The Faroe Islands (Faroese: Føroyar, Danish: Færøerne) or the Faeroe Islands, is a North Atlantic archipelago located 320 kilometres (200 mi)
north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway between Norway and Iceland. It is an autonomous territory
within the Kingdom of Denmark. The islands have a total area of about
1,400 square kilometres (540 sq mi).
Between 1035 and 1814 the
Faroe Islands were part of the Kingdom of Norway,
which was in a personal union with
Denmark from 1450. In 1814 the Treaty of Kiel transferred Norway to the king of Sweden, on
the winning side of the Napoleonic wars, whereas the king of Denmark, on the
losing side, retained the Faroes, along with the two other historical Norwegian
island possessions in the North Atlantic: Greenland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands have been a self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948,
controlling most areas apart from military defence, policing, justice, currency, and foreign affairs.
Because the Faroe Islands are not part of the same customs area as Denmark, the country has an independent trade policy, and can establish trade agreements with other
states. In the Nordic Council, they are
represented as part of the Danish delegation. In certain sports, the Faroe
Islands field their own national teams. Despite only having one laureate, the Faroe
Islands currently has the most Nobel
laureates per capita worldwide
The postage stamps and
postal history of the Faroe Islands began in the 1860s with a message exchange
system called Skjúts, which was before a regular boat service was established
between the islands. Postage is now under the control of Postverk Føroya, the
Postage Stamp Department of which has taken over all the work relating to
Faroese postage stamps. The first Faroese post office was opened in Tórshavn on 1 March 1870. Others opened at Tvøroyri and Klaksvík on 1 March 1884 and 1 May 1888 respectively. 15 new
offices were opened in 1918 alone. Danish stamps were in use from 1870, usually
without any overprint or surcharge, until the first Faroese stamps were issued
in 1975.
In 1974–75, the Danish
postal system began issuing Faroese postage stamps with the caption FØROYAR.
The postal system used these stamps in the Faroes for franking mail and sold them
to philatelists. The first Faroese postage stamps came on the market on 30
January 1975. From the first day they were available, the interest in Faroese
postage stamps has been very extensive abroad. A number of times, postage
stamps have been the second-largest source of export revenues for the Faroes. After the election for the
Løgting in November 1974, the government decided that the
postal service in the Faroes should be taken over by the Faroese Home Rule as
of 1 April 1976. This new institution received the name Postverk Føroya (Post of
the Faroes). A ram's horn was chosen as the institution's logo. As a natural
consequence of the takeover, two new departments were established within the
Faroese postal system: the Postage Stamp Department and the Post Office Giro.
The
Faroe Islands postal service was restructured as a limited liability company on
1 January 2005. The name was changed to the "P/F Postverk Føroya” (i.e.
Faroe Islands Postal Service Limited). The Faroe Islands Government is the sole
shareholder of the company. The name was changed again in September 2009, this
time to "Posta Faroe Islands" or just “Posta”.
This cover posted from Torshavn, the capital city, on June 8,2015, received on May 21, 2015.
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