14 ATLASES
History of Denmark in maps
Denmark as it appears in 14 interactive history atlases, from 790 to 2015: Denmark. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Denmark before it was Denmark? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
Cimbric peninsula (mod. Denmark) · Ancient Rome
ANCIENT ROME: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Denmark · Norse and Aztecs
Denmark controlled the entrance to the Baltic and the great market at Hedeby, where northern furs and Islamic silver changed hands. Danish armies conquered eastern England in the 860s and 870s, creating the Danelaw. Five ships sunk near Roskilde around 1070 show the range of vessels Norse builders made.
| Norse homelands & settlements — the opening position |
NORSE AND AZTECS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Denmark · Crusades
| Latin Christendom — the opening position |
CRUSADES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Denmark · Industrial Revolution
Denmark grew rich without building heavy industry. When cheap American grain reached Europe from the 1870s, Danish farmers shifted to butter and bacon. They organized cooperative dairies from 1882 and sold their products to industrial Britain. Their experience shows how food producers could find profitable roles in the industrial age by adapting quickly.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Denmark · Age of Revolutions
| Neutral / uncommitted — the opening position | |
| Napoleonic client & satellite states | |
| Neutral / uncommitted |
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Denmark · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
| Western powers and allies — the opening position |
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Denmark · Russian Revolution
| Neutral or independent — the opening position |
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Denmark · WWI
Denmark · Stalin’s Soviet Union
| Nazi Germany & its allies — the opening position | |
| Nazi Germany & its allies | |
| Other states | |
| Rivals & the Western bloc |
STALIN’S SOVIET UNION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Denmark · Road to WW2
| Neutral & unaligned — the opening position | |
| Occupied — held by force |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Denmark · WW2
| Axis-occupied — the opening position | |
| Axis-occupied | |
| Western Allies |
Denmark · Cold War
| NATO & core Western allies — the opening position |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Denmark · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
| Right won in law — the opening position | |
| Partial or unequal; treaty signed only; transition | |
| No reform yet / outside this story | |
| Right won in law |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Denmark · Refugee crises
In the last months of the war Germany evacuated about 250,000 refugees from the east by sea to Denmark, which it occupied until May 1945. Their number was roughly one for every twenty people in Denmark. They were interned in camps including Oksbøl, where up to 35,000 lived behind wire. Thousands of children died in 1945, and the last refugees left for Germany in 1949.
| Western bloc or democracy — the opening position |
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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