Tórshavn, Faroe Islands

Tórshavn, Faroe Islands

Tórshavn is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the 347-meter-high mountain Húsareyn.

About Tórshavn, Faroe Islands in brief

Summary Tórshavn, Faroe IslandsTórshavn is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the 347-meter-high mountain Húsareyn. The city itself has a population of 19,165, and the greater urban area has aPopulation of 21,078. The Norse established their parliament on the Tinganes peninsula in AD 850. The Viking age ended in 1035. In 1655 king Frederick III of Denmark granted the Faro Islands to his favourite statesman Kristoffer Gabel, the rule of the von Gabelin family. The trade monopoly was abolished in 1856 and the islands were left open to free trade. The population was divided into three equally large groups made up of farmers, their families and servants, trade and officials, and people with no land and not much else. The workless proletariat from villages came to Tór shavn in search of work. They were set to guard duty on the Skansin without pay, and depended on the bounty of the farmers for food they depended on. It was not designed for the needs of the people of Faroese people and it was not for the people’s needs, but for their needs for the family’s hands and it is known as Gablatíðin.

The main ting for the islands was convoked in Társavn, the peninsula that divides the harbour into two parts: Eystaravág and VestaraváG. The Vikings would thus meet on the flat rocks of Tingane every summer, as the most central place on the islands, although there was no settlement at Tedanes at that time. All through the Middle Ages, the narrow peninsula jutting out into the sea made up the main part of Tólashavn. It belonged to the outfield of two farmers. The ting was followed by a market which gradually grew into a permanent trading area. In ca. 1580 a small fort, Skans in, was built by the FarOese naval hero and trader Magnus Heinason at the north end of the harbour. In 1584 Tálsavn had 101 inhabitants. The town’s history is the darkest chapter in the history of Faroeese people. It’s not known whether the site was of interest to the Celtic monks who were probably the first settlers in the Faroes.