Heimaey

Heimaey
Heimaey in February 2009. Looking north-east
Geography
LocationIceland
Coordinates63°26′N 20°16′W / 63.433°N 20.267°W / 63.433; -20.267
ArchipelagoVestmannaeyjar
Area13.4 km2 (5.2 sq mi)
Highest elevation200 m (700 ft)
Highest pointHeimaklettur
Administration
Demographics
Population4,639 (2024)
Pop. density250.82/km2 (649.62/sq mi)
Heimaey is located in Iceland
Heimaey
Heimaey off southwest Iceland
Heimaey harbour in 2014
View from the Helgafell, looking north-west

Heimaey (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈheiːmaˌeiː] ⓘ), is an Icelandic island. At 13.4 square kilometres (5.2 mi2), 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 4,414 in 2022. The Vestmannaeyjar Airport and the Westman Islands Golf Club taken together cover a good portion 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.

History

First settlers

In tradition, Herjólfur Bárðarson was said to be the first person to settle in Heimaey. According to the Landnáma, he built his farm in Herjólfsdalur (literally: Herjólf's valley) about 900. The archaeological excavation in 1971 of ancient ruins in Herjólfsdalur revealed that there had been settlement nearly 100 years earlier.

Arab pirate ships raid

In 1627, three Arab pirate ships from the Ottoman Empire-controlled Barbary Coast, what is now Morocco and Algeria, raided several towns on the south coast of Iceland and outlying islands. They attacked Grindavík and Heimaey. In Grindavík, townspeople could flee into the lava field of Reykjanes and hide indefinitely.

Heimaey was so isolated that it was vulnerable and people suffered. The Arab pirates killed or kidnapped--and sent to Algeria--almost half of the people of Heimaey. They burned down the island's church, killed one of its pastors, and kidnapped the other pastor.

Heroic stories were told of the people who survived the invasion, most notably Guðríður Símonardóttir. Better known as Tyrkja-Gudda (Turkish-Gudda), she was kidnapped and taken by the pirates from her home at Stakkagerði on Heimaey to the slave market in Algeria, where she was sold as a slave and concubine. She was ransomed back to Denmark a decade later by King Christian IV of Denmark and was re-educated ("re-Christianized") by and later married the poet Hallgrímur Pétursson. The Hallgrímskirkja Lutheran church in Reykjavík is named in his honour.

Eldfell

Sketch showing the changes to Heimaey caused by the eruption of Eldfell

On 23 January 1973, a volcanic eruption of the mountain Eldfell began on Heimaey. The ground started to quake and fissures formed and began to erupt. When the fissures closed, the eruption converted to a concentrated lava flow that headed toward the harbour. Half a million cubic metres of ash blew on the town. During the night, the 5,000 inhabitants of the island were evacuated, mostly by fishing boats.

The encroaching lava flow threatened to destroy the harbour. The eruption lasted until 3 July. Icelanders sprayed the lava with six million tons of cold seawater, causing some to solidify and much to be diverted, thus saving the harbour. During the eruption, half of the town was crushed and the island expanded in length. The eruption increased the area of Heimaey from 11.2 km2 (4.3 mi2) to 13.44 km2 (5.19 mi2). Only one man died in the eruption. The eruption is described by John McPhee in his book The Control of Nature.

Present day

Heimaey was home as of 2004 to around 4,500 people, and eight million puffins every summer. The island is connected to the rest of Iceland by a ferry and Vestmannaeyjar Airport.

References

  1. ↑ "Population by urban nuclei, sex and age 1 January 2001-2022". PX-Web. Retrieved 2022-06-22.[permanent dead link]
  2. ↑ Jonsson, Sigurgeir. "About Westman Islands". Visit Westman Islands. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  3. ↑ Tinniswood, Adrian (2010). Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in the Seventeenth-Century Mediterranean. Penguin. ISBN 9781101445310. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  4. 1 2 "The 17th century Turkish Abductions in the Westman Islands". Volcano ATV. 2026.
  5. ↑ Helgason, Þorsteinn (February 16, 2024). "The 1627 Turkish Raid on Iceland". Al-Andalus y la Historia.
  6. ↑ "Hallgrímur Pétursson". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  7. ↑ William, Richard. "Man Against Volcano: The Eruption of Heimay, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland (2nd Edition)" (PDF). pubs.usgs.gov. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  8. ↑ grapevine.is (26 September 2014). "Which Way The Wind Blows - The Reykjavik Grapevine".
  9. 1 2 McPhee, John (1989). The Control of Nature. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0374128901.
  10. ↑ Harding, Paul (2004). Iceland. Lonely Planet. p. 129.