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Location of Denmark within Europe

Denmark is the smallest and southernmost of the Nordic countries. Unified in the 10th century, it is also the oldest. Located north of its only land neighbour, Germany, south-west of Sweden, and south of Norway, it is located in northern Europe. From a cultural point of view, Denmark belongs to the family of Scandinavian countries although it is not located on the Scandinavian Peninsula. The national capital is Copenhagen.

Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea. The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland, which borders Schleswig-Holstein; many islands, most notably Zealand, Funen, Vendsyssel-Thy, Lolland, and Bornholm; and hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago. Denmark has historically controlled the approach to the Baltic Sea, and those waters are also known as the Danish straits.

Denmark has been a constitutional monarchy since 1849 and is a parliamentary democracy. It became a member of the European Economic Community (now the European Union) in 1973. The Kingdom of Denmark also encompasses two off-shore territories, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, both of which enjoy wide-ranging home rule. The Danish monarchy is the oldest existing monarchy in Europe, and the national flag is the oldest state flag in continuous use.

Selected biography

Thorvald Stauning.

Thorvald August Marinus Stauning (26 October 1873 – 3 May 1942) was the first Social Democrat Prime Minister of Denmark.

Stauning was trained as a cigar sorter and soon became involved with trade union activity. From 1896 to 1908 he was leader of the Cigar Sorters' Union, in 1898-1904 also editor of the magazine Samarbejdet (Co-operation) of the Federation of Trade Unions, and elected Member of Parliament (Rigsdagen) in 1906.

In 1910 he was elected chairman of the Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokratiet), a position he retained for almost thirty years, until 1939. He became Prime Minister in 1924 - leading a minority cabinet which would survive until 1926. His cabinet was considered ground breaking not only as it was the first purely Social Democratic cabinet, but also because a woman, Nina Bang, was appointed Minister of Education, which attracted some international attention.

From 1929 he led a successful coalition cabinet with the Danish Social Liberal Party that would steer Denmark out of the Great Depression, shaping a major political compromise that greatly improved the Danish economy, and also transformed the Social Democratic Party from a class party to a popular party.


Recently selected: Nicolas Steno - Knud Rasmussen - Johan Ludvig Heiberg


Selected picture

National Seal
National Seal

Illustration from an article Fra den sidste Tid written by Erik Schiødte and published in "Tidsskrift for Kunstindustri", 1893

Selected article

Interior of a metro train in Copenhagen
Copenhagen Metro (Danish: Københavns metro) is a rapid transit serving Copenhagen, Frederiksberg and Tårnby in Denmark. The 20.5-kilometer (12.7 mi) system opened between 2002 and 2007, and has two lines, M1 and M2. The driverless light metro supplements the larger S-train rapid transit system, and is integrated with DSB local trains and Movia buses. Through the city center and west to Frederiksberg, both M1 and M2 share a common line. To the south-east the system serves Amager, with the 13.7-kilometer (8.5 mi) M1 running the new neighborhood of Ørestad, and the 14.2-kilometer (8.8 mi) M2 serves the eastern neighborhoods and Copenhagen Airport. The metro has 22 stations, of which 9 are underground. In 2009, the metro carried 50 million passengers.

Selected place

East view of Roskilde Cathedral
Roskilde is the main city in Roskilde Municipality 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 regions of Denmark located to its west. With a population of 46,701 (1 January 2010), the city is an important economic center for the region.

Roskilde has a pedestrian street running down the center of the city, with many shops, restaurants, and cafés. Several tourist attractions draw visitors from around Denmark and the world. The local university has an education program that invites international students to attend for a year.

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