North Eastern Atlantic

West of the Faroe Islands, open Atlantic waters separate the archipelago from Iceland. Norse migrants crossed these seas in the ninth century, carrying people and livestock to islands far from Scandinavia. Later, the Danish crown regulated trade with its North Atlantic possessions; the Icelandic Company, founded in 1619, also handled the Faroese monopoly for a time. Ships carrying provisions and local products linked isolated harbors across a passage exposed to the full force of the northern ocean.