The space between Guatemala and South Korea

If the fishing zone around Iceland were included in Iceland’s size, Iceland would be 860 thousand square kilometers and the 35th largest country in the world, between Pakistan and Namibia in size. The fishing zone is, therefore, 760 thousand square kilometers—more than seven times the size of the actual country itself.

Instead, Iceland currently ranks 108th in size among the world’s countries, slightly smaller than Guatemala and slightly larger than South Korea, which is home to 52 million inhabitants. Half of them live in the capital, Seoul, which is the ninth-largest city in the world. The population of the city is as large as the entire population of North Korea. Russia is the largest country on earth, at 17.1 million square kilometers, covering 11% of all land area on earth. Canada is in second place, and China in third.

Next year marks 50 years since Iceland extended the territorial waters to 200 miles, after 4 cod wars (three with the British, one with the Germans) from 1958 to 1976. At this occasion, it is only fitting to publish pictures of the surf that lashes the shores of the country most days of the year.