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The smallest of the Scandinavian Kingdoms consisting of the peninsula of Jutland, the districts of Nord Slesvig which became Danish by a 1920 plebiscite and the great archipelago lying east of Jutland consisting of several islands including that of Zealand, upon which is found the capitals Copenhagen. The Danish monarchy, previously elective, became hereditary in 1661 and hereditary and constitutional in 1849. The Grundlov of 1849 provided the basis of the 1915 Constitution.

The colourful history of Denmark is decidedly European starting in 920 with King Gorm the Old who united the Danish states with following rulers conquering Norway and England only to lose them and then again to be unified with Norway and Sweden, and eventually several districts of middle Europe through the royal family Oldenburg, until the Napoleonic era when Denmark sided with Bonaparte and lost much of iots holdings in the settlement of 1814 and afterwards ceded to Prussia 1864 Schleswig and Hostein and thereafter basically becoming neutral.

Denmark joined the EC in 1973 but has continued to maintain strong connections with the rest of Scandinavia, which was significantly strengthened by the direct road and rail line between Sweden and Denmark and expected to continue with similar connections with mainland Europe to and through its southerly neighbour Germany.

Today, the Danish economy, at one time with the staple of agriculture, has been drifting to industry making it vulnerable to the problems of energy inherent with other modern industrial economies.

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