Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
off the south coast of
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 s ...
.
The largest island,
Heimaey
Heimaey (), is an Icelandic island. At , it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast. Heimaey is off the south coast of Iceland. It is the only populated isla ...
, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyjabær. The other islands are uninhabited, although six have single hunting cabins. Vestmannaeyjar came to international attention in 1973 with the eruption of
Eldfell
Eldfell is a volcanic cone just over high on the Icelandic island of Heimaey. It formed in a volcanic eruption, which began without warning on the eastern side of Heimaey, in the Westman Islands, on 23 January 1973. The name means ''Hill of Fir ...
volcano, which destroyed many buildings and forced a month-long evacuation of the entire population to mainland Iceland. Approximately one-fifth of the town was destroyed before the lava flow was halted by application of 6.8billion litres of cold sea water.
Geography
The Vestmannaeyjar
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
is young in geological terms. The islands lie in the Southern Icelandic Volcanic Zone and have been formed by eruptions over the past 10,000–12,000 years. The volcanic system consists of 70–80
volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...
es both above and below the sea.
Vestmannaeyjar comprises the following islands:
*
Heimaey
Heimaey (), is an Icelandic island. At , it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast. Heimaey is off the south coast of Iceland. It is the only populated isla ...
()
*
Surtsey ()
*
Elliðaey ()
*
Bjarnarey
Bjarnarey () is an uninhabited island in the Vestmann Islands, south of 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 ...
()
*
Álsey ()
*
Suðurey
Suðurey () is an island in the Vestmann Islands, south of 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. Icela ...
()
*
Brandur ()
*
Hellisey ()
*
Súlnasker ()
*
Geldungur ()
*
Geirfuglasker
Geirfuglasker (, "Great Auk Rock") was a small islet near Reykjanes, Iceland. It was volcanic rock with steep sides except for two landing places. The rough surf around the island usually made it inaccessible to humans, and one of the last refug ...
()
*the islands Hani , Hæna , Hrauney and the
skerry Grasleysa are called ''Smáeyjar'' (, small islands).
Total:
There are 15 islands, and about 30 rock stacks and skerries. All the islands have been built up in submarine eruptions and consist of alternating layers of
palagonite
Palagonite is an alteration product from the interaction of water with volcanic glass of chemical composition similar to basalt. Palagonite can also result from the interaction between water and basalt melt. The water flashes to steam on contact w ...
tuff
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...
and
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
. The oldest geological formations are in the northern part of Heimaey ("Home Island"), the largest island and the only inhabited one.
Basalt column
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...
s can be seen in many places, and the sea has eroded the soft rock of the shoreline and scooped out many picturesque
coves and grottos, which are among the special features of the islands.
There was a submarine eruption southeast of Hellisey in 1896. The next eruption began on 14 November 1963. It lasted about four years – one of the longest in
Icelandic history
The recorded history of Iceland began with the settlement by Viking explorers and the people they enslaved from the east, particularly Norway and the British Isles, in the late ninth century. Iceland was still uninhabited long after the rest ...
– and gave birth to Surtsey, the 15th island in the group. In the
eruption of 1973 that lasted for 155 days, Heimaey grew by about . The Vestmannaeyjar group is about long and broad, the closest point lying about from the mainland.
Biodiversity
There is generally very little snow, but a lot of rain. Owing to this microclimate, returning migrant birds are often first seen in the spring and they set out from the islands in the autumn. All of Iceland's seabirds can be found in Vestmannaeyjar: the
guillemot
Guillemot is the common name for several species of seabird in the Alcidae or auk family (part of the order Charadriiformes). In British use, the term comprises two genera: ''Uria'' and ''Cepphus''. In North America the ''Uria'' species are c ...
,
gannet,
kittiwake,
Iceland gull
The Iceland gull (''Larus glaucoides'') is a medium-sized gull that breeds in the Arctic regions of Canada and Greenland, but not in Iceland (as its name suggests), where it is only seen during winter. The genus name is from Latin ''larus'', whic ...
, and
puffin
Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...
. The puffin is the most plentiful species and is the Vestmannaeyjar emblem. More than 30 species of birds nest in their millions in the cliffs and grassy ledges, and other species make irregular appearances.
There are about 150 plant species in the flora of the islands, and about 80 types of insect have been identified.
The waters around the Vestmannaeyjar contain some of the North Atlantic's richest fishing grounds. The two main commercially exploited species in Iceland,
cod
Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...
and
haddock
The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and associated seas where ...
, are found in abundance in Vestmannaeyjar. Other species, such as
flat-fish,
herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
and
capelin, are also commonly harvested as they migrate through the area in the autumn and winter.
Lobster
Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...
s and ocean
perch
Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Percif ...
are found in large numbers in the deep water to the southeast of the islands.
Seals
Seals may refer to:
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
, small types of
whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...
and other marine species are also present in large numbers around the islands.
Climate
With extremely high precipitation considering the latitude, Vestmannaeyjar features a
subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc) under the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
. It is often very windy in the islands, and the highest wind speed measured in Iceland () was recorded in
Stórhöfði
Stórhöfði () is a peninsula and the southernmost point of Heimaey, the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, in Iceland. It is claimed to be the windiest place in Europe, and holds the record for the lowest on land observation of Lis ...
. The main wind directions are easterly and south-easterly. The islands enjoy the country's highest average annual temperature, the Gulf Stream having a strong warming effect, especially in winter.
History and name
The islands are named after
Gaels
The Gaels ( ; ga, Na Gaeil ; gd, Na Gàidheil ; gv, Ny Gaeil ) are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in the British Isles. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic langu ...
who had been captured into
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
by
Norsemen
The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the pre ...
. The
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
word ''Vestmenn'', literally "
Westmen", was applied to the Irish, and retained in
Icelandic even though Iceland is further west than Ireland. (In contrast, the Norse Gaels often called themselves
Ostmen or
Austmenn – "East-men".)
Not long after
Ingólfur Arnarson arrived in Iceland, his
blood brother Hjörleifur was murdered by the slaves he had brought with him. Ingólfur tracked them down to the Vestmannaeyjar and killed them all in retribution, hence the name Vestmannaeyjar (the islands of the west men). This is speculated to have occurred in AD 875.
On 16 July 1627, in an event known as the
Turkish Abductions, the islands were captured by a fleet of three ships of
Barbary Pirates
The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...
from
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
, who stayed there until 19 July under the control of
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
. They had earlier raided the
east of Iceland and
Murat Reis from
Salé in Morocco had commanded another raid in
Grindavík
Grindavík () is a fishing town on the Southern Peninsula (Iceland), Southern Peninsula of Iceland not far from the tuya Þorbjörn (mountain), Þorbjörn.
It is one of the few cities with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work in ...
in June of that year. The pirates captured 234 people from the islands and took them on a 27-day voyage to Algiers, where most of them spent the rest of their lives in bondage. One of the captives, Lutheran minister
Ólafur Egilsson
Ólafur Egilsson (1564 – 1 March 1639) was an Icelandic Lutheran minister. In 1627, he was abducted, along with his wife and two sons, by Barbary Pirates under the Ottoman Empire during their raid on Vestmannaeyjar. The raid is known in Ic ...
, managed to return in 1628 and wrote a book about his experience. In 1636, ransom was paid for 34 of the captives, and most of them returned to Iceland. After this, a small fort was built on Skansinn (that is, "the bastion"), and an armed guard was established to keep watch from the mountain
Helgafell
Helgafell (, "holy mountain") is a small mountain on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula of Iceland. The mountain is high. A temple in honor of Thor (''Þór'') was built there by Þórólfr Mostrarskegg, the first settler of the area.
His biography is ...
for the approach of ships.
For centuries, the people of the Vestmannaeyjar had a hard struggle for existence, living from fishing and wild birds and their eggs, which they gathered in the cliffs and rock stacks offshore. At the end of the 19th century, when the population was about 600, great changes took place in the lifestyle of the islanders. In 1904, the first motorised boat was purchased, and more followed soon afterwards. By 1930, the population had risen to 3,470. The Vestmannaeyjar have always been at the forefront of developments in fishing and sea food processing, and are the most productive fishing centre in the country. Shortage of fresh water was also a problem for a long time, but a great improvement took place in 1968 when a pipeline was laid.
The area is very volcanically active, like the rest of Iceland. There were two major eruptions in the 20th century: the eruption in 1963 that created the new island of
Surtsey, and the
Eldfell
Eldfell is a volcanic cone just over high on the Icelandic island of Heimaey. It formed in a volcanic eruption, which began without warning on the eastern side of Heimaey, in the Westman Islands, on 23 January 1973. The name means ''Hill of Fir ...
eruption of January 1973, which created a 200-metre-high mountain where a meadow had been, and caused the island's 5,000 inhabitants to be temporarily evacuated to the mainland.
In 2000,
Heimaey stave church
Heimaey Stave Church (''Stafkirkjan'') is a close replica of Haltdalen stave church situated in the Skansinn area of the harbour of Vestmannaeyjabær on Heimaey, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland.
History
The church was completed on July 30, 2000, and was ...
, a replica of the
Haltdalen Stave Church
Haltdalen Stave Church ( no, Haltdalen stavkyrkje) is a stave church that was originally built in the 1170s in the village of Haltdalen in what is now the municipality of Holtålen in Trøndelag county, Norway. The church is now on display at the ...
containing a replica of the
St Olav frontal, was erected at Skansinn as a gift from the Norwegian government to Iceland, commemorating the
conversion of Iceland to Christianity a thousand years before.
Transportation
A ferry service runs from
Landeyjahöfn
Landeyjahöfn, also previously referred to as Bakkafjöruhöfn, is a roll-on/roll-off ferry terminal and harbour serving the Herjólfur ferry to Vestmannaeyjar island. It was constructed specifically for the purpose of reducing the sailing distanc ...
(closer) and sometimes under bad conditions
Þorlákshöfn
Þorlákshöfn () is a town on the southern coast of Iceland in the Municipality of Ölfus.
The town is named after Saint Thorlak who was a bishop at Skálholt. Its main importance is as a port as it has the only harbour on Iceland's southern coa ...
(further away). Flights to /from
Vestmannaeyjar Airport
Vestmannaeyjar Airport ( is, Vestmannaeyjaflugvöllur ) is a two-runway airport on the island of Heimaey, in Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands), a small archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. It is also known as Westman Islands Airport.
Opera ...
connect the largest island with the rest of Iceland, making 5-6 roundtrips per day.
A hybrid
electric ferry
An electric boat is a motorboat, powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or electric generator, generators.
While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by di ...
with a 3 MWh battery and capacity for 550 passengers and 75 cars started operating the 13 km route in July 2019.
It uses 100 MWh per week, replacing 35 tonnes of fuel. In bad weather, the longer route to Þorlákshöfn requires fuel.
Popular culture
Festival
The islands are famed in Iceland for their major annual festival, ''
Þjóðhátíð
Þjóðhátíð (, "National Festival") is an annual Music festival, outdoor festival held in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland, on the weekend before the first Monday in August. Locals and guests gather in Herjólfsdalur valley on the island of Heimaey fo ...
'' ("The National Festival"), which attracts thousands of people. The festival was first held in 1874, at the same time as the commemoration of the millennium of the settlement of Iceland. Vestmannaeyjar residents had been prevented by bad weather from sailing to the mainland for the festivities and thus celebrated locally.
Film
*From 1998 to 2003 the island of Heimaey was home to
Keiko the killer whale, star of ''
Free Willy
''Free Willy'' is a 1993 American family drama film, directed by Simon Wincer, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Jennie Lew Tugend, written by Keith A. Walker and Corey Blechman from a story by Walker and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures ...
'' (1993).
*The film ''
The Deep'' (2012), based on true events, is set on and around the island.
Literature
* The islands and their history of volcanic activity play a major role in
James Rollins' seventh
Sigma Force novel, ''
The Devil Colony'' (2011).
* The islands feature as the primary location in
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
Vilborg Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (born in 1963) is an Icelandic people, Icelandic writer of both Crime fiction, crime novels and Children's literature, children's fiction. She has been writing since 1998. Her début crime novel was translated into ...
's novel ''Ashes to Dust'', which uses the 1973 eruption of
Eldfell
Eldfell is a volcanic cone just over high on the Icelandic island of Heimaey. It formed in a volcanic eruption, which began without warning on the eastern side of Heimaey, in the Westman Islands, on 23 January 1973. The name means ''Hill of Fir ...
as a key element in the plot.
Sport
ÍBV, based on Vestmannaeyjar, are one of the most prominent sports clubs in Iceland, having won several national championships and national cups in both
handball
Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
and
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
.
The
Westman Islands Golf Club
The Westman Island Golf Club is a golf club located on the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar in Icelandic), on the island of Heimaey off the southern coast of Iceland. The club was established in 1938 as a nine-hole course and is the third oldest go ...
was established in 1938 and is located in the remnants of an extinct volcano.
Golf Monthly
''Golf Monthly'' is a monthly golfing magazine published by Future plc and based in Paddington in London. It publishes 13 issues a year and has a popular websitgolfmonthly.com The magazine's editor is Michael Harris. It is known for being the world ...
ranks it as one of the top 200 golf courses in Europe.
Notable people
*
Ásgeir Sigurvinsson (born 1955), retired
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
, was born in Vestmannaeyjar and started his career at ÍBV
*
Bergur Elías Ágústsson
Bergur Elías Ágústsson (born 7 July 1963) was the mayor of Norðurþing municipality.
Bergur is best known for his fight to have a controversial silicon metal plant owned by PCC Group built in his province. He was one of the signatories of a ...
(born 1963), former mayor of
Norðurþing
Norðurþing () is a municipality located in northern Iceland. Norðurþing was formed in 2006 when the municipalities of Húsavík, Öxarfjörður, Raufarhöfn, and Kelduneshreppur were merged after special elections in January 2006 and the regio ...
, was born in Vestmannaeyjar
*
Elísa Viðarsdóttir (born 1991), was born in Vestmannaeyjar and started her career at ÍBV
*
Elsa Guðbjörg Vilmundardóttir (1932–2008), Iceland's first female geologist, was born in Vestmannaeyjar
*
Fanndís Friðriksdóttir
Fanndís Friðriksdóttir (born 9 May 1990) is an Icelandic women's footballer who plays as a left winger for Valur in the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild kvenna, and currently for Australian club Adelaide United for the 2018–19 W-League season. She ...
(born 1990), footballer from Vestmannaeyjar, training at ÍBV's youth programme
*
Gísli Pálsson
Gísli Pálsson is a Icelandic anthropologist, born in 1949 in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland. He was a professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland until his retirement in 2019. He is currently holding the Professor Emeritus title in the anth ...
(born 1949), professor of anthropology, was born in Vestmannaeyjar
*
Guðmundur Guðmundsson (1825–83), one of the first
Mormon missionaries
Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and commu ...
to preach in Iceland, preached in Vestmannaeyjar
*
Guðmundur Torfason
Guðmundur "Gunni" Torfason (born 13 December 1961, in Vestmannaeyjar) is an Icelandic former footballer and manager.
Playing career
Club
A striker, he became top goalscorer in the Icelandic league in 1986 with 19 goals when he was also nam ...
(born 1961), retired footballer, was born in Vestmannaeyjar
*
Gunnar Heiðar Þorvaldsson
Gunnar Heiðar Þorvaldsson (born 1 April 1982), commonly anglicised as Gunnar Heidar Thorvaldsson, is an Icelandic football manager and former professional footballer who played as a striker.
Club career
Born in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland, Gun ...
(born 1982), footballer, was born in Vestmannaeyjar and has been signed to ÍBV on 3 occasions
*
Halldóra Briem
Halldóra Briem (13 February 1913, Vestmannaeyjar - 21 October 1993, Stockholm) was the first Icelandic woman to study architecture. She studied architecture at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden from 1935 to 1940. She would ...
(1913–1993), the first Icelandic woman to study architecture, was born in Vestmannaeyjar
*
Heimir Hallgrímsson
Heimir Hallgrímsson (born 10 June 1967) is an Icelandic former football player, dentist, and current manager of the Jamaica national football team.
Career
As a player Heimir started playing for ÍBV from his local town Vestmannaeyjar in 1986. ...
(born 1967), manager of the
Iceland national football team
The Iceland national football team (in ) represents Iceland in men's international football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of Iceland, and have been a FIFA member since 1947 and an UEFA member since 1957. The team's nickn ...
, was born in Vestmannaeyjar and has both played for and managed ÍBV teams on more than one occasions; he is still the dentist for the town
*
Helgi Ólafsson
Helgi Ólafsson (born 15 August 1956) is an Icelandic chess grandmaster. He is a six-time Icelandic Chess Champion.
Chess career
A native of Heimaey, the largest and sole populated island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago off the south coast o ...
(born 1956),
chess grandmaster
Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally it h ...
, is a native of
Heimaey
Heimaey (), is an Icelandic island. At , it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast. Heimaey is off the south coast of Iceland. It is the only populated isla ...
*
Hermann Hreiðarsson
Hermann Hreiðarsson (born 11 July 1974) is an Icelandic former professional football player and coach. He played as a defender and spent 15 seasons in England, gaining a total of 315 appearances in the Premier League.
Hermann was relegated fr ...
(born 1974), footballer, has been both player and
player-manager
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...
at ÍBV
*
Högna Sigurðardóttir
Högna Sigurðardóttir (6 July 1929 – 10 February 2017) was a leading Icelandic architect. She was the first woman to design a house in Iceland. She spent most of her professional career in France.
Biography
Born July 6, 1929 in a small fi ...
(born 1929), architect, was born in Vestmannaeyjar
*
Ívar Ingimarsson (born 1977), footballer and cousin of Gunnar Heiðar Þorvaldsson, played for ÍBV in 1998–99
*
Júlíana Sveinsdóttir
Júlíana Sveinsdóttir (31 July 1889 – 17 April 1966) was one of Iceland's first female painters and textile artists. Taught initially by prominent Icelandic artist Þórarinn B. Þorláksson, Júlíana settled in Denmark and returned to Icel ...
(1889–1966), painter and
textile artist, was born in Vestmannaeyjar
*
Kári Kristjánsson
Kári Kristján Kristjánsson (born 28 October 1984) is an Icelandic handball player for ÍBV (men's handball), ÍBV and the Iceland men's national handball team, Icelandic national team.
He competed for the Icelandic national team at the 2012 S ...
(born 1984),
handball
Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
player, was born in Vestmannaeyjar
*
Kolfinna Kristófersdóttir
Kolfinna Kristófersdóttir is a Fashion_model#Fashion_models, fashion model from Iceland.
__TOC__
Early life
Kolfinna Kristófersdóttir is originally from Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland. She was working in a clothing shop when she was scouted by ...
,
model is originally from Vestmannaeyjar
*
Marcellus de Niveriis OFM (died 1460 or 1462),
bishop of Skálholt
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...
was
master of the manor of Vestmannaeyjar
*
Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir
Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir (born 25 July 1986) is an Icelandic former footballer who played in the striker position. She is the all-time top goalscorer of the Iceland national team and competed for her country at the UEFA Women's Champions ...
(born 1986), retired footballer and is considered by many to be the best Icelandic female footballer of all times. Played for ÍBV, Valur and also played in Sweden and Germany. Scored 79 goals in 124 games for Iceland. Voted Icelandic athlete of the year 2007.
*
Ólafur Egilsson
Ólafur Egilsson (1564 – 1 March 1639) was an Icelandic Lutheran minister. In 1627, he was abducted, along with his wife and two sons, by Barbary Pirates under the Ottoman Empire during their raid on Vestmannaeyjar. The raid is known in Ic ...
(1564–1639), a
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
minister who, in 1627 with his wife and sons, was kidnapped in the
Turkish Abduction, subsequently writing a memoir of his travels
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Sigurvin Ólafsson (born 1976), footballer, was born in Vestmannaeyjar and has twice been signed to ÍBV
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Smári McCarthy
Smári McCarthy (; born 7 February 1984) is an Icelandic-Irish politician, innovator and information activist known for his work relating to direct democracy, transparency and privacy.
Early life
McCarthy was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, the ...
(born 1984), information activist and
Icelandic Pirate Party
The Pirate Party ( is, Píratar) is a political party in Iceland. The party's platform is based on pirate politics and direct democracy.
History
The Icelandic Pirate Party was founded on 24 November 2012 by Birgitta Jónsdóttir (previously a m ...
MP, grew up in Vestmannaeyjar, his family having moved there when he was 9
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Sólveig Anspach
Sólveig Anspach (8 December 1960 – 7 August 2015) was an Icelandic-French film director and screenwriter. Born to a German-Romanian father Gerhard Anspach and an Icelandic mother Högna Sigurðardóttir, she spent most of her life living ...
(1960–2015),
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
and
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
, was born in Vestmannaeyjar
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Tryggvi Guðmundsson
Tryggvi Guðmundsson (born 30 July 1974) is an Icelandic former professional association football, footballer. He is Iceland's all-time top scorer in the Úrvalsdeild. He is the highest scoring male Icelandic footballer of all time in associati ...
(born 1974), footballer, was born in Vestmannaeyjar and started his career at ÍBV, returning there twice
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Þórarinn Ingi Valdimarsson
Þórarinn Ingi Valdimarsson ''(anglicized Thorarinn Ingi Valdimarsson)'' (born 23 April 1990) is an Icelandic footballer who plays for Stjarnan.
Club career
Þórarinn was born and raised in the town of Vestmannaeyjar, and got his debut for Í ...
(born 1990), footballer, was born in Vestmannaeyjar and started his career at ÍBV
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Þorsteinn Ingi Sigfússon (born 1954), award-winning physicist, was born in Vestmannaeyjar
See also
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Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja
Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja (ÍBV) is an Icelandic multi-sports district association from Vestmannaeyjar off the south coast of Iceland. It was founded in 1903 as Fótboltafélag Vestmannaeyja by Björgúlfur Ólafsson, military doctor for ...
(ÍBV)
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Geography of Iceland
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Iceland plume
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List of glaciers of Iceland
The glaciers and ice caps of Iceland cover 11% of the land area of the country (about 11,400 km² out of the total area of 103,125 km²) and have a considerable impact on its landscape and meteorology. Glaciers are also contributing to ...
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List of lakes of Iceland
This is a list of lakes of Iceland (partially indicating surface, depth and volume).
Iceland has over 20 lakes larger than 10 km² (4 sq mi), and at least 40 others varying between 2.5 and 10 km² (1 to 4 sq mi) in size. This list also in ...
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List of islands of Iceland
This is a list of islands of Iceland. It includes all islands larger than 1 km2, as well as a number of smaller islands that are considered significant either because they are or used to be inhabited, or for specific historical, geographical ...
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List of volcanoes in Iceland
This list of volcanoes in Iceland includes active and dormant volcanic mountains, of which 18 have erupted since human settlement of Iceland began around 900 AD.
__TOC__
List
Volcanic zones and systems
Iceland has four major volcanic z ...
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List of rivers of Iceland
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List of waterfalls of Iceland
Iceland is unusually suited for waterfalls (Icelandic: s. ''foss,'' pl. ''fossar''). This island country has a north Atlantic climate that produces frequent rain and snow and a near-Arctic location that produces large glaciers, whose summer mel ...
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Volcanism of Iceland
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Framhaldsskólinn í Vestmannaeyjum
Framhaldsskólinn í Vestmannaeyjum, the comprehensive secondary school of Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland, was founded 1979 when the mechanical engineering, common trades (is. ''iðnskóli'') and the higher education department of the secondary school me ...
Notes
References
External links
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Official websiteInfo website about VestmannaeyjarVestmannaeyjarin the Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes
Travel site for VestmannaeyjarBlog from VestmannaeyjarPhotos from Vestmannaeyjar
{{Authority control
Municipalities of Iceland
Populated places in Southern Region (Iceland)
Islands of Iceland