Reykjavík, Iceland

Reykjavík is Iceland's capital and political, economic, and cultural center. It is the world's northernmost national capital. Located on the edge of the Arctic Circle, Reykjavík blends natural beauty and urban sophistication. It is a city where flocks of geese regularly migrate overhead and through which a salmon-filled river flows—but it is also a city renowned for its cutting-edge use of information and eco-friendly technologies. Formally established as Iceland's capital in the late nineteenth century, Reykjavík has evolved, especially during the decades encompassing the late nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries, from an obscure town into an increasingly popular international business and tourist destination.

Landscape

The Reykjavík Capital Area consists of seven municipalities scattered across a peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. Its southern shore is situated on the bay of Faxaflói while its northern limit is defined by Mt. Esja, which looms 914 meters (just under 3,000 feet) over the capital. On a clear day, Reykjavík also affords views of the Snæfellsjökull glacier, even though it lies some 97 kilometers (60 miles) west of the city. The glacier was made famous by Jules Verne's decision to make its topmost crater the entry point for the characters in his 1864 novel Journey to the Center of the Earth. Reykjavík is noted for its hot springs. In the past, people used these springs to wash clothes and bathe. Today, the geothermal fields in the capital and its vicinity provide a source of renewable energy. This rich resource has helped drive Reykjavík's surging economy.

Reykjavík enjoys a coastal climate, made mild by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream current. That same current's proximity to cold northern seas, however, also produces a fair amount of rain, fog, and wind, as well as fierce storms. During the hottest part of summer, temperatures average around 12 degrees Celsius (54 degrees Fahrenheit) while during the coldest days of winter they average around 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).

Reykjavik, like the rest of Iceland, has been affected by climate change. Sea levels have risen about 2mm per year. Mass loss of glaciers throughout Iceland has led to crustal uplift. Marine ecosystems have been harmed by an increase in water temperatures.

Thanks to its location just below the Arctic Circle, from the middle of May through August, the capital experiences the phenomenon of the midnight sun. During this period, the sun remains, to some degree, visible around the clock.

By the end of December, though, the city enjoys only two hours of twilight and twenty-two hours of darkness. During clear, still winter evenings, Reykjavík residents are sometimes able to observe the colorful spectacle of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, in the skies overhead.

People

According to Statistics Iceland, the municipality of Reykjavík was home to around 135,688 inhabitants in 2022, while approximately 217,700 people lived in Reykjavík and its surrounding towns in 2018. The majority of the people are Icelanders, descended from Iceland's original Norwegian and Celtic settlers.

Most people in Reykjavík speak Icelandic, a member of the Nordic family of languages. The majority of the capital's residents also have a good command of English and many also speak Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, French, or German.

Although church attendance tends to be low in the capital, the great majority of residents have at least a nominal affiliation with Iceland's state religion, the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Reykjavík also has small Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, and other denominations.

Economy

For most of its history, the Reykjavík Capital Area's economy revolved around agriculture and fishing. Declining fisheries have, however, contributed to its diversification. The export of a variety of manufactured and processed goods provides the backbone of Reykjavík's economy in the early twenty-first century.

The rapid development of the capital's modern industrial base has attracted a sizeable migration of people from more rural areas of Iceland to Reykjavík and its vicinity. This population boom has, in turn, fueled the growth of the construction industry and the services sectors.

The growth of Reykjavík's newly diverse economy was spurred dramatically by the Icelandic government's 1992 entry into a free trade agreement between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union (EU). The key factor underlying Reykjavík's growing prosperity over the past several years has been the Icelandic government's systematic privatization of the economy, most notably in the banking and financial services sectors. The government's moves toward privatization, liberalization, deregulation, and tax reform spurred a significant increase in both domestic and foreign private investment in the capital area.

Another important force driving Reykjavík's economy is the emergence of its tourism industry, which now represents one of the capital's fastest-growing sectors and the most significant export industry. According to the Statistics Iceland, in 2022, travel and tourism directly contributed 6.1 percent of the Icelandic gross domestic product (GDP).

According to Statistics Iceland, in 2021, tourism accounted for 17 percent of the total value of exports of goods and services; manufacturing products accounted for 32 percent; and marine products accounted for 24 percent. Industrial supplies accounted for 29 percent of the total value of imports in Iceland during the same year; capital goods were 22 percent, and consumer goods were 16 percent.

The availability of sustainable geothermal energy to power the aluminum industry has led many to predict that aluminum will play a key role in Reykjavík's financial future.

Reykjavík and Iceland as a whole was devastated economically by the 2008–9 worldwide financial crisis. In an emergency maneuver, the country arranged a loan of billions of dollars from the International Monetary Fund, and the worst of the crisis passed by 2011. In 2017, the Icelandic government officially ended capital controls that had been in place for around a decade.

Landmarks

Reykjavík is considerably smaller and newer than its neighboring Scandinavian and European capitals. End to end, its downtown can be traversed on foot in less than half an hour, and construction on its most famous landmark, the Hallgrímskirkja church, began in the late 1940s, and it did not open until 1986.

Reykjavík's Old Quarter, which is the site of both Town Hall and Iceland's National Assembly building, is centered around the geothermally heated Lake Tjornin, where the first recorded settlement in the area was established in 874. During the winter when the small lake freezes over, it becomes a popular venue for ice skating and hockey. The lake's waters run underground and empty into Reykjavík's harbor. The modern portion of the capital branches out east of this lake district.

Although the main thoroughfare, Laugavegur, is home to many elegant shops, Reykjavík does not possess many ancient monuments or examples of stately architecture. The side streets of the city's center are largely residential in character. The houses, some of white-washed wood but mostly made of concrete and corrugated iron to protect against the Atlantic storms that regularly batter the area, tend to be painted in bright shades of red, yellow, blue, and green. Nearly every neighborhood in Reykjavík boasts its own geothermally heated pool.

One of Reykjavík's two most notable landmarks is the Hallgrímskirkja, an imposing white concrete church; its 75-meters-tall (246-foot) tower resembles a spire of volcanic basalt. The tower, whose top is accessible by elevator, offers panoramic views of Reykjavík. At the base of the church, on its front lawn, stands a statue of Leif Eriksson, described as the "Son of Iceland, Discoverer of Vinland."

Reykjavík's other distinguished landmark is the so-called Pearl, a glass-domed, revolving restaurant, complete with an outside viewing platform, perched on Oskjuhlid Hill overlooking the capital and the surrounding Atlantic. Built in 1988 atop the city's enormous hot water storage tanks, the Pearl also features a large exhibition atrium and an artificial geyser.

One of Reykjavík's most renowned buildings is Hofdi House, built in 1909 as the residence of the French consul. Though it is now owned by the City of Reykjavík, Hofdi House is used to host official meetings, the most famous of which was the 1986 Russian-American summit effectively ending the Cold War. Hofdi House's other claim to fame is the ghostly presence alleged to inhabit it. The so-called White Lady spirit reportedly so unnerved a British ambassador who once lived in the house that the British Foreign Office ended up selling it.

Reykjavík's most noteworthy museums include the National Museum, whose collections of religious relics, farming implements, nautical equipment, and early fishing boats reflect Norse and Icelandic culture from its beginnings; the Árni Magnússon Institute, an organization housing medieval Icelandic manuscripts; the Saga Museum, where waxwork figures are used to depict major figures and events in Icelandic history; the Reykjavík Art Museum, devoted to both Icelandic and international modern art; the Arbaejarsafn, an open-air museum featuring historically preserved selected old houses; and the Reykjavík Settlement Exhibition in the city's center, which allows access to the recently discovered, oldest settlement ruins in Iceland, possibly dating to the time of the city's founder, Ingolfur Arnarson, or his descendents.

History

Iceland's earliest inhabitants were seafaring Norwegian and Celtic adventurers who made their way to Iceland beginning in the late ninth century. According to legend, the capital's name, which translates to "Smoky Bay," stems from its founder, Ingolfur Arnarson, who noted the columns of steam rising out the geothermal springs on the small farm he had established on the site of present-day Reykjavík.

The area remained a farm until the mid-eighteenth century when a small town sprang up around it. Hoping to modernize Iceland's economy and traditional way of life, Skuli Magnusson, sometimes called "the Father of Reykjavik," set up wool processing workshops in the area.

Modest urban development followed, leading to the formal chartering of Reykjavík as a town in 1786. In 1845, Iceland's government reestablished itself in Reykjavík, which became the national capital after Iceland gained independence from Denmark in 1944.

Generally considered a safe city within one of the world's safer countries, Reykjavík became the center of debates about increasing security measures when a woman went missing in early 2017 after having spent the night at a club in the city. After a well-publicized investigation, it was dicovered that she had been attacked and left to drown.

Bibliography

Cybriwsky, Roman A. Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture. ABC-CLIO, 2013.

"Iceland." The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 21 Feb. 2024, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/iceland/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2024.

Karlsson, Gunnar. The History of Iceland. U of Minnesota P, 2000.

"Population by Locality, Age and Sex 1 January 2011–2018." Statistics Iceland, px.hagstofa.is/pxen/pxweb/en/Ibuar/Ibuar‗‗mannfjoldi‗‗2‗byggdir‗‗Byggdakjarnar/MAN03105.px/?rxid=4c210605-7fef-460f-a492-682369feba93. Accessed 13 Mar. 2019.

"Population by Municipalities, Sex and Age 1 January 1998-2022." Statistics Iceland, px.hagstofa.is/pxen/pxweb/en/Ibuar/Ibuar‗‗mannfjoldi‗‗2‗byggdir‗‗sveitarfelog/MAN02001.px/table/tableViewLayout1/?rxid=b3db1fcb-d677-400f-b677-a14fe1e056ea. Accessed 21 Sept. 2022.

Roberts, David. Iceland: Land of the Sagas. Abrams, 1990.

"Statistics." Central Bank of Iceland, 2023-2024, www.cb.is/statistics/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2024.

Travel and Tourism Economic Impact 2018: Iceland. World Travel & Tourism Council, 2018, www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/countries-2018/iceland2018.pdf. Accessed 13 Mar. 2019.

Young, Don, and Marjorie Young. Reykjavik Iceland & Its Surroundings. Hunter Publishing, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=420663&site=ehost-live. Accessed 9 Dec. 2016.