Kalduroyar

From Confederacy

Revision as of 11:52, 30 March 2008

Merkið, the flag of Kalduroyar
Demonym	Kalduroyan, Kalduroyans
Population	~ 40.000
Capital	Vesturhavnar
Language	Faroese
Government  - President  - Prime Minister  - Largest political party  - Cabinet	Republic Jákup Dahl (SF) Eyðun Fjallsvík (FF) Fólkaflokkurin (FF) Right-wing
National anthem	Mítt land
Currency	Kalduroyan króna (KAK)
Top-level domain (TLD)	.ka
National symbols  • Animal  • Flower	Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) Calluna (Calluna vulgaris)

Republic of Kalduroyar, Kalduroyar [ kεaltʊɹειaɹ ] in daily speech, is perhaps the smallest member nation of COFR with the tiny population of 40.000. The islands are located north-east of Faroe Islands, and halfway between Norway and Iceland. Between the middle ages and 1857, Kalduroyar was under Danish jurisdiction. The most of the Kalduroyan culture, including the language, is brought from the Faroe Islands. The current president, Jákup Dahl, was elected in 2002 (and re-elected in 2006).

The islands in the archipelago are: Fjørðoy, Viðoy, Nólsoy, Skúvoy, Gøtu, Borðoy and Lítla Dimun. All the islands are inhabited; Fjørðoy has the largest population, Lítla Dimun the smallest.

Geography

Kalduroyar consists of seven different islands, where Fjørðoy is the largest, and Lítla Dimun is the smallest. Most of the Kalduroyans live in small villages (bygðar) around in the archipelago.

The islands were created by volcanoes hundreds of thousands of years ago, and there's a lot of wind. The ground consists mainly of volcanic mountains and rocks with a thin layer of dirt upon it. Many places (especially at tall peaks and steeps) there isn't dirt at all. Places like that don't give any basis for human settlement, so therefore, most of the villages are located in small valleys innermost in the numerous fjords. Other villages are located near the sea (to have easier acession to the fish resources off-shore), but these villages are located at places without much wind (often with surrounding mountains).

Administrative Divisions

Each island is its own administrative division, which is called a sýsla (plural; sýslar, can be translated to county). The counties are also divided into additional administrative units called kommunar (which can be translated to municipality). Vindioy, Gøtu and Lítla Dimun were unified into one single county in 1992; Vindioyar. The smallest municipality is Brattbøur kommuna in Fjørðoy sýsla.

These are the administrative divisions of Kalduroyar:

• Fjørðoy sýsla
  • Vágar kommuna
  • Vesturhavnar kommuna
  • Suðurfjall kommuna
  • Sandvágar kommuna
  • Brattnes kommuna
  • Brattbøur kommuna
• Nólsoy sýsla
  • Norður-Nólsoy kommuna
  • Suður-Nólsoy kommuna
• Vindioyar sýsla
  • Skálavík kommuna
  • Gøtu kommuna
• Eysturoyar sýsla
  • Norður-Viðoy kommuna
  • Suður-Viðoy kommuna
• Borðoy sýsla

Language

The Kalduroyans speak a dialect of the Faroese language, although they use a different pronunciation. The pronunciation is a bit complexe, and here is a short guide to correct Faroese pronunciation. A tourist in Kalduroyar should have no trouble communicating, as most Kalduroyans know standard English.

The letter ð (capital; Ð), called eth, is very common, but isn't pronounced at all when it's last in a word or after a consonant. Eth must not be confused with the normal D/d. In Windows, eth can be typed like this: Alt + 0240 (at the numeric keyboard).

Basic phrases

Some basic phrases:

Góðan dag — Good day

Farvæl — Goodbye

Ja — Yes

Nei — No

Eg eiti [Jón] — My name is [John]

Eg eri uppvaksin í [Stóra Bretland] — I grew up in [Great Britain]

Orsaka meg — Excuse me

To say where you are from, it's useful to know what your native country's name is in Faroese:

Great Britain — Stóra Bretland

Germany — Týskland

United States (of America) — Sameindu Statirnir (í­ Amerika)

France — Frakland

Norway — Noreg

Denmark — Danmørk

Sweden — Svørí­ki

Faroe Islands — Føroyar

Names

Some first names are also translated (when they have a local equivalent), but that is optional:

John — Jón

George — Jógvan

Jacob — Jákup

Peter — Petur

David — Dávid

Daniel — Dánial

Eric(k) — Eirí­kur

Ann(a/e) — Anna

Mary — Maria, Mari

Susan — Súsanna

Christine — Kristina

Elizabeth — Elsebeth, Elisabeth