Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Blaðsíða 107

Kúvíkur. An abandoned trading site
Figure 2. Main trading sites after the monopoly in 1602. Based on a map by Gunnarsson 1987,
86.
cities and towns of Europe (Aðils 1971,
260 and 489-490).
It is known that the initial siting
of Kúvíkur was much debated. It was
impractical for the majority of the inhab-
itants in Strandasýsla, many of which had
to travel a great distance with their goods
to trade. As early as the beginning of the
18th century the sheriff in Strandasýsla
suggested that the trading center should
be moved further south. There are no
indications that the authorities consid-
ered this and it has been proposed that the
main reason may have been pack ice fur-
ther south in the bay of Hrútafjörður,
causing danger to ships (Aðils 1971,288-
289). Most likely the positioning of the
site was linked closely to Gjögur, the
largest shark fishing station in Iceland,
located on the northern side of the
Reykjarfjörður bay (Líndal 1982, 379).
This underlines that the location of the
Kúvíkur was more geared to the produc-
tion of the liver oil than the local trading
of the inhabitants of Strandasýsla. It
should also be noted that there is an
excellent landing place in Kúvíkur and a
fme anchorage for large ships just off the
coast.
In spite of the much desired
liver oil, merchants tended to disregard
Kúvíkur, which was seen as a branch of a
larger trading station on the eastem side
of Húnaflói bay, Höfðakaupstaður. Thus
we know that no ships tumed up in
Kúvíkur in the years 1713-1719 and
1728-1731. This was highly troublesome
for the inhabitants of Strandasýsla who
105