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officially Kingdom of Denmark
Constitutional monarchy, north-central Europe.
Area: 16,639 sq mi (43,096 sq km). Its territory includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands , which are self-governing dependencies. Population (2002 est.): 5,377,000. Capital: Copenhagen . The majority of the population is Nordic. Language: Danish (official). Religion: Evangelical Lutheranism (official). Currency: Danish krone. Lying between the North and Baltic seas, it occupies the Jutland peninsula and an archipelago to its east. The two largest islands, Zealand ( Sjælland ) and Funen (Fyn), together make up more than one-fourth of the country's total land area. With a 4,500-mi (7,300-km) coastline, it has a generally temperate and often wet climate. Denmark has a mixed economy based on services and manufacturing. It boasts one of the world's oldest and largest social welfare systems, and its standard of living is among the highest in the world. Its chief of state is the Danish monarch, while the head of government is the prime minister. Inhabited from 100,000 BC, it was settled by Danes, a Scandinavian branch of the Teutons, с 6th century AD. During the Viking period the Danes expanded their territory, and by the 11th century the united Danish kingdom included parts of what are now Germany, Sweden, England, and Norway. Scandinavia was united under Danish rule from 1397 until 1523, when Sweden became independent; a series of debilitating wars with Sweden in the 17th century resulted in the Treaty of Copenhagen (1660), which established the modern Scandinavian frontiers. Denmark gained and lost various other territories, including Norway, in the 19th and 20th centuries; it went through three constitutions between 1849 and 1915 and was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1940–45. A founding member of NATO (1949), Denmark adopted its current constitution in 1953. It became a member of the European Union in 1973 and modified its membership during the 1990s. The island of Zealand, on which Copenhagen stands, was connected to the central island of Funen by a rail tunnel and bridge in 1997. This ended more than 100 years of ferry service and cut the crossing time to less than 10 minutes. In the early 21st century, its handling of immigrants, though a small statistical minority, raised great debate.
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[c mediumvioletred] (as used in expressions)
Kingdom of Denmark
Prince William of Denmark
Vesey Denmark