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Thjórsá

(Encyclopedia)Thjórsá thyōrsˈouˌ [key], Icelandic Þjórsá, longest river of Iceland, c.150 mi (240 km) long. It rises on the eastern slopes of the Hofsjökull and flows SW to the Atlantic Ocean. ...

Breiðafjörður

(Encyclopedia)Breiðafjörður brāˈᵺäfyörˌᵺür [key], large inlet of the Denmark Strait, c.75 mi (120 km) long and 45 mi (70 km) wide, W Iceland, between the Vestfjarða and Snaefellsnes peninsulas. Hvamms...

Isafjörður

(Encyclopedia)Isafjörður ēˈsäfyörˌᵺür [key], town, NW Iceland, on the Isafjarðardjúp, an arm of ...

Hafnarfjörður

(Encyclopedia)Hafnarfjörður häpˈnärfyörˌᵺür [key], town, SW Iceland, S of Reykjavík. It is a distribution, ...

Jónsson, Einar

(Encyclopedia)Jónsson, Einar āˈnär yōnˈsôn [key], 1874–1954, Icelandic sculptor and painter. His subjects were drawn from Nordic mythology, Icelandic folklore, and the Bible. His statue of the explorer Tho...

Askja

(Encyclopedia)Askja äsˈkyä [key], volcano, c.4,950 ft (1,510 m) high, E central Iceland; one of the highest in Europe. Its great eruption of 1875 devastated a large area; Askja last erupted in 1961. Askja calder...

Nordic Council

(Encyclopedia)Nordic Council, international consultative body, created in 1952 by Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Finland joined the council in 1955. The territories of the Faeroes and the Åland Islands have...

Newton, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Newton, Alfred, 1829–1907, English zoologist, b. Geneva. He studied (1854–65) ornithology in Lapland, Iceland, the West Indies, and North America and in 1866 became the first professor of zoology ...

Reykholt

(Encyclopedia)Reykholt rākˈhôltˌ [key], farm, SW Iceland, famous since the Middle Ages as the home of the historian Snorri Sturluson, author of the Prose Edda (see Edda). ...

Húnaflói

(Encyclopedia)Húnaflói ho͞oˈnä [key], inlet of the Greenland Sea, c.60 mi (100 km) long and 30 mi (50 km) wide, NW Iceland, between the Vestfjarða and Skagafjarða peninsulas. It has several fishing ports. ...