Denmark Overview

This small, flat country - the smallest and southernmost of the Nordic countries - has myriad beaches (more than 200 fly the Blue Flag), rolling landscape of open field, lush forests and dotted with thatched-roof cottages of small fishing villages and white-sand coasts.

It also has the oldest monarchy in the world and as a happy result is littered with with castles and palaces. Queen Margrethe II can trace her dynastic family line back to the Viking king, Gorm the Old. The Kingdom of Denmark also comprises Greenland and the Foroe Islands which both enjoy extensive home rule.

This is also a nation of fairytale lovers - who hasn't heard of one Hans Christian Anderson - probably due to the long winter nights that consume most of the winter day.

Today Denmark is a thoroughly modern, highly prosperous nation with so much slick architecture and eye catching modern designs, is it any wonder lego was invented here? Once a nation of Viking raiders who sailed the seas to ravage Europe, Denmark is now hailed as the standard in modern cilization where free speech is coveted and where the welfare of the people is paramount.

A BRIEF HISTORY

The Viking Age from around 850-1050, was a time when Danish, Norwegian and Swidish Vikings went on the rampage, plundering and taking new land, but also engaged in trade - especially towards the West. The Vikings who stayed at home were farmers who tended their alnd and cattle.

The Viking King, Harald Bluetooth, who died around 985, was the first Christian Danish king and he believed to have secured the realm of what we know today as Denmark. His son, Sweyn Forkbeard, conquered England in 1013.

In 1397, Queen Margrethe I of Denmark brought the kingdom of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, together in a single union - the Kalmar Union. Sweden broke away from the union in 1524 and in the 1600s Denmark also lost the provinces of Scania, Halland and Blekinge to the Swedes. in 1814, Denmark surrendered sovereignty of Norway to Sweden.

To the south, Danish kings ruled the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which were lost in the war against Prussia and Austria in 1864. Following a referendum in 1920, Northern Schleswig again became a part of Denmark.

18 June 2008