Faroe Islands a reaction to the growing self-government and independence movements, Denmark finally granted the Faroe Islands home-rule with a high degree of local autonomy on 30 March 1948. In 1973 the Faroe Islands declined to join Denmark in entering the European Economic Community (later absorbed into the European Union). The islands experienced considerable economic difficulties following the collapse of the fishing industry in the early 1990s, but have since made efforts to diversify the economy. Support for independence has grown and is the objective of the Republican Party. The Faroe Islands are an island group consisting of 18 major islands (and
Regions of the Faroe Islands which villages the whale meat and blubber should be given to. This is the case in Suðuroy, if men from the southern part of the island participate in a whale hunt, they are not sure to get any meat at all, if the sheriff decides, that there are too few whales in order to divide it to the whole island and can decide to give it only, for example, to the northern part or to specific villages or to homes for the elderly. Regions of the Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands are divided into 30 municipalities, six regions/shires (sýsla, sýslur