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Álftafjörður2010
The name Álftafjörður () is Icelandic language, Icelandic for "swan fjord", and there are some fjords by this name in Iceland. The best known of these are: *Álftafjörður (Westfjords). This fjord is located on the southern side of Ísafjarðardjúp, in the Vestfirðir region of north-western Iceland. A whaling station was built in 1883 at Langeyri on its western shore by two Norwegians named Lars Mons and Svend Foyn, and was used until whaling was prohibited in Iceland in 1915. The modern village of Súðavík is in the same area. *Álftafjörður (Snæfellsnes) is a southern branch of Breiðafjörður. *Álftafjörður (Eastfjords) is a fjord of the Eastfjords, East Fjords of Iceland between Höfn and Djúpivogur. References {{Iceland-fjord-stub Fjords of Iceland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Álftafjörður2010
The name Álftafjörður () is Icelandic language, Icelandic for "swan fjord", and there are some fjords by this name in Iceland. The best known of these are: *Álftafjörður (Westfjords). This fjord is located on the southern side of Ísafjarðardjúp, in the Vestfirðir region of north-western Iceland. A whaling station was built in 1883 at Langeyri on its western shore by two Norwegians named Lars Mons and Svend Foyn, and was used until whaling was prohibited in Iceland in 1915. The modern village of Súðavík is in the same area. *Álftafjörður (Snæfellsnes) is a southern branch of Breiðafjörður. *Álftafjörður (Eastfjords) is a fjord of the Eastfjords, East Fjords of Iceland between Höfn and Djúpivogur. References {{Iceland-fjord-stub Fjords of Iceland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Island Westfjorde 051
An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. Sedimentary islands in the Ganges Delta are called chars. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands, such as the Philippines, is referred to as an archipelago. There are two main types of islands in the sea: continental islands and oceanic islands. There are also artificial islands (man-made islands). There are about 900,000 official islands in the world. This number consists of all the officially-reported islands of each country. The total number of islands in the world is unknown. There may be hundreds of thousands of tiny islands that are unknown and uncounted. The number of sea islands in the world is estimated to be more than 200,000. The to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Icelandic Language
Icelandic (; is, íslenska, link=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Due to being a West Scandinavian language, it is most closely related to Faroese, western Norwegian dialects, and the extinct language, Norn. The language is more conservative than most other Germanic languages. While most of them have greatly reduced levels of inflection (particularly noun declension), Icelandic retains a four- case synthetic grammar (comparable to German, though considerably more conservative and synthetic) and is distinguished by a wide assortment of irregular declensions. Icelandic vocabulary is also deeply conservative, with the country's language regulator maintaining an active policy of coining terms based on older Icelandic words rather than directly taking in loanwords from other languages. Since the written language has not changed much, Icelandic speakers can read classic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its surrounding areas) is home to over 65% of the population. Iceland is the biggest part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that rises above sea level, and its central volcanic plateau is erupting almost constantly. The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains, and glaciers, and many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly, and most of its islands have a polar climate. According to the ancient manuscript , the settlement of Iceland began in 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ísafjarðardjúp
Ísafjarðardjúp () is a large fjord in the Westfjords region of Iceland. Its name translates to ''Depth of the fjord of sea ice''. Ísafjörður, capital of the Westfjords region, is situated close to the mouth of Ísafjarðardjúp in Skutulsfjörður. The north-eastern coast is fairly straight with the only inlet being Kaldalón, but the southern side has fjords extending well into the land: Skutulsfjörður, Álftafjörður, Seyðisfjörður, Hestfjörður, Skötufjörður, Mjóifjörður, Reykjafjörður and Ísafjörður. Three islands lie in Ísafjarðardjúp: Borgarey, Æðey and Vigur. Borgarey is the smallest with no inhabitants and Æðey the largest. On both Æðey and Vigur there is one farmstead. On the peninsula of Reykjanes, there are hot springs and hydrothermal alteration. In the bottom of the fjord lies the former trading post Arngerðareyri Arngerðareyri is a location at the mouth of the fjord of Ísafjörður at the bottom of Ísafjarðardjúp i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vestfirðir
The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast of Greenland. It is connected to the rest of Iceland by a seven-kilometre-wide isthmus between Gilsfjörður and Bitrufjörður . The Westfjords are very mountainous; the coastline is heavily indented by dozens of fjords surrounded by steep hills. These indentations make roads very circuitous and communications by land difficult. In addition many of the roads are closed by ice and snow for several months of the year. The Vestfjarðagöng road tunnel from 1996 has improved that situation. The cliffs at Látrabjarg comprise the longest bird cliff in the northern Atlantic Ocean and are at the westernmost point in Iceland. The Drangajökull glacier is located in the north of the peninsula and is the fifth-largest of the country, but the only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whaling Station
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16th century, it had risen to be the principal industry in the Basque coastal regions of Spain and France. The industry spread throughout the world, and became increasingly profitable in terms of trade and resources. Some regions of the world's oceans, along the animals' migration routes, had a particularly dense whale population, and became the targets for large concentrations of whaling ships, and the industry continued to grow well into the 20th century. The depletion of some whale species to near extinction led to the banning of whaling in many countries by 1969, and to an international cessation of whaling as an industry in the late 1980s. The earliest known forms of whaling date to at least 3000 BC. Coastal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Svend Foyn
Svend Foyn (July 9, 1809 – November 30, 1894) was a Norwegian whaling, shipping magnate and philanthropist. He pioneered revolutionary methods for hunting and processing whales. Svend Foyn introduced the modern harpoon cannon and brought whaling into a modern age. He is also recognized as a pioneer who introduced sealing to Vestfold County. Background Svend Foyn was born in the neighborhood of Foynegården at Tønsberg in Vestfold, Norway. He was the son of shipmaster Laurentius Foyn (1772–1813) and Benthe Marie Ager (1781–1842). Foyn was fatherless at four years of age and his mother came to characterize his upbringing. By age 11, Foyn sent to sea on the family ships. He took navigational exams in Kristiansand at age 19 and from 1833 he was a master sailor. Career His ship initially transported lumber from Sweden and Norway to European ports and returned with manufactured goods. Started in 1846, Foyn was on the expedition for seals and walrus. By the 1860s, he h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Súðavík
Súðavík () is a fishing village and municipality (Súðavíkurhreppur ) on the west coast of Álftafjörður in Westfjords, Iceland. History On January 16, 1995, an avalanche fell on the village early in the morning (around 6:25 am) and destroyed several buildings, most of them residents' houses. Fourteen people were killed (including eight children) and twelve were injured. Severe snow storms made the rescue work difficult and dangerous. The final survivor was rescued 23 hours after the avalanche had fallen, and the search continued into the evening of January 17. A disaster relief fund was established, and within a week, the Icelandic public had donated 300 million kroner (about $3,000,000) to the relief effort. The same winter, two more avalanches fell from Traðargil , destroying several houses; the areas hit had already been evacuated, so no more people died. Avalanches fell from many other gullies and mountainsides during the avalanche cycle that winter. At a public mee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snæfellsnes
The Snæfellsnes () is a peninsula situated to the west of Borgarfjörður, in western Iceland. The Snæfellsjökull volcano, regarded as one of the symbols of Iceland, can be found in the area. With its height of 1446 m, it is the highest mountain on the peninsula and has a glacier at its peak (''jökull'' means "glacier" in Icelandic). The volcano can be seen on clear days from Reykjavík, a distance of about 120 km. The mountain is also known as the setting of the novel ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' by the French author Jules Verne. The area surrounding Snæfellsjökull has been designated one of the four National Parks by the government of Iceland. It is also the home of the Ingjaldsholl church, a Protestant church. The peninsula is one of the main settings in the '' Laxdœla saga'' and it was, according to this saga, the birthplace of the first West Norse member of the Varangian Guard, Bolli Bollasson. Other historical people who lived in the area accor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breiðafjörður
Breiðafjörður (, ''wide fjord'') is a large shallow bay, about 50 km wide and 125 km long, in the west of Iceland. It separates the region of the Westfjords (Vestfirðir) from the Snæfellsnes peninsula to the south. Breiðafjörður is encircled by mountains, including Kirkjufell and the glacier Snæfellsjökull on the Snæfellsnes peninsula, and the Látrabjarg bird cliffs at the tip of the Westfjords. Numerous smaller fjords extend inland from Breiðafjörður, the largest being Hvammsfjörður at its southeastern corner. An interesting feature of the bay is that the land to the north was formed about 15 million years ago, whereas the land to the south was formed less than half that time ago. Nature Breiðafjörður has a spectacular land and seascape consisting of shallow seas, small fjords and bays, and intertidal areas, dotted with about 3,000 islands, islets and skerries. The area contains about half of Iceland's intertidal area and tides can be six metr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_p027_COMMANDER_SVEND_FOYN.jpg "Click for more on -> Svend Foyn")
_Iceland_M74A1908.jpg "Click for more on -> Breiðafjörður")