The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Faroe Islands:

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

–

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the Faroe

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

in the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. The Faroe Islands are located between the

Norwegian Sea The Norwegian Sea ( no, Norskehavet; is, Noregshaf; fo, Norskahavið) is a marginal sea, grouped with either the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to ...

and the

, roughly equidistant between

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, and are considered a part of Northern Europe.

General reference

* Pronunciation: * Common English country names: The

, the

Faroes The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway betw ...

, or the

Faeroes The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway betwee ...

* Official English country name: The

of the Kingdom of Denmark * Common endonym(s): Føroyar * Official endonym(s): Føroyar * Adjectival: Faroe, Faroese * Demonym(s): *

Etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

Name of the Faroe Islands The early details of the history of the Faroe Islands are unclear. It is possible that Brendan, an Irish monk, sailed past the islands during his North Atlantic voyage in the 6th century. He saw an 'Island of Sheep' and a 'Paradise of Birds,' wh ...

ISO country codes ISO 3166-1 (''Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes'') is a standard defining codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. It ...

: FO, FRO, 234 *

ISO region codes ISO 3166-2 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and defines codes for identifying the principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces or states) of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1. The ...

: See ISO 3166-2:FO *

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

country code top-level domain A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all ...

.fo .fo is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Faroe Islands. History The .fo domain was operated by UNI-C, the Danish University Network organisation until June 1997. It then passed under the control of Tele2 DK, who had bought the ...

Geography of the Faroe Islands

Geography of the Faroe Islands * The Faroe Islands are: a dependent territory (specifically, self-governing overseas administrative division of)

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

* Location: ** Northern Hemisphere and

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the te ...

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

***

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

**** Northern Europe **

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

***

Time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between countries and their subdivisions instead of strictly following longitude, because it ...

Western European Time Western European Time (WET, UTC±00:00) is a time zone covering parts of western Europe and consists of countries using UTC±00:00 (also known as Greenwich Mean Time, shortly called GMT). It is one of the three standard time zones in the Europe ...

( UTC+00),

Western European Summer Time Western European Summer Time (WEST, UTC+01:00) is a summer daylight saving time scheme, 1 hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in: * the Canary Islands * Portugal (including Madeira but not the Azores) * ...

(

UTC+01 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time **Br ...

) ** Extreme points of the Faroe Islands *** High:

Slættaratindur Slættaratindur (English: ''Flat peak'') is the highest mountain in the Faroe Islands, at an elevation of 880 metres. It is located in the northern part of Eysturoy, between the villages of Eiði, Gjógv, and Funningur. Funningur lies at the fo ...

*** Low:

0 m ** Land boundaries: ''none'' ** Coastline: 1,117 km * Population of the Faroe Islands: * Area of the Faroe Islands: * Atlas of the Faroe Islands

Environment of the Faroe Islands

* Climate of the Faroe Islands * Geology of the Faroe Islands * Wildlife of the Faroe Islands ** Flora of the Faroe Islands ** Fauna of the Faroe Islands *** Birds of the Faroe Islands *** Mammals of the Faroe Islands

Natural geographic features of the Faroe Islands

* Islands of the Faroe Islands * Lakes of the Faroe Islands * Mountains of the Faroe Islands * World Heritage Sites in the Faroe Islands: None

Regions of the Faroe Islands

Regions of the Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands are divided into 29 municipalities, six regions/shires (, in plural) and since 2007 there has been only one constituency, earlier there were seven constituencies. Each region has one sheriff (). *Eysturoyar ''sýsla'' – Eystu ...

Administrative divisions of the Faroe Islands

Administrative divisions of the Faroe Islands *

** Municipalities of the Faroe Islands

= Regions of the Faroe Islands

= Municipalities of the Faroe Islands

= Municipalities of the Faroe Islands * Capital of the Faroe Islands:

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

* Cities of the Faroe Islands

Demography of the Faroe Islands

Demographics of the Faroe Islands

Government and politics of the Faroe Islands

Politics of the Faroe Islands * Form of government:

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

representative democratic dependency * Capital of the Faroe Islands:

* Elections in the Faroe Islands ** Parliamentary elections *** ** Danish elections *** ** Referendums ***

1946 Faroese independence referendum An independence referendum was held in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory of Denmark, on 14 September 1946. Although a narrow majority of valid votes were cast in favour of the proposal (50.7%), the number of invalid votes exceeded the w ...

***

2009 Danish Act of Succession referendum A referendum on changing the Danish Act of Succession, the rules governing the succession to the Danish throne, was held in Denmark, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland on 7 June 2009, simultaneously with the election to the European Parliament, ...

Political parties in the Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands have a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. There are two major ideological cleavages in ...

Branches of the government of the Faroe Islands

Government of the Faroe Islands

Executive branch of the government of the Faroe Islands

Head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

: Queen of Denmark,

Queen Margrethe II Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent femal ...

, represented by High Commissioner of the Faroe Islands, Dan M. Knudsen *

Head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...

: Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, Kaj Leo Johannesen

Legislative branch of the government of the Faroe Islands

* Parliament of the Faroe Islands (Løgting) (

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

)

Judicial branch of the government of the Faroe Islands

Courts of Denmark The Courts of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Domstole, fo, Danmarks Dómstólar, kl, Danmarkimi Eqqartuussiviit) is the ordinary court system of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Courts of Denmark as an organizational entity was created with the Polic ...

– judicially, the Faroe Islands are under the jurisdiction of Denmark's court system.

Foreign relations of the Faroe Islands

Foreign relations of the Faroe Islands * Diplomatic missions of the Faroe Islands *

Danish Realm The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Northern North America. It consists of metropolitan Denma ...

International organization membership

The government of the Faroe Islands is a member of: *

Arctic Council The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. At present, eight countries exercise sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle ...

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

(FAO) * International Maritime Organization (IMO) (associate) * Nordic Council (NC) *

Nordic Investment Bank The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) is an international financial institution founded in 1975 by the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). In 2005, the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) also beca ...

(NIB) *

Universal Postal Union The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to ...

(UPU)

Law and order in the Faroe Islands

* Capital punishment in the Faroe Islands: none * Constitution of the Faroe Islands * Human rights in the Faroe Islands ** LGBT rights in the Faroe Islands *** Recognition of same-sex unions in the Faroe Islands *

Law enforcement in the Faroe Islands The Føroya Politi or Løgregla Føroya ''(Faroe Islands Police)'' are an independent police district within Denmark. The chief constable, who is known as the 'Landsfúti' is based in Tórshavn. Notes See also * Rigspolitiet - National police of ...

Military of the Faroe Islands

Military of the Faroe Islands * Command:

Island Command Faroes Island Command Faroes ( da, Færøernes Kommando; ISCOMFAROES) was the military unit on the Faroe Islands. It was the military command of the Faroe Islands, the Faroe Islands airspace and the Faroe Islands territorial waters. It supported the loca ...

is the de facto defense command * Forces ** Army: none, Defense is the responsibility of Denmark ** Navy: none, Defense is the responsibility of Denmark ** Air Force: none, Defense is the responsibility of Denmark ** Special forces: none, Defense is the responsibility of Denmark

Local government in the Faroe Islands

List of municipalities of the Faroe Islands

History of the Faroe Islands

History of the Faroe Islands The early details of the history of the Faroe Islands are unclear. It is possible that Brendan, an Irish monk, sailed past the islands during his North Atlantic voyage in the 6th century. He saw an 'Island of Sheep' and a 'Paradise of Birds,' w ...

Culture of the Faroe Islands

Culture of the Faroe Islands The culture of the Faroe Islands has its roots in the Nordic culture. The Faroe Islands were long isolated from the main cultural phases and movements that swept across parts of Europe. This means that they have maintained a great part of their t ...

* Cuisine of the Faroe Islands *

Languages of the Faroe Islands The national language of the Faroe Islands is Faroese. The Faroese language is a Germanic language which is descended from Old Norse. Danish is the official second language. Faroese is similar in grammar to Icelandic and Old Norse, but closer in ...

* Media in the Faroe Islands * List of museums in the Faroe Islands * National symbols of the Faroe Islands **

Coat of arms of the Faroe Islands The coat of arms of the Faroe Islands first appears on one of the medieval chairs in Kirkjubøur from around the 15th century. It depicts a silver ram () passant with golden hooves and horns on an azure shield. Later uses show a ram in a seal use ...

Flag of the Faroe Islands The flag of the Faroe Islands (in faroese: ''Merkið'') is an offset cross, representing Christianity. It is similar in design to other Nordic flags – a tradition set by the '' Dannebrog'' of Denmark, of which the Faroe Islands are an auto ...

** National anthem of the Faroe Islands * World Heritage Sites in the Faroe Islands: None

Art in the Faroe Islands

* Cinema of the Faroe Islands * Literature of the Faroe Islands * Music of the Faroe Islands *

Television in the Faroe Islands Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

Sports in the Faroe Islands

* Football in the Faroe Islands

Education in the Faroe Islands

* Education in the Faroe Islands **

University of the Faroe Islands The University of the Faroe Islands ( fo, Fróðskaparsetur Føroya) is a state-run university located in Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands. It consists of five faculties: Faculty of Faroese Language and Literature, Faculty of Social Sc ...

** Centre of Maritime Studies and Engineering ** Føroya Studentaskúli og HF-Skeið

Economy and infrastructure of the Faroe Islands

Economy of the Faroe Islands * Economic rank, by nominal GDP (2007): 157th (one hundred and fifty seventh) *

Communications in the Faroe Islands Telephones - main lines in use: 22,000 (1995) Telephones - mobile cellular: 35,000 (2004) est. Telephone system: good international communications; good domestic facilities ''domestic:'' digitalization was to have been completed in 1998 ''interna ...

** Internet in the Faroe Islands * Companies of the Faroe Islands * Currency of the Faroe Islands: Króna/ Krone ** ISO 4217: DKK * Transport in the Faroe Islands ** Airports in the Faroe Islands ** Rail transport in the Faroe Islands

References

Faroe Islands