Hjörleifshöfði () is a -high
inselberg
An inselberg or monadnock ( ) is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain.
In Southern Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an ...
in southern
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 ...
. It consists 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 ...
. The mountain is located on the
Mýrdalssandur
Mýrdalssandur () is an outwash plain on the south coast of Iceland.
Location and description
The outwash plain is located between the rivers of Kúðafljót in the east and Múlakvísl in the west. Both rivers carry water from the Mýrdalsjö ...
outwash plain
An outwash plain, also called a sandur (plural: ''sandurs''), sandr or sandar, is a plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the glacier terminus, terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying r ...
about east of
Vík í Mýrdal
The village of Vík (), known as Vík í Mýrdal (, ) in full, is the southernmost village in Iceland. It is located on the main ring road around the island, and is around southeast of Reykjavík by road.
Despite its small size (750 inhabitan ...
, and was an island in the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
.
Name
The name was given to the mountain by one of the first legendary settlers mentioned in the ''
Landnámabók
(, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.
is divided into five parts and ov ...
''.
According to this,
Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson was the brother-in-law of
Ingólfur Arnarson, Iceland's first official settler. He settled at Hjörleifshöfði towards the end of the ninth century. There, however, he was slain by his slaves. The slaves fled to
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, Vestmannaeyja ...
, where Ingólfur took his revenge for his friend and slew them.
On the top of the mountain is a mound called Hjörleifshaugur , where Hjörleifr is said to be buried.
Geology
The mountain is of volcanic origin but was covered by ice or seawater at the time of its formation, so it has a similar past as the nearby larger
Hafursey mountain. Then it was an island surrounded by sea. At the time of the
settlement of Iceland
The settlement of Iceland ( ) is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the ninth century, when Norsemen, Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration are uncertain: later in the Middle Ages Icel ...
, it was already connected to the mainland, but there was still a
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...
at its side, which was used to shore ships.
Later, the
jökulhlaup
A jökulhlaup ( ) (literally "glacial run") is a type of glacial outburst flood. It is an Icelandic term that has been adopted in glaciological terminology in many languages.
It originally referred to the well-known subglacial outburst floo ...
s, connected with the eruptions of the
Katla volcano in
Mýrdalsjökull
Mýrdalsjökull (pronounced , Icelandic for "(the) mire dale glacier" or "(the) mire valley glacier") is an ice cap on the top of the Katla volcano in the south of Iceland. It is to the north of the town of Vík í Mýrdal and to the east of ...
, gathered so much sand and gravel that it was now not at the shore but surrounded by the mainland and the fjord was filled.
After the eruption of Katla in 1918, a tongue of land,
Kötlutangi , led out into the sea so far that it was regarded as the southernmost point of Iceland. Meanwhile, however, the sea eroded it to the point that this title again belongs to the peninsula of
Dyrhólaey.
Farm
By AD 874 there was a farm of the same name on the mountain. After the outbreaks of Katla in 1660 or 1721 it had been moved up.
The farm was regarded as relatively well-off because of the side-income from the hunt for seabirds and the collection of eggs.
In popular culture
The area was used for
location filming
Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior.
When filmmaking professionals refer to shooting "on location", they are ...
for the 2016 ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' spinoff film ''
Rogue One
''Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' is a 2016 American epic space opera film directed by Gareth Edwards and written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy. Produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the first '' ...
''.
The music video for ''
Who Is It'' by ''
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...
'', off of the album ''
Medúlla
''Medúlla'' is the fifth studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 30 August 2004 in the United Kingdom by One Little Independent Records and in the United States by Elektra Entertainment. After the release of her ...
'', was filmed here.
See also
*
Geography of Iceland
Iceland is an island country at the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean, Arctic oceans, east of Greenland and immediately south of the Arctic Circle, atop the constructive boundary of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridg ...
*
List of volcanoes in Iceland
There are too many presumed extinct or now inactive volcanic features to list all of these below, so most monogenetic volcanoes can not be mentioned individually. This list of volcanoes in Iceland only includes major active and dormant volcano, ...
*
History of Iceland
The recorded history of Iceland began with the settlement by Vikings, Viking explorers and the people they enslaved from Western Europe, particularly in modern-day Norway and the British Isles, in the late ninth century. Iceland was still uni ...
References
{{Authority control
Mountains of Iceland
Mountains under 1000 metres
Inselbergs of Iceland
Former islands