Reykjavík

Reykjavík (in Icelandic, smoky bay) is the capital of Iceland and due to its position is also the world's northernmost capital. During the winter only get four hours of sunlight and summer nights are as clear as day. The city is located at 64 ° 04 'north latitude, near the Arctic Circle in an area full of geysers. According to the saga, the city is situated on the site that installed the first settler, Ingólfur Arnarson. In 1786 the settlement of 302 inhabitants became a municipality and is currently the most populous city, housing over half of its population.

The city is completely free of contamination with a beautiful lake in the old city, Reykjavík is a bustling center of commerce and government, industry and culture. There are government institutions, libraries and museums, the University and research institutions, offices central communication (radio, television and newspapers), professional theaters and orchestras, the courts, outdoor swimming pools and sports arenas, shipping lines, airlines and shipping companies collectively, factories and fish processing plants. Other are the Parliament buildings (built in 1881) and the Government House (mid-eighteenth century) both in the old center of Reykjavík, between the harbor and lake. Nearby are the Library and the National Theater located together behind a statue the first settler. In the university area are University students and their hotels, the National Museum and Nordic House (designed by the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto). There are numerous ancient churches and new, between the old cathedral near the Parliament and the new high Hallgrímskirkja. The Folk Museum of Arba, one of the eastern suburbs, house exhibits old Reykjavík rebuilt in its original style, as well as a traditional rural church and a farm, both turf and grass roofs. One of the best rivers salmon runs right through the eastern sector of the capital.

Reykjavík is located on the southwestern margin of Iceland, in Faxaflói Bay or Faxa Bay in English. The Reykjavík area coastline is characterized by the presence of peninsulas, bays, straits and islands. Most of the city of Reykjavík is located on the peninsula Seltjarnarnes, but the suburbs stretching south and east of the peninsula. Thanks to the warm Gulf Stream, Reykjavík has a mean annual temperature 5 ° C, with temperature January average of -0.4 ° C and in July 11.2 ° C. Reykjavík is a sprawling city, with most of the urban area is presented in the form of low-density suburbs and houses usually are found spaced distances. The outer residential neighborhoods are more spaced among them are the main asterias traffic and many empty spaces with little recreational or aesthetic value. They were the younger generations that have contributed to this type of planning. The largest rivers that cross the rivers Elliðaár Reykjavík are not navigable. The highest mountain in the vicinity of Reykjavík is Monte Esja, with about 914 meters high.

The population of Reykjavík in 2003 was 113 387 men and women.

The combined population of the metropolitan area of Reykjavík in 2003 was 181 746.

The Reykjavík metropolitan area consists of six municipalities:

* Álftanes: 1,876

*Garðabær: 8863

* Hafnarfjordur: 21 190

* Kópavogur: 25 219

* Mosfellsbær: 6,573

* Seltjarnarnes: 4556

History

870 Settlement: It is believed that the first Norwegian settlement occurred in the Reykjavík area. Ingólfur Arnarson led sttlers to the island in the year 870 AD. This is recorded in the Landnámabók (Book of Settlement). Due to the vapors of the hot springs, the city was named Reykjavík, in Icelandlandic that means "Smoky Bay."

1752 Industrialization: Reykjavík is not mentioned in any medieval source but as a rural land, however, for the eighteenth century began the industrialization and therefore urban growth. The rulers of Denmark supported ideas of a domestic industry in Iceland that would help bring long-awaited progress on the island. In 1752 the King of Denmark won the state of the Corporation Innréttingar Reykjavík, the name comes from the Danish (indretninger) meaning entrepreneur. In the 1750s several houses were built to house cotton industry was the largest employer in Reykjavík and reason for existence for several decades. Other articles of Innréttingar were fishing, extraction of sulfur, agriculture and shipbuilding.

1786 Trade movements: The Danish Crown in 1786 abolished the trading monopoly and granted six communities around the city a unique trade route, Reykjavík was one of those communities and the only permanently keep this communication. 1786 is considered the year of the founding of Reykjavík, in 1986 completed its 200 years. However, the commercial rights were still limited to the affairs of the Danish Crown and as traders dominated Danish Icelandic trade, their business expanded. After 1880, free trade began to expand to all countries and the influence of Icelandic merchants began to grow.

1845 Capital of Iceland: The nationalist movement gained much influence during the nineteenth century, and ideas about the independence of Iceland began to spread. As Reykjavík was the only town in Iceland, it had become the rallying point of those ideas. Proponents of the independence movement Reykjavík knew had to be strong to achieve this goal. The most important years of fighting pro-independence were very important for the city. In 1845, the Althing, the General Assembly that the Icelanders had been created in 930 was reopened this time in Reykjavík, having been suspended Þingvellir several decades ago, its original location. At that time the Althing fulfilled the functions of a Consultative Assembly, which suggested to the king of action to take on different issues in the country. The location of the Althing in Reykjavík that the city did indeed become the capital of Iceland. In 1874 Iceland received its first constitution and with it the Althing had some limited legislative powers and essentially became the institution today. The next step was to move the executive to Iceland, and this was achieved thanks to the Government House in 1904 when it established the office of Prime Minister in Reykjavík. The biggest step to independence was given on December 1, 1918 when the country became a sovereign state of the Crown of Denmark, known as the Kingdom of Iceland.

1918-1944: Under the  occupation and the establishment of the Republic in the 1920s and 1930s the growing fishing industry emerged from Reykjavík cod being the main product in the industry. However, the end of 1929 the Great Depression hit the city with unemployment and labor strife, many of which ended in violence. On the morning of May 10, 1940, four battleships of war arrived in Reykjavík and anchored in the port leading to the public peace, as were British and not German. Within hours, the Allied occupation was completed without escalation. The Icelandic government had received from the British government asked for the occupation, but it always had been declined, based on neutral policy adopted by the country. In the years that remained of the Second World War, the British and later American soldiers built bases in Reykjavík. The number of foreign troops in Reykjavík was equivalent to the current population of the city. The economic effects of the occupation were quite positive for the city when they vanished the effects of the Great Depression and the demand increased as never before. The British built Reykjavík Airport, which still operates, and the Americans built Keflavík International Airport, about 50 km from the capital. On June 17, 1944 founding of the Republic of Iceland, and a president elected by popular vote King replaced.

1950-1970 Decades of postwar growth of the postwar years: The growth of Reykjavík strengthened after the war. An exodus of peasants began to settle in the city mainly due to improvements in agricultural technology that reduced the workforce in this sector and due to the population explosion caused by improved living conditions in Iceland. The migration to Reykjavík group consisted mainly of young people who came to the city to achieve the "Dream of Reykjavík" and eventually became the capital city of children. Urban planning was changed in a remarkable way with the construction of apartment complexes in suburban areas. In 1972, Reykjavik was the site of the world chess championship between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.

1980 to 1990s: Upto the twenty-first century in the last two decades, Reykjavík has become an important center of the global community. In 1986 it hosted the summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, highlighting the new political status of Reykjavík. The deregulation of the financial sector and the information revolution have contributed to a further transformation of Reykjavík. The financial sector and information technology are the main employers in the city. Reykjavík has also contributed to the culture with famous personalities such as singer Björk and the rock band Sigur Rós.