275. THE ARCHIPELAGO OF THE FÆR ØER. From: ARCHIPELAGOS AND ISLANDS AT THE MIRROR. SEA-ONES (FAROE and MYKINES, DENMARK), LAND-ONES (CARNIA AND SAURIS, ITALY)

 

Map of the Faroe Islands with: Cities and villages (yellow fields, including cultivated area). Places with a black dot are abandoned (e.g. Skarð on Kunoy), by Arne List, CC Some rights reserved 
...

The book has the following basic structure:
a) an historical, geo-climatically, administrative, ethno-anthropological and linguistic introduction to both Faroe Islands and Carnia;
b) the singling-out of the ethno-cultural identities of the two communities: 
Faroe, a small community-nation; 

Carnia, a strong regional identity.
c) the two communities amid tradition and change:

- the Faroe Islands: the bygd and the traditional self-sufficient community economy (fishing, farming, cultivation, fowling, grindadrap). The changing economy connected to: 1) the sea: deep fishing, ship-building; 2) tending towards the new frontiers of tourism;

- Carnia: a modern post-industrial economy, which keeps still strong ties with the mountain habitat (wood industry and handicraft, farming, cultivations), but that is also tending towards a stronger touristic development;

d)  the Great Faroe Crisis of the 1990s and emigration.

  Carnia, land of centuries old temporary and permanent emigration (till the 1960s and 1970s);

e) two case studies in comparison: the isolated communities of Mykines (Faroe) and Sauris (Carnia)

....

The archipelago of the Fær Øer 

 The archipelago of the Fær Øer (Føroyar) from April 1, 1948 forms an autonomous county within the Kingdom of Denmark, with remarkable responsibilities for everything concerning economy, health, culture, communications, education and social programs.

 They are 18 islands with a general surface of 1,399 square kilometres and a population of about 50,000 inhabitants (2015), almost all of Viking origin. 

Magnus Magnusson, the well-known Icelandic historian and popularizer, a good judge of Vikings, northern peoples and history, wrote: “today the Faroes are... still peopled by the pure-bred descendants of Ravens-Floki and Thrand of Gata and other Viking settlers", adding as well that is “a marvellous place to visit, strong and self-reliant in its tradition" (...). 

The Føroyar are deeply characterized on the western side, the more exposed towards the ocean, from steep and almost unapproachable high cliffs. 

I remind as in the narrows among the islands the navigation is not so easy. 

Due to the clash between the Gulf Stream and a cold current coming from Iceland.

[Especially if everything is added to the two rushing tidal currents, the vestfall (high tide) and the eystfall (low tide). 

Streymoy, the largest of the Faroese islands, where is located the capital, literally means "the island of currents"].

From the climatic point of view, apart some sunny days, each day past in the Fær Øer has involved the changeable, sometimes very quick, "alternation of the four seasons"… 

The average rainfall is of 1,600 mm (with 280 days of rain). 

Rain, wind, salinity, and the insubstantiality of the fertile layer, very small above the rocky one, are elements quite negative. 

As for the existence of a true agriculture. 

As for the growth of plants. 

Only 7% of the ground is fertile, while 93% is grazing land. 

When in the IX century the Vikings reached the islands, they found them populated only by sheep. 

[The Icelandic codex Flatejarbók, where the Færeyingasaga, The Saga of The Faroe Islanders, begins: 

”Madr er nefndr Grímr kamban hann bygde fyrstr Færeyiar”, i.e. “There was a man called Grímr Kamban, who first settled the Faroes”. 

“The generally accepted view nowadays is that the first settlement was made about 825 by Grim Kamban” (...)].

Dependent first from Norway (till 1380), then from Denmark-Norway (until 1709), the islands were part of the Norwegian territory and from 1814 of Denmark. 

Tórshavn, founded on the peninsula of Tinganes, soon became chief town, then capital (12,648 inhabitants in 2015).

[The Tinganes Peninsula divides Tórshavn Bay (Island of Streymoy) into two. 

It is possible to see some of the ancient buildings, once Royal Trade Monopoly warehouses. 

Now occupied by various government offices (since 1948 it became the site of the Landsstýri, the Faroese Government), as well as the terminal part of the Krákusteiner ("the rock of the crow"), where the Viking assembly of “Free Men” (Alting) once met to discuss political affairs that concerned the country. 

And, afterwards, where the annually “collected” beaks of the birds of prey were burned

At least until the loss of independence in 1035.] 

From: ARCHIPELAGOS AND ISLANDS AT THE MIRROR. SEA-ONES (FAROE and MYKINES, DENMARK), LAND-ONES (CARNIA AND SAURIS, ITALY)

E-Book, paper version in colour, I and II ed., and in black and white, 111 pages, 90 notes, 105 images (66 belong to the Photo Library of the A.)

E-Book: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07217YHJ8

Colour I Ed. : https://www.amazon.it/dp/1521472084

Colour II Ed.: https://www.amazon.it/dp/1731551932

"black and white": https://www.amazon.it/dp/1095009621

ALL DATA (ECONOMIC, STATISTICAL, DEMOGRAPHIC, ETHNOGRAPHIC, ETC.) CONTAINED IN MY BOOKS HAVE BEEN CAREFULLY VERIFIED, INTEGRATED AND UPDATED AT THE TIME OF THEIR PUBLICATION