Faroe Islands Study Circle

The Faroe Islands are found in the North Atlantic, half way between Iceland and Shetland.

The Faroes are a group of eighteen islands, with a total area of 540 square miles.

The Islands' population is about 45,000 of whom about 15,000 live in the capital Torshavn. The Faroes are a self-governing part of Denmark but have their own national flag.

Parliament (Logting) and language (Faroese relates to Icelandic and Norwegian dialects).

Fishing and fish-processing are the islanders' main source of income and employment.

The Islands are mountainous and have a dramatic beauty all of their own.

Perpendicular cliffs, up to 2,400 feet high, tower above the sea. The islands are home to countless thousands of birds and are an ornithologist's paradise.

The Faroe Islands also have a wealth of interest for the philatelist. The Faroes have issued their own postage stamps since 1975 but the islands' postal history goes back much further. Provisional overprints from 1919 and the 1940s, bisects, wartime postal markings (the islands were occupied by British forces during the Second World War) and a range of postmarks with Danish and, after 1962, Faroese place names, all add to the fascinating philatelic history.

Only a relatively small number of stamps are issued each year by Postverk Foroya, the islands' independent postal authority. All stamp designs are relevant to the islands themselves. Information about new issues (and about standing order services) can be obtained from

Postverk Foroya, Philatelic Office, FO-159 TORSHAVN, FAROE ISLANDS.

Presented by the Faroe Islands Study Circle
Top graphic with permission of Faroe Islands Tourist Board/Gunnar Skuvadal

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