They came to the islands in the 7th century, and when the Vikings arrived there in the 9th century, they moved to Iceland. In 1035 the Faroe Islands became the property of Norway, with which they were annexed to Denmark in 1380.
In 1814, Denmark lost Norway but retained the Faroe Islands. The islands gained limited autonomy in the 19th century. The written language of the people there, Faroese, was isolated and is now, along with Danish, the official language of the Faroe Islands.
Between 1940 and 1945, the archipelago, as a strategic point in the Battle of the Atlantic, was occupied by the British army. In 1948, new terms of interdependence were signed between the Faroe Islands and Denmark, according to which the Faroe Islands gained broader autonomy.
