Reykjavik City Today
Let's start with a few words about Reykjavik City today, take a short tour to the past and finish with some thoughts about the future.Reykjavik Iceland is the only city in Iceland and the northernmost capital of the world. I'd guess that a city of about 190.000 inhabitants (greater Reykjavik) is not a large city by your standards but it certainly spreads over quite a large area on the Reykjavik peninsula.
Reykjavik is a city with most of the things you would expect a capital of millions to offer - universities, symphony orchestra, theaters, all kinds of cultural activities, night-life, cozy cafeés, world-class restaurants and an incredibly life ly music scene. You've also got some things not available in most other capitals such as delightful public outdoor swimming pools with hot tubs ("hot pots") and a very good salmon river inside the Reykjavik city limits.
Reykjavik City History
Please keep in mind that until the twentieth century, the Icelandic population relied on fisheries and agriculture, and was from 1262 to 1918 a part of the Norwegian and later the Danish monarchies.
I want you to travel with me for a moment to the year 870 or thereabouts... when the story of Reykjavik and Iceland began. A Norwegian viking - a fugitive, Ingolfur Arnarsson, sailed to Iceland, arrived in Reykjavik and built his farmstead on Adalstraeti (Icelandic: Aðalstræti) which means Main Street and became the first recorded settler in Iceland. This is confirmed by archaeological excavations and written sources. Legend says that Ingolfur tossed his high-seat pillars overboard when still on his ship on his way to Iceland and settled where the gods washed them ashore, in Reykjavik.
What is the Meaning of Reykjavik?
The meaning of the word Reykjavik is Smokey Bay. Why? Because at the time of the first settlers the Reykjavik area was rich of hot springs and geysers and a lot of steam rose in the air.
In reality the place offered lots of things, such as plenty of hot and cold water, fish and seals, birds, grassy offshore islands and even some woodland too. Probably all those things contributed to Ingolfur's decision to settle in Reykjavik. If you want an idea of how things looked during the first years of the settlers in Reykjavik, I recommend you visit the Settlement Exhibition on the Main Street, Aðalstræti, where you can take a look at what was discovered during recent archaeological excavations from this period, the viking age.
After the year 1000 not much is known about the history of Reykjavik during the next seven or so centuries. We know that there was a collection of farm buildings there and some well to-do farmers, but there was no village as such. The 16th and 17th centuries were mostly centuries of humiliation, poverty and even starvation in the country while things began slowly to look better in the latter half of the 18th and the 19th century.
Many things contributed to the development of Reykjavik - I would like to mention two of them especially:
- The creation of several factories in the middle of the th century by the local treasurer /sheriff, Skúli Magnússon, who is often called "the father of Reykjavikík" - this was the start of Reykjavik as a village.
- The arrival of the British and American troops during the World War II when Iceland was occupied by the Allied forces. During this time unemployment was a thing of the past and a lot of work was available for Icelanders in connection with the army and soldiers. This was an incredible boom for the Icelandic economy.
From the 1960's Reykjavik City has literally exploded, people got their own private cars and started taking vacations in sunny places abroad. Reykjavik became a rich city, a city with one of the highest living standards in the world.
Some Important Reykjavik Facts- Iceland was under Norwegian rule until 1380 when Denmark became the Dominant power.
- In 1874 Iceland got its first constitution from Danish King Christian the 9th. From then on we were on our way to independence and finally got it in 1944 when we celebrated the birth of the Republic of Iceland.
- It took 1000 years for the population of Reykjavík to reach 2500 inhabitants. But from then on, things happened fairly quickly.
- In 1930 the population of Reykjavik numbered 28.000 inhabitants and then - imagine how fast things have developed in the last 80 years to make the population of Reykjavik City grow to 190.000 (Greater Reykjavik).
Reykjavik City - Crossroads
Today however, the inhabitants of Reykjavík stand at crossroads. The last months of the year 2008 and the whole year of 2009 has been a time of unbelievable economic tragedy and political agitation. Suddenly many people face unemployment, even bankruptcy and there is little trust left in the minds of the people of Reykjavik for the establishment. However, we are confident that we will overcome our economic problems little by little with hard work and hopefully build a healthier society in the future than before.
