Editing History of Iceland (section)

===Kalmar Union===
{{See also|Kalmar Union}}

Iceland remained under Norwegian kingship until 1380, when the death of [[Olaf II of Denmark]] extinguished the Norwegian male royal line. Norway (and thus Iceland) then became part of the [[Kalmar Union]], along with Sweden and [[Denmark]], with Denmark as the dominant power. Unlike Norway, Denmark did not need Iceland's fish and homespun wool. This created a dramatic deficit in Iceland's trade. The [[Eastern Settlement|small Greenland colony]], established in the late 10th century, died out completely before 1500.

[[File:Christian III of Denmark.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Christian III of Denmark]]]]With the introduction of [[absolute monarchy]] in [[Denmark–Norway]] in 1660 under [[Frederick III of Denmark]], the Icelanders relinquished their autonomy to the crown, including the right to initiate and consent to legislation.  Denmark, however, did not provide much protection to Iceland,{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} which was raided in 1627 by a [[Barbary pirates|Barbary pirate fleet]] that abducted almost 300 Icelanders into [[slavery]], in an episode known as the [[Turkish Abductions]].

After the end of the Kalmar Union, the royal government asserted greater control of Iceland.<ref name=":16" /> In particular, it took stronger actions to stop the involvement of English traders with Iceland.<ref name=":16" />