The Faroe Islands or just Faroes is a North Atlantic archipelago located 320 kilometres north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway between Norway and Iceland. Like Greenland, it is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. The islands have a total area of about 1,400 square kilometres with a population of 52,703 as of September 2020.
The terrain is rugged; the climate is subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc) -windy, wet, cloudy, and cool. Temperatures average above freezing throughout the year because of the Gulf Stream. As a result of the moderation and the northerly latitude, summers normally hover around 12° C. Average temperatures are 5 °C in winter. The northerly latitude location also results in perpetual civil twilight during summer nights and very short winter days.
Between 1035 and 1814, the Faroe Islands were part of the Kingdom of Norway, which was in a personal union with Denmark from 1450.
In 1814, the Treaty of Kiel transferred Norway to the King of Sweden, on the winning side of the Napoleonic Wars, whereas Denmark retained the Faroe Islands, along with Greenland and Iceland.
While part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Faroe Islands have been self-governing since 1948, controlling most areas apart from military defence, policing, justice, currency, and foreign affairs.
More information: The Government of The Faroe Islands
Because the Faroe Islands are not part of the same customs area as Denmark, the country has an independent trade policy, and can establish trade agreements with other states. The Faroes have an extensive bilateral free trade agreement with Iceland, known as the Hoyvík Agreement. In the Nordic Council, they are represented as part of the Danish delegation. In certain sports, the Faroe Islands field their own national teams.
In spite of only having one laureate, the Faroe Islands currently have the most Nobel laureates per capita worldwide.
In Faroese, the name appears as Føroyar. Oyar represents the plural of oy, older Faroese for island. Due to sound changes, the modern Faroese word for island is oyggj. The first element, før, may reflect an Old Norse word fær (sheep), although this analysis is sometimes disputed because Faroese now uses the word seyður, from Old Norse sauðr, to mean sheep. Another possibility is that the Irish monks, who settled the island around 625, had already given the islands a name related to the Gaelic word fearrann, meaning land or estate. This name could then have been passed on to the Norwegian settlers, who then added oyar (islands). The name thus translates as either Islands of Sheep or Islands of Fearrann.
More information: The Official Gateway of The Faroe Islands
In Danish, the name Færøerne contains the same elements, though øerne is the definite plural of ø (island).
In English, it may be seen as redundant to say the Faroe Islands, since the oe comes from an element meaning island. This is seen in the BBC Shipping Forecast, where the waters around the islands are called Faeroes. The name is also sometimes spelled Faeroe.
Archaeological evidence shows settlers living on the Faroe Islands in two successive periods before the Norse arrived, the first between 300 and 600 and the second between 600 and 800.
Scientists from the University of Aberdeen have also found early cereal pollen from domesticated plants, which further suggests people may have lived on the islands before the Vikings arrived.
Archaeologist Mike Church noted that Dicuil mentioned what may have been the Faroes. He also suggested that the people living there might have been from Ireland, Scotland, or Scandinavia, possibly with groups from all three areas settling there.
More information: Independent
Norsemen settled the islands c. 800, bringing Old West Norse, which evolved into the modern Faroese language. According to Icelandic sagas such as Færeyjar Saga, one of the best known men on the island was Tróndur í Gøtu, a descendant of Scandinavian chiefs who had settled in Dublin, Ireland. Tróndur led the battle against Sigmund Brestursson, the Norwegian monarchy and the Norwegian church.
The 1946 Faroese independence referendum resulted in 50.73% in favour of independence to 49.27% against. The Faroe Islands subsequently declared independence on 18 September 1946; however, this declaration was annulled by Denmark on 20 September on the grounds that a majority of the Faroese voters had not supported independence and King Christian X of Denmark dissolved the Faroese Løgting on 24 September. The dissolution of the Løgting was on 8 November followed by the Faroese parliamentary election of 1946 in which the parties in favour of full independence received a total of 5,396 votes while the parties against received a total of 7,488 votes.
As a reaction to the growing self-government and independence movements, Denmark finally granted the Faroe Islands home-rule with a high degree of local autonomy on 30 March 1948.
More information: The Guardian
In 1973 the Faroe Islands declined to join Denmark in entering the European Economic Community, later absorbed into the European Union. The islands experienced considerable economic difficulties following the collapse of the fishing industry in the early 1990s.
Faroese is spoken in the entire area as a first language. It is difficult to say exactly how many people worldwide speak the Faroese language, because many ethnic Faroese live in Denmark, and few who are born there return to the Faroes with their parents or as adults.
Faroese belongs to the Germanic branch of Indo-European languages. Written Faroese, grammar and vocabulary, is most similar to Icelandic and to their ancestor Old Norse, though the spoken language is closer to Norwegian dialects of Western Norway. As stipulated in section 11 in the Home Rule Act from 1948 passed into law in both Faroese and Danish parliaments, Faroese is the first official language of the island while Danish, the second, is taught in schools and can be used by the Faroese government in public relations.
Faroese language policy provides for the active creation of new terms in Faroese suitable for modern life.
More information: Time Out
A chicken likes her own eggs best.
Faroese proverb
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