Seafaring has long been the most popular trade, but farming and eventually tourism became the most important economic factors after the end of the Age of Sail.

The highest elevation measures 13 m above mean sea level and is located on the geestland ridge between the villages of Nieblum and Midlum.

From the ferry terminal a sandy beach of about 15 km length extends all along Föhr's southern shore and halfway up the western coast.

North and northwest of Föhr the Reserved Area I of the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park is located.

They adhere to the Amt Föhr-Amrum: A local peculiarity is that almost all place names end with the suffix -um, which means "home".

The beneficial effects of the local climate and seawater on certain medical conditions inspired the physician Carl Haeberlin (1870–1954) from Wyk to develop treatments for climatotherapy and thalassotherapy at the beginning of the 20th century.

[4] The higher geestland cores of the North Frisian islands, scattered between ample marshlands, attracted settlers when the sea level rose at the end of the Neolithic.

When the Frisians colonised the area of modern Nordfriesland during the 7th century, their first settlements were erected on Föhr, according to archaeological findings.

A rather large amount of jewellery originating from Scandinavia that was found in graves of the time points out a vivid connection to northern Europe.

[7] The Danish Census Book of King Valdemar II of Denmark tells of two Harden on Föhr, which were territorial subdivisions of the time.

[8] In 1368 the Westerharde, which also included Amrum, was transferred to the Counts of Holstein under the supervision of the knight Klaus Lembeck, bailiff of Ribe.

In the 17th century a private navigation school was established in Süderende by pastor Richardus Petri which was the first of its kind on the island.

Eschels (1757–1842) writes, however, that in his youth, learning to navigate was still unpopular among many young sailors from Föhr because it smacked of elitism.

However, when their farmsteads turned out to provide an insufficient income for a family in the mid-19th century, many people from Föhr chose to emigrate to North America.

Other factors for leaving the island were unemployment, and the mandatory Prussian military service that was introduced after the Second Schleswig War.

[14] After 1842, when King Christian VIII of Denmark chose Föhr as his summer residence, the island became popular as a tourist resort.

[17] The three hamlets of Utersum, Witsum and Hedehusum were the only ones to vote for Denmark in Zone II of the Schleswig Plebiscites in 1920; yet as they were not located directly at the border they remained within Germany.

A major part of the population in the west of the island speaks, besides German, a local idiom of the North Frisian language known as Fering or Föhring.

[19] A 19th-century author wrote that the name derived from the old ferry between Föhr and Nordmarsch, which was just a narrow crossing in the Middle Ages.

Several popular customs are kept on Föhr, such as Biikebrennen on 21 February with a great bonfire and the Tamsen (or Thamsen, named after Thomas the Apostle) on 21 December where young people play pranks on others by hiding things that can spin and turn around.

In the times when great parts of the male population on Föhr were seafarers, they would spend the winter at home on the island.

There is a museum that exhibits notable international artists such as Emil Nolde, Edvard Munch or Max Liebermann.

[25] There are also various Fering authors, among them Stine Andresen (1849–1927), who was a poet and writer from Wyk whose literature often refers to her native island.

The island is accessible by a car ferry connecting the mainland port of Dagebüll and the town of Wyk (approximately 10-12 sailings a day, crossing time approx.

First established in the 18th century, these artificial ponds provided a pastime for sea captains and ships' officers during wintertime.

Mainly the foreland north of the sea dike, but also the mud flats provide ample space for all kinds of seabirds.