The Faroe Islands

In the northern Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and Norway lie 18 verdant islands that together make up the Faroe Islands. The five largest islands are Streymoy, Vágar, Eysturoy, Sandoy and Suðuroy, and the smallest is the uninhabited Lítla Dímun. The Faroe Islands’ capital is Tórshavn, where 13,628 people out of the Faroe Islands’ total population of 52,896 live. There are currently 29 municipalities, several of which only have very few inhabitants.

The formation of the Faroe Islands began 61 million years ago in connection with the violent volcanic activity that occurred during the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea. However, it is the ice ages that over the past two million years have formed the current archipelago.

The northern and remote location has meant that the wildlife and plant life on land is quite poor in species. Whereas particularly mosses, but also many insects have immigrated to the islands on their own, other animals and plants have arrived with the help of humans, such as the house mouse and the mountain hare. There is an abundant bird life, which includes Atlantic puffin, northern fulmar and the national bird the oystercatcher. Three islands, Nólsoy, Skúvoy and Mykines, have been designated Ramsar sites to protect bird life.

However, the greatest wildlife is found in the seas with large fish populations of cod and blue whiting, grey seals and whales, including long-finned pilot whales, of which between 500 and 1,500 end up on the dinner tables every year after being driven into the fjords. Historically and culturally, the hunting for long-finned pilot whale is a major event in the Faroe Islands. The fishing industry is extensive and accounts for about 90 % of the Faroe Islands’ exports. Dried cod was among the first ways to process and preserve the catch. Later, especially after World War II, exports mainly consisted of fresh and filleted fish. Some 50 years ago, salmon farming started, and today, the Faroe Islands are the world’s fifth largest producer of salmon.

The first signs of human activity in the Faroe Islands were found at the village of Sandur on Sandoy and date from the 4th-6th century. Irish monks came to the islands in the 7th-8th century. However, it was after the arrival of the Vikings that the islands became part of Norway, which made them a Norwegian tax territory in 1035. According to tradition, Christianity was introduced by the legendary hero Sigmundur Brestisson in 999, and, in the 12th century, an episcopal residence was established in Kirkjubøur. The current parish church served as a cathedral until the end of the 13th century, at which point the construction of a much grander Gothic cathedral in the same area began. Today, the only the ruins remain of the Magnus Cathedral.

The Faroese Parliament, the Løgting, which initially met in the open on Tinganes in Tórshavn, first convened in the first half of the 14th century. With the Reformation in 1540, the church’s land possessions passed to the crown, and in the 17th century trade was largely controlled from Copenhagen, and from 1709, directly by the king. In 1814, Denmark lost Norway, but kept the Faroe Islands, and the Løgting was abolished. However, it was re-established as a county council in 1852, four years later, free trade was introduced, and the fisheries experienced growth and higher exports. The population increased significantly during this period, as did the number of municipalities.

Free trade and growth contributed to increased Faroese consciousness and to discussions about independence versus unity with Denmark. However, with World War II, the Faroe Islands were occupied by Great Britain while Denmark was occupied by Germany. Up to 8,000 British soldiers built roads on the islands and a military airport, which became the foundation for today’s civilian Vágar Airport. The Home Rule Act was adopted in 1948, enabling the Løgting to take over e.g. taxes, healthcare, public welfare, schooling and municipal matters. The Faroese flag was recognised and the main language became Faroese.

The relationship between Denmark and the Faroe Islands was one of several elements involved in the Klaksvík conflict in the period 1952‑56, when Danish marines and police officers were sent to Klaksvík to create stability in a rebellious situation. The mission was successful, however, it increased the desire for secession. Construction of tunnels began in the 1960s, which intensified from 1970 and created completely new connections between the islands.

During the deep economic crisis that started in 1992, the Faroe Islands were put under Danish administration, which again caused serious cracks in the relationship. In the 1998 general election, the independence parties won a majority, which led to negotiations with Denmark, which, however, collapsed. The Government of the Faroe Islands then decided on its own to reduce the subsidies from Denmark. The wish for independence and having its own constitution often becomes topical when the independence parties are part of the Faroese government coalition.

Today, the Faroe Islands have an extensive infrastructure with roads, bridges and tunnels, including undersea tunnels. This means that there is relatively easy access to Tórshavn, which has been the islands’ most important trading stations since ancient times and continues to be the country’s capital. However, population growth has not only been concentrated in the capital area, but also in a more fragmented urbanisation, where islands, towns and villages have been linked together by the massive infrastructural investments. This allows for mobility in working life. The Faroese have often worked outside the Faroe Islands for periods of time, and the country is now experiencing increasing net immigration, tourism is picking up, and more restaurants, cultural initiatives and creative industries are seeing the light of day.

Legends, tales and traditions still play an important role in Faroese culture. One example is chain dancing, which is part of the curriculum in primary school. Rowing competitions are an important part of village summer gatherings, and, each year, the final is held at the national festival ólavsøka in Tórshavn where there are also processions and community singing. But new initiatives are also being introduced. Since 2012, an LGBT Pride parade has been held in connection with the celebrations. The old tradition of knitting has been refined into modern designs, some of which have become international hits. Old and new trends also mix in the visual arts where particularly the light and the landscape are central features. And the great focus that the public authorities have had on art in the public space has resulted in art being found almost everywhere in the Faroe Islands. Even below ground in the form of Tróndur Patursson’s decoration of the undersea roundabout in the Eysturoy Tunnel from 2020. National fiction writers include William Heinesen, whose imaginative novels have reached far beyond the country’s borders, but also new voices such as Lív Maria Róadóttir Jæger, who consciously experiments with genres.

Meaning of the name

The name is known from sometime in the 13th century where it appears in the forms Fęreygium and Færøyum. In later sources, it is found as Færøyium (1298), Færeyjar (1360‑80) and Færeyia (1399). In a Danish language context, the name appears in the 15th century as Fførøum (1412) and Ferøyr (1447). In modern Faroese, the islands are called Føroyar. The name is a combination of two words, where the suffix is the plural form of the West Norse noun oy, meaning ‘island’. The prefix has traditionally been interpreted as a West Norse noun fær ‘sheep’, an interpretation that can be traced back to a Norwegian manuscript from the 15th century, where the name is translated into Latin as insulæ ovium ‘the sheep islands’, which the author explains by saying that there are thousands of fat sheep on the islands.

The Irish monk Dicuil, who around 825 described how the islands’ oldest population immigrated from Ireland had now been driven out by the Normans, also tells how the islands were ‘brimming with sheep’; Unfortunately, he does not give the name of the islands. However, at the end of the Middle Ages, this interpretation was questioned, since fær was then no longer known as a West Norse term for sheep, which in Faroese is called seyður (Norwegian sau, from West Norse sauðr). However, later studies seem to have proven that both terms existed concurrently in the early Middle Ages, and that Færøy is known as a common island name in Norway, with most likely a similar meaning. The critics of the sheep interpretation have instead suggested the Gaelic noun fearann ‘land’, which would then relate to the Celtic past of the islands, and although this word should probably be rejected as a possible prefix for linguistic reasons, it cannot formally be ruled out that the prefix is indeed a West Norse translation or a garbled form of an unknown Gaelic name for the islands.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of the Faroe Islands is a ram and is known from a carving on a church chair from Kirkjubøur dated 1406‑42. The coat of arms is also known from the seal of the old Faroese court. An impression of the seal is known from 1533, but the seal is likely from the 14th century. In 1666, the coat of arms of the Faroe Islands was included in the range of arms included in the Danish royal coat of arms, and was permanently included in the royal coat of arms from 1819. The coat of arms is also used by the Government of the Faroe Islands.

The coat of arms is possibly very literal, as the name of the Faroe Islands may derive from the Old Norse word for sheep.

Blazoning (description): Blue background with a silver ram with gold armament and a red tongue.

Merkið, the Faroese flag

The flag of the Faroe Islands is white with a red cross with blue edges. The flag is called Merkið, which means ‘the banner’ in Faroese. Designed in 1919, the flag became official in 1940/1948.

Merkið is a Nordic cross flag, which means that it belongs to a group of flags inspired by the Dannebrog and characterised by the centre of the cross being offset towards the flagpole. The design and choice of colours make you think of the Norwegian flag and the strong historical and cultural ties between the Faroe Islands and Norway.

The flag was created by Faroese students in Copenhagen in 1919. One of them, Jens Oliver Lisberg (1896‑1920), was the first to raise the flag in the Faroe Islands on 22 June 1919 in his home village of Fámjin on Suðurøy. Today, the original flag hangs in Fámjin Kirkja.

The Faroese flag became widely used in the 1930s. This led to conflicts within the country and with the Danish authorities, who maintained that ships native to the Faroe Islands should sail under the Danish flag.

Denmark was occupied by Germany on 9 April 1940, and a few days later, the British occupied the Faroe Islands. The Faroese fishing fleet was essential for the supply of fish to Great Britain, and in order to avoid confusion with vessels from German-occupied Denmark, the British officially recognised the Faroese flag as a nationality mark on all Faroese ships on 25 April 1940. A date that is now celebrated as Faroese Flag Day.

With the introduction of home rule in the Faroe Islands in 1948, the Faroese flag was also recognised by Denmark. The flag design received formal royal approval, and it became legal for everyone in the Kingdom of Denmark to use the Faroese flag without special permission.

The Faroese flag is closely associated with everything Faroese. As a national symbol, it is used in official contexts by the Faroese Government and on all ships registered in the Faroe Islands. Both in the Faroe Islands and among Faroese in Denmark and all over the world, the flag is widely flown in connection with national holidays, sporting events and private parties.

The flag design and use is regulated by a Løgting act from 1959, as amended in 1998. An executive order from 2003 sets out a number of official flag days on which flags are flown from government buildings. The central authorities of the Realm in the Faroe Islands, including the High Commissioner of the Faroe Islands, the court in the Faroe Islands, the defence and the police, use the Dannebrog as a split flag.

Nature and landscape

Like 18 steep and green islands, the Faroe Islands rise out of the North Atlantic roughly halfway between Iceland and Norway. The surrounding ocean and the warm North Atlantic Current mean that the Faroe Islands have a relatively mild climate, which, together with the rich resources in the ocean, have played a decisive role for settlement and the utilisation of the natural resources, which have impacted the way of life, self-perception and economy of the Faroese until today.

The formation of the Faroe Islands began ca. 61 million years ago with the opening of the North Atlantic and the accompanying violent volcanic activity. However, it was not until the ice ages that the country emerged as an archipelago. Ice, water and wind eroded down through the basalt plain created by the volcanoes, breaking it into islands, islets and skerries. The Faroe Islands are thus the remains of a degraded basalt plain, and the many alternating layers of basalt and sediments exposed by the erosion bear witness to countless, extremely violent volcanic eruptions, only interrupted by short periods of calm.

Together with the latitude, the modest size of the islands and their isolated location mean that plant life and wildlife on land is poor in species. The first plants immigrated at the end of the last Ice Age. Over the subsequent some 11,000 years, plant life has changed together with changing climatic conditions, while the later human immigration and the many grazing sheep have had the greatest impact on plant life. As of now, 843 different plant species have been registered on the islands, the vast majority of which are mosses and angiosperms.

Among the animals, it is especially the birds that characterise the islands. Even though many species have declined considerably, you can still see breeding northern fulmars, Atlantic puffins, storm petrels, black-legged kittiwakes, shearwaters and common guillemots in their thousands. Large flocks of starlings appear in towns and villages, while infields and outfields serve as breeding grounds for various wading birds, including the oystercatcher, which is the national bird of the Faroe Islands.

There are no indigenous land mammals in the Faroe Islands, but when humans arrived on the islands, they not only brought domestic animals, they also brought the house mouse as a blind passenger. Later, the brown rat came to the islands. In the mid-19th century, Norwegian mountain hares were released at Tórshavn and can now be found on several of the islands.

Many of the invertebrates were also introduced by humans. This applies to the New Zealand flatworm, common wasp and white-tailed bumblebee. However, there are also a number of species which have apparently found their way to the North Atlantic islands themselves. Lake flies and caddisflies can be seen above the lakes and streams where their larvae grow, and in the outfield, you can come across the violet ground beetle and find the froghoppers ‘cuckoo spit’ on the yellow marsh-marigold.

However, the richest wildlife and plant life can be found in the surrounding ocean. The Faroese waters are home to large fish populations, many of which are of enormous commercial importance. Some fish species stay around the islands for most of their lives, while others pass them on their migrations to and from the spawning grounds. The latter includes blue whiting, of which, on average, around 400,000 tonnes are caught from Faroese waters each year. Cod is also important for commercial fishing, and particularly the cod from the Faroe Bank is notable for its very rapid growth.

Whales are a common sight, and up until 1984, periodic large-scale whaling was common in the Faroe Islands. However, it is mainly the catches of long-finned pilot whale that have caught the attention of the world. The hunting of pilot whales has probably taken place since the Viking Age and remains an important social and cultural event. The longfinned pilot whale is one of the most abundant whale species in the North Atlantic and passes the Faroe Islands in large and small pods mainly in late summer. During the hunting, longfinned pilot whales are driven into certain fjords where they are killed and their meat is distributed. Within the past 100 years, 500‑1,500 whales have been caught each year.

These days, vulnerable nature and the environment are threatened by, for instance, climate change, invasive species, microplastics and various environmentally harmful substances, the effects of which we have probably only just seen the beginning. Environmental and nature management is under Faroese jurisdiction and includes monitoring, regulation and requirements for approval of activities that may impact nature and the environment. In addition, three areas of special natural value have been listed, while the islands of Nólsoy, Skúvoy and Mykines have been designated as Ramsar sites due to their remarkable birdlife.

Further reading

• Wildlife in the sea on the Faroe Islands
• Wildlife on the Faroe Islands
• Plant life on the Faroe Islands
• Fresh waters on the Faroe Islands
• Geology on the Faroe Islands
• Climate on the Faroe Islands
• The sea by the Faroe Islands
• Landscapes on the Faroe Islands
• Nature and environmental management on the Faroe Islands

History

In prehistoric times, the Faroe Islands remained uninhabited for a long time, the first traces of human presence only being known from 300‑500 AD. Irish monks reportedly came to the islands in the 7th and 8th centuries, but it was not until the Viking Age with people from Norway that actual colonisation took place. According to tradition, Christianity was introduced in 999, and in the 12th century a Faroese episcopal residence was established in Kirkjubøur.

From around 1035, the Faroe Islands became a tax area under Norway and came under Norwegian jurisdiction. However, the number of inhabitants on the islands was still limited; the population around the year 1300 is estimated at 2,440.

With the Reformation in 1540, the land of the church passed to the crown, which subsequently granted the land to the King’s yeomen. During the 17th century, ties to Norway weakened; trade with the islands was now managed from Copenhagen, and the king appointed a Danish lawman. Danes Christoffer and Frederik Gabel, father and son, were vassals on the islands in the period 1655‑1708 and were also given charge of trade. Their attempts at restructuring the trade resulted in great discontent among the Faroese. The king took over the trade in the Faroe Islands in 1709.

Several changes happened in the Faroe Islands’ situation in the first half of the 19th century. Although Denmark lost Norway in 1814, the kingdom retained absolute control over the Faroe Islands. In 1821, the islands were given the status of Faroe County, and in 1852, the Løgting (the national parliament) was restored after it had been abolished in 1816. Following major losses, the royal monopoly trade was abolished in 1856 and replaced by free trade. At the same time, the islands experienced growth in the population, which around 1850 came close to 8,500.

From the second half of the 19th century, the number of municipalities increased sharply. Whereas, previously there was only one, in 1920, the number was 33, and this trend continued and peaked in 1970 with 51 municipalities. At the same time, the population grew: In 1920, the population had reached around 20,000, and in 1970 it was around 38,000.

Changes also took place within occupations with lasting impact on Faroese society. The fishing industry experienced strong growth, and fishery products became the predominant export item. Consequently, the population concentrated at natural harbours where fish products could be processed.

A greater awareness of Faroese identity emerged from the end of the 19th century, and an increased political awareness led to the formation of Faroese parties. The pivotal political point of contention which would characterise the political discussion in posterity, was the question of unity or home rule in relation to Denmark.

The world crisis in 1929 hit the Faroese economy hard, however, World War II, when the Faroe Islands were occupied by the British, had a positive impact as the Faroese fishing fleet supplied the English market.

The Home Rule Act was passed in 1948, which meant that the home rule government took over a number of policy areas. The law introduced the Government of the Faroe Islands, which was appointed by the Løgting. In the following decades, requests were made to take over more and more areas, which included the welfare area. This required an expansion of the administrative apparatus in the Faroe Islands.

In the years 1952‑56, a doctor’s conflict took place, the so-called Klaksvík controversy, which contained several different dimensions, including local topics and discussions about the relationship between Denmark and the Faroe Islands. The dispute led to Danish warships with marines and police officers being sent to Klaksvík. Eventually the unrest was stopped, but the conflict helped strengthen the desire for secession.

The infrastructure was expanded from the first half of the 20th century, first with roads and from the 1960s also with tunnels. At the same time, port facilities were expanded and modernised. Especially since 1970, there has been a real revolution in the links between the islands with bridges and tunnels, including the first underground tunnel in 2002.

In 1992, the Faroe Islands went through a serious economic crisis with several bankruptcies, which resulted in the Faroe Islands effectively being put under administration and having to take out loans in Denmark. The fishing industry was threatened, the banks were in crisis, unemployment rose and wages dropped. The crisis also led to serious challenges in the relationship between Denmark and the Faroe Islands. At the beginning of the 2000s, the political debate calmed down and the Faroese economy came back on its feet again.

Further reading

• Ancient times on the Faroe Islands
• The viking age on the Faroe Islands
• The middle ages on the Faroe Islands
• 1536-1850 on the Faroe Islands
• 1850-1920 on the Faroe Islands
• 1920-1970 on the Faroe Islands
• 1970-2007 on the Faroe Islands
• Population trends on the Faroe Islands from 1327-2022

Culture

Legends, tales and traditions still play a key role in Faroese culture, but a wide range of arts is seeing breakaway from tradition and a desire for renewal and experimenting with new forms and trends with a more global outlook. Cultural expressions can also foster debate, for example in relation to how they are affected by the growing tourism and perhaps should be adapted to new contexts.

Faroese chain dancing is a tradition that can be traced back to the Middle Ages. The dancing is not accompanied by instruments, but ballads are sung while the participants dance. Today, chain dancing is a compulsory subject in primary school, and it is included in the inventory of intangible cultural heritage of the Faroe Islands.

Rowing, which is considered the national sport of the Faroe Islands, is also an old tradition that is maintained and forms part of the village summer meetings. The final of the Faroe Islands rowing championships is held in Tórshavn in connection with the national festival ólavsøka on 28‑29 July, which is celebrated with various elements such as a procession and community singing. In the world of sports, football has also gained widespread popularity.

Within visual arts and crafts, it is clear to see how old and new trends meet. Nature and landscape as themes have always been represented in the visual arts, but now ecocritical themes are also brought up. Handicrafts are characterised by local products such as wool, skins and horns as well as a commitment to sustainability. Knitting is an old tradition. While other countries have seen a decline in the mastery of hand knitting, it has been maintained in the Faroe Islands. The craft has been professionalised, and several designers have achieved international success.

Art in the public space is becoming widespread. One of the latest works of art is Tróndur Patursson’s decoration in connection with the establishment of the undersea roundabout in the Eysturoy Tunnel inaugurated in 2020.

For centuries, the Faroese building style was characterised by a certain uniformity with buildings made of wood and with turf roofs, but from the second half of the 20th century, new types of houses have appeared. A growing population from around the year 2000 has led to a need for new housing, which now comes in many shapes and sizes.

In the past, the church was often the largest house in the village. The original building material was wood, but later stone and concrete was also used. The church buildings in the episcopal residence of Kirkjubøur, which date back to the Middle Ages, show contacts with the rest of Europe at the time. The oldest of the buildings is still being used as a parish church.

Literature has been greatly influenced by the transition from Danish to Faroese as the language of instruction, and we talk about a Danish-language, a bilingual and a monolingual/Faroese-language period in the history of Faroese literature. Literature has been an arena for developing and raising the awareness of the national identity and consciousness. The great and internationally acclaimed authors include William Heinesen, who wrote in Danish during this specific period of change. Characteristically, his works were not really read in the Faroe Islands until after some of them had been translated in the 1970s.

Further reading

• Visual arts on the Faroe Islands
• Building style on the Faroe Islands
• Association activities and volunteering on the Faroe Islands
• Churches on the Faroe Islands
• Religion and religious communities on the Faroe Islands
• Museums of cultural history and heritage on the Faroe Islands
• Literature on the Faroe Islands
• Media on the Faroe Islands
• Languages and dialects on the Faroe Islands
• Music on the Faroe Islands
• Theater on the Faroe Islands
• Film on the Faroe Islands
• Traditions and tales on the Faroe Islands

Society and business

The political system has its roots in 1906, when the first Faroese parties emerged. It was the relationship with Denmark which caused the division, and since then, a party system has developed which, under home rule, has been expanded into a two-dimensional party system, where the political parties need to deal with a unityindependence axis and a right wingleft wing axis. Furthermore, there is a centre-periphery axis that cuts across the political parties, and in recent decades a further dividing line between a value-conservative and a value-liberal wing has been established.

Since the transformation of Faroese society from a farming community to a fishing community during the 19th century, about 90 % of Faroese exports have been fish products; first dried and salted fish for the southern European markets, since World War II more fresh fish and in recent times, salmon farming has played an increasing role. The export markets are the EU, the USA and the UK, as well as in recent years China and Russia.

The Faroese labour market is flexible. Traditionally, surplus Faroese labour in times of crisis has travelled to other countries to find work, and this still characterises the Faroese workforce. In particular, the Danish labour market has been easily accessible to Faroese in times of crisis in the Faroe Islands, but even in good times, many Faroese have found work outside the country. In the Faroe Islands, a well-developed network of roads and tunnels connects the 18 islands. As a result, in 2020, about 90 % of the population, of which about 40 % live in Tórshavn, would have to travel a maximum of two hours by car or bus to meet, independently of ferries. Apart from the roughly 5,000 inhabitants on Suðuroy, which is the only large island without a direct road connection to the capital area, most of the country’s inhabitants can settle wherever they want and still be able to commute to work every day.

Since the 1950s, the health and welfare sector has been developed according to the Scandinavian model with financial support from Denmark. The challenges in this area, such as welfare diseases and demographic changes with an increasingly aging population, are similar to those of other modern welfare societies, but in the Faroe Islands birth rates are still higher than in several other western welfare societies. The administrative part of the primary school was taken over by the home rule in the 1970s, in the same way as the hospital and welfare area, while the financial and legislative part was not taken over until 2002.

As a result of the plans to allocate more areas to the municipalities, the possibilities of reducing the number of the often very small municipalities with poor resources are being looked into. Despite prevailing popular opposition, a number of municipal amalgamations have taken place, and a number of inter-municipal collaborations have emerged. In the school, education and research area, institutions were established in all relevant areas during the 20th century. Since the early 2000s the system has included education and research at all levels as well as relevant research at a Faroese university and sector institutions at international level.

The great economic crisis of the 1990s caused political turbulence and major changes that had a long-lasting impact on society in virtually all areas, with widespread unemployment and massive emigration. The economic and social recovery took place in a remarkably short time in the period 1992‑96, but demographically it was a disaster that took 20 years to overcome. It was bound to have consequences. A Faroese unemployment fund was established in 1992, and the evaluation of the crisis itself led to a fundamental change in economic policy. At the same time, the political system and administration were reformed with the introduction of negative parliamentarism and ministerial accountability. In the aftermath followed a greater desire for independence in the population, and politically this became clear in the general election in 1998, when the independence parties won a majority. In the year 2000, the new government coalition initiated negotiations with the government on the issue. The negotiations broke down with the consequence that the Faroese Government unilaterally decided to reduce the financial support from Denmark by a third; the matter of a Faroese constitution, which is an offshoot of the negotiations, has since been relevant in Faroese politics during the periods when the independence wing is part of the government coalition.

However, Faroese politics is in particular dominated by social and redistributive political issues, also between the geographical areas. The centreperiphery and right-left axes are thus dominant during an economic boom on the islands, while the unity-independence axis has been subordinate in the previous decade.

Further reading

• Municipalities on the Faroe Islands
• Population and housing on the Faroe Islands
• Industry and labour market on the Faroe Islands
• Politics and plans on the Faroe Islands
• Health and care on the Faroe Islands
• Education and research on the Faroe Islands

The islands, towns and villages

A markatal settlement, also simply called a village, has been a geographical and production unit since ancient times. It is estimated according to an old land measurement for a specific markatal. A mørk (mark, plural: merkur) is 16 gyllin, and 1 gyllin is 20 skinn. The total land is estimated at 2,367 merkur, 6 gyllin and 16 skinn distributed over 85 markatal settlements. Of these, 1,285 merkur, 8 gyllin and 13 skinn are copyhold land, which today also includes the socalled endowed land that formerly belonged to the vicarages. 1,081 merkur, 14 gyllin and 3 skinn are freehold land or privately owned land. The markatal settlements still form the basis for all land registration in the Faroe Islands. The age of the oldest villages is traditionally affirmed by referring to Hundabrævið (the Dog Letter). This letter was written between 1350 and 1400 from the lawman and members of the old Faroese court with a regulation on how many sheepdogs there should be in certain named villages.

The difference between freehold land and copyhold land is that freehold land, like any other private property, can be both inherited and sold. The copyhold land belonged to the king, and the royal farms were leased – that is granted as copyhold – by royal farmers against a small fee. As a rule, the eldest son took over the farm from his father. Since the royal land became copyhold land after the introduction of home rule, the copyhold rules have become more flexible. The vicars had their farms from the so-called endowed land, which was a form of copyhold land and was part of their salary. As the vicars began to be remunerated in money, the endowed land became copyhold land that others could lease. In the past, some of the land also belonged to the noble families of the kingdom, but it was later acquired by private individuals and thus became part of the freehold land.

Normally a field includes both bøur (infield) and hagi (outfield) as well as beach rights and rights to catch on bird cliffs, etc., but sometimes the designation can include either an infield or an outfield alone. The infield is the cultivated land that surrounds the village, while the outfield is the uncultivated grazing areas in the mountains outside the infield. The infield is distributed between the individual owners and could before the replacement from the mid-1900s be very scattered. The outfield has long been communal property, but in recent times, it has also been replaced to a certain extent.

When the population grew during the 19th century, more land was not only cultivated in the old villages by expanding the infield within the old framework, new enclaves were also cultivated in the outfield, called gerði. So-called traðir (cultivated plots of land) were also cultivated. This led to the emergence of several niðursetubygdir (outlying villages) within the territorial boundaries of the individual markatal settlements. In terms of markatal, they still belong to the old village, but the infield acquired a special status, which comes with the term trøð, which originally meant a fenced cultivated plot of land in the outfield. A de-matriculated trøð could be leased and often later bought when it had been fully or partially cultivated. It then became private property. The cultivated plots of land were also common in the old villages. The outlying villages emerged within the framework of the old village communities as a supplement to the markatal settlement, and some of them eventually developed into large important villages after fishing became the primary occupation. This applies to Tvøroyri and later also to Runavík.

The markatal settlements are thus old economic and production units, in which the Faroese village identity is still emotionally rooted in many cases, and today the markatal is most relevant in connection with sheep farming. The outlying villages have gradually also developed their own identity and have given names to some of the largest municipalities.

From the old days, large villages could consist of scattered small býlingar (neighbourhoods). In many villages, these býlingar have gradually grown into coherent wholes, but in some villages they are still visible.

Until the introduction of rural municipalities in 1872, no other local right of disposal existed than that it was the people who managed the land in the markatal settlements, who through this also decided most things in the local communities. This took place at grannastevna (village or town gatherings), where the individual owner had something to say according to how much land he or she had at his or her disposal. The land was thus the structural basis of the local communities.

Districts, small parishes and superior parishes are concepts that can be traced back to the Middle Ages. A district is an administrative unit with various administrative tasks. There are currently six districts: Norðoya, Eysturoyar, Streymoyar, Vága, Sandoyar and Suðuroyar. In the past, each district had one sheriff, but the number of sheriffs has now been reduced to three, and some of the former the sheriffs’ tasks have now been taken over by other institutions. However, they still have police authority and carry out tasks in connection with the pilot whale catch and the distribution of the catch according to a special regulation. Small parishes in the Faroe Islands were, as in the rest of the Nordic region, related to the church. A superior parish is the term for a vicar’s official district, which included several small parishes that the vicar served and where he delivered the sermon in proper order. The number of superior parishes has changed over the years and has been divided into more parishes. In 2021, the number of superior parishes was 16, but the total number of vicars was higher.

In 1866, Tórshavn was established as an urban municipality, and when the rural municipalities were established, the old superior parishes were used as the organising principle. The number of municipalities has changed significantly over time, just as their areas of responsibility have changed. These areas included the management of schools in the villages from 1872 when compulsory schooling was finally introduced. Accordingly, the old public schools that had been in use 1846‑54, which was a period when experiments were made with compulsory schooling, were taken into use again, and new ones were built.

Further reading

• Tórshavn – Town
• Klaksvík – Town
• Borðoy – Island
• Eysturoy – Island
• Fugloy (Island)
• Hestur (Island)
• Kalsoy (Island)
• Koltur (Island)
• Kunoy – Island
• Lítla Dímun (Island)
• Mykines (Island)
• Nólsoy (Island and settlement)
• Sandoy – Island
• Skúvoy (Island)
• Streymoy – Island
• Stóra Dímun (Island)
• Suðuroy – Island
• Svínoy (Island and Settlement)
• Viðoy – Island
• Vágar – Island