.dk Danish Domain Country Information - .dk Denmark Country Information

.dk Denmark Country Information

The Kingdom of Denmark is a constitutional monarchy and sovereign state consisting of the country of Denmark in northern Europe and two autonomous constituent countries, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and Greenland in North America. Denmark proper is the hegemonial part, where the residual judicial, executive and legislative power rests. According to the Faroese home rule act, the Faroe Islands constitutes a community of people within the kingdom. The Greenlandic self-government act does not contain a similar definition, but instead describes the Greenlandic people as a people as defined in international law with the right to self-determination. A High Commissioner (Danish: Rigsombudsmand) represents the Danish government in each.

Denmark itself is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea. The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland (Jylland) and many islands, most notably Zealand (Sjælland), Funen (Fyn), Vendsyssel-Thy (commonly considered a part of Jutland), Lolland, Falster and Bornholm, as well as hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago. Denmark has long controlled the approach to the Baltic Sea (dominium marisbaltici); before the digging of the Kiel Canal, water passage to the Baltic Sea was possible only through the three channels known as the "Danish straits".

The kingdom is a unitary state with some power being devolved from Denmark to Greenland and the Faroe Islands; this federacy is referred to as Rigsfællesskabet. One of the results of this arrangement is that Denmark became a member of the European Union in 1973 (but remains outside of the Eurozone), while both Greenland and the Faroe Islands have opted to remain outside of the EU. A founding member of NATO and the OECD, Denmark is also a member of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). With a mixed market economy and a large welfare state, Denmark ranks as having the world's highest level of income equality. It has frequently ranked as the happiest and least corrupt country in the world. The national language, Danish, is closely related to Swedish and Norwegian, with which it shares strong cultural and historical ties. Denmark, along with Sweden and Norway, is part of the cultural region known as "Scandinavia".

Denmark shares a border of 68 kilometres with Germany to the south and is otherwise surrounded by 7,314 kilometres of tidal shoreline (including small bays and inlets). It occupies 43,094 square kilometres. Since 2000 Denmark has been connected by the Øresund Bridge to southern Sweden.

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 at 15° 11' 55" eastern longitude. This is in the archipelago Ertholmene 18 kilometres northeast of Bornholm. The distance from east to west is 452 kilometres (281 mi), from north to south 368 kilometres (229 mi).

Denmark consists of the peninsula of Jutland (Jylland) and 443 named islands (1,419 islands above 100 m² in total).[45] Of these, 72 are inhabited, with the largest being Zealand (Sjælland) and Funen (Fyn). The island of Bornholm is located 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; Århus, Aalborg and Esbjerg in Jutland; and Odense on Funen.