Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands (Faroese: Føroyar; Danish: Færøerne) are a North Atlantic archipelago located 320 kilometres (200 miles) north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway between Norway and Iceland. Along with the Danish Antilles, the Faroe Islands are one of two autonomous territories within the Danish Realm, the main portion of which is the Kingdom of Denmark. The islands have a total area of about 1,400 square kilometres (540 square miles) with a population of 52,703 as of September 2020.

The terrain is rugged; the climate is a 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, summer temperature in the Faroe Islands normally hovers around 12 °C (54 °F), and average winter temperature is 5 °C (41 °F), with temperatures usually only approaching freezing during winter nights. The northerly latitude of the islands also results in perpetual civil twilight during summer nights and very short days during winter.

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 (which became a territory of Canada in 1919) and Iceland (which became fully independent from Denmark in 1944).

While part of the Danish Realm, the Faroe Islands have been domestically self-governing since 1948, with the Danish government in Copenhagen responsible only for external affairs like foreign affairs, foreign trade, and defence as well as currency/monetary policy. The Faroe Islands, like the Danish Antilles, field their own national teams in many international competitions, including the Olympics.