Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed]

cultivation. In Bornholm, it should be mentioned, the flora is more like that of Sweden; not the beech, but the pine, birch, and ash are the most abundant trees.

Agriculture.-Denmark is pre-eminently a corn land, and the cereals grown are all the usual European varieties; in the light and sandy soils buckwheat takes the place of rye, wheat, barley, and oats. The potato is largely cultivated, as well as pease, clover, vetches, and turnips. The usual North European fruit-trees and bushes produce good crops, and even peaches and apricots ripen well in sheltered places. The nectarine, however, is not known as a hardy fruit. The produce of grass is not very large, the fertility of the ground tempting the farmers to use it all for grain. In relation to its size there is no country in Europe, except Belgium and England, that can compete with Denmark as a corn-producer. According to the official returns of 1871, there were in that year 11,367,310 acres under some sort of crop, fallow, or in grass, or about 65 per cent. of the total area of the country; 5,894,495 acres more were in woods and forests. The following table will show the distribution of the crops, in English statute

[blocks in formation]

Of the actual production of the above crops no estimate has been furnished by the Statistical Bureau. The land in Denmark is minutely subdivided, owing partly to the state of the law, which interdicts the union of small farms, and encourages in various ways the parcelling out of landed property.

The large estates of the nobles are generally in the hands of farmers; but the greater part of the land is possessed by the peasantry, who maintain an hereditary attachment to their ancestral farms. Below these are the small peasant estates (generally capable of supporting from 10 to 15 cows); there is also a class of cottar freeholders called junsters, with land sufficient to keep one or two cows. The most remarkable feature in the Danish husbandry is, that greater value is attached to the produce of the dairy than to that of the soil, and that much of the horse power is withdrawn from the fields and employed in the work of the dairy. Independently of the stock maintained in the large dairy farms, this branch of industry has given rise to a distinct class of men, hiring cows by the year. Notwithstanding the great extent of pasture, the country produces more grain than is required for its own consumption.

The mineral products of Denmark are too unimportant to require enumeration. It is one of the poorest countries of Europe in this particular. It is rich, however, in clays, while it should be stated that in the island of Bornholm there are quarries of freestone and marble. There is but little coal yet discovered in the country.

Manufactures are not carried on to any great extent. The most notable Danish manufacture is the fabrication of porcelain. The nucleus of this important industry was a factory started in 1772, by F. H. Müller, for the making of china out of Bornholm clay. In 1779 it passed into the hands of the state, and has remained there ever since. Originally the Copenhagen potters imitated the Dresden china made at Meissen, but they are now famous for very graceful designs of their own invention, and their porcelain has a distinct character of its own. The inventions of Thorwaldsen have been very largely repeated and imitated in this charming ware. Besides the royal works,

there are private factories employing a large number of men. Terra cotta and faience are also, manufactured in Copenhagen. The iron-works of Denmark have made very considerable progress since the separation of Norway, and they are largely supplied with raw material imported from England. There are many iron foundries around Copenhagen, and in that city there are small manufactories of locomotives, and of machinery of various kinds.

The woollen, linen, and cotton manufactures of Denmark are for the most part domestic, and carried on purely for local consumption. Linen is the principal article of domestic industry in Zealand. The woollen manufacture occupies about 2000 men. The sugar refineries, of which the largest are at Copenhagen, prepare most of the sugar required for domestic consumption. Cherry brandy is also prepared in that city, and largely exported. The making of paper and distillation are carried on at different parts of the country to some extent.

Commerce.-Formerly the commercial legislation of Denmark was to such a degree restrictive that imported manufactures had to be delivered to the customs, where they were sold by public auction, the proceeds of which the importer received from the custom-houses after a deduction was made for the duty. To this restriction, as regards foreign intercourse, was added a no less injurious system of inland duties impeding the commerce of the different provinces with each other. The want of roads also, and many other disadvantages, tended to keep down the development of both commerce and industry. Within the present century, however, several commercial treaties were concluded between Denmark and the other powers of Europe, which made the Danish tariff more regular and liberal.

Of no less importance were the regulations made from time to time concerning the Sound toll, a question which in the 17th century led to many hostilities between Denmark, Sweden, and Holland. Having formerly possessed both sides of the entrance to the Baltic, the Danish Crown looked upon the Sound as exclusively her own, refusing to admit any foreign vessels without payment of a certain duty, and this right was never successfully contested by the other powers. An exception, however, was made in favour of Sweden, and of late the toll has been entirely abolished.

The principal ports of Denmark are Copenhage Helsingör, Korsör, Aarhuus, Aalborg, and Frederikshavn. The total value of the goods imported into Denmark in 1874 was £12,859,000; and of the goods exported, £9,574,000.

The following tables show the quantities of the principal articles imported and exported in the same year. We give them in the original figures, premising that a tönde of corn equals 3.8 imperial bushels, a tönde of coal 4·6775 bushels, and a pund 1·102 b avoirdupois

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

780,726

23

Oilcake Rags. Wool

[ocr errors]

The decimal system of coinage is in use in Denmark, the nnit being the öre, 7 of which are equivalent to an English penny; 100 öre make 1 krone, equal to about 1s. 1d. sterling.

Government. In early times the government of Denmark was far from despotic; the succession to the Crown was even elective until the revolution of 1660. It then became entirely without constitutional check upon the will of the king. This singular change is to be explained by supposing, on the part of the nation, not so much an indifference to free institutions as a resentment of the overbearing conduct of the nobility, and a consciousness of the perpetual uncertainties of an elective Government. The court found it thus a matter of little difficulty to unite the clergy and commons against the aristocracy; and the power of the Crown has since continued without a parliament or any constitutional check. But when Frederick VII. came to the throne he promised to resign the nearly absolute power which had hitherto been connected with the Crown. Accordingly a charter was drawn up by an assembly elected for that purpose in 1849, and signed by the king in 1850, which acknowledged the principle of limited monarchy, the king sharing his power with a diet of two houses, both of which are elective. The first, called Folksthing, has the privilege of discussing the budget and other public questions; while the other is confined to the local affairs of the provinces. The liberty of religion and of the press, and the inviolability of person and property, were amply guaranteed by the new constitution. This great charter received a further revision on the 28th of July 1866, according to which the second chamber, called the Landsthing, consists of 66 members, 12 of whom are nominated for life by the king, and the others elected

for 8 years-7 by the city of Copenhagen, 45 by the electoral districts of the towns and country, 1 by Bornholm, and 1 by the Faroe Islands. The Folksthing is composed of one representative for every 16,000 inhabitants, elected for three years. In 1875 it contained 102 members. The privy council consists of the king, the crown prince, and the

ministers.

[blocks in formation]

Public works....

Subventions, &c...........

(£2,594,170) 46,695,071 kroner. The national debt amounted in 1875 to 100,805,939 kr. (£5,600,330).

Army and Navy.-The army is regulated according to the principles fixed by the law of the 6th of July 1867. Conscription is practised. The service begins at the age and the reserve (first grade); the second grade goes on to of twenty-two years, and continues eight years for the line the age of thirty-eight years. The following table shows the condition of the Danish army according to the latest statistics :

[blocks in formation]

In March

of 25 commissioned and 37 non-commissioned officers. The staff of the army was composed, at the same time, The navy of Denmark comprised, at the commencement of September 1875, 6 iron-clads, 12 unarmoured vessels, 7 gun-boats, and 5 paddle steamers,-the whole carrying a total of 286 guns. The navy is recruited by conscription from the coast population. It was manned in September 1875 by 911 men, and officered by 1 admiral, 15 commanders, and 81 captains and lieutenants. 1875 the mercantile fleet of Denmark comprised 2846 vessels, of an aggregate burden of 212,600 tons. The fortifications of Copenhagen have within the last few years been entirely razed, but the city is still protected by some forts in the Sound. The castle of Kronborg, near Helsingör, interesting to Englishmen as the scene of Hamlet, is in good preservation, and well-manned. The port of Frederikshavn, in the extreme north of Jutland, is also strongly fortified.

Religion and Educatign.-The established religion of Denmark is the Lutheran, which was introduced as early as 1536, the church revenue being at that time seized and retained by the Crown. In no country of Europe was the Reformation introduced in a more. bloodless and easy way than in Denmark. During the earliest Christian times the whole of Denmark was under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Hamburg. King Erik Eiegod, after a personal visit to the Pope, contrived to place his kingdom under a Scandinavian prelate and his own subject, the archbishop of Lund in Skaania, which then belonged to the Danish dominions. After the cession of Skaania to Sweden, Roeskilde became the metropolitan see. At present (1877) there are six bishops, besides the metropolitan, viz, the bishops of Funen, of Lolland and Falster, of Aarhuus, of

Aalborg, of Viborg, and of Ribe. They have no political | a short line in Lolland. The only canal is the Thyborön, function by reason of their office, although they may, and a short canal which connects the Liim Fjord (the arm of often do, take a prominent part in politics. Dissent is the sea which penetrates so far into the north of Jutland) comparatively unknown, or at least it has not yet become with the German Ocean. This is a natural canal, formed a serious danger to the national church. The Mormon after the Agger channel (a passage opened by the storm of apostles for a considerable time made a special raid the 3d of February 1825) had become choked with sand. upon the Danish peasantry, but the emigration to Great The canal can only be used by vessels of very small burden. Salt Lake City is now but small. Roman Catholics Dependencies.-The colonial possessions of Denmark are were until lately hardly existent in Scandinavia, where the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and the Danish their presence was not tolerated. The following statistics West Indies. The Faroe Islands are an archipelago nearly will show the proportion of religious bodies at the census midway between Shetland and Iceland. They are of 1870-Lutherans, 1,770,000; Jews, 4300; Baptists, considered as an out-lying amt of the mother-country 3200; Mormons, 2200; Roman Catholics, 1800; Irving- rather than as a colony. Seventeen of these islands are ites, 350. Complete toleration is now enjoyed in inhabited; the largest is Stromö, on the eastern shore of Denmark. which is built the capital Thorshavn. The islands are governed by an amtmand.

The educational institutions of Denmark have reached a very high degree of perfection; indeed few countries, if any, can compete with Denmark in this respect. Most of the peculiar advantages in the Danish system seem to arise from this, that all schools, both grammar and other, have been put in a state of dependence on the university of Copenhagen, and under its control, while the university itself is particularly well managed. All educational institutions of the country are now managed by a royal college, consisting of three or four assessors and a president, called the royal commission for the university and grammar schools. This commission has no superior but the king, and reports to him directly. It appoints all professors in the university of Copenhagen, all rectors, co-rectors, and other teachers of grammar schools, and also promotes these functionaries from lower to higher grades. Education is compulsory. Poor parents pay a nominal sum weekly for the education of their children at the Government schools, so that almost all the lower class can read and write. Confirmation is also compulsory, and till that rite has been received, the youth of both sexes are in statu pupillari. Certificates of baptism, confirmation, and vaccination are indispensable before entering on service, apprenticeship, or matrimony. Territorial divisions. These consist of provinces, amts, and parishes. The provinces are seven, and correspond to the episcopal sees above mentioned. Of these provinces three are in the islands :-Zealand, which includes Bornholm and Möen; Lolland and Falster, comprising those two islands; and Funen, which also includes Langeland, Erö, and Taasinge. Four provinces are on the mainland :-Aarhuus, occupying the south-east of Jutland; Aalborg, the north; Viborg, the centre; and Ribe, the south-west of the same. Each of these provinces is divided into several amts, answering very much to the English hundreds.

The only large city in Denmark is Copenhagen in Zealand, which was estimated in February 1876 to have a population of 199,000, and, with its suburbs, of 233,000. Thirteen other towns contain 5000 inhabitants and upwards-viz., Odense (Funen), 17,000; Aarhuus (Jutland), 15,000; Randers and Aalborg (Jutland), 12,000 each; Horsens (Jutland), 11,000; Helsingör (Zealand), 9000; Fredericia (Jutland), 7000; Viborg (Jutland), Svendborg (Funen), and Veile (Jutland), 6000 each; Rönne (Bornholm), Slagelse (Zealand), Kolding (Jutland), and Roeskilde (Zealand), 5000 each.

Communication both by land and water is well provided for in Denmark. A railway from the Schleswig frontier proceeds to Fredericia, from whence one branch passes to the extreme north of Jutland, another crosses the island of Funen from Middelfart to Nyborg. This is the direct route from Germany to Copenhagen. From Nyborg a packet crosses the Great Belt to Korsër, and thence another line runs through Zealand to Copenhagen. There is also a south Zealand line, from. Roeskilde to Vordingborg, which is continued through the island of Falster, besides

[ocr errors][merged small]

Iceland is a large island at the north-western extremity of the map of Europe, just outside the Arctic Circle. Until lately it was considered as a colony of Denmark, and was subject to a tyrannous exercise of the laws of the mother country on the part of small officials. At the visit of Christian IX., however, in 1874, it received a constitution and an independent administration, which came into force in August of that year.

The possessions of Denmark in the West Indies consist of three islands lying to the east of Porto Rico. Of these St Croix is the largest, and St John the smallest, while the chief town and the residence of the governor are on St Thomas. A few years ago the last named island was offered to and very nearly purchased by the United States, but the proceedings fell through.

The whole peninsula or continent of Greenland is nominally in the possession of Denmark; but in point of fact her dominion there is limited to a few scattered trading stations along the western coast. It is divided into two provinces, north and south. Of these, the former contained, according to a census of 1874, 4095 native inhabitants, and the other 5512. The whole European population was only 236, the inhabitants of the entire colony thus numbering 9843.

Population.-There was a census of Denmark taken in 1870, according to which the population of the mother country was 1,784,741, of the Faroe Isles 9992, and of the other dependencies 117,409. On the 1st of February 1876 the following official estimate was made :

Provinces.

Area in English
square miles.

[blocks in formation]

Population.

682,400

33,500

93,100

248,400

9597

[blocks in formation]

Total, 45,135

The increase in the

Denmark proper has 130 inhabitants to the English square mile. The density of population is much greater on the islands than in Jutland, Zealand having nearly 250 inhabitants to the square mile. population of the towns has of late years been very rapid, and has much exceeded that of the country districts. Of the provincial towns, the most prosperous is Aarhuus, which, from being comparatively insignificant, has become the most important place in Jutland. The only exception to this rapid increase is in the case of the towns on the new German frontier, especially Fredericia and Ribe.

« EelmineJätka »