Animal production and climate variation in the Faeroe Islands in the 19th century

Abstract

The article deals with aspects of the historical geography of the Faeroe Islands in the 19th century with a focus on animal production, i.e. sheep and cows. It is based on material from the Regional Archive, Føroya Landsskjalasavn. The tithe lists showing the King's third from Norderöe district, 1801–1859, are analysed in detail and compared with the statements from another series of documents, the Sheriff s half-yearly reports on the state of the district. Together these two sets of records give a detailed picture of the development and variation in the number of cows, paying “butter-tithe” and the number of sheep slaughtered, paying “wool-tithe”. The number of cows surviving the winter, depended on the amount and quality of winter fodder or hay, which was produced in the infield the preceding summer. The sheep, on the other hand, that can survive the winter while grazing in the outfield, are dependent on the severity or mildness of the winter as well as their condition in the lambing period. The two series provide data on summer as well as winter weather conditions. The analysis makes an attempt, using the concepts known from the critical realist theory of science, to find the mechanisms as well as necessary and contingent conditions involved in the two processes.

Keywords:

• Faeroe Islands
• historical agriculture
• tithe lists
• cows
• sheep
• agricultural systems
• proxy data
• climatic variation