Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Faroe Islands are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, positioned between Iceland, Norway, and the Hebrides and Shetland isles of Scotland. They sit about halfway between Iceland and Norway and form a rigsdel of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Faroe Islands have a population of 54,870 and a land area of about 1,393 square kilometres. The territory consists of 18 major islands and a total of 779 islands, islets, and skerries.
The official language is Faroese, a North Germanic language descended from Old Norse and most closely related to Icelandic. It was banned from writing for more than three centuries after the Reformation, then revived with an official orthography introduced in 1846.
No, the Faroe Islands are not part of the European Union. In 1973 they declined to join Denmark in entering the European Economic Community in order to keep control of their fishing waters, and they remain outside the EU today.
The independence referendum on the 14th of September 1946 produced a narrow majority of 50.73% in favour with a margin of only 161 votes. Denmark annulled the declaration of independence because the 481 invalid votes exceeded that margin, and King Christian X dissolved the parliament.
The grindadráp is a non-commercial, community-organised drive hunt of long-finned pilot whales in the Faroe Islands, with records dating from 1584. The long-term average catch is around 800 whales a year, and annual records of the hunts span more than 400 years.