Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History
Denmark's size is deceptive. It might be Europe's 30th largest country, but
this corner of Scandinavia has played a significant role in shaping the region.
By the late 4th century, the Jutes had invaded and settled in England, fol-
lowed centuries later by the Vikings, whose own presence spanned from
Newfoundland to Baghdad. By the beginning of the 19th century, Denmark's
colonial power reached four continents. Yet even with the dramatic shrinking
of Danish territory, the Danes have continued to inspire, influence and shape
the global sphere, from science, philosophy and medicine, to social justice.
Of Stone, Bronze & Iron
Humans first trod the Danish earth and dug the region's flint tens of thousands of years ago
as retreating glaciers let lichen and mosses grow, attracting herds of reindeer. Permanent
settlements sprang up in about 12,000 BC.
Stone Age culture relied primarily on hunting, but as the climate gradually warmed these
hunters resettled near the sea, subsisting on fish, sea birds and seals. Small-scale agriculture
followed and villages developed around the fields.
Around 1800 BC the first artisans began fashioning weapons, tools, jewellery and finely
crafted works of art in the new metal, bronze, traded from as far away as Crete and My-
cenae.
Locally available iron led to superior ploughs, permitting larger-scale agricultural com-
munities. Present-day Denmark's linguistic and cultural roots date to the late Iron Age ar-
rival of the Danes, a tribe thought to have migrated south from Sweden in about AD 500.
At the dawn of the 9th century, the territory of present-day Denmark was on the perimet-
er of Europe, but Charlemagne (r 768-814) extended the power of the Franks northward to
present-day northern Germany. Hoping to ward off a Frankish invasion, Godfred, king of
Jutland, reinforced an impressive earthen rampart called the Danevirke. However, the raid-
ing Franks breached the rampart, bringing Christianity to Denmark at sword point.
