Denmark

Denmark (or Danmark in the local tongue) is a country in Northern Europe, bordered by Germany and Sweden, the latter by bridge.

A democratic constitutional monarchy, it is a member of NATO and the European Union, but retains its own currency. In 1969 it became the first country in the world to legalise hardcore pornography, which contributed to attracting a certain kind of tourist.

Denmark has one of the oldest known national flags, the Dannebrog, which dates back to the 14th century at least. The flag is flown (and miniature paper flags used for decoration) at festive occasions such as birthdays and Christmas. Danes tend to perceive their flag as an icon of joy and celebration first, and only secondarily as a symbol for their country. They may have trouble grasping why displaying a flag in celebration could be interpreted as a nationalist gesture. The Danish anthem, "Der er et yndigt land", or "There is a lovely land", is one of the very few to include references to ancient (Viking) religions. Its poetry is also quite beautiful.

The Danes (as the Vikings were usually known at the time) struck terror into much of Northern Europe from the 9th to the 11th centuries, but since then, Denmark has generally been content to trade peacefully, barring the odd scuffle with their neighbour and nemesis, Sweden. For a while during the 15th century, the Union of Kalmar united Denmark, Norway and Sweden under one king, but it couldn't last. Sweden left and Norway decided to join Denmark properly, before gaining its independence in the 19th century.

Denmark is made up of a peninsula (Jutland, or Jylland to the Danes), and a whole bunch of islands. The biggest island is Zealand (Sjælland), on which stands Copenhagen. Denmark also owns Greenland and the Faroe Islands, and owned Iceland until 1918 where Iceland became a Kingdom which shared their royal house with Denmark (not unlike the Commonwealth), followed by a British/American invasion in 1940 to prevent it falling into German hands, and the creation of the current day Republic of Iceland.

Denmark was occupied by the Nazis in 1940 and achieved a national Crowning Moment of Awesome by getting virtually its entire Jewish population out before the Nazis could get their hands on them. It was not liberated before the German surrender in 1945.

Denmark is famous as the home of LEGO, and the LEGOLAND theme park in Billund, central Jutland (also home to The LEGO Group's headquarters), is one of the country's major tourist attractions; in parodies, it's common to jokingly depict LEGO as Denmark's currency. Denmark is also a major producer of dairy goods and pork and bacon - "Danish Bacon" is one of the premium brands in Britain. Another one of its main tourist attractions is the annual Roskilde Festival, which has been held since 1971.

The second most recent notable event to take place in Denmark is the massive controversy over some cartoons. Danish-born British comedienne Sandi Toksvig commented that she never thought she would see anyone burning Danish flags, such was the cosy, inoffensive reputation of the country. (And why would you burn an icon of joy and celebration anyway? - disregarding that it is accepted that the only way to get rid of an old flag without dishonoring it, is to burn it) The first most recent notable event was the recent climate change conference.

The current monarch of Denmark is Queen Margrethe II, and the currect prime minister is Helle Thorning Schmidt, the first woman to reach this position.

Denmark in fictional media:

Much of the plot of Beowulf, Old English heroic epic, takes place in Denmark.
The 13th century Icelandic Saga of Hrolf Kraki, about a legendary Danish King and his band of heroes.
The Kingdom of Denmark is Norway's main adversary in Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian kings.
Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ultimately based on a Danish heroic legend.
The author Hans Christian Andersen came from Odense.
The Olsen-Banden movies.
Miss Smillas Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg.
The Beowulf film (though it departs from Real Life geography quite obviously).
Riget
Denmark is known for its animation industry, which has produced numerous great films like Jungledyret Hugo, Help! I'm a Fish, Journey to Saturn and The Flight Before Christmas.
Denmark is an anthropomorphic character in Axis Powers Hetalia and in Scandinavia and The World.
In the The Penguins of Madagascar, Skipper is not allowed to set foot on Denmark.
Crime drama The Killing continues the recent trend for Scandinavian crime fiction.
Borgen, a Danish political drama starring Sidse Babett Knudsen as Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg, which has recently become wildly popular in Britain.

Famous Danes:

Mads Mikkelsen, who played Le Chiffre in Casino Royale. He has been voted the sexiest man in Denmark multiple times. And was shot by Jesper Christensen, another Dane, who played Mr. White.
Viggo Mortensen has dual Danish-American citizenship (His father is Danish).
Lars von Trier, artfilm director and winner of several Cannes awards (most well known: Riget, Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, Antichrist and the DOGME film movement)
Lars Ulrich, drummer of the band Metallica.
Football players Peter Schmeichel (Manchester United), Jesper Grønkjær (Chelsea) and the Laudrup Brothers Michael (FC Barcelona) and Brian (Glasgow Rangers)
Queen Margrethe herself is a noted illustrator and set/costume designer; her illustrations were used in the Danish translation of The Lord of the Rings.
- And while still princess she did the first Danish language translation of The Hobbit.
Gitte Stallone Nielsen, actress and ex-wife of Sylvester Stallone
Architects Jørn Utzon (Sydney opera house) and Johan Spreckelsen (Grande Arche in Paris)
Børge Rosenbaum, better known as Victor Borge, pianist and comedian.
Paprika Steen, actress (sometimes known as the queen of Dogme 95 - most known for The Celebration, The Idiots, Applause)
The famous 1990s band Michael Learns to Rock

Politics of Denmark If you are a Libertarian, this is not the place for you. Denmark has some of the highest tax ratings in the world. The population is largely content with this as it supports a large welfare state, public health care and education for every citizen. But Denmark also has some of the strictest immigration laws in Europe, which have gotten progressively stricter in recent years and which effectively limit the state's largesse. If you are a non-European, please notice that in Denmark, like most of Europe, the word "liberal" generally means being center/right-oriented, as opposed to being left-oriented as it is in the US.

Political Parties

Socialdemokraterne: A centre-left party, who are currently having keynesian economics and enviromentalism as their main topics. It is an old labour party, and currently the second largest political party. Is currently the main body of the Danish government.
Venstre: In spite of it's name ("venstre" means left in Danish) this party is placed on the right wing. This liberal party originated as the party of the Danish farmers (although it has moved a bit away from this demographic in newer times).
Konservative: Another party placed on the right wing, and currently the smallest party represented in parliament. Like Ventre, this party dates back to the signing of the constitution in 1848, and has historically been the party of the land-owners. Its original name was "Højre", which means "right" in Danish.
Socialistisk Folkeparti: A left-wing party that splintered from the Danish Kommunist Party, the Socialistic People's Party, or SF to most Danes, this party was for the people who felt that socialism didn't have to mean you followed the USSR blindly. Has moved a bit more to the right in recent years.
Det Radikale Venstre: The Social Liberal Party (The Danish name literally means "The Radical Left", although this is a reference to the party Venstre, whom they split from, and not left-wing politics), started out as the party for the Danish smallholders, and are about as close to the middle as Danish politics get, although since the 90s they have worked more closely with the left wing than the right (and was part of a coalition government with Socialdemokraterne until 2001). Currently forms a coalition government along with Socialdemokraterne and Socialistisk Folkepari.
Enhedslisten: The far left of Danish politics, this party was originally a coalition between Dansk Kommunistisk Parti (the Danish Communist Party), Socialistisk Arbejder Parti (the Socialistic Workers Party) and Venstresocialisterne (the Left Socialists), itself a coalition party. This is reflected in the name, which literally means "the Unity List", although internationally they prefer to use the Danish Red-Green Alliance. They are against Danish membership in the EU and NATO, and would like to abolish the monarchy and make Denmark a republic. It is noticeable in being the only party without a chairman, instead being led by an executive committee of 25 people. They have a rule that says a member can only run for elections for seven year, before having to step down from that. The supporting party of the Socialdemokraterne-Radikale-SF government
Liberal Alliance: The newest party in the danish parliament, being formed in 2007 under the name Ny Alliance (New Alliance). It is notable for wanting to make tax rates fixed at 40%, instead of being graduated between 8% and 63% as they are now.
Dansk Folkeparti: Probably both the most controversial party represented in the Danish Parliament, this party is the 3rd largest in Denmark, and was a supporting party for the Venstre-Konservative government. Describes itself as a center party, but it is mostly viewed as a right-wing party with some populist tendencies (its name means Danish People's Party after all). It believes that the best integration of aliens is total assimilation, has provided Denmark with harder immigration laws than the rest of Europe, and several prominent members of the party has been accused of racism and islamophobia numerous times. Basically, the Danish version of the British National Party.