| Coordinates | 28°36′50″N77°12′32″N |
|---|---|
| Native name | Føroyar Færøerne |
| Conventional long name | Faroe Islands |
| Common name | Faroe Islands |
| Image coat | Coat_of_arms_of_the_Faroe_Islands.svg |
| National anthem | Tú alfagra land mítt Thou, my most beauteous land |
| Official languages | Faroese, Danish |
| Capital | Tórshavn |
| Largest city | capital |
| Ethnic groups | 91.7% Faroese 5.8% Danish 0.4% Icelanders 0.2% Norwegian 0.2% Poles |
| Demonym | Faroese |
| Government type | Parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy |
| Leader title1 | Monarch |
| Leader name1 | Margrethe II |
| Leader title2 | High Commissioner |
| Leader name2 | Dan M. Knudsen |
| Leader title3 | Prime Minister |
| Leader name3 | Kaj Leo Johannesen |
| Sovereignty type | Autonomous constituent country |
| Established event1 | Unified with Norway |
| Established date1 | 1035 |
| Established event2 | Ceded to Denmark |
| Established date2 | 14 January 1814 |
| Established event3 | Home rule |
| Established date3 | 1 April 1948 |
| Area rank | 180th |
| Area magnitude | 1 E9 |
| Area km2 | 1,399 |
| Area sq mi | 540 |
| Percent water | 0.5 |
| Population estimate | 48,917 |
| Population estimate rank | 205th |
| Population estimate year | July 2010 |
| Population census | 48,760 |
| Population census year | 2007 |
| Population density km2 | 35 |
| Population density sq mi | 91 |
| Population density rank | 171st |
| Gdp ppp | $1.56 billion |
| Gdp ppp rank | not ranked |
| Gdp ppp year | 2008 |
| Gdp ppp per capita | $32,000 |
| Gdp ppp per capita rank | not ranked |
| Gdp nominal | $2.45 billion |
| Gdp nominal rank | not ranked |
| Gdp nominal year | 2008 |
| Gdp nominal per capita | $50,300 |
| Gdp nominal per capita rank | not ranked |
| Hdi year | 2006 |
| Hdi | 0.943 |
| Hdi rank | 15th |
| Hdi category | high |
| Currency | Faroese króna |
| Currency code | DKK |
| Time zone | GMT |
| Time zone dst | EST |
| Utc offset dst | +1 |
| Cctld | .fo |
| Calling code | 298 |
The Faroe Islands (, ) are a subarctic island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Great Britain and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland. The total area is approximately 1,400 square kilometers with a population of almost 50,000 (2010).
The Faroe Islands have been an autonomous province of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948. Over the years, the Faroese have been granted control of many matters. Some areas still remain the responsibility of Denmark, such as military defence and foreign affairs.
The Faroe Islands were politically associated with Norway in 1380, when Norway entered the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Sweden, which gradually evolved into Danish control of the islands. This association ceased in 1814, when Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden while Denmark retained control of Norwegian colonies including the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. The Faroe Islands have two representatives on the Nordic Council as members of the Danish delegation.
Later on (c. 650) Norsemen settled the islands, bringing the Old Norse language that has evolved into the modern Faroese language spoken today.
These settlers are not thought to have come directly from Scandinavia, but rather Norse communities from areas surrounding the Irish Sea and Western Isles of Scotland, such as Shetland and Orkney, and Norse-Gaels. The old Gaelic name for the Faroe Islands Na Scigirí means the Skeggjar and probably refers to the Eyja-Skeggjar (Island-Beards), a nickname given to the island dwellers. The aforementioned theories are speculative and are not supported by archeological evidence. However, the immigration of Norwegian Vikings is well documented. Thus, according to the Faroe Islands Government, the Nordic language and culture are derived from the Norwegians, or Norsemen, who settled in the Faroe Islands.
.]] According to Færeyinga Saga, emigrants who left Norway to escape the tyranny of Harald I of Norway settled on the islands around the end of the 9th century. Early in the 11th century, Sigmundur Brestirson – whose clan had flourished in the southern islands but had been almost exterminated by invaders from the northern islands – escaped to Norway. He was then sent back to take possession of the islands for Olaf Tryggvason, King of Norway. Sigmundur introduced Christianity and, though he was subsequently murdered, Norwegian supremacy was upheld. Norwegian control of the islands continued until 1380, when Norway entered the Kalmar Union with Denmark, which gradually resulted in Danish control of the islands. The Reformation reached the Faroes in 1538. When the union between Denmark and Norway was dissolved as a result of the Treaty of Kiel in 1814, Denmark retained possession of the Faroe Islands.
The trade monopoly in the Faroe Islands was abolished in 1856 and the area has since then developed as a modern fishing nation with its own fleet. The national awakening since 1888 was initially based on a struggle to maintain the Faroese language and was thus culturally oriented, but after 1906 it became politically oriented, with the foundation of political parties of the Faroe Islands.
On 12 April 1940, the Faroes were occupied by British troops. The move followed the invasion of Denmark by Nazi Germany and had the objective of strengthening British control of the North Atlantic (see Second Battle of the Atlantic). In 1942–1943 the British Royal Engineers built the only airport in the Faroes, Vágar Airport. Control of the islands reverted to Denmark following the war, but in 1948 home-rule was introduced, with a high degree of local autonomy. In 1973 the Faroe Islands declined to join Denmark in entering the European Community (now European Union). The islands experienced considerable economic difficulties following the collapse of the fishing industry in the early 1990s, but have since made efforts to diversify the economy. Support for independence has grown and is the objective of the Republican Party.
Records of drive hunts in the Faroe Islands date back to 1584. It is regulated by Faroese authorities but not by the International Whaling Commission as there are disagreements about the Commission's legal authority to regulate small cetacean hunts. Hundreds of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melaena) are killed annually, mainly during the summer. The hunts, called "grindadráp" in Faroese, are non-commercial and are organized on a community level; anyone can participate. The hunters first surround the pilot whales with a wide semicircle of boats. Then they drive the whales slowly into a bay or to the shallows of a fjord. When a whale is in shallow water a hook is placed in its blowhole so that it may be dragged ashore. Once on land or immobilized in knee deep water, a cut is made across its top near the blowhole to partially sever its head. The dead animals are then dragged further to shore after the remaining whales have been likewise killed.
Some Faroese consider the hunt an important part of their culture and history. Animal-rights groups criticize it as being cruel and unnecessary, while the hunters claim in return that most journalists do not exhibit sufficient knowledge of the catch methods or its economic significance.At present the islanders are about evenly split between those favoring independence and those who prefer to continue as a part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Within both camps there is a wide range of opinions. Of those who favor independence, some are in favor of an immediate unilateral declaration of independence. Others see it as something to be attained gradually and with the full consent of the Danish government and the Danish nation. In the unionist camp there are also many who foresee and welcome a gradual increase in autonomy even while strong ties with Denmark are maintained.
Administratively, the islands are divided into 34 municipalities (kommunur) within which there are 120 or so settlements.
Traditionally, there are also the six sýslur ("regions": Norðoyar, Eysturoy, Streymoy, Vágar, Sandoy and Suðuroy). Although today sýsla technically means "police district", the term is still commonly used to indicate a geographical region. In earlier times, each sýsla had its own ting (assembly), the so-called várting ("spring assembly").
Its area is 1,399 square kilometres (540 sq. mi), and it has no major lakes or rivers. There are of coastline. The only major island that is uninhabited is Lítla Dímun. .]] The islands are rugged and rocky with some low peaks; the coasts are mostly cliffs. The highest point is Slættaratindur, above sea level. There are also areas below sea level.
The Faroe Islands are dominated by tholeiitic basalt lava which was part of the great Thulean Plateau during the Paleogene period.
A total eclipse of the sun will be visible from the Faroe Islands on 20 March 2015.
Economic troubles caused by a collapse of the Faroese fishing industry in the early 1990s brought high unemployment rates of 10 to 15% in the mid 1990s. Unemployment decreased in the later 1990s, down to about 6% at the end of 1998.
Since 2000, new information technology and business projects have been fostered in the Faroe Islands to attract new investment. The introduction of Burger King in Tórshavn was widely publicized and a sign of the globalization of Faroese culture. It is not yet known whether these projects will succeed in broadening the islands' economic base. The islands have one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, but this should not necessarily be taken as a sign of a recovering economy, as many young students move to Denmark and other countries once they have left high school. This leaves a largely middle-aged and elderly population that may lack the skills and knowledge to fill newly developed positions on the Faroes. In 2008, the Faroes made a $52 million loan to Iceland, in the light of that country's banking woes.
On 5 August 2009, two opposition parties introduced a bill in the Løgting to adopt the Euro as the national currency, pending a referendum.
Due to the rocky terrain and relatively small size of the Faroe Islands, its transportation system was not as extensive as in other places of the world. This situation has now changed, and the infrastructure has been developed extensively. Some 80% of the population of the islands is connected by tunnels through the mountains and between the islands, bridges and causeways which link the three largest islands and three other large islands to the northeast together, while the other two large islands to the south of the main area are connected to the main area with new fast ferries. There are good roads to every village in the islands, except for seven of the smaller islands, six of which only have one village.
Recent DNA analyses have revealed that Y chromosomes, tracing male descent, are 87% Scandinavian. The studies show that mitochondrial DNA, tracing female descent, is 84% Scottish / Irish.
Of the approximately 48,000 inhabitants of the Faroe Islands (16,921 private households (2004)), 98% are citizens of the Kingdom of Denmark, including Faroese, Danish and Greenlandic people. One can analyse the inhabitants by place of birth, as follows: born on the Faroes 91.7%, in Denmark 5.8% and in Greenland 0.3%. The largest group of foreigners is Icelanders, comprising 0.4% of the population, followed by Norwegians and Polish, each comprising 0.2%. Altogether, on the Faroe Islands there are people of 77 different nationalities.
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, as many ethnic Faroese live in Denmark, and few who are born there return to the Faroes with their parents or as adults.
The Faroese language is one of the least spoken of the Germanic languages. Faroese grammar as well as vocabulary is most similar to Icelandic and to the extinct language Old Norse. In contrast, spoken Faroese is very different from Icelandic and is closer to Norwegian dialects of the west coast of Norway. While Faroese is the main language in the islands, both Faroese and Danish are official languages.
Faroese language policy provides for the active creation of new terms in Faroese suitable for modern life.
Only with the rise of the deep sea fishery (and thus independence from agriculture in the islands' harsh terrain) and with general progress in the health service was rapid population growth possible in the Faroes. Beginning in the 18th century, the population increased tenfold in 200 years.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the Faroe Islands entered a deep economic crisis leading to heavy emigration; however, this trend reversed in subsequent years to a net immigration.
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In the 1990s the old national policy of developing the villages (Bygdamenning) was abandoned, and instead the government started a process of regional development (Økismenning). The term "region" referred to the large islands of the Faroes. Nevertheless the government was unable to press through the structural reform of merging the small rural municipalities in order to create sustainable, decentralised entities that could drive forward regional development. As regional development has been difficult on the administrative level, the government has instead made heavy investment in infrastructure, interconnecting the regions.
In general, it is becoming less valid to regard the Faroes as a society based on separate islands and regions. The huge investments in roads, bridges and sub-sea tunnels (see also Transportation in the Faroe Islands) have bound the islands together, creating a coherent economic and cultural sphere that covers almost 90% of the population. From this perspective it is reasonable to regard the Faroes as a dispersed city or even to refer to it as the Faroese Network City.
In the late 1820s, the Christian Evangelical religious movement, the Plymouth Brethren, was established in England. In 1865, a member of this movement, William Gibson Sloan, travelled to the Faroes from Shetland. At the turn of the 20th century, the Faroese Plymouth Brethren numbered thirty. Today, approximately 10% of the Faroese population are members of the Open Brethren community (Brøðrasamkoman). About 5% belong to other Christian denominations, such as the charismatic movement. which started in the 1970s–1980s in the Faroe Islands. There are several charismatic churches around the islands, the largest of which, called Keldan (Spring Water), has about 400 to 450 members. The Adventists operate a private school in Tórshavn. Jehovah's Witnesses also number four congregations (approximately 80 to 100 members). The Roman Catholic congregation comprises approximately 170 members. The municipality of Tórshavn operates their old Franciscan school. There are also around fifteen Bahá'ís who meet at four different places. Unlike Denmark, Sweden, and Iceland with Forn Sidr, the Faroes have no organised Ásatrú community, but there is a fair share of pagan lore, song and ritual performed in individuals' houses or in public spaces, rather than in church buildings.
The best known church buildings in the Faroe Islands include St. Olaf's Church and the Magnus Cathedral in Kirkjubøur; the Vesturkirkjan and the Maria Church, both of which are situated in Tórshavn; the church of Fámjin; the octagonal church in Haldarsvík; Christianskirkjan in Klaksvík and also the two pictured here.
In 1948, Victor Danielsen (Plymouth Brethren) completed the first Bible translation into Faroese from different modern languages. Jacob Dahl and Kristian Osvald Viderø (Fólkakirkjan) completed the second translation in 1961. The latter was translated from the original Biblical languages (Hebrew and Greek) into Faroese.
The official celebration starts on the 29th, with the opening of the Faroese Parliament, a custom which dates back some 900 years. This begins with a service held in Tórshavn Cathedral; all members of parliament as well as civil and church officials walk to the cathedral in a procession. All of the parish ministers take turns giving the sermon. After the service, the procession returns to the parliament for the opening ceremony.
Other celebrations are marked by different kind of sports competitions, the rowing competition (in Tórshavn Harbour) being the most popular, art exhibitions, pop concerts, and the famous Faroese dance. The celebrations have many facets, and only a few are mentioned here.
People also mark the occasion by wearing the national Faroese dress.
The first Faroese opera was by Sunleif Rasmussen. It is entitled Í Óðamansgarði (The Madman´s Garden), and it had its premiere on 12 October 2006, at the Nordic House. The opera is based on a short story by the writer William Heinesen.
Young Faroese musicians who have gained much popularity recently are Eivør (Eivør Pálsdóttir), Anna Katrin Egilstrøð, Lena (Lena Andersen), Teitur (Teitur Lassen), Høgni Reistrup, Høgni Lisberg and Brandur Enni.
Well-known bands include Týr, Gestir, The Ghost, Boys In A Band, ORKA, 200, Grandma's Basement and the former band Clickhaze.
The festival of contemporary and classical music, Summartónar, is held each summer. Large open-air music festivals for popular music with both local and international musicians participating are G! Festival in Gøta in July and Summarfestivalurin in Klaksvík in August.
Traditional Faroese food is mainly based on meat, seafood and potatoes and uses few fresh vegetables. Mutton is the basis of many meals, and one of the most popular treats is skerpikjøt, well aged, wind-dried mutton which is quite chewy. The drying shed, known as a hjallur, is a standard feature in many Faroese homes, particularly in the small towns and villages. Other traditional foods are ræst kjøt (semi-dried mutton) and ræstur fiskur, matured fish. Another Faroese specialty is Grind og spik, pilot whale meat and blubber. (A parallel meat/fat dish made with offal is garnatálg). Well into the last century, meat and blubber from a pilot whale meant food for a long time. Fresh fish also features strongly in the traditional local diet, as do seabirds, such as Faroese puffins, and their eggs. Dried fish is also commonly eaten.
There is one brewery called Föroya Bjór, which has produced beer since 1888 with exports mainly to Iceland and Denmark. A local specialty is fredrikk, a special brew, made in Nólsoy. Hard alcohol like snaps is not allowed to be produced in the Faroe Islands, hence the Faroese aqua vit, Aqua Vita, is produced abroad.
Since the friendly British occupation, the Faroese have been fond of British food, in particular fish and chips and British-style chocolate such as Cadbury Dairy Milk which is found in many of the island's shops, whereas in Denmark this is scarce.
(Caltha palustris) very common in the Faroe Islands in May–June.]]
The natural vegetation of the Faroe Islands is dominated by Arctic-alpine plants, wildflowers, grasses, moss and lichen. Most of the lowland area is grassland and some is heath, dominated by shrubby heathers, mainly Calluna vulgaris. Among the herbaceous flora that occur in the Faroe Islands is the cosmopolitan Marsh Thistle, Cirsium palustre.
Faroe is characterised by the lack of trees, resembling Connemara and Dingle in Ireland and the Scottish islands.
A few small plantations consisting of plants collected from similar climates like Tierra del Fuego in South America and Alaska thrive on the islands.
Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) are very common around the shorelines.
Several species of cetacean live in the waters around the Faroe Islands. Best known are the Long-finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melaena), which are still annually hunted by the islanders in accordance with longstanding local tradition. Rare killer whales (Orcinus orca) sometimes visit the Faroese fjords as well.
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Category:Northern Europe Category:States and territories established in 1948 Category:Volcanoes of Denmark Category:Paleogene volcanism Category:Extinct volcanoes Category:Island countries
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