Faroe Islands

Sheep Islands

The Faroes lie in the North Atlantic between Iceland and the Shetland Islands: 17 inhabited islands and many islets and reefs of volcanic rock, with high cliffs and deep fjords. About a fourth of the people live in Tórshavn, the capital.^[2]

The name first appears around 1225 as Faereyiar, “Sheep Islands”. Irish monks settled the islands around 700 and Vikings colonised them around 800. They became a Norwegian province in 1035 and passed to Denmark with the rest of Norway in 1380. From 1709 they were run from Denmark as a royal trade monopoly, which held back their economy.^[2]

In the 19th century old Faroese oral literature fed a national movement and a written Faroese language. The Lagting, the islands’ old assembly, was restored in 1852, the trade monopoly ended in 1856, and a Home Rule Party was formed in 1906.^[2]

The independence vote of 1946

In the Second World War Britain controlled the Faroes while Germany occupied Denmark, which strengthened the demand for home rule.^[2]

On 14 September 1946 the islands voted between full independence and home rule within Denmark. Leaving out the invalid votes, 50.73% chose independence, but 4.1% of ballots were invalid, mostly from voters who rejected both options. The chairman of the Løgting declared independence on 18 September. Neither a majority of the Løgting nor Denmark recognised it, and on 24 September King Christian X dissolved the Løgting. In the election that followed, parties for independence won 5,396 votes and parties against 7,488.^[4]

Home rule

Denmark granted home rule in 1948, with the islands’ own flag and currency, and gave Faroese equal status with Danish.^[2] The Act made the Faroe Islands a self-governing community within the Kingdom of Denmark, run by an elected parliament, the Løgting, and a government, the Landsstýri, while foreign relations stayed with the Danish state.^[1][5]

The Takeover Act of 2005, agreed between the two governments as equal partners, lets the Faroese take over every field except the constitution, nationality, the Supreme Court, foreign, defence and security policy, and monetary policy.^[1] They already run fisheries, the environment, taxation and customs, trade, energy, transport, social security and education. The police, the courts, immigration and border control, financial supervision and aviation are still Danish.^[1][6] The islands elect two members of the Danish parliament.^[1]

“The Faroes are a self-governing nation within the Danish State, in accordance with this Act.”^[5]

Fish, not the EU

Since 1900 the economy has turned from sheep farming to fishing, above all exports of frozen and dried cod.^[2] When Denmark joined the European Economic Community in 1973, the Faroe Islands decided not to.^[3]

A foreign policy act of 2005 lets the Faroese negotiate and sign agreements with other states on behalf of the realm in fields they have taken over, and the Fámjin Declaration of the same year gives them a part in talks that affect them.^[6] Poor fiscal discipline and the collapse of fish stocks through overfishing brought an economic crash in the early 1990s that needed Danish help.^[2] Denmark still pays an annual block grant, which funded 13% of the Faroese budget in 2017, down from 28.7% in 2000.^[6]

A substantial minority has long wanted full independence, and in 1999 the Faroese government opened talks with Denmark on the conditions for it.^[2] In April 2026 the People’s Party, Unionist Party and Social Democrats formed a government under Beinir Johannesen, at 29 the youngest prime minister the islands have had.^[7]