Live camera Reykjavik, Iceland

Few have the question of where Reykjavik is - on the island of Iceland, of course! And although it is located in the southwestern part of it on the Seljarnarnes peninsula, Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland and the northernmost capital in the world. 

Watch camera online in Reykjavik 

Reykjavik has a population of 118,814, excluding the inhabitants of satellite cities. And if you take into account, it turns out that 63% of the population of the entire country lives around the capital. It is believed that Reykjavik was founded in 874, when a settler farmer mortgaged himself on this site. The area is rich in hot springs that burst outward in columns of steam.

This was very impressive for the Celtic and Norwegian settlers, who called it "smoking bay" - in Icelandic "reykjavik". By 1262, all taxes and tribute that are collected throughout the country flow to the city. International trade with the Hansa, England and Norway is flourishing here. The city reached its maximum economic and political importance after passing into possession of Denmark in 1395. And in 1627 an era of decline came to him after being devastated by Berber pirates.

And only in the middle of the 18th century, the town began to gradually revive, when a certain royal treasurer Skuli Magnusson opened workshops for the production of wool here. And by August 1786, the settlement received the official status of a city. In 1845, the administration of the country was already located here. The city's intensive economic development began during World War II, when it became a strategically important point for British and American ships patrolling the North Atlantic. By that time, a peaceful struggle for the independence of the state had been going on in the country for more than a dozen years. During the period from the First to the Second World Wars, Iceland came under the control of the Germans, British, Americans. But after the term of the treaty of union with Denmark officially ended in 1944, the country became an independent republic, and Reykjavik became its capital. On the territory of the state, the Icelandic krone (ISK) is in use.