Vestamanna Islands

The Westman Islands rise from the sea off Iceland's southern coast, their volcanic cliffs exposed to the North Atlantic. In 1627 corsairs from North Africa attacked Iceland and descended upon the islands, killing inhabitants and carrying many away to slavery. The priest Ólafur Egilsson was taken from Heimaey to Algiers and later returned, leaving an account of the raid. His story records the reach of maritime violence even to these remote islands beneath Iceland's southern shore.