Surviving Iceland

Hornafjörður is a blooming community in the realm of the greatest glacier in Europe, Vatnajokull in South-East part of Iceland. The village Höfn, and the countryside are located at the base of Vatnajökull, and the scenery is breathtaking. Skaftafell National Park, the largest National Park in Europe, is situated in the community. Last years tourism has grown enourmously and in fact become a major economic sector in the community. Diverse services are provided, including hotels, camping sites, rest urants, shops, swimming pools, golf course, marked hiking trails and various museums such as folk museum, maritimal-museum, a glacier exchibition and the centre of Þórbergur Þórðason (a major figure in Icelandic literature).

Although the municipality is geogra phically very large only 2304 inhabitants lived in the municipality the 1st of December 2003, of which 1740 lived in Höfn. A small village of little less than 100 people has formed a few kilometres from Höfn. The remaining 500 or so inhabitants live on farms densely through the community.

The breakthtrough in the fish industry in the dawn of 20th century created new possibilities for the community. Höfn's growth in the 20th century from a small village to today's town resulted from the developm ent of a relatively diverse fishing industry. The landed catch is now more varied than in other fishing towns, including high-value species such as the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus), but a good part of the Icelandic lobster catch is landed at Höfn. In recent years the thow has promoted lobster as a central part of its image, for instance with a "lobster festival" being held each summer. Höfn actually means harbour, though repeated dredging has proved necessary to keep the entrance safe from sand deposits.

Apart from the town of Höfn the municipal region has been an agricultural area. In many ways it has been lagging in economic terms, to a large extent because of difficult natural conditions. Number of glacial rivers cut the area in parts and before they were hemmed in by barriers and bridged, all transportation was very difficult. The last river was bridged in 1974 and with it the road encircling Iceland was finished. An example of difficult natural condition is the eruption in Vatnajokull in the year 1996. In fact number of active vulcanos are under Vatnajokull. The flood which resulted because of the eruption broke down large bridges and caused damage of roads and electric lines. A video tape of the flood can be seen at the Glacier Exhibition in Höfn.