Copenhagen is a fabled city and the pride of the Danish people, a people who feel that they have solved the problems of modern life.

The Geographic Situation of Copenhagen

As shown on the map below, Denmark is one big peninsula, Jutland, and several large islands.

Copenhagen is located on the eastern edge of the large island of Sjælland (Zealand) and the adjacent small island of Amager. Its approximate location is indicated by the red circle.

Although Copenhagen is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea its situation is more like that of a city located on river. Like a river city it has spread over both banks of the channel it is located on.

The Timeline of the Physical
Development of the City of Copenhagen

• From ancient times merchants made use of the harbor where Copenhagen is located. The word copenhagen means merchants' harbor. The Romans knew of a town located there and referred to it by the name of Hafna. (The rare chemical element Hafnium is named for Copenhagen under this name.)
• The Danish monarchy resided in Roskilde (rose shield). The archbishop Absalon, residing in Roskilde, decided to built a small fortress near the merchants' harbor. This fortress provided some protection against coastal marauders. This fortress was the nucleus of the city of Copenhagen.

  Archbishop Absalon's original name was Axel Hyde. He was a member of the influential Hyde family. He rose to be a major advisor of the Danish king and became the most important statesman of the kingdom. He lived from 1128 to 1201 and was the archbishop of Roskilde, the capital of the kingdom, from 1158 to 1192. From 1178 until his death in 1201 he was also the archbishop of Lund. Lund was in the Danish province of Skane, just across the strait from Copenhagen, in what is now the southern tip of Sweden.

• The economic base for Copenhagen was trade and herring fishing. The strait between the island of Sjaeland and the coast of Sweden is very narrow. The passable chanel is about 2.4 miles wide.
  

  The red circle indicates the location of Copenhagen. As can be seen from the above map it was quite convenient to make a stopover in Copenhagen before or after tranversing the channel. By comparison the Kattegat and the Skagerrak were quite broad. The name Kattegat comes from Dutch and means cat hole-gate and allusion that the chanel is only wide enough for a cat's passage.

• 1376-1386: A war between the Hansa (League of Trading Cities) and the Kingdom of Denmark. The Hansa won.

(To be continued.)