Öræfi (previously called Litlahérað , "little district") is a western region in Austur-Skaftafellssýsla,

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

.The Land Between The Sands. Öræfi
/ref> It lies between Breiðamerkursandur and the river

Skeiðará Skeiðará () is a relatively short glacier river (about 30 km long). It has its source on the glacier Skeiðarárjökull, one of the southern arms of the Vatnajökull in the south of Iceland. In spite of its short length, this river has a ...

, east of the village of

Kirkjubæjarklaustur Kirkjubæjarklaustur ( Icelandic for "church farm cloister", pronounced ; often referred to locally as just Klaustur) is a village in the south of Iceland on the hringvegur (road no. 1 or Ring Road) between Vík í Mýrdal and Höfn. It is pa ...

and South, West and East of the Öræfajökull volcano. It has been a part of the municipality of Hornafjörður since 1998. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, this region was called ''Hérað'' or ''Litlahérað'', but was deserted in the wake of the 1362 eruption of Öræfajökull and the subsequent flooding of the region. After these events, the region was simply called ''Öræfi'' ("wilderness/desolation"). Historically, the region was very isolated since two large rivers hindered access from both the east and west. This isolation continued until the Jökulsá á Breiðamerkursandi river was traversed by the Route 1 Ring Road and the

bridge in 1974. Skaftafell National Park was established in Öræfi in 1967. It merged into the much larger Vatnajökull National Park in 2008.

References

Regions of Iceland Geography of Iceland {{Iceland-geo-stub