Denmark

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Denmark
Denmark.gif
Flag of Denmark
Capital Kopenhagen
Inhabitants 5.580.729
Language(s) Danish
Denmark.jpg

Denmark is a small kingdom in northern Europe that is almost surrounded by water. It consists of a peninsula and 482 nearby islands. The peninsula, called Jutland, shares a 68-kilometre border with Germany.

Greenland, off the northeastern coast of Canada, is a province of Denmark even though it lies 2,090 kilometres away. The Faeroe Islands, north of Scotland, are a self-governing part of the Danish kingdom. Denmark, along with Norway and Sweden, is one of the Scandinavian countries.

Once the seat of Viking raiders and later a major north European power, Denmark has evolved into a modern, prosperous nation that is participating in the political and economic integration of Europe.

So far, however, the country has opted out of some aspects of the European Union's Maastricht Treaty, including the economic and monetary system (EMU) and issues concerning certain internal affairs.

Contents

Geography

With an area of just 43,069 square kilometers (16,629 square miles), Denmark is a small, relatively flat nation encompassing the Jutland Peninsula and roughly 500 islands (100 of which are inhabited). This complex of islands makes travel somewhat like an amusement-park ride, with combinations of trains, buses, and boats coming into play any time travelers want to move from one island to the next. Jutland, the country's largest area, has a varied landscape, from the dunes and flat meadows of the east coast to the more dramatic cliffs of the west coast. It is here that Denmark is connected to Europe.

The highest hill, at 173 meters (568 feet), is Yding Skovhoj in Jutland. On Funen, northeast of Faborg, are the Svanninge Bakker, low hills that are nonetheless high enough to offer a panorama of the islands south of Funen. Denmark is an agricultural country, with three-quarters of the land devoted to farming.

As you drive across the country, you'll notice the unique farm buildings called gaards. The thatched roofs on so many of the half-cottages are uniquely Danish. They are made from rush harvested from fresh-water lakes and are expensive both to construct and to insure, but many Danes persevere, not wanting to relinquish a long-standing tradition.


History

Geographical extent

A treaty of A.D. 811 sets the southern border of Denmark at the Ejder [Eider] river. The first mention of "Danmark" is made in the 880s. At this time, Denmark certainly included Skåne [Scania]; the islands of Fyn and Sjælland [Zealand] and ancillary lesser isles; Jylland [Jutland]; Viken, Bohuslen and Halland seem to have also been considered part of Denmark. Blekinge, on the other hand, was Swedish in the 880s. Later, when the border between the kingdoms was fixed, around 1050, Blekinge, Skåne and Halland were part of Denmark.

At various intervals, parts of Denmark were sundered from the whole. From 1332 until 1360, Skåne and Blekinge were Swedish (as was Halland, in the latter part of the period). The duchy of Sønderjylland [South Jutland], later known as Slesvig [Schleswig], which existed from around 1130, became independent around 1300, as a principality in vassalage to the Danish king. From 1375, the counts of German Holsten [Holstein] held the fief, the original line (a sept of the Danish royalty) having died out. In 1460, however, the holder of the fief was the Danish king, who simultaneously became count of Holsten and Stormarn (effectively uniting the region into a single political entity, Slesvig-Holsten, the fate of which was to play an integral part in Danish history until 1920).

Population and ethnic groups

From the evidence of characteristically Danish placenames, we know that the Danes have been resident within the limits of the "original" Denmark (including Slesvig and the various parts of Skåne) for about 2000 years.

From around A.D. 1000, a migration of Frisian settlers commenced into the SW parts of Slesvig, continuing throughout the middle ages. Shortly after the beginning of the Frisian migration, a corresponding German migration into Southern Slesvig commenced, and this migration accelerated in the 12th century. By the 16th century, the region below Slesvig (the town, not the duchy) was largely Germanized, though Danish (Jutlandic) law applied.

Sporadic migrations of Wends to the southern islands, particularly Lolland, in the 12th century, were not to have any lasting effects on the ethnic composition of those regions.

The viking-era expeditions resulted in a significant emigration. The expatriate vikings kept their original language, and Danish was still spoken in Normandy at the time of William the Conqueror. The Danish domains in England (the "Danelaw") were likewise home to many Danish-speakers (as witness many present-day placenames in that region). Later periods of Danish expansion were less significant, as far as emigration was concerned.

The population as a whole is generally estimated at around 1 million in 1231, but may have declined slightly prior to the Reformation in 1536.

International position and major political events

As a major player in the struggle to establish dominance over Holstein, Saxony, and Frisia from ca. 800 on, Denmark's main opponent was the Empire of the Franks, and later Germany (the eastern remnant of the Frankish Empire). Around 808, the fortification of Dannevirke ("Danewall") was constructed across part of South Jutland, in an apparent effort to stop rapid enemy troop movements north into Jutland (a perennial Danish military concern).

During this same period, Danish vikings made significant raids and outright conquests to the west and southwest. The Danish monarchy seems to have undergone a period of flux in the 10th century, with a short-lived Swedish dynasty (891-934) at Hedeby [Haithabu] in South Jutland, and possibly a brief German rule, ending in 983. This may be the basis for the claims of the greater Jelling runestone, according to which King Harald Blåtand [Harald Bluetooth] "won all of Denmark". With Danish dominance over Norway, and with the conquest of large parts of England in 1013 and the establishment of a Danish dynasty in England, the Danish monarchy was the dominant power of the North and Baltic Seas.

The Danish monarchy in England was not destined to last, however, being supplanted in 1042 - but not before King Knud den Store [Canute the Great] had used England as the base for four major military expeditions into the Nordic countries. For a brief period (until 1066) after the dissolution of the Danish-English united monarchy, Norway, now an independent kingdom, established dominance over Denmark. In consequence hereof, the main thrust of Danish foreign policy at this time was to the north and south, keeping hostile and expansive neighbours at bay. Meanwhile, close relations to the papal court were established, and Denmark was often favoured over Germany.

A failed naval venture under King Knud den Hellige [Canute the Holy] ended Danish hopes of westward expansion, and from this period on, Germany became the main foreign policy adversary of the Danish monarchy. From 1134 until 1184, Denmark at intervals recognized the German monarch as feudal suzerain.

From 1185, a Danish expansion commenced, thrusting into Northern Germany, annexing Ditmarsken, Holsten, Lauenburg, Mecklenburg, Venden [Wagria], and Pomerania. This expansionary phase came to a close with the defeat of Valdemar II "the Victorious" at the battle of Bornhøved in 1227. Portions of the region remained on Danish hands, however; Femern [Fehmarn] continued to be Danish for some time after 1227; Rygen [Rügen] from 1169 until 1348; and Northern Estonia from 1219 until 1346.

The gradual consolidation of the monarchies in Norway and Sweden brought these nations into periodic conflict with Denmark, and the North German cities played a recurring role in the complex game of trade alliances and power plays between the Nordic states. A brief period of attempted Danish expansion in North Germany, from 1301 to 1319, under King Erik VI Menved (whose curious cognomen derives from a common oath or exclamation), failed with the death of the king.

The new king, Christoffer II, mortgaged large parts of the Danish crown lands to the counts of Holstein. In concert with the Swedish monarchy, the Holstein counts secured an uneasy control over the kingdom, from 1332-1340. The restoration of the Danish monarchy under King Valdemar IV Atterdag, which took place over a number of years (1340-1360), culminated with Valdemar's conquest of the island of Gotland, in 1361. Gotland remained in Danish hands, off and on, until 1645. This period also saw open warfare with the cities of the Hansa Alliance.

The Kalmar Treaty of 1397 (cementing a process of union that had been underway for a decade) united the three Nordic kingdoms under a single monarch, although the three nations were still separate entities, legally and structurally - a fact that was, in the long term, to prove ultimately fatal to the Union.

By 1451, the internal disputes between the monarchies of the Union had progressed to a point where peace was no longer possible. The Union Wars with Sweden began in this year, and from 1460 they were augmented by the struggles for the Duchies of Slesvig and Holsten, now being held directly by the Danish monarch.

From 1441, Denmark and the Netherlands had been working closely together on the international political arena, and this was emphasized by the marriage, in 1514, of King Christian II to a princess of the Habsburgs. The breakup of the Kalmar Union, however, was in full progress, and the violence culminated in the Bloodbath of Stockholm, in 1520, when Christian II had a number of Swedish nobles and prelates executed. The unpopularity of Christian II with his own nobility led to his ouster in 1523, which again caused political difficulties between Denmark and the Habsburg Empire, difficulties which weren't resolved until the peace of Speyer, in 1544.

The Hanseatic Alliance, though still strong at this time, was unable to stay the distance, and was severely weakened as a result of Grevefejden [The Count's Feud], the civil war from 1534-1536 that resulted in Christian III's accession to the throne.

In August of 1536, Christian III entered Copenhagen, which had surrendered after a prolonged siege, and had the Catholic bishops imprisoned. In October, he declared his sovereignty over the Church in Denmark, seized all Church lands, and Denmark converted to Lutheran Protestantism


Kings and queens of Denmark

  • 804-810: Godfred
  • 813-814: Haarik I
  • 935-950: Gorm "the Old" (den Gamle)
  • 950-986: Harald "Bluetooth" (Blåtand)
  • 986-1014: Svend "Cleftbeard" (Tveskæg)
  • 1014-1018: Harald II
  • 1019-1035: Knud "the Great" (den Store)
  • 1035-1042: Hardeknud
  • 1042-1047: Magnus "the Good" (den Gode)
  • 1047-1074: Svend II Estridsen
  • 1074-1080: Harald III "Whetstone" (Hen)
  • 1080-1086: Knud IV "the Holy" (den Hellige)
  • 1086-1095: Oluf I "Hunger"
  • 1095-1103: Erik I "the Kind" (Ejegod)
  • 1104-1134: Niels
  • 1134-1137: Erik II "the Memorable" (Emune)
  • 1137-1146: Erik III "the Lame" (Lam)
  • 1146-1157: Three simultaneous kings:
Svend II Grathe
Knud V Magnussen
Valdemar I "the Great" (den Store)
  • 1157-1182: Valdemar I "the Great" (den Store)
  • 1182-1202: Knud VI
  • 1202-1241: Valdemar II "the Victorious" (Sejr)
  • 1241-1250: Erik IV "Plowtax" (Plovpenning)
  • 1250-1252: Abel
  • 1252-1259: Christoffer I
  • 1259-1286: Erik V "Cutpenny" (Klipping)
  • 1286-1319: Erik VI Menved (transl. imp.)
  • 1320-1326: Christoffer II
  • 1326-1330: Valdemar III Eriksen
  • 1330-1332: Christoffer II (again)
  • 1332-1340: (Interregnum)
  • 1340-1375: Valdemar IV "Day Again" (Atterdag)
  • 1376-1387: Oluf II
  • 1387-1412: Margrethe I
  • 1412-1439: Erik VII "of Pomerania" (af Pommern)
  • 1440-1448: Christoffer II "of Bavaria" (af Bayern)
  • 1448-1481: Christian I
  • 1481-1513: Hans
  • 1513-1523: Christian II
  • 1523-1533: Frederik I
  • 1533-1534: (Interregnum)
  • 1534-1559: Christian III


Significant events

  • 825: First Danish coinage issued.
  • 965: Danes convert to Christianity.
  • 1171: The canon law for the island of Sjælland [Zealand], the eldest written Danish law.
  • 1200: The Gesta Danorum of Saxo.
  • 1219: Battle of Lyndanisse in Estonia - during which, according to legend, the Danish flag, Dannebrog, fell from the sky as a portent of Divine favour for Denmark.
  • 1350: First occurrences of the Black Death (plague) in Denmark.
  • 1397: Treaty of Kalmar unites Denmark, Norway and Sweden (the "Kalmar Union").
  • 1520: The "Bloodbath of Stockholm".
  • 1523: Final dissolution of the Kalmar Union.
  • 1534-36: Grevefejden (civil war).
  • 1536: The Danish Reformation.

Vikings

The word viking (Old Norse vikingr, possibly a term for "one who anchors in a cove") is a word, the significance of which is hotly debated.

Generally speaking, vikings were Nordic raiders or war parties, doing battle and undertaking raids both inside the Nordic region, and as far away as Ireland in the West, Rome and Byzantium in the South, and the Caspian Sea in the East. There seems to have been little differentiation, as far the use of the word vikingr was concerned, between a small piratical raid, with three or four ships involved, and a full-scale naval expedition with 700 or more ships.

The "viking era" is generally considered to have begun in 793, with the first major viking raid, on the monastery at Lindisfarne on the coast of England. The end of the period is more diffuse and difficult to date, but the Norman conquest of England in 1066 may fairly be described as the last of the great viking expeditions.

According to contemporary sources, a viking force of 40,000 besieged Paris (885-86), though this figure is likely to be an exaggeration.

The vikings have been greatly demonized (as well as romanticized - such attitudes have a tendency to go hand-in-hand) by later historians and storytellers. It is unfair to describe the vikings as uncultured barbarians - though they may well have seemed so to the victims of their raids.

The facts bear witness that the vikings had a vibrant and complex culture of their own, with a well-developed tradition of poetry, art and technological innovation.

The descendants of the viking-established states in Normandy and Sicily contributed significantly to the general history of Europe. William the Conqueror was a viking descendant, and his opponent, King Harold, was also an heir to this rich and varied heritage.

Culture

Danes pride themselves on being thoroughly modern, so the wearing of folk costumes, the celebration of traditional festivals and the clinging to old-fashioned customs is less prevalent in Denmark than in most other European countries. Visitors will find Danes to be relaxed, casual, not given to extremes and tolerant of different life styles. Indeed, in 1989 Denmark became the first European country to legalise same-sex marriages and offer gay partnerships the same rights as heterosexual couples.

Perhaps nothing captures the Danish perspective on life more than the concept of hygge which, roughly translated, means cosy and snug. It implies shutting out the turmoil and troubles of the outside world and striving instead for a warm intimate mood. Hygge affects how Danes approach many aspects of their personal lives, from designing their homes to their fondness for small cafes and pubs. Danes can give their host no greater compliment than to thank them for a cosy evening.


Language & Literature

The Danish language belongs to the northern branch of the Germanic language group, and bears a strong resemblance to other Scandinavian tongues. Famed Danish writers include Hans Christian Andersen, whose fairy tales have been translated into more languages than any other book except the Bible; the theologian and philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, a forerunner of modern existentialism; and Karen Blixen, who penned Out of Africa and Babette's Feast. Peter Hoeg, of Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow fame, is Denmark's most prominent contemporary author.

Cinema

Internationally, the best known Danish film director is Carl Dreyer (1889-1968). Dreyer directed numerous films, including the 1928 masterpiece La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, which was acclaimed for its rich visual textures and innovative use of close-up. Of late, Danish cinema has attracted attention with the wonderful Babette's Feast, and with the adaptation of Danish author, Martin Andersen Nexo's book Pelle the Conqueror, by director Bille August. The leading director of the new millenium is Lars von Trier, whose films Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark have received awards at the Cannes Film Festival; the latter won the Palme d'Or in 2000.

Music & Art

Carl Nielsen, Demark's greatest composer, wrote over 100 works, ranging from string quartets to opera; he is the author of the utterly charming choral work Springtime in Funen (Funen was Nielsen's birthplace); a clarinet concerto, arguably the finest of the 20th century; and six symphonies, of which the fourth, The Inextinguishable, and the fifth, with its almost neurotic drumming, being the best known. The Royal Danish Ballet, which performs in Copenhagen's Royal Theatre from autumn to spring, is regarded as northern Europe's finest.

Denmark is also a leader in industrial design, with a style marked by cool, clean lines applied to everything from architecture to furniture and silverwork.

Food & Drinks

Nothing epitomises Danish food more than smorrebrod (literally 'buttered bread'), an open-faced sandwich that ranges from very basic fare to elaborately sculpted creations. Danish food relies heavily on fish, meat and potatoes. Typical dishes include fl?skesteg (roast pork with crackling), gravad laks (cured or salted salmon marinated in dill and served with a sweet mustard sauce) and hvid labskovs (a stew made of square cuts of beef boiled with potatoes, bay leaves and pepper). The rich pastry known in most countries as 'Danish' is called wienerbrod (Vienna bread) in Denmark, and nearly every second street corner has a bakery offering a mouthwatering selection. Denmark's Carlsberg breweries produce excellent beers. The most popular spirit in Denmark is the Aalborg-produced aquavit. Beer, wine and spirits are readily available in most restaurants, cafes and grocery stores.

Christmas

The Christmas feast, in Denmark, is celebrated at midnight Christmas Eve. Everyone looks forward to dessert when a special rice pudding is served in which a single almond is hidden. Whoever finds the almond will have good luck for the coming year.

The jolly bringer of gifts is known as Julemanden and arrives in a sleigh drawn by reindeer, a sack over his back. He is assisted with his Yuletide chores by elves called Juul Nisse, who are said to live in attics. Children leave out saucers of milk or rice pudding for them and are delighted to find the food gone on Christmas morning.

Source (section Culture): lonely planet

Events

coming soon...

National holidays

  • Jan 1: New Year's Day
  • Jun 5: Constitution Day and Fathers' Day (from midday only, but also a bank holiday)
  • Dec 24: Christmas Eve
  • Dec 25: Christmas Day
  • Dec 26: 2nd Day of Christmas
  • Dec 31: New Year's Eve
  • Holy Thursday (Skær Thursday)
  • Good Friday
  • Easter Sunday
  • Easter Monday
  • Common Prayer Day (4th Friday after Easter)
  • Ascension
  • Whit Sunday (Pentecost)
  • Whit Monday

Embassies

 

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