BASIC
INFORMATION
Full
Name: DENMARK
Capital
Copenhagen
Largest city Copenhagen
Official language
Danish
Government
Constitutional monarchy
Area 43,094 km²
Population
2005 est. 5,431,000
Currency Danish
krone (DKK)
Time
zone (UTC +1)
Internet
TLD .dk
Calling
code +45
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GEOGRAPHY
& BACKGROUND
The
Kingdom of Denmark (Danish: Kongeriget Danmark
[IPA: 'd?nm???g°]) is the smallest and
southernmost of the Nordic countries. Located
north of Germany (its only land neighbour),
southwest of Sweden, and south of Norway,
it is in Scandinavia in northern Europe,
but not on the Scandinavian Peninsula.
Denmark
borders the Baltic Sea and the North Sea,
and consists of a peninsula named Jutland
(Jylland) attached to Northern Germany,
the islands of Funen (Fyn), Zealand (Sjælland),
Bornholm (Bornholm) and many smaller islands,
often referred to as the Danish Archipelago.
Denmark
is a constitutional monarchy, one of the
oldest monarchies in the world, and is part
of the European Union. Greenland and the
Faroe Islands are crown territories of Denmark,
each with political home rule. Denmark is
one of the elected members of the UN Security
Council and is a leader in the "Scandinavian
Model" of public services.
Denmark's
northernmost point is Skagens point (the
north beach of the Skaw) at 57° 45'
7" northern latitude, the southernmost
is Gedser point (the southern tip of Falster)
at 54° 33' 35" northern latitude,
the westernmost point is Blåvandshuk
at 8° 4' 22" eastern longitude,
and the easternmost point is Østerskær
(Eastern Skerry) at 15° 11' 55"
eastern longitude. This is in the archipelago
Ertholmene 18 km northeast of Bornholm.
The distance from east to west is 452 km
(over 280 miles), from north to south 360
km (225 miles). Denmark consists of the
peninsula of Jutland (Jylland) and 443 named
islands. Of these, 76 are inhabited, with
the largest being Zealand (Sjælland)
and Funen (Fyn). The island of Bornholm
is located somewhat east of the rest of
the country, in the Baltic Sea. Many of
the larger islands are connected by bridges;
the Øresund Bridge connects Zealand
with Sweden, the Great Belt Bridge connects
Funen with Zealand, and the Little Belt
Bridge connects Jutland with Funen. Ferries
or small aircraft connect to the smaller
islands. Main cities are the capital Copenhagen
(on Zealand), Aarhus, Aalborg and Esbjerg
(on Jutland) and Odense (on Funen). The
country is mostly flat with little elevation;
the highest natural point is Møllehøj,
at 170.86 metres (560.6 ft). Other hills
in the same area southwest of Århus
are Yding Skovhøj at 170.77 (560.3
ft) metres and Ejer Bavnehøj at 170.35
metres (558.9 ft). The area of inland water
is: (eastern Denmark) 210 km² (81 m²);
(western D.) 490 km² (189 m²).
The
circumstance that Denmark is split into
many islands is due to the fact that the
country's average height above sea level
is only 31 metres (101 ft).This in turn
results in a long coastline, more than 7,400
km (4,600 miles). If Denmark was formed
as a perfect circle, the circumference would
be only 742 km (461 miles). Another feature
that shows the close connection between
the land and ocean is that no location in
Denmark is farther from the nearest coast
than 52 km (32.3 miles). In addition, the
size of the land area of Denmark cannot
be stated exactly, as the ocean constantly
erodes and adds material to the coastline,
and because of human land reclamation projects
(i.e. to counter the erosion). On the southwest
coast of Jutland, the tide is between 1
and 2 metres (3 to 6.5 feet), and the coastline
moves outward and inward on a 10 km (6 mile)
stretch.[8]
The
climate is in the temperate zone. The winters
are not particularly cold with mean temperatures
of around 0.5 °C and the summers are
cool with mean temperature of around 16
°C. There is a lot of wind, which is
stronger during the winter and weaker during
the summer. Denmark has an average of 170
rainy days. The greatest rainfall comes
in September, October and November.[9]
Due
to Denmark's location in the northern part
of the world, the length of the day with
sunlight varies a great deal. There are
short days during the winter with sunrise
coming around 8 A.M. and sunset 3:30 P.M.,
as well as long summer days with sunrise
at 3:30 A.M. and sunset at 10 P.M.[10] The
shortest and longest days of the year are
celebrated. The celebration for the shortest
day is Christmas. Originally, this day was
only about the shortest day, but was later
combined with Christianity. The celebration
for the longest day is Midsummer Day, which
is known as Sankthansaften in Denmark.
Along
with Equatorial Guinea it is one of two
countries in the world with its mainland
on a continent and its capital city on an
island.
