Þykkvibær (), also known as Þykkvabær , is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in South Iceland, part of the municipality of Rangárþing ytra. It is the oldest rural village in Iceland. As of January 2021 there are 79 inhabitants.

History

The settlement is first mentioned in church records in , and was the first rural village in Iceland, and for more than 900 years the only one."Þykkvibær"
''Visit South Iceland'', retrieved 10 March 2021.Vilmundur Hansen
"'Fyrirheitna Landið' á Flatneskjunni: Sögur og Sagnir úr Þykkvabæ"
''Morgunblaðið'', 12 June 1999 . Located in the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

between the rivers

Þjórsá Þjórsá () is Iceland's longest river at . It is in the south of the island. Þjórsá is a glacier river and has its source on the glacier Hofsjökull. It flows out through narrow gorges in the highlands of Iceland. Further downstream, a ...

and Hólsá, it was subject to encroachment and to being cut off by floodwaters and had a fluctuating, partly seasonal population. Fishing was traditionally a significant part of the village economy, drawing crew from inland to work on the boats, but stopped from 1896 to 1916 after the fleet was destroyed, and ended permanently after March 1955, when a boat with 11 men aboard capsized on emerging from the channel into the open sea; no one was killed, although six were trapped under the overturned boat and had to be rescued. In 1923, the mayor, Sigurður Ólafsson í Habæ, organised the village's entire labour force to build a dam, the Djúpósstífla, diverting the Þverá river to flow into the Hólmsá; the task required 4,000 man-days."Uppreisn: hins smáða byggðarlags"
Review of Árni Óla, ''Þúsund ára sveitaþorp'', ''Vísir'', 13 December 1962, pp. 9–10 . The resulting drainage made the land above the village easier to cultivate, and Þykkvibær is now known in Iceland for growing

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es, sold under the Þykkvabæjar brand name since 1981.Gunnar Dofri Ólafsson
"Þykkvabæjarnaslið stenst tímans tönn"
''Morgunblaðið'', 13 October 2013 . Administratively, the village was formerly the southern part of the hreppur of Ásahreppur, formed in 1892; in 1936 this was subdivided, with Þykkvibær making up Djúpárhreppur. In 2002, it was consolidated into

Rangárþing ytra Rangárþing ytra (, ) is a municipality located in southern Iceland. Its major industries include tourism and agriculture. Rangárþing ytra was created 9 June 2002, when three municipalities, Rangárvallahreppur, Holta- og Landsveit and Djúpárh ...

. Many ships have run aground in the shallows off Þykkvibær, including ''Kamp'' in 1900, ''Sæborg'' in 1908, a French ship in 1912, ''Heimaey'' in 1981, and the German cargo ship ''Víkartindur'' in 1996."'Ótrúlega vel að verki staðið miðað við aðstæður'"
''Morgunblaðið'', 6 March 1997, p. 4 .

History

References

Further reading