Vestmannaeyjar Bonfire, Iceland, 1998

During the first weekend of August, the residents of Vestmannaeyjar celebrate Iceland's first constitution in bold Viking style—with fire, song, and plenty of drink. Democracy took root on this rocky island in 930 A.D., when the Althing, predecessor to today's parliament, first met. "Icelanders have no other king than the laws," wrote an 11th-century cleric, and the proud descendants of the country's original settlers remain fiercely independent.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "In Search of Vikings," May 2000, National Geographic magazine)