Eldhraun (“Fire lava”) or Skaftáreldahraun a lava–flow, from a row of craters, Lakagígar, along a 25 km long fissure named after the mountain Laki. The lavaflow from this eruption of 1783–84 was 565 km2, considered one the largest in the world from one eruption in historical times. The eruption is usually called Skaftáreldar (“The Skaftá river fires”) or Síðueldur. More than 20 farms had to be abandoned, and the eruptions were followed by “Móðuharðindin” (“The dusty hard times”), a period of famine and disease named for the ash mist from the eruption. More than 9,000 people died, approx. 20% of the Icelandic nation. This was one of the heaviest blows to the population of Iceland since the settlement in 874. Much has been written by Icelandic and foreign scientists about the craters of Laki and the eruption.