Loading AI tools
Historical country divisions From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iceland was historically divided into 23 counties known as sýslur (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈsistlʏr̥]), and 23 independent towns known as kaupstaðir ([ˈkʰœypˌstaːðɪr̥]). Iceland is now split up between 24 sýslumenn (magistrates) that are the highest authority over the local police (except in Reykjavík where there is a special office of police commissioner) and carry out administrative functions such as declaring bankruptcy and marrying people outside of the church. The jurisdictions of these magistrates often follow the lines of the historical counties, but not always. When speaking of these new "administrative" counties, the custom is to associate them with the county seats rather than using the names of the traditional counties, even when they cover the same area.
 |
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Icelandic. (January 2022) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Independent towns (kaupstaðir) were first created in the 18th century as urbanisation began in Iceland; this practice continued into the 1980s. The last town that was declared an independent town was Ólafsvík in 1983. Since then, the laws regarding municipalities have been changed in such a way that there is no longer any distinction made between urban or rural municipalities.
The historical counties were:
The 23 independent towns were:
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
