Lítla Dímun | |
|---|---|
 Lítla Dímun | |
 Location within the Faroe Islands | |
| Coordinates:61°38′N6°42′W / 61.633°N 6.700°W /61.633; -6.700 | |
| State |  Kingdom of Denmark |
| Constituent country |  Faroe Islands |
| Area | |
• Total | 0.82 km2 (0.32 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 414 m (1,358 ft) |
| Population | |
• Total | 0 |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (EST) |
| Calling code | 298 |
Lítla Dímun is a small, uninhabited island between the islands ofSuðuroy andStóra Dímun in theFaroe Islands. It is the smallest of the main 18 islands, being less than a square kilometre (247 acres) in area, and is the only uninhabited one. The island can be seen from the villages ofHvalba andSandvík.
The name means "Little Dímun", in contrast to “Stóra Dímun”, "Great Dímun". According toFridtjof Nansen,Dímun may represent a pre-Norse, Celtictoponymic element meaning "double-neck".[1] Stóra and Litla Dímun shows a pairing of two distinctive but separate localities in one name. Gammeltoft concluded Dímun is a Scandinavian place name for a double-peaked feature of a particular appearance, reflecting a linguistic contact between Scandinavians and Gaels.[2]
The lowest third of the island is sheer cliff, with the rest rising to the mountain of Slættirnir, which reaches 414 metres (1,358 ft). The island is only inhabited byFaroe sheep andseabirds. Getting ashore is difficult, and can be performed only in perfect weather. The cliffs can be climbed with the aid of ropes placed by the owners of the sheep.
The island has been identified as anImportant Bird Area byBirdLife International because of its significance as a breeding site forseabirds, especiallyEuropean storm petrels (5000 pairs) andAtlantic puffins (10,000 pairs).[3]
There are no land animals beside sheep.
The island has never been inhabited by humans, but sheep were kept there from ancient times, being mentioned in the 13th-century work theFæreyinga Saga (Saga of the Faroese). The saga also features the island as the site of a battle betweenBrestir, father of Sigmundur, and Gøtuskeggjar. The battle resulted in the death of Sigmund's father and his men and the deportation of Sigmund to Norway, where he befriendedOlaf Tryggvasson, the King of Norway from 995 to 1000.
The island used to be property of theDanish King, but it was difficult to get anyone to settle the island as it is very steep and hard to land at, and it was thus decided to sell it; it was mostly men fromHvalba who had used and rented the island until then. The auction was held in Hvalba on 24 July 1852, and the final bid was 4,820Rigsdaler or 9,640Dkk, quite a sum for the time. Men from Hvalba and Sandvík together outbid theFactor for the royal sales-station inTvøroyri, who kept pushing the price up.[4]
The island was then given to the men from Hvalba and Sandvík asCopyhold inheritance, against 40 Dkk in copyhold rent, and 10 Dkk every time there was a new owner. This money was in 1911 released with 1,000 Dkk, and thus did Lítla Dímun become the only privately owned island in the Faroes.
In 1918, the DanishschoonerCaspe, carrying a cargo of salt, was driven onto Lítla Dímun by a gale. The six crew were able to reach a narrow ledge just above the surf, but they had no stores, and the captain was severely injured. Eventually, they managed to move from the ledge, and found a cabin halfway up the island which had matches, fuel and a lamp. They caught two sheep and a sick bird, and were able to survive for seventeen days before being discovered and rescued by a fishing boat. One of the shipwrecked sailors eventually settled in the Faroes.
The sheep now living on the island areFaroes sheep, but until the mid-nineteenth century it was occupied byferal sheep, probably derived from the earliestsheep brought to Northern Europe in theNeolithic Period.[5] The last of these very small, black, short-wooled sheep were shot in the 1860s. They were similar in appearance and origin to the survivingSoay sheep, from the island ofSoay in theSt Kilda archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. Soay is an island of very similar size and topography to Lítla Dímun, and has similarly difficult access.
The modern Faroes sheep of the island are gathered each autumn. People sail to the island in a fishing boat, towing several rowingskiffs. About 40 people then form a chain across the island, driving the 200 or so sheep into a pen on the north side of the island. The sheep are then caught, restrained by tying their feet together, put in nets five at a time and lowered by ropes to the skiffs. Each skiff then takes its load of 15 sheep to the fishing boat, which returns to the island ofSuðuroy. The sheep are unloaded on the wharf in the village ofHvalba, where they are placed in rows and distributed to their owners. A few sheep escape the gathering, and from time to time these are shot.
InPierdomenico Baccalario's book trilogy Cyboria, New City, a futuristic utopic city, is located in this island and covered by clouds on top so as not to be seen from the air.
Gammeltoft, Peder (2004),Among Dimons and Papeys: What kind of contact do the names really point to?(PDF)
Islands of theFaroe Islands | ||
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