Öræfi

Morning sun at Öræfajökull east of Skaftafell.

Öræfi , Öræfasveit, formerly Litlahérað, is a landscape in the southeast of Iceland .

It is the westernmost area in Austur-Skaftafellssýsla , between Breiðamerkursandur and Skeiðará , east of Kirkjubæjarklaustur and south of Öræfajökull . In the Middle Ages the area was called Hérað or Litlahérað, but it was abandoned after the great eruption of Öræfajökull in 1362 and the subsequent floods and was only called Öræfi after that. This is an Icelandic word for wasteland or desert .

The area was very isolated for a long time by two large bodies of water that hindered travel to both east and west. That lasted until 1967 the Jökulsá á Breiðamerkursandi was bridged and in 1974 the Skeiðarárbrú was opened and with it the ring road .

The Skaftafell National Park , which was established in 1967, is located in Öræfi . It was not until 1973 that the area was connected to the general electricity supply.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Þórður Tómasson: Skaftafell - Þættir úr sögu ættarseturs og atvinnuþátta. 1980, pp. 132/133