Its name means 'smoky bay', from the steam of the hot springs that still heat its houses
Almost all buildings use geothermal district heating, so the air is notably clean
Geography · Cities
Reykjavík
settled c. 874; town charter 1786
Iceland — on Faxaflói bay, in the south-west
The world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state, sitting at about 64 degrees north on a bay in south-west Iceland. Tradition makes it the site of the island's first Norse settlement, by Ingólfr Arnarson around 874, and its name — "smoky bay" — comes from the steam of its hot springs, which still heat the city. Roughly two-thirds of all Icelanders live in its metropolitan area.
How to spot them
- ▸The northernmost capital of a sovereign state, at about 64 degrees north
- ▸Quiz clue: 'smoky bay', 'geothermal heating', 'Hallgrímskirkja', 'Höfði'
- ▸Host of a 1972 world chess match and a 1986 superpower summit
- ▸Almost no chimney smoke: its heating and much of its power come from underground
Key facts
It is the northernmost capital city of a sovereign state, at about 64 degrees north
Nuuk in Greenland lies further north but is not a sovereign state's capital
Tradition makes it the site of Iceland's first permanent Norse settlement, around 874 (c. 874)
Ingolfr Arnarson, who is said to have let his high-seat pillars choose the spot
Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky here in the 1972 world chess championship (1972)
The 'Match of the Century', played at the Laugardalsholl arena
Reagan and Gorbachev met in a small white seafront house here in 1986 (1986)
The Hofdi house summit, seen as a step towards the end of the Cold War
Its landmark church, a concrete tower evoking basalt columns, took over forty years to build (1945–1986)
Hallgrimskirkja, designed by Gudjon Samuelsson; a statue of Leif Erikson stands before it
About two in every three of its country's citizens live in its metropolitan area
The capital region holds roughly 240,000 of Iceland's population
Quick-fire facts
- •Capital and largest city of Iceland; about 140,000 in the municipality, roughly 240,000 in the capital region
- •It received its town charter from the Danish crown in 1786
- •It stands on Faxafloi bay; Mount Esja rises across the water to the north
- •Harpa, the glass concert hall on the waterfront, opened in 2011 and won the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2013
- •Perlan is a glass dome built on top of six hot-water storage tanks on Oskjuhlid hill
- •Keflavik International Airport is about 50 km away; the small city airport handles domestic flights
- •Famous residents include Halldor Laxness, Iceland's 1955 Nobel laureate in literature, and the singer Bjork
- •The Althing, the Icelandic parliament founded at Thingvellir in 930, has sat in the city since 1845
- •Vigdis Finnbogadottir, elected president of Iceland in 1980, was the world's first democratically elected female head of state
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Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Reykjavík
- Jane Smiley (preface), Penguin Classics — The Sagas of Icelanders