Constitution Day Recently Celebrated in Denmark

Citizens all across DENMARK celebrated their country's Constitution Day recently on Friday, June 5th. Happy belated Constitution Day!

Denmark Exports

The following items are major exports of DENMARK: barley, chalk, dairy products, furniture, limestone, machinery, meat and meat products, medical equipment, natural gas, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, potatoes, processed food, seafood, ships, steel, sugar beets, tools, wheat, and windmills/wind turbines. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include Germany (top importer), Sweden, the United States, Norway, the United Kingdom, China, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Japan, Australia, Czech Republic, South Korea, Turkey, Russia, and Switzerland.

Faroe Islands Endangered Species

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for the Faroe Islands in Northwestern Europe lists one extinct species (Great Auk flightless bird), three critically endangered species, and four endangered species. Balearic Shearwater birds, Blunt-Nose Rattail (Rock Grenadier) fish, and European Eels are critically endangered in the Faroe Islands. Endangered species are the Common Rorqual baleen whale, Halibut fish, Pollack (Sei) Whale, and Pygmy Blue Whale.

Denmark Endangered Species

As of June 2nd, 2015, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for DENMARK in Northern Europe lists 7 critically endangered species and 14 endangered species. Fortunately, Denmark does not have any extinct species on the IUCN Red List. The seven critically endangered species are the Angel Shark, Atlantic Sturgeon, Balearic Shearwater, Blue Skate, European Eel, Sociable Lapwing, and Spengler's Freshwater Mussel. Some endangered species include the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, Atlantic Halibut, Common Guitarfish, Red-breasted Goose, Velvet Scoter duck, White-headed Duck, and Yellow-breasted Bunting.

Common Guitarfish
Vaguely shaped like some sort of guitar, the "Common" Guitarfish has a fairly large geographic distribution, but it only lives in coastal water areas and is vulnerable to intensive offshore fishing. It lives in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea. Specifically, the Common Guitarfish's range extends off Angola's western coast, winds up along the West African coastline, and then completely straddles the Mediterranean Sea coastline. The northwestern range extent is the northern coast of Portugal and Spain, in the Atlantic Ocean's Bay of Biscay.

Denmark post (links opens in new tab/window)

Faroe Islands

An archipelago of islands belonging to Denmark, the FAROE ISLANDS (known as Føroyar in the Faroese language) are located in the North Atlantic Ocean at a latitude of 62° — about 4 degrees south of the Arctic Circle. The islands are east-southeast (ESE) of Iceland, west of Norway, west-northwest (WNW) of the Shetland Islands (archipelago belonging to Scotland), and south of the Norwegian Sea. Besides islands off the coasts of Iceland and Norway, the Faroe Islands archipelago is the northernmost grouping of islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The capital and largest city in the Faroe Islands is Tórshavn, which is found in the southern part of Streymoy island. The three largest islands are right by each other! Streymoy island is the largest, Eysturoy is the second largest, and Vágar is the third largest. Other islands include Borðoy, Fugloy, Hestur, Kalsoy, Kunoy, Mykines, Nólsoy, Sandoy, Svínoy, Suðuroy, and Tindhólmur.

Areas of Scandinavian Countries

The Scandinavian Countries usually consist of DENMARK, NORWAY, and SWEDEN, but can sometimes include FINLAND and ICELAND as well. Below, I have included all countries' areas. From the list below, you can tell that Sweden is the largest country in the grouping while Denmark is the smallest.

Denmark: 16, 629 sq. miles / 43,069 sq. kilometers (5th largest)
Iceland: 39,768 sq. miles / 103,000 sq. kilometers (4th largest)
Finland: 130,128 sq. miles /337,032 sq. kilometers (2nd largest)
Norway: 125,181 sq. miles / 324,220 sq. kilometers (3rd largest)
Sweden: 173,731 sq. miles / 449,964 sq. kilometers (largest)
The total area of Europe is 4,057,000 sq. miles (10,507,630 sq. kilometers).

Faroe Islands: Owned by Whom?

The Faroe Islands belong to DENMARK, even though the island group is not located in proximity to the Northern European nation. The Faroe Islands are geographically closer to three other countries, more specifically located north of the UNITED KINGDOM, east-southeast of ICELAND, and west of NORWAY.

Update: More info can be found on this Faroe Islands post!

Ten Largest Islands in the World

The 10 largest islands in the world are as follows:
1. Greenland (Denmark) - 840,000 square miles
2. New Guinea (Indonesia & Papua New Guinea) - 305,000 sq. mi.
3. Borneo (Brunei, Indonesia, & Malaysia) - 286,000 sq. mi.
4. Madagascar - 226,656 sq. mi.
5. Baffin Island (Canada) - 195,928 sq. mi.
6. Sumatra (Indonesia) - 164,000 sq. mi.
7. Honshu (Japan) - 88,000 sq. mi.
8. Great Britain (United Kingdom) - 84,400 sq. mi.
9. Victoria Island (Canada) - 83,896 sq. mi.
10. Ellesmere Island (Canada) - 75,767 sq. mi.

*** Source for area data: Langenscheidt's Pocket World Atlas. Hammond World Atlas Corporation, 2002.

Number of Islands in Denmark

There are over 400 islands that make up DENMARK. Around 70 of them are inhabited. An intriguing note is that new islands are formed sporadically by sedimentation. To learn more about Denmark, take a visit to my Denmark post.

Denmark

Map Credit: © Maps of the World (mapsofworld.com)
Click on map to enlarge it in a lightbox window.

Known as Danmark in the Danish language, the Kingdom of DENMARK is a Scandinavian country located in northern Europe, north of Germany and west of the southern part of Sweden. Denmark is surrounded on three sides by large water bodies. The North Sea is west, the Baltic Sea is east, Skagerrak is north and separates Denmark from Norway, and Kattegat is east and separates Denmark and southern Sweden. Unlike many countries in the world, Denmark does not have an independence day because it was never ruled by another country — at least since the beginning of written historic times.

● ● ● ● ●  People and Places  ● ● ● ● ●  The kingdom of Denmark is at least 1,000 years old, and the first humans — since the most recent glacial period — lived in the Denmark area beginning in about 12,000 BC. Danish is the official language, while Faroese and Greenlandic are regional languages. English is widely spoken, followed by German and Swedish. Danish/Scandinavian and German are the dominant ethnicities of Danish people. Most Danish citizens are now atheist, while about 88% of religious believers are Lutheran Christians. Denmark's total population exceeds 5.6 million. The capital and largest city is Copenhagen (København), which has over 580,000 residents and much more than 1 million in the metropolitan area. Other cities include Aalborg (Ålborg), Aarhus (formerly Århus), Esbjerg, Frederikshavn, Helsingør, Herning, Næstved, Odense, and Svendborg. Danish Krone is the currency used by residents and visitors of Denmark, and DKK is the ISO 4217 currency code.

● ● ● ● ●  Land Features  ● ● ● ● ●  A majority of Denmark lies on the Jutland (Jylland) peninsula, which is attached to Germany on Denmark's southern border. Denmark occupies over 400 islands near its Jutland peninsula. With the exception of Læsø, Mors, Nordjylland (North Jutland; also Vendsyssel-Thy), and other islands located north of Jutland, most of Denmark's islands are east of the peninsula. Nordjylland, Sjælland (Zealand), Fyn (Funen), Lolland, and Bornholm are the five largest islands. Smaller islands include Ærø (Aero), Anholt, Falster, Langeland, Møn, and Samsø. In addition these islands, Denmark possesses the Faroe Islands (link to access post) and Greenland.

Copenhagen is located along the northeastern coast of Sjælland. Bornholm island is rather isolated, being located south of Sweden and about 150 kilometers east of Sjælland. Denmark's general landscape is low-lying and somewhat hilly. Møllehøj is the country's highest point, standing at only 170.86 meters (less than 561 feet) above sea level. This hilly area of Skanderborg municipality (kommune) is located in the east-central portion of Jutland. Formerly a water body and currently agricultural land, Lammefjord (northern Sjælland island) is the lowest point with an elevation of -7 meters (7 m below sea level) and -23 feet.