Given the history around the British Isles, events such as the gift of Shetland, and the UK's various wars with Denmark, why has the UK never sought to integrate the Faroe Islands despite the many opportunities to do so?
There was the way in which Shetland was gifted to Scotland as a wedding gift/dowry/insurance and has been part of Scotland and therefore UK ever since, yet nothing similar happened to the Faroes, despite the very similar history between the two small island groups.
There have also been chances to demand the Faroes as a war prize such as the napoleonic wars where Britain was pitted against Denmark, with a peace treaty giving Norway to Sweden but allowing Denmark to keep the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland.
In modern times, the UK occupied Iceland and the Faroe Islands in WW2 after Denmark fell to Germany, but gave the Faroes back yet again, when it could have annexed the Faroes and not returned them. (Similarly with the US occupation of Greenland).
Since the Faroe Islands are almost a British Isle, Denmark and the UK having a maritime border dispute with them being that close, as well as sharing a cultural and genetic history with the British Isles, it just seems strange that there hasn't even been an attempt to bring them into the UK, for mutual benefit
Hey there,
Just to let you know, your question is fine, and we're letting it stand. However, you should be aware that questions framed as 'Why didn't X do Y' relatively often don't get an answer that meets our standards (in our experience as moderators). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it often can be difficult to prove the counterfactual: historians know much more about what happened than what might have happened. Secondly, 'why didn't X do Y' questions are sometimes phrased in an ahistorical way. It's worth remembering that people in the past couldn't see into the future, and they generally didn't have all the information we now have about their situations; things that look obvious now didn't necessarily look that way at the time.
If you end up not getting a response after a day or two, consider asking a new question focusing instead on why what happened did happen (rather than why what didn't happen didn't happen) - this kind of question is more likely to get a response in our experience. Hope this helps!