ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE

FAROE ISLANDS UP TO THE SECOND WORLD WAR

The number of sloops increased to over 100 after 1900 (Joensen 1980a: 7), and klip fi sh continued to be the most impor-tant export product until the Second World War (Joensen 1985b: 11). The main markets for Faroese fi sh were in the Roman Catholic countries of the Mediterranean region (West 1972: 99). Progress in the development of

Figure 3.5 Exports of klip fi sh in the period 1860-1899 (West 1972: 95).

fi shing vessels also took place, so that the installation of engines to power them be-gan in 1904 and the fi rst steam trawler was bought in 1911, although a fl eet of trawlers was only established just before the Second World War (West 1972: 129).

The Faroese population continued to increase in the 20^th century. According to Patursson (1918: 7-8), the population was around 18,000 in 1911, of whom 9,515 were employed in fi sheries and shipping and 3,315 had their main occupation in agri-culture. The death rate fell to about 11 per thousand between 1906 and 1920, while the birth rate rose to about 33 per thousand be-tween 1911 and 1915. Emigration was almost non-existent, and the population increased by 1.9% a year between 1906 and 1911. In 1921 the total population was 21,352 (Wylie 1987: 115).

The Faroese society also changed due to the new working opportunities and com-mercial networks. New forms of organiza-tions and instituorganiza-tions were created, for ex-ample, including an association for protect-ing the interests of the captains of Faroese fi shing vessels, founded in 1896, and an as-sociation of ship owners, formed in 1909.

Credit institutions were also founded be-tween 1900 and 1928 (West 1972: 130-131, 133), and two political parties were start-ed between 1901 and 1906: the conserva-tive Union Party (Sambandsfl okkur) and the opposition Self-Rule Party (Sjálvstýris-fl okkur) (Wylie 1987: 140).

The transition to commercial, sea-go-ing fi shsea-go-ing had various consequences for the settlement pattern. Joensen (1992: 13-14) suggests that when inshore fi shing from rowing boats was the main economic activ-ity, the villages located closest to the fi shing grounds had the most favourable economic

conditions, while the villages at the heads of the fjords, with good landing conditions but usually a longer way from the fi shing grounds, were not able to develop a fi shing industry to the same extent. Such villages could, however, take advantage of broad-decked motor boats that were brought to the islands in 1905, as these required stable, calm harbours where they could lie at an-chor, and distance was less important when the boats had engines. This meant that vil-lages of a different type started to grow.

There were about 10 villages with natural harbours that faced the prospect of a consid-erable growth in population at the end of the 19^th century (Guttesen 1982: 49). Villages such as Tvøroyri, Vágur and Klaksvík were affected by commercial fi shing and klip fi sh processing, so that they became new fi shing centres, and Runavík, Sørvágur, Vestman-na and Fuglafjørður also grew (Høgnesen &

Apostle 2002: 79), while there were two set-tlements that were distinctly larger than the others in 1901: Tórshavn, with 1,607 inhab-itants, and the parish of Froðba on Suðuroy, with 933 inhabitants (Guttesen 1996a: 8).

The growth of these villages can be seen in Figure 3.6. The fi shing villages grew con-stantly, and the number of villages with 201-500 inhabitants increased. This was a new thing for the islands, where small set-tlements based on farming has predominat-ed for centuries.

There were about a hundred sloops op-erating in Faroese waters in the fi rst decade of the 20^th century, including a number of boats that sailed regularly to Icelandic wa-ters towards the end of the decade (Wil-liamson 1948/ 1970: 87). The reason was that most of the fi sh in the Faroese waters were caught by foreigners and over-fi sh-ing was already occurrsh-ing (Schei & Moberg

DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES AND GEOGRAPHY A

Figure 3.6 Settlement pattern of the Faroe Islands in 1901, with a population of 15,230 (Danmarks Statistik 1906:

148-147).

2003: 115). Thus economic activities had to be extended. Fishing in Icelandic waters was a cross between rowing boat fi shing and smack fi shing, and was referred to in Faroese as til lands, or “fi shing from ashore”.

The Faroese fi shermen sailed to Iceland and took rowing boats with them from home.

The fi sh were then caught at inshore sites, the crews being stationed on land (Joensen 1992: 17). This fi shing was of great impor-tance until the First World War. At the same time the English steam trawlers intensifi ed their activities around the Faroe Islands, so that Faroese inshore fi shing with small boats gradually declined. Thus, where 6,322 tonnes of fi sh were caught with small boats in 1911, the fi gure was only 1,068 tonnes in 1935 (Joensen 1975: 22).

Agriculture declined after the First World War (Joensen 1987: 49), and the changes in Faroese society continued. A new political party, the Social Democratic Party, Javnaðarfl okkur, was founded in 1925, and the old Self-Rule Party was split by Jóannes Patursson, who founded the People’s Party, Fólkafl okkur, in 1939. The period of 1920-1930 also included demographic changes.

The birth rates declined from about 30 per thousand to about 18 per thousand, and the death rates dropped from over 10 to under 7 per thousand. Emigration increased in the late 1920s, and the population of Tórshavn grew slightly more rapidly than that of the rest of the islands (Wylie 1987: 170).

The 1920s were relatively good times for Faroese society, but after that the val-ue of the fi sh catches declined by 60-70%

(Joensen 1985b: 149), chiefl y because of the League of Nations’ economic sanctions against Italy, which was the main market for Faroese fi sh, and the simultaneous col-lapse of the market for klip fi sh in Spain,

which was confronted with civil war (Schei

& Moberg 2003: 120).

This economic crisis had serious conse-quences for Faroese society. Many people practised a combination of fi shing and agri-culture to provide a living for their families.

In order to ease the situation, access to the traðir was made easier under a law passed in 1932 (Joensen 1985b: 17-18). The popu-lation in 1930 was 24,200, with Klaksvík, Tvøroyri and Vágur on Suðuroy the largest settlements alongside Tórshavn and a nota-ble increase in the population of the settle-ments on Eysturoy (Figure 3.7).

Fishing in the waters of Greenland be-came the most important economic activ-ity for the Faroese during the 1930s. About half of the total fi sh catch was fetched from there (Høgnesen 1968: 71-72). The number of fi shing vessels registered on the Faroe Is-lands was 165 in 1930 and varied between 150 and 160 during the following years (Joensen 1985b: 153) (Figure 3.8).

At the same time the secondary sector of the Faroese economy was growing. The number of fi rms in business was still small, but they were able to expand their commer-cial activities (Wylie 1987: 135).