votes.

Refusal to sign media law[link]

He is the first president to use the authorization given in the 26th article of the Icelandic constitution to put a law from Alþingi in to a referendum. He did that on 2 June 2004 to a law about the mass media. His decision remains controversial with politicians and legal scholars alike. Some consider the refusing to sign as "an attack" on Alþingi and parliamentary sovereignty and lawyers debate whether article 26 is actually valid. No national referendum was ever held about the controversial media law as the government withdrew the law before a referendum could be held.

Re-election 2004[link]

In the 2004 presidential election, Ólafur was re-elected with 67.5% of the votes cast (down from over 95% in the only other time an incumbent has been contested), but that election also saw a record number of empty ballots (21.2%) and an exceptionally low turnout of 63% (usually 80–90%), both of which have been interpreted as dissent with the president's decision to not sign the media law. Since then, the issue of a constitutional amendment to revoke the veto power of the president has been raised by the Independence Party. Some have also wanted to rest that power with the people themselves, who could then force referendums to be held on laws by – for instance – collecting a certain number of signatures.

Re-election 2008[link]

On 1 January 2008, in his new year's address, Ólafur announced his intention to seek a fourth term in office later in 2008. Because there was no challenger, he was automatically re-elected and sworn in for another term on 1 August 2008.^[3]

Crisis of 2008 statements[link]

In the aftermath of the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis, Ólafur has criticised other countries for lack of help to Iceland.

In early November, the President attended a traditional informal lunch with all ambassadors to Iceland, held by the senior Danish ambassador. According to a confidential memo from the Norwegian embassy, quoted in the Norwegian newspaper Klassekampen, the President said: "The North Atlantic is important to Scandinavia, the US and Britain. This is a fact these countries now seem to ignore. Then, Iceland should rather get some new friends". However, he praised Norway and the Faroes for their swift decisions to grant major loans to Iceland. He also said Iceland should rather invite Russia to use the Keflavík Air Base. According to the memo, the offer was turned down by an "amazed and smiling" Russian ambassador who said Russia did not have any need for this. Ólafur also criticised the International Monetary Fund for the system's flaws and for their bad treatment of Iceland. He said it was part of Icelandic political mentality to "fight alone" rather than being threatened to submit, and that he expected Iceland to overcome the crisis sooner than the US and Britain by showing initiative and international activity in new fields. The memo, however, underlines that the President of Iceland has no political power and that no government official has presented similar points of view "to the same degree".^[4][5][6]

The Danish ambassador to Iceland, Lasse Reimann, confirmed to the daily Politiken that the lunch had taken place, but declined to comment on the President's speech.^[7]

On 5 January 2010 the President of Iceland vetoed a measure of the Icelandic government to pay the governments of Britain and the Netherlands for their bailouts of customers of private Icelandic banks (no such bailout was required under Icelandic law, though on 26 May 2010 the EFTA found it was required by the terms of Iceland's membership of the EEA).^[8] The President's veto was upheld by the people of Iceland when they voted upon the measure in March 2010. This dispute is known as Icesave dispute.

On 20 February 2011 the President of Iceland again vetoed an effort by the Icelandic government to pay (over a period of years) money to the governments of Britain and the Netherlands. In a referendum, which was held on 9 April 2011, Icelanders rejected for a second time a proposal to pay $5 billion to Britain and the Netherlands.^[9][10] Nearly 60% of Icelanders rejected the proposal put forward by the government.^[11] The President's veto was upheld by the people and the government now needs to find a way to solve this issue.^[12]

2012 Election[link]

Ólafur Ragnar announced on March 4, 2012 that he would be seeking a fifth term as the President of Iceland in the 2012 presidential election.^[13]

Views on current global issues[link]

Ólafur has identified the 2009 financial crisis, the need for a green energy revolution, and climate change as the three most pressing issues in today’s world. Declaring these three problems to be interconnected, he has said, “None of these three crises can be solved without solving the other.”^[14]

Other achievements[link]

In recent years the President has been outspoken on the issues of renewable energy and global climate change. He initiated a Global Roundtable on Climate Change with the participation of a large group of companies and individual opinion leaders. President Ólafur strongly advocates the use of geothermal energy, which is renewable, economically viable and reliable resource, as proven convincingly by the case of Iceland.

In relation to his efforts on these issues, President Ólafur has participated in the Global Creative Leadership Summit,^[15] organized by the Louise Blouin Foundation,^[16] in 2007 and 2008. He was also awarded the Louise T Blouin Award for Creative and Cultural Achievement. In 2008, as a delegate at the Summit he delivered the Keynote Speech on Climate Change versus Globalization.

Family[link]

He married Guðrún Katrín Þorbergsdóttir in 1974, who gave birth to twin daughters the following year, Guðrún Tinna, a graduate in Business Studies, and Svanhildur Dalla, a graduate both in Political Science and Law.^[1][17] Guðrún Katrín was a popular figure in Iceland, and the country mourned when she passed away after a fight with leukaemia in 1998.

Ólafur's second marriage was to Israeli-born Dorrit Moussaieff, to whom he became engaged in May 2000. The wedding took place on his 60th birthday, 14 May 2003, in a private ceremony held at the presidential residence.

They have a dog, Sámur, who is named after the dog of Gunnar of Hlíðarendi, one of the main characters in the Icelandic family saga Njála.

Health[link]

Ólafur was hospitalized in Reykjavík on 6 October 2008 for an angioplasty procedure. This was announced on 9 October, with his saying that he was "recovering and has resumed most activities".^[18]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson

References[link]

v t e Presidents of Iceland Sveinn Björnsson • Ásgeir Ásgeirsson • Kristján Eldjárn • Vigdís Finnbogadóttir • Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson

James Beeland Rogers, Jr.
Born	(1942-10-19) October 19, 1942 (age 69) Baltimore, Maryland, USA[1]
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford Yale University
Occupation	Chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc. Co-founder of the Quantum Fund
Website
www.jimrogers.com

James Beeland Rogers, Jr. (born October 19, 1942) is an American investor and author. He is currently based in Singapore. Rogers is the Chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc. He was the co-founder of the Quantum Fund with George Soros and creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index (RICI).

Rogers is an outspoken proponent of the free market, but he does not consider himself a member of any school of thought. Rogers acknowledged, however, that his views best fit the label of Austrian School of economics.^[2][3]

Early life and education[link]

Rogers was born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in Demopolis, Alabama.^[1][4] He started in business at the age of five by selling peanuts and by picking up empty bottles that fans left behind at baseball games. He got his first job on Wall Street, at Dominick & Dominick, after graduating with a bachelor's degree in History from Yale University in 1964. Rogers then acquired a second BA degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford University in 1966.

Business career[link]

1970-2002[link]

In 1970, Rogers joined Arnhold and S. Bleichroder. In 1973, Rogers co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros. During the following 10 years, the portfolio gained 4200% while the S&P advanced about 47%.^[5] The Quantum Fund was one of the first truly international funds.

In 1980, Rogers decided to "retire", and spent some of his time traveling on a motorcycle around the world. Since then, he has been a guest professor of finance at the Columbia Business School.^[6]

In 1989 and 1990, Rogers was the moderator of WCBS' The Dreyfus Roundtable and FNN's The Profit Motive with Jim Rogers. From 1990 to 1992, he traveled through China again, as well as around the world, on motorcycle, over 100,000 miles (160,000 km) across six continents, which was picked up in the Guinness Book of World Records. He tells of his adventures and worldwide investments in Investment Biker, a bestselling investment book.

In 1998, Rogers founded the Rogers International Commodity Index. In 2007, the index and its three sub-indices were linked to exchange-traded notes under the banner ELEMENTS. The notes track the total return of the indices as an accessible way to invest in the index. Rogers is an outspoken advocate of agriculture investments.

Between January 1, 1999 and January 5, 2002, Rogers did another Guinness World Record journey through 116 countries, covering 245,000 kilometers with his wife, Paige Parker, in a custom-made Mercedes. The trip began in Iceland, which was about to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Leif Eriksson's first trip to America. On January 5, 2002, they were back in New York City and their home on Riverside Drive. His route around the world can be viewed on his website, jimrogers.com. He wrote Adventure Capitalist following this around-the-world adventure. It is currently his bestselling book.

2002 to present[link]

On his return in 2002, Rogers became a regular guest on Fox News' Cavuto on Business and other financial TV shows.^[7] In 2002, Rogers said that Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's "reaction to the stock-market bubble has caused two more bubbles to grow: a real-estate bubble and a consumer-debt bubble."^[8] In 2006, Rogers said he was shorting US financials, home builders and Fannie Mae.^[9][10]

In 2005, Rogers wrote Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market. In this book, Rogers quotes a Financial Analysts Journal academic paper co-authored by Yale School of Management professor, Geert Rouwenhorst, entitled Facts and Fantasies about Commodity Futures. Rogers contends this paper shows that commodities investment is one of the best investments over time, which is a concept somewhat at odds with conventional investment thinking.

In December 2007, Rogers sold his mansion in New York City for about 16 million USD and moved to Singapore. Rogers claimed that he moved because now is a ground-breaking time for investment potential in Asian markets. Rogers's first daughter is now being tutored in Mandarin to prepare her for the future. He is quoted as saying: "If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia." In a CNBC interview with Maria Bartiromo broadcast on May 5, 2008, Rogers said that people in China are extremely motivated and driven, and he wants to be in that type of environment, so his daughters are motivated and driven. He also stated that this is how America and Europe used to be. He chose not to move to Chinese cities like Hong Kong or Shanghai due to the high levels of pollution causing potential health problems for his family; hence, he chose Singapore. He has also advocated investing in certain smaller Asian frontier markets such as Sri Lanka and Cambodia, and currently serves as an Advisor to Leopard Capital’s Leopard Sri Lanka Fund.^[11] However, he is not fully bullish on all Asian nations, as he remains skeptical of India's future - "India as we know it will not survive another 30 or 40 years".^[12] In 2008 Rogers endorsed Ron Paul for President of the United States.^[13]

Rogers has two daughters with Paige Parker. Hilton Augusta (nicknamed Happy) was born in 2003, and their second daughter Beeland Anderson in 2008. His latest book, A Gift To My Children, contains lessons in life for his daughters as well as investment advice and was published in 2009.

On November 4, 2010, at Oxford University’s Balliol College, he urged students to scrap career plans for Wall Street or the City, London’s financial district, and to study agriculture and mining instead. “The power is shifting again from the financial centers to the producers of real goods. The place to be is in commodities, raw materials, natural resources."^[14]

In February 2011 Rogers announced that he has started a new index fund which focuses on "the top companies in agriculture, mining, metals and energy sectors as well as those in the alternative energy space including solar, wind and hydro."^[15] The index is called The Rogers Global Resources Equity Index and according to Rogers, only the best and most liquid companies go into the index.

Bibliography[link]

• 1995: Investment Biker: Around the World with Jim Rogers. - ISBN 1-55850-529-6
• 2003: Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip. - ISBN 0-375-50912-7
• 2004: Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market. - ISBN 1-4000-6337-X
• 2007: A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World's Greatest Market. - ISBN 1-4000-6616-6
• 2009: A Gift to My Children: A Father's Lessons For Life And Investing. - ISBN 1-4000-6754-5

Further reading[link]

• Schwager, Jack D. (1993). Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders. Collins; Reissue edition. ISBN 0-88730-610-1. 
• Train, John (2003). Money Masters of Our Time. Collins; Reprint edition. ISBN 978-0-88730-970-0. 

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (September 2010)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jim Rogers

• The Millennium Adventure, Official Jim Rogers website
• The Rogers International Commodity Index A site for information on the RICI

Articles

• "An Early Christmas for Jim Rogers". - BusinessWeek - December 8, 2004.
• "Invest In Commodities – and Keep Your Shirt". - November 23, 2006.
• "We Want Our Kids To Learn Chinese". - MySinchew. - July 19, 2008. - (article about Rogers' life in Singapore)
• "Adventure Capitalist". - PODER Magazine. - April 2010.

Interviews

• Curated Interview With Jim Rogers From Market Wizards
• Jim Rogers on the British Pound, US Dollar, And China
• Jim Rogers, The Adventure Capitalist
• Jim Rogers and George Soros Started the Quantum Fund
• rediff.com: The Money Interview/Jim Rogers, investor, globetrotter
• Financial Sense Newshour's Ask The Expert: Jim Rogers:
  • 2003.
  • May 6, 2004.
• Riverside Conversations: a 3 Part TV Series with Marc Faber
• SCMP video interview, September 8, 2008.
• Investors Chronicle interview. - (on the decline of the US/Europe, emerging markets, commodities). - November 2008.
• Bloomberg Night Talk interview. - November 24, 2008.
• Jim Rogers on The Lew Rockwell Show:
  • "The Crash of '08". - December 12, 2008. - (*.MP3 audio)
  • "Economic Advice to My Children (and You)". - May 17, 2009. - (*.MP3 audio)
• Bloomberg TV Jim Rogers Special. - December 24, 2008.
• TIME Q&A: Jim Rogers:
  • April 28, 2009.
  • October 31, 2008.
• Interview from March 2009 on Channel 4
• Jim Rogers Sat 3 Interview German TV Sat 3
• Euro is not to blame for crisis, BBC News, 26 December 2011.

References[link]