page_title: History of the Faroe Islands
section_title: Early Gaelic and Norse settlements
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Faroe Islands / Early Gaelic and Norse settlements
context_page_description: The early details of the history of the Faroe Islands are unclear. It is possible that Brendan, an Irish monk, sailed past the islands during his North Atlantic voyage in the 6th century. He saw an 'Island of Sheep' and a 'Paradise of Birds,' which some say could be the Faroes with its dense bird population and sheep. This does suggest however that other sailors had got there before him, to bring the sheep. Norsemen settled the Faroe Islands in the 9th century or 10th century. The islands were officially converted to Christianity around the year 1000, and became a part of the Kingdom of Norway in 1035. Norwegian rule on the islands continued until 1380, when the islands became part of the dual Denmark–Norway kingdom, under king Olaf II of Denmark.
  Following the 1814 Treaty of Kiel that ended the dual Denmark–Norway kingdom, the Faroe Islands remained under the administration of Denmark as a county. During World War II, after Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany, the British invaded and occupied the Faroe Islands until shortly after the end of the war.
context_section_description: Archaeological evidence has been found  of settlers living on the Faroe Islands in two successive periods prior to the arrival of the Norse, the first between 400–600 AD and the second between 600–800 AD. Scientists from Aberdeen University have also found early cereal pollen from domesticated plants, which further suggests people may have lived on the islands before the Vikings arrived. Archaeologist Mike Church noted that Dicuil (see below) mentioned what may have been the Faroes. He also suggested that the people living there might have been from Ireland, Scotland or Scandinavia, with possibly groups from all three areas settling there.
  There is a Latin account of a voyage made by Saint Brendan, an Irish monastic saint who lived around 484–578, there is a description of "insulae" (islands) resembling the Faroe Islands. This association, however, is far from conclusive in its description.
  The earliest text which has been claimed to be a description of the Faroe Islands was written by an Irish monk in the Frankish Kingdom named Dicuil, who, around 825, described certain islands in the north in Liber de Mensura Orbis Terrae, (Measure/description of the sphere of the earth). Dicuil had met a "man worthy of trust" who related to his master, the abbot Sweeney (Suibhne), how he had landed on the Faroe Islands after having navigated "two days and a summer night in a little vessel of two banks of oars" (in duobus aestivis diebus, et una intercedente nocte, navigans in duorum navicula transtrorum).
  "Many other islands lie in the northerly British Ocean. One reaches them from the northerly islands of Britain, by sailing directly for two days and two nights with a full sail in a favourable wind the whole time.... Most of these islands are small, they are separated by narrow channels, and for nearly a hundred years hermits lived there, coming from our land, Ireland, by boat. But just as these islands have been uninhabited from the beginning of the world, so now the Norwegian pirates have driven away the monks; but countless sheep and many different species of sea-fowl are to be found there..."
  Norse settlement of the Faroe Islands is recorded in the Færeyinga saga, whose original manuscript is lost. Portions of the tale were inscribed in three other sagas: such as Flateyjarbók, Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason, and AM 62 fol. Similar to other sagas, the historical credibility of the Færeyinga saga is highly questioned.
  Both the Saga of Ólafr Tryggvason and Flateyjarbók claim that Grímr Kamban was the first man to discover the Faroe Islands. The two sources disagree, however, on the year in which he left and the circumstances of his departure. Flateyjarbók details the emigration of Grímr Kamban as sometime during the reign of Harald Hårfagre, between 872–930 AD. The Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason indicates that Kamban was residing in the Faroes long before the rule of Harald Hårfagre, and that other Norse were driven to the Faroe Islands due to his chaotic rule. This mass migration to the Faroe Islands shows a prior knowledge of the Viking settlements' locations, furthering the claim of Grímr Kamban's settlement much earlier. While Kamban is recognized as the first Viking settler of the Faroe Islands, his surname is of Gaelic origin. Writings from the Papar, an order of Irish monks, show that they left the Faroe Islands due to ongoing Viking raids.
caption: Faroese stamp depicting Saint Brendan discovering the Faroe Islands
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