1.
Danish language
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There are also minor Danish-speaking communities in Norway, Sweden, Spain, the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina. Due to immigration and language shift in urban areas, around 15–20% of the population of Greenland speak Danish as their home language. Along with the other North Germanic languages, Danish is a descendant of Old Norse, until the 16th century, Danish was a continuum of dialects spoken from Schleswig to Scania with no standard variety or spelling conventions. With the Protestant Reformation and the introduction of printing, a language was developed which was based on the educated Copenhagen dialect. It spread through use in the system and administration though German. Today, traditional Danish dialects have all but disappeared, though there are variants of the standard language. The main differences in language are between generations, with youth language being particularly innovative, Danish has a very large vowel inventory comprising 27 phonemically distinctive vowels, and its prosody is characterized by the distinctive phenomenon stød, a kind of laryngeal phonation type. The grammar is moderately inflective with strong and weak conjugations and inflections, nouns and demonstrative pronouns distinguish common and neutral gender. As in English, Danish only has remnants of a case system, particularly in the pronouns. Its syntax is V2, with the verb always occupying the second slot in the sentence. Danish is a Germanic language of the North Germanic branch, other names for this group are the Nordic or Scandinavian languages. Along with Swedish, Danish descends from the Eastern dialects of the Old Norse language, Scandinavian languages are often considered a dialect continuum, where there are no sharp dividing lines between the different vernacular languages. Like Norwegian and Swedish, Danish was significantly influenced by Low German in the Middle Ages, Danish itself can be divided into three main dialect areas, West Danish, Insular Danish, and East Danish. Danish is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Swedish, both Swedes and Danes also understand Norwegian better than they understand each others languages. By the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language was called the Danish tongue, or Norse language. Norse was written in the alphabet, first with the elder futhark. From the 7th century the common Norse language began to undergo changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, most of the changes separating East Norse from West Norse started as innovations in Denmark, that spread through Scania into Sweden and by maritime contact to southern Norway
2.
Norwegian language
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Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is the official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as extinct languages. Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them, as established by law and governmental policy, the two official forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål and Nynorsk. The official Norwegian Language Council is responsible for regulating the two forms, and recommends the terms Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk in English. Two other written forms without official status also exist, one and it is regulated by the unofficial Norwegian Academy, which translates the name as Standard Norwegian. Nynorsk and Bokmål provide standards for how to write Norwegian, no standard of spoken Norwegian is officially sanctioned, and most Norwegians speak their own dialects in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in other countries, the use of any Norwegian dialect. Outside Eastern Norway, this variation is not used. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to nationalism, rural versus urban discourse, historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. The unofficial form known as Riksmål is considered more conservative than Bokmål, Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. A2005 poll indicates that 86. 3% use primarily Bokmål as their written language,5. 5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7. 5% use primarily Nynorsk. Thus, 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, though the majority speak dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål. Broadly speaking, Nynorsk writing is widespread in western Norway, though not in major urban areas, examples are Setesdal, the western part of Telemark county and several municipalities in Hallingdal, Valdres, and Gudbrandsdalen. It is little used elsewhere, but 30–40 years ago, it also had strongholds in rural parts of Trøndelag. Today, not only is Nynorsk the official language of four of the 19 Norwegian counties, NRK, the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. Bokmål is used in 92% of all publications, and Nynorsk in 8%
3.
Nynorsk
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Nynorsk, literally New Norwegian or New Norse, is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 1885, when the parliament declared them official and equal, until new voting in 1929, the official standard of Nynorsk has since been significantly altered. A minor purist fraction of the Nynorsk populace has stayed firm with the Aasen norm, in local communities, one-fourth of Norwegian municipalities have declared Nynorsk as their official language form, and these municipalities account for about 12% of the Norwegian populace. Of the remaining municipalities, half are neutral and half have adopted Bokmål as their official language form, four of Norways nineteen counties, Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal, have Nynorsk as their official language form. These four together comprise the region of Western Norway, the word Nynorsk also has another meaning. Nynorsk was the written Norwegian in use until it died out in the early 1600s during the period of Danish rule, a major source of old written material is Diplomatarium Norvegicum in 22 printed volumes. Written Nynorsk is found in all the types of places. Bokmål has, however, a larger basis in the cities. Most Norwegians do not speak either Nynorsk or Bokmål as written, Nynorsk shares many of the problems that minority languages face. In Norway, each municipality and county can choose to one of the two languages as its official language, or it can remain language neutral. As of 2015, 26% of the 428 municipalities have declared Nynorsk as their language, while 36% have chosen Bokmål and another 36% are neutral. At least 128 of the municipalities are in areas where Bokmål is the prevailing form. As for counties, three have declared Nynorsk, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal, two have declared Bokmål, Østfold and Vestfold. The remaining fourteen are officially language neutral, there are few municipalities in language neutral counties that use nynorsk. The main language used in schools is decided by referendum within the local school district. The number of districts and pupils using primarily Nynorsk has decreased from its height in the 1940s. As of 2016,12. 2% of pupils in school are taught Nynorsk as their primary language. The prevailing regions for Nynorsk are the areas of the western counties of Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal
4.
Icelandic language
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Icelandic /aɪsˈlændɪk/ is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. It is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages, historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the colonisation of the Americas. Icelandic, Faroese, Norn, and Western Norwegian formerly constituted West Nordic, Danish, Eastern Norwegian, modern Norwegian Bokmål is influenced by both groups, leading the Nordic languages to be divided into mainland Scandinavian languages and Insular Nordic. Most Western European languages have reduced levels of inflection, particularly noun declension. In contrast, Icelandic retains a four-case synthetic grammar comparable to, Icelandic is distinguished by a wide assortment of irregular declensions. Icelandic also has many instances of oblique cases without any governing word, for example, many of the various Latin ablatives have a corresponding Icelandic dative. The vast majority of Icelandic speakers—about 320, 000—live in Iceland, more than 8,000 Icelandic speakers live in Denmark, of whom approximately 3,000 are students. The language is spoken by some 5,000 people in the United States. Notably in the province of Manitoba, while 97% of the population of Iceland consider Icelandic their mother tongue, the language is in decline in some communities outside Iceland, particularly in Canada. Icelandic speakers outside Iceland represent recent emigration in almost all cases except Gimli, Manitoba, the state-funded Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies serves as a centre for preserving the medieval Icelandic manuscripts and studying the language and its literature. Since 1995, on 16 November each year, the birthday of 19th-century poet Jónas Hallgrímsson is celebrated as Icelandic Language Day, the oldest preserved texts in Icelandic were written around 1100 AD. Much of the texts are based on poetry and laws traditionally preserved orally, the most famous of the texts, which were written in Iceland from the 12th century onward, are the Icelandic Sagas. They comprise the historical works and the eddaic poems, the language of the sagas is Old Icelandic, a western dialect of Old Norse. Danish rule of Iceland from 1380 to 1918 had little effect on the evolution of Icelandic, though more archaic than the other living Germanic languages, Icelandic changed markedly in pronunciation from the 12th to the 16th century, especially in vowels. The modern Icelandic alphabet has developed from an established in the 19th century. The later Rasmus Rask standard was a re-creation of the old treatise, with changes to fit concurrent Germanic conventions. Various archaic features, as the letter ð, had not been used much in later centuries, rasks standard constituted a major change in practice. Later 20th-century changes include the use of é instead of je, apart from the addition of new vocabulary, written Icelandic has not changed substantially since the 11th century, when the first texts were written on vellum
5.
Faroese language
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It is one of five languages descended from Old West Norse spoken in the Middle Ages, the others being Norwegian, Icelandic, and the extinct Norn and Greenlandic Norse. Around 900, the language spoken in the Faroes was Old Norse, however, many of the settlers were not from Scandinavia, but descendants of Norse settlers in the Irish Sea region. In addition, women from Norse Ireland, Orkney, or Shetland often married native Scandinavian men before settling in the Faroe Islands, as a result, the Irish language has had some influence on both Faroese and Icelandic. There is some evidence of Irish language place names in the Faroes, for example. Until the 15th century Faroese had a similar to Icelandic and Norwegian. The islanders continued to use the language in ballads, folktales and this maintained a rich spoken tradition, but for 300 years the language was not used in written form. This changed when Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb and the Icelandic grammarian and politician Jón Sigurðsson published a standard for Modern Faroese in 1854. They set a standard for the orthography of the language, based on its Old Norse roots and this had the advantage of being etymologically clear, as well as keeping the kinship with the Icelandic written language. The actual pronunciation, however, often differs from the written rendering, the letter ð, for example, has no specific phoneme attached to it. Jakob Jakobsen devised a system of orthography, based on his wish for a phonetic spelling. In 1937, Faroese replaced Danish as the school language, in 1938 as the church language. However, Faroese did not become the language of media. Today Danish is considered a language, although around 5% of residents on the Faroes learn it as a first language. Old Faroese is a form of Old Norse spoken in medieval times in the Faroe Islands, the most crucial aspects of the development of Faroese are diphthongisation and palatalisation. There is not enough available to establish an accurate chronology of Faroese. Iotacism may be connected with the palatalisation of k, g and sk before Old Norse e, i, y, ø, au > /kj, ɡj, skj/ > /cç, ɟʝ, ɕcç/ > /tʃʰ, tʃ. Before the palatalisation é and ǽ merged as /ɛː/ and approximately in the same period epenthesis u is inserted into word-final /Cr/, the Great Quantity Shift operated in the 15th/16th centuries. In the case of skerping, it took place after iotacism, the shift of hv to /kw/, the deletion of /h/ in word-initial /h/–sonorant clusters, and the dissolution of þ appeared before the end of the 13th century
6.
Swedish language
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Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken natively by more than 9 million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It is currently the largest of the North Germanic languages by number of speakers, Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties descended from the rural dialects still exist. The standard word order is, as in most Germanic languages, V2, Swedish morphology is similar to English, that is, words have comparatively few inflections. There are two genders, no cases, and a distinction between plural and singular. Older analyses posit the cases nominative and genitive and there are remains of distinct accusative and dative forms as well. Adjectives are compared as in English, and are inflected according to gender, number. The definiteness of nouns is marked primarily through suffixes, complemented with separate definite and indefinite articles, the prosody features both stress and in most dialects tonal qualities. The language has a large vowel inventory. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless velar fricative, a highly variable consonant phoneme. Swedish is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, by many general criteria of mutual intelligibility, the Continental Scandinavian languages could very well be considered dialects of a common Scandinavian language. In the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language began to undergo new changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, the dialects of Old East Norse that were spoken in Sweden are called Runic Swedish while the dialects of Denmark are referred to as Runic Danish. The dialects are described as runic because the body of text appears in the runic alphabet. Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse was written with the Younger Futhark alphabet, from 1200 onwards, the dialects in Denmark began to diverge from those of Sweden. An early change that separated Runic Danish from the dialects of Old East Norse was the change of the diphthong æi to the monophthong é. This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read stain, there was also a change of au as in dauðr into a long open ø as in døðr dead
7.
Nordic countries
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The Nordic countries or Nordics are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic, where they are most commonly known as Norden. They consist of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, the population of the Nordic countries are mainly Scandinavian or Finnish, with Greenlandic Inuit and the Sami people as minorities. Of todays native languages, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, the non-Germanic languages spoken are Finnish, Greenlandic and several Sami languages. The main religion is Lutheran Christianity, the Nordic countries have much in common in their way of life, history, their use of Scandinavian languages and social structure. Politically, Nordic countries do not form an entity. Especially in English, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for the Nordic countries, Scandinavian Peninsula on the other hand covers mainland Norway and Sweden as well as the northernmost part of Finland. At 3,425,804 square kilometers, the area of the Nordic countries would form the 7th-largest country in the world. Uninhabitable icecaps and glaciers comprise about half of area, mostly in Greenland. In January 2013, the region had a population of around 26 million people, the Nordic countries cluster near the top in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development. Although the area is linguistically heterogeneous, with three unrelated groups, the common linguistic heritage is one of the factors making up the Nordic identity. The North Germanic languages Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are considered mutually intelligible and these languages are taught in school throughout the Nordic countries. Swedish, for example, is a subject in Finnish schools. Danish is mandatory in Faroese and Greenlandic schools, as these states are a part of the Danish Realm. Iceland also teaches Danish, since Iceland too was a part of the Danish Realm until 1918, there is a high degree of income redistribution and little social unrest. The Nordic countries consists of historical territories of the Scandinavian countries, areas that share a common history and it is meant unambiguously to refer to this larger group, since the term Scandinavia is narrower and sometimes ambiguous. The Nordic countries are considered to unambiguously refer to Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The term is derived indirectly from the local term Norden, used in the Scandinavian languages, unlike the Nordic countries, the term Norden is in the singular. The demonym is nordbo, literally meaning northern dweller, especially outside of the Nordic region the term Scandinavia is often used incorrectly as a synonym for the Nordic countries
8.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
9.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
10.
Aksel Sandemose
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Aksel Sandemose was a Danish-Norwegian writer. He was born in Denmark in 1899 to a Danish father and he is the grandfather of illustrator and childrens writer Iben Sandemose. In his youth, he worked as a teacher, journalist, sailor, in 1930, Sandemose moved to Norway, and lived in Nesodden, south of Oslo. After Nazi Germany occupied Norway during World War II, he was forced to flee to neighboring Sweden in 1941 due to his association with the Norwegian resistance, after the war, he moved back to Norway, and settled in Søndeled. He died in Copenhagen in 1965, and was buried in Oslo, Sandemose was one of six finalists for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963. In his 1933 novel En flykting krysser sitt spor, Sandemose introduced the concept of the Law of Jante, a Norwegian Air Shuttle Boeing 737, registration LN-DYP was named in memory of Sandemose, with a picture of him on the tail. Pejlinger i Aksel Sandemoses forfatterskab by Steen Andersen Aksel Sandemose and Canada, A Scandinavian Writers Perception of the Canadian Prairies in the 1920s by Christopher S. Hale Sandemosearkivet
11.
Sociology
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Sociology is the study of social behaviour or society, including its origins, development, organisation, networks, and institutions. It is a science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order, disorder. Many sociologists aim to research that may be applied directly to social policy and welfare. Subject matter ranges from the level of individual agency and interaction to the macro level of systems. The traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification, social class, social mobility, religion, secularization, law, sexuality, the range of social scientific methods has also expanded. Social researchers draw upon a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques, the linguistic and cultural turns of the mid-twentieth century led to increasingly interpretative, hermeneutic, and philosophic approaches towards the analysis of society. There is often a great deal of crossover between social research, market research, and other statistical fields, Sociology is distinguished from various general social studies courses, which bear little relation to sociological theory or to social-science research-methodology. The US National Science Foundation classifies sociology as a STEM field, Sociological reasoning pre-dates the foundation of the discipline. Social analysis has origins in the stock of Western knowledge and philosophy. The origin of the survey, i. e, there is evidence of early sociology in medieval Arab writings. The word sociology is derived from both Latin and Greek origins, the Latin word, socius, companion, the suffix -logy, the study of from Greek -λογία from λόγος, lógos, word, knowledge. It was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès in an unpublished manuscript, Sociology was later defined independently by the French philosopher of science, Auguste Comte, in 1838. Comte used this term to describe a new way of looking at society, Comte had earlier used the term social physics, but that had subsequently been appropriated by others, most notably the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet. Comte endeavoured to unify history, psychology and economics through the understanding of the social realm. Comte believed a positivist stage would mark the final era, after conjectural theological and metaphysical phases, Comte gave a powerful impetus to the development of sociology, an impetus which bore fruit in the later decades of the nineteenth century. To say this is not to claim that French sociologists such as Durkheim were devoted disciples of the high priest of positivism. To be sure, beginnings can be traced back well beyond Montesquieu, for example, Marx rejected Comtean positivism but in attempting to develop a science of society nevertheless came to be recognized as a founder of sociology as the word gained wider meaning. For Isaiah Berlin, Marx may be regarded as the father of modern sociology
12.
Tall poppy syndrome
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The tall poppy syndrome is a culture where people of high status are resented, attacked, cut down or criticised because they have been classified as better than their peers. This is similar to begrudgery, the resentment or envy of the success of a peer, the term has been widely used in many of the English-speaking countries. Thrasybulus led the man who had come from Periander outside the town, then, after passing through the place and speaking no word of counsel, he sent the herald away. When the herald returned to Cypselus, Periander desired to hear what counsel he brought, the herald added that it was a strange man to whom he had been sent, a madman and a destroyer of his own possessions, telling Periander what he had seen Thrasybulus do. Aristotle uses Herodotus story in his Politics, with reversed roles, the specific reference to poppies occurs in Livys account of the tyrannical Roman King, Tarquin the Proud. He is said to have received a messenger from his son Sextus Tarquinius asking what he should do next in Gabii, the messenger, tired of waiting for an answer, returned to Gabii and told Sextus what he had seen. Sextus realised that his father wished him to put to all of the most eminent people of Gabii. The earliest English-language example of Tall Poppies being used as a metaphor for notables may be found in Roger LEstranges newspaper, The Observator, in 1710. There is a legend about the king Ramiro II of Aragon. His master did not say anything but just cut the heads of the tallest roses in the garden and this legend is known as the Bell of Huesca. The phrase can be found as early as 1864 in a controversy over the awarding of a knighthood, It is more difficult to find a similar recommendation for such a dignity as the Order of the Garter. It is a kind of public proclamation that you are a tall poppy, again in 1904 in a report of a debate in the Federal Parliament, Senator. OKeefe– He regarded the appointment of a High Commissioner as necessary, sir William Zeal– Another tall poppy. OKeefe– Some tall poppies were necessary, in 1930 one may read, Unquestionably one of the evils of Government in Australia and Britain is the appalling cost of administration, from the tall poppy at £3,000 per annum to the toiler at £260. The phrase has been in common use since Jack Lang, Premier of New South Wales. Mr. Lang made some of the tall poppies suffer who could be made to suffer, the tall poppies of the party had dragged Mr. Langs name into the debate to cloud the issue. Of the Australian definition, Peter Hartcher of the Sydney Morning Herald writes, citizens know that some among them will have more power, but according to the unspoken national ethos, no Australian is permitted to assume that he or she is better than any other Australian. By the prompt corrective of levelling derision and it has a name—The Tall Poppy Syndrome
13.
Culture of Denmark
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The culture of Denmark has a rich intellectual and artistic heritage. The astronomical discoveries of Tycho Brahe, Ludwig A, from the mid-1990s, Danish films have attracted international attention, especially those associated with Dogme 95 like those of Lars Von Trier. Denmark has had a tradition of movie making and Carl Theodor Dreyer has been recognised as one of the worlds greatest film directors. Culture and the arts thrive as a result of the high amount of government funding they receive. Thanks to a system of grants, Danish artists are able to devote themselves to their work while museums, theatres, similar to other Scandinavian cultures, a fundamental aspect of Danish culture is hygge. Hygge, meaning snug, is a concept that evokes coziness, particularly when relaxing with friends or loved ones. Christmas time, when loved ones sit close together on a rainy night, is a true moment of hygge, as is grilling a pølse. It is suspected the concept of Hygge is part of the reason Danes, the Danish word for the Christmas holiday is Jul, from the Old Norse jól, the term for midwinter, itself cognate with the English word, yule. Midwinter celebrations were an important part of Scandinavian culture since prehistoric times, the morning can be spent in various ways but most often it is the time when preparations are made for the evening. Juleaften or Yule Eve starts around 6 p. m. when a dinner is served. The menu is, White and browned potatoes, red cabbage, White potatoes are ordinary boiled potatoes without their jackets and browned potatoes are caramelised white potatoes. Some families enjoy a special Danish version of roast pork, called flæskesteg complete with crackling or maybe a special sausage called medisterpølse, made out of rice, it is not to be confused with rice pudding. The chief difference is the whipped cream added to the rice, on serving, chopped almond and vanilla can be added, among other things. It is served cold, with hot cherry sauce, an unchopped almond can also be added and hidden in the dessert. The person who finds it in his portion receives a small prize, afterwards, the candles on the Christmas tree are lit and the family dance around it singing Christmas songs and carols and subsequently exchange presents. Danish folklore is made up of folk tales, legends, songs, music, dancing, popular beliefs and traditions, mostly communicated by the inhabitants of towns, many of these were passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth. As in neighbouring countries, interest in folklore grew with a feeling of national consciousness in 19th-century Denmark. Researchers travelled across the country collecting innumerable folktales, songs and sayings while observing traditional dress in the various regions, folklore today is part of the national heritage, represented in particular by national and local traditions, songs, folk dances and literature
14.
Culture of Germany
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German culture has spanned the entire German-speaking world. From its roots, culture in Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, historically Germany has been called Das Land der Dichter und Denker. There are a number of holidays in Germany. The country is known for its traditional Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich, its carnival culture. 3 October has been the day of Germany since 1990. The UNESCO inscribed 38 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List, Germany is the worlds second most respected nation among 50 countries in 2013. A global opinion poll for the BBC revealed that Germany is recognized for having the most positive influence in the world in 2011,2013, German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany. It is one of 23 official languages in the European Union, recognised native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Sorbian, and Frisian. They are officially protected by the ECRML, the most used immigrant languages are Turkish, Kurdish, Polish, the Balkan languages, and Russian. Standard German is a West Germanic language and is related to and classified alongside English, Dutch. To a lesser extent, it is related to the East. Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, significant minorities of words are derived from Latin and Greek, with a smaller amount from French and most recently English. German is written using the Latin alphabet, German dialects are traditional local varieties and are traced back to the different German tribes. Many of them are not easily understandable to a speaker of standard German, since they differ in lexicon, phonology. Around the world, German has approximately 100 million native speakers, in the German diaspora, aspects of German culture are passed on to younger generations through naming customs and through the use of spoken and written German. The Goethe Institute seeks the spread the knowledge of German culture worldwide, German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with the most notable authors of the period being Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. The Nibelungenlied, whose author remains unknown, is also an important work of the epoch, the fairy tales collections collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century became famous throughout the world. Theologian Luther, who translated the Bible into German, is credited for having set the basis for the modern High German language
15.
Culture of Norway
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The culture of Norway is closely linked to the countrys history and geography. The unique Norwegian farm culture, sustained to this day, has resulted not only from scarce resources, in the 14th century, it brought about a strong romantic nationalistic movement, which is still visible in the Norwegian language and media. In the 19th century, Norwegian culture blossomed as efforts continued to achieve an independent identity in the areas of literature, art and this continues today in the performing arts and as a result of government support for exhibitions, cultural projects and artwork. Norways culinary traditions show the influence of long seafaring and farming traditions with salmon, herring, trout, cod, lefse is a common Norwegian wheat or potato flatbread, eaten around Christmas. For renowned Norwegian dishes, see Rakfisk, smalahove, pinnekjøtt, Krotekake, Kompe, several Norwegian authors have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, namely Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1903, Knut Hamsun in 1920 and Sigrid Undset in 1928 for Kristin Lavransdatter. Ibsen wrote plays such as Peer Gyynt, A Dolls House, Hedda Gabler, Norwegian literature attained international acclaim in the 1990s with Jostein Gaarders novel Sophies World which was translated into 40 languages. Norway has always had a tradition of building in wood, indeed, many of todays most interesting new buildings are made of wood, reflecting the strong appeal that this material continues to hold for Norwegian designers and builders. In the early Middle Ages, stave churches were constructed throughout Norway, many of them remain to this day and represent Norway’s most important contribution to architectural history. A fine example is The Stave Church at Urnes which is now on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, another notable example of wooden architecture is the Bryggen in Bergen, consisting of a row of narrow wooden structures along the quayside. In the 17th century, under the Danish monarchy, cities such as Kongsberg with its Baroque church, after Norway’s union with Denmark was dissolved in 1814, Oslo became the capital. Architect Christian H. Grosch designed the oldest parts of the University of Oslo, the Oslo Stock Exchange, at the beginning of the 20th century, the city of Ålesund was rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style. The 1930s, when functionalism dominated, became a period for Norwegian architecture. One of the most striking buildings in Norway is the Sami Parliament in Kárášjohka designed by Stein Halvorson. Its debating chamber is an abstract version of a Lavvo. For an extended period, the Norwegian art scene was dominated by artwork from Germany and it was in the 19th century that a truly Norwegian era began, first with portraits, later with even more impressive landscapes. Johan Christian Dahl, originally from the Dresden school, eventually returned to paint the landscapes of west Norway, frits Thaulow, an impressionist, was influenced by the art scene in Paris as was Christian Krohg, a realist painter, famous for his paintings of prostitutes. Of particular note is Edvard Munch, a symbolist/expressionist painter who became famous for The Scream which is said to represent the anxiety of modern man. Other artists of note include Harald Sohlberg, a neo-romantic painter remembered for his paintings of Røros and Odd Nerdrum, the oldest Norwegian photograph is from Hans Thøger Winther dating back to 1840
16.
Culture of Sweden
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Swedish society and its culture is concerned with the welfare and well-being of others, both within and outside Sweden. Swedes have a tradition of informal coffee-break get-togethers known as Fika, the 25 historical provinces of Sweden, which early in their histories had poor intercommunication, each have a distinct culture. The provinces long ago lost their importance as administrative and political regions, but are seen as cultural ones. Each province has a history, each with its own robust nature. Some of them constituted separated parts of Sweden with their own laws, other regions have been independent, or a part of another country, such as, etc. They have different indigenous dialects of North Germanic, and some have ethnic minorities, singing is popular in Sweden, and of its 9 million inhabitants,600,000 belong to various choirs. Three of the worlds leading songwriters, Jörgen Elofsson, Daniel Liljeroth and Max Martin, in popular music, the group ABBA became the essence of Swedish music during the 1970s and early 1980s. Later Roxette emerged, mostly performing songs in the late 1980s. This band was successful in the USA. Europe, Ace of Base and The Cardigans are Swedish pop groups that have been popular internationally, pop promo director Jonas Åkerlund is from Sweden. He is perhaps best known for The Prodigys Smack My Bitch Up, indie pop/rock is very big in Sweden. Gothenburg especially has spawned a number of prominent bands and artists, thanks to labels such as Sincerely Yours, Service. In contrast with its pop music scene, Sweden also boasts one of the most prolific death metal scenes in the world. Gothenburg is famed in the scene for the death metal sound. Melodic death metal is quite a broad genre with many variations, still, many bands are influenced by genres as broad as Swedish folk music, alternative music, electronica, gothic music, progressive music and even neo-classical music. However, there are a lot of bands and artists who dominate the national music scene, such as Kent, Håkan Hellström. Traditional Swedish national costumes are worn on special occasions, such as Midsummer. Many such costumes are darkly colored, sverigedräkten, a version mainly in blue and yellow, has been the established National Costume since 2004 and is thus worn by royalty on some official occasions
17.
The New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946
18.
Svenska Dagbladet
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Svenska Dagbladet, abbreviated SvD, is a daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. The first issue of Svenska Dagbladet appeared on 18 December 1884, ivar Anderson is among its former editors-in-chief who assumed the post in 1940. The paper is published in Stockholm and provides coverage of national and international news as well as coverage of the Greater Stockholm region. Its subscribers are concentrated in the capital, but it is distributed in most of Sweden, during the beginning of the 1900s the paper was one of the right-wing publications in Stockholm. Svenska Dagbladet is owned by Schibsted which purchased it in the late 1990s, the stated position of the editorial page is independently moderate, which means it is independent but adheres to the liberal conservatism of the Moderate Party. On the other hand, the paper is regarded as conservative. In November 2000 Svenska Dagbladet changed its format from broadsheet to tabloid, in 2005 the paper started a Web portal for business news as a joint venture with Aftonbladet. Since 1925 Svenska Dagbladet has awarded an individual sportsperson or a team the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal at the end of each year, the circulation of Svenska Dagbladet was 185,000 copies in 2003. The paper had a circulation of 187,100 copies on weekdays in 2005, among Swedish morning newspapers Svenska Dagbladet had the third largest circulation with 195,200 copies in 2007 after Dagens Nyheter and Göteborgs-Posten. In 2008 Svenska Dagbladet had a circulation of 123,383 copies, the circulation of the paper was 185,600 copies in 2011. It was 159,600 copies in 2012 and 143,400 copies in 2013, gunilla Asker, in 2009 appointed CEO of Svenska Dagbladet. Cordelia Edvardson, Jerusalem correspondent for Svenska Dagbladet from 1977 to 2006, list of Swedish newspapers Svenska Utlandstidningen Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. The worlds great dailies, profiles of fifty newspapers pp 308–13 Official website of Svenska Dagbladet
19.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
20.
History of Denmark
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The history of Denmark as a unified kingdom began in the 8th century, but historic documents describe the geographic area and the people living there - the Danes -, as early as 500 AD. These early documents include the writings of Jordanes and Procopius, with the Christianization of the Danes c.960 AD, it is clear that there existed a kingship in Scandinavia, controlling the current Danish territory roughly speaking. Queen Margrethe II can trace her back to the Viking kings Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth from this time. The area we now know as Denmark, has a rich prehistory, having been populated by prehistoric cultures and people for about 12,000 years. Denmark was long in disputes with Sweden over control of Skånelandene and with Germany over control of Schleswig, eventually, Denmark lost these conflicts and ended up ceding first Skåneland to Sweden and later Schleswig-Holstein to the German Empire. After the eventual cession of Norway in 1814, Denmark retained control of the old Norwegian colonies of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland. During the 20th century, Iceland gained independence, Greenland and the Faroese became integral parts of the Kingdom of Denmark and North Schleswig reunited with Denmark in 1920 after a referendum. During World War II, Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany, in the aftermaths of World War II, and with the emergence of the subsequent Cold War, Denmark was quick to join the military alliance of NATO as a founding member in 1949. The Scandinavian region has a rich prehistory, having been populated by prehistoric cultures and people for about 12,000 years. During the ice age, all of Scandinavia was covered by glaciers most of the time, when the ice began retreating, the barren tundras were soon inhabited by reindeer and elk and Ahrenburg and Swiderian hunters from the south followed them here to hunt occasionally. The geography then was very different from what we know today, as the climate warmed up, forceful rivers of meltwater started to flow and shape the virgin lands, and a more stable flora and fauna gradually began emerging in Scandinavia and Denmark in particular. The first human settlers to inhabit Denmark and Scandinavia permanently was the Maglemosian people, residing in seasonal camps and it was not until around 6,000 BC that the geography of Denmark as we know it today had been shaped approximately. Denmark has some unique conditions for preservation of artifacts, providing a rich. The Weichsel glaciation covered all of Denmark most of the time and it ended around 13,000 years ago allowing humans to move back into the previously ice-covered territories and establish permanent habitation. During the first post-glacial millennia the landscape changed from tundra to light forest. Early pre-historic cultures uncovered in modern Denmark include the Maglemosian Culture, the Kongemose culture, the Ertebølle culture, and the Funnelbeaker culture. The Koelbjerg Man is the oldest known bog body in the world and also the oldest set of bones found in Denmark. With a continuing rise in temperature the oak, elm and hazel arrived in Denmark around 7,000 BC, now boar, red deer, and roe deer also began to abound
21.
Archaeology of Denmark
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At the same time, archaeological study in Denmark has continually and fundamentally influenced the young science of archaeology from its very beginnings. The prehistory of Denmark reveals that different cultures were to settle there. It was he who introduced the three-age system – Stone, Bronze and Iron ages - to European archaeology, a later commission initiated in 1893-1895, executed a large scale, thorough and interdisciplinary excavation at the Limfjord. The site is named Ertebølle and so the rich and defining archaeological find coined the now well-known Stone Age culture of Ertebølle, apart from archaeology, participating scientific disciplines included botany, zoology and geology, and such kitchen middens has since been viewed as important archaeological sites internationally. Due to land-shift after the melting of the ice, many kitchen midden sites, originally on the coast, were later submerged, the site was excavated over the following decade. 300 m from the shore and 3 m below the surface, the kitchen midden culture stretched chronologically from c.5000 BC onward. A complex web of trading roots now linked Jutland with the remainder of Bronze-Age Europe, an overland route carried Jutland amber to Mycenaean Greece, while sea-routes also brought it to England, and the Mediterranean. The Iron Age came relatively late to Denmark, but again the bogs yielded an exciting, the well-preserved body of a hanged man created intense interest, it was associated by some with the accounts by Tacitus of sacrifices made to the goddess Nerthus. Runes based on the Latin alphabet began to appear, and Roman imports among grave goods also show the influence of the nearby empire by the first centuries AD. Denmark and Danish archaeologists has a history of both international collaborations and engagements and public outreach, education and mediation of the results of archaeology. Many Danish museums plays a role in public outreach and mediation. Seamus Heaney in his poetry made Tollund Man a powerful symbol for helping to understand present-day violence, J. R. R. Tolkien based his description of Beorns Hall in The Hobbit on archaeological reconstructions of an old Danish mead-hall. What Danish Archaeology Means to Me, ICOM Denmark, The Danish ICOM Committee Official homepage of the Danish national committee of ICOM in English. Danske Museer - Denmarks Museum Journal, Official English homepage of the Danish archaeological journal Danske Museer. Nordisk Museologi, The Nordisk Museologi journal, Official homepage of the Nordisk Museologi journal in English. Excavating submerged Stone Age sites in Denmark, the Tybrind Vig example
22.
Viking Age
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The Viking Age is the period from the late 8th century to the mid-11th century in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, following the Germanic Iron Age. It is the period of history when Scandinavian Norsemen explored Europe by its seas and rivers for trade, raids, colonisation and conquest. Three Viking ships had beached in Weymouth Bay four years earlier, the Viking devastation of Northumbrias Holy Island was reported by the Northumbrian scholar Alcuin of York, who wrote, Never before in Britain has such a terror appeared. Vikings were portrayed as violent and bloodthirsty by their enemies. The chronicles of medieval England portrayed them as rapacious wolves among sheep, the first challenges to the many anti-Viking images in Britain emerged in the 17th century. Pioneering scholarly works on the Viking Age reached a readership in Britain. Archaeologists began to dig up Britains Viking past, linguistics traced the Viking-Age origins of rural idioms and proverbs. New dictionaries of the Old Norse language enabled more Victorians to read the Icelandic Sagas, the Vikings who invaded western and eastern Europe were chiefly pagans from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. They also settled in the Faroe Islands, Ireland, Iceland, peripheral Scotland, Greenland and their North Germanic language, Old Norse, became the mother-tongue of present-day Scandinavian languages. By 801, a central authority appears to have been established in Jutland. In Norway, mountainous terrain and fjords formed strong natural boundaries, communities there remained independent of each other, unlike the situation in Denmark which is lowland. By 800, some 30 small kingdoms existed in Norway, the sea was the easiest way of communication between the Norwegian kingdoms and the outside world. It was in the 8th century that Scandinavians began to build ships of war, the North Sea rovers were traders, colonisers and explorers as well as plunderers. There are various theories concerning the causes of the Viking invasions, for people living along the coast, it would seem natural to seek new land by the sea. Another reason was that during this period England, Wales and Ireland, the Franks, however, had well-defended coasts and heavily fortified ports and harbours. Pure thirst for adventure may also have been a factor, a reason for the raids is believed by some to be over-population caused by technological advances, such as the use of iron, or a shortage of women due to selective female infanticide. Although another cause could well have been caused by the Frankish expansion to the south of Scandinavia. Consequently, these Vikings became raiders, in search of subsistence, There is ongoing debate among scholars as to why the Scandinavians began to expand during the 8th through 11th centuries
23.
Kalmar Union
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The Union was not quite continuous, there were several short interruptions. Legally the countries remained separate sovereign states, but with their domestic, one main impetus for its formation was to block German expansion northward into the Baltic region. The main reason for its failure to survive was the struggle between the monarch, who wanted a strong unified state, and the Swedish and Danish nobility which did not. Diverging interests gave rise to a conflict that would hamper the union in several intervals from the 1430s until its breakup in 1523 when Gustav Vasa became king of Sweden. Norway continued to remain a part of the realm of Denmark–Norway under the Oldenburg dynasty for nearly three centuries until its dissolution in 1814. Then Union between Sweden and Norway lasted until 1905, when a grandson of the incumbent king of Denmark was elected its king, the union was the work of Scandinavian aristocracy wishing to counter the influence of the Hanseatic League. Margaret, a daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark, married King Haakon VI of Norway and Sweden, Margaret succeeded in having her son Olav recognized as heir to the throne of Denmark. In 1376 Olav inherited the crown of Denmark from his grandfather as King Oluf III, with his mother as guardian. The two kingdoms were united in a union under a child king, with the kings mother as his guardian, later. On 2 February the next year, she was recognized as regent of Norway. Their common enemy was the Hanseatic League and the growing German influence over the Scandinavian economy. The Nordic union was established on 17 June 1397 by the Treaty of Kalmar, signed in the Swedish castle of Kalmar on Swedens south-east coast, at each junction, installation of a new monarch tended to mean a break-up of the union for a while. Eric of Pomerania, however, became the monarch of all three kingdoms, at Kalmar, the 15-year-old Eric of Pomerania was crowned king of all three kingdoms by the archbishops of Denmark and Sweden, but Margaret managed to remain in control until her death in 1412. It is said that contemporaries of the Union would not recognize the term, Union of Kalmar—that they just understood that much of the time. While the term meaning Treaty of Kalmar was known already at the time, the Swedes were not happy with the Danes frequent wars on Schleswig, Holstein, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania, which were a disturbance to Swedish exports to the European continent. Furthermore, the centralization of government in Denmark raised suspicions, the Swedish Privy Council wanted to retain a fair degree of self-government. The unity of the union eroded after the Danish defeat against the German Hanseatic League in the 1430s, even to the point of armed rebellion, erik was deposed as the union king and was succeeded by his nephew, the childless Christopher of Bavaria. In the power vacuum that arose following Christophers death, Sweden elected Charles VIII king with the intent to reestablish the union under a Swedish king, during the next seven decades struggle for power and the wars between Sweden and Denmark would dominate the union
24.
Danevirke
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The Danevirke is a system of Danish fortifications in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. This important linear defensive earthwork across the neck of the Cimbrian peninsula was initiated by the Danes in the Nordic Iron Age at some point before 500 AD and it was later expanded multiple times during Denmarks Viking Age. The Danevirke was last used for purposes in 1864 during the Second War of Schleswig. The Danevirke consists of walls, trenches and the Schlei Barrier. The walls stretches for 30 km, from the former Viking trade centre of Hedeby near Schleswig on the Baltic Sea coast in the east to the marshlands in the west of the peninsula. One of the walls, between the Schlei and Eckernförde inlets, defended the Schwansen peninsula, according to written sources, work on the Danevirke was started by the Danish King Gudfred in 808. Legend has it that it was the queen Thyra who ordered the Danevirke to be built and she was the wife of the first historically recognized king of Denmark, Gorm the Old. With the emergence of national states in Europe during the 1800s, two wars were fought, the First Schleswig War and the Second Schleswig War, eventually resulting in a Danish defeat and subsequent German annexation. Archaeological excavations in 1969–75 established, with the help of dendrochronology and it is, therefore, contemporary with Offas Dyke, another great defensive structure of the late 8th century. Recent investigations suggest that the Danevirke was not only, and not even primarily, the archaeologist Henning Hellmuth Andersen found that in an early stage the main wall consisted of a ditch between two low embankments. Rather, the construction, in its earliest stage. New carbon-14 dating in 2013 has revealed that the stage started around 500 AD. The Danevirke is about 30 kilometres long overall, with a height varying between 3.6 and 6 metres, in particular, the 12th-century King Valdemar the Great reinforced parts of the Danevirke with a brick wall, which enabled a continued military use of this strategically important structure. The reinforced parts of the structure are known in Danish as Valdemarsmuren. Danevirke 1 — Hovedvolden, Nordvolden, Østervolden The first Danevirke was built in five stages, starting about 650, the first three stages were simple ramparts of soil, and the fourth stage was a palisade rampart with heavy timber front, built in 737. In the final stages the timber palisade was reinforced with a stone wall around the timber. Work said to have started by Angantyr, and continued by Siegfried. Hovedvolden, From Rejde Å to a lake called Dannevirke Sø
25.
Danish colonial empire
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The Danish colonial empire and pre Dano-Norwegian empire denotes the colonies that Denmark-Norway possessed from 1536 until 1953. At its apex the colonial empire spanned four continents, the period of colonial expansion marked a rise in the status and power of Danes and Norwegians in the union. Much of the Norwegian population moved to work in Copenhagen, attend the University. After 1814, when Norway was granted to Sweden following the Napoleonic Wars, christian IV first initiated the policy of expanding Denmark-Norways overseas trade, as part of the mercantilist wave that was sweeping Europe. Denmark-Norways first colony was established at Tranquebar on Indias southern coast in 1620, admiral Ove Gjedde led the expedition that established the colony. They are now autonomous countries of the Kingdom of Denmark with home rule, Denmark maintained several tradings stations and four forts on the Gold Coast in west Africa, especially around modern day Ghana. Three trading stations were built, Fort Frederiksborg, Kpompo, Osu Castle by Accra in 1661, that was purchased from Sweden, the forts were Fort Prinsensten built in 1784, Fort Augustaborg from 1787, Fort Friedensborg and Fort Kongensten, several of which are ruins today. Of these, only one is used today, Fort Christiansborg. Plantations were established by Frederiksborg, but they failed, Fort Christiansborg became the base for Danish power in west Africa, and the centre for slave trade to the Danish West Indies. In 1807, Denmarks African business partners were suppressed by the Akan people subgroup-Ashanti, Denmark sold its forts to the United Kingdom in 1850. With the ratification of the Kalmar Union in 1397, Denmark-Norway inherited Greenland which was part of Norway since its settlement in the Viking Age. After Norway was ceded to Sweden in 1814 following the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark-Norway acquired the island of St. Thomas in 1671 and St. Jan in 1718, and bought St. Croix from France in 1733. All of the economies were based primarily on sugar. These islands were known as the Danish West Indies and were sold to the United States in 1917 for 25 million dollars. Several Danish-American succession talks had made since 1870 due to a rising amount of riots. The Zahle Government held a heavily boycotted election for Danish mainland constituencies, the United States hoped to use them as naval bases. Since 1917, the islands have been known as the U. S. Virgin Islands, the most important economic aspect was spice trade and access to the east Asian area, including Imperial China situated farther to the east. The colony at Trankebar was kept for over 200 years, with a few interruptions, in 1755 Denmark acquired the Frederiksnagore, and later the towns of Achne and Pirapur
26.
Danish colonization of the Americas
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Denmark and the former political union of Denmark–Norway had a colonial empire from the 17th through the 20th centuries, large portions of which were found in the Americas. Denmark and Norway in one form or another also maintained land claims in Greenland since the 13th century, Greenland, which had been settled by the Norsemen in the 980s, submitted to Norwegian rule in 1261. Norway entered the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Sweden in 1397, scandinavian settlement in Greenland declined over the years and the last written record is a marriage recorded in 1408, although the Norwegian claims to the land remained. Despite the decline of European settlement and the loss of contact, between the years 1605-1607, King Christian IV of Denmark commissioned three expeditions to Greenland. These expeditions were conducted in order to locate the lost Norse Eastern Settlement as well as to reassert Danish sovereignty over Greenland, the expeditions were largely unsuccessful, partly due to its leaders lacking experience with the arctic ice and difficult weather conditions. Additionally later expeditions were searching on the east coast of Greenland, in the 1660s, a polar bear was added to the royal coat of arms. Around this same time Dano-Norwegian ships, joined by ships from various other European countries, began journeying to Greenland to hunt bowhead whales, egede led three boats to Baals River and established Hope Colony on Kangeq with his family and a few dozen colonists. Finding no Norse survivors, he started a mission among the Inuit, meanwhile, his settlers had been ravaged by scurvy and the Dutch attacked and burnt a whaling station erected on Nipisat. The Bergen company went bankrupt in 1727, the death of Egedes wife prompted his return to Denmark, with his son Paul left in charge of the settlement. He was succeeded by the General Trade Company, both were granted armed ships and full monopolies over trade around their settlements, to prevent better-armed, lower-priced, and better-quality Dutch goods from bankrupting the enterprise. One effect was that construction of new settlements was effectively suspended after Nennortalik for a century until the establishment of Amassalik on the shore in 1894. The 1782 Instructions also established separate governing councils for North and South Greenland, repeated inquiries into the Greenlandic trade and the end of absolutism in Denmark did not end the KGHs monopolies. In 1857, the administrators did set up parsissaets, local councils conducted in Kalaallisut with minor control over spending decisions at each station, in 1912, Royal Greenlands independence was ended and its operations were folded into the Ministry of the Interior. Arctic exploration placed claims of Danish sovereignty over the whole of Greenland in doubt, Norway – which had become independent of Sweden in 1905 – eventually protested and claimed Erik the Reds Land in eastern Greenland during 1931. The Permanent Court of International Justice ruled against Norway two years later, albeit on questionable grounds, the fall of Denmark in early 1940 increased the power and importance of the governors greatly, but by 1941 the island had become an American protectorate. Following the war, the corporate policy was discontinued, the North and South Greenland colonies were united. In 1953, Greenlands colonial status was ended and it was made a part of the Kingdom of Denmark with representation in the Folketing. In 1979, the Folketing granted the island home rule and, in 2009, all other than defense
27.
Danish Golden Age
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The Danish Golden Age covers a period of exceptional creative production in Denmark, especially during the first half of the 19th century. Although Copenhagen had suffered fires, bombardment and national bankruptcy. It also saw the development of Danish architecture in the Neoclassical style, Copenhagen, in particular, acquired a new look, with buildings designed by Christian Frederik Hansen and by Michael Gottlieb Bindesbøll. In relation to music, the Golden Age covers figures inspired by Danish romantic nationalism including J. P. E. Hartmann, Hans Christian Lumbye, Niels W. Gade, literature centred on Romantic thinking, introduced in 1802 by the Norwegian-German philosopher Henrik Steffens. Key contributors were Adam Oehlenschläger, Bernhard Severin Ingemann, N. F. S. Grundtvig and, last but not least, Hans Christian Andersen, Søren Kierkegaard furthered philosophy while Hans Christian Ørsted achieved fundamental progress in science. The Golden Age thus had an effect not only on life in Denmark but, with time. The origins of the Golden Age can be traced back to around the beginning of the 19th century, surprisingly, this was a very rough period for Denmark. Copenhagen, the centre of the intellectual life, first experienced huge fires in 1794 and 1795 which destroyed both Christiansborg Palace and large areas of the inner city. In 1801, as a result of the involvement in the League of Armed Neutrality. Then in 1813, as a result of the inability to support the costs of war. To make matters worse, Norway ceased to be part of the Danish realm when it was ceded to Sweden the following year, Copenhagens devastation nevertheless provided new opportunities. Architects and planners widened the streets, constructing beautifully designed Neoclassical buildings offering a brighter yet intimate look, at the time, with a population of only 100,000, the city was still quite small, built within the confines of the old ramparts. As a result, the figures of the day met frequently, sharing their ideas, bringing the arts. Henrik Steffens was perhaps the most effective proponent of the Romantic idea, in a series of lectures in Copenhagen, he successfully conveyed the ideas behind German romanticism to the Danes. Influential thinkers, such as Oehlenschläger and Grundtvig were quick to take up his views and it was not long before Danes from all branches of the arts and sciences were involved in a new era of Romantic nationalism, later known as the Danish Golden Age. Especially in the field of painting, change became apparent, grand historical art gave way to more widely appealing but less pretentious genre paintings and landscapes. The Golden Age is generally believed to have lasted until about 1850, around that time, Danish culture suffered from the outbreak of the First Schleswig War. In addition, political reforms involving the end of the monarchy in 1848
28.
Scandinavian Monetary Union
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The Scandinavian Monetary Union was a monetary union formed by Denmark and Sweden on 5 May 1873, by fixing their currencies against gold at par to each other. An equal valued krone/krona of the union replaced the three legacy currencies at the rate of 1 krone/krona = 1⁄2 Danish rigsdaler = 1⁄4 Norwegian speciedaler =1 Swedish riksdaler. The monetary union was one of the few results of the Scandinavian political movement of the 19th century. The union provided fixed exchange rates and stability in monetary terms, upon acceding to the union, Sweden had the name of its currency changed from Riksdaler Riksmynt to Swedish krona. The word krone/krona literally means crown, and the differences in spelling of the name represent the differences between the North Germanic languages, the political union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, but this did not affect the basis for co-operation in the monetary union. It was instead the outbreak of World War I in 1914 that brought an end to the monetary union, Sweden abandoned the tie to gold on 2 August 1914, and without a fixed exchange rate the free circulation came to an end. All three countries use the same currencies as during the monetary union, but they lost their peg, one to one. The Icelandic króna is a derivative of the Danish krone, established after Iceland was elevated to a kingdom in union with Denmark in 1918. Iceland cut its ties to Denmark in 1944 and became a republic, the Scandinavian Monetary Union was inspired by the Latin Monetary Union, established in 1865. The Scandinavian currency union 1875–1914. in Jaime Reis, ed. International Monetary Systems in Historical Perspective, the impact of the Scandinavian Monetary Union on financial market integration
29.
Postage stamps and postal history of Denmark
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This is an overview of the postage stamps and postal history of Denmark. Denmarks postal history begins with an ordinance of 24 December 1624 by King Christian IV and this service consisted of nine main routes, and was to be operated by the mayor of Copenhagen and several guilds. Initially the mail was carried by foot, with riders being used after 1640, the service was turned over to a Paul Klingenberg on 16 July 1653, who introduced a number of innovations, including mail coaches able to carry parcels, and service to Norway. He ran the service until 14 March 1685, when he handed it over to Count Christian Gyldenløve, the Gyldenløve family continued in control until 1711, in 1694 new routes and rates were established. The state took control in 1711. The first steamship carrying mail was the SS Caledonia, which began carrying mail between Copenhagen and Kiel on 1 July 1819, the first postage stamps were introduced on 1 April 1851, by a law passed on 11 March. The first value was a four rigsbankskilling stamp printed in brown, a design with a crown, sword. This was followed on 1 May by a 2rbs value in using the denomination as the design. Both stamps were typographed, watermarked, and imperforate, and distinctive for having a yellow-brown burelage printed on top of the design, the 2rbs prepaid the local postage rate in København, while the 4rbs was the national rate. Four rbs stamps were introduced on 1 May 1851 for use in the Duchy of Slesvig. The design and first printings were made by M. W. Ferslew, but he died, few of the 2rbs values were printed, and today copies are priced at around 3,000 US$ unused and $1,000 used. The 4rbs was more common, with unused at $700 and used copies at just $40, values of 2s, 4s, 8s, and 16s were issued at various times from 1854 to 1857. In 1858 the dotted pattern in the background was replaced with wavy lines, in 1863 a larger crown was used in the watermark and the stamps were rouletted. Along with postage stamps, the use of numeral cancellations was adopted, consisting of a number with several concentric circles,1 was Copenhagen,2 the office in Hamburg,5 Aarhus, and so forth. Values of 2s, 3s, 4s, 8s, and 16s came out between May 1864 and 1868 and these were the first Danish stamps to be perforated. In 1870 the first of the long-running numeral issue appeared, the design was an oval with the denomination in large numerals in the center, surrounded by an ornate frame in a different color. The frame is very nearly symmetric, but not entirely, some of the inverts are quite common, the employees at the printing plant presumably also having difficulties knowing which way was up. In 1873, the currency was changed to the decimal kroner, the perforation spacing was changed in 1895, and the watermark in 1902
30.
History of Schleswig-Holstein
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The history of Schleswig-Holstein consists of the corpus of facts since the Pre-history times until the modern establish of the Schleswig-Holstein state. The Jutland Peninsula is a peninsula in Northern Europe. Schleswig is also called Southern Jutland, the Danes settled in the early Viking ages in Northern and Central Schleswig and the Northern Frisians after approximately the year 900 in Western Schleswig. The pattern of populated and unpopulated areas was relatively constant through Bronze Age, after many Angles emigrated to the British Islands in the 5th century, the land of the Angles came in closer contact with the Danish islands — plausibly by partly immigration/occupation by the Danes. Later also the contacts increased between the Danes and the people on the half of the Jutish peninsula. After the Slavic migrations, the area of modern Holstein was inhabited by Slavic Wagrians a subgroup of the Obotrites. Apart from northern Holstein and Schleswig inhabited by Danes there were Nordalbingia and Wagria in respectively, Nordalbingia was one of the four administrative regions of the medieval Duchy of Saxony, the others being Angria, Eastphalia, and Westphalia. Nordalbingia consisted of four districts, Dithmarschen, Holstein, Stormarn, the Wagri, Wagiri, or Wagrians were a tribe of Polabian Slavs inhabiting Wagria, or eastern Holstein in northern Germany, from the ninth to twelfth centuries. They were a constituent tribe of the Obodrite confederacy, in the Battle of Bornhöved on the field of Sventanafeld near the village of Bornhöved near Neumünster in 798 the Obodrites, led by Drożko, allied with the Franks, defeated the Nordalbingian Saxons. Areas north of Elbe were given to the Obodrites, while Hadeln was directly incorporated, however, the Obodrites soon were invaded by Danes and only the intervention of Charlemagne pushed the Danes out of Eider river. A border was established at the Eider River in 811, there on the narrowest part of southern Jutland was established the important transit market, which was protected by the Danevirke fortification. Hedeby was located on the inlet Schlei opposite to what is now the City of Schleswig, the wealth of Schleswig, as reflected by impressive archeological finds on the site today, and the taxes from the Haithabu market, was enticing. A separate kingdom of Haithabu was established around year 900 by the Viking chieftain Olaf from Svealand, olafs son and successor Gnupa was however killed in battle against the Danish king, and his kingdom vanished. The southern border was then adjusted back and forth a few times, for instance, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II occupied the region between the river Eider and the inlet Schlei in the years 974–983, called the March of Schleswig, and stimulating German colonisation. Later Haithabu was burned by Swedes, and first under the reign of King Sweyn Forkbeard the situation was stabilised, Haithabu was once again and ultimately destroyed by fire in 1066. As Adam of Bremen reported in 1076, the Eider River was the border between Denmark and the Saxon territories, throughout the Middle Ages, Schleswig was a source of rivalry between Denmark and the nobility of the duchy of Holstein within the Holy Roman Empire. The Danish position can be exemplified with an inscription on a stone in the walls of the town of Rendsburg located on the border between Schleswig and Holstein, Eidora Terminus Imperii Romani, a number of Holsatian nobles sought to challenge this. The area of Schleswig was first inhabited by the mingled West Germanic tribes Cimbri, Angles and Jutes, later also by the North Germanic Danes, Holstein was inhabited mainly by the West Germanic Saxons, aside Wends and other Slavic peoples in the East
31.
Duchy of Holstein
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The Duchy of Holstein was the northernmost state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It was established when King Christian I of Denmark had his County of Holstein-Rendsburg elevated to a duchy by Emperor Frederick III in 1474, Holstein was ruled jointly with the Duchy of Schleswig by members of the Danish House of Oldenburg for its entire existence. From 1490 to 1523 and again from 1544 to 1773 the Duchy was partitioned between various Oldenburg branches, most notably the dukes of Holstein-Glückstadt and Holstein-Gottorp, the Duchy ceased to exist when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866 after the Second Schleswig War. The lands of Schleswig beyond the river remained a fief of the Danish Crown, while Holstein became a part of East Francia, the Kingdom of Germany. Adolf VIII, the last Count of Holstein-Rendsburg and Duke of Schleswig had died without heirs in 1459. As Schleswig had been a Danish fief, it had to back to King Christian I of Denmark. He was backed by the nobility, who supported the continued common administration of both lands and by the 1460 Treaty of Ribe proclaimed him as the new Count of Holstein. Nevertheless, the comital Holstein lands south of the Eider River officially remained a fief held by the Ascanian dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg. In 1474 Emperor Frederick III conferred Imperial immediacy to Christian by elevating him to a Duke of Holstein, from 1648 the royal parts of Schleswig and Holstein were administered out of Glückstadt and became known as the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Glückstadt. Before 1773 its Holstein territory consisted of the following Ämter, Rendsburg, South Dithmarschen, Steinburg, Segeberg, the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in Haderslev, held by Duke Hans the Elder. Hans had no issue and after his death in 1580, his territories were divided among his brothers, the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in Gottorp, held by Duke Adolf and his successors. In addition, significant parts of Holstein were jointly administered by the Dukes of Holstein-Glückstadt, in 1640, the County of Holstein-Pinneberg, whose ruling house was extinct, was merged in the royal part of the Duchy of Holstein. In 1713, during the Great Northern War, the estates of the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp in Schleswig including Schloss Gottorf were conquered by royal Danish troops, in the 1720 Treaty of Frederiksborg, Duke Charles Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp ceded them to his liege lord the Danish crown. His remaining territories formed the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp, administered from Kiel, with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Duchy of Holstein gained sovereignty. Denmark defended its rule over Holstein in the First Schleswig War of 1848-51 against the Kingdom of Prussia, however, in Second Schleswig War Prussian and Austrian troops conquered Schleswig. Christian IX of Denmark had to renounce both Schleswig and Holstein in the Treaty of Vienna, Holstein was put under Austrian administration, until annexed by Prussia in 1866 after the Austro-Prussian War. The Danish king in his function as duke of Holstein, and duke of Schleswig, 1523/45–1550, Johan Rantzau 1550–1556, Count Bertram von Ahlefeldt 1556–1598, Heinrich Rantzau 1598–1600, vacancy. Peace of Prague List of rulers of Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein at Worldstatesmen
32.
Duchy of Schleswig
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The region is also called Sleswick in English. Roman sources place the homeland of the Jute tribe north of the river Eider and that of the Angles to its south, who in turn abutted the neighbouring Saxons. During the early Viking Age, Haithabu - Scandinavias biggest trading centre - was located in this region and its construction, and in particular its great expansion around 737, has been interpreted as an indication of the emergence of a unified Danish state. In May 1931 scientists of the National Museum of Denmark announced the finding of eighteen Viking graves with the remains of eighteen men in them, the discovery came during excavations in Schleswig. The skeletons indicated that the men were bigger proportioned than twentieth-century Danish men, each of the graves was laid out from east to west. Researchers surmised that the bodies were entombed in wooden coffins originally, towards the end of the Early Middle Ages, Schleswig formed part of the historical Lands of Denmark as Denmark unified out of a number of petty chiefdoms in the 8th to 10th centuries. The southern boundary of Denmark in the region of the Eider River, the Treaty of Heiligen was signed in 811 between the Danish King Hemming and Charlemagne, by which the border was established at the Eider. During the 10th century there were wars between East Francia and Denmark. In 1027, Conrad II and Canute the Great again settled their mutual border at the Eider. In 1115, king Niels created his nephew Canute Lavard - a son of his predecessor Eric I - Earl of Schleswig, in the 1230s, Southern Jutland was allotted as an appanage to Abel Valdemarsen, Canutes great-grandson, a younger son of Valdemar II of Denmark. Feuds and marital alliances brought the Abel dynasty into a connection with the German Duchy of Holstein by the 15th century. The latter was a subordinate to the Holy Roman Empire. The title Duke of Schleswig was inherited in 1460 by the kings of Norway who were also regularly elected kings of Denmark simultaneously. This was an anomaly – a king holding a ducal title, the title and anomaly survived presumably because it was already co-regally held by the kings sons. Between 1544 and 1713/20 the ducal reign had become a condominium, with the royal House of Oldenburg, a third branch in the condominium, the short-lived House of Haderslev, was already extinct in 1580 by the time of John the Elder. On the west coast the Danish diocese of Ribe stopped about 5 km north of the present border and this line corresponds remarkably well with the present border. In the 17th century a series of wars between Denmark and Sweden—which Denmark lost—devastated the region economically, however the nobility responded with a new agricultural system that restored prosperity. In the period 1600 to 1800 the region experienced the growth of manorialism of the common in the rye-growing regions of eastern Germany
33.
Denmark in World War II
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During most of World War II, Denmark was first a protectorate, then an occupied territory under Germany. On 9 April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark in Operation Weserübung, on 29 August 1943 Germany placed Denmark under direct military occupation, which lasted until the Allied victory on 5 May 1945. Contrary to the situation in countries under German occupation, most Danish institutions continued to function relatively normally until 1945. Just over 3,000 Danes died as a result of the occupation. Overall this represents a low mortality rate when compared to other occupied countries. An effective resistance movement developed by the end of the war, the occupation of Denmark was initially not an important objective for the German government. The decision to occupy its northern neighbor was taken to facilitate a planned invasion of the strategically more important Norway. However, as late as February 1940 no firm decision to occupy Denmark had been made, the issue was finally settled when Adolf Hitler personally crossed out the words die Nordspitze Jütlands and replaced them with Dä, a German abbreviation for Denmark. In a much more vague and longer-term way, some Nazis hoped to incorporate Denmark into a greater Nordic Union at some stage, officially Germany claimed to be protecting Denmark from a British invasion. At 4,15 on the morning of 9 April 1940, in a coordinated operation, German ships began disembarking troops at the docks in Copenhagen. Although outnumbered and poorly equipped, soldiers in parts of the country offered resistance, most notably the Royal Guard in Copenhagen. At the same time as the crossing, German planes dropped the notorious OPROP. Leaflets over Copenhagen calling for Danes to accept the German occupation peacefully, colonel Lunding from the Danish armys intelligence office later confirmed that Danish intelligence knew the attack would be coming on either 8 or 9 April and had warned the government accordingly. The Danish ambassador to Germany, Herluf Zahle, issued a warning which was also ignored. As a result of the turn of events, the Danish government did not have enough time to officially declare war on Germany. Denmark was in a position in any event, however. Its territory and population were too small to hold out against Germany for any sustained period, unlike Norway, Denmark had no mountain ranges from which a drawn-out resistance could be mounted. The flat territory of Jutland was an area for the German army to operate in
34.
Rescue of the Danish Jews
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The rescue of the Danish Jews occurred during Nazi Germanys occupation of Denmark during World War II. On October 1,1943, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ordered Danish Jews to be arrested and deported, on April 9,1940, Denmark and Norway were invaded by Nazi Germany. Realizing that successful armed resistance was impossible and wishing to avoid civilian casualties, the Nazi German government stated that its occupation was a measure taken against the Allies and that Germany did not intend to disturb the political independence of Denmark. Because the Danish government promised loyal cooperation with the Germans, the occupation of Denmark was thus relatively mild at first. German propaganda even referred to Denmark as the protectorate, earning the nickname the Cream Front, due to the relative ease of the occupation. King Christian X retained his throne, and the Danish government, the Rigsdag, even censorship of radio and the press was administered by the Danish government, rather than by the occupying German civil and military authorities. During the early years of the occupation, Danish officials repeatedly insisted to the German occupation authorities that there was no Jewish problem in Denmark, in addition, the German Reich relied substantially upon Danish agriculture, which supplied meat and butter to 3.6 million Germans in 1942. In late 1941, during the visit of the Danish foreign minister, Erik Scavenius, to Berlin, the Danish state responded robustly, the courts imposed stiff fines and jail sentences on the editors and would-be arsonists, and the government took further administrative action. At the same time, the Danish resistance movement was becoming more assertive in its underground press, during the summer, several nationwide strikes led to armed confrontations between Danes and German troops. Deeming these terms unacceptable and a violation of sovereignty, the Danish government declared a state of emergency. Some 100 prominent Danes were taken hostage, including the Chief Rabbi Dr. Max Friediger, in response, the Danish government resigned on August 29,1943. Without the uncooperative Danish government to impede them, Denmarks German occupiers began planning the deportation to Nazi concentration camps of the 7,800 or so Jews in Denmark. On September 28,1943, Duckwitz leaked word of the plans for the operation against Denmarks Jews to Hans Hedtoft, chairman of the Danish Social Democratic Party. Hedtoft contacted the Danish Resistance Movement and the head of the Jewish community, C. B. Henriques, the early phases of the rescue were improvised. Some simply contacted friends and asked them to go through telephone books, most Jews hid for several days or weeks, uncertain of their fate. Although the majority of the Danish Jews were in hiding, they would eventually have been caught if safe passage to Sweden could not have been secured, Sweden had earlier been receiving Norwegian Jews with some sort of Swedish connection. But the actions to save the Norwegians were not entirely efficient, when martial law was introduced in Denmark on August 29, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs realized that the Danish Jews were in immediate danger. On October 2, the Swedish government announced in a statement that Sweden was prepared to accept all Danish Jews in Sweden
35.
Geography of Denmark
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Denmark is a Nordic country located in Northern Europe. It consists of the Jutland peninsula and several islands in the Baltic sea, Denmark is located southwest of Sweden and due south of Norway and is bordered by the German state Schleswig-Holstein to the south, on Denmarks only land border,68 kilometres long. Denmark borders both the Baltic and North Seas along its 8,750 km tidal shoreline, no location in Denmark is further from the coast than 52 km. The size of the area of Denmark cannot be stated exactly since the ocean constantly erodes and adds material to the coastline. On the southwest coast of Jutland, the tide is between 1 and 2 m, and the tideline moves outward and inward on a 10 km stretch, a circle enclosing the same area as Denmark would be 742 km long. Denmark has 443 named islands, of which 72 are inhabited, the largest islands are Zealand and Funen. The island of Bornholm is located east of the rest of the country, ferries or small aircraft connect to the smaller islands. Main cities are the capital Copenhagen on Zealand, Århus, Aalborg and Esbjerg in Jutland and this means that the winters are mild and windy and the summers are cool. The local terrain is flat with a few gently rolling plains. The territory of Denmark includes the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea and the rest of metropolitan Denmark and its position gives Denmark complete control of the Danish Straits linking the Baltic and North Seas. The countrys natural resources include petroleum, natural gas, fish, salt, limestone, chalk, stone, gravel, iceland, Ireland and the United Kingdom dispute Denmarks claim that the Faroe Islands continental shelf extends beyond 200 nautical miles or about 370 km. The Faroe Islands continue to study proposals for full independence, uncontested sovereignty dispute with Canada over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel between Ellesmere Island and Greenland. Denmark is currently investigating the extent of the shelf of Greenland. One of the areas investigated is the geographical North Pole, as of 2012 Denmark has a population of 5,543,453. About a quarter of Danes live in the capital Copenhagen, list of islands of Denmark Danish Realm ISO 3166-2, DK NUTS, DK UN/LOCODE, DK Footnotes Reference The World Book Encyclopedia. Media related to Geography of Denmark at Wikimedia Commons Map of Denmark from the Atlas “Theatrum orbis terrarum” by Abraham Ortelius and its the first printed map of Denmark
