Höfn í Hornafirði
( Höfn )Höfn (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈhœpn̥]) or Höfn í Hornafirði (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈhœpn iː ˈhɔ(r)tnaˌfɪrðɪ] (listen)) is an Icelandic fishing town in the southeastern part of the country. It lies near Hornafjörður fjord.
The town, the second largest in the southeastern part of Iceland, offers scenic views of Vatnajökull (the largest ice cap in Europe by volume). The community was formerly known as Hornafjarðarbær between 1994 and 1998.
Höfn was founded by the merchant Ottó Tuliníus in 1897 who relocated a trading place which had been established in 1861 from Papós, an area 15 kms northwest of Höfn, to the present site of the town.[1] Höfn had 300 inhabitants in 1946.[2] An economic boom started after the construction of the bridge Hornafjarðarbrú [ˈhɔ(r)tnaˌfjarðarˌpruː] in 1961, and with a length of 255 metres the bridge was the second largest bridge in Iceland at that time.[3] Höfn attained municipal status on 31 December 1988 and had 1 647 inhabitants in 1989.[4] Höfn and the community of Nesjahreppur were united on 12 July 1994 under the name Hornafjarðarbær [ˈhɔ(r)tnaˌfjarðarˌpaiːr̥]. On 6 June 1998 Hornafjarðarbær, Bæjarhreppur [ˈpaiːjar̥ˌr̥ɛhpʏr̥], Borgarhafnarhreppur [ˈpɔrkarˌhapnar̥ˌr̥ɛhpʏr̥] and Hofshreppur [ˈhɔfsˌr̥ɛhpʏr̥] were united to form the new municipality of Sveitarfélagið Hornafjörður [ˈsveiːtarˌfjɛːˌlaijɪð ˈhɔ(r)tnaˌfjœrðʏr̥].
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