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| 1958, Dec. 4 |
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| Premier Hermann Jonasson's coalition government of Progressive, Social Democratic, and Labor Alliance Parties collapsed in disagreement over economic policy. | 1 |
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| 1959, Nov. 19 |
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| Premier Emil Jonsson resigned, and Independence Party leader Olafur Thors formed a coalition government. | 2 |
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| 1963, June 11 |
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| Returns from the parliamentary elections (June 9) revealed that the coalition of Premier Thors's Independence Party and the Social Democratic Party had won 32 seats in the 60-seat Parliament. | 3 |
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| 1968, June 30 |
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| Kristjan Eldjarn was elected president of Iceland. He was reelected in 1972 and 1976. | 4 |
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| 1970, March 1 |
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| Iceland became a full member of the European Free Trade Association (See 1960, May 3) and also a party to the Finland-EFTA agreement. | 5 |
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| 1976, May 30–June 1 |
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| The “cod war” between Britain and Iceland (1972–76) over fishing limits ended in compromise. | 6 |
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| 1980, Aug. 1 |
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| Vigdís Finnbogadóttir took office as president of Iceland after she won a closely contested election on June 29. She was the world's first popularly elected female head of state. She was reelected in 1984, 1988, and 1992. | 7 |
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| 1985, May |
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| Iceland declared itself a nuclear-free zone after mounting opposition to the U.S.-NATO base on the island. | 8 |
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| 1986, June |
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| Iceland became a participating member of the “Eureka” high-technology cooperation program; thus all the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development became participants. | 9 |
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| 1989, March 1 |
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| The sale of beer was legalized in Iceland after a ban that had lasted 74 years. | 10 |
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| 1991, April 23 |
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| The outgoing Progressive Party prime minister Steingrímur Hermannsson resigned after elections held on April 20. | 11 |
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| April 30 |
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| Davíd Oddsson of the Independence Party formed a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party. | 12 |
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