- Fugloy
Island of the Faroe Islands
name = Fugloy
municipality = Fugloyar
area = 11.2
area_rank = 11
population = 44
population_rank = 13
population_year = 2007
population_density = 3,9
location = coord|62|20|N|6|18|W||Fugloy is the eastern-most island in the
Faroe Islands . The name means "bird island," after the large number of birds that nest on the island's cliffs.Geography
There are two settlements:
Kirkja on the south-coast andHattarvík on the east-coast. The Eystfelli cliffs, which are 448m are located on the east coast. Nearby there is also alighthouse , a natural arch feature and what looks like the outline of an EgyptianPharaoh (the Pharaoh's Face).Mountains
There are three mountains on Fugloy:
Future for Fugloy
Because the
harbour of Fugloy is not protected by breakwaters, it has stopped any form of economic growth since the early 20th century. The island's only income has been small agricultural and partly fishing, but also the famous catching birds such as thepuffin have been used a lot on Fugloy to this day.TheLøtinget has tried to work out plans for the future of the island, such as the island getting electricity in the 1960s. In the 1980s a road fromKirkja toHattarvík was built and ahelicopter route was made there as well.When the population was at its peak, there were around 250-300 people, at the beginning of the 20th century. With the emergence of a more modern lifestyle and changing norms island life has become less popular and people have moved away as a result. Today there are only five people living all year around inHattarvík and some 20 inKirkja . There are few jobs on the islands; one shop and few jobs on the harbour are all that there is, therefore Fugloy is not heading for a bright future.History
The island has been populated since the
Viking age .One of the most important stories of the island is that of the
Floksmen . They were a flok (group) ofrebels , in themiddle ages , from Fugloy.The most notorious of theseparatists , (referred by the Danish governmental and officials inThorshavn ) were Høgni Nev, Rògvi Skel, Hálvdan Ulvsson fromHattarvík and Sjúrður við kellingar, fromKirkja .These men controlled and savaged the northern parts of theFaroe Islands for a long time.This is one of the most importantseparatist myths of theFaroe islands .The smarter Sjúrður við kellingar was forced to go the more militant way of
rebellion by Høgni Nev and Hálvdan Ulvsson who were more criminally minded.All the four men were later caught and sentenced to death. Sjúrður við kellingar was shown mercy andamnesty , but the story is that he could not live on with the crimes that he and the others had committed under their "little"rebellion and asked to be executed with the otherFloksmen .Mythology
There are several myths connected to this island. In old Faroese Culture
trolls played a large part in the mythology of theFaroe Islands ,The Floating Island of Fugloy
It was said that Fugloy was once a floating island with
trolls living on it. Men had tried several times to approach the island, but every time they tried, thetrolls threw stones and curses at the men in the boats.After a long time the men grew tired of trying and were close to leaving thetrolls with the island. But one of the men, a priest, wanted to try one more time, before giving up. The men got in the boats again and rowed once more to Fugloy.In the first boat to approach the island were the priest and some other men. When thetrolls saw what was happening, they started to collect stones, and began throwing them at the men. All the men in the first boat were scared and wanted to sail home again at once, with the big stones flying through the air! They were about to turn round and sail home, when the priest got so angry and was in such great despair that he threw thebible that he had brought with him on the trip at thetrolls . Thebible landed right in front of thetrolls , the ground started shaking, the island stopped floating, and in a split second all thetrolls were transformed into little grassy hills, and now the men could at last settle Fugloy.The little grassy hills are still located around the island, and particularly, close to the Bygd (
Kirkja ).Tourism
As the name
Fugloy Faroese Fugl means Bird so on Birds island, there is a rich fauna of sea and Land birds, specificallypuffins (Faroese: lundi) inhabit the island in hundreds of thousands of pairs. Also theBlack Guillemot is in great numbers on Fugloy.The view over to the nearest islandsSvinoy andBorðoy is excellent, and sunsets that can be seen are among the things that makeFugloy feature in old pictures of theFaroe islands .Másin the mail boat
It is a great experience to see when the mail boat Másin docks in Kirkja.Passengers have few minutes to jump ashore and get bags and their things with them. Oil for the electricity plant on Fugloy is transported in oil barrels and garbage is transported with Másin in garbage wagons.They also have to be landed at the same time, and therefore, time is very important when landing on Fugloy.The weather can change quickly so they always want to land the passengers and any form of cargo fast and then fill the ship up again and leave.
External links
* [http://heima.olivant.fo/%7Eanfinn/fugloy.htm personal website] with 6 aerial photos of Fugloy
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