Farthings of Iceland - Farthing Divisions

Farthing Divisions

1. Vestfirðingafjórðungur, or Breiðfirðingafjórðungur (Westfjord farthing), which included the Westfjords but reached down to the middle of Faxaflói, so it also included most of today's west region. The southern border was originally at Hvítá in Borgarfjörður but in the 13th century this was moved south to Botnsá in Hvalfjörður.
2. Norðlendingafjórðungur, or Eyfirðingafjórðungur (North farthing), which reached from Hrútafjörður in the west to Langanes in the east (the same as today's northeast and northwest regions);
3. Austfirðingafjórðungur (Eastfjord farthing) extended from Langanes to Jökulsá á Sólheimasandi in the south. In 1783 when Iceland was divided into amts, however, Skaftafellssýsla in the south was placed within the South Amt and the border of the farthings thus moved to Lónsheiði. The county of Skaftafellssýsla was later divided into two constituencies Austur-Skaftafellssýsla (east) and Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla (west) and in 1893 the eastern half was made part of the East Amt. Hence the border between the south and the east farthing moved again, this time to Skeiðará and the east farthing thus became similar to today's east region.
4. Sunnlendingafjórðungur, or Rangæingafjórðungur (South farthing) which was really only the south-west part of the country, including the southern peninsula, what is today the capital region and what was left of the south farthing, Árnessýsla and Rangárvallasýsla until 1783 when Skaftafellssýsla was added. Now it includes the south-west and capital region along with Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla.