Cabinet Building, Reykjavik, Iceland, 1913 and 2019
In 1913, a man was leisurely rowing his boat, decorated with a blue and white flag, around the Reykjavik harbor. Although Iceland had its own constitution by 1874, they functioned under Danish rule. The boater’s flag was a symbol of Icelandic independence. The chief of a Danish man-o’-war stopped the boater, telling him he could not fly the Icelandic flag. Icelandic Parliament declared that not only was the arrest unwarranted, and insisted only the Icelandic flag could fly in the country. The group in the 1913 photo showed up to the Cabinet Building to protest the Danish military’s action. Denmark held the nation until Danish occupation by German forces in 1940. Iceland formally achieved the independence they had so long desired in 1944. The modern image shows the building nearly the same, but the statue has changed from Danish King Christian IX to Hannes Hafstein, first Prime Minister of Iceland.