Vopnafjörður is a beautiful village in North-East Iceland located on a narrow peninsula, in the middle of a mountainous bay by the same name. The main industries of Vopnafjörður are fish processing, agriculture and tourism.
Nearby places: Burstafell, Héraðsflói, Borgarfjörður Eystri, Egilsstaðir, Jökuldalur, Stuðlagil
The bay of Vopnafjörður was first settled by Vikings in the late 9th century CE. The name Vopnafjörður literally means Weapon Fjord or Weapon Bay. The name derives from the nickname of one of the settlers, Eyvindur vopni.
Disputes between local chieftains led to a number of killings in the 10th century and the story of the disputes is told in Vopnfirðinga saga, one of the classic Sagas of Icelanders. The sagas are a series of epic family histories written in the 13th century.
Vopnafjörður was the largest port of Icelandic emigration to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Thousands of North Americans have ancestors who lived in Vopnafjörður.