Iceland

Iceland is what happens when you put a volcanic hotspot directly on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and then let Vikings settle it. The result is a country where the ground literally steams, new islands occasionally pop up from the sea, and the landscape looks like it was designed for a science fiction film. Glaciers cover 11% of the surface, active volcanoes regularly shut down European airspace, and the geothermal energy is so abundant that Reykjavik heats almost every building with hot water piped from underground.

The population is roughly 390,000 - about the size of a small city - and yet Iceland punches absurdly above its weight. It has the world's oldest parliament (the Althingi, founded in 930 AD), the highest per-capita book publishing rate on Earth, and a literary tradition stretching back to the medieval sagas. Icelanders still read these sagas, still use patronymic surnames (there are no family names), and can largely understand Old Norse written 800 years ago. The country has no army, virtually no crime, and a deeply embedded culture of geothermal pools where social life happens in hot water. In summer the sun barely sets. In winter the Northern Lights take over.