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The earliest Danish archaeological findings date back to 130,000-110,000 BC in the Eem interglacial period. People have continually lived in Denmark since about 12,500 BC, and agriculture made inroads about 3,900 BC. The Nordic Bronze Age (1,800-600 BC) in Denmark was marked by burial mounds, which left an abundance of findings, including lurs and the Sun Chariot. During the Pre-Roman Iron Age (500 BC-AD 1), native groups began migrating south into Germania. The Roman provinces maintained trade routes and relations with native tribes in Denmark, attested by finds of Roman coins. Evidence of strong Celtic cultural influence dates from this period in Denmark and much of northwest Europe, and is among other things reflected in the finding of the Gundestrup cauldron. The first Danish people came to Denmark between the Pre-Roman and Germanic Iron Age, in the Roman Iron Age (AD 1-400). Before the arrival of Danish settlers, who came from Scandinavia and spoke an early form of north Germanic, most of Jutland and part of the islands had been vacated or partly vacated by the earlier Jutes, the descendants of populations known to be there from sources in ancient history. A large part of the Jutes were known as the Angles and the Saxons. They vacated Jutland en masse to take up residence in the land now named after them, England. The exact origin of Denmark has been lost in history, but a short note about the Dani in "The Origin and Deeds of the Goths" from 551 CE by historian Jordanes is thought to be an early mention of a Danish people. The Danevirke defense structures were built in several phases from the 3rd century forth, and the sheer size of the construction efforts in 737 are contributed to the emergence of a Danish king. The new runic alphabet was first used at the same time, and Ribe, the oldest town of Denmark, was founded about 700. From the 8th to the 10th century, the Danes were known as Vikings. Together with Norwegians and Swedes, they colonized, raided and traded in all parts of Europe. Viking explorers first discovered Iceland by accident in the 9th century, en route to the Faroe Islands. The Vikings temporarily conquered parts of England, known as the Danelaw, Ireland and France, giving name to the French region of Normandy. As attested by the Jelling stones, the Danes were united and Christianized about 965 by Harald Bluetooth, the second recognized king of Denmark.Up through the High and Late Middle Ages, the king of Denmark ruled Skåneland (Skåne, Halland and Blekinge), Danish Estonia, as well as the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein in northern Germany. In 1397, Denmark entered the Kalmar Union with Norway and Sweden-Finland. It was a united Scandinavian state which kept the individual interests of the countries, and lasted until Sweden broke out in 1523. The Protestant Reformation came to Scandinavia in 1530s, and following the Count's Feud civil war, Denmark converted to Lutheranism in 1536. Later that year, Denmark entered a union with Norway and its colonies. Two and a half centuries of wars with Sweden followed. Skåneland was lost to Sweden in the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658 and the Denmark-Norway union was dissolved by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814, when Norway entered a new union with Sweden, which lasted until 1905. Denmark kept the colonies of Iceland, Faroe Islands and Greenland. Apart from the Nordic colonies, Denmark ruled over Danish India from 1620 to 1869, the Danish Gold Coast (Ghana) from 1658 to 1850, and the Danish West Indies (the United States Virgin Islands) from 1671 to 1917. The Danish liberal and national movement gained momentum in the 1830s, and after the European Revolutions of 1848 Denmark became a constitutional monarchy on June 5, 1849.After the Second War of Schleswig in 1864, Denmark was forced to cede Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia, in a defeat that left deep marks on the Danish national identity. After this point Denmark adopted a policy of neutrality, as a result of which Denmark stayed neutral in World War I. After the defeat of Germany, the Versailles powers offered to return the then-German region of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark. Fearing German irredentism, Denmark refused to consider the return of the area and insisted on a plebiscite concerning the return of Schleswig. The two Schleswig Plebiscites took place on February 10 and March 14, respectively. On July 10, 1920, after the plebiscite and the King´s signature July 9 on the reunion document, Northern Schleswig (Sønderjylland) was recovered by Denmark, thereby adding 163,600 inhabitants and 3,984 km². The reunion day (Genforeningsdag) is celebrated every year June 15 on Valdemarsdag. Despite its continued neutrality, Denmark was invaded by Germany (Operation Weserübung), on April 9, 1940. Though accorded self-rule (which ended in 1943, due to a mounting resistance movement), Denmark remained militarily occupied throughout World War II. The Danish sympathy for the Allied cause was strong; 1,900 Danish police officers were arrested by the Gestapo and sent, under guard, to be interned in Buchenwald. During the war, Iceland claimed independence and in 1948 the Faroe Islands gained home rule. After the war, Denmark became one of the founding members of the United Nations and NATO and, in 1973, joined the European Economic Community (later, the European Union). In 1979, Greenland gained home rule |
Denmark Information: Inside
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