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| Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Protector |
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| The Danish Immigrant Museum 2212 Washington Street P.O. Box 470 Elk Horn, Iowa 51531-0470 712.764.7001 © Since 1983; All Rights Reserved Site by: Art of Computers |
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| Contact Us | Links | Wall of Honor | Volunteer | News | Museum Shop | Donate | Join | Home |
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| The history of Denmark and Danes comes vividly to life in this timeline capturing the essence of every change leading up to the recent marriage of Prince Frederik and Mary Donaldson.
The immigration of Danes and many dramatic events that lead to Denmark as it is today are presented decade by decade through well over a century of fascinating action. Experience some of the greatest moments of Danish history! _____________________________________________ 800 - 1050, The Viking Era - Surviving accounts of Viking activity were almost exclusively written by churchmen. These include monastic chronicles, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and similar Frankish and Irish Annals, which outline broadly what happened, at what date. www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/evidence_01.shtml 850, The first churches in Denmark were built in Hedeby and Ribe. Louis I the Pious, the son of Charlemagne, tried to Christianize the Danes. Louis sent a monk, Ansgar, to Hedeby in 826, but his message was resisted; later, however, he was given permission to erect churches in Hedeby and Ribe. The following year he was installed as bishop of Hamburg with the whole of Scandinavia as his see. After Ansgar's death in 865, his successor, Rimbert, wrote a hagiographic account of his life, Vita Ansgarii, which is an important source for 9th-century Scandinavian history. 950 - 1025, Denmark becomes Christian. 995, The first Danish coins; The city of Lund was the principal minting place. Since then Danish kings (with a few exceptions) have issued coins with their name, monogram and (or) portrait. From the start, coins were used not only as a means of payment, but also as the state's probably only form of mass communication by which the king could assert his sovereignty. 1349 - 1350, “The Black Death” – Boil plague raged through Denmark and 1/3 of the population died. The black death got its name from the deep purple, bruised appearance, almost black discoloration of a patient's skin. Victims usually died the same day symptoms appeared. In some European cities, as many as 800 people died every day. Partially due to the lack of children's skills to provide for themselves, the children suffered. A common nursery rhyme is proof: Ring a-round the rosy Pocket full of posies Ashes, ashes! We all fall down! Ring around the rosy: rosary beads give you God's help. A pocket full of posies: used to stop the odor of rotting bodies which was at one point thought to cause the plague, it was also used widely by doctors to protect them from the infected plague patients. Ashes, ashes: the church burned the dead when burying them became too laborious. We all fall down: dead. 1397 - 1523, Kalmerunionen – Margrethe the 1st gathered Denmark, Sweden and Norway into one nation. The union between Denmark and Norway remained until 1814. 1536, Denmark became Lutheran. 1546 - 1601, Tycho Brahe's contributions to astronomy were enormous. He not only designed and built instruments; he also calibrated them and checked their accuracy periodically. He thus revolutionized astronomical instrumentation. He also changed observational practice profoundly. 1596 - 1658, King Christian IV was crowned. When he decided to enter the 30 years war in 1625, Denmark with its corporative constitution still looked prosperous. Within the following 33 years, it suffered three defeats - in 1625 to 1629 against the Catholic League (Wallenstein occupied Jutland in 1627), in 1643 to 1645 against archenemy Sweden, in 1657, 1658 again against Sweden. Denmark experienced substantial land losses. www.zum.de/whkmla/region/scandinavia/absden.html 1675 - 1721, In the "War of Scania" and later in the "Great Northern War," Denmark tried to conquer back the territory lost in 1658 without success, due to pressure from the great powers of Europe. Sweden's collapse after the Great Northern War did, however, return some of its earlier position as a northern power to Denmark. 1702 - 1733, The serfdom (vornedskab) was first abolished in 1702 (it was in use only on the islands), then re-invented for all of Denmark in 1733 under the name of stavnsbåndet - male peasants below the age of 36 were disallowed to move from the manor without consent of the landowner. (Less than 5% of the land was owned by peasants.) 1721 - 1864, All of the Duchy of Slesvig was ruled by the King of Denmark. In 1773 Denmark formally obtains the whole of Slesvig in exchange for Oldenburg. The Danish king also became Duke of Holstein (under the German Emperor); initially only with half of the Duchy, but from 1773 on, Holstein was united. 1781, Grand reform of farming was decided. Villages were split into separate farms, so farmers came to live closer to their land, more distant from their neighbors. 1800, Serfdom (stavnsbåndet) was again abolished. As a consequence land-rent was fixed and paid in money, not in work, and then most farms were sold to the peasants. Early 1800, The first Danish immigrants started to settle in America. April 1801, The battle of the Roadstead of Copenhagen (Slaget på Reden). The British forced Denmark to retreat from the Armed Neutral Alliance with Sweden and Russia. Admiral Nelson was in charge of the part of the British fleet which partook in the battle. September 1807, The British under Wellington bombard Copenhagen, made Denmark cede its navy. Denmark became a French ally. 1813 - 1814, The alliance with Napoleon became a disaster for Denmark: the country became bankrupt. In the peace treaty of Kiel, Denmark had to cede Norway to Sweden. Denmark also got Swedish Pomerania which was traded with Prussia for Lauenburg. Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands remained with Denmark. 1815, 60% of the farmers owned their own land, however heavily in debt. The difference between farm workers and farmers increased. The farm workers made up approximately half of Denmark's population by the year of 1801. 1848 - 1851, After a Prussian-inspired revolt in Schleswig-Holstein, the first war of Slesvig ended with status quo. Denmark still controlled the duchies of Slesvig, Holstein, and Lauenburg. 1849, King Fredrik VII authorized a new constitution instituting a representative form of government. In addition, wide ranging social and educational reforms took place. Religious freedom was enacted and the Church was declared independent of the State, although this independence never has been realized - mainly due to internal conflicts in the Church - The King (the Queen) has remained the head of Church who appoints priests, confirms hymnals, etc. 1863 - 1864, Denmark adopted the "November Constitution" which aimed to unite Slesvig (but not Holstein) with the Danish Kingdom and therefore was a violation of the peace treaty of 1851 in which Denmark had promised not to separate the two duchies. Due to this, Prussia and Austria declared war and conquered Slesvig, Holstein, and Lauenburg in the second war of Slesvig. 1901, The Parliament was introduced in Denmark: No government could rule against the majority of the parliament. 1914 - 1918, Denmark remained neutral during World War I. 1915, The Danish women obtained the right to vote. 1917, Denmark sold her three Caribbean islands to the U.S.A. for 25 million dollars (the present-day US Virgin Islands). 1920, The northern part of Sønderjylland (the former duchy of Slesvig) was rejoined with Denmark after a referendum. 1933, Great social reforms were instituted, in effect founding Denmark's modern welfare state. 1940, On April 9th, Germany occupied Denmark despite Denmark having declared itself neutral; the Danish government gave up military resistance. However, the Danes retain control of their government and parliament, which initially remained remarkably intact regardless of the Nazi occupation. 1943, The relations between the Danish Government and the occupying German forces worsen rapidly. Most of the Danish Jews were evacuated to Sweden. Local resistance groups performed a number of sabotage actions during the war, and the Nazis retaliated with counter-terror. 1944, Iceland broke away from the union with Denmark and declared independence. 1945, 4 - 5th of May: The German forces in Denmark surrendered to Britain. The end of World War II ended the German occupation of Denmark. The German forces on Bornholm refused to surrender to the Red Army, and Bornholm suffered Soviet bombardment before the Germans finally surrendered a few days later. 1953, The Constitution changed to allow Princess Margrethe to be the next in the order of succession. 1967, Crown Princess Margrethe married Henri Laborde de Monpezat. 1973, Denmark became a member of the European Union. 1989, The Parliament passed a bill that made marriage between two men and (or) two women legal; Denmark being the first country in the world to do that. 1992, Denmark became the European Champion in Soccer, against the Dutch. The Danes most famous victory came in the 1992 semifinals, when they beat the likes of Van Basten, who was named European Player of the Year three times (1988, '89 and '92) and FIFA World Player of the Year (1992) in a penalty shootout. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_van_Basten 1996, The Danish bike rider Bjarne Riis won Tour de France. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/cycling/longterm/1997/tour/articles/tour96.htm 1997, President Bill Clinton, was the first American president to visit Denmark. http://www.norden.org/top/02/02g_97.htm 1998, The longest cable bridge (at the time) in the world opened between the island of Sjælland and the island of Fyn. The fixed link crossing of the Great Belt or Storebælt in Denmark is in two parts. A concrete combined road and rail bridge with a total length of 6.6 km crosses the Western Channel, connecting Knudshoved on the island of Fyn with the small island of Sprogø, and an eastern section comprising a bored rail tunnel and a suspension bridge for road traffic completed the link with the island of Sjælland and on to Copenhagen. The project created a direct road and rail link between the Danish islands and the European mainland, doubling road traffic and quadrupling rail traffic. 2000, Danes rejected the adoption of the euro as their national currency by 53% to 47%. 2000, A new bridge and tunnel linked Copenhagen with Malmo in southern Sweden. The new road and rail link made it possible to travel between the two countries in just 15 minutes. November 2001, Elections put right-wing coalition led by Anders Fogh Rasmussen into government. Rasmussen campaigned on a pledge to tighten immigration rules and put a lid on taxes. The election saw the far-right Danish People's Party win 22 seats and become the third largest party in parliament. February 2002, New government measures aimed at reducing immigration spark controversy. 2003, Denmark joined with the United States of America and invaded Iraq, making this the first time Denmark entered a war instead of being peacekeepers. 2003, Denmark defeated the United States of America in ice hockey. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4901643 2004, Crown Prince Frederik married Mary Donaldson from Australia. http://goaustralia.about.com/cs/people/a/marydonaldson.htm August 2004, The U.S. and Denmark sign deals to update Thule air base on Greenland. 2004, The United States of America defeated Denmark in ice hockey. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4901643 February 2005, Liberal Party leader Anders Fogh Rasmussen won a second term as prime minister in coalition with the Conservative Party. The far-right People's Party strengthened presence in parliament by two seats. July 2005, Diplomatic disputes flared up with Canada over the disputed tiny island of Hans in the Arctic. |
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