Regions of Denmark
Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Scandinavian country in Europe and a sovereign state. The southernmost and smallest of the Nordic countries, it is south-west of Sweden and south of Norway, Denmark comprises two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark has an area of 42,924 square kilometres. The country consists of a peninsula, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, the islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. The unified kingdom of Denmark emerged in the 10th century as a proficient seafaring nation in the struggle for control of the Baltic Sea, Denmark and Norway were ruled together under the Kalmar Union, established in 1397 and ending with Swedish secession in 1523. Denmark and Norway remained under the monarch until outside forces dissolved the union in 1814. The union with Norway made it possible for Denmark to inherit the Faroe Islands, beginning in the 17th century, there were several cessions of territory to Sweden.
In the 19th century there was a surge of nationalist movements, Denmark remained neutral during World War I. In April 1940, a German invasion saw brief military skirmishes while the Danish resistance movement was active from 1943 until the German surrender in May 1945, the Constitution of Denmark was signed on 5 June 1849, ending the absolute monarchy which had begun in 1660. It establishes a constitutional monarchy organised as a parliamentary democracy, the government and national parliament are seated in Copenhagen, the nations capital, largest city and main commercial centre. Denmark exercises hegemonic influence in the Danish Realm, devolving powers to handle internal affairs, Home rule was established in the Faroe Islands in 1948, in Greenland home rule was established in 1979 and further autonomy in 2009. Denmark became a member of the European Economic Community in 1973, maintaining certain opt-outs, it retains its own currency, the krone. It is among the members of NATO, the Nordic Council, the OECD, OSCE.
The etymology of the word Denmark, and especially the relationship between Danes and Denmark and the unifying of Denmark as a kingdom, is a subject which attracts debate. This is centred primarily on the prefix Dan and whether it refers to the Dani or a historical person Dan and the exact meaning of the -mark ending. Most handbooks derive the first part of the word, and the name of the people, from a word meaning land, related to German Tenne threshing floor. The -mark is believed to mean woodland or borderland, with references to the border forests in south Schleswig. The first recorded use of the word Danmark within Denmark itself is found on the two Jelling stones, which are believed to have been erected by Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth
Sweden
Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities.
Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
Espoo
Espoo is the second largest city and municipality in Finland. The population of the city of Espoo was 269,802 as of 1 January 2016. It is part of the Finnish Capital Region, and most of its population lives in the urban core of the Helsinki metropolitan area, along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa. Espoo shares its border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen. The city is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, other bordering municipalities of Espoo are Nurmijärvi and Vihti in the north, and Kirkkonummi in the west. The national park of Nuuksio is situated in northwestern Espoo, Espoo encompasses 312 square kilometres, of which 312 km2 is land. Espoo has several regional centers. Espoo is thus divided into seven areas, Vanha-Espoo, Suur-Espoonlahti, Pohjois-Espoo, Suur-Kauklahti, Suur-Leppävaara, Suur-Matinkylä. Aalto University is based in Otaniemi, along with a thriving community that includes numerous startups. The city of Espoo is officially bilingual, the majority of the population,83.
6%, speaks Finnish as their mother tongue, while a minority of 8. 3% speaks Swedish. 8% of Espoos population has a first language other than Finnish or Swedish, the name was first mentioned in 1431. The banks of the River Espoo are even today heavily populated with aspen, the first inhabitants in the area arrived about 9,000 years ago. Physical evidence indicates agriculture from ca.1000 AD, but there are no historical records, up to the 13th century, the area was a borderland between the hunting grounds of Finnish Proper and Tavastian Finns, with a sparse population. Immigrants from Sweden established permanent agricultural settlements during the 12th and 13th centuries, Espoo was a subdivision of the Kirkkonummi congregation until 1486-7. The oldest known document referring to Kirkkonummi is from 1330, Espoo as a subchapter has been dated to the 1380s, the construction of the Espoo Cathedral, the oldest preserved building in Espoo, marks the independence of Espoo. Administratively, Espoo was a part of Uusimaa, when the province was split to Eastern and Western provinces governed from the Porvoo and Raasepori castles, the eastern border of the Raasepori province was in Espoo.
The 13th century road connecting the most important cities in Finland at that time, in 1557, King Gustaf Wasa decided to stabilize and develop the region by founding a royal mansion in Espoo. The government bought the villages of Espåby and Mankby and transferred the population elsewhere, the royal mansion housed the kings local plenipotentiary, and collected royal tax in kind paid by labor on the mansions farm
Social Democrats (Denmark)
The Social Democrats is a social-democratic political party in Denmark. It was the coalition partner in government from the 2011 parliamentary election. After the 2015 parliamentary election, the party is no longer in government, though it is still the largest party in the Danish parliament, founded by Louis Pio in 1871, the party first entered the Folketing in 1884. By the early 20th century it had become the party with the largest representation in the Folketing and it first formed a government in 1924 under Thorvald Stauning, the longest-serving Danish Prime Minister of the 20th century. During Staunings government, the Social Democrats exerted an influence on Danish society. From 2002 to 2016 the party used the name Socialdemokraterne in some contexts, a member of the Party of European Socialists, the Social Democrats have three MEPs in the European Parliament. Since its foundation the lemma of the party has been Liberty and Brotherhood, the leader of the party is Mette Frederiksen. She succeeded Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who stepped down after the left blocs defeat in the 2015 General Election, deputy leaders are Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, and Mogens Jensen.
The secretary general is Henrik Dam Kristensen, the party secretary is Lars Midtiby, in the Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the party had ten ministers including the Prime Minister. The party was founded in 1871 by Louis Pio, Harald Brix og Paul Geleff, the goal was to organize the emerging working class on a democratic and socialist basis. The industrialization of Denmark had begun in the mid 19th century, the social democratic movement emerged from the desire to give this group political rights and representation in parliament. In 1876 the Party held a conference, adopting the first party manifesto. In the 1924 parliamentary elections the Social democratic party won the majority with 36.6 percent of the vote, the same year he appointed the worlds first female minister Nina Bang, nine years after womens suffrage had been given in Denmark. Stauning stayed in power until his death in 1942, his party laying the foundations for the Danish welfare state, in January 1933 Staunings government entered into what was the most extensive settlement yet in Danish politics — the Kanslergade settlement — with the liberal party Venstre.
In 1935, Stauning was reelected with the famous slogan Stauning or Chaos, through the 1940s and until 1972 Denmark was governed by the following Social Democratic prime ministers. 1939 –1955, Hans Hedtoft 1955 –1960, H. C, the Cabinets of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen maintained a parliamentary majority during the period from 1993 to 2001 by virtue of their support from the Socialist Peoples Party and the Red-Green Alliance. Towards the end of the 1990s, a surplus of 30 billion kroner turned into a deficit. To combat this, the government increased taxes, limiting private consumption, after being defeated by the Liberal Party in the 2001 election, the party chairmanship went to former finance and foreign minister Mogens Lykketoft
Zealand
Zealand is the largest and most populated island in Denmark with a population of 2,267,659. It is the 96th-largest island in the world by area and the 35th most populous and it is connected to Funen by the Great Belt Fixed Link, to Lolland, Falster by the Storstrøm Bridge and the Farø Bridges. Zealand is linked to Amager by five bridges, Zealand is linked indirectly, through intervening islands by a series of bridges and tunnels, to southern Sweden. Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is located partly on the shore of Zealand. Other cities on Zealand include Roskilde, Hillerød, Næstved and Helsingør, the island is not connected historically to the Pacific nation of New Zealand, which is named after the Dutch province of Zeeland. In Norse mythology as told in the story of Gylfaginning, the island was created by the goddess Gefjun after she tricked Gylfi and she removed a piece of land and transported it to Denmark, which became Zealand. The vacant area was filled with water and became Mälaren, since modern maps show a similarity between Zealand and the Swedish lake Vänern, it is sometimes identified as the hole left by Gefjun.
Zealand is the most populous Danish island and it is irregularly shaped, and is north of the islands of Lolland, and Møn. The small island of Amager lies immediately east, Copenhagen is mostly on Zealand but extends across northern Amager. A number of bridges and the Copenhagen Metro connect Zealand to Amager, Zealand is joined in the west to Funen, by the Great Belt Fixed Link, and Funen is connected by bridges to the countrys mainland, Jutland. Gyldenløveshøj, south of the city Roskilde, has a height of 126 metres, Zealand gives its name to the Selandian era of the Paleocene. Urban areas with 10, 000+ inhabitants, North Zealand Media related to Zealand at Wikimedia Commons Zealand travel guide from Wikivoyage
Espoo, Finland
Trittau, Germany
Saudarkrokur, Iceland
Dundaga, Latvia
Kongsberg, Norway
Sjöbo, Sweden
Klaipėda, Lithuania
