DENMARK |
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The Kingdom of Denmark is the smallest Nordic country. It is located in
Scandinavia, which is in northern Europe. Denmark borders the Baltic Sea and
the North Sea, and consists of a peninsula attached to Northern Germany
named Jutland (Jylland in Danish) and many smaller islands. Denmark is north
of Germany and Poland, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway. Additionally,
the territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands are under the Danish
crown, while enjoying political home rule. |
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Politics and Government
In 1849 Denmark became a constitutional monarchy with the adoption of a new
constitution. The monarch is formally head of state, a role which is mainly
ceremonial, since executive power is exercised by the cabinet ministers,
with the prime minister acting as the first among equals (primus inter
pares). Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Danish
parliament, known as the Folketing, which consists of (no more than) 179
members. The courts of Denmark are functionally and administratively
independent of the executive and the legislature.
Elections for parliament must be held a least every four years; but the
prime minister can call for an earlier election, if he so decides. Should
parliament succed in a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister the
entire government resigns.
Counties
Denmark is divided into 13 counties (amter), and 271 municipalities (kommuner):
Aarhus
Frederiksborg
Funen (Fyn)
Copenhagen (København)
North Jutland (Nordjylland)
Ribe
Ringkjøbing
Roskilde
South Jutland (Sønderjylland)
Storstrøm
Vejle
Viborg
West Zealand (Vestsjælland)
Three municipalities have county privileges:
Bornholm (regional municipality)
Copenhagen (København)
Frederiksberg
Copenhagen County comprise of the municipalities in metropolitan Copenhagen,
except Copenhagen Municipality and Frederiksberg Municipality. Bornholm
Regional Municipality comprise the five former municipalities on the island
Bornholm and the island's former county.
It should be noted that as of July 2004, the government is in the process of
a stuctural reform (the Municipality Reform, Kommunalreformen). The 13
counties (amter) will be replaced with 5 new regions (regioner), while the
271 municipalities will be consolidated into around 100 larger units of at
least 20,000 inhabitants and take over most of the responsibilities of the
current counties.
Greenland and the Faroe Islands also belong to the Kingdom of Denmark, but
have autonomous status and are largely self-governing, and are each
represented by two seats in the parliament.
Demographics
The majority of the population is of Scandinavian descent, with small groups
of Inuit (from Greenland), Faroese, and immigrants. According to official
statistics in 2003 immigrants made up 6.2% of the total population.
Danish is spoken in the entire country, although a small group near the
German border also speaks German.
According to official statistics from January 2002 84.3% of Danes are
members of the state church, the Danish People's Church (Den Danske
Folkekirke), also known as the Church of Denmark, a form of Lutheranism; the
rest are primarily of other Christian denominations and also about 3% are
Muslims.
Culture
The Dane most well-known in other countries is probably Hans Christian
Andersen, a writer mostly famous for his fairy tales, such as The Emperor's
New Clothes and The Ugly Duckling.
Other well known Danes include:
Niels Bohr, physicist
Hans Christian Ørsted, physicist, discoverer of electromagnetism
Morten Andersen, NFL kicker (Only in the United States)
Tycho Brahe, astronomer
Karen Blixen, also known as Isak Dinesen, author
Victor Borge, entertainer, pianist
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, painter
N.F.S. Grundtvig, pioneering educationalist
Arne Jacobsen, architect, designer
Søren Kierkegaard, existentialist philosopher
Bent Larsen, professional chess player
Vilhelm Lauritzen, architect
K E Løgstrup, Christian philosopher
Carl Nielsen, composer
Jakob Nielsen, mathematician
Niels Steensen, anatomist, Roman Catholic bishop
Bertel Thorvaldsen, sculptor
Lars Ulrich, musician, member of band Metallica
Lars von Trier, film director
Georg Jensen, designer
Viggo Mortensen, actor
Bjarne Stroustrup, computer scientist, inventor of the C++ programming
language
Tourism in Denmark
Denmark is known as a little, "hyggelig" (i.e. cozy), friendly and very
civilized kingdom composed of many islands, with small cities, villages and
rolling farmland. Even the bigger cities, with the exception of Copenhagen,
are small. Worth a visit are Odense (the home of Hans Christian Andersen),
the Fyn region, the cities of Aarhus and Aalborg on Denmark's mainland (the
Jutland peninsula), Legoland in Billund, Skagen— the northernmost point of
Denmark, Elsinore, the island of Bornholm, the cliffs at Møns Klint and, of
course, Denmark's remarkable coastline with long white beaches along the
North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
A trip of its own should be planned for Copenhagen with its castles, guard
changes, Tivoli Gardens, with its landmark "Den lille havfrue" (The Little
Mermaid), and with its newly constructed bridge to Sweden.
Visitors to Denmark should try the local cuisine, characterized by Danish
beer (Carlsberg, Tuborg or Faxe), red sausages, frikadeller (Danish
meatballs), the world-famous national dish smørrebrød (open-face sandwiches)
and many famous fish dishes. |
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