Heimaey
Heimaey in February 2009. Looking north-east
|
|
 |
|
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Iceland |
| Coordinates | 63°26′N 20°16′W / 63.433°N 20.267°WCoordinates: 63°26′N 20°16′W / 63.433°N 20.267°W |
| Archipelago | Vestmannaeyjar |
| Total islands | 15 |
| Area | 13.4 km2 (5.2 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 200 m (700 ft) |
| Highest point | Helgafell |
| Administration | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 4500 |
Heimaey (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈheiːmaˌei]), literally Home Island, is an Icelandic island. At 13.4 square kilometres (5.2 sq mi), it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast. Heimaey is 4 nautical miles (7.4 km; 4.6 mi) off the south coast of Iceland. It is the only populated island of the Vestmannaeyjar islands, with a population of 4,500. The airport and the Westman Islands Golf Club cover a large part of the island.
In January 1973, lava flow from nearby Eldfell destroyed half the town and threatened to close its harbour, its main income source. An operation to cool the advancing lava with sea water saved the harbour.
The Landnáma tells that after Ingólfur Arnarson, the first settler in Iceland, spent a winter at Ingólfshöfði, he released his Öndvegissúlur (chief's pillars) into the water and followed them west. (These were pillars associated with the chief's chair. They were put into the sea and let float to shore. Where they came ashore, the Viking who followed it would build his farm.) At Hjörleifshöfði, Ingólfur found that his brother/close friend Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson was dead and his slaves were missing. Out at sea he could see boats going toward a small group of islands, and he set off after them.
Abducted from the north of Ireland, the slaves were called westmen (Vestmenn), as before discovering Iceland, Ireland was the most western part of the world known to northern Europeans then (c. 840). The slaves went ashore at Heimaey and took shelter in the hills. Ingólfur hunted them and killed them in revenge for their murdering his foster brother. In the process, he named various places and landmarks. For example, he named "Dufþekja", an area on Heimaklettur, Heimaey's highest hill (283 m; 928 ft), after the slave Dufþakur (the Icelandic version of the Gaelic 'Dubhthach,' Anglicized as 'Duffy') who was said to have thrown himself off Heimaklettur at that point, preferring to take his own life than to let Ingólfur take it.
...
Wikipedia