When I write these nations of the world posts, I start by Googling the country, which usually leads me first to Wikipedia for basic facts. But the official website for the country came up just below, and I love the website description:
Denmark is a peaceful, cycling-focused society with a focus on gender equality, clean energy, digitalization, and a good work-life balance.
Sounds like a pretty good introduction! Let’s learn more about Denmark.
Denmark Basics
Denmark is in northern Europe, and it, along with the Faroe Islands and Greenland, is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Denmark proper is made up of the Jutland peninsula and 406 islands. It borders Sweden, Norway and Germany, as well as the North and Baltic seas.
The country is 16,639 square miles, or43,094 square kilometers, and is home to around 6 million people.
The capital and largest city is Copenhagen. The official language is Danish, but a lot of people speak German there, too.
While the country has a king, currently Frederik X as of this writing, it also has a prime minister and parliament.
Where the name of the country comes from is debated among people who debate such things, though the first recorded use of it (then written as Danmark) in the country was in the 900s. Dan in this sense is often said to mean flat land, and mark refers to forested borderlands.
Denmark has been inhabited since around 12,500 BCE, with the first tribal Danes coming to the area from what is now southern Sweden beginning around the year 1 AD. People from Denmark and Scandinavia were known as Vikings in the 8th through the 10th centuries. They were seafaring people who traveled, traded and raided widely.
Today Denmark is socially liberal and was the first to legally recognize same-sex partnerships.
Denmark National Symbols
The flag of Denmark has a red background with an offset white cross known as the Nordic cross on it. A banner of this sort has been used by kings in Denmark since the 1400s; legend has it the flag was first flown in battle in 1219, making it more than 800 years old. The flag is known as the Dannebrog.
The current layout of the flag was formally established in 1748.
The national anthem is “Der er et yndigt land,” or, “There is a Lovely Land.” The lyrics were written in 1819 and music composed in 1835. It is considered the civil national anthem, while “Kong Christian stod ved højen mast” or “King Christian Stood at the Lofty Mast,” is the royal anthem and also a national anthem.
That makes Denmark one of just two countries (the other is New Zealand) that has two official national anthems.
One national symbol is Mother Denmark, which is considered a personification of the nation as a young woman often dressed in old fashioned garments with a sword and a national flag. The most famous of these depictions is Mother Denmark by Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann, which was painted in 1851.
I’m not able to find backup for this information, but Wikipedia says marguerite daisies are the national flower. The mute swan is considered a national symbol thanks to its association to Denmark native Hans Christian Andersen’s story “The Ugly Duckling.”
The national butterfly is the small tortoiseshell.
Denmark Activities for Kids
Of course you’ll want to read some Hans Christian Andersen stories, and check out the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen. Learn more about Hans Christian Andersen’s Denmark.
Learn about the Öresund bridge, which is 5 miles/8 kilometers long and connects Denmark and Sweden. It takes about 10 minutes to drive across, or 30 minutes by train.
Tivoli Gardens, also known just as Tivoli, is the second-oldest amusement park in the world, having opened in 1843. (The oldest, Dyrehavsbakken, commonly called Bakken, is also in Denmark and opened in 1583. That’s more than 400 years ago!
If you already have Viking content that’s a fun thing to do with kids when learning about Denmark, or check out this Viking unit study from Beachside Homeschool. Adventures in Mommydom also has a Denmark unit study that includes a recipe for Danish meatballs.
Grab a printable Denmark maze from Muse Printables. Find more resources on teaching about Denmark at Teachers Pay Teachers.
Give the Danish national dish a try! It’s not a danish, it’s stegt flæsk, fried pork belly (aka bacon) served with potatoes and a parsley sauce. Grab a recipe from The Foreign Fork.
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