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History of Denmark

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A detailed c. 1730 J. B. Homann map of Scandinavia. Depicts both Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Baltic states of Livonia, Latvia and Curlandia. The map notes fortified cities, villages, road
Johann Homann · Public domain

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Denmark's history was shaped by its location between the North and Baltic seas and between Sweden and Germany. This location provided economic benefits and mutual struggles for control of the Baltic Sea (dominium maris baltici). For example, it had long disputes with Sweden over Skånelandene and with Germany over Schleswig (a Danish fief) and Holstein (a German fief). Eventually, Denmark lost these conflicts and ceded Skåneland to Sweden and later Schleswig-Holstein to the German Empire. After Norway seceded 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 Faroes 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, but was liberated by British forces of the Allies in 1945 and soon joined the United Nations. With the emergence of the Cold War, Denmark was a founding member of the military alliance NATO in 1949.

Prehistory

The Scandinavian region has been populated by several prehistoric cultures and people for about 12,000 years, since the end of the last ice age. During the ice age, all of Scandinavia was covered by glaciers most of the time, except for the southwestern parts of what we now know as Denmark. 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. Due to lower sea levels, the area called Doggerland between Great Britain and today's Jutland peninsula was inhabited by tribes of hunter-gatherers. As the climate warmed, meltwater shaped the land, the submerged Doggerland and more stable flora and fauna gradually emerged in Scandinavia. The first permanent human settlers in Scandinavia were the Maglemosian people, residing in seasonal camps and exploiting the land, sea, rivers and lakes. The approximate geography of today's Denmark had taken shape by around 6,000 BC.

Denmark has some unique natural conditions for preservation of artifacts, providing a rich and diverse archeological record from which to understand the prehistoric cultures of this area.

Stone and Bronze Age

The Weichsel glaciation covered all of Denmark most of the time, except the western coasts of Jutland. It ended around 13,000 years ago, allowing humans to move back and settle there. Over a few thousand years, the vegetation changed from tundra to light forest, and various animal species appeared, including megafauna. Early prehistoric human cultures uncovered in modern Denmark include the Maglemosian culture (9,500–6,000 BC); the Kongemose culture (6,000–5,200 BC), the Ertebølle culture (5,300–3,950 BC), and the Funnelbeaker culture (4,100–2,800 BC).

During this so-called Boreal period, human groups here were very small and scattered living from hunting of reindeer and other land mammals and gathering whatever fruits the climate was able to offer. Around 8,300 BC the temperature rose sharply, reaching around 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit) in summer; the vegetation changed into dense forests of aspen, birch and pine and the reindeer moved north, while aurochs and elk arrived from the south. The oldest set of human bones found in Denmark and oldest bog body found in the world is the Koelbjerg Man, dated to the time of the Maglemosian culture around 8,000 BC. With a continuing rise in temperature oak, elm and hazel arrived in Denmark around 7,000 BC. Boar, red deer, and roe deer also began to abound.

A burial from Bøgebakken at Vedbæk dates to c. 6,000 BC and contains 22 persons – including four newborns and one toddler. Eight of the 22 had died before reaching 20 years of age – testifying to the hardness of hunter-gatherer life in the cold north. Based on estimates of the amount of game animals, scholars estimate the population of Denmark to have been between 3,300 and 8,000 persons in the time around 7,000 BC. It is believed that the early hunter-gatherers lived nomadically, exploiting different environments at different times of the year, gradually shifting to the use of semi permanent base camps.

The rising temperatures caused a rise in sea levels so that during the Atlantic period Denmark evolved from a contiguous landmass around 11,000 BC to a series of islands by 4,500 BC. The inhabitants then shifted to a seafood-based diet, which allowed the population to increase.

After agriculture arrived in Central Europe, for 1,500 years Scandinavia remained Mesolithic in the Ertebølle culture. Around 4,000 BC it was replaced by Funnelbeaker neolithic farmers which left many dolmens and rock tombs (especially passage graves). After about 1,000 years, Steppe herder descendents began to arrive from Eastern Europe. They descended from peoples from the Pontic–Caspian steppe who flooded Europe and gave rise to Corded Ware culture and its local variant, the Single Grave culture. The Nordic Bronze Age period in Denmark, from about 1,500 BC, featured a culture that buried its dead, with their worldly goods, beneath burial mounds. The many finds of gold and bronze from this era include beautiful religious artifacts and musical instruments, and provide the earliest evidence of social classes and stratification.

Iron Age

During the Pre-Roman Iron Age (from the 4th to the 1st century BC), the climate in southern Scandinavia became cooler and wetter, limiting agriculture. Humans migrated south to Germania. People also began to extract iron from ore in peat bogs. Celtic culture existed in the area as in much of northwest Europe, and survives in some place names.

The Roman Empire excluded Denmark but traded with people there, as attested by finds of Roman coins. Some Danish warrior-aristocrats served in the Roman army. The earliest known runic inscriptions date to c. 200 AD. In the last century BC, depletion of cultivated land apparently contributed to migrations in northern Europe and conflict between Teutonic tribes and Roman settlements in Gaul. Roman artifacts are especially common in finds from the 1st century. Occasionally, animals and humans were sacrificed and bodies were immersed in bogs. Some bog bodies such as Tollund Man and Grauballe Man emerged very well-preserved in recent decades, providing information about the cultures in Denmark during this period.

From around the 5th to the 7th century, Northern Europe experienced mass migrations. This period and its material culture are referred to as the Germanic Iron Age.

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