Vestmannaeyjar
402712
224735943
2008-07-10T05:06:37Z
138.16.22.124
Changed Westman Islands to Westmen Isles, as it is more accurate. Although the Icelandic word for 'isle' and 'island' is the same, in English they would be classified as isles, not islands.
:''See also [[Vestmanna]].''
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<caption><font size="+1">'''Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland'''</font></caption>
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<tr><td align="center" width="280px">[[Image:Cliffs of Heimaey, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland.jpg|250px| ]]</td>
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<tr><td align="center" width="280px">Cliffs of Heimaey</td>
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<tr><td align="center" colspan=2>[[Image:Iceland CIA map trim.gif|250px| ]]
<br>Location of [[Vestmannaeyjar]] in [[Iceland]] (lower left)</td>
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<tr><td>[[Counties of Iceland|County]]</td><td>Vestmannaeyjar</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Constituencies of Iceland|Constituency]]</td><td>South</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Area]]</td><td> 16.3 [[square kilometer|km²]] (6.3 [[square mile|sq mi]])</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Population]] <br>Total ([[2008]])<br>[[Density]]</td><td>
<br>4038<br>313/km²</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Postal code]]s</td><td>IS-900</td></tr>
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Latitude<br>Longitude
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<tr><td align="center" colspan=2 style="border-bottom:3px solid gray;">[http://www.Vestmannaeyjar.is/ Municipal website]</td></tr>
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[[Image:Heimaey_Surtsey.PNG|thumb|300px|right|Off the southwest coast of Iceland]]
'''Vestmannaeyjar''' (English: The '''Westmen [[Isle]]s''') is a small [[archipelago]] off the south coast of [[Iceland]]. The largest island, [[Heimaey]], is inhabited by aprrox 4,000 Islanders. Some of the other islands have single houses.
== Geography ==
Vestmannaeyjar consist of the following islands:
* ''[[Heimaey]]'' (13.4 km²)
* ''[[Surtsey]]'' (1.4 km²)
* ''[[Elliðaey]]'' (0.45 km²)
* ''[[Bjarnarey]]'' (0.32 km²)
* ''[[Álsey]]'' (0.25 km²)
* ''[[Suðurey]]'' (0.20 km²)
* ''[[Brandur]]'' (0.1 km²)
* ''[[Hellisey]]'' (0.1 km²)
* ''[[Súlnasker]]'' (0.03 km²)
* ''[[Geldungur]]'' (0.02 km²)
* ''[[Geirfuglasker]]'' (0.02 km²)
* the islands ''Hani'', ''Hæna'' and ''Hrauney'' and the [[skerry]] ''Grasleysa'' are called ''Smáeyjar'' (small islands).
Total: 16,3 km²
== Name and history ==
The islands are named after the [[Ireland|Irish]] who were captured into [[slavery]] by the [[Norse-Gaels|Norse Gaels]]. The [[Old Norse]] word ''Vestmenn'', literally "[[Westmen]]", was applied to the Irish, and retained in [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] even though [[Ireland]] is more easterly than Iceland. Not long after [[Ingólfur Arnarson]] arrived in Iceland, his brother [[Hjörleifur Arnarson|Hjörleifur]] was murdered by the slaves he had brought with him. Ingolfur tracked them down to Vestmannaeyjar and killed them all in retribution.
[[Image:Oluf Eigilsson Murat Reis 1627-1628.jpg|thumb|left|Cover of the book by [[Ólafur Egilsson]] who was captured by Murat Reis in 1627]]
On June 20, [[1627]], in an event known as [[the Turkish abductions]], the islands were captured by an [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] fleet of 15 ships (12 galleys and 3 other types of vessels), accompanied by the [[Barbary Pirates]] from [[Algiers]], under the guidance of [[Murat Reis the Younger|Murat Reis]]; who stayed there for 26 days until July 16, 1627. The forces of Murat Reis enslaved 400 people from the islands and took them to Algiers (after a voyage which lasted 27 days) where most of them spent the rest of their lives in bondage. One of the captives, [[Ólafur Egilsson]], later managed to return back and wrote a book about his experience. Subsequently, a Turkish corsair named Ali Biçin Reis also came to the archipelago and Iceland itself, from where he took 800 slaves.
The area is very volcanically active, like the rest of [[Iceland]]. There were two major eruptions in the 20th century: the [[Eldfell]] eruption of January [[1973]] which created a 700-foot-high mountain where a meadow had been, and caused the island's 5000 inhabitants to be temporarily evacuated to the mainland, and an eruption in [[1963]] created the new island of [[Surtsey]].
From [[1998]] to [[2003]] the islands were home to [[Keiko (orca)|Keiko]] the killer whale, star of ''[[Free Willy]]''.
The islands are famed in [[Iceland]] for their yearly [[festival]], '''Þjóðhátíð''' (''Thjodhatid'', English: "national festival". See [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/þjóð Wiktionary:þjóð]), which attracts a large portion of the nation's youth. The festival was originally held in 1874, concurrent with Iceland's celebration commemorating the 1000th anniversary of the inhabitation of Iceland. Vestmannaeyjar residents had been prevented by weather from sailing to the mainland for the festivities and thus celebrated locally. Over the last century, the festival has grown to become the largest festival in Iceland, with an annual attendance of 10,000, with up to 7,000 travelling from mainland Iceland.<ref>[http://www.visitwestmanislands.com/festival/ www.VisitWestmanislands.com - Activities - Events - The Festival<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
The current Mayor of Vestmannaeyjar is Elliði Vignisson.
==See also==
* [[Geography of Iceland]]
* [[Glaciers of Iceland]]
* [[Iceland plume]]
* [[Lakes of Iceland]]
* [[List of islands off Iceland]]
* [[List of volcanoes in Iceland]]
* [[Rivers of Iceland]]
* [[Volcanoes of Iceland]]
* [[Waterfalls of Iceland]]
* [[Guðlaugur Friðþórsson]] The "Miracle Man"
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons}}
*[http://www.visitwestmanislands.com All you need to know about Westman Islands]
*[http://www.vestmannaeyjar.is Official website]
*[http://islandsmyndir.is/html_skjol/sudurland/vestmannaeyjar/vestmannaeyjar_forsida.htm Picture gallery from www.islandsmyndir.is]
*[http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/europe_west_asia/heimaey/heimaey.html Heimaey (the volcano)]
*[http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/europe_west_asia/surtsey.html Surtsey]
*{{Wikitravel}}
{{Municipalities of Iceland}}
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[[Category:Cities, towns and villages in Iceland]]
[[Category:Islands of Iceland]]
[[Category:Volcanoes of Iceland]]
[[Category:Submarine volcanoes]]
[[Category:Active volcanoes]]
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