The first inhabitants of the Faroe Islands were Irish monks, who c.650 AD arrived at the islands. Not until about 200 years later did the first Norsemen arrive. They came both from Norway and from the British Isles. They were mostly farmers looking for new land where they could make a living.

The Middle Ages. The Faroe Islands shared the general economic prosperity which the Nordic countries experienced during the viking age and up to the 13th century. The population growth led to a division of land into smaller plots. This division of farm land, however, was later stopped. From the mid-13th century, the navigation to and from the Faroe Islands was conducted by the Norwegian Crown, under which the Faroe Islands belonged - later on the navigation was taken over by the Hanseatics.

Around the year 1400, the original Althing, which dates from about the year 1000, was changed into a Løgting - i.e. a court consisting of specifically chosen lay assessors. The president of the Løgting was called Løgmaður.

The Faroese population around the year 1500 consisted of simple farmers smallholders and a landless proletariat. In addition to this there was a small Norwegian upper class, first and foremost the bishop, who was appointed by the cathedral in Bergen. The Catholic church owned about 40 per cent of the Faroese land. This wealth can still be seen from the remains of the bishop's palace in Kirkjubøur and also the unfinished cathedral.

The Period from 1500 to c.1800. By the Union of Kalmar, Denmark and Norway had been united into one Kingdom, and at the Reformation, the Danish-Norwegian Crown took over the landed property of the church, whereby the Crown, together with earlier acquisitions, came into possession of more than half of all the land on the Faroe Islands.

The most powerful figure in the Islands was the bailiff, who was charged with i.a. the administration of the land of the Crown. The power which the Løgting had had throughout times, including for example the evaluation of the work of the Government officers, became gradually diminished and was little by little taken over by the Danish Government officers. Only a few Faroese large farmers kept a certain influence which, however, depended upon their personal connections with clergymen and other officials sent out to the Faroe Islands.

The trade with the Faroe Islands was handled by changing merchants, who went for an easy profit. A great threat to the Faroese community in the 16th and 17th centuries were the pirates, but the naval hero Magnus Heinason in his time was able to some extent to keep the unwelcome visitors, from countries such as Ireland France, Algeria and Turkey, out of Faroese waters.

In 1655, the Danish king gave the Faroe Islands as an entailed estate to F. von Gabel, and his feudal government, which existed for well over 50 years, is regarded as the most gloomy period in the history of the Faroe Islands with both a recession, a long spell of cold weather and gross exploitation on the part of the officials of the feudal overlord. The feudal overlord also had a monopoly of the trade with the Faroe Islands.

In 1709, the Crown again took over the government of the Faroe Islands, as well as the trade monopoly. Thus, the entire political, economic and social power was gathered under the representatives of the Crown.

The 18th century is characterised by a well-functioning Government by Officials and flourishing trade. Exports were trebled, and in this period the so-called Iceland sweaters became the most important export article; from this we have the commonly used expression: "Wool is the gold of the Faroe Islands." The comparatively good times also created a lack of farm help with the larger
farmers. In 1777, the large tenants and the officials had a law passed which required that every man who wanted to marry had to prove to the authorities that he could provide for his family, usually by being able to prove the right to dispose of a plot of land. This law was repealed about 70 years later, and at approximately the same time the right of the tenants to conscript poor people to man the big fishing boats (owned by the tenants), was abolished. In 1816, the Løgting and the office of Løgmaður were abolished, and, instead, a Danish judgeship with appeal to Copenhagen and a prefect's office over the Faroe Islands was established.

On the whole, Danish Government officers, including clergymen, together with a small Faroese upper class obtained ever Increasing power, and the growing danisation, for instance resulted in the Faroese language being increasingly relegated to the background, and it was not until far into the next century that this development was finally reversed.

The Period from c. 1800 to 1914. So far, agriculture had been able to supply the population with foodstuffs, but from the late 18th century the growing number of inhabitants necessitated new sources of income. And for obvious reasons it was fisheries, until then only a sideline, which absorbed the strongly increasing population and which in the course of a few decades surpassed agriculture as the most important industry. In the expansion of the fishing industry advantage was made of the experiences from the Shetland Isles, including long line fishing, which gave larger catches, and the manufacturing of dried, salted cod, which gave better prices and was to become the dominant export article of the next century.

The Royal trade monopoly which had so far handled all trade with and in the Faroe Islands, proved unable to meet the requirements made by the expanding community, and as the businessmen from Copenhagen were at the same time aware of the possibilities of a profit here, the Danish Rigsdag (parliament) accepted the abolishment of the trade monopoly from 1856. At the same time while the Faroe Islands began the development towards a modern society, the country was finally incorporated in Denmark. This was accomplished with the Danish parliamentary constitution in 1849, which was also to apply to the Faroe
Islands. By this, the Faroe Islands came into connection with the Danish representative system and have since then had access to electing two members to the Danish legislative assemblies. Laws passed by the Danish Folketing (parliament) from 1855 also applied to the Faroe Islands unless it was stated specifically that they did not apply to the Faroe Islands.

But in the Faroe Islands efforts were now made to modernise the society and limit the power of the Danish officials. This led to the restoration of the Løgting in 1852; so far, however, only as a county council with limited political powers. The great breakthrough for the Faroe Islands' however, came 20 years later, in 1872. This year marked the beginning of the ocean-going fishery with ships - smacks which were purchased in England. They replaced the open boats which had only been able to fish close to the Faroese coasts. Now it became possible to fish further out at sea and in Icelandic waters which for the next century were to become of very great importance to Faroese fishery. The fishery developed very rapidly over the next decades and laid the foundation for an increasing export trade and a substantial improvement of the standard of living. This in itself brought about very great changes in the Faroese society.

For the first time in history, people began moving from their native villages to the ports where the fishing vessels were based and where the cod was dried for exports. The last quarter of the 19th century may be described as the period in which the Faroe Islands stepped out of the tradition-bound society, in the time after 1945 to undergo a further transformation which can be characterised as the industrialisation of the Faroe Islands.

The boom within the fishing industry also led to the establishment of the first bank, which came in 1906. However, just before the turn of the century another important event occurred.

In the 1890s, the national movement, which had roots back to the middle of the century, and which during the first decades had solely been of a cultural nature, got a political twist. Thus, a demand for home rule was put forward. The more wealthy circles, including the official class, were against this because it would result in tax payments. These circles therefore established the first political party in the Faroe Islands, the Unionist Party, in 1906. As a countermove to this party, which was in favour of the closest possible relations between the Faroe Islands and Denmark, the people supporting the autonomist movement, headed by Joannes Patursson, established the Self-Rule Party.

Recent Years. The relative affluence which the building up of the fishing industry had created over the last few decades for the Faroe Islands (after the First World War, also fishing in the waters near Greenland, abounding in fish, had started), as for most other countries, was replaced by a depression in the 1930s.

The dependence on the fishing industry and also the fact that two of the largest importing countries of Faroese dried salted cod, Spain and Italy, were affected by civil war and boycott respectively, contributed to aggravating the situation further.

It became necessary to look for other possibilities, and around the mid-30s, the exporting of fresh fish to the British market started. For this fishery more efficient and fast trawlers were purchased. And it was by exporting fresh fish that people made a living during the Second World War. During the five years while the Faroe Islands were occupied by the Allied Forces, the Faroese boats sailed to the British market with fish; partly with catches from the Faroese waters, but also to a high degree fish purchased in Iceland. This traffic yielded an extremely good profit, as the shortage of food led to a substantial rise in the price of fish. And in those years fortunes were earned. But a high price was indeed paid: 150 Faroese fishermen - well over 0.5 per cent of the population were lost on these dangerous voyages during the war. Politically, there was also a development during these years.

In 1926, the Social Democratic Party was established and in 1939, the People's Party, which besides being a non-Socialist party wanted full autonomy. During the war, the Faroe Islands were separated politically from Denmark, the country being governed by a statute which gave the legislative power to the Løgting, while the Danish representative in the Islands - the prefect had the executive power. The newly established People's Party had, in fact, demanded that the Løgting should take over the full power. The power which the Islands had during the war, they were not prepared to give up again. The long separation, with its very favourable economic development, had given many Faroe islanders confidence that they could manage things themselves to a far higher degree than before.

In preparation for this, negotiations with the Danish government, for the conferment of some autonomy to the Faroe Islands were initiated. After some interludes and discussions a referendum was taken where the electorate was to take a decision on two alternatives: a proposed compromise from the Danish government on home rule, and a proposal of secession from Denmark. There was a small majority in favour of secession, and the People's Party urged that the logical conclusion would be a declaration of independence. But as one-third of the population had not voted in the referendum, the Danish government finally decided to dissolve the Løgting and call an election.

In the election in November 1946, the Unionist Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Moderate Self-Rule Party obtained an absolute majority in the Løgting, whereupon it became possible to enter into new negotiations with the Government. This led to the Act on Faroese Home Rule of 23 March 1948, which contained some minor amendments compared with the proposal which the Danish government put forward in 1946. The Home Rule Act distinguishes between special affairs, which may be taken over and financed by the Home Rule, and affairs of the State, which cannot be taken over. Joint Affairs is the term designated for areas which are shared by the State and the Home Rule, and where the legislative power rests with the Folketing in Copenhagen. At the transition to the Home Rule Law, the office of prefect was replaced by that of
"rigsombudsmand", as the chief administrative officer and representative of the Danish State in the Faroe Islands.

The Faroese flag, the history of which dates back to 1919, and which was acknowledged by the Allies during the war, was in the Home Rule Act acknowledged as the official flag.

In connection with the Home Rule Act a statute was elaborated which lays down the relations between the Løgting and the landsstyri (Government), and in May 1948, the first home government was formed. A breakaway faction from the People's Party also in May 1948 took the initiative for the establishment of a new party, the Republican Party, which had as its chief objective secession from Denmark.

Faroese politics after the introduction of the Home Rule have been characterised by a relatively stable development. The division of parties still relates to their national as well as their ideological objectives.