Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest

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 is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavík merged with nearby Njarðvík and Hafnir to form the municipality of Reykjanesbær. Keflavík International Airport, the country's largest airport (serving nearby

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

) is adjacent to the town.

History

Keflavík was founded by Scottish entrepreneurs and engineers in the 16th century, and developed on account of its

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and fish processing industry. In the 1940s an airport was built next to the town by the

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

, which served as an important refueling stop for trans-Atlantic flights, especially during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, Naval Air Station Keflavik played an important role in monitoring marine and

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

traffic from the Norwegian and

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

sea A sea is a large body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. Particular seas are either marginal seas, second-order section ...

s into 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 ...

. Forces from the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

were added to provide

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

monitoring, fighter intercept, in-flight refueling, and aerial/marine rescue. With increasing ranges for aircraft and the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the base became less important, and the last U.S. personnel were withdrawn in 2006. Within Iceland, Keflavík was renowned as a rich source of musicians during the 1960s and 1970s, and came to be known as ''bítlabærinn'' or " The Beatle Town".

Geography and climate

The local geography is dominated by fields of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

rubble, interspersed with a few hardy plants and mosses. The climate of Keflavík is subpolar oceanic (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfc'') with cool summers and moderately cold winters. There is not a truly dry month but June is the month that gets the least amount of precipitation. Winter high temperatures average above the freezing mark, and summer high temperatures are cool to mild. The warmest month on average is July with an average high of and the coldest is January with an average high of .

Sport

The town is represented in sports by Íþrótta- og ungmennafélag Keflavíkur.

In popular culture

The former

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

military base Naval Air Station Keflavik is used as a setting for an important story line in

Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...

's novel '' Red Storm Rising''. Clancy speculated about the base, the geography, local flora, and the station equipment. NAS Keflavik is also a central setting in Icelandic writer Arnaldur Indriðason's 1999 mystery ''Napóleonsskjölin'', translated into English in 2011 as ''Operation Napoleon''.

Notable people

* Birgir Þórarinsson (born 1965), politician and Member of the

Althing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...

* Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir (born 1952), linguist * Helgi Skúlason (1933-1996), actor and stage director * Jón Kalman Stefánsson (born 1963), author * Julius Fridriksson (living), Icelandic-American academic and scientist * Rán Ísold Eysteinsdóttir (born 1995), actress and model * Svanfríður Jónasdóttir (born 1951), politician and teacher * Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir (born 2001), footballer for VfL Wolfsburg and the Iceland national team

References

External links

Satellite picture by Google Maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keflavik Populated places in Southern Peninsula (Iceland) Southern Peninsula (Iceland) Populated places established in the 16th century Defence of Iceland Populated coastal places in Iceland