Denmark
 

Overview
Country, north-central Europe.

Area: 16,640 sq mi (43,098 sq km). Its territory includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which are self-governing dependencies. Population (2007): 5,454,000. Capital: Copenhagen. The majority of the population is Danish. Language: Danish (official). Religions: Christianity (predominantly Evangelical Lutheran [official]); also Islam. Currency: Danish krone. Lying between the North and Baltic seas, Denmark occupies the Jutland peninsula and an archipelago to its east. The two largest islands, Zealand (Sjælland) and Funen (Fyn), together make up about one-fourth of the country’s total land area. With a 4,500-mi (7,300-km) coastline, Denmark has a generally temperate and often wet climate. It has a mixed economy based on services and manufacturing. It boasts one of the world’s oldest and most comprehensive social welfare systems, and its standard of living is among the highest in the world. Denmark is a constitutional monarchy. Its chief of state is the Danish monarch, and the head of government is the prime minister. Denmark was inhabited by about 12,000 bc. During the Viking period the Danes expanded their territory, and by the 11th century the Danish kingdom included parts of what are now Sweden, England, and Norway. Scandinavia was united under Danish rule from 1397 until 1523, when Sweden became independent; a series of debilitating wars with Sweden in the 17th century resulted in the Treaty of Copenhagen (1660), which established the modern Scandinavian frontiers. Denmark gained and lost various other territories, including Norway, in the 19th and 20th centuries; it went through three constitutions between 1849 and 1915 and was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1940–45. A founding member of NATO (1949), Denmark adopted its current constitution in 1953. It became a member of the European Economic Community in 1973 and of the European Union (EU) in 1993, but it negotiated exemptions from certain EU provisions in response to some Danes’ concerns regarding environmental protection and social welfare. In the early 21st century, Denmark’s handling of immigrants raised great debate, as did the publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons that many Muslims viewed as anti-Islamic.

Profile
Official name Kongeriget Danmark (Kingdom of Denmark)
Form of government constitutional monarchy with one legislative house (Folketing [179])
Chief of state Danish Monarch
Head of government Prime Minister
Capital Copenhagen
Official language Danish
Official religion Evangelical Lutheran
Monetary unit Danish krone (DKK; plural kroner)
Population estimate (2008) 5,494,000
Total area (sq mi) 16,640
Total area (sq km) 43,098
1Data in this statistical presentation nearly always exclude the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Main

country occupying the peninsula of Jutland (Jylland), which extends northward from the centre of continental western Europe, and an archipelago of more than 400 islands to the east of the peninsula. Jutland makes up more than two-thirds of the country’s total land area; the largest of the islands are Zealand (Sjælland; 2,715 square miles [7,031 square km]) and Funen (Fyn; 1,152 square miles [2,984 square km]). Along with Norway and Sweden, Denmark is a part of the northern European region known as Scandinavia. The country’s capital, Copenhagen (København), is located primarily on Zealand; the second largest city, Århus, is the major urban centre of Jutland.

Though small in territory and population, Denmark has nonetheless played a notable role in European history. In prehistoric times, Danes and other Scandinavians reconfigured European society when the Vikings undertook marauding, trading, and colonizing expeditions. During the Middle Ages, the Danish crown dominated northwestern Europe through the power of the Kalmar Union. In later centuries, shaped by geographic conditions favouring maritime industries, Denmark established trading alliances throughout northern and western Europe and beyond, particularly with Great Britain and the United States. Making an important contribution to world culture, Denmark also developed humane governmental institutions and cooperative, nonviolent approaches to problem solving.

This article covers principally the land and people of continental Denmark. However, the Kingdom of Denmark also encompasses the Faroe Islands and the island of Greenland, both located in the North Atlantic Ocean. Each area is distinctive in history, language, and culture. Home rule was granted to the Faroes in 1948 and to Greenland in 1979, though foreign policy and defense remain under Danish control.

Land
Denmark is attached directly to continental Europe at Jutland’s 42-mile (68-km) boundary with Germany. Other than this connection, all the frontiers with surrounding countries are maritime, including that with the United Kingdom to the west across the North Sea. Norway and Sweden lie to the north, separated from Denmark by sea lanes linking the North Sea to the Baltic Sea. From west to east, these passages are called the Skagerrak, the Kattegat, and The Sound (Øresund). Eastward in the Baltic Sea lies the Danish island of Bornholm.

Relief
Denmark proper is a lowland area that lies, on average, not more than 100 feet (30 metres) above sea level. The country’s highest point, reaching only 568 feet (173 metres), is Yding Forest Hill (Yding Skovhøj) in east-central Jutland.

The basic contours of the Danish landscape were shaped at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch (i.e., about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago) by the so-called Weichsel glaciation. This great glacial mass withdrew temporarily during several warmer interstadial periods, but it repeatedly returned to cover the land until it retreated to the Arctic north for the last time about 10,000 years ago. As a result, the barren layers of chalk and limestone that earlier constituted the land surface acquired a covering of soil that built up as the Weichsel retreated, forming low, hilly, and generally fertile moraines that diversify the otherwise flat landscape.

A scenic boundary representing the extreme limit reached by the Scandinavian and Baltic ice sheets runs from Nissum Fjord on the western coast of Jutland eastward toward Viborg, from there swinging sharply south down the spine of the peninsula toward Åbenrå and the German city of Flensburg, just beyond the Danish frontier. The ice front is clearly marked in the contrast between the flat western Jutland region, composed of sands and gravels strewn by meltwaters that poured west from the shrinking ice sheet, and the fertile loam plains and hills of eastern and northern Denmark, which become markedly sandier toward the prehistoric ice front. (See also Scandinavian Ice Sheet.)

In northern Jutland, where the long Lim Fjord separates the northern tip from the rest of the peninsula, there are numerous flat areas of sand and gravel, some of which became stagnant bogs. Burials and ritual deposits interred in these bogs in antiquity—especially during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age—have been recovered by archaeologists. In more recent centuries these bogs were a valued source of peat for fuel. In the 20th century they were drained to serve as grazing areas for livestock.

In places along the northern and southwestern coasts of Jutland, salt marshes were formed by the evaporation of an inland sea that existed during the late Permian Epoch (approximately 260 to 250 million years ago). Senonian chalk, deposited about 100 million years ago, is exposed in southeastern Zealand, at the base of Stevns Cliff (Stevns Klint) and Møns Cliff (Møns Klint), and at Bulbjerg, in northwestern Jutland. Younger limestone of the Danian Age (about 65 million years old) is quarried in southeastern Zealand.

On Bornholm, outcroppings reveal close affinities with geologic formations in southern Sweden. Precambrian granites more than 570 million years old—among the oldest on the Earth’s surface—are exposed across extensive areas on the northern half of the island. On the southern half, sandstone and shales of the Cambrian Period (about 540 to 490 million years ago) overlie the older granites.

Drainage
The longest river in Denmark is the Gudenå. It flows a distance of 98 miles (158 km) from its source just northwest of Tørring, in east-central Jutland, through the Silkeborg Lakes (Silkeborg Langsø) and then northeast to empty in the Randers Fjord on the east coast. There are many small lakes; the largest is Arresø on Zealand. Large lagoons have formed behind the coastal dunes in the west, such as at the Ringkøbing and Nissum fjords.

Soils
In most of Denmark the soil rests on glacially deposited gravel, sand, and clay, under which lie ancient chalk and limestone. The subterranean limestone resulted in a permeation of the soil with calcium, which diminished its value for agriculture when it was first brought under cultivation in the Neolithic Period. Through millennia of cultivation, however, the soil improved greatly, so that more than half of the land surface is excellent for farming.

Climate
Denmark experiences changeable weather because it is located in the temperate zone at the meeting point of diverse air masses from the Atlantic, the Arctic, and eastern Europe. The west coast faces the inhospitable North Sea, but the terminal section of the warm Gulf Stream (the North Atlantic Current) moderates the climate. Lakes may freeze and snow frequently falls during the cold winters, yet the mean temperature in February, the coldest month, is about 32 °F (0 °C), which is roughly 12 °F (7 °C) higher than the worldwide average for that latitude. Summers are mild, featuring episodes of cloudy weather interrupted by sunny days. The mean temperature in July, which is the warmest month, is approximately 60 °F (16 °C).

Rain falls throughout the year but is relatively light in winter and spring and greatest from late summer through autumn. The annual precipitation of approximately 25 inches (635 mm) ranges from about 32 inches (810 mm) in southwestern Jutland to about 16 inches (405 mm) in parts of the archipelago.

Plant and animal life
In prehistoric times, before fields were cleared for cultivation, much of the land was covered with a deciduous forest of oak, elm, lime (linden), and beech trees. The original forest did not survive, but highly valued areas were reforested later to break up the expanses of agricultural fields that dominate the landscape. Denmark borders the coniferous belt and has therefore been receptive to the establishment of plantations of spruce and fir, particularly in parts of Jutland where extensive wastelands of dune vegetation and heather were reclaimed for forestry. In all, about one-tenth of the land is forested.

Abundant postglacial herds of large mammals, including elks, brown bears, wild boars, and aurochs (a now extinct species of wild ox), died out under the pressures of human expansion and an intensive agricultural system. Roe deer, however, occupy the countryside in growing numbers, and large-antlered red deer can be found in the forests of Jutland. The country also is home to smaller mammals, such as hares and hedgehogs. Birds are abundant, numbering more than 300 species, of which about half breed in the country. Storks—common summer residents in the early 20th century—migrate each year from their winter home in Africa, but they are now almost extinct. Fish, particularly cod, herring, and plaice, are abundant in Danish waters and form the basis for a large fishing industry.

People
Ethnic groups
Denmark is almost entirely inhabited by ethnic Danes. Few Faroese or Greenlanders have settled in continental Denmark, despite their status as Danish citizens. Small minorities of Germans and Poles, on the other hand, have been long established and are substantially assimilated. In the early 21st century important ethnic minorities in the country included Turks, Germans, Iraqis, Swedes, Norwegians, Bosniacs (Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina), Iranians, and Somalis.

Languages
Danish, or Dansk, is the official language. It is closely related to Norwegian, with which it is mutually intelligible, especially in the written form. Although the other Scandinavian languages are close relatives, they are sufficiently different to be understood easily only by those schooled or experienced in the effort. Many educated or urban Danes have learned to speak a second language, particularly English. Turkish, Arabic, German, and other minority languages are spoken by members of the country’s various ethnic groups.

Religion
Religious freedom is an essentially unchallenged value in Denmark. Roman Catholic churches and Jewish synagogues have long existed in the larger cities, and the first mosque in the country was built in 1967. By the early 21st century Islam had become an increasingly important minority religion, and a significant number of Danes were not religious at all. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of Danes remained at least nominally members of the state church, the Evangelical Lutheran People’s Church of Denmark (folkekirken).

Lutheranism replaced Roman Catholicism as the country’s official religion in 1536, during the Reformation. In the 19th century, at a time when Danish Lutheranism had become very formal and ritualistic, a revitalization movement known as “Grundtvigianism” inspired a new sense of Christian awareness. The founder of the movement, Danish bishop N.F.S. Grundtvig, provided a philosophical, religious, and organizational basis for “educating and awakening” the impoverished peasantry. This was achieved by establishing folk high schools in which Christian belief and peasant culture were taught as a basis for creating pride in the Danish heritage. A separate revival movement also was organized within the framework of the Danish church. Known as the Home Mission (Indre Mission), it was founded by a clergyman, Vilhelm Beck, in the mid-19th century. The Home Mission survives as a contemporary evangelical expression of Lutheran Pietism, which had won converts in the 18th century. Today members of the Home Mission constitute a minority within the church; they place emphasis on the importance of individual Bible study, personal faith, and a sin-free style of living.

Settlement patterns
The vast majority of the Danish population lives in urban areas. The largest city is Copenhagen (located on the islands of Zealand and Amager), followed by Århus (in eastern Jutland), Odense (on Funen), Ålborg (in northern Jutland), and Esbjerg (in southwestern Jutland). More than one-tenth of Danes continue to inhabit rural areas, but the country’s relatively small size and its excellent transportation network mean that no farm or village is truly isolated.

Agriculturalists established a village settlement pattern early in the prehistory of Denmark. From at least the Middle Ages until the 18th century, these settlements were organized under the rules of an open-field system, the dominant feature of which was communalism. Most individual landholders were tenant farmers (fæstebønder), whose farm buildings and land belonged to the local manor house (herregård). The scattered plots of tenanted land were located in each of two or three large fields, which were farmed collectively by the tenants; therefore, it was essential that villagers agree on the nature and timing of plowing, harrowing, planting, and harvesting. Meeting at a central place in the village, family heads discussed common problems of field management and agreed on mutual responsibilities and cooperation. Each family received harvests from its own plots but worked with the others to manage the fields. They shared resources in order to assemble large wheeled plows, each drawn by six or eight horses. Livestock were grazed as a single village herd on the stubble of harvested fields. Shared decisions also were made on the use of communal facilities, such as the meadow, commons, village square, pond, and church. Danish peasants cooperated in much of what they did, and a communal spirit was the product.

The open-field system was replaced by the consolidation of fields (udskiftningen) and the purchase of farms (frikøbet) as a result of the great land reforms (de store landboreformer) put into place by reform-minded estate owners. By the beginning of the 19th century, the wheeled plow had been replaced by a lightweight plow that could be pulled by a single horse, which most farmers could afford. The bulk of the economy shifted from subsistence to commercial farming. The result was the dismantlement of the old open-field system and an end to village communalism. As small scattered plots were consolidated into larger individual holdings, some landowners moved their farmsteads away from the village to be closer to their fields, obscuring the pattern of village settlements. Subsequently, an economic shift to light industry and trade was associated with a growth in the size of towns and cities.

Demographic trends
Denmark’s population remained nearly stable during the late 20th century, but in the early 21st century it began growing slowly. As in neighbouring countries, the total fertility rate (average number of births for each childbearing woman) has been under two—below the world average—since the 1970s. The age distribution also has shifted as a consequence of this low level of fertility, with more residents of Denmark over age 60 than under age 15.

However, population losses owing to low fertility and emigration have been offset by slight increases in immigration. In the 1960s an economic expansion required more labour than the country could supply, and “guest workers” (gæstearbejdere) from such countries as Turkey, Pakistan, and Yugoslavia made their way into Denmark. Many of these workers settled permanently in the country. Later in the century, refugees from the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Somalia, and elsewhere arrived.

Within the country, movement from rural areas to cities has continued, but migration to smaller urban centres grew disproportionately in the late 20th century. Migrants to larger urban areas now commonly settle in suburban residential communities rather than in the cities as such.

Economy
Denmark supports a high standard of living—its per capita gross national product is among the highest in the world—with well-developed social services. The economy is based primarily on service industries, trade, and manufacturing; only a tiny percentage of the population is engaged in agriculture and fishing. Small enterprises are dominant.

The first of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) to do so, Denmark joined the European Economic Community (EEC; now the European Community, a component of the European Union [EU]) in 1973, at the same time as the United Kingdom, then its most important trading partner. Long-standing economic collaboration between Denmark and the other Nordic countries—including those that have not joined the EU—also continues today. Uniform commercial legislation in the Nordic countries dates to the 19th century.

In the Danish mixed welfare-state economy, private sector expenditures account for more than half of the net national income. Public expenditure is directed primarily toward health and social services, education, economic affairs, foreign affairs, and national defense. The government does not have significant commercial or industrial income.

Agriculture and fishing
Next to its well-educated labour force, the soil is still Denmark’s most important raw material. About half of the land is intensively exploited and extensively fertilized. More than half of the cultivated land is devoted to cereals, with barley and wheat accounting for a large percentage of the total grain harvest. Sugar beets are another leading crop. Oats, rye, turnips, and potatoes are grown in western Jutland, where the soil is less fertile.

Domesticated animals are an important feature of life in Denmark. Dairy cattle, pigs, and poultry are raised in great numbers to supply both the domestic and the foreign markets. Fur farming, especially of minks and foxes, is economically important as well.

At the end of the 19th century, a time of poverty and economic depression, Danish farmers survived by establishing agricultural and dairy cooperatives. Producer cooperatives were partly disbanded after 1950, however, and farms today are generally small or medium-size family-owned enterprises. Fertilization and the application of scientific animal husbandry help to maintain the viability of small farm operations. In addition, the agricultural sector is heavily subsidized by the EU.

The fishing industry remains economically important, and Denmark is among the world’s largest exporters of fish products. Herring, cod, and plaice (flatfish) account for most of the total catch; other important species include salmon and eel. Danish commercial fishing also extends into foreign waters in search of Atlantic cod, Norwegian pout, and North Sea sprat (bristling). Aquaculture accounts for a small portion of fish production.

Resources and power
Danish natural resources are limited. The country has a small mining and quarrying industry. Local boulder clays are molded and baked to make bricks and tiles. Moler (marine diatomaceous earth) is mined for use in insulating materials for the building industry, and white chalk is essential for the manufacture of cement.

During the early 1970s the economy suffered from dependence on imported petroleum for the vast majority of its energy needs. The discovery of oil and natural gas fields in the Danish sector of the North Sea later permitted self-sufficiency in this regard. The country also began using coal-fired power plants to produce most of the country’s electricity. The switch from petroleum was accompanied by economies of production: the otherwise-wasted heat that results from the production of electricity began to be used to heat water that is piped to homes and factories. By the early 21st century Denmark was exporting more electricity, oil, and gas than it was importing. (Imports included nuclear and hydroelectric power.) In addition, the Danish government had moved toward more environmentally friendly power sources. The construction of additional coal-burning power plants was banned, and some plants began using biofuels. The government also subsidized wind farms, which now provide a growing portion of the country’s electricity.

Manufacturing
Though not as important as the service sector, manufacturing still accounts for a significant portion of the gross domestic product. Large manufacturers include the food-processing industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the producers of metal products, transport equipment, and machinery. Notably, Danish concerns manufacture a substantial portion of the world’s windmills. Producers of footwear, clothing, wood and wood products, furniture, and electronic equipment also provide substantial employment. In the second half of the 20th century most of the manufacturing industry moved out of the biggest cities and into thinly populated areas, particularly in Jutland. Many plants are found in small towns.

Finance
In 1846 the first commercial bank was established in Denmark. In 1975 commercial and savings banks became equal in status, and foreign banks, which theretofore had maintained representative offices in Copenhagen, were permitted to establish full branches. All banks are under government supervision.

The national currency is the krone; though a member of the EU, Denmark has not adopted the euro, the EU’s common currency. (In a 2000 referendum 53 percent of voters rejected adoption of the euro.) The National Bank of Denmark (Danmarks Nationalbank) is responsible for issuing the currency and enjoys a special status as a self-governing institution under government supervision. Profits revert to the state treasury. The national stock exchange, established in 1861, is located in Copenhagen. In the early 21st century the exchange became part of OMX, a Nordic-Baltic common stock exchange, which was subsequently purchased by NASDAQ in 2008.

Trade
Imports of raw materials and fuel formerly were balanced largely by exports of agricultural products, supplemented by income from shipping and tourism. In the late 20th century the overseas trade pattern shifted to a major reliance on the export of industrial products, including industrial machinery, electronic equipment, and chemical products. These goods—along with fish, dairy products, meat, petroleum, and natural gas—remained important exports into the early 21st century. Denmark also has created an export market for household furniture, toys, silverware, ceramics, plastics, textiles, clothing, and other goods notable for their creative modern design.

As a member of the EU, Denmark relies heavily upon foreign trade within Europe. Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Norway are major trading partners.

Services
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the service sector dominated Denmark’s economy. A substantial portion of service jobs are in public administration, education, and health and social services. Tourism is a growing industry, but it is mostly limited to the summer months. The Tivoli park and entertainment complex and the hippie community known as Christiania—both in Copenhagen—attract large numbers of tourists. The capital city’s harbour is a major cruise port as well.

Labour and taxation
In the early 21st century the vast majority of workers were employed in public and private services, and the unemployment rate remained low. The country’s main association of employees is the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen); the principal association of employers is the Danish Confederation of Employers (Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening). Membership in unions is normally based upon the particular skills of the workers.

Public income is derived primarily from taxes on real estate, personal income, and capital as well as through customs and excise duties. The heaviest indirect tax, which goes to the national government, is the value-added tax (VAT). Denmark has one of the highest tax burdens in the world; this fact is widely accepted among Danes.

Transportation and telecommunications
An extensive road and highway system serves the country. The number of private automobiles in use rose rapidly in the decades after World War II. Bicycles, once a common mode of transport, are still popular. Cities and towns maintain bicycle lanes located parallel to roads and sidewalks.

Bus and coach routes extend throughout the country; they are organized regionally by private firms and by local government authorities. A comparatively large railroad network was established during the last half of the 19th century. In the late 1990s work began on a fully automated subway system in Copenhagen, and the first link opened in 2002.

Characteristic features of the Danish transportation system are its many bridges and harbours. Of particular importance are two bridge and tunnel systems: the Great Belt, which links Zealand with Funen (via the small island of Sprogø), and the Øresund Link, which connects Copenhagen with Malmö, Swed., across The Sound (opened 1997–98 and 2000, respectively). Several bridges also connect Funen and Jutland. Many good harbours provide favourable conditions for both domestic and international shipping.

Kastrup, near Copenhagen, is one of the busiest airports in Europe; it is a centre for international air traffic. The bridge and tunnel link across The Sound lands right by the airport, making Kastrup easily accessible for many Swedes. The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), a joint Danish-Norwegian-Swedish enterprise, flies European and intercontinental routes. SAS and smaller airlines also operate services between Copenhagen and other cities on Jutland, Bornholm, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland.

Denmark possesses a highly advanced telecommunications network that features satellite, cable, fibre-optic, and microwave radio links. In the early 21st century cell phones were far more common than traditional telephones; in fact, there was approximately one cell phone subscription for every person in the country. The rate of Internet use, though lower than the rates in other Scandinavian countries, was significantly higher than the overall European average.

Government and society
Constitutional framework
The constitution of June 5, 1953, provides for a unicameral legislature, the Folketing, with not more than 179 members (including two from the Faroe Islands and two from Greenland). The prime minister heads the government, which is composed additionally of cabinet ministers who run the various departments, such as justice, finance, and agriculture. The ceremonial head of state, the monarch, appoints the prime minister (generally the leader of the largest party or coalition in the Folketing) and the cabinet ministers in consultation with the legislature. The monarch also signs acts passed by the Folketing upon the recommendation of the cabinet sitting as the Council of State. To become law, the acts must be countersigned by at least one cabinet member. Faced with a vote of no confidence, the cabinet must resign.

In addition to establishing unicameralism, the 1953 constitution mandates popular referenda (used, for example, to secure public approval for Danish entry into the EEC, now part of the EU) and postulates the creation of an ombudsman office—the first outside Sweden, its country of origin. The Succession to the Throne Act, which accompanied the 1953 constitution, provides for female succession. This allowed the accession of Queen Margrethe II in 1972.

Local government
Before 1970, local government in Denmark was carried out by a system of county council districts, boroughs, and parishes. A reform in that year reduced the number of counties and replaced the boroughs and parishes with a system of municipalities. In 2007 a further reform replaced the counties with a small number of administrative regions, which encompass the various municipalities. Regions and municipalities are governed by elected councils.

Justice
Most criminal charges and civil disputes fall within the jurisdiction of district courts. Two High Courts hear appeals from the district courts and serve as courts of original jurisdiction in serious criminal cases, in which 12-person juries are impaneled. In some nonjury criminal cases, lay judges sit alongside professional judges and have an equal vote. The Special Court of Indictment and Revision may reopen a criminal case and order a new trial. In Copenhagen there is a Maritime and Commercial Court, which also uses lay judges. The Supreme Court sits at the apex of the legal system.

Political process
Denmark has universal adult suffrage by voluntary and secret ballot, with a voting age of 18 for both national and local elections. All voters are eligible to run for office. The voter turnout in national elections historically has been quite high. Elections are held on the basis of proportional representation, in which each political party gains seats in the Folketing in proportion to its strength among the voters. As a result, the national government often has been composed of a coalition of parties that does not enjoy a majority. Members of the Folketing are elected to a four-year term, but the prime minister may dissolve the legislature and call for new elections at any time. Despite the splintering of parties, Denmark has enjoyed stable government, with new elections on an average of once every three years.

The Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokratiet), historically the largest Danish political party, led most Danish governments from the 1930s to the early 1980s. Coalitions of nonsocialist parties headed by the Conservative People’s Party (Konservative Folkeparti) and the Liberal Party (Venstre) ruled until 1993, when the Social Democrats regained power. In 2001, however, a centre-right Liberal-Conservative coalition took the reins of government. Other prominent parties include the right-wing Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti), which expresses anti-immigration sentiments, and the left-wing Socialist People’s Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti), which at first opposed Danish membership in the EU but later modified its hard-line stance. Smaller parties and alliances also maintain seats in the legislature.

Health and welfare
Danes on the whole enjoy excellent health. Aggressive public health programs are directed against the threats of infectious diseases. Public health nurses provide free advice and assistance to mothers, which, with good nutrition and housing, has contributed to a low infant mortality rate. The vast majority of the cost of the health care system is paid for by national and local authorities and employers.

Danish citizens may choose between two primary health care options. Most Danes opt for completely free care that is provided by a general practitioner; some, however, prefer to pay a portion of their medical bills out of pocket for the privilege of choosing any family physician or specialist they wish. Additional, private health insurance also is available.

Denmark’s comprehensive social welfare system offers unemployment, disability, old-age, and survivorship benefits at virtually no charge to all Danes. According to the Danish constitution, “Any person unable to support himself or his dependants shall, where no other person is responsible for his or their maintenance, be entitled to receive public assistance.” The state welfare programs of Denmark should not be thought of as institutionalized charity, however. They are recognized both legally and in public opinion as morally just social rights that have been paid for by taxes and assessments.

Education
Education in Denmark is free, and virtually the entire adult population is literate. Nine years of school attendance for children ages 7 to 16 is compulsory. Preschool and kindergarten education is optional but available to all children.

After reaching the 9th grade, students may leave school to enter the workforce, but the majority continue their education. Some undertake vocational or training programs, while others enroll in a general upper secondary school (gymnasium) or another institution offering a higher preparatory education. While many graduates of these schools subsequently enter the workforce, many others continue on to universities or to schools and academies of university rank that specialize in technical and artistic fields. Some Danes choose to attend Danish folk high schools, which were first established in the 19th century and continue to offer nonformal educational programs to adults.

At the pinnacle of higher education are the University of Copenhagen (founded in 1479), the University of Aarhus (1928), and the University of Southern Denmark (1966), all state supported. Additional universities were established at Roskilde in 1972 and at Ålborg in 1974.

Cultural life
Daily life and social customs
Danes traditionally faced life from the security of the nuclear family, as has been true throughout Europe, but during the late 20th century, substantial changes took place. For example, marriage lost its status as an almost inevitable social institution. In earlier centuries the Danes easily tolerated sexual relations between individuals who were engaged to be married, and it was not uncommon for marriage to take place after a baby was born—although it was considered immoral and unacceptable not to marry eventually. By the early 21st century, however, cohabitation without the formalities of engagement and wedding was quite common, and nearly half of all live births took place out of wedlock. Consistent with the decline of contracted marriages, the incidence of divorce also rose. In addition, in 1989 Denmark became the first country to establish registered partnerships for same-sex couples, which offered the same rights and duties as marriage.

The arts and sciences
Although Denmark is a small country, Danes have contributed much to the growth of world civilization, particularly in the humanities. In the late 12th–early 13th centuries Saxo Grammaticus wrote the first major book of Danish history, Gesta Danorum (“Story of the Danes”), Denmark’s first contribution to world literature. Rasmus Rask (1787–1832) founded comparative philology, while N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783–1872) founded a theological movement and was a pioneer in education. Søren Kierkegaard (1813–55) helped to shape existentialist philosophy. Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770?–1844) achieved renown as a sculptor in a Neoclassical style, and Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) composed classical music of international fame. Jørn Utzon won world recognition as the architect of the Sydney Opera House (completed 1973) in Australia. In motion pictures, the director Carl Theodor Dreyer (1889–1968) became known for his distinctive style, while a number of Danish filmmakers won international renown in the late 20th and early 21st centuries—notably Bille August and Lars von Trier. In the realm of Danish literature, Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) authored fairy tales that are known throughout the world, and Karen Christence Dinesen, Baroness Blixen-Finecke (1885–1962), achieved world acclaim writing under the name of Isak Dinesen. The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to the novelist Henrik Pontoppidan (1857–1943) in 1917 and to Johannes V. Jensen (1873–1950), whose works included the novel The Long Journey, in 1944.

Many Danes have expanded scientific knowledge as well. Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) was a major figure in the early telescopic exploration of the universe; Thomas Bartholin (1616–80) was the first anatomist to describe the human lymphatic system; Nicolaus Steno (1638–86) was instrumental in the establishment of geology as a science; Ole Rømer (1644–1710) demonstrated that light travels at a determinable speed; Caspar Thomeson Bartholin, Jr. (1655–1738), discovered the ductus sublingualis major and the glandula vestibularis major, both of which bear his name as Bartholin’s duct and gland; and Hans Christian Ørsted (1777–1851) discovered electromagnetism. In the 20th century, Niels Ryberg Finsen (1860–1904) won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on the medical uses of ultraviolet rays, and Johannes Fibiger (1867–1928) won the same award for his research on cancer; Valdemar Poulsen (1869–1942) developed a device for generating radio waves; Niels Bohr (1885–1962) won the Nobel Prize for Physics for his achievements in quantum physics, and the same prize was later won by his son, Aage N. Bohr; Henrik Dam (1895–1976) won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of vitamin K; and Jens C. Skou (1918– ) won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his discovery of an enzyme that maintains sodium and potassium levels in the cells of animals.

Cultural institutions
The first Danish-speaking theatre was opened in Copenhagen in 1722; it was followed in 1748 by the Royal Theatre (Det Kongelige Teater), which remained under court patronage for a century. In 1848 it was taken over by the state, and it is now administered by the Danish Ministry of Culture. Besides a relatively large number of classical and modern Danish plays, the repertoire includes much that is current in Britain, the United States, Germany, and France.

A resident ballet company, which also performs in the Royal Theatre, was founded in the 18th century. Only through a young generation of dancers in the style of choreographer August Bournonville (1805–79) did it become internationally acclaimed as the Royal Danish Ballet.

Denmark supports a number of symphony orchestras; two of the more important are the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Orchestra. Musicians and singers are trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and other conservatories and at the Opera Academy. Several important music festivals take place in the country; among them are the Roskilde Festival of rock music, the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, and the Tønder Festival of folk music.

The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts was established in 1754. It produced the 19th-century sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen and, in the 20th century, the sculptor Robert Jacobsen and the architects Arne Jacobsen and Henning Larsen. Famous craft concerns include the firm of silversmith Georg Jensen, the Royal Copenhagen and Bing and Grøndahl porcelain manufacturers, Holmegaard Glassworks, and the furniture manufacturer Fritz Hansens Eftf.

Sports and recreation
The pursuit of sport became popular after defeat in the Danish-Prussian War of 1863–64 as Danes turned to an interest in small arms and physical training. Soon every part of Denmark had established shooting, gymnastics, and athletic clubs. Rowing was organized at a national level as early as 1886. Football (soccer) was introduced to Denmark by British engineers who came to design the railroad system in the 1870s. Football became an organized sport when the Copenhagen Ball Club was established in 1876, and it remains an extremely popular national sport.

The country has competed in every Olympic Games except the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Mo., U.S. Danish athletes have won Olympic gold medals in such events as canoeing, shooting, swimming, rowing, cycling, and handball. During the 1936 Games 12-year-old Inge Sørensen became the youngest athlete to win an Olympic medal in an individual event when she won a bronze in the 200-metre breaststroke competition. Yachtsman Paul Elvstrøm gained distinction for winning Olympic gold medals in four consecutive Games (1948–60).

These and many other sports appeal to Danes, particularly in the summer months. In addition, Danes and foreign tourists alike often pay visits to the many well-tended parks, forests, and beaches that honeycomb the country. Of particular note are the Baltic Sea resorts on Bornholm, which offer visitors a lively mix of recreational activities such as cycling and kayaking as well as glimpses at Denmark’s past.

Media and publishing
The publicly held Danish Broadcasting Corporation offers Danish programming on several radio stations and television channels. The owners of radios and televisions pay a license fee, which finances public broadcasting operations. Several commercial television channels, most available via cable or satellite, and a large number of local and commercial radio stations also operate in the country. In addition, in most parts of Denmark it is possible to receive strong radio signals from neighbouring countries, particularly Sweden in the north and Germany in the south.

Complete freedom of the press is guaranteed under the constitution. Dozens of newspapers under private ownership are published throughout the country. Many were once associated with political parties, but now the majority of newspapers are independent. Among the largest dailies are Ekstra Bladet, BT, Berlingske Tidende, and Politiken. Free, advertising-funded newspapers have gained importance since the turn of the 21st century.

Robert T. Anderson
Stanley Victor Anderson
Hans Folke

History
The history of the people of Denmark, like that of all humankind, can be divided into prehistoric and historic eras. Sufficient written historical sources for Danish history do not become available before the establishment of medieval church institutions, notably monasteries, where monks recorded orally transmitted stories from the Viking era and earlier times. To be sure, there are older documents, such as the Roman historian Tacitus’s Germania, as well as northern European church documents from the 9th and 10th centuries, but these give only incomplete information and nothing about the earliest periods. However, the work of archaeologists and other specialists, especially those of the 19th and 20th centuries, has revealed a good deal about the lives of the earliest peoples of what is now Denmark.

Prehistoric and Viking-era Denmark
Earliest inhabitants
By about 12,000 bc, as the climate warmed and the great glaciers of the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago) were receding, the first nomadic hunters moved into what is now Denmark, bringing tools and weapons of the Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age) with them. Shell mounds (refuse heaps also known as kitchen middens) reveal the gradual development of a nomadic hunter-gatherer society, whose tools and weapons continued to progress in sophistication and complexity. Beginning in the 4th millennium bc, during the Neolithic Period (New Stone Age), a peasant culture emerged in Denmark as the people living there further developed their stone tools, began keeping livestock, and adopted agriculture. Those first farmers began to clear land in the forests for fields and villages, and after about 3500 bc they built large, common, megalithic graves. By about 2800 bc a single-grave culture emerged, but whether this shift indicates a change in local custom or another group moving into the area is not clear. In the last phase of the Stone Age in Denmark, the so-called Dagger period (c. 2400–1700 bc), flint working reached its apogee with the production of technical masterpieces, including daggers and spearheads modeled after metal weapons that were being imported at the time.

The growing wealth of the region, particularly of the elite portion of society, in the Bronze Age (c. 1700–500 bc) is illustrated by the fine metalworking skills seen in the spiral decorations on the bronzes of the period—notably the famous Late Bronze Age lurs (long curved, metal horns, often found in pairs), created about 1000–800 bc. During the same period, increasingly varied and improved tools, such as the bronze sickle, enabled better exploitation of cultivated areas. It was also during the Bronze Age that woolen cloth began to be produced in Denmark. (Sheep raised prior to this period were used for their milk and their meat rather than for their wool.)

After 500 bc, bronze was gradually replaced by iron, and a more complex village society developed in a landscape of bogs, meadows, and woods with large clearings. Iron Age farm buildings, generally smaller than those of the Bronze Age, appear to have been moved every generation or so, and the empty plots were then cultivated. That buildings might be reerected on former plots suggests that the population remained in a given area. Objects of great value, as well as people, continued to be laid as offerings in the bogs. The so-called Tollund Man, the well-preserved body of an Iron Age man found in 1950 in a bog near Silkeborg, Den., is probably the most famous of these discoveries. Along with evidence of human offerings, there are indications that slavery was practiced during this period.

More-or-less-fixed trading connections were established with the Romans during the Iron Age, and by about ad 200 the first runic inscription appeared—likely inspired by the Etruscan alphabet of northern Italy and possibly also influenced by the Latin alphabet. The Late Iron Age (c. 400–800) appears to have been a time of decline and unrest, and, in the 6th century, bubonic plague raged. Toward the very end of the Iron Age, the first trading towns appeared at Hedeby (near what is now Schleswig, Ger.) and Ribe.

The Viking era
Viking society, which had developed by the 9th century, included the peoples that lived in what are now Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and, from the 10th century, Iceland. In the beginning, political power was relatively diffused, but it eventually became centralized in the respective Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish kingdoms—a process that helped to bring about the end of the Viking era. Although a lot more is known about Viking society than about the earlier peoples in Denmark, the society was not a literate one, runic inscriptions notwithstanding. Some information about the era has thus been gleaned from the Vikings’ apparently rich oral tradition, portions of which were later recorded in poems such as Beowulf and in sagas such as Heimskringla.

The Vikings were superb shipbuilders and sailors. Although they are thought of primarily as raiders, they also engaged in a great deal of trade. In both capacities they traveled widely along routes that stretched from Greenland and North America in the west to Novgorod (now in Russia), Kiev (now in Ukraine), and Constantinople (now Istanbul, Tur.) in the east, as well as from north of the Arctic Circle south to the Mediterranean Sea. The Viking trade routes, especially those along the Russian river system, linked northern Europe to both the Arab trading network and the Byzantine Empire. The major goods moving east were slaves, furs, and amber while those traveling west included precious metals, jewels, textiles, and glassware. Danes, for the most part, occupied the centre of this system; they generally traveled west to England and south along the coast of France and the Iberian Peninsula.

In addition to raiding and trading, Vikings established settlements, which at first may have served mainly as winter quarters while abroad. The Danes moved primarily to the eastern part of England that came to be called the Danelaw; this region stretched from the River Thames north through what became known as Yorkshire. It appears that a good number of Scandinavian women accompanied their men to England and also settled there. The other major area of Danish Viking settlement was in Normandy, France. In 911 the Viking leader Rollo became the first duke of Normandy, as a vassal of Charles III of France. While the nationality of Rollo is in dispute—some sources say Norwegian and others say Danish—there is no question that most of his followers were Danes, many from the Danelaw area. Unlike the Danes in England, Rollo’s men did not bring many Viking women to France; most of the warriors married local women, resulting in a mixed Danish-Celtic culture in Normandy (see also Celt).

In the midst of the Viking era, in the first half of the 10th century, the kingdom of Denmark coalesced in Jutland (Jylland) under King Gorm the Old. Gorm’s son and successor, Harald I (Bluetooth), claimed to have unified Denmark, conquered Norway, and Christianized the Danes. His accomplishments are inscribed in runic on a huge gravestone at Jelling, one of the so-called Jelling stones. Harald’s conquest of Norway was short-lived, however, and his son Sweyn I (Forkbeard) was forced to rewin the country. Sweyn also exhausted England in annual raids and was finally accepted as king of that country, but he died shortly thereafter. Sweyn’s son Canute I (the Great) reconquered Norway, which had been lost around the time of Sweyn’s death in 1014, and forged an Anglo-Danish kingdom that lasted until his own death in 1035. Various contenders fought for the throne of England and held it for short periods until the question of the succession was settled in 1066 by one of Rollo’s descendants, William I (the Conqueror), who led the Norman forces to victory over the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold II, at the Battle of Hastings (see Norman Conquest).

Throughout the Viking period, Danish social structures evolved. Society was likely divided into three main groups: the elite, free men and women, and thralls (slaves). Over time, differences among members of the elite increased, and by the end of the period the concept of royalty had emerged, the status of the elite was becoming inheritable, and the gap between the elite and the free peasantry had widened. Slavery did not last past the Middle Ages.

There has been much debate among scholars about the role and status of Viking women. Though the society was clearly patriarchal, women could initiate divorce and own property, and some exceptional women assumed leadership roles in their home communities. Women also played important economic roles, as in the production of woolen cloth.

While no clear line can be drawn, the Viking era had ended by the middle of the 11th century. Many have credited the Christianization of the Scandinavians with bringing about the end of Viking depredations, but the centralization of temporal power also contributed significantly to the decline of the Vikings. Canute the Great, for example, gathered relatively large armies under his control rather than allowing small warrior bands to join him at will—as was the Viking tradition. In fact, Canute and other Nordic kings—behaving more like feudal overlords than mere head warriors—worked to inhibit the formation of independent warrior bands in the Scandinavian homelands. The increasing power of the Mongols on the Eurasian Steppe also affected the Vikings’ dominance. As the Mongols moved farther west, they closed the Vikings’ eastern river routes, which southern and central European merchants increasingly replaced with overland and Mediterranean routes. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that the Christian church shaped the emerging society and culture of medieval Denmark and of Scandinavia as a whole.

Medieval Denmark
The High Middle Ages
During the course of what historians have called the High Middle Ages, beginning about the 11th century, the political, social, and economic structures that scholars have associated with medieval European society came to Denmark, as well as to the rest of Viking Scandinavia. By the end of the 13th century, the systems now known as feudalism and manorialism framed many people’s lives, and the Christian church had become firmly established. However, defining the powers of the country’s rulers was fraught with difficulties. The ensuing battles for the throne, as well as struggles for power between the nobles and the king, would persist for centuries. Defining the kingdom’s borders presented problems as well, and Danish kings were forced to defend their territory against various outside forces.

The monarchy
Sweyn II Estridsen (reigned 1047–74?) was on the throne during the transition from Viking to feudal society. When he took power, the royal succession was largely in the hands of the things, or local assemblies of freemen, which also legislated on various issues. Five of Sweyn’s sons succeeded each other on the throne: Harald Hén (ruled 1074–80), Canute IV (the Holy; 1080–86), Oluf Hunger (1086–95), Erik Ejegod (1095–1103), and Niels (1104–34). Their reigns were marked by conflict over the extent of the king’s power, and both Canute and Niels were assassinated. By 1146 civil war had divided the kingdom between three contenders.

After protracted struggles, one of these contenders, Valdemar I (the Great), was acknowledged as the sole king in 1157. Valdemar initially recognized Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) as his overlord but later rejected the relationship, thereby emphasizing the independence of the Danish kingdom. Valdemar’s reign (1157–82) was followed by those of several other strong rulers, including that of his son Valdemar II (the Victorious; 1202–41). During Valdemar II’s reign, two essential works appeared: a code of law and the Jordebog (“Land Book”), a cadastre, or land register. In addition, a parliament, the hof, was established by the high prelates and aristocrats as a check against royal misuse of power; it met at short intervals and also functioned as the highest court. After Valdemar II’s death, peace and stability disintegrated. Power disputes culminated in two instances of regicide: King Erik IV (Plowpenny) was murdered in 1250 and King Erik V (Glipping, or Klipping) in 1286.

During the reign of Erik V, in 1282, the nobility succeeded in formally limiting the king’s power. A charter between the great Danish lords and the king recognized the power of the lords in exchange for their support of the monarch. It forbade the king from imprisoning nobles purely on suspicion and also forced the king to call an annual meeting of the hof. This document (the haandfaestning) may be viewed as Denmark’s first constitution—albeit, like the Magna Carta in England, a feudal not a democratic one. Indeed, the charter resulted in a loss of power for the peasantry and the local things.

The kingdom
With one notable exception, establishing the frontiers of the Danish realm had proved to be much easier than determining the extent of the king’s power. The inclusion of various islands within the Danish kingdom was fairly straightforward. In the southern Scandinavian Peninsula, in what is now the southern tip of Sweden, Denmark’s territory also encompassed the regions of Skåne, Halland, and Blekinge; these remained part of the Danish kingdom until their loss to Sweden in the 17th century.

In the peninsula of Jutland, however, the placement of the kingdom’s southern border remained problematic until the current boundary was drawn in 1920. At issue was whether the regions of Schleswig (Slesvig) and Holstein (Holsten) should be part of Denmark or of the constellation of German states. To be sure, there was the Danewirk, a rampart in southern Jutland begun in about 808 to protect Denmark from German incursions, but the Danish-German border seldom coincided with this wall. The problem was complicated by two other factors. Because of their importance, not least militarily, the rulers of Schleswig and Holstein, powerful nobles and often members of the Danish royal family, competed for control within Denmark. In addition, the relationship of the Danish king and the rulers of Schleswig and Holstein to the rulers of the German states and especially to the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, left the issue of sovereignty of the southern parts of Jutland unclear.

Beyond these core areas of the kingdom—Jutland, the Danish islands, and the southern Scandinavian Peninsula—other areas also came under the Danish crown in the High Middle Ages. During this period the Danes’ Viking-era orientation toward the North Sea and Norway shifted east and south. Strong rulers in both England and Norway, as well as other interests, forced the attention of the Danes toward the Baltic Sea in particular.

In the early 11th century the Wends, pagan Slavic tribes who lived along the Baltic east of the Elbe River, increasingly attacked merchant shipping in the sea and among the southern Danish islands. Not until the 12th-century campaigns of Valdemar I, combined with the often competing, sometimes cooperating efforts of the Saxons from west of the Elbe, were the Wends Christianized and the piracy and raiding stopped. Although Valdemar claimed Danish hegemony over Wendish lands, Saxon settlers, not Danish ones, moved into the area.

Valdemar I’s sons continued his eastern policy and conquered north German lands in the western Baltic region, such as Holstein, part of Mecklenburg, and Pomerania. Competing with various German rulers and the Teutonic Order for converts and territory, the Danes also sent missionaries along the trade route from Schleswig to Novgorod.

Valdemar II turned his attention farther east. In 1219 he took his army on what was designated as a crusade to what is now Estonia, where the Danes besieged and captured Tallinn and converted many to Christianity. But again, Germans rather than Danes moved into the area—making the Danish hold tenuous. In 1225, after Valdemar had been taken prisoner by one of his north German vassals, he promised to give up all the conquered areas except Estonia and the island of Rügen. A final attempt to win back the lost areas led to his decisive defeat in 1227, and the Danish empire in the western Baltic came to an end.

The church
The establishment of the Christian church in Denmark went hand in hand with the consolidation of royal power and the determining of the Danish frontiers. Under German auspices, a few bishoprics subordinate to the archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen had been established in Danish territory as early as the 10th century (see also Hamburg; Bremen). In the 11th century Sweyn II worked with the church to strengthen royal authority. During his reign Denmark was divided into eight bishoprics under the archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen: Schleswig, Ribe, Århus, Viborg, Vendsyssel (part of Vendsyssel-Thy), Odense, Roskilde, and Lund (now in Sweden). In 1103, however, the pope established Lund as the seat of a new, Nordic archbishop—thus liberating the church in Denmark from the influences of German prelates.

Subsequently, a great Romanesque cathedral was built in Lund, and a church-building program began in earnest. Small wooden churches had existed in Denmark since the introduction of Christianity, but during the course of the 12th century hundreds of stone and brick churches were constructed. The monastery system came to Denmark during this period as well. Most of the first monasteries were connected to a cathedral. The Cistercians founded their first monastery in 1144 in Skåne. Later in the 12th century the Cistercians founded great monasteries at Esrum and Sorø in Zealand (Sjælland) and at Løgum in southern Jutland. In addition, the Cistercians founded three houses for women before 1200, in the bishopric of Roskilde, in Slangerup in northern Zealand, and in Bergen on the island of Rügen (then under the Danish crown and now part of Germany).

A number of notable individuals oversaw the church in Denmark during this era. Eskil became archbishop of Lund in 1138 and as such oversaw the completion of the cathedral; it was also at his behest that the first Cistercians came north. Absalon, bishop of Roskilde from 1134, wrote the church law of Zealand in 1171 and then in 1177 became archbishop of Lund. Absalon also was a key advocate of the Valdemar dynasty. He ruled as coregent during Canute VI’s minority (1170–82) and helped lead Denmark’s expansionist campaigns. Aside from serving as a royal adviser, he was the patron of Saxo Grammaticus, who wrote Gesta Danorum, the first important work on the history of Denmark. These men and others were responsible for the basic structures of the Danish church that endured until the 16th-century Reformation and, in some measure, beyond.

The church in Denmark eventually amassed significant wealth and power. By the end of the 13th century, the crown and the church controlled the vast majority of land in the realm. The church derived a huge income from its lands and farms and drew still greater revenues from the tithes on the entire grain production of the country—one-third going to the bishops, one-third to the parish churches, and one-third to the parish priests.

In the early days, the objectives of church and crown were in alignment. High-level offices such as abbots and bishops were usually held by the younger sons of nobles, appointed by the Danish king or the pope, and there was seldom enough agreement among bishops in order to confront royal power effectively. Occasionally, however, the administrative apparatus of the church came into competition with the government’s, and during the latter half of the 13th century, contention between church and state increased sharply. Three serious confrontations ultimately took place.

The first one began during the reign of Erik IV (1241–50), who disagreed with the pope’s installation of Jakob Erlandsen as bishop of Roskilde. The conflict lasted through the reign of Christopher I (1252–59) and Erlandsen’s appointment as archbishop of Lund. Christopher’s imprisonment of the prelate caused several German rulers to attack Denmark, and in the ensuing war the king died.

The second great confrontation between church and state, which took place in the late 13th century, highlights the conflicting sacred and secular duties of the bishops. The root of the conflict lay in Archbishop Jens Grand’s refusal to meet his feudal military obligations: instead of supporting the king, the archbishop had sided with several outlawed magnates who were raiding the Danish coasts. The king, Erik VI (Menved), jailed the archbishop, who subsequently escaped and took his case to the papal court. In 1303 Erik reached a settlement with the pope, who decided in favour of the archbishop but moved him to Riga (now in Latvia).

The third conflict began in the early 14th century, when a new archbishop, Esger Juul, who had been appointed jointly by the king and the pope to the see in Lund, issued bulls against the king for the return of properties lost during the fight with Jens Grand. Ultimately, Juul lost his backing from the other Danish bishops, and in 1317 he fled to Hammershus, a castle on the island of Bornholm, and filed suit in the papal court. King Christopher II eventually reached a settlement with Juul out of court.

Thereafter, relations between church and state remained relatively calm until the Reformation. Not only was the papal position weaker, but the king’s role in appointing high church officials grew stronger. By the mid-14th century the Danish government essentially chose Denmark’s bishops.

The Late Middle Ages
Declining royal power and Holstein rule
The battle between nobles and kings largely defined late medieval politics. Following the murder of King Erik V in 1286, the guardians of Erik’s heir, Erik VI, still a minor, consolidated their power around the young prince and established a nearly absolutist regime. Upon reaching his majority, the king became involved in military adventures abroad, particularly in northern Germany, and by his death in 1319 the country was deeply in debt.

The childless Erik VI was succeeded by his brother, Christopher II, who was forced by the nobles to sign a strict coronation charter; he was also the first king to accept the hof as a permanent institution. He did not abide by the charter, however, and was driven into exile after a battle with the magnates and the count of Holstein.

By this point the kingdom’s creditors, mostly great lords from Denmark and the north German states, had acquired significant power. From 1326 to 1330 the young duke of South Jutland, Valdemar, ruled under the regency of the count of Holstein. Christopher II returned to the throne during 1330–32, but during his reign the kingdom was split by a peasant uprising, church discord, and the struggle with Holstein, which received almost all of the country in pawn.

After the death of Christopher in 1332, no new king was chosen. The counts of Holstein ruled the country until 1340, when Gerhard of Holstein, to speed up tax collection, moved his army into Jutland, where he was murdered. Christopher’s son then ascended the throne as Valdemar IV Atterdag.

Reunion under Valdemar IV
The new king married the sister of the duke of South Jutland, who gave the northern quarter of North Jutland as her dowry; he began his reign with the reunion of Denmark as his first priority. By selling Estonia (1346) and collecting extra taxes, he reclaimed some of the pawned areas and brought others back through negotiations or force of arms. In 1360 he conquered Skåne, which had come under Swedish rule, and, a year later, the Swedish island of Gotland. Denmark was thus reunited.

Royal power was strengthened during Valdemar IV’s reign. The king succeeded in quelling a series of revolts by leading magnates, and at a hof in 1360, a “great national peace” was agreed between the monarch and the people. The hof was replaced by the Rigsråd (Council of the Realm)—a national council of the archbishop, the bishops, and the lensmænd (vassals) from the main castles—and the king’s Retterting (Court of Law) became the supreme court. Valdemar also attacked major economic problems: after the Black Death pandemic in 1350, he confiscated ownerless estates and regained royal estates that had been lost during the interregnum; additionally, the army was reorganized.

Valdemar’s war on Gotland and the fall of the island’s wealthy town of Visby brought him into conflict with Sweden and the Hanseatic League, a powerful organization of mostly north German trading towns, which declared war on Denmark. In 1367 the league, the princes of Mecklenburg and Holstein, and some of the Jutland magnates attacked Valdemar at sea and on land. The king went to Germany to find allies in the rear of his powerful German enemies and succeeded in obtaining a rather favourable peace treaty at Stralsund in 1370, which gave the Hanseatic League trading rights in Denmark and pawned parts of Skåne to the league for 15 years. Valdemar returned home and continued his work of stabilizing the crown’s hold on the country until he died in 1375.

Margaret I and the Kalmar Union
Valdemar’s heirs brought the kingdom to its medieval apogee. His youngest and only surviving child, Margaret I (Margrethe I), had married a prince of Sweden, Haakon VI Magnusson, then king of Norway. Their son Olaf (Oluf) was chosen as king of Denmark in 1376. Margaret, as guardian and regent, followed a policy of peace abroad and strengthening the crown internally. In 1380, when Haakon died, Olaf, still a minor, was chosen as king of Norway as well. This brought not only Norway but also Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland under the Danish crown. Margaret also pushed Olaf’s claim to the Swedish throne, as he was last in the male line of Swedish kings. Before she could win the crown for him, however, Olaf died in 1387. Margaret was soon acknowledged as regent in Denmark and Norway, and rebellious Swedish nobles, dissatisfied with the rule of Albert of Mecklenburg, hailed her as regent in Sweden as well. War between the supporters of Margaret and Albert continued until 1398, when Albert’s forces finally surrendered Stockholm to Margaret.

Margaret’s rule was predicated on her control of the succession, and so she had adopted her great-nephew Erik of Pomerania. In 1397 at Kalmar, Swed., Margaret oversaw the coronation of Erik as king of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden—thus establishing the Kalmar Union of the three Scandinavian states. Although Erik, known as Erik VII in Danish history, was the titular king, Margaret retained actual power until her death in 1412.

The policies of Erik VII and the subsequent rulers of the Kalmar Union aimed to consolidate and hold together this rather disparate collection of territory. In 1434 a rebellion broke out in Sweden, and the spirit of revolt spread to the king’s enemies in Denmark and Norway. He was deposed in 1439 by the Danish and Swedish councils of the realm and in 1442 by Norway. The joint crown was offered to Erik’s nephew Christopher III, but his reign did little to strengthen the union, which was temporarily dissolved after his death in 1448. Christian I, founder of the Oldenburg dynasty, succeeded to the Danish and Norwegian thrones, but efforts to bring Sweden back into the union were only intermittently successful, and when Christian died in 1481, he did not rule that country. He was succeeded by his son John (Hans), whose coronation charter of 1483 acknowledged him as king of all three countries, but he actually held the Swedish throne only from 1497 to 1501.

Swedish revolts continued into the reign of Christian II, who succeeded his father, John, as king of Denmark and Norway in 1513. After defeating the army of the Swedish regent in 1520, Christian was crowned king of Sweden. Following his coronation, he executed more than 80 opponents of his regime in what became known as the Stockholm Bloodbath. Outrage over the massacre encouraged a final rebellion by the Swedes, who declared independence in 1523—marking a permanent end to the Kalmar Union. Opposition to the king grew in Denmark as well; the nobles of Jutland deposed him that year and drove him into exile. The Danish and Norwegian crowns then passed to Christian’s uncle, Frederick I.

Late medieval society
During the Late Middle Ages the Danish people became more sharply divided into social classes. The nobility in particular developed the characteristics of a caste. Prior to the 15th century any Dane could become a noble, provided he could render military services to the king at his own expense, particularly by providing a prescribed number of men-at-arms. In return, he was exempted from all taxes. From the 15th century, however, he had to show that his forefathers had enjoyed tax exemptions for at least three generations. In addition, the king sought to assume the right to issue titles of nobility. These measures helped to limit the number of nobles in the kingdom. During the 15th century the nobility comprised 264 families, but this number fell to 230 in 1500 and to 140 (including at most 3,000 persons) in 1650; the Gyldenstjerne and Rosenkrantz families (whose names are commemorated in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet) were among the most important.

Agriculture remained the principal industry. The cultivated land, apart from about 1,000 manors, consisted of about 80,000 farms, clustered together in groups of 5 to 20 as villages. These were managed by peasant farmers in common, whether they held their farms as freeholds or as copyholds. In 1500 about 12,000 peasants owned farms, about 18,000 were copyholding peasants on crown lands, and about 30,000 were copyhold tenants of lands belonging to the church or the nobles.

The peasantry suffered a decline during the Late Middle Ages. Such factors as the outbreak of plague in the mid-14th century, the expropriation of peasant lands, and the migration of young people from farms to towns led to a shortage of labour and a drop in agricultural production. A significant number of peasant farms and even whole villages were abandoned. The nobles—especially on Zealand, Funen (Fyn), and the smaller islands—responded to the crisis by establishing vornedskab, an institution that, like serfdom, tied peasant men and women to the estate of their birth.

Meanwhile, under the Kalmar Union, Danish towns prospered, and the influence of the burghers, or townspeople, grew. By 1500 there were approximately 80 towns, most of them fortified but all of them small; Copenhagen had at most 10,000 inhabitants. A monopoly on internal trade granted by King Erik VII improved the economic position of the burghers, and many German merchants took out citizenship in the towns in order to compete.

 

Reformation and war
King Frederick I reigned during the early years of the Reformation, the religious revolution that resulted in the establishment of Protestantism as a major branch of Christianity. Frederick had promised Denmark’s Roman Catholic bishops that he would fight heresy, but he in fact invited Lutheran preachers to the country, most probably to expand royal power at the expense of the church. After Frederick died in 1533, the bishops and other members of the predominantly Catholic Rigsråd postponed the election of a new king; they feared that the obvious candidate, Frederick’s son Prince Christian (later King Christian III), if chosen, would immediately introduce Lutheranism. They tried unsuccessfully to sponsor his younger brother Hans.

Civil war broke out in 1534, when the mayors of Malmö (now in Sweden) and Copenhagen accepted help from the north German city of Lübeck, an important member of the Hanseatic League. The Lübeckers, under the pretext of restoring the exiled Christian II, hoped to regain their declining mercantile supremacy and take control of The Sound, the strait between Zealand and Skåne that was controlled by Denmark. The landing of Lübeck troops, led by Count Christopher of Oldenburg, in Zealand in the summer of 1534 roused the Jutland nobility as well as the Catholic bishops, who came out in favour of Christian III. The leader of Christian III’s forces, Johan Rantzau, duke of Holstein and a Lutheran, subdued a revolt of the Jutland peasants and then moved across Funen and Zealand to besiege Copenhagen, Count Christopher’s last holdout. Finally, in the summer of 1536, Copenhagen capitulated, ending the so-called Count’s War.

Following the war, to consolidate his position as king, Christian III arrested the Catholic bishops and confiscated all church property. The latter act brought vast estates to the crown, though in the following years many were sold or given to creditors to reduce the government’s debts. In October 1536 the Danish Lutheran Church was established. The following year, new bishops, all of the burgher class, were appointed. They had little political influence, however, as bishops no longer sat in the Rigsråd. The organization of the new state church was finalized in 1539.

The Rigsråd, now made up only of members of the high nobility, soon asserted itself. The coronation charter that it negotiated with Christian III differed only slightly from earlier ones with regard to its constitutional power and the privileges of the nobility. In accordance with the king’s wish to make the throne fully hereditary, the charter named Prince Frederick (later Frederick II) as his father’s successor and provided that a Danish prince should always be chosen as king. The latter provision, however, was omitted in Frederick II’s charter. The Rigsråd thus suffered no permanent loss of elective power.

The central government of Denmark was decisively strengthened by the Count’s War, primarily by the elimination of the church as an independent and occasionally competing administrative structure, as well as by the expropriation of church assets. The further development of a central administrative apparatus, which included a chancery and a new finance department (the Rentekammer), also bolstered the strength of the state. The power of the nobility grew as well: membership in the Rigsråd and most leadership positions in the new administrative structures were reserved for nobles, and many new royal manors and estates were created. Although the merchants of Copenhagen and Malmö had fought Christian III, they nonetheless favoured a strong central government that would protect their interests in the Baltic trade. The centralization of power that took place during Christian’s peaceful reign prepared the way for the establishment of absolutism a century later.

Denmark’s central government remained strong during the reign of Frederick II (1559–88). Frederick aimed to reinstate the Kalmar Union, and in 1563 he was able to convince the Rigsråd to agree to a war with Sweden (Norway was still part of the Danish kingdom). At the conclusion of the so-called Seven Years’ War of the North, however, Sweden remained independent, and Denmark was left deeply in debt. The strain on public finances was relieved partly through heavier taxation but mainly through a duty charged on shipping in The Sound, an important passage for the growing trade in the Baltic. Originally a fixed fee per ship, the duty later became a fee based on tonnage; it was at the king’s own disposal, out of reach of the council. The process of collecting taxes and duties led to a more efficient financial administration. Meanwhile, Frederick focused his military policies on the navy and on establishing Danish dominance of the Baltic.

Upon the death of Frederick II in 1588, his son Christian IV succeeded to the throne at the age of 10. An aristocratic regency, headed by the aging chancellor Niels Kaas, governed the country and educated the future ruler for seven years. The first half of Christian’s personal reign was in every respect a success, marked by the dynamic king’s many initiatives: establishing trading companies, acquiring overseas possessions, investing in a colony in India at Tranquebar, founding new towns, and erecting monumental buildings in the capital and elsewhere. A particularly important focus of his foreign policy was to secure Danish control of the Baltic. When Sweden began expanding its influence into the sea, Christian reacted by intervening in the Thirty Years’ War; in addition to securing a broad sphere of interest in Germany as a counterweight to Swedish expansion, he also wished to strengthen the position of Protestantism. After disastrous battle losses and a devastating occupation of Jutland by German Catholics, the Danes signed a separate peace with the Holy Roman Empire in 1629. Despite this reversal, the king’s national government, public administration, jurisdiction, and promotion of business and new industries had great importance for Denmark’s future.

Christian IV has been regarded as Denmark’s Renaissance ruler as well as one of the greatest Danish monarchs; he was a central figure in later drama, poetry, and art. In reality, however, the military catastrophes of his reign weakened the position of the monarchy, so the high nobility of the Rigsråd decided to curtail the power of his son and successor, Frederick III (1648–70).

In 1657, as part of the First Northern War, hostilities with Sweden broke out again. In the exceptionally cold winter of 1657–58, the Swedish king Charles X Gustav attacked Jutland from the south and marched his troops to Zealand over the frozen sounds of Funen, after which the Danes signed the humiliating Treaty of Roskilde (1658). That summer Charles again invaded Denmark. Copenhagen, assisted by the Dutch, held out against the Swedes and defeated them in February 1659, but the war continued until 1660. The resulting Treaty of Copenhagen, imposed on Denmark by the great powers of Europe, led to the permanent loss of Halland, Skåne, and Blekinge to Sweden.

Danish absolutism
The military debacles of the second half of the 17th century were seen as proof that the nobles were unable to handle the central government; their refusal to pay taxes also angered the crown. Exploiting the situation, the king’s councillors drafted a new law that eliminated the special political privileges of the nobility and proclaimed the crown fully inheritable, thus giving the king de facto absolute power. This inheritance law—along with the secret King’s Law of 1665, among the most absolutist of all European expressions of absolutism—remained in force until 1848 with only minor modifications.

Absolutist Denmark was governed by a bureaucracy that continued to rely on political leaders from the class of great landowners, although wealth, not noble birth, now gave increased access to this class. The government in Copenhagen consisted of colleges—i.e., the chancelleries; the treasury college (descended from the old Rentekammer); and colleges for war, the navy, and, some years later, commerce. All major decisions were made by a secret council consisting of the leaders of the colleges, who could easily influence the king. Local administration remained largely unchanged after 1660, but the government took pains to curtail the military power of the new county governors (amtmænd).

During this period the crown further reduced its properties through sales to its bourgeois creditors, who thus joined the ranks of the large landowners. The state compensated for the loss of income from former crown lands by increasing taxes on the value of peasant land, though the nobles still paid the taxes for the peasants on their estates. Assessments of land values based both on area and on productivity were first made in 1662, and by 1688 surveyors had completed a nationwide register that served as the basis of taxation in both Denmark and Norway until the 19th century. The legal system was overhauled and regularized as well, and already in 1661 a supreme court, with jurisdiction over the entire kingdom, had replaced the old system whereby the king and the Rigsråd heard legal appeals. Each part of the country had had its own law codes, but under Christian V, who succeeded Frederick III, his father, in 1670, national law was codified.

The 18th century
Foreign policy
The 18th century brought a measure of balance in Denmark’s foreign relations. The Second Northern War (Great Northern War; 1700–21) demonstrated that, even with alliances, Denmark had no hope of recapturing the territories lost to Sweden in the preceding century. Sweden, moreover, no longer had the strength to invade Denmark from the south in alliance with the dukes of Schleswig or Holstein. King Frederick IV (1699–1730) decided on a foreign policy of keeping a balance of power in the north and safeguarding communications between Denmark and Norway. This necessitated alliances with Russia and the Netherlands and, from time to time, France. This policy succeeded for the rest of the 18th century, probably because of the common European need for free access to the Baltic. Finally, in the 1770s, the Gottorp lands in Schleswig and Holstein were brought under the rule of the Danish crown.

During the 18th century, Denmark-Norway acquired an important merchant marine and a navy. Freedom of the seas had become a vital issue and a difficult problem, complicated especially by the export of Norwegian timber to Great Britain. During wars in the middle of the century, Denmark-Norway had to bow to the British claim of ruling the waves. In 1780, during the American Revolution (1775–83), the Danish foreign minister Andreas Peter, greve (count) af Bernstorff, negotiated an armed neutrality treaty with Russia, the Netherlands, and Sweden, whose King Gustav III had married a Danish princess. However, because Norwegian export interests would have been threatened if Britain had considered these treaties hostile, Bernstorff also concluded a special treaty with Britain, much to the annoyance of Russia. The French revolutionary wars led Denmark and Sweden to extend the treaty in 1794, but Danish neutrality did not last much longer. After 1800 it became impossible for Denmark to maintain its access to world shipping lanes unimpeded, its efforts to placate the British notwithstanding.

The economy and agricultural reforms
In the 18th century, Denmark, poor in natural resources except for its soil, nonetheless made important economic gains in international trade and agriculture. No important industries, on the other hand, developed during this period.

Following mercantilist theory, the government supported trade, particularly shipping, to the benefit of Copenhagen merchants. Denmark, however, lacked the political strength to exploit the strategic position of Copenhagen. In the 1730s eastern Norway was made an outlet for Danish grain, but the grain was inferior and normally could not compete with Baltic grain on the western European markets. Besides grain, oxen, and meat, Denmark had very little else to export, so transit trade predominated.

At the beginning of the century, Danish agriculture, like peasant agriculture elsewhere in Europe, was not very productive. Some 300 landlords controlled 800 to 900 estates—about 90 percent of the arable land. Danish landlords, like all European elites, wanted to participate in the generally rising standard of living. To do so, they needed to increase the incomes from their estates. A price depression beginning in the 1720s enabled the landlords to use their position to pressure the peasants further by increasing the corvée (obligatory work owed by peasants to their landlords) to an average of three days a week and by eliminating villages and turning peasants into landless cottars who worked the lord’s own farmland. While some peasants, especially in western and northern Jutland, continued to own their farms, the vast majority held their farms as copyholds on an estate. So landlords could better control their labour, it became law for male peasants between 4 and 40 years of age to remain on the estate of their birth, unless they had the landlord’s permission to move or they had served six years in the army or navy. Because conscription was controlled by the landlord, he could threaten a young peasant with at least six years of military service if he did not accept a copyhold farm or cottage. Peasants had no right to demand a contract when they took over a holding, nor could they demand payment for improvements they might have made on the holding when the copyhold expired, usually at the death or bankruptcy of the peasant. Each landlord also had the right of petty jurisdiction on his estate. Under this system, despite the changes, productivity remained low. Nevertheless, except for the hog and cattle raisers of Jutland, the estates were the only farms to produce an exportable surplus of agricultural goods.

During the course of the century, influenced by the writings of the French physiocrats, who believed that the wealth of a country came from agriculture, not trade, and by the experiences of Dutch farmers, a reform movement took root and flourished in the kingdom. In 1755 freedom of the press regarding economic and agricultural issues led to a lively debate. It became clear that if agriculture were to become productive, both technical changes—i.e., better tools, farming methods, seed, and stock—and social changes would be necessary. Technical change could occur fairly easily on land under the control of one person, but it was quite difficult in areas of joint tillage. As a consequence, agricultural improvements came first to the estates and then to the glebes (church farmlands) of enlightened Lutheran pastors, although they were not unknown in the peasant villages.

In 1759 some of the first enclosures were instituted—i.e., all the land belonging to one farm was enclosed by a more-or-less-permanent fence, hedge, or stone wall—and the peasants’ corvée was replaced by a monetary payment. Elsewhere similar experiments were carried out by reform-minded landlords, many of them nobles. In 1769 the Royal Danish Agricultural Society was founded to encourage and disseminate information about technical improvements in a number of fields, including agriculture.

The land reform movement reached its apogee between the years 1784 and 1797. Danish politics of those years were led by the foreign minister Bernstorff; Christian Ditlev, Greve (count) Reventlow; and Ernst Schimmelmann, all from the landlord class. The politics were also led by the Norwegian jurist Christian Colbjørnsen and the crown prince Frederick (later King Frederick VI), whose father, King Christian VII, was incapable of ruling. Between 1784 and 1788 the Great Agricultural Commission studied the Danish agricultural situation, and its recommendations led to a number of sweeping reforms. Its recognition of the importance of peasant ownership of land led to the availability of low-interest, government-backed loans as well as to a law ending adscription (the tying of the peasants to the estate of their birth). The work of the commission also stimulated a relatively rapid enclosure of farmland in Denmark. Between 1790 and 1814 all but a few villages were surveyed for enclosure, and the majority of the farms became freeholds. (The remaining copyholds were converted later in the 19th century.) Landlords were compensated for the rights they lost, and, together with the new landowning farmers, they were assured a stable labour force by strict legislation of the small tenant farmers.

The land reforms were possible because of a continuous rise in grain prices between 1750 and 1815 and because the politicians of 1784 had carried out successful reforms on their own estates. These leaders also had an insight into the benefits of a mild inflation and a liberal allocation of state credit, with which they guided the transition to peasant landownership. The land reforms ultimately led to an effective agricultural sector that delivered high-quality products for domestic use and for export.

The 19th century
The Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath
The Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century ended an era of peace for Denmark and Norway that had lasted since the 1720s. The armed neutrality treaty of 1794 between Denmark and Sweden, which Russia and Prussia joined in 1800, was considered hostile by Great Britain. In 1801 British navy ships entered The Sound and destroyed much of the Danish fleet in a battle in the Copenhagen harbour. When the British fleet next proceeded to threaten the Swedish naval port of Karlskrona, Russia started negotiations with Britain. The result was a compromise, which Sweden was forced to adopt in 1802. While the Danish policy of armed neutrality had failed, Denmark nevertheless managed to keep out of the wars until 1807 and to profit from trade with the belligerents.

The Treaty of Tilsit (1807) between France and Russia worsened the situation. In 1805 France had lost its fleet to the British at the Battle of Trafalgar. The British thus feared that the continental powers might force Denmark to join them so that the Danish navy could be used to invade Britain. To eliminate this threat, the British resorted not to diplomacy but to force. In August 1807 British troops invaded and occupied Zealand; in September British ships bombarded Copenhagen with grenades and incendiary bombs, destroying three-fourths of the city and killing thousands. Denmark, not prepared for war, was forced to capitulate, and the British expropriated the Danish fleet.

On Oct. 31, 1807, Denmark joined the continental alliance against Britain. In response, Britain blockaded the sea route connecting Denmark and Norway. Grain shipments from Denmark to Norway stopped, and Norwegian exports could not get out. Britain somewhat relaxed its blockade after 1810, but the years of isolation, economic crisis, and hunger in Norway nevertheless convinced leading groups there of the necessity of Norwegian independence.

In 1813 Sweden, which had become an ally of Britain, attacked Denmark from the south, through Schleswig-Holstein. Hostilities between the two countries were ended on Jan. 14, 1814, by the Treaty of Kiel, but Denmark was forced to cede Norway to Sweden. (However, Denmark maintained its rule of the old Norwegian dependencies of Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland.) Unhappy at the prospect of Swedish rule, leading Norwegians assembled at the Norwegian village of Eidsvoll, where they adopted a constitution and elected the Danish crown prince and governor of Norway, Christian Frederick (later Christian VIII), to the Norwegian throne. Sweden promptly attacked Norway, however, and Christian Frederick stepped down. Compelled to accept Swedish rule, Norway could not fully implement the Eidsvoll constitution until 1905, when it finally gained independence.

The Napoleonic Wars proved to be economically catastrophic for Denmark. Trade had been seriously affected, and the widespread overseas connections that formerly had played so large a part in the economic life of Denmark could not be resumed. Copenhagen had been devastated, and its role as an international financial and trading centre was soon taken over by Hamburg. Inflation further contributed to the economic crisis. In 1813 the state was forced to make a formal declaration of bankruptcy.

Denmark’s considerable economic problems were worsened by low grain prices across Europe. The loss of Norway and the high import duties on grain that Great Britain imposed at this time deprived Denmark of its surest markets for grain export. The agricultural crisis resulted in the compulsory auctioning of many estates and farms; it also brought the implementation of agrarian reforms to a complete standstill.

It was not until 1818, when an independent national bank with the sole right to issue banknotes was established, that economic stability became possible. From 1830, economic life decidedly took a turn for the better. Prices for agricultural goods improved, and the earlier land reforms were beginning to show results. In fact, the 1830s saw a significant expansion in the agricultural sector of the economy.

The liberal movement
Denmark’s government under Frederick VI (1808–39) can be described as a patriarchal autocracy. In the Privy Council, which was regularly convened after 1814, Poul Christian Stemann became the leading figure and was responsible for the government’s strongly conservative policies until 1848. His close colleague Anders Sandøe Ørsted pleaded for a somewhat more liberal policy, at least on economic questions.

After the July Revolution (1830) in France, leading men, particularly wealthy merchants and professionals, demanded a liberal constitution. The government was forced to make concessions, and in 1834 consultative assemblies were established in the kingdom as well as in Schleswig and Holstein. Being composed only of wealthy men, however, these were not representative bodies, and their function was only advisory. As the liberal movement grew in strength, especially in the academic world and among the middle classes, the liberal press, whose leading journal was Fædrelandet (“The Fatherland”; established in 1834), subjected the monarchy and its conservative administration to severe criticism. When the popular Frederick VI died in 1839, the liberals had great hopes for his successor, Christian VIII, who, during his youth as governor in Norway, had appeared as the spokesman for liberal politics. Over the years, however, Christian VIII had become much more conservative and, as king of Denmark, did not consider the time ripe to moderate the absolute monarchy. He confined himself, therefore, to modernizing the administration, especially between 1837 and 1841, through a program of establishing local government and granting some independence to parishes and counties.

As the liberals gained a political voice, so did the farmers. The farmers’ movement started as a religious one, but it soon became dominated by social and political ideas, with agitators such as Jens Andersen Hansen leading the way. When the government intervened, the liberals and the farmers joined forces against the common adversary. In 1846 the farmers’ case received further support when a group of liberal reformers led by Anton Frederik Tscherning founded the Society of the Friends of the Farmer (Bondevennernes Selskab), which later developed into the Liberal Party (Venstre; “Left”).

After the death of Christian VIII in January 1848 and under the influence of the Revolutions of 1848 in France, Germany, and elsewhere, the new king, Frederick VII (1848–63), installed the so-called March Cabinet, in which Orla Lehmann and Ditlev Gothard Monrad, leaders of the newly formed National Liberal Party, were given seats. After a constituent assembly had been summoned, the absolute monarchy was abolished; it was replaced by the so-called June constitution of June 5, 1849. Together with the king and his ministers, there was now also a parliament with two chambers: the Folketing and the Landsting. Both were elected by popular vote, but seats in the Landsting had a relatively high property-owning qualification. The parliament shared legislative power with the king and the cabinet, while the courts independently exercised judicial power. The constitution also secured the freedom of the press, religious freedom, and the right to hold meetings and form associations.

The Schleswig-Holstein question
Alongside liberalism, nationalism was another important movement in 19th-century Denmark. National feelings were particularly inflamed by the Schleswig-Holstein question. After the loss of Norway in 1814, the Danish monarchy consisted of three main parts: the kingdom of Denmark, Schleswig, and Holstein, the last of which was a member of the German Confederation. Whereas Holstein was German, Schleswig was linguistically and culturally divided between a Danish and a German population. When the liberal German-speaking population in Schleswig opposed autocratic rule and demanded a free constitution as well as affiliation with Holstein and the German Confederation, the emerging Danish National Liberal movement called for Schleswig to be incorporated into Denmark. This demand came to be called the Eider Program, named for the Eider River, which formed the southern boundary of Schleswig.

When the National Liberal government officially adopted this policy in 1848, the people of Schleswig and Holstein resorted to arms, with Prussia supplying military aid. Although the Danish army defeated the rebels in 1851, subsequent agreements in 1851 and 1852, supported by the great powers of Europe, compelled Denmark to take no measures to tie Schleswig any closer to itself than Holstein was. The Eider Program was thus abandoned; the June constitution of 1849 applied only to Denmark, not to either of the duchies.

The National Liberal government was succeeded in 1852 by the Conservative (Højre; “Right”) government under Christian Albrecht Bluhme. Nevertheless, the influence of Pan-Scandinavianism and the German Confederation’s constant interference in constitutional matters in Schleswig and Holstein caused the Eider Program to win ground once again. The replacement of the Conservative government in 1857 by a moderate National Liberal government, led by Carl Christian Hall, further revived the program. In 1863, in the belief that Prussia was preoccupied with a Polish rebellion against Russia and in expectation of support from Sweden, the Danish government separated Holstein from the rest of the kingdom and applied a constitution to both Denmark and Schleswig. This “November constitution” effectively meant that Schleswig was annexed to Denmark, in contravention of the agreements of 1851 and 1852.

Under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck, Prussia reacted immediately: in February 1864, war broke out between Denmark on one side and Prussia and Austria on the other. After the Danish defeat at Dybbøl, in Schleswig, and the consequent occupation of the whole of Jutland, Denmark was forced by the Treaty of Vienna in October to surrender almost all of Schleswig and Holstein to Prussia and Austria.

The Right and the Left
Denmark’s defeat in 1864 led to the fall of the National Liberal government. Under Christian IX (1863–1906) a Conservative government was appointed, and in 1866 a new constitution was adopted. It introduced electoral rules that gave weighted votes to great landowners and civil servants, thus securing the distinctly conservative leaning of the Landsting. By 1870 the National Liberals had merged with the Conservatives to form the Right (Højre) Party.

To counter Højre, several groups that represented farmers combined in 1870 to form the United Left (Forenede Venstre), which in 1872 secured a majority in the Folketing. The Left demanded a return to the June constitution of 1849 as well as a number of other reforms, such as making the government responsible to the parliament instead of to the king. The Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokratiet), which actually fell further left than the Left on the political spectrum, formed in the 1870s as well.

However, with Jacob Brønnum Scavenius Estrup, a member of Højre and a great landowner, as prime minister (1875–94), a strictly conservative policy was pursued. Despite the opposing parliamentary majority in the Folketing, the government, with a majority in the Landsting, forced its conservative policies through by means of provisory laws and with support from the king. The result was that all reforms came to a standstill. The crisis was not resolved until 1894, when a compromise between the Left and the Right was reached, at which time Estrup himself left the government. The Left’s demand for parliamentary democracy was not granted until the 1901 election, however, when the Left Reform Party (Venstrereformparti), an offshoot of the Left, came to power and what has become known in Denmark as the “Change of System” was introduced.

Meanwhile, particularly after Germany emerged from the Franco-German War of 1870–71 as a powerful unified state, Danish foreign policy was developed along neutral lines. Yet the Right and the Left strongly disagreed on how Danish neutrality should be carried out. The Conservatives demanded a strong defense policy while, within the Left itself, the most radical viewpoint was held by Viggo Hørup, who advocated complete disarmament.

The increasing popularity of the Left and the formation of the Social Democratic Party occurred in the context of great economic and social changes. Industrial production began in the capital and in some of the major towns in the provinces, and, in the last quarter of the 19th century, the percentage of the population living in urban areas increased dramatically. The first rail line was built in 1847; in the late 1860s the government took over railroad building, and, by the end of the 1870s, the trunk lines had been completed. The rapid development of harbours, steamships, and foreign trade facilitated the importation of raw materials needed for industry, especially coal and iron. There also was a steady stream of foreign capital into Denmark. By the end of the century, trade unions and employers’ associations had spread across the kingdom. As industry grew, agriculture evolved as well. The implementation of the reforms of the 18th century resumed, and new reforms were adopted. As world grain prices dropped beginning in the 1860s, Danish farmers increasingly shifted to the production of dairy products and meat. The organization of cooperative dairies, starting in 1882, made it possible for even smallholders to produce for export. Eventually cooperative slaughterhouses also were established. By the end of the century, a significant percentage of the butter and bacon consumed in England came from Denmark.

The comparative sophistication and flexibility of Danish farmers in assessing and responding to the market was grounded in several factors, especially the folk high schools, open to both men and women, that were established in the 19th century. Such education made it possible for farmers to use more effectively the technical information made available through the Royal Agricultural Association.

Michael I.A. Linton
Christian Nokkentved


 

The 20th century
Parliamentary democracy and war, c. 1900–45
The Left Reform government that came to power under the Change of System in 1901 went swiftly to work on a number of reforms. Parliamentary supremacy, requiring the king to appoint a parliament-approved government, began in that year. A free-trade law that corresponded to the agricultural export interests was passed. In conformity with the ideas of N.F.S. Grundtvig, the state church was transformed into a folk church, with parochial church councils; the educational system was also democratized. In addition, the reformers changed the tax law so that income, not land, was the main criterion for taxation.

Despite the victory over the Conservatives, it soon became apparent that it was impossible for the Left Reformers, led by Jens Christian Christensen, to remain united. In 1905 a radical faction broke away to become the Radical Left Party (Radikale Venstre), the most important members of which were Peter Rochegune Munch and Ove Rode.

Between 1913 and 1920 the Radicals, supported by the Social Democrats, were in power. In 1915 the constitution was revised, and the privileged franchise to the Landsting was revoked, although the electoral qualifying age of 35 was retained. At the same time, the franchise to both the Folketing and the Landsting was extended to women, servants, and farmhands. The right-wing majority in the Landsting agreed to the constitutional reform on condition that the single-member constituency be replaced by proportional representation. There followed a number of reforms, including trial by jury and a land reform bill that aimed to redistribute land from large estates to increase the size of smallholders’ farms.

In the years leading up to World War I, it became increasingly important to define Germany’s intended attitude toward Denmark in the event of a European conflict. The Germans were well aware that the Schleswig affair had left a good many Danes with a loathing for everything German, and the constant friction between the Danish minority and the German administration in Schleswig increased the tension between the two countries. Danish governments after 1901 made persistent efforts to assure Germany of Denmark’s benevolent neutrality, but the disagreement over this policy’s implementation remained unreconciled. At the outbreak of war in 1914, Germany insisted that Denmark lay mines in the Great Belt, a strait between several Danish islands that connects the Baltic Sea with an arm of the North Sea. However, as the British fleet made no serious attempts to break through, neutrality was maintained.

World War I gave Denmark and other neutral countries good export markets in the belligerent countries, but the conflict also led to a shortage of supplies. With a widespread overseas trade, the country’s economic life was vulnerable. It became especially so in 1917, after Germany opted for unrestricted submarine warfare. (Some of Denmark’s exports to Great Britain were thereby reoriented to Germany.) There was a deficit of raw materials in both agriculture and industry, and the government rationed a number of consumer goods.

The Treaty of Versailles, signed at the end of the war, included a clause stating that part of Schleswig should revert to Denmark in accordance with the principle of self-determination. The boundary was determined by a plebiscite in 1920. The discontent that nonetheless arose as a consequence of the drawing of the boundary, coupled with labour unrest and dissatisfaction with remaining wartime restrictions, led to the fall of the government in the same year. A Left government, supported by the Conservatives, then came to power.

In 1924 the Social Democrats, under Thorvald Stauning, formed a minority government with support from the Radicals. This was the first working-class government in Denmark. The cabinet included the historian Nina Bang as the minister of education; she was the first woman to serve as a minister in a democratically elected Danish government. The years 1926 to 1929 saw the Left, supported by the Conservatives, in power again; however, the Social Democrats scored another victory at the polls in 1929, and a coalition government under Stauning was formed with the Radical Party.

Critical economic conditions, including the periodic high unemployment rate that followed World War I, were a recurring problem for the governments of the 1920s. In 1922 the country’s largest private bank, Landmandsbanken, failed. The subsequent decade was no easier. High rates of unemployment resulted from the Great Depression of the early 1930s: in 1933 about 40 percent of organized industrial workers were affected. When Great Britain abandoned the gold standard in 1931, Denmark had followed suit. The greatest blow to the Danish economy, however, was Britain’s establishment in 1932 of a system of preferential tariffs for members of the British Commonwealth.

To cope with the crisis, the government subjected foreign trade to stringent control by the establishment of a “currency centre” and won the support of the Left in the Kanslergade Agreement, by which it was agreed to devalue the Danish currency, the krone, and to freeze existing wage agreements by law. In addition, the Left agreed to support social reforms that included old-age pensions and health, unemployment, and accident insurance. A number of measures also were adopted in support of agriculture.

The general election of 1935 showed broad support for the Social Democrats’ program, and they stayed in power. After the elections to the Landsting in 1936, the government coalition of Social Democrats and Radicals held the majority in both the Folketing and the Landsting for the first time since the inception of democracy. Trade improved, and, during the late 1930s, industry again began to expand.

Denmark had joined the League of Nations in 1920 and had worked for a peaceful solution to international problems during the interwar period. In the 1930s, however, foreign policy was complicated by events in Germany. When Adolf Hitler came to power and Germany began to rearm, Denmark’s position again became vulnerable. Although Germany had never recognized the alterations in its boundaries as laid down by the Treaty of Versailles, Denmark tried in vain to obtain German recognition of the Schleswig boundary. At the same time, it avoided measures that could offend its powerful neighbour. When in June 1939 Hitler offered nonaggression pacts to those countries that might feel threatened by Germany’s expansionist policy, Denmark, in contrast to the other Scandinavian countries, accepted the offer. In September of that year, at the outbreak of World War II, Denmark—this time together with the other Nordic countries—issued a declaration of neutrality.

Denmark was not allowed to remain neutral, however. On April 9, 1940, German troops crossed the border, and after token resistance the Danish government submitted to a military occupation of the country. Unlike other occupied countries, Denmark formally remained a sovereign state until Aug. 29, 1943. The major parties formed a national unity government, with Stauning as leader, and in July 1940 Erik Scavenius became foreign minister. In 1941, when Germany attacked the Soviet Union, the Danish government was forced to allow the formation of a Danish volunteer corps to fight on the Eastern Front and to outlaw all communist activity in the country. In November 1941 Denmark signed the Anti-Comintern Pact.

Denmark’s policy of accommodation did not last. After Stauning’s successor, Vilhelm Buhl, was forced to resign in November 1942 under pressure from the Germans, Scavenius, who advocated cooperation with the German authorities, became prime minister. However, the elections of 1943 proved that the Danish people supported the democratic parties of Denmark, not Nazism. At the same time, the resistance movement, first organized in 1940, was growing: thousands of Danes—about 50,000 by the end of the war—joined armed resistance groups, and numerous acts of sabotage were carried out.

Germany’s military defeats paved the way for demands for an open breach with the powers of occupation. Dissatisfaction caused by consumer shortages and inflation, combined with the growing opposition to German occupation, led to a series of strikes in the summer of 1943 that in August culminated in actions aimed directly at the Germans. When the Danish government refused to introduce the death penalty for sabotage, to allow the persecution of Jews, or to use force against the strikers, the Germans declared a state of emergency. The Danish government, still under Scavenius’s leadership, refused further cooperation, and the German Reichskommissar assumed political control. The Danish army and navy were disbanded, but not before many of the ships were scuttled by their own crews to prevent the Germans from using them.

With the end of Danish accommodation, the relationship between the Danes and the occupying Germans deteriorated even further. In September 1943 the Danish Freedom Council was formed; under its leadership the activities of the various resistance groups could be coordinated, and cooperation between the resistance and leading politicians could be maintained. The major activities of the resistance groups included producing illegal newspapers, running a comprehensive intelligence service, smuggling fugitives to Sweden, and committing acts of sabotage. The Danish resistance movement is perhaps best known for its rescue of nearly all the Jews in Denmark, including Danes who were Jewish as well as Jewish refugees. To maintain the goodwill of the Danish people, the German occupiers had not engaged in any overtly anti-Semitic acts, but that attitude changed when accommodation ceased. In the fall of 1943 the Germans prepared to round up the approximately 7,000 Jews in the country, but fewer than 500 were ultimately arrested. The remainder of the Jewish population had been successfully hidden, and over the following weeks they escaped to Sweden.

During the last year of the war, the Freedom Council and leading Danish politicians cooperated more closely. When the Germans surrendered on May 5, 1945, a new government—half of which consisted of representatives of the Freedom Council and the other half of politicians from the old political parties—was formed. Elections in the autumn of 1945 brought a Left government, led by Knud Kristensen, to power.

Postwar Denmark, 1945–c. 1990
Following the war, the question of Denmark’s southern border arose once again as the Danish minority in German-controlled South Schleswig called for incorporation with Denmark. The idea won strong support among the local population, but in Denmark opinion was divided. In the autumn of 1946, after the United Kingdom formally requested the Danish government to state its intentions regarding South Schleswig, all parties agreed to the October Note of 1946, which rejected any alteration of the 1920 boundary between Denmark and Germany. Once the Social Democrats, under the leadership of Hans Hedtoft, returned to power in 1947, all remaining plans to pursue the boundary question were abandoned.

Meanwhile, the Danish government had made the defense of the realm a top priority in the immediate postwar period. Denmark joined the United Nations in June 1945 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in April 1949. Its military defenses were considerably strengthened by statutes passed in 1950 and 1951 and were further complemented by armaments from the United States. Denmark nevertheless rejected a request by the United States to establish air bases on Danish territory. With West Germany’s admission to NATO, Denmark succeeded in obtaining guarantees—formalized in the Bonn Protocol of 1955—for the rights of the Danish minority in South Schleswig.

Postwar politics
A number of political reforms were instituted in the postwar era. In 1953 the constitution was substantially revised. Female succession to the throne was introduced, allowing Margrethe II to assume the throne in 1972 upon the death of her father, King Frederick IX. In addition, the new constitution reduced the national legislature to one chamber, the Folketing, whose membership was increased to 179—including two seats for Greenland and two for the Faroe Islands. All members of the Folketing were to be elected based on proportional representation, thus making a wide spectrum of political parties possible. On the other hand, it became almost impossible for any one party to secure an absolute majority. As a result, subsequent governments have tended to be either minority governments or coalitions of two, three, or even four parties.

The postwar political scene was dominated by the so-called “old” parties: the Conservative People’s Party (Konservative Folkeparti), the Left (known after 1964 as the Liberal Party), the Radical Left, and the Social Democratic Party (which remained more leftist in its outlook than the so-called Left parties). However, a number of smaller parties also gained influence and complicated the political situation.

The Social Democratic Party was the leading party of the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. From 1953 to 1968 it was in power, either alone or in coalition with the Radicals and, for a short period, the Justice Party (Retsforbundet; a party based on the ideas of the economist Henry George), and always with a Social Democrat as prime minister. The major results were new tax laws, particularly the institution of a general value-added consumer tax as well as a new type of income taxation that deducted taxes from income as it was earned rather than at a later date. This kind of income taxation enabled the government to stimulate or restrain spending by lowering or raising the level of taxation.

In the 1968 election, the majority shifted to the right. The Radical Left’s leader, Hilmar Baunsgaard, deserted the Social Democrats and headed a coalition with the Conservatives and the Liberals (the Left) until 1971, when Jens Otto Krag again formed a Social Democratic government.

Krag unexpectedly resigned in 1972, leaving the post of prime minister to Anker Jørgensen, who had to call an election in November 1973. An electoral landslide resulted in heavy losses for the four “old” parties and the emergence of three new parties: the Centre Democrats (Centrum-Demokraterne), the Christian People’s Party (Kristeligt Folkeparti), and the Progress Party (Fremskridtspartiet), an antitax party. A weak minority government under Poul Hartling of the Liberal Party tried to solve the country’s growing economic problems, but his austerity program resulted in protests from trade unions and the opposition. In 1975 Jørgensen again came to power (from 1978 in coalition with the Liberals), rejecting support from the left-wing Socialist People’s Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti), which opposed Danish membership in NATO.

The end of the 1970s brought a deteriorating economic situation and the political system’s inability to reach a consensus on measures to solve the problems. Increased indirect taxes to reduce the foreign debt and the deficit on the balance of payments met with strong opposition from the trade unions, many of which staged strikes and demonstrations; in 1979 Jørgensen was again forced to resign. After the election in October, however, he formed a Social Democratic minority government, which introduced what was called the most stringent wage-and-price-freeze program since World War II.

After a new general election in December 1981, the voting age having been reduced from 20 to 18 following a referendum, Jørgensen again lost seats in the Folketing, but he continued as leader of a weak minority government that faced many problems, especially high unemployment, which had risen to about 10 percent. He was once more forced to resign—this time, however, without an election—in September 1982. The leader of the Conservative Party, Poul Schlüter, formed a minority government with three other centre-right parties: the Liberals, the Centre Democrats, and the Christian People’s Party. Together, they had only 66 seats in the Folketing.

The Conservatives remained in power through the 1980s and into the 1990s. Schlüter, the first Conservative prime minister since 1901, introduced a counterinflationary and economic recovery program that yielded results in 1985–86, but the country’s foreign debt and balance-of-payments deficit continued to cause serious concern during the 1980s. Schlüter was consequently forced to call several general elections (1984, 1987, 1988), carry out government reshuffles (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989), and threaten to call elections or resign. He survived 23 no-confidence votes concerning foreign and defense policy, brought by the Social Democrats in tactical attempts to force him from office.

When Schlüter reshuffled the government in 1988, he incorporated the Radical Left and excluded the Christian People’s Party and the Centre Democrats. The coalition government came under greater pressure from the left-wing Socialist People’s Party and the right-wing Progress Party, both of which gained seats in the Folketing at the end of the 1980s; the Progress Party advocated substantial cuts in the public sector and a more restrictive policy toward the dramatically increased number of refugees. It was a scandal over Tamil refugees that forced Schlüter’s resignation in 1993 and brought a coalition government under the leadership of Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen to power.

Postwar economics
While the postwar period saw its share of economic difficulties, it was also a time of an overall rise in the standard of living. During the early 1950s the Danish economy suffered a large deficit in the trade balance, but the situation improved later in the decade as the result of lower import prices for raw materials, a considerable increase in industrial production, and the stabilization of prices for agricultural export products. The period from 1957 to 1965 saw rapidly rising prosperity. Within the framework of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, Denmark, during the 1950s, abolished most of the regulations that had restricted its foreign trade, and it was one of the founding members of the European Free Trade Association in 1959.

During the 1960s, however, the balance-of-payments deficit became larger, and the government was forced to intervene in an attempt to control rising consumption. This was done by instituting the value-added tax, by compulsory savings, by intervention in labour conflicts, and by the regulation of wages and prices. Nevertheless, economic problems worsened in the 1970s. The various Danish governments attempted to impose stringent measures, such as harsh savings programs, but strong opposition to some plans led to the dissolution of the Folketing on several occasions. After 1973, rising oil prices and the international recession badly affected the Danish economy and led to a dramatic increase in unemployment.

In 1972 Denmark was offered membership in the European Economic Community (EEC; now the European Community, a part of the European Union). In a referendum that year, 63 percent of Danish voters approved EEC membership, which became effective on Jan. 1, 1973.

Austerity measures introduced by Prime Minister Schlüter in the early 1980s led to lower inflation, recovery in business confidence and investments, growth of employment in the private sector, and increasing economic activity. It proved difficult, however, to eliminate the budget deficit, and in 1986 the government was forced to increase energy and payroll taxes and to impose new austerity measures to curb private consumption, stimulate saving, and make private borrowing less attractive. The early 1990s brought a gradual recovery in the Danish economy, including a balance-of-payments surplus, despite the general European recession.

Michael I.A. Linton
Christian Nokkentved

Denmark since the 1990s
During the 1990s, while the economy improved and unemployment dropped, Danes struggled with three key political and economic issues. First, political controversy surrounded the status of immigrants and refugees in Denmark. A violation of refugees’ rights led the prime minister to resign in 1993; right-wing parties adopted anti-immigration platforms; and rioting followed the expulsion in 1999 from Denmark of a Danish-born man of Turkish descent. Second, while most Danes supported maintaining the country’s strong social welfare programs, some Danes sought to decrease the programs’ high cost in taxes while others opposed any cuts in benefits. Third, Danes also were divided during the 1990s over closer economic ties with the European Community (EC). In 1992 Danish voters rejected the Maastricht Treaty, which provided the framework for an expanded European Union (EU) that would subsume the EC. A second referendum in 1993 approved Danish membership in the EU, but only after Denmark had negotiated exemptions from certain provisions of the treaty that many Danes thought might erode Danish social benefits or environmental protections. In a 2000 referendum, Danish voters rejected the single European currency, the euro.

These issues remained political touchstones in the early 21st century. A centre-right coalition of the Liberal and Conservative parties assumed power following the defeat of the Social Democrats in the 2001 elections, which also marked the ascendancy of the far-right Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti), a nationalist organization focused on immigration control. The new government immediately instituted policies further restricting immigration, including rules preventing would-be immigrants younger than age 24 from being naturalized as a result of marriage to, or sponsorship by, a Danish citizen. Despite its domestic popularity, this immigration crackdown was criticized by international observers, who noted that immigrants (primarily about 170,000 Muslims) constituted less than 5 percent of Denmark’s population. Also indicative of Denmark’s new conservatism, social welfare programs were slashed as expenditures overall were curtailed, though political debates on improving social welfare continued. The Liberal-Conservative coalition, under Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was reelected in 2005 and 2007.

In foreign affairs, the country struggled to define its role as a limited member of the EU. Government policy reflected most Danes’ continued opposition to the single currency, joint defense, and EU citizenship, yet Denmark showed more enthusiasm than many of its European neighbours in its support of the Iraq War in 2003, though this stance was losing its popular appeal by mid-decade. The country withdrew most of its troops from Iraq in 2007.

Denmark became the locus of both a domestic and an international controversy following the 2005 publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoon caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The images provoked violent protests by Muslims worldwide and death threats against the cartoonists; the controversy also resulted in the recall of several Islamic ambassadors to Denmark and a sharp drop in Danish exports to Islamic countries. Although the newspaper eventually apologized for printing the cartoons, Prime Minister Rasmussen defended the freedom of the press throughout the crisis.

Despite these difficult issues, Denmark’s economy prospered in the early 21st century, with a solid national currency, a good trade balance, and an enviable budget surplus. The strength of its information and environmental technologies promised a bright future for the country.

Ed.