🇫🇴🇦🇽 The Forgotten Scandinavian Islands: Faroe and Åland
By Eleanor Sherry
PLU Student Intern
As a kid, I used to stare at the world map and try and find places I had never thought about. What were all the little islands? What were their names?
In particular, there was a little wedge-shaped piece of land in between Scotland, Iceland, and Norway that always fascinated me, but on the map in my classroom, it had no name. It turns out I was looking at the Faroe Islands, a place with a fascinating history that not enough people know about.
🇫🇴What are the Faroe Islands?
Technically speaking, the Faroe Islands are an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. The island was settled by the Norse along with their thralls (slaves), who were of both Norse and Gaelic origin around the 9th century. Nowadays, the Islands are known for their fishing culture, with Faroe salmon being the most highly sought-after salmon in the world. Seafood accounts for 95%Â of all exports from the country!
The flag closely resembles other Nordic flags in design, featuring the colors blue, white, and red like that of Norway and Iceland, which the collection of islands sits between. Fun fact: The tradition of the cross on the flag was set by Denmark!
The red and blue on the flag is directly taken from other Nordic countries, but the white in particular is meant to represent the sky and sea foam. It was originally designed in 1919 by Jens Oliver Lisberg.
🇦🇽 What is Åland?
Pronounced AW-lənd, Åland is an archipelago off the southwestern coast of Finland. However, the official language is Swedish. There are 6,757 islands in this archipelago, but 90% of the population resides on Fasta Åland, which is actually four islands (highlighted in red). A fun fact about Fasta is that Lumparn, the large bay in the center of it, was created by an impact crater of extraterrestrial origin!
In the 1920’s the flag was blue and yellow with three horizontal color blocks, yellow in the center. The Finnish government banned it in 1935, which led to the need to design a new one. In 1952 they were allowed to do so, and they came up with a combination of the Swedish and Finnish flag. It was originally supposed to have a blue cross inside, but the president at the time rejected it and preferred a version with red in the center. The history of Ã…land’s autonomy is a fascinating one, and I suggest you read up more on it!
https://www.faroeseseafood.com/species/faroe-islands-salmon
http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/New%20website_05-2018/Lumparn.html
https://www.norden.org/en/information/about-aland
Images from Wikipedia