Vestmannaeyjar

Vestmannayjar (Westman Islands) was first settled in 930 AD, Heimaey being the biggest of them. The Vestmannaeyjar archipelago is a group of 15 islands, first formed by a volcanic eruption around 10.000 years ago and the latest island called Surtsey was formed in an eruption from the bottom of the ocean in 1963.

Heimaey has a population of around 4900 and the other islands are uninhabited. Heimaey bases it economy on commercial fishing, over 60 fishing vessels work out from Vestmannaeyjar.

The Westman Islands are the only part of Iceland to have endured violent foreign invasions. In the 15th century the English came to trade, occasionally to raid. They baught the local children and  kidnapped people and killed. After a war with the Danes in 1468-73 the English withdrew.

The most violent invasion and the most famous one (made by men) was “The Turkish Raid” in 1627. The raid was launched by Algerians and commanded by a Dutchman but the captives were taken to a suzerainty of Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople so the raid was blamed on the Turks. They captured and killed over 400 people, most from Heimaey. Bured down the homes, warehouses and church. Some ten years later 27 of the captives were ransomed back to Iceland. The place where the Turks came ashore is still called “Ræningjatangi” or Robber’s Peninsula. But it was not until the 1970s that a contemporary law stating that any Turk found in Iceland should be killed on sight was withdrawn.

In 1973 an eruption in Heimaey destroyed 417 houses and the island needed total evacuation during the night. Over 5000 people left on sea or air in a hurry. The eruption added a total of 230 million cubic meters of new volcanic materials to the island.
Vestmannaeyjar have the largest puffin colony in the world. Millions of Atlantic puffins return to the islands each spring and summer.

Population: 4.900