Drangey

Drangey is an uninhabited island of Iceland, which is located in the middle of the fjord Skagafjordur. It is about 20 hectares in size, rises about 180 m above sea level and consists largely of volcanic Palagonitgestein, a Tuffgesteinsart.

Legend

In the literature, it is first mentioned in the Saga of Grettir, here is this outlaws the last few years have lived his life along with his brother Illugi and the slave Glaumur. Once he is supposed to be even swam off the island to the mainland to get there fire.

Here he was also, then death sick, killed in his hut of Þorbjörn Öngull and his men in battle. That could have been just before All Saints' Day in 1031.

In an old folk tale it is, two trolls had their COW leader crosses the fjord, as the sun rose straight. The Trolls and the cow were doing to stone. Drangey is the cow, south of it is the troll, a rock in the sea. The troll itself was located on the other side of the island, but collapsed in the course of time in itself.

Nature

On Drangey there are different species of birds: mainly many are thick-billed murre, guillemots, razorbills and puffins. Murres and Thick-billed lumen have their nests high in the rock, the auks in the rubble underneath. The Puffin build small caves on the upper rock edge. In addition, breed here kittiwakes and arctic terns. Drangey is also a haven for ravens and hawks.

Drangey had great significance for the inhabitants of the area Skagafjordur for centuries. In the spring they went to the island to collect eggs and catch birds. They settled with a rope to the nests down to get to the nest.

This was similar to the Látrabjarg and in the Westman Islands, an ancient tradition and a very perilous undertaking. Thus the legend began to emerge that had come in the early Middle Ages, the Bishop Guðmundur Godi to bless the rock and prevent further accidents with it. Just as he raised his hand, a monster had appeared and said: " Somewhere the evil must be yet. " What he would have assigned a different area of ​​effect of the bishop. The same legend is also available on Látrabjarg.

The birds were caught mainly with rafts that were left in the water. Each raft was equipped with many loops of horsehair. The catcher lived in shacks in Fjaran, a town in the southern part of the island. From there they went also goes fishing. In this fishing village at times lived up to 200 people and in the best years were caught over 200,000 birds. The capture of birds of rafts from was banned in 1966.

• Uninhabited Island
• Island ( Europe)
• Island ( Iceland )
• Island ( Greenland )