Overview

Denmark is geographically the southernmost of the Nordic nations, which also include Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Its land mass includes Jutland, a peninsula extending north from Germany, and more than 480 islands. Denmark consists of 16,630 square miles (43,094 sq. km.). With the exception of its 42-mile southern border with Germany, Denmark is surrounded by water. Sweden lies to the east across the Oresund, a narrow body of water that links the North and Baltic Seas; Norway lies to the north; and the North Sea to the west. Denmark has nearly 4,500 miles of coastline, and no part of the nation is more than 30 miles from the sea. Denmark also possesses Greenland, the world's largest island, and the Faeroe Islands, both of which are semiautonomous. Denmark means "field of the Danes." The Danish national flag, the oldest national banner in the world, is a white cross on a...