Tórshavn is the capital of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.
The city stands on Streymoy, one of the archipelago’s main islands, and is the political, commercial, and cultural center of the Faroes. Its name refers to Thor, the Norse god of thunder, and means “Thor’s harbor.” The settlement’s history is connected with the Faroese ting, or assembly, whose traditional meeting place was on the Tinganes peninsula.
Tórshavn developed from a Viking-Age meeting and trading site into a permanent town. Today it contains the Faroese government, the Løgting parliament, national cultural institutions, and the country’s main urban services.
The city is sometimes confused with Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, another autonomous territory in the Danish Realm. Reykjavík is the capital of Iceland, while Aarhus is Denmark’s second-largest city and is not a Faroese capital.