The small country of Denmark is often mistaken for other European countries, but Denmark has its own history, its own celebrities and its very own Queen.
Once upon a time hundreds of years ago the country of Denmark was the ruler of most of Scandinavia and counted parts of Sweden, Norway and Germany in its domain. Today the country is one of the smallest in Europe, made up of many small islands with the main islands covering only 16,600 square miles. Not included in that figure is Greenland, the world’s largest island, which still today is under Danish rule.
One myth about Denmark is that it is extremely cold, polar bears control the streets and skiing is the number one recreational sport.
The country however, has no mountains at all, is not that cold and it rarely snows very much in the winter. Danish weather is extremely unpredictable and various from day to day, year to year. One summer day can be warm and sunny and Danes flock to the beach to cramp themselves and their beach towel into a spot next to the rest of the population. The next day however, it could be rainy and gloomy and might stay that way for weeks. The same unpredictability goes for the Danish winter. Some winters have enough snowfall for cross-country skiers to get their skies out of storage for a few days before the snow melts away. Other winters may have no snow at all. One thing is for sure though. Always pack a raincoat when visiting Denmark, as many days out the year are overcast and rainy.
All this wet weather has resulted in beautiful green lush fields and large forest areas, which cover most of the country. These conditions create a perfect condition for the dairy cows and pig farms that line the countryside and produce bacon and cheese, the county’s two greatest export products. The wild life in the thriving forest consist, not of polar bears, but deer, fox and smaller critters.
Denmark is often, by many, confused with The Netherlands, but even though Denmark is a very liberal country everything, contrary to common belief, is not legal. Wooden shoes are not worn everywhere either and the tulip is not the state flower. Denmark is however known as the birthplace of world famous author Hans Christian Andersen and is the country where the children’s plastic building block Lego was invented.
Denmark is also the oldest monarchy of the world with the first known Danish King, Gorm the Old, dating over a thousand years back in history. The country’s current monarch is Her Royal Highness Queen Margrethe II.
