ABSTRACT
During the Napoleonic Wars, a dramatic change in the position of Iceland within the Danish realm took place. Iceland, a dependency of Denmark since the unification of the Norwegian and Danish crowns in 1380, came under the control and protection of Britain. A British annexation of Iceland was discussed in government circles during the Napoleonic Wars, and in 1809 Iceland was seized by a British merchant and proclaimed an independent country under the protection of Britain. Though the Royal Navy soon restored Danish rule after this so-called ‘Icelandic Revolution’, there was little question that Iceland was firmly within the British sphere of influence. George III made it quite clear in an Order-in-Council in 1810 that not only Iceland but all three North Atlantic dependencies of DenmarkNorway were now under his protection, and they remained so until the Peace of Kiel in 1814. The Board of Trade regulated the Iceland trade throughout the war, and the island escaped annexation simply because Britain was able to treat Iceland as it pleased without any fear of Danish intervention.
