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 ...

was historically divided into 23

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

(except in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

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 Ólafsvík () is a small town in Iceland on the northern side of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. At one point in the 17th and 18th centuries, commercial vessels sailed between Ólafsvík and Denmark, and the village was one of the larger trading ports ...

in 1983. Since then, the laws regarding

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

have been changed in such a way that there is no longer any distinction made between urban or rural municipalities.

Historical counties

The historical counties were: *

Árnessýsla 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 ( ...

*Austur-Barðastrandarsýsla *Austur-Húnavatnssýsla *Austur-Skaftafellssýsla *Borgarfjarðarsýsla *

Dalasýsla Dalasýsla () was one of the pre-1988 traditional Counties of Iceland, located in the Western Region of the country. Its only town is Búðardalur. The county had a rich history dating back to the first settlers of Iceland. Leif Erikson grew ...

*Eyjafjarðarsýsla *Gullbringusýsla *Kjósarsýsla *Mýrasýsla *Norður-Ísafjarðarsýsla *Norður-Múlasýsla *Norður-Þingeyjarsýsla *Rangárvallasýsla *Skagafjarðarsýsla *Snæfellsnes- og Hnappadalssýsla *Strandasýsla *Suður-Múlasýsla *Suður-Þingeyjarsýsla *Vestur-Barðastrandarsýsla *Vestur-Húnavatnssýsla *Vestur-Ísafjarðarsýsla *

Vestur-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 ( ...

Independent towns

The 23 independent towns were: *

Akranes Akranes () is a port town and municipality on the west coast of Iceland, around north of the capital Reykjavík. The area where Akranes is located was settled in the 9th century; however, it did not receive a municipal charter until 1942. His ...

Akureyri Akureyri (, locally ) is a town in northern Iceland. It is Iceland's fifth-largest municipality, after Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær and Kópavogur, and the largest town outside Iceland's more populated southwest corner. Nickn ...

(with

Grímsey Grímsey () is a small Icelandic island, off the north coast of the main island of Iceland, straddling the Arctic Circle. In January 2018 Grímsey had 61 inhabitants. Before 2009, Grimsey constituted the ''hreppur'' (municipality) of Grí ...

) *

Bolungarvík Bolungarvík (, regionally also ) is a small town and the only built-up area in the municipality of Bolungarvíkurkaupstaður in the northwest of Iceland, located on the Westfjords peninsula, approximately from the town of Ísafjörður and from ...

Dalvík Dalvík () is the main village of the Icelandic municipality of Dalvíkurbyggð. Its population is approximately 1,400.

Eskifjörður Eskifjörður (in original spelling; ), or Eskifjördur is a town and port in eastern Iceland with a large fishing industry. With a population of 1,043 it is one of the most populous towns in the municipality of Fjarðabyggð. History Eskifjörðu ...

Garðabær Garðabær () is a municipality in the Capital Region of Iceland. History Garðabær is a growing town in the Capital Region. It is the sixth largest town in Iceland with a population of 13,872 (Sept 1, 2013). The site of Garðabær has been in ...

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town on the Southern Peninsula of Iceland not far from the tuya Þorbjörn. It is one of the few cities with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work in the fishing industry. The Blue Lagoon, Grindavík ...

*''

Grundarfjörður Grundarfjörður () is a town in the north of the Snæfellsnes peninsula in the west of Iceland. It is situated between a mountain range and the sea. The nearby mountain Kirkjufell forms a small peninsula. Overview The town received the right ...

'' (in the past) *

Hafnarfjörður Hafnarfjörður (), officially Hafnarfjarðarkaupstaður (), is a port town and municipality in Iceland, located about south of Reykjavík. The municipality consists of two non-contiguous areas in the Capital Region, on the southwest coast of t ...

Húsavík Húsavík () is a town in Norðurþing municipality on the north coast of Iceland on the shores of Skjálfandi bay with 2,307 inhabitants. The most famous landmark of the town is the wooden church Húsavíkurkirkja, built in 1907. Húsavík i ...

Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njarð ...

Kópavogur Kópavogur () is a town in Iceland that is the country's second largest municipality by population. It lies immediately south of Reykjavík and is part of the Capital Region. The name literally means ''seal pup inlet''. The town seal contains t ...

Neskaupstaður Neskaupstaður () is a town located on the fjord Norðfjörður on the eastern side of Iceland. It is part of the municipality of Fjarðabyggð and, as of 2016, it has a population of 1,481. Neskaupstaður is the third largest town in Eastern Re ...

Njarðvík Njarðvík () is a town in southwestern Iceland, on the peninsula of Reykjanes. As of 2009, its population was 4,400. History In 1995 it merged with the town of Keflavík and the village of Hafnir to form the new municipality of Reykjanesbær. T ...

Ólafsfjörður Ólafsfjörður () is a town in the northeast of Iceland located at the mouth of the fjord Eyjafjörður. The town is connected to Dalvík on Eyjafjörður by the 3.5 km one-lane Múli tunnel (the '' Múlagöng'') and to Siglufjörður by t ...

Sauðárkrókur Sauðárkrókur () is a Localities of Iceland, town on the Skagafjörður in northern Iceland. It is the seat of both the Skagafjörður (municipality), Sveitarfélagið Skagafjörður ('Municipality of Skagafjörður') and the Northwestern Re ...

* Selfoss *

Seltjarnarnes Seltjarnarnes () is a town in the Capital Region of Iceland. Seltjarnarnes is beside Reykjavik. It took on its current political form shortly after the Second World War and was formally created as a township in 1947. It is the smallest Icelandic ...

Seyðisfjörður Seyðisfjörður () is a town in the Eastern Region of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name. The town is located in the municipality of Múlaþing. A road over Fjarðarheiði mountain pass (elevation ) connects Seyðisfjö ...

Siglufjörður Siglufjörður () is a small fishing town in a narrow fjord with the same name on the northern coast of Iceland. The population in 2011 was 1,206; the town has been shrinking in size since the 1950s when the town reached its peak of 3,000 inhabi ...

Vestmannaeyjar Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyj ...

Composition

Historical counties

Independent towns

See also