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The Faroe Islands (/ˈfɛəroʊ/ FAIR-oh) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a population of 54,676 as of August 2023 and a land area of 1,393 km². The official language is Faroese, which is partially mutually intelligible with Icelandic. The terrain is rugged and sparse, dominated by fjords and cliffs with sparse vegetation and few trees. As a result of its proximity to the Arctic Circle, the islands experience perpetual civil twilight during summer nights and very short winter days; nevertheless, they experience a subpolar oceanic climate and mild temperatures year-round due to the Gulf Stream. The capital, Tórshavn, receives the fewest recorded hours of sunshine of any city in the world at only 840 per year.

Færeyinga Saga and the writings of Dicuil place initial Norse settlement in the early 9th century, with Grímur Kamban recorded as the first permanent settler. As with the subsequent Settlement of Iceland, the islands were mainly settled by Norwegians and Norse-Gaels who also brought thralls (i.e. slaves or serfs) of Gaelic origin. Initially governed as an independent commonwealth under the Løgting, the islands came under Norwegian rule in the early 11th century after the introduction of Christianity by Sigmundur Brestisson. The Faroe Islands followed Norway's integration into the Kalmar Union in 1397 and came under de facto Danish rule following that union's dissolution in 1523. Following the introduction of Lutheranism in 1538, the Faroese language was banned in public institutions and disappeared from writing for more than three centuries. The islands were formally ceded to Denmark in 1814 by the Treaty of Kiel along with Greenland and Iceland, and the Løgting was subsequently replaced by a Danish judiciary. (Full article...)