The three
lands of Denmark historically formed the
Danish kingdomDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
from its unification and consolidation in the 9th century:
- Scania
Skåneland, or Skånelandskapen, are Swedish scientific denominations, used in historical contexts for the historical Danish land in southern Scandinavia, which as the autonomous polity Scania joined Zealand and Jutland in the formation of a Danish state in the early 800s...
(Skåneland) on the Scandinavian peninsulaThe Scandinavian Peninsula is a geographic region in northern Europe, consisting of Norway and Sweden. The name Scandinavian is derived from Scania, a region at the southernmost extremity of the peninsula. The Scandinavian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in Europe.-Geography:The Scandinavian...
, with LundLund is a city in the province of Scania, southern Sweden. The town has 76,188 inhabitants in 2005, out of a municipal total of 105,000. It is the seat of Lund Municipality, Skåne County. The city is believed to have been founded around 990, when the Scanian lands belonged to Denmark...
as a centre
- Zealand (Sjælland) and the islands south of it, with Roskilde
Roskilde is the main city in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark on the island of Zealand. It is an ancient city, dating from the Viking Age.Roskilde train station is a major stop between Copenhagen and the region of Denmark located to its west...
as a centre
- Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, forms the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish-German border to its south...
(Jylland), the western peninsula, and the island of FynProto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase Fyn is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the FYN gene.This gene is a member of the protein-tyrosine kinase oncogene family. It encodes a membrane-associated tyrosine kinase that has been implicated in the control of cell growth...
, with ViborgViborg is a town located in central Jutland, Denmark. It is the seat of both Viborg municipality and Region Midtjylland. Viborg is also the seat of the Western High Court, the High Court for the Jutland peninsula...
as a centre.
Each of the lands retained their own
thingA thing or ting was the governing assembly in Germanic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
and statute laws until late medieval time (
Scanian LawScanian law is the oldest Danish provincial law and one of the first Nordic provincial laws to be written down. It was used in the geographic region of Danish Skåneland, which at the time included Scania, Halland, Blekinge and the island of Bornholm. It was also used for a short period on the...
, Zealandic Law and Jutlandic Law).
The three
lands of Denmark historically formed the
Danish kingdomDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
from its unification and consolidation in the 9th century:
- Scania
Skåneland, or Skånelandskapen, are Swedish scientific denominations, used in historical contexts for the historical Danish land in southern Scandinavia, which as the autonomous polity Scania joined Zealand and Jutland in the formation of a Danish state in the early 800s...
(Skåneland) on the Scandinavian peninsulaThe Scandinavian Peninsula is a geographic region in northern Europe, consisting of Norway and Sweden. The name Scandinavian is derived from Scania, a region at the southernmost extremity of the peninsula. The Scandinavian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in Europe.-Geography:The Scandinavian...
, with LundLund is a city in the province of Scania, southern Sweden. The town has 76,188 inhabitants in 2005, out of a municipal total of 105,000. It is the seat of Lund Municipality, Skåne County. The city is believed to have been founded around 990, when the Scanian lands belonged to Denmark...
as a centre
- Zealand (Sjælland) and the islands south of it, with Roskilde
Roskilde is the main city in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark on the island of Zealand. It is an ancient city, dating from the Viking Age.Roskilde train station is a major stop between Copenhagen and the region of Denmark located to its west...
as a centre
- Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, forms the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish-German border to its south...
(Jylland), the western peninsula, and the island of FynProto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase Fyn is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the FYN gene.This gene is a member of the protein-tyrosine kinase oncogene family. It encodes a membrane-associated tyrosine kinase that has been implicated in the control of cell growth...
, with ViborgViborg is a town located in central Jutland, Denmark. It is the seat of both Viborg municipality and Region Midtjylland. Viborg is also the seat of the Western High Court, the High Court for the Jutland peninsula...
as a centre.
Each of the lands retained their own
thingA thing or ting was the governing assembly in Germanic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
and statute laws until late medieval time (
Scanian LawScanian law is the oldest Danish provincial law and one of the first Nordic provincial laws to be written down. It was used in the geographic region of Danish Skåneland, which at the time included Scania, Halland, Blekinge and the island of Bornholm. It was also used for a short period on the...
, Zealandic Law and Jutlandic Law). Although Denmark was a unified kingdom, the custom of rendering
homageHomage is pronounced variously as , , or . The last reflects the modern French pronunciation, although the word entered Middle English many centuries ago. In traditional usage it is analogous to praise; one properly speaks of homage or the homage, rather than a homage or an homage...
to the King at the three individual assemblies remained. A remnant is the current division of Denmark into two High Court districts, the Eastern and Western High Court.
During the early 19th century,
ZealandZealand is the largest island of Denmark . Zealand is connected to Funen by the Great Belt Bridge and to Sweden by the Oresund Bridge....
and
FynProto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase Fyn is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the FYN gene.This gene is a member of the protein-tyrosine kinase oncogene family. It encodes a membrane-associated tyrosine kinase that has been implicated in the control of cell growth...
became administratively united as
Østifterne with a provincial assembly in Roskilde.
Jutland,
The Islands and
Bornholm remains an informal subdivision still used, notably in
meteorologyMeteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century...
and public
statisticsStatistics is a branch of mathematics concerned with collecting and interpreting data. According to other definitions, it is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. Statisticians improve the quality of data with the...
.
BornholmBornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming...
is the only part to represent Scania after the rest of the region was lost to
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
in 1658.
In recent decades, the less specific division between
Eastern and
Western Denmark has also become common, for example when describing
logisticLogistics is the management of the flow of goods, information and other resources, including energy and people, between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet the requirements of consumers...
, economic and political patterns. Funen may be attributed to both the eastern and western part of the country, the border line being either the
Great BeltThe Great Belt is a strait between the main Danish islands of Zealand and Funen . Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was trafficked by the Great Belt ferries from the late 19th century until the islands were connected by the Great Belt Fixed Link in 1997–98.-Geography:The Great Belt is...
or the
Little BeltThe Little Belt is a strait between the Danish island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula.The belt is about 50km long and 800m to 28km wide, the maximum depth is approximately 75m...
.
See also
- Traditional districts of Denmark
The traditional districts of Denmark differ from the country's administrative subnational units, as their existence and extent are usually not defined by law...
- Subdivisions of Denmark
- Lands of Sweden
The lands of Sweden are three unofficial parts, essentially three collectives of provinces, in Sweden. These "lands" have no administrative function. There is not even a designation, which is commonly agreed upon, for this subdivision level...
- Regions of Norway
Norway is divided into five major regions , which consist of counties as follows:*Northern Norway **Finnmark**Troms**Nordland*Trøndelag**Nord-Trøndelag**Sør-Trøndelag*Western Norway...