National Archives of Iceland
Two Decades of Public Land Research Completed
8th January 2026
Since 2004, the National Archives has carried out systematic data collection on properties and land areas, conducted alongside the Wilderness Committee’s case processing and in cooperation with the committee on public land matters. Area 12, islands and skerries, was the last area under the committee’s review, and data collection for it was completed in mid-December. With that, this more than two-decade-long project within the National Archives has come to an end.
A total of 33 individuals have worked on the project within the National Archives since 2004. Over the years, the staff of the Archives has worked on creating accurate transcriptions of boundary documents, searching and analyzing land descriptions, and cataloging court and district records of magistrates in a dedicated database.
The outcome is, among other things, an enormous amount of land-related information. This includes thousands of accurate transcriptions, summaries of even more original documents, and historical reports on properties and specific areas. Part of this information is already accessible on the National Archives’ land website, featuring accurate transcriptions of boundary books and their digital reproductions, as well as other sources.
The project and the administrative handling of public land cases highlight the importance of original documents as the foundation for research of this kind and further emphasize how crucial improved access to them is for the public and administration. During data collection, many interesting documents have surfaced, such as Benónís Guðlaugsson’s map of Hvalvík land in the East Fjords.
As mentioned earlier, the last area covered in the public land research was Area 12, islands and skerries. In that area, data collection encompassed 612 properties and land areas. The National Archives compiled 2,065 documents, provided summaries of another 2,733 documents, and wrote eight historical reports on the aforementioned properties and areas. Among the original documents compiled were: a ruling by the Skagafjörður district magistrate dated September 20, 1869, regarding tolls for bird hunting in Drangey; a letter from the Hafnahreppur parish council dated October 16, 1895, concerning bird hunting and egg collection in Eldey (shown in the picture); and a signed deed dated August 23, 1960, for state-owned land in Vestmannaeyjar. At the Wilderness Committee, the handling of the state’s public land claims and landowners’ counterclaims was divided into two cases, and the committee issued its ruling on these on December 22 last year. The committee’s rulings are available on its website.
Experts at the National Archives are now working to make the project’s outputs accessible on the Archives’ source website. There, among other things, historical reports prepared by the National Archives regarding 64 cases reviewed by the Wilderness Committee will be published.