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Farthings Of Iceland
Historically, Iceland was divided into four farthings (''landsfjórðungar'', singular ''landsfjórðungur'') corresponding to the cardinal directions. These were administrative divisions established in 965 for the purpose of organising regional assemblies called farthing assemblies (''fjórðungsþing'') and regional courts called farthing courts (''fjórðungsdómar''). Each farthing held three local assemblies (usually in spring and autumn), which were each presided over by three ''gothi, goðar'' or chieftains. The North Farthing alone held four. Farthing courts would judge cases if both plaintiff and defendant belonged to the same assembly; otherwise the case was brought to the general assembly, the ''Althing, Alþingi''. Little else is known about these farthing courts and they seem to have been much more irregular than the spring and autumn assemblies. Also, in spite of the apparent regularity of three ''goðar'' per assembly and three to four assemblies per farthing, the sys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1761 Homann Heirs Map Of Iceland "Insulae Islandiae" - Geographicus - Islandiae-hmhr-1761
Events January–March * January 14 – Third Battle of Panipat: Ahmad Shah Durrani and his coalition decisively defeat the Maratha Confederacy, and restore the Mughal Empire to Shah Alam II. * January 16 – Siege of Pondicherry (1760) ended: The Kingdom of Great Britain, British capture Pondicherry district, Pondichéry, India from the Kingdom of France, French. * February 8 – An earthquake in London breaks chimneys in Limehouse and Poplar, London, Poplar. * March 8 – A second earthquake occurs in North London, Hampstead and Highgate. * March 31 – 1761 Portugal earthquake: A magnitude 8.5 earthquake strikes Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, with effects felt as far north as Scotland. April–June * April 1 – The Austrian Empire and the Russian Empire sign a new treaty of alliance. * April 4 – A severe epidemic of influenza breaks out in London and "practically the entire population of the city" is afflicted; particu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westfjords
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] |
Austur-Skaftafellssýsla
Iceland was historically divided into 23 counties known as ''sýslur'' (), and 23 independent towns known as ''kaupstaðir'' (). Iceland is now split up between 24 sýslumenn (magistrates) that are the highest authority over the local police (except in Reykjavík where there is a special office of police commissioner) and carry out administrative functions such as declaring bankruptcy and marrying people outside of the church. The jurisdictions of these magistrates often follow the lines of the historical counties, but not always. When speaking of these new "administrative" counties, the custom is to associate them with the county seats rather than using the names of the traditional counties, even when they cover the same area. Composition Independent towns (''kaupstaðir'') were first created in the 18th century as urbanisation began in Iceland; this practice continued into the 1980s. The last town that was declared an independent town was Ólafsvík in 1983. Since then, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jökulsá á Sólheimasandi
Jökulsá (literally ''glacier river'') is the name of several rivers in Iceland. * Jökulsá á Dal, also known as ''Jökulsá á Brú'' or ''Jökla'' * Jökulsá á Fjöllum, the second longest river in Iceland * Jökulsá á Breiðamerkursandi * , which becomes Lagarfljót * * * Jökulsá í Borgarfirði eystri, a river * Jökulsá í Fáskrúðsfirði, a small river * Jökulsá á Flateyjardal, a small river See also *List of rivers of Iceland On an island like Iceland, the rivers are short in length. None of the rivers are important as a means of navigation due to the impracticality of settlements in the Highlands of Iceland where they originate. South * Hvítá * Krossá *Kúðaflj ... * Austari-Jökulsá * {{Disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Langanes
Langanes () is a peninsula in northeast Iceland. The name literally means "long peninsula". It is long from southwest to northeast, ending in a thin strip of land called Fontur (regionally also ) where there is also a suggestive lighthouse called Langanesviti . It is bounded by Þistilfjörður to the northwest and Bakkaflói to the southeast, while the terrain inland reaches elevations of 200–450 metres (600–1200 feet). The highest point is Gunnólfsvíkurfjall in the southeast of the peninsula, at 719 m. The peninsula is composed of late Pliocene-early Pleistocene lavas. Kistufjall (444 m) is the distinctive tuya (table mountain) volcano that resulted from subglacial eruptions. Administratively, Langanes forms part of the Langanesbyggð municipality (population 480 in 2008). Virtually all of the population live in the village of Þórshöfn (Thorshofn) on the northwestern coast, which has a small airport. Sauðanes , just to the north of Þórshöfn, has an ancient churc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eyjafjörður
Eyjafjörður (, ''Island Fjord'') is one of the longest fjords in Iceland. It is located in the central north of the country. Situated by the fjord is the country's fourth most populous municipality, Akureyri. Physical geography The fjord is long and narrow and measures 60 km from its head to its mouth. Its greatest width is 15 km between Ólafsfjörður and Gjögurtá at the fjord's mouth, but for the greater part of its length it is mostly 5–10 km wide. The fjord is surrounded by hills and mountains on both sides; the mountains are taller on the west side, in the mountain range of the Tröllaskagi peninsula. In the outer part of the fjord there are no lowlands along the coast as the steep hills roll directly into the sea. Further south in the fjord there are strips of lowland along both coasts; these are wider on the west side. Several valleys lead from Eyjafjörður: most of them to the west, where the two most significant are Hörgárdalur and Svarfaðard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hvalfjörður
Hvalfjörður (, "whale fjord") is situated in the west of Iceland between Mosfellsbær and Akranes. The fjord is approximately 30 km long and 5 km wide. The origin of the name Hvalfjörður is uncertain. Certainly today there is no presence of whales in the fjord; while there is a whaling station in the fjord, whaling is conducted in the open ocean outside the fjord; likewise, it is modern and postdates the naming of the fjord. One theory as to the naming of the fjord is that early settlers encountered a pod of whales trapped in the fjord who ended up beached; the stranding of whales was in early Iceland a godsend in the meat that it provided, to the point that the word ''hvalreki'' means both "whale beaching" and "windfall or godsend". However, there is no direct evidence to support this theory. Another theory is that the fjord is named after Hvalfjall ("Whale Mountain", a mountain at the bottom of the fjord), which would have been in turn named after its visual appear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Borgarfjörður
Borgarfjörður () is a fjord in the west of Iceland near the town of Borgarnes. Although the waters of Borgarfjörður appear calm, the fjord has significant undercurrents and shallows. The many flat islands lying in the fjord are for the most part uninhabited. Near Borgarnes, the ''hringvegur'' (road no.1 or "ring road") passes over Borgarfjarðarbrú, a bridge of 0.5 km in length at the inland portion of the fjord. The land around the fjord has been inhabited since the time of Icelandic settlement. Events in the Icelandic sagas such as that of Egill Skallagrímsson are situated here. The name of the fjord seems to have come from the farm ''Borg'', which according to the sagas was founded by Egill's father Skallagrímur, who took the land around the fjord and accordingly gave the fjord the name of Borgarfjörður. While serving as a synonym for the various townships, farms, natural attractions and areas in the region, the various parts of Borgarfjörður are now gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
