Siglufjörður
Encyclopedia
Siglufjörður is a small fishing town in a narrow fjord
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

 with the same name on the northern coast of Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

.

Population in January 2011 was 1,206 but the town has been shrinking in size since the 1950s when the town reached its peak with 3,000 inhabitants.

The municipality of Ólafsfjörður
Ólafsfjörður
Ólafsfjörður is a town in the northeast of Iceland located at the mouth of the fjord Eyjafjörður.The town is connected to Eyjafjordur via a 3.5 km one-lane tunnel...

 and Siglufjörður merged to form a municipality called Fjallabyggð
Fjallabyggð
Fjallabyggð is a municipality located in northern Iceland.As of 1 January 2011, it had a total population of 2,030. The total area is 364 km², making it one of the rather smaller municipalities in area in the country....

, which literally means Mountain Settlement.

History

The town grew up around the herring
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...

 industry that was in much bloom in the 1940s and 1950s, but the herring
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...

 are gone now.

Siglufjörður was connected with a road for the first time in 1940, when the horse riding trail through Siglufjarðarskarð was improved enabling cars to get through. Before, ships, seaplanes, horses and strong legs provided the transport.

Currently

Today the town remains dependent on fishing industries although the herring
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...

 are gone. The government of Iceland is attempting to reverse the population shrinking in the area by improving land transportation. Two road tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...

s were dug between Siglufjörður to the neighbouring town of Ólafsfjörður
Ólafsfjörður
Ólafsfjörður is a town in the northeast of Iceland located at the mouth of the fjord Eyjafjörður.The town is connected to Eyjafjordur via a 3.5 km one-lane tunnel...

 to connect with the region of Eyjafjörður
Eyjafjörður
Eyjafjörður is the longest fjord in central northern Iceland. It is located in the second most populous region of Iceland.-Physical geography:...

 in the east. These tunnels are called Héðinsfjörður Tunnel
Tunnels in Iceland
There are eight open tunnels in Iceland, and three others currently under construction in the Icelandic road system. Tunnels in Iceland are usually built under mountains to prevent winter isolation of remote communities which would otherwise have to depend on high roads that often closed due to...

 and their total length is 11 km (6.8 mi). They were opened on October 2, 2010. Siglufjörður was already connected by the 800 m Strákar Tunnel
Tunnels in Iceland
There are eight open tunnels in Iceland, and three others currently under construction in the Icelandic road system. Tunnels in Iceland are usually built under mountains to prevent winter isolation of remote communities which would otherwise have to depend on high roads that often closed due to...

to the west; it used to be the town's only road connection open whole year around. The tunnel was completed in 1967 and before that the only road to the town was a narrow mountain pass, open only during the summer.

The old road to Siglufjörður is open during the summer. The road was and still is the highest mountain road in Iceland and is used today both for hiking, horseriding and pleasure driving.

One of the aspects of the new tunnel to Héðinsfjörður, is that it will open up interesting mountain tracks, trout fishing opportunities etc., which so far have only been open to boat owners or those willing to walk the old trail over the pass between Siglufjörður and Héðinsfjörður.

External links

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