Faroe Islanders

Faroese people
føroyingar

Faroese folk dancers from the island of Vágar in national costumes
Total population
c. 70,000–73,600
Regions with significant populations
Färöer Inseln	c. 50,000
Dänemark	21,687
Norwegen	1,981
Languages
Faroese, Danish (Gøtudanskt accent) Historically: Old Norse and Norwegian as well
Religion
Lutheranism (Church of the Faroe Islands) Historically also the Norse paganism and Roman Catholicism (1000–1538)
Related ethnic groups
Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders, Irish, Scots, and modern Celtic peoples in general

Faroese people or Faroe Islanders (Faroese: føroyingar; Danish: færinger) are an ethnic group native to the island country of the Faroe Islands situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, where they form the vast majority of the population. The Faroese are of mixed Norse and Gaelic origins, as are the Icelanders with whom they are closely related.

About 21,000 Faroese live in neighbouring countries, particularly in Denmark, Iceland, and Norway. Most Faroese are citizens of the Kingdom of Denmark, in which the Faroe Islands are a constituent nation. The Faroese language is one of the North Germanic languages and is closely related to Icelandic and Norwegian (including, most notably, a series of southwestern Norwegian dialects).

In addition, the Faroese language is one of the two North Germanic languages which are the closest related to Old Norse from which both were descended, alongside Icelandic. Furthermore, Faroese was also related to the extinct language Norn which was spoken in the past in the Orkneys and Shetland archipelagos, situated off the northeastern coast of Scotland. At the same time, as in the case of Icelandic, there are words of Gaelic origin in the Faroese language (e.g. place names, proper names, etc.).

Origins and history

Main articles: History of the Faroe Islands, Norse settlement in the Faroe Islands, and Færeyinga saga

The first known settlers of the Faroe Islands were Gaelic hermits and monks who arrived in the 6th century, during the Early Middle Ages, more specifically the Papar, according to the Icelandic sagas, as it was the case of Iceland as well. Of these hermit monks, it is possible that Brendan the Navigator spotted and visited them on through one of his voyages. Moreover, according to DNA tests, sheep were introduced to the Faroe Islands c. 300 years prior to the arrival of the Norsemen.

Daily life in the Faroe Islands as depicted on a Faroese stamp

From the 9th century onwards, the Norse–Gaels came and brought both the Norse and Gaelic cultures as well as the Old Norse and Gaelic languages to the islands. Little is known about this period, thus giving room for speculation. A single source mentions early settlement, the Icelandic Færeyinga saga (i.e. the Saga of the Faroe Islands). It was written sometime around 1200 and explains events taking place approximately 300 years prior. According to the saga, many Norsemen objected to the Norwegian king's unification politics (in the time of King Harald Fairhair, more specifically) and thus fled to other countries, including the newfound places in the west across the North Atlantic Ocean.

Historians have discovered the fact that, since the time of the Færeyinga saga, the Viking Grímur Kamban was the first settler in the Faroes. The Norwegians must have known about the isles before leaving Norway. If Grímur Kamban had settled sometime earlier, this could explain the Norwegians' knowledge of them. Another, more logical explanation might be that the Gaels of Scotland and Ireland told the Norwegians of the islands prior to their arrival and colonisation there.

While Grímur is an Old Norse first name, Kamban indicates a Celtic/Gaelic origin. Thus, he could have been a man from Ireland, Scotland or Isle of Man, where the Norsemen already had settlements. Some place names from the oldest settlements on the Faroes suggest that some of the settlers perhaps came from the Scottish islands and parts of the British coast respectively.

Y chromosomes, tracing male descent, are 87% Scandinavian, but mitochondrial DNA, tracing female descent, is 84% Celtic/Gaelic from Ireland and Scotland.

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  Faroese stamp commemorating Grímur Kamban, the first Norse–Gaelic settler of the Faroe Islands
• 
  Elderly Faroese couple in the 1940s, wearing their traditional 'Sunday dress' for Church
• 
  Three Faroese women wearing traditional regalia. The student caps identify them as newly graduated.
• 
  Faroese politicians, priests and choir in front of the Løgting (Parliament), Ólavsøka summer festival (2012)
• 
  Faroese people with the Faroese national flag at the Ólavsøka summer festival (the biggest summer festival in the Faroe Islands) on Niels Finsen's street in Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands

See also

• List of Faroese people
• Demographics of the Faroe Islands
• Culture of the Faroe Islands
• Flag of the Faroe Islands
• Faroese Dane

Further reading

• Arge, Símun, Guðrun Sveinbjarnardóttir, Kevin Edwards, and Paul Buckland. 2005. "Viking and Medieval Settlement in the Faroes: People, Place and Environment". Human Ecology. 33, no. 5: 597–620.