Leirvík is a town on the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

and was an important regional ferry harbour at the east coast of the second-largest island Eysturoy. It was the only town in the municipality of Leirvík (''Leirvíkar kommuna''), however on 1 January 2009, it merged with Gøtu kommuna to make the new municipality called Eysturkommuna. Leirvík is important for its fishing industry. The Norðoyatunnilin, a submarine tunnel to

Klaksvík Klaksvík () is the second largest town of the Faroe Islands behind Tórshavn. The town is located on Borðoy, which is one of the northernmost islands (the Norðoyar). It is the administrative centre of Klaksvík municipality. History The fir ...

to the east, was opened in April 2006. A

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heater, space heating and w ...

system pulls heat from the sea, increases the heat in a

heat pump A heat pump is a device that uses electricity to transfer heat from a colder place to a warmer place. Specifically, the heat pump transfers thermal energy using a heat pump and refrigeration cycle, cooling the cool space and warming the warm s ...

History

Archaeological excavations have shown that the town was first settled the 9th century by the

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

s. It is said that all inhabitants died in 1349 because of the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

References

External links

Faroeislands.dk: Leirvík
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leirvik Populated places established in the 9th century Populated places in the Faroe Islands

History

See also

References

External links