Editing Reykjavík (section)

===Rise of nationalism===
[[File:Pg107 Main street of Reykjavik and Governors house.jpg|thumb|Reykjavík in 1881]]
[[File:The meeting – house „Góðtemplarahúsið“ on Templarasund,1923-1935.jpg|thumb|Reykjavík in the 1920s]]
[[Icelandic nationalism|Icelandic nationalist]] sentiment gained influence in the 19th century, and the idea of Icelandic independence became widespread. Reykjavík, as Iceland's only city, was central to such ideas. Advocates of an independent Iceland realized that a strong Reykjavík was fundamental to that objective. All the important events in the history of the independence struggle were important to Reykjavík as well. In 1845 the {{lang|is|[[Althing|Alþingi]]|italic=no}}, the general assembly formed in 930 AD, was re-established in Reykjavík; it had been suspended a few decades earlier when it was located at [[Þingvellir]]. At the time it functioned only as an advisory assembly, advising the king about Icelandic affairs. The location of Alþingi in Reykjavík effectively established the city as the capital of Iceland.

In 1874, Iceland was given a [[constitution]]; with it, Alþingi gained some limited legislative powers and in essence became the institution that it is today. The next step was to move most of the executive power to Iceland: [[Home rule|Home Rule]] was granted in 1904 when the office of [[Prime Minister of Iceland|Minister for Iceland]] was established in Reykjavík. On 1 December 1918, Iceland became a sovereign country, the [[Kingdom of Iceland]], in [[personal union]] with the [[List of Danish monarchs|Crown of Denmark]].

By the 1920s and 1930s, most of the growing Icelandic fishing trawler fleet sailed from Reykjavík; [[cod]] production was its main industry, but the [[Great Depression]] hit Reykjavík hard with [[unemployment]], and labour union struggles sometimes became violent.