Denmark

Denmark (Danish: Danmark) is the smallest of the Nordic countries. Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland are collectively and formally known as The Danish Realm (Det Danske Rige). While all three have their own constituent parliaments, they are also part of The Kingdom of Denmark with Queen Margrethe II as symbolic monarch.

The main part of Denmark proper is Jutland, a peninsula north of Germany, but Denmark also includes a great number of islands, of which the major ones are Zealand and Funen. Most of the islands are situated in the small shallow sea of Kattegat and the Baltic Sea, between Jutland and Sweden. Separated from the other islands, Bornholm lies by itself between Sweden and Poland in the Baltic Sea. The capital, Copenhagen, is located at the most eastern side of Zealand.

Once the seat of Viking raiders and later a major north European naval power, The Kingdom of Denmark is the oldest kingdom in the world, still in existence, but has evolved into a democratic, parliamentary, modern and prosperous nation. The country is participating in the general political and economic integration of Europe. However, the country has opted out of the European Union's Maastricht Treaty, the European monetary union (EMU - the Eurozone), and issues concerning certain internal affairs.