View source for Sørvágur

:''There is also a town called [[Vágur]] on [[Suðuroy]].''
{{Infobox settlement
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|name                   = Sørvágur
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|subdivision_type       = State
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|subdivision_type3      = Municipality
|subdivision_name3      = [[Sørvágur Municipality]]
|subdivision_type2      = Island
|subdivision_name2      = [[Vágar]]
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|population_as_of               = January 2024
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|postal_code            = FO 380
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'''Sørvágur''' ({{langx|da|Sørvåg}}) is a village on the island of [[Vágar]] in the [[Faroe Islands]].
It is located at the landward end of [[Sørvágsfjørður]]. Sørvágur is the largest village in [[Sørvágur Municipality]].
==Name==
The name Sørvágur translates to "The Bay of Sør". While the second half of the name makes sense given the fact that the village is located at a bay, the first half is more mysterious. Legend has it that the first man to settle at this place was called 'Sørli' and hence the village was named in honour of him. Another explanation on the origin of 'Sør' comes from the old-Norse 'Seyr' which is a word for sand (seyr is also a word for foggy rain). Sørvágur has quite a large sandbeach in comparison with other Faroese villages and towns, and therefore it was speculated that the original name of Sørvágur was ''Seyrvágur'', and during the course of time, Seyrvágur became Sørvágur. During the first half of the 20th century, local people in Sørvágur tried to correct this historical injustice and used the name Seyrvágur instead of Sørvágur. However, this trend died out again. One reason may be that there is no proof in the Faroese historical records that justifies the name Seyrvágur.
As of today (2005), nobody has come up with a reasonable explanation for the origin of the name Sørvágur.
==First settlement==
Sørvágur is considered to be one of the oldest villages in the Faroe Islands. In 1957, the locals decided to build a new school, and during the preparations to build the school's gymnastic hall, they excavated an old Viking settlement. Sørvágur – alongside [[Leirvík]], [[Tjørnuvík]] and [[Sandur (Faroe Islands)|Sandur]] – is one of the few places in the Faroe Islands where archaeologists have been able to find substantial proof that these places were built during the first 100–150 years after the Faroese [[Landnámabók|Landnám]] in 825.
Even though the village is old, there is no mention of it, or the island of Vágoy, in the old [[Færeyinga Saga|Faeringa Saga]] from the thirteenth century.
==History==
[[File:Sørvágur, Faroe Islands.JPG|thumb|Sørvágur]]
[[File:Sørvágur on Vágar Island, Faroe Islands, December 2010.JPG|thumb|The eastern part of Sørvágur in snow, Christmas Day 2010.]]
Between the years of 1200 and 1400 the village moved from its first settlements alongside the river [[Hanusará]] and further south between the rivers of [[Stórá, Sørvágur|Stórá]] and [[Kirkjuá]]. Historical records from 17th century show that the original settlement alongside Hanusará was abandoned, and the village was moved firmly to the new location between the two main rivers in Sørvág. The main reason for this was probably that the weather conditions between the two rivers are far superior to other places in Sørvág.
The first written record regarding Sørvág is from 1584. The record shows that there were only three small farms in Sørvág at that time. This coincides very well with the fact that the land belonging to Sørvág is divided into three parts: Suðurtriðingur, Norðurtriðingur and Úttriðingur.
From the 15th century to the late 17th century, the [[Norway|Norwegian]] nobles, the  Benkenstock family owned all the land in Sørvág. Around 1665, a Dane – Severin Fohrman – bought all the land from the Benkenstock's and immediately started to sell it back to the locals. This meant that almost all the land in Sørvág is private property (''óðalsjørð'') instead of belonging to the king (''kongsjørð'').
Using the "Land Books" (''Jarðarbøkur''), it is speculated that the number of inhabitants in Sørvág in the 17th century was around fifty. In the first census in the Faroes in 1801, the number of inhabitants in Sørvág had risen to a mere 86. In 1855, the number of inhabitants was 163. The reason for this slow progress is due to the special requirements for marriage that were law in the Faroes. The law said that, in order to marry, you would need to own land or have demonstrated that you were a faithful servant to someone who owned land. It was only the wealthy farmers who had a substantial amount of land, and therefore the birthrate in the Faroes was very low until this law was abolished.
During the feudal period, only the big farmers had fishing boats. The first person in the Faroes who did not own any land and got his own fishing boat came from Sørvág. His name was Gamli Dávur.
During the [[Sloop period]] ,Sørvágur had many [[sloop]]s.
The church in Sørvágur is from 1886.
The first [[fish factory]] in the Faroe Islands was built in Sørvágur in 1952.
The locals from Sørvágur formed a part of the backbone of fishermen who went to [[Greenland]] to fish. Faroese fishermen were instrumental in teaching the inhabitants of Greenland to do deepsea fishing.
In the period 1902–1912, there was a whaling station in the nearby bay of [[Selvík]]
===World War II===
During [[World War II]] Sørvágur was home to the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Royal Engineers]], who lived at Uppi á Mýrum. They built all the main infrastructure in Sørvágur including [[Vagar Airport|Vágar Airport]], the harbour in Sørvág, Niðaraveg (the main road to the harbour) and several bridges. To accomplish this, they had to move entire houses to other locations.
==Geography and landmarks==
[[File:A River and a bridge in Sørvágur, Faroe Islands.JPG|thumb|One of the rivers in Sørvágur and one of the bridges]]
[[File:Sorvagur, Faroe Islands, the cemetery, a mountain and the school.JPG|thumb|One of the mountains around the village. In the foreground is the graveyard; the white building is the public school.]]
Districts (''býlingar'') in Sørvág:
==Climate==
Vágar has colder and snowier winters than most places in the archipelago. Lower temperatures combined with higher precipitation are responsible for this, and measurable snow cover can be seen- a rarity in the Faroe Islands, in which snow cover (in areas which regularly experience it) is usually limited to a thin coating. The airport, at which data is recorded, is also located at a higher altitude on the island (84 meters above sea level<ref name=DMI />), which might result in lower temperatures and higher precipitation than lower-lying areas on the island. Frost occurs on average on 62 days of the year,<ref name=DMI /> the most out of all stations included in the records of the Danish Meteorological Institute.
{{Weather box
|location = [[Vágar Airport]], [[Vágar]], 84 m.a.s.l.
|metric first = Y
|single line = Y
|Jan record high C = 10.3
|Feb record high C = 9.5
|Mar record high C = 12.5
|Apr record high C = 14.8
|May record high C = 20.8
|Jun record high C = 21.6
|Jul record high C = 24.0
|Aug record high C = 23.5
|Sep record high C = 20.5
|Oct record high C = 14.0
|Nov record high C = 12.0
|Dec record high C = 12.2
|year record high C = 24.0
|Jan high C = 4.8
|Feb high C = 4.8
|Mar high C = 5.2
|Apr high C = 6.4
|May high C = 8.8
|Jun high C = 10.8
|Jul high C = 12.1
|Aug high C = 12.3
|Sep high C = 10.4
|Oct high C = 8.6
|Nov high C = 6.1
|Dec high C = 5.3
|year high C = 8.0
|Jan mean C = 2.7
|Feb mean C = 2.7
|Mar mean C = 3.1
|Apr mean C = 4.3
|May mean C = 6.6
|Jun mean C = 8.7
|Jul mean C = 10.2
|Aug mean C = 10.4
|Sep mean C = 8.6
|Oct mean C = 6.8
|Nov mean C = 4.2
|Dec mean C = 3.3
|year mean C = 6.0
|Jan low C = 0.5
|Feb low C = 0.6
|Mar low C = 0.9
|Apr low C = 2.1
|May low C = 4.4
|Jun low C = 6.6
|Jul low C = 8.3
|Aug low C = 8.5
|Sep low C = 6.7
|Oct low C = 4.8
|Nov low C = 2.1
|Dec low C = 1.1
|year low C = 3.9
|Jan record low C = -10.0
|Feb record low C = -11.7
|Mar record low C = -10.6
|Apr record low C = -9.9
|May record low C = -5.0
|Jun record low C = -0.3
|Jul record low C = 1.4
|Aug record low C = 1.0
|Sep record low C = -2.5
|Oct record low C = -6.4
|Nov record low C = -10.0
|Dec record low C = -10.9
|year record low C = -11.7
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation mm = 163
|Feb precipitation mm = 122
|Mar precipitation mm = 141
|Apr precipitation mm = 120
|May precipitation mm = 83
|Jun precipitation mm = 81
|Jul precipitation mm = 115
|Aug precipitation mm = 133
|Sep precipitation mm = 151
|Oct precipitation mm = 164
|Nov precipitation mm = 140
|Dec precipitation mm = 142
|year precipitation mm = 1555
|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm
|Jan precipitation days = 23
|Feb precipitation days = 19
|Mar precipitation days = 21
|Apr precipitation days = 18
|May precipitation days = 13
|Jun precipitation days = 11
|Jul precipitation days = 15
|Aug precipitation days = 18
|Sep precipitation days = 19
|Oct precipitation days = 20
|Nov precipitation days = 18
|Dec precipitation days = 20
|year precipitation days = 215
|source 1 = [[Danish Meteorological Institute]]<ref name= DMI>{{cite web
| url = http://www.dmi.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/Rapporter/TR/1998/tr98-14.pdf
| title = The Climate of The Faroe Islands - with Climatological Standard Normals, 1961-1990 Greenland
| publisher = Danish Meteorological Institute
| access-date = August 19, 2015}}</ref>
}}
See also:
*[[List of districts in Sørvág]]
Small and big rivers in Sørvág (note: rivers in the Faroe Islands may be considered a mere stream in other places):
*[[Breiðá]]
*[[Tunguliðsá]]
*[[Hanusará]]
*[[Kirkjuá]]
*[[Stórá, Sørvágur|Stórá]]
*[[Skipá]]
Mountains surrounding Sørvág:
*[[Vørðufelli]]
*[[Líðarnøva]]
*[[Skeiðin]]
*[[Nónfjall]]
*[[Høgafjall]]
*[[Bólafløttur]]
Valleys in and around Sørvág:
*[[Húsadalur]]
*[[Kjóvadalur]]
Major bays:
*[[Selvík]]
Other landmarks:
*[[Middagsvarði]]
*[[Vesturvarði]]
*[[Norðurvarði]]
*[[Seyðagarðar]]
==Industry==
===Fishery===
[[File:The Boat Harbour of Sorvagur.JPG|thumb|The boat harbour of Sørvágur]]
Sørvágur has always been a place where [[fishery]] has been very dominant. In older times it was said, that the only thing necessary for survival in Sørvágur was that you had a [[fishing rod]] and a pot to cook the fish. The fishing industry also plays a vital role in the industrial environment in Sørvágur today (2005). Today there is a modern fish factory producing mainly salt fish; a fish farm raising [[salmon]]; one fish market; one major [[fish factory ship]], which produces fish directly to the [[United Kingdom|British]] market; 6 smaller [[fishing trawlers]] and 50+ small [[fishing boat]]s.
===Airport===
The [[Vágar Airport]] is the only airport on the Faroe Islands, and it is located just outside Sørvágur. Many residents of Sørvágur work there.
===Shops and colonials===
After the Royal [[Monopoly trade over the Faroe Islands]] ended in 1856, everyone was able to start trading on their own. This led to an upsurge in colonial shops opening all over the place. In Sørvágur many colonials were started and one of the leading concerns on the Faroe Islands - [[Niclasen]] - was started in Sørvágur. During the transformation of the Faroese society from a feudal to a semi-industrial these concerns played a major role in ensuring labour to the common man. The main colonial in Sørvágur - [[Norði Stovu handilin]] - was originally started by the Niclasen concern. The other colonial - [[Løðuhandilin]] - was started by the rival concern in Sørvágur - Rasmussen. These two colonials are the only two remaining in Sørvágur today (2005).
Norði Stovu handilin is better known under the name ''Hjá Valdemar'' and today it also contains a bakery.
At the harbour in Sørvágur lies a hardware store - [[Hjá Niclasen]] - which also used to form a part of the Niclasen concern. Also placed in the proximity of the harbour lies a [[Statoil]] tank station which is run by the Niclasen concern. The tank station also includes a kiosk and grill.
===Banks===
The faroese banks [[Føroya Banki]] and [[Eik Banki]] are present in Sørvágur. There are two [[automatic teller machine]]s, one at [[Vágar Airport]] and the other at Eik Banki.
===Tourists===
In close proximity to the airport lies a hotel with restaurant - ''Hotel Vágar''. The hotel is a modern 3 star hotel.
During the summer tourist are able to make excursions in boats from Sørvágur [http://blue-gate.info/client/index.asp]. Tourists are also able to make excursions [https://web.archive.org/web/20051018103916/http://www.lakeside.fo/] on [[Sørvágsvatn]].
There is a local museum is in Sørvágur and a small art gallery [http://www.galeries.dk/englishindex.html]
===Public===
*There is a daycare institution in Sørvágur
*A post office is in Sørvágur
==Sport and other activities==
[[File:Sorvagur, faroe islands, football field.jpg|thumb|The football field in Sørvágur and an old wooden sail ship. Hillfog on the hills and on the fjord [[Sørvágsfjørður]].]]
===Sport===
The local sport association of Sørvágur is called [[SÍ]]. They compete mainly in [[football (soccer)|football]] and [[volleyball]]. The football club of Sørvágur has merged with the club from other villages on the island into the football club [[07 Vestur]].
There has also been an association for Faroese rowing called [[Sørvágs Róðrarfelag|SR]].
There used to be a chess club called ''Rókur'', but it died out during the 1960s.
===Religion===
Religion plays a great role in the day-to-day life in Sørvágur. There are two main buildings – apart from the church – housing two different religious denominations: '''Libanon''' houses the Protestant ''Heimamissiónin'', and '''Kedron''' houses the Brethren/[[baptist]] ''Brøðrasamkoman''.
==Literature==
*[[Sonni Jacobsen]]: ''Sørvágur og sørvingar''. Sørvágur: Forlagið Ytstifjórðingur 1995–1996. (2 vol.)
**[http://heima.olivant.fo/~sonjacob/Books/Sorvingar_I.htm Abstract from vol. 1] (Faroese)
**[http://heima.olivant.fo/~sonjacob/Books/Sorvingar_II.htm Abstract from vol. 2] (Faroese)
==See also==
*[[List of towns in the Faroe Islands]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons|Sørvágur|Sørvágur}}
*http://www.faroeislands.dk/pages/SorvagurIndex.htm Images from Sørvágur
*http://www.sorvag.fo/ Official website for the municipality of Sørvágur (Faroese)
*https://web.archive.org/web/20050407182656/http://www.sis.fo/ The Sport Association of Sørvágur (Faroese)
*https://web.archive.org/web/20050217191636/http://kort.fo/website/sorkom/viewer.htm Online map of the municipality of Sørvág
*https://web.archive.org/web/20050204055608/http://www.portal.fo/cam/webcam.php?kamera=92 Live web-cam from Sørvágur
{{Municipalities of the Faroe Islands}}
{{fishing history|expanded=villages}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorvagur}}
[[Category:Sørvágur| ]]
[[Category:Populated places in the Faroe Islands]]
[[Category:Vágar]]
[[Category:Fishing communities]]
[[Category:Ports and harbours of the Faroe Islands]]