Danish

For other uses, see Denmark (disambiguation), which includes disambiguation of "Danmark."

Portal:Denmark

Denmark Portal

Kongeriget Danmark

Flag of Denmark National Emblem of Denmark

Flag National Emblem

Motto: (none)1

Anthem: Der er et Yndigt Land (national),

Kong Christian (royal)

Location of Denmark

Capital Copenhagen

55Ð'o43′ N 12Ð'o34′ E

Largest city Copenhagen

Official language(s) Danish2

Government

Queen

Prime Minister

Constitutional monarchy

Margrethe II

Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Consolidation

Prehistoric

Area

• Total

• Water (%)

43,094 kmÐ'І (131st3)

16,639 3 miÐ'І

1.6%3

Population

• 2005 est.

• (N/A) census

• Density

5,415,978 (108th3)

-

126/kmÐ'І (62nd3)

326/miÐ'І

GDP (PPP)

• Total

• Per capita 2005 estimate

$188 billion3 (43rd)

$34,7183 (8th)

HDI (2003) 0.941 (14th) вЂ" high

Currency Danish krone (DKK)

Time zone

• Summer (DST) CET3 (UTC+1)

CEST3 (UTC+2)

Internet TLD .dk3

Calling code +453

1 Motto of the Queen: Guds hjÐ"¦lp, Folkets kÐ"¦rlighed, Danmarks styrke (English: God's help, the People's love, Denmark's strength).

2 Co-official with Greenlandic in Greenland, and Faroese in the Faroe Islands. German is recognised as a protected minority language in the South Jutland area of Denmark. Danish is recognised as a protected minority language in the Schleswig-Holstein region of Germany.

3 Information for Denmark excluding the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

HankehÐ"Ñ'j, by Thomas Lundbye. A Danish down. Note the glacial character of the terrain and the kurgan, or burial mound of an early chief, in the center.

Enlarge

HankehÐ"Ñ'j, by Thomas Lundbye. A Danish down. Note the glacial character of the terrain and the kurgan, or burial mound of an early chief, in the center.

Reconstruction of a Viking ship

Enlarge

Reconstruction of a Viking ship

The Kingdom of Denmark (Danish: Kongeriget Danmark) is the geographically smallest and southernmost Nordic country in addition to being the oldest. Located north of Germany (its only land neighbour), southwest of Sweden, and south of Norway, it lies at 56Ð'o00′00вЂÑ-N, 10Ð'o00′00вЂÑ-E in Scandinavia which is 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 (Jylland) attached to Northern Germany, the islands Funen (Fyn), Zealand (SjÐ"¦lland), Bornholm (Bornholm) and many smaller islands, the waters of which are often referred to as the Danish Archipelago.

Denmark is a constitutional monarchy and is part of the European Union. Greenland and the Faroe Islands are Crown territories of Denmark, each with political home rule.

Contents

[hide]

* 1 History

o 1.1 Origins

o 1.2 Viking age

o 1.3 Modern Denmark

* 2 Politics and government

* 3 Counties

* 4 Demographics

* 5 Geography

* 6 Economy

* 7 Culture

* 8 Miscellaneous topics

* 9 See also

* 10 References

* 11 External links

[edit]

History

Main article: History of Denmark

The exact origin of Denmark has been lost in history. The oldest Danevirke is from the seventh century, appearing at the same time as the new Runic alphabet. The oldest town, Ribe, was founded around the year 700.

[edit]

Origins

The Danish settlers appearing out of a dark spot in history at 700 came from Scandinavia and spoke an early form of north Germanic. Prior to their arrival, 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 (such as Tacitus and Ptolemy).

The Jutes must have spoken an early form of North Sea Germanic, from which English