Vágar Sýsla, Faroe Islands Genealogy

Historical Geography

 * Vágar (Danish: Vågø) is one of the 18 islands in the archipelago of the Faroe Islands and the most westerly of the large islands. With a size of 178 square kilometres (69 square miles), it ranks number three, behind Streymoy and Eysturoy. Vágar region also comprises the island of Mykines.
 * Vágar has three large villages: Miðvágur, Sandavágur and Sørvágur and three small ones: Gásadalur, Bøur and Vatnsoyrar. Earlier there were two more villages: Slættanes, which was abandoned in 1965 and Víkar, which was abandoned in 1910.
 * The largest is Miðvágur, which has 1,130 inhabitants. It is in the middle of the island and so has naturally become a centre, with a doctor's surgery, co-op and vicarage.
 * To the east of Miðvágur lies Sandavágur, which has a population of 958.
 * The third large village is Sørvágur, which is on the western side of the island near the airport and has 1,136 inhabitants.
 * Vágar has two other old villages: Bøur, which lies 4 kilometres (2 miles) west of Sørvágur' and has 74 inhabitants, and Gásadalur, which lies further west on the Mykinesfjørður strait and has 16 inhabitants.
 * A new village, Vatnsoyrar, which has 44 inhabitants, appeared on Vágar in 1921.
 * At the northernmost point of the island, in the upland pastures belonging to Sandavágur, lay the village of Slættanes, which was founded in 1835. It grew for a time and at its largest was home to around 70 people. The last residents left in 1964.
 * Another new village, Víkar, was founded in the upland pastures belonging to Gásadalur on the north side of the island in 1833. The area was good for farming, but the settlement was very isolated, and getting to the next village was a difficult business. The last few inhabitants moved away in 1910.

Parishes

 * Bøur (Bø)
 * Midvágur (Midvåg, Midvaag)
 * Mykines (Myggenæs)
 * Sandavágur (Sandevaag, Sandevåg)
 * Sørvágur (Sørvaag, Sørvåg)