Counties of Iceland

Iceland was historically divided into 23 counties, sýslur and 23 independent towns, kaupstaðir. 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.

Composition

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.

Historical counties

The historical counties were:

Árnessýsla
Austur-Barðastrandarsýsla
Austur-Húnavatnssýsla
Austur-Skaftafellssýsla
Borgarfjarðarsýsla
Dalasýsla
Eyjafjarðarsýsla
Gullbringusýsla
Kjósarsýsla
Mýrasýsla
Norður-Ísafjarðarsýsla
Norður-Múlasýsla
Norður-Þingeyjarsýsla
Rangárvallasýsla
Skagafjarðarsýsla
Snæfellsnes- og Hnappadalssýsla
Strandasýsla
Suður-Múlasýsla
Suður-Þingeyjarsýsla
Vestur-Barðastrandarsýsla
Vestur-Húnavatnssýsla
Vestur-Ísafjarðarsýsla
Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla

Independent towns

The 23 independent towns were:

Composition

Historical counties

Independent towns

See also