Seyðisfjörður

Seyðisfjarðarkaupstaður
Seyðisfjörður in August 2010
Location of the municipality
Region	Eastern Region
Constituency	Northeast Constituency
Mayor	Vilhjálmur Jónsson
Area	213 km2 (82 sq mi)
Population	665 (2014)
Density	3.12/km2 (8.1/sq mi)
Municipal number	7000
Postal code(s)	710
Website	sfk.is

Coordinates: 65°15′47″N 14°0′32″W / 65.26306°N 14.00889°W / 65.26306; -14.00889

Seyðisfjörður (Icelandic pronunciation: ​[ˈseiðɪsfjœrðʏr̥]) is a town and municipality in the Eastern Region of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name.

A road over Fjarðarheiði mountain pass connects Seyðisfjörður to the rest of Iceland; 27 kilometres (17 miles) to the ring road and Egilsstaðir. Seyðisfjörður is surrounded by mountains with the most prominent Mt. Bjólfur to the west (1085m) and Strandartindur (1010m) to the east. The fjord itself is accessible on each side from the town, by following the main road that leads through the town. Further out the fjord is fairly remote but rich with natural interests including puffin colonies and ruins of former activity such as nearby Vestdalseyri, from where the local church was transported.

Settlement in Seyðisfjörður traces back to the early period of settlement in Iceland. The first settler was Bjólfur, who occupied the entire fjord. The burned down ruin of a staf church at Þórunnarstaðir has been carbon-dated to the 10th century, with earlier graves exhumed dating back to the 8th century.

Town settlement in the Seyðisfjörður area started in 1848. The town was settled by Norwegian fishermen. These settlers also built some of the wooden buildings which still exist in the town. Another now-deserted settlement nearby in the fjord, Vestddalseyri was the site for the world's first modern industrialized whaling station. It was established in 1864 by the renowned American whaler Thomas Welcome Roys and run by him and his workforce until 1866. Both settlements served primarily as fishing and trading posts. The first telegraph cable connecting Iceland to Europe made landfall in Seyðisfjörður in 1906, making it a hub for international telecommunications well past the middle of last century. In 1913 a dam was made in the main river, harnessing power for the country's first high-voltage AC power plant together with a distribution network for street lighting and home use, also the first of its kind in Iceland. Seyðisfjörður was used as a base for British/American forces during World War II and remnants of this activity are visible throughout the fjord, including a landing strip no longer in use and an oil tanker SS El Grillo that was bombed and sunk. It remains a divers' wreck at the bottom of the fjord.