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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 Iceland. Ólafsvík became certified trading place, authorized by the Danish King and Danish authorities, in 1687. It is situated near the western end of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, on the north coast of the peninsula. It is on route 54, between Grundarfjörður and Hellissandur. At 23 degrees 42 minutes West, it is the westernmost settlement of its size in Europe. Administratively it is in the Western Region and it is the administrative centre of the municipality of Snæfellsbær which also includes the tiny villages of Arnarstapi, Hellnar, Rif and Hellissandur. , it had 1,010 inhabitants. Overview Perhaps because of its situation on the bay of Breiðafjörður, the village was the first in Iceland to receive a commercial l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Municipalities Of Iceland
The municipalities of Iceland ( is, Sveitarfélög ) are local administrative areas in Iceland that provide a number of services to their inhabitants such as kindergartens, elementary schools, waste management, social services, public housing, public transportation, services to senior citizens and disabled people. They also govern zoning and can voluntarily take on additional functions if they have the budget for it. The autonomy of municipalities over their own matters is guaranteed by the Icelandic constitution. History The origin of the municipalities can be traced back to the commonwealth period in the 10th century when rural communities were organized into communes (''hreppar'' ) with the main purpose of providing help for the poorest individuals in society. When urbanization began in Iceland during the 18th and 19th centuries, several independent townships (''kaupstaðir'' ) were created. The role of municipalities was further formalized during the 20th century and by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Cities And Towns In Iceland
Most municipalities in Iceland include more than one settlement. For example, four localities ( Selfoss, Stokkseyri, Eyrarbakki, and Tjarnabyggð) can all be found in the municipality of Árborg. A number of municipalities only contain a single locality, while there are also a few municipalities in which no localities exist. All localities in Iceland can only be located within a single municipality, i.e. they cannot straddle multiple municipality borders. Some municipalities, such as Hafnarfjörður and Akranes, also share the same name with a locality. However, these localities are not always situated in their namesake municipalities. In those cases, this does not necessarily mean that they there are no other localities included in that particular municipality. Even when they are the only locality there, they do not always encompass the span of that municipality's entire land area. List of localities The majority of the functions that are carried out by ''local govern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snæfellsbær
Snæfellsbær () is a municipality located in western Iceland, in the southwestern part of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula Its administrative centre is Hellissandur and the majority of the residents live in Ólafsvík then Hellissandur and Rif. Twin towns – sister cities Snæfellsbær is twinned with: * Vestmanna Vestmanna is a town in the Faroe Islands on the west of the island of Streymoy. It was formerly a ferry port, until an undersea tunnel, the Vágatunnilin, was built from Vágar to Kvívík and Stykkið further south on Streymoy. The cliffs w ..., Faroe Islands See also * Búðir * Djúpalónssandur References Municipalities of Iceland Populated places in Western Region (Iceland) {{Iceland-geo-stub ... [...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] |
Constituencies Of Iceland
Iceland is divided into 6 constituencies for the purpose of selecting representatives to parliament.National Electoral Commission of Iceland 2013, p. 4 History The current division was established by a 1999 constitution amendment and was an attempt to balance the weight of different districts of the country whereby voters in the rural districts have greater representation per head than voters in Reykjavík city and its suburbs. The new division comprises three countryside constituencies (NW, NE and S) and three city constituencies (RN, RS and SW).National Electoral Commission of Iceland 2013, p. 5 The imbalance of votes between city and country still exists and a provision in the election law states that if the number of votes per seat in parliament in one constituency goes below half of what it is in any other constituency, one seat shall be transferred between them. This has occurred twice, in the elections in 2007 and 2013. On both occasions, a seat was transferred from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volcanism Of Iceland
:''The volcano system in Iceland that started activity on August 17, 2014, and ended on February 27, 2015, is Bárðarbunga.'' :''The volcano in Iceland that erupted in May 2011 is Grímsvötn.'' Iceland experiences frequent volcanic activity, due to its location both on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary, and over a hot spot. Nearly thirty volcanoes are known to have erupted in the Holocene epoch; these include Eldgjá, source of the largest lava eruption in human history. Volcanic systems and volcanic zones of Iceland Holocene volcanism in Iceland is mostly to be found in the ''Neovolcanic Zone'', comprising the Reykjanes Volcanic Belt (RVB), the West Volcanic Zone (WVZ), the Mid-Iceland Belt (MIB), the East Volcanic Zone (EVZ) and the North Volcanic Zone (NVZ). Two lateral volcanic zones play a minor role: Öræfi Volcanic Belt (ÖVB) and Snæfellsnes Volcanic Belt (SVB). Outside of the main island are the Reykjanes Ridge (RR), as part of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longwave Radio Mast Hellissandur
The Hellissandur longwave radio mast ( is, Langbylgjustöðin á Gufuskálum ) is a 412-metre-high guyed radio mast used for longwave radio transmissions, and situated at , near Hellissandur on the Snæfellsnes peninsula of Iceland. The mast, which is among the tallest structures in Western Europe, is insulated against the ground, and guyed at five levels by steel ropes, which are subdivided by insulators. It was built in 1963 to replace the 190.5-metre-high LORAN-C mast, constructed in 1959 for the North Atlantic LORAN-C chain (GRD 7970). After the closure of the LORAN-C scheme in 1994, the mast was converted for use by RÚV (The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service) for its longwave transmissions on 189 kHz at a power of 300 kilowatts. A second, smaller, 30-metre tower was installed by the US Coast Guard in the autumn of 1961 as part of a LORAN-A network paired with Greenland. See also * List of masts * List of tallest structures in Iceland This is a list of the tall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snæfellsjökull
Snæfellsjökull (, ''snow-fell glacier'') is a 700,000-year-old glacier-capped stratovolcano in western Iceland. It is situated on the westernmost part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland. Sometimes it may be seen from the city of Reykjavík over Faxa Bay, at a distance of 120 km. The mountain is one of the most famous sites of Iceland, primarily due to the novel ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' ( 1864) by Jules Verne, in which the protagonists find the entrance to a passage leading to the center of the earth on Snæfellsjökull. The mountain is included in the Snæfellsjökull National Park (Icelandic: ''Þjóðgarðurinn Snæfellsjökull''). Snæfellsjökull was visible from an extreme distance due to an arctic mirage on July 17, 1939. Captain Robert Bartlett of the ''Effie M. Morrissey'' sighted Snæfellsjökull from a position some distant. In August 2012, the summit was ice-free for the first time in recorded history. Geology The stratovolcano, whi ... [...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 me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 to do commerce in 1786. Around 1800, French merchants came to Iceland and lived in Grundarfjörður, where they constructed a church and a hospital of their own. The town became wealthy through the fishing industry, and this wealth shows in the style of the original, luxurious houses being built. The road to nearby Stykkishólmur crosses a lava field called ''Berserkjahraun'' . The name of the lava field comes from the Eyrbyggja saga, according to which two '' Berserkers'' were slain here by their master, because one of them fell in love with his master's daughter. Twin town * Paimpol, Brittany. Grundarfjörður and Paimpol in Brittany in northwest France have strong historical connections. Between 1852 and 1935, Breton sailors from Pai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_Iceland_M74A1908.jpg "Click for more on -> Breiðafjörður")