Encyclopedia
The
Kingdom of Denmark is the smallest and southernmost of the
Nordic countries. Located north of
Germany , southwest of
Sweden, and south of
Norway, it is in
Scandinavia in northern
Europe, but not on the
Scandinavian Peninsula.
Denmark borders the
Baltic Sea and the
North Sea, and consists of a peninsula named
Jutland attached to Northern
Germany, the islands of
Funen ,
Zealand ,
Bornholm and many smaller islands, often referred to as the Danish
Archipelago.
Denmark is a
constitutional monarchy, one of the oldest monarchies in the world, and is part of the
European Union.
Greenland and the
Faroe Islands are crown territories of Denmark, each with political home rule. Denmark is one of the elected members of the
UN Security Council and is a leader in the "Scandinavian Model" of public services.
Etymology
The etymology of
Denmark is uncertain because there are so few old sources, and the experts have two interpretations of the name. Both groups say
-mark is a wild forest . Dan-mark means: 1. An occupied hollow in a wild forest or: 2. A forest or border owned by the Danes.
History
The earliest Danish archaeological findings date back to 130,000-110,000 BC in the
Eem interglacial period. People have continually lived in Denmark since about 12,500 BC, and
agriculture made inroads about 3,900 BC. The
Nordic Bronze Age in Denmark was marked by
burial mounds, which left an abundance of findings, including
lurs and the
Sun Chariot.
During the
Pre-Roman Iron Age , native groups began migrating south. The
Roman provinces maintained trade routes and relations with native tribes in Denmark, attested by finds of Roman coins. Evidence of strong Celtic cultural influence dates from this period in Denmark and much of northwest Europe, and is among other things reflected in the finding of the
Gundestrup cauldron., in the
Roman Iron Age .
Before the arrival of Danish settlers, who came from
Scandinavia and spoke an early form of
north Germanic, most of
Jutland and part of the islands had been vacated or partly vacated by the earlier
Jutes, the descendants of populations known to be there from sources in ancient history . A large part of the Jutes were known as the
Angles and the
Saxons. They vacated Jutland en masse to take up residence in the land now named after them,
England.
The exact origin of Denmark has been lost in history, but a short note about the
Dani in "
The Origin and Deeds of the Goths" from 551 CE by historian
Jordanes is thought to be an early mention of a
Danish people. The
Danevirke defence structures were built in several phases from the 3rd century forth, and the sheer size of the construction efforts in 737 are contributed to the emergence of a Danish king. The
new runic alphabet was first used at the same time, and
Ribe, the oldest town of Denmark, was founded about 700.
From the 8th to the 10th century, the Danes were known as
Vikings. Together with
Norwegians and
Swedes, they colonised, raided and traded in all parts of
Europe. Viking explorers first discovered
Iceland by accident in the 9th century, en route to the
Faroe Islands and eventually came across "
Vinland" also known today as
Newfoundland, in
Canada. The Vikings temporarily conquered parts of
England, known as the
Danelaw,
Ireland and
France, giving name to the French region of
Normandy. As attested by the
Jelling stones, the Danes were united and
Christianised about 965 by
Harald Bluetooth, the second recognised
king of Denmark.
Up through the
High and
Late Middle Ages, the king of Denmark ruled
Skåneland ,
Danish Estonia, as well as the duchies of
Schleswig and
Holstein in northern
Germany. In 1397, Denmark entered the
Kalmar Union with
Norway and
Sweden-Finland. It was a united Scandinavian state which kept the individual interests of the countries, and lasted until Sweden broke out in 1523. The
Protestant Reformation came to Scandinavia in 1530s, and following the Count's Feud civil war, Denmark converted to
Lutheranism in 1536. Later that year, Denmark entered a
union with Norway and its colonies.
Two and a half centuries of wars with Sweden followed. Skåneland was lost to Sweden in the
Treaty of Roskilde in 1658 and the Denmark-Norway union was dissolved by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814, when Norway entered a new union with Sweden, which lasted until 1905. Denmark kept the colonies of
Iceland,
Faroe Islands and
Greenland. Apart from the Nordic colonies, Denmark ruled over
Danish India from 1620 to 1869, the Danish Gold Coast from 1658 to 1850, and the
Danish West Indies from 1671 to 1917.
The Danish liberal and national movement gained momentum in the 1830s, and after the European Revolutions of 1848 Denmark became a
constitutional monarchy on June 5, 1849.
After the
Second War of Schleswig in 1864, Denmark was forced to cede
Schleswig-Holstein to
Prussia, in a defeat that left deep marks on the Danish national identity. After this point Denmark adopted a policy of neutrality, as a result of which Denmark stayed neutral in
World War I. After the defeat of Germany, the
Versailles powers offered to return the then-German region of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark. Fearing German irredentism, Denmark refused to consider the return of the area and insisted on a plebiscite concerning the return of Schleswig. The two Schleswig Plebiscites took place on February 10 and March 14, respectively. On July 10, 1920, after the plebiscite and the King's signature July 9 on the reunion document, Northern Schleswig was recovered by Denmark, thereby adding 163,600 inhabitants and 3,984 km². The reunion day is celebrated every year June 15 on Valdemarsdag.
Despite its continued neutrality, Denmark was invaded by
Germany , on April 9, 1940. Though accorded self-rule , Denmark remained
militarily occupied throughout
World War II. The Danish sympathy for the Allied cause was strong; 1,900 Danish police officers were arrested by the Gestapo and sent, under guard, to be interned in
Buchenwald. During the war, Iceland claimed independence and in 1948 the
Faroe Islands gained home rule. After the war, Denmark became one of the founding members of the
United Nations and
NATO and, in 1973, joined the European Economic Community . In 1979,
Greenland gained home rule.
Politics
The Kingdom of Denmark is a
constitutional monarchy, with executive power with Queen Margrethe II as head of state. This executive power is exercised on behalf of the monarch by the prime minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. The cabinet, including the prime minister, and other ministers collectively make up the government. These ministers are responsible to
Parliament, the legislative body, which is traditionally considered to be supreme .
While the monarch is
head of state and theoretically holds all executive power, it is the prime minister who is head of government. The government is answerable chiefly to
Parliament; however, ministers do not have to come from Parliament, though it is the modern day custom.
Folketinget is the national legislature of kingdom. It has the ultimate legislative authority according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, however questions over sovereignty have been brought forward because of Denmark’s entry into the European Union. In theory however, the doctrine prevails. Parliament consists of 179 members elected by proportional majority.
Parliamentary elections are held at least every four years, but it is within the powers of the prime minister to call one sooner. On a vote of no confidence the parliament may force the entire government to resign.
Administrative divisions
Denmark is divided into 13
counties , and, as of 1 January 2006, 270 municipalities . Three municipalities have county privileges—Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, and Bornholm. The coming Danish Municipal Reform will replace the counties with five new
regions and reduce the number of municipalities to 98. The new municipalities will take over most of the responsibilities of the former counties. Most of the new municipalities will have a population of at least 20,000 people. This change will take effect on 1 January 2007.
- Copenhagen '
- Frederiksberg
- Copenhagen County '
- Frederiksborg
- Roskilde
- West Zealand '
- Storstrøm
- Funen '
- South Jutland '
- Ribe
- Vejle
- Ringkjøbing
- Viborg
- North Jutland '
- Aarhus '
- Bornholm
Copenhagen County comprises the municipalities of metropolitan Copenhagen, except Copenhagen Municipality and Frederiksberg Municipality. As of 1 January 2003 Bornholm Regional Municipality comprises the five former municipalities on the island Bornholm and the island's former county. The Ertholmene islets , 40 hectares, 18 km northeast of
Bornholm do not belong to either a municipality or a county.
Greenland and the
Faroe Islands also belong to the Kingdom of Denmark, but have autonomous status and are largely self-governing, and are each represented by two seats in the parliament.
Geography
Denmark's northernmost point is
Skagens point at 57° 45' 7" northern latitude, the southernmost is Gedser point at 54° 33' 35" northern latitude, the westernmost point is
Blåvandshuk at 8° 4' 22" eastern longitude, and the easternmost point is Østerskær at 15° 11' 55" eastern longitude. This is in the archipelago Ertholmene 18 km northeast of
Bornholm. The distance from east to west is 452 km , from north to south 360 km .
Denmark consists of the
peninsula of
Jutland ' and 443 named islands. Of these, 76 are inhabited, with the largest being Zealand ' and
Funen '. The island of
Bornholm is located somewhat east of the rest of the country, in the
Baltic Sea. Many of the larger islands are connected by bridges; the Øresund Bridge connects Zealand with
Sweden, the
Great Belt Bridge connects Funen with Zealand, and the Little Belt Bridge connects Jutland with Funen.
Ferries or small aircraft connect to the smaller islands. Main cities are the capital
Copenhagen ,
Aarhus,
Aalborg and
Esbjerg and
Odense . The country is mostly flat with little elevation; the highest natural point is
Møllehøj, at 170.86 metres . Other hills in the same area southwest of Århus are Yding Skovhøj at 170.77 metres and Ejer Bavnehøj at 170.35 metres . The area of inland water is: 210 km² ; 490 km² .
Denmark is split into many islands because the country's average height above sea level is only 31 metres . This results in a long coastline, more than 7,400 km . If Denmark was formed as a perfect circle, the circumference would be only 742 km . Another feature that shows the close connection between the land and ocean is that no location in Denmark is farther from the coast than 52 km . The size of the land area of Denmark cannot be stated exactly since the ocean constantly erodes and adds material to the coastline, and because of human land reclamation projects . On the southwest coast of Jutland, the tide is between 1 and 2 metres , and the coastline moves outward and inward on a 10 km stretch.
The climate is in the temperate zone. The winters are not particularly cold with mean temperatures of around 0.5 °C and the summers are cool with mean temperature of around 16 °C. There is a lot of wind, which is stronger during the winter and weaker during the summer. Denmark has an average of 170 rainy days. The greatest rainfall comes in September, October and November.
Because of Denmark's northern location, the length of the day with
sunlight varies greatly. There are short days during the winter with sunrise coming around 8 a.m. and sunset 3:30 p.m., as well as long summer days with sunrise at 3:30 a.m. and sunset at 10 p.m. The shortest and longest days of the year are celebrated. The celebration for the shortest day is
Christmas celebrated mostly on Cristmas Eve the 24th of December. Originally, this was only about the shortest day but was later combined with
Christianity, although the old norse name for the celebration persisted. The celebration for the longest day is
Midsummer Day, which is known as Sankthansaften in Denmark, also an old Norse tradition, later adobted by Christianity .
Along with
Equatorial Guinea it is one of two countries in the world with its mainland on a
continent and its capital city on an
island.
Transnational issues
