| Faroese folk dancers in national costumes. | ||||||||||||
| Total population | ||||||||||||
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| 80,000 - 90,000 | ||||||||||||
| Regions with significant populations | ||||||||||||
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| Languages | ||||||||||||
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Faroese |
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| Religion | ||||||||||||
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Lutheran Church of the Faroe Islands |
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| Related ethnic groups | ||||||||||||
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Icelanders, Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, Danes, Shetlanders, Orcadians, Irish, Scottish |
The Faroese or Faroe Islanders (Føroyingar) are a Germanic ethnic group native to the Faeroe Islands. The Faroese are of mixed Norse and Gaelic origins.[4] About 21,000 Faroese live in neighbouring countries, particularly in Denmark, Iceland and Norway.
The Faroese language is a West Nordic language, closely related to Icelandic and more distantly to western Norwegian dialects.
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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 new found 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.[5] The studies show that mitochondrial DNA, tracing female descent, is 84% Celtic.[6]
Faroese people have a much higher risk of having carnitine transporter deficiency than other peoples, due to their genetic homogeneity.[7]
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