A Scandinavian country in Europe located on the Jutland Peninsula to the north of Germany. Its capital is Copenhagen. Denmark asserts sovereignty over Greenland, despite how it is part of the Americas in the Western Hemisphere. Denmark proper consists of the Jutland Peninsula plus many adjecent islands in the Baltic Sea. Although religious freedom is guaranteed, the state-supported Evangelical Lutheran Church accounts for about 77,8% of those persons claiming religious affiliation. A 2015 Jerusalem Post article indicated “Copenhagen has for long been the bestiality capital of Europe and has attracted many tourists mainly visiting to have sex with animals. Legislation against this practice was only enacted this year.” Additionally, it enacted a law requiring churches to perform and recognize same-sex marriages, and then clarified that the law would apply only to the government-endorsed Lutheran church, of which 77.8% of the Danes are members.
Visitors to Denmark will discover a wealth of cultural activity. The Royal Danish Ballet specializes in the work of the great Danish choreographer August Bournonville (1805–79). Danish dancers also feature regularly on the U.S. ballet scene, notably Peter Martins as head of New York City Ballet. International collections of modern art enjoy unusually attractive settings at the Louisiana Museum north of Copenhagen, “Arken” south of Copenhagen, and the North Jutland Art Museum in Aalborg.
Denmark is a constitutional monarchy. Queen Margrethe II has largely ceremonial functions; probably her most significant formal power lies in her right to appoint the prime minister and cabinet ministers, who are responsible for administration of the government. However, she must consult with parliamentary leaders to determine the public’s will, since the cabinet may be dismissed by a vote of no confidence in the Folketing (parliament). Cabinet members are occasionally recruited from outside the Folketing.
Danes are generally proud of their welfare safety net, which ensures that all Danes receive basic health care and need not fear real poverty. However, at present the number of working-age Danes living mostly on government transfer payments amounts to more than 800,000 persons (roughly 23% of the working-age population). Although this number has been reduced in recent years, the heavy load of government transfer payments burdens other parts of the system. Health care, other than for acute problems, and care for the elderly and children have particularly suffered, while taxes remain at a painful level. More than one-fourth of the labor force is employed in the public sector.
In 2005, Denmark was ranked the third most atheistic country in the world and the website adherents.com reported that in 2005 43 – 80% of Danes are agnostics/atheists/non-believers in God. Denmark has the highest rate of belief in evolution in the Western World. In 2008, a medical journal article entitled Alcoholic cirrhosis in Denmark – population-based incidence, prevalence, and hospitalization rates between 1988 and 2005: A descriptive cohort study reported that “Denmark has one of the highest alcohol consumption rates in Northern Europe.”
History
Viking raids brought Denmark into contact with Christianity, and in the 12th century, crown and church influence increased. By the late 13th century, royal power had waned, and the nobility forced the king to grant a charter, considered Denmark’s first constitution. Although the struggle between crown and nobility continued into the 14th century, Queen Margrethe I succeeded in uniting Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland under the Danish crown. Sweden and Finland left the union in 1520; however, Norway remained until 1814. Iceland, in a “personal union” under the king of Denmark after 1918, became independent in 1944.
The Reformation was introduced in Denmark in 1536. Denmark’s provinces in today’s southwestern Sweden were lost in 1658, and Norway was transferred from the Danish to the Swedish crown in 1814, following the defeat of Napoleon, with whom Denmark was allied.
The Danish liberal movement gained momentum in the 1830s, and in 1849 Denmark became a constitutional monarchy. After the war with Prussia and Austria in 1864, Denmark was forced to cede Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia and adopt a policy of neutrality. Toward the end of the 19th century, Denmark inaugurated important social and labor market reforms, laying the basis for the present welfare state.
Denmark remained neutral during World War I. Despite its declaration of neutrality at the beginning of World War II, it was invaded by the Germans in 1940 and occupied until liberated by the Allied forces in May 1945. Resistance against the Germans was sporadic until late 1943. By then better organized, the resistance movement and other volunteers undertook a successful rescue mission in which nearly the entire Jewish population of Denmark was shipped to Sweden (whose neutrality was honored by Germany). However, extensive studies are still being undertaken for the purpose of establishing a clearer picture of the degree of Danish cooperation—official and corporate—with the occupying power. Denmark became a charter member of the United Nations and was one of the original signers of the North Atlantic Treaty.
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Chronological History of Events Related to Denmark: