Denmark

I

Introduction

Denmark, constitutional monarchy, north-western Europe, the southernmost of the Scandinavian countries. Officially the Kingdom of Denmark (in Danish, Kongeriget Danmark), it is bordered on the north by the Skagerrak, an arm of the North Sea; on the east by the Kattegat (an extension of the Skagerrak) and the Øresund (in English, The Sound), a strait linking the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea; on the south by the Baltic Sea, the Fehmarn strait, and Schleswig-Holstein, Germany; and on the west by the North Sea. Denmark comprises most of the Jutland, or Jylland, peninsula (extending about 338 km/210 mi in a north and south direction), and more than 400 islands in the Baltic and North seas. The principal islands lie between Jutland and Sweden. Sjælland (in English, Zealand) is the largest in size, followed by Fyn (in English, Funen), Lolland, Falster, Langeland, and Møn. About 130 km (80 mi) to the east of Sjælland, in the Baltic, is the Danish island of Bornholm.

Denmark has two external territories, lying in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland. They first came under Danish administration in 1380; both are now internally self-governing. Lying far to the north-west of Jutland, between the Shetland Islands and Iceland, the Faroes, a group of 18 islands, were granted home rule in 1948. Greenland lies near the North American mainland, east of Canada; an integral part, from 1953, of the Danish monarchy, it was granted home rule in 1979. Excluding these territories, Denmark has an area of 43,094 sq km (16,639 sq mi); the Jutland peninsula comprises almost 70 per cent of the total area. The capital of Denmark is Copenhagen (in Danish, København).

II

Land and Resources

Denmark proper is a lowland area, indeed its terrain is among the flattest in the world. The average elevation is just 30 m (about 100 ft) above sea level; the highest point, Yding Skovhøj in east-central Jutland, reaches only 173 m (568 ft).

Denmark’s natural landscape has been shaped by glaciation. The North European ice sheets of the last Ice Age reached their extreme limit in the country, expressed by a terminal moraine which runs east from Nissum Fiord on the west coast of Jutland towards Viborg in the centre, where it turns southward and runs along the length of the peninsula. This moraine marks the frontier between the contrasting landscapes of western and eastern Denmark. The west is a flat area of sand and gravel deposited by glacial meltwater; the coast is rimmed by dunes and sandbars. The east, slightly higher in elevation, is an area of fertile loam plains and rolling hills; the coast is indented by a series of fiords that penetrate deep into the interior. The Limfjorden, the most northerly, extends 180 km east-west across the breadth of the peninsula from the Kattegat to join the North Sea via the Thyborøn Canal. Denmark’s main islands fall within the eastern region; they have some of the country’s most fertile soils.

A

Climate

Denmark has a temperate maritime climate with mild summers and cold, rainy winters. The mean temperature in summer is about 16° C (61° F); in winter, about 0° C (32° F). Changes in wind direction cause wide day-to-day temperature fluctuations. Average annual precipitation is about 610 mm (24 in); snowfall accounts for about 10 per cent of the total.

B

Natural Resources

In their natural state, Denmark’s soils are low in nutrients and, because of high acidity, subject to leaching. However, millennia of cultivation and fertilization have greatly improved their quality. Nearly two thirds of the total land area of Denmark is today cultivable, but otherwise the country has few natural resources. Minerals are limited; the small mining industry is based on kaolin and granite. Discoveries of oil and natural gas in the Danish sector of the North Sea in the 1970s have cut dependence on imported energy; in 2006 oil production was estimated at 120 million barrels. The fishing industry is still of great economic significance.