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 ...
was historically divided into 23
counties
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
known as ''sýslur'' (), and 23 independent towns known as ''kaupstaðir'' (). Iceland is now split up between 24
sýslumenn (magistrates) that are the highest authority over the local
police
The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
(except in
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 ...
where there is a special office of police commissioner) and carry out administrative functions such as declaring
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
and
marrying
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
people outside of the church. The jurisdictions of these magistrates often follow the lines of the historical counties, but not always. When speaking of these new "administrative" counties, the custom is to associate them with the county seats rather than using the names of the traditional counties, even when they cover the same area.
Composition
Independent towns (''kaupstaðir'') were first created in the 18th century as urbanisation began in Iceland; this practice continued into the 1980s. The last town that was declared an independent town was
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 1983. Since then, the laws regarding
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
have been changed in such a way that there is no longer any distinction made between urban or rural municipalities.
Historical counties
The historical counties were:
*Árnessýsla (, )
*Austur-Barðastrandarsýsla (, )
*Austur-Húnavatnssýsla (, )
*Austur-Skaftafellssýsla (, )
*Borgarfjarðarsýsla (, )
*
Dalasýsla
Dalasýsla (, ) was one of the pre-1988 traditional counties of Iceland, located in the Western Region of the country. Its only town is Búðardalur.
The county had a rich history dating back to the first settlers of Iceland
Iceland i ...
(, )
*
Eyjafjarðarsýsla (, )
*Gullbringusýsla (, )
*Kjósarsýsla (, )
*Mýrasýsla (, )
*Norður-Ísafjarðarsýsla (, )
*Norður-Múlasýsla (, )
*Norður-Þingeyjarsýsla (, )
*Rangárvallasýsla (, )
*
Skagafjarðarsýsla (, )
*Snæfellsnes- og Hnappadalssýsla (, )
*Strandasýsla (, )
*Suður-Múlasýsla (, )
*Suður-Þingeyjarsýsla (, )
*Vestur-Barðastrandarsýsla (, )
*Vestur-Húnavatnssýsla (, )
*Vestur-Ísafjarðarsýsla (, )
*Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla (, )
Independent towns
The 23 independent towns were:
*
Akranes
Akranes () is a port town and municipality on the west coast of Iceland, around north of the capital Reykjavík.
The area where Akranes is located was settled in the 9th century; however, it did not receive a municipal charter until 1942.
His ...
*
Akureyri
Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...
(with Grímsey
Grímsey () is a small Icelandic island, off the north coast of the main island of Iceland, where it straddles the Arctic Circle. Grímsey is also known for the puffins and other sea birds which visit the island for breeding.
The island is a ...
)
*
Bolungarvík
Bolungarvík (, regionally also ) is a small town and the only built-up area in the municipality of Bolungarvíkurkaupstaður in the northwest of Iceland, located on the Westfjords peninsula, approximately from the town of Ísafjörður and from ...
*
Dalvík
Dalvík () is the main village of the Icelandic municipality of Dalvíkurbyggð. Its population is approximately 1,400.
*
Eskifjörður
Eskifjörður (in original spelling; ), or Eskifjördur, is a town and port in eastern Iceland with a large fishing industry. With a population of 1,043 it is one of the most populous towns in the municipality of Fjarðabyggð.
History
Eskifjör� ...
*
Garðabær
Garðabær () is a town and municipality in the Capital Region of Iceland.
History
Garðabær is a growing town in the Capital Region. It is the fifth largest municipality in Iceland with a population of 20,116 (1 January 2025).
The site of Gar ...
*
Grindavík
Grindavík () is a fishing town in the Southern Peninsula district of Iceland, not far from Þorbjörn, a tuya (a type of flat-topped, steep-sided volcano).
It is one of the few towns with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work ...
*''
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 ...
''
(in the past)
*
Hafnarfjörður
Hafnarfjörður, officially Hafnarfjarðarkaupstaður, is a port town and municipality in Iceland, located about south of Reykjavík. The municipality consists of two non-contiguous areas in the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital Region, on the s ...
*
Húsavík
Húsavík () is a town in Norðurþing municipality on the northeast coast of Iceland on the shores of Skjálfandi bay with 2,485 inhabitants. The most famous landmark of the town is the wooden church Húsavíkurkirkja, built in 1907. Húsav� ...
*
Ísafjörður
Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland.
The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...
*
Keflavík
Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129.
In 1995, Keflavík merged with nearby Njar ...
*
Kópavogur
Kópavogur () is a town in Iceland that is the country's second-largest municipality by population.
It lies immediately south of Reykjavík and is part of the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital Region. The name literally means ''seal pup inlet''. ...
*
Neskaupstaður
Neskaupstaður () is a town located on the fjord Norðfjörður on the eastern side of Iceland, against the Norwegian Sea. It is part of the municipality of Fjarðabyggð and, as of 2016, it has a population of 1,481. Neskaupstaður is the second ...
*
Njarðvík
Njarðvík () is a town in southwestern Iceland, on the peninsula of Reykjanes. As of 2009, its population was 4,400.
History
In 1995 it merged with the town of Keflavík and the village of Hafnir to form the new municipality of Reykjanesbær. ...
*
Ólafsfjörður
Ólafsfjörður () is a town in the northeast of Iceland located at the mouth of the fjord Eyjafjörður.
The town is connected to Dalvík on Eyjafjörður by the 3.5 km one-lane Múli tunnel (the ''Múlagöng'') and to Siglufjörður by the ...
*
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 ...
*
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 ...
*
Sauðárkrókur
Sauðárkrókur () is a Localities of Iceland, town on the Skagafjörður in northern Iceland. It is the seat of both the Skagafjörður (municipality), Sveitarfélagið Skagafjörður ('Municipality of Skagafjörður') and the Northwestern Re ...
*
Selfoss
*
Seltjarnarnes
Seltjarnarnes () is a town and municipality in the Capital Region of Iceland. The municipality is located on a peninsula, bordered only by Reykjavík to the east. It is also the most densely populated municipality in Iceland.
It took on its curr ...
*
Seyðisfjörður
Seyðisfjörður () is a town in the Eastern Region (Iceland), Eastern Region of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name. The town is located in the Municipalities of Iceland, municipality of Múlaþing.
A road over Fjarðarhe ...
*
Siglufjörður
Siglufjörður () is a small fishing town in a narrow fjord with the same name on the northern coast of Iceland.
The population in 2011 was 1,206; the town has been shrinking in size since the 1950s when the town reached its peak of 3,000 inhabit ...
*
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 ...
See also
*
Farthings of Iceland
*
Regions of Iceland
The regions of Iceland are eight areas of Iceland that roughly follow the arrangement of parliamentary constituencies as they were between 1959 and 2003. These regions are not incorporated polities but rather recognized groupings of municipaliti ...
*
Municipalities of Iceland
The municipalities of Iceland ( ; Grammatical number#Overview, sing. ) are local administrative areas in Iceland that provide a number of services to their inhabitants such as kindergartens, elementary schools, waste management, social serv ...
*
Constituencies of Iceland
Iceland is divided into six Constituency, constituencies for the purpose of selecting Legislator, representatives to Althing, parliament.National Electoral Commission of Iceland 2013, p. 4
History
The current division was established by a 1999 ...
References
{{Articles on second-level administrative divisions of European countries
Iceland, Counties
Iceland 1
Counties, Iceland
Iceland geography-related lists