Hvalba

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Hvalba is one of the larger villages in the Faroe Islands.

• Population: 654
• Postal code (Zip): FO 850
• Location: 61°36′7″N, 6°56′58″W
• Municipality: Hvalbiar
• Football team: Royn (Bóltfelagið Royn)

Hvalba spreads around the bottom of a deep inlet, Hvalbiarfjørður, northeast of Suðuroy.

Two tunnels connect Hvalba to its neighbouring villages. The southbound tunnel (1400 metres) leads to Trongisvágur/Tvøroyri and the northbound one (1500 meters) leads to Sandvík. In the mountains around the southbound tunnel brown coal has been extracted from deep and unpleasantly low mines since the 1770s. The coal was an important source of energy on the Faroe Islands until the end of World War II. A few miners are still extracting coal from the mines. Today there is only one coal mine left. Hvalba is located on the east side of the island but the inlet is so deep that the distance to the west coast is short. On the west coast there is a place of call that makes it possible to go fishing in small boats from both sides of the island. Hvalba is a beautiful village and the nature on the west coast is definitely worth visiting.

Pirates ravaged Hvalba, as other villages on Suðuroy, in the 17th century. In 1629 three North-African pirate ships attacked the village. When they left the village after the ravage two of the ships ran aground on some rocks and were shattered by the surf. Tradition says that more than 300 bodies washed ashore. Down by the shore there is a place called ‘Turkargravir’. Here all the bodies were buried. 30 women and children were taken away to be sold as slaves in North Africa. On the Faroe Islands a collection was organized to raise enough money to buy back the people. They did not succeed though and the people never returned to the islands.

Hvalbiarfjørður

Beach of Hvalba during a Grindadráp

Nes at Hvalba at noon

The coalmines south of Hvalba

[edit] See also

• List of towns in the Faroe Islands

[edit] External links

• Faroeislands.dk: Hvalba Images and description of all cities on the Faroe Islands.
• psp-info, Photo
• [1] Hvalba website

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