Faroe Islanders

Faroese
(Føroyingar)
	Faroese folk dancers, some in national costumes.
Regions with significant populations
Faroe Islands	≈45,000
Denmark	21,687
Norway	1,981
Iceland	500
Languages
	Faroese; Related languages include Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and to a lesser extent, all Germanic languages.
Religion
	Lutheran Church of the Faroe Islands; Historically Norse paganism and Celtic Christianity (- 1000); and Catholic Christianity (1000 ~ 1538)
Related ethnic groups
	Icelanders, Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, Danes, Shetlanders, Orcadians, Irish, Scottish; Other Germanic or Celtic ethnic groups

The Faroese or Faroe Islanders (Føroyingar) are a Germanic nation and ethnic group native to the Faroe Islands.^[4] The Faroese are of mixed Norse and Gaelic origins.^[5] About 21,000 Faroese live in neighbouring countries, particularly in Denmark, Iceland and Norway. Most Faroese are citizens of the Danish Kingdom .

The Faroese language is a West Scandinavian language, closely related to Icelandic and more distantly to western Norwegian dialects.

Origins

Elderly Faroese couple in the 1940s, wearing their traditional 'Sunday dress' for Church.

The first colonists were Gaelic hermits and monks who arrived in the 6th century.

Later from around 650 the Norse-Gaels came and brought Norse culture and language to the islands. Little is known about this period, thus giving room for speculation. A single source mentions early settlement, the Icelandic Færeyinga Saga. It was written somewhere around 1200, and it explains events taking place about 300 years earlier. According to the saga, many Norsemen objected to the Norwegian king's unification politics and thus fled to other countries, including the newfound places in the west.

Historians have understood since the time of the Færeyinga Saga that 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 some time earlier, this could explain the Norwegians knowing about them. Another, more logical explanation might be that the Norwegians came to know about the islands by the Gaels of Scotland and Ireland.

While Grímur is an Old Norse first name, Kamban indicates a Celtic origin. Thus he could have been a man from Ireland, Western Isles or Isle of Man, where the Vikings 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 the British coast.

Recent DNA analyses have revealed that Y chromosomes, tracing male descent, are 87% Scandinavian.^[6] The studies show that mitochondrial DNA, tracing female descent, is 84% Celtic.^[7]

References

^ According to a 2009 estimate, the population of the Faroe Islands was 49,000, ~92% of that population was Faroese born, which is approximately 45,000. (See demographics of the Faroe Islands)
^ Politiken, 2006 (newspaper written in Danish)
^ Persons with immigrant background by immigration category, country background and sex. 1 January 2009
^ Minahan, James (2000). One Europe, many nations: a historical dictionary of European national groups. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 769. ISBN 0313309841. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201578, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201578 instead.
^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1007/s00439-004-1117-7, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1007/s00439-004-1117-7 instead.
^ Wang, C. August. 2006. Ílegur og Føroya Søga. In: Frøði pp.20-23

Faroe Islanders

Origins

See also

References

Further reading