Ambassador of Iceland to the United States

Ambassador of Iceland to United States
Sendiherra Íslands í Bandaríkjunum
Incumbent
Geir Haarde
since 23 February 2015
Inaugural holder Thor Thors
Formation 23 October 1941

Until 1874, Iceland was a dependency of Denmark rather than an independent nation. In 1874, Denmark granted Iceland home rule, which again was expanded in 1904. In 1918, The Act of Union, an agreement between Denmark, recognised Iceland as a fully sovereign state united with Denmark under a common king. Iceland established its own flag and asked that Denmark represent its foreign affairs and defense interests. Thus the United States Ambassador to Denmark conducted foreign relations between the United States and Iceland.

German occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940, severed communications between Iceland and Denmark. As a result, on 10 April the Parliament of Iceland elected to take control of foreign affairs into its own hands.

Following a plebiscite, Iceland formally became an independent republic on 17 June 1944.

List of ambassadors

# Name Appointment Termination of mission
1 Thor Thors 23 October 1941 11 January 1965
2 Pétur Thorsteinsson 1 August 1965 1 October 1969
3 Magnús V. Magnússon 1 October 1969 4 April 1971
4 Guðmundur Ívarsson Guðmundsson 1 August 1971 2 March 1973
5 Haraldur Kröyer 2 March 1973 21 July 1976
6 Hans G. Andersen 21 July 1976 24 November 1986
7 Ingvi S. Ingvarsson 24 November 1986 17 December 1990
8 Tómas Á. Tómasson 17 December 1990 9 December 1993
9 Einar Benediktsson 9 December 1993 21 November 1997
10 Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson 16 March 1998 9 December 2002
11 Helgi Ágústsson 9 December 2002 8 December 2006
12 Albert Jónsson 8 December 2006 8 January 2009
13 Hjálmar W. Hannesson 8 January 2009 1 October 2011
14 Guðmundur Árni Stefánsson 1 October 2011 23 February 2015
15 Geir Haarde 23 February 2015 Incumbent

See also

References

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