Faroe Islands Following the turmoil caused by the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) in 1816, the Faroe Islands became a county in the Danish Kingdom. As part of Mercantilism, Denmark maintained a monopoly over trade with the Faroe Islands and forbade their inhabitants trading with others (e.g. the geographically close Britain). The trade monopoly in the Faroe Islands was abolished in 1856, after which the area developed as a modern fishing nation with its own fishing fleet. The national awakening from 1888 initially arose from a struggle to maintain the Faroese language and was thus culturally oriented, but after 1906 it became more political
Faroe Islands rat ("Rattus norvegicus"), and the house mouse ("Mus musculus"). Apart from these, there once was a local domestic sheep breed, the Faroe sheep (depicted on the coat of arms), a variety of feral sheep survived on Lítla Dímun until the mid-19th century. Grey seals ("Halichoerus grypus") are common around the shorelines. Several species of cetacea live in the waters around the Faroe Islands. Best known are the long-finned pilot whales ("Globicephala melaena"), which are still hunted by the islanders in accordance with longstanding local tradition. Orcas ("Orcinus orca") are regular visitors around the islands. The domestic animals of the Faroe