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Saudeyjar Islands

Region: West Iceland
Coordinates: 65.4667° N 23.15° W

About Saudeyjar Islands

Islands Saudeyjar are situated in the northwest corner of the Vestureyjar archipelago.

Sagas of Iceland They are the only ones in the area, which were not a part of the Flatey County, and are mentioned in the Laxdaela Saga, when Ingjaldur the chieftain of Saudeyjar enters the stage. After that, little is known about their inhabitants, until around 1700. They were probably inhabited during the 18th and 19th centuries and were abandoned around 1930. Life there was difficult, mainly because of the lack of water and the bad landing conditions.

Farmer Eggert Olafsson spent a few years there before he moved to Island Hergilsey around the middle of the 18th century. The home island and the nearest islands and islets form a half-circle with an opening toward east and look like a sunken crater, about ½ a kilometre in diameter. The home island is at its northernmost end and the largest of the “out islands”, Thorisey, is the southernmost one. The farm stood on the western end of the home island and the landing was below the old farmstead in the south. Islands Saudeyjar were the first of the Vestureyjar archipelago to be abandoned. Since then, the farmers at farm Hagi on the mainland have exploited them.

Saudeyjar in Icelandic