Welcome to Faroe Islands!
The Faroe or Faeroe Islands (in Faroese: Føroyar, Danish: Færøerne) is an archipelago of 18 islands in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, with roughly 50,000 inhabitants. The islands are an autonomous territory associated with Denmark.
When visiting the Faroes you are never more than 5 km (3 mi) away from the ocean. The countryside is dominated by steep mountains and there are about 70,000 sheep and some 2 million pairs of sea birds, including the largest colony of storm petrels in the world. The Faroe Islands are undeniably beautiful: green, rugged and wind-swept. Most visitors to the islands come between early July and late August.
The Faroe Islands, or simply the Faroes or Faeroes (Faroese: Føroyar, Danish: Færøerne), are a North Atlantic archipelago located 320 kilometres (200 mi) north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway between Norway (580 kilometres (360 mi) away) and Iceland (430 kilometres (270 mi) away). Like Greenland, it is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. The islands have a total area of about 1,400 square kilometres (540 sq mi) with a population of 53,358 as of June 2021.The terrain is rugged, the climate is 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, summers normally hover around 12 °C (54 °F). Average temperatures are 5 °C (41 °F) in winter. The northerly latitude location also results in perpetual civil twilight during summer nights and very short winter days.
Between 1035 and 1814, the Faroe Islands were part of the Kingdom of Norway, which was in a personal union with Denmark from 1380. In 1814, the Treaty of Kiel transferred Norway to Sweden, whereas Denmark kept its Atlantic territories, which included the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland.
While part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Faroe Islands have been self-governing since 1948, controlling most areas apart from military defence, policing, justice, currency, and foreign affairs. Because the Faroe Islands are not part of the same customs area as Denmark, the Faroe Islands has an independent trade policy, and can establish trade agreements with other states. The Faroes have an extensive bilateral free trade agreement with Iceland, known as the Hoyvík Agreement. In the Nordic Council, they are represented as part of the Danish delegation. In certain sports, the Faroe Islands field their own national teams. They did not become a part of the European Economic Community in 1973, instead keeping the autonomy over their own fishing waters.