Keflavík
| Keflavík | |||
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| Coordinates | 64 ° 0 ′ N , 22 ° 34 ′ W | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Iceland | ||
| Suðurnes | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | IS-2 | ||
| local community | Reykjanesbær | ||
| Residents | 8169 (2007) | ||
 Norðfjörðsgata with Keflavíkurkirkja
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Keflavík [ ˈcʰɛplaviːkʰ ] ( Eng . "Driftwood Bay ") is a port city in southwest Iceland .
In 1994, Keflavík merged with the surrounding villages of Njarðvík and Hafnir to form Reykjanesbær municipality with 18,920 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019). Keflavík is with 8,169 inhabitants (as of 2007; in the 2014 statistics Keflavík and Njarðvík are combined with 18,809 inhabitants) the largest city on the Reykjanesskagi peninsula and the sixth largest city in the country.
history
The name of the city ("Driftwood Bay") is said to go back to the first settler Ingólfur Arnarson ; his slaves found only driftwood while searching for their master's house posts. In the 16th century Keflavík was first mentioned as an English trading center and later developed into a fishing location. The place remained an important trading post and received city rights in 1949. From 1951 to 2006 Keflavík was the location of the Icelandic Defense Force of the US armed forces stationed in Iceland .
Economy and Infrastructure
In addition to the port and the former Keflavík Air Base , Leifur Eriksson Airport (International Airport of Iceland) makes Keflavík one of the most important places in Iceland.
Recently, international IT companies have been setting up huge data centers here. The reason for this is the power and cooling requirements of the servers. Iceland and the Reykjanes Peninsula can do both well. These so-called server farms are connected to the European continent, America and Asia via fiber optic cables with very large transmission capacities and provide the computing power for IT companies.
Attractions
The harbor is worth seeing, here you can still find various historical buildings such as the red house of the Danish merchant Peter Duus from the 19th century ( Duushús ). Not far away is the fisherman's monument by the Icelandic artist Ásmundur Sveinsson .
The small, bright church Keflavíkurkirkja from 1915 and the port area with the rather inconspicuous white-blue lighthouse Vatnsnesviti are worth seeing.
Njarðvík , the western neighbor town of Keflavík, which practically consists of two smaller towns, connects with its northern part almost seamlessly to the urban area. The distance to the capital Reykjavík is about 40 kilometers.
sons and daughters of the town
- Birgir Þórarinsson (* 1965), politician
- Logi Gunnarsson (* 1981), basketball player
- Ingvar Jónsson (* 1989), football player
- Arnór Ingvi Traustason (* 1993), football player
See also
Web links
- Official Website (Icelandic)