People began to settle on the Jutland Peninsula about 12,000 years ago. They were mainly engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture. In the 5th-6th centuries AD. from the south of the Scandinavian Peninsula to the Danish archipelago and Jutland came the tribe of Danes, who obviously gave the name to the country. At the end of the 9th century, warriors led by the leader of the Norwegian Vikings Hardegon captured the peninsula and began to raid European countries. They conquered part of the lands adjacent to the Seine River and formed their duchy of Normandy here. The northern and eastern regions of England were also conquered. Since then, Christianity began to spread in the state. In the 12th century, northern Estonia, the western Estonian islands and the lands of the Pomeranian Slavs were annexed to the Danish kingdom. In 1397, the Union of Kalmar created a kind of union of the Scandinavian countries, which included Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland, with the core being Denmark, which dominated the Baltic region. At the same time, coinage and a strict system of taxation were introduced. On the coast of the Øresund Strait, in its narrowed part, the Kronborg fortress was built, where the Øresund (Sund) duty was collected from all ships. But Denmark, Norway and Sweden could not be in one state for a long time and the Union broke up in 1523 with the accession to the Swedish throne of Gustav Vasa. Norway remained under the rule of the Danish monarchy for another three centuries. In the 16th century, the Reformation began – Protestantism was adopted in the country, and Lutheranism became the state religion. At the same time, a war was waged with Sweden, which ended with a temporary Stettin peace in 1570. Check a2zdirectory for old history of Denmark.
During the war with Napoleon, Denmark was on the side of the French, which provoked a wave of aggression from the British – in 1801 they attacked the port of Copenhagen, and in 1807 they burned the country’s capital. Taking advantage of Denmark’s weakness, Sweden forced Denmark to cede Norway to her. By the 30s of the 19th century, there was a flourishing of art, philosophy and literature in Denmark, the democratic movement played the leading role in politics, it was it that led to the adoption of the country’s constitution on June 5, 1848, after which a constitutional monarchy reigned in Denmark.
During the First World War, Denmark declared its neutrality in matters of division of the world, which helped it to avoid attacks by the Germans, but after the outbreak of World War II, Germany nevertheless occupied the territory of the country. During the war, Denmark was practically not affected by the fighting. In the post-war years, a prosperous state was created by the leadership of the Social Democrats. In 1973, Denmark joined the European Union, but the Danes still doubt whether it is worth supporting the policy of EU enlargement.
As for the Danish colonies, it should be noted that Iceland, which had been under Danish rule since 1380, declared independence in 1918, and became completely independent in 1944. The Kingdom of Denmark still includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands, but they are largely independent. Self-government was established in the Faroe Islands in 1948 and in Greenland in 1979. Now there are two representatives of each self-governing territory in the Danish parliament. Unlike Denmark, neither Greenland nor the Faroe Islands are members of the EU.
