1815-1890









The Faroe Islands 1525-1815



The Faroe Islands used to be a Norwegian sideland. Yet Norway was the junior partner in her Dynastic Union with Denmark. Foreign policy was a prerogative of the king, who resided in Copenhagen; the sidelands in the North Atlantic (the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland) came to be administrated from Copenhagen. In 1676 the island group, as a feudal estate, was granted to FREDERIK VON GABEL (-1708); between 1709 and 1720 it was administrated by a committee of three; between 1720 and 1775 the Faroes and Greenland were treated as one province; in 1776 the Faroes were separated from Greenland and allocated to Sjaelland province.
The reformation was introduced in the Faroes per decree - against the resistance of AMUND OLAFSON, the last Catholic bishop - the Faroese bishopric abolished; the now Lutheran community was to be headed by a provost. The Danish kings turned trade with the islands into a MONOPOLY which after repeatedly changing hands in 1709 was granted to the ROYAL DANISH MONOPOLY (owned by the king himself). For the protection of the islands' capital, TORSHAVN, FORT SKANSIN was built.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Faroese History, from Randburg.com, encyclopedic
History of the Faroes, from Faroe Islands Tourist Guide 2001/A>
Article Faroese Islands, from Catholic Encyclopedia
DOCUMENTS Lists of Governors (1676-1776), Provincial Commanders (1776-1815) from World Statesmen by Ben Cahoon
REFERENCE The North Atlantic Saga, in : Historical Atlas of the Vikings, by John Haywood, London : Penguins 1995, pp.86-99, illustrated, concise, scholarly


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on January 3rd 2002, last revised on November 8th 2004

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