Heimaey is the largest island of the Westman Islands and the only one that is inhabited. It has a population of approximately 4,000 people and a fascinating dark history.
Slaves, Pirates, Volcanoes and Heimaey
The first people known to make landfall on Heimaey were two escaped slaves, and they would not live their long. The two men, who were Irish and captives of the foster brother of Reykjavík’s founder, Ingolfúr Arnarson, killed their master and fled here in order to avoid vengeance.
Arnarson, however, found the body before they could make a clean escape, and saw their boats headed to the uninhabited islands off the South Coast. He followed them and hunted them down, killing one and driving the other to throw himself to his own death off of a cliff.
As the Irish were then known as ‘Westmen’, the islands of the archipelago that include Heimaey have been called the Westman Islands ever since. The hill that the slave threw himself off has since been named after him, as Duffy’s Hill, or Dufþekja.
It is possible that there were settlers on Heimaey before even these slaves reached it, as a recent archaeological dig showed evidence of homes from around 800 AD (years before Ingolfúr was even born). According to the Book of Settlements, however, the first person to make a permanent home there did in 900 AD.
The population of Heimaey slowly grew, as more settlers arrived, families expanded, and the fertile fishing waters around it became known. The Danish established buildings there once they took control of Iceland, showing its significance as a port.
However, tragedy would strike in 1627: pirates. Likely hailing from the Algiers, and part of the Barbary Fleet that the Ottoman Empire used to terrorise the seas at the time, they raided Iceland’s coasts and islands. While, on the mainland, Icelanders could flee into nature, on Heimaey they had nowhere to go, and 237 people were captured.
Less than a hundred returned to Iceland; most of the rest sold on the slave market. The terror and pain the people captured endured was written about by a priest who miraculously survived.
The struggles endured by the people of Heimaey would not end there, although no major incident would arise on the island for the other three centuries. When it did, however, the results were explosive.
In 1973, the residents of Heimaey woke up to an eruption tearing through the middle of their town. Fissures over a kilometre in length snaked through the houses, and lava and ash destroyed over 400 homes. As unexpected and terrible as it was, the response was incredible, and all 5,300 residents were whisked to the mainland safely. Only one is thought to have died as a result of the eruption.
To limit the spread of lava, US troops and Icelandic rescue services pumped seawater on top of it to hasten its freezing. This technique not only saved the harbour from being closed off - which would have destroyed the town’s economy and future - but it actually improved it.
Heimaey Today
Today, Heimaey is a cheerful, vibrant place that draws locals and visitors alike. Its history can be learnt about in the museums, with the most notable one being the Eldheimar Volcano Museum, which discusses the 1973 eruption of Eldfell. It is also possible to walk up to the Eldfell crater.
The main reason people come to Heimaey is that more Atlantic Puffins nest in the Westman Islands than anywhere else in the world. Many boat tours take visitors out to see them from May to September, and on many of these, it is possible to see several types of whale and dolphin.
The puffins can also be seen inland, and, in August and September, even in town. The pufflings get confused by the town lights and thinking it is the ocean, wander in. It is a tradition for the children to find them and throw them safely in the sea (or to collect them up and charge a tourist to do so).
Photo by Regína Hrönn Ragnarsdóttir
Eldfell is a volcano in the Westman Islands, off south Iceland, which famously erupted in the middle of the town of Heimaey in 1973.
Eruption at Eldfell
Prior to the eruption at Eldfell, there had been no volcanic activity on the Westman Islands for 5,000 years. The event shook the nation, and was televised across the world.
To give some context, Heimaey is the only populated island on the archipelago, and at the time, had a population of about 5,300 residents. Its economy was almost entirely reliant on fishing, helped enormously by an excellent natural harbour.
The first signs an eruption was coming occurred on January 21, 1973, when a series of tremors occurred beneath the islands. These were not felt by the inhabitants, but were detected by a seismic station on the mainlands. They reduced by midday on the 22nd, and had all but ceased by the evening.
At 23:00, however, they started to occur again, shallower and shallower. There were, however, no warnings given, as the Westman Islands are miles from the rift valley between the tectonic plates that intersects Iceland. An eruption here was entirely unexpected.
Regardless, at 01:55 the next morning, a rift opened just over a kilometre from the centre of Heimaey, on the outskirts of town. Within hours, it extended from 300 metres (984 feet) long to over two kilometres (1.2 miles), and was shooting fountains of lava up to 150 metres (492 feet) into the night sky.
In a less developed country, with less emergency plans, many of the residents would likely have died over the first day. However, despite the fact that the Westman Islands were considered reasonably safe from volcanoes, an evacuation plan was in place, and it was awe-inspiringly successful.
Less than six hours after the fissure opened, almost all of the 5,300 residents were escorted safely off the island, and by the end of the day, were resettled across Iceland. Only one person lost their life as a result of the eruption.
In spite of that, much of the town was destroyed by lava or ash. 400 buildings were lost, the farms were poisoned, and all the livestock had to be slaughtered.
It was the aforementioned harbour of Heimaey, however, that was of perhaps the greatest concern to authorities. The lava was moving quickly in its direction, and it threatened to close it off and basically destroy the town’s economy.
An ingenious idea, however, to pump seawater onto the lava to coolen it quickly, proved to be successful. Icelandic rescue teams and the US military (who had a base at Keflavík at the time) used the technique to not just save the harbour, but to actually improve it.
Photo by Regína Hrönn Ragnarsdóttir
The eruption - and the use of pumping seawater - continued until early July. When it finally ceased, the enormous task of rebuilding and resettling the island began.
The Aftermath
Covered in lava and ash, Icelandic authorities moved quickly to make the island habitable again. Even so, the population was slow to return. A year after the eruption, only half of those who had once lived there had come back; by March 1975, 80 percent had. Today, the population of Heimaey is smaller than it was before the eruption, at approximately 4,500 people.
In spite of the huge damage it caused at the time, opportunities were created from the eruption. Icelandic ingenuity meant that the heat still within the lava was used for energy and warm water, and that the new tephra was used in the rebuilding of homes and the extension of the airport’s runway.
Furthermore, the 200 metre (660 feet) tall volcanic cone of Eldfell has become a tourist attraction; it is possible to walk right up to and around the crater. This has also improved the island’s economy in winter, as it was almost exclusively visited in summer before, during the puffin breeding season.
There is also a popular museum about the eruption, called Eldheimar.
