Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...

that forms the continental portion of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and part of northern

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The names are derived from the Jutes and the

Cimbri The Cimbri (Greek Κίμβροι, ''Kímbroi''; Latin ''Cimbri'') were an ancient tribe in Europe. Ancient authors described them variously as a Celtic people (or Gaulish), Germanic people, or even Cimmerian. Several ancient sources indicate that ...

, respectively. As with the rest of Denmark, Jutland's terrain is flat, with a slightly elevated ridge down the central parts and relatively hilly terrains in the east. West Jutland is characterised by open lands, heaths, plains, and

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s, while East Jutland is more fertile with lakes and lush forests. Southwest Jutland is characterised by the

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( nl, Waddenzee ; german: Wattenmeer; nds, Wattensee or ; da, Vadehavet; fy, Waadsee, longname=yes; frr, di Heef) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern conti ...

, a large unique international coastal region stretching through Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Geography

Sandy cliff beach at North Sea, Denmark 2004 ubt

Jutland is a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

bounded by the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

to the west, the Skagerrak to the north, the Kattegat and

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

to the east, and

to the south. Geographically and historically, Jutland comprises the regions of South Jutland (historically also Slesvig), West Jutland, East Jutland (including

Djursland Djursland () is a 44 km × 33 km hilly lowland peninsula in Denmark at the entrance to the Baltic Sea, between Denmark and Sweden in Northern Europe. Djursland protrudes into the Kattegat sea, as part of the larger peninsula of Jutland, ...

) and North Jutland (including

Himmerland Himmerland is a peninsula in northeastern Jutland, Denmark. It is delimited to the north and the west by the Limfjord, to the east by the Kattegat, and to the south by the Mariager Fjord. The largest city is Aalborg; smaller towns include Hobro, A ...

Vendsyssel Vendsyssel () is the northernmost traditional district of Denmark and of Jutland. Being divided from mainland Jutland by the Limfjord, it is technically a part of the North Jutlandic Island, but the name often used informally for the entire island. ...

Hanherred Han Herred or Hanherrederne is a traditional district in northern Jutland, Denmark. It lies between Thy in the west and Vendsyssel in the east. To the north it faces the North Sea (Skagerrak) and to the south the Limfjord. There are only two towns ...

, and Thy). Since the mid-20th century, it has also become common to designate an area called Central Jutland (''Midtjylland''), but its definition varies. There are several historical subdivisions and regional names, and some are encountered today. They include ''Nørrejyllland'' (an historical name for the whole area north of South Jutland, and not identical with ''Nordjylland''), ''Sydvestjylland'', ''Sydjylland'' (the southernmost stretch of Nørrejylland, as opposed to the more southern ''Sønderjylland''), ''Nordvestjylland'', ''Kronjylland'', and others. Politically, Jutland currently comprises the three contemporary Danish Administrative Regions of

North Jutland Region The North Jutland Region ( da, Region Nordjylland), or in some official sources, the North Denmark Region, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform, which abolished the tra ...

Central Denmark Region The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish muni ...

and the Region of Southern Denmark, along with portions of the German state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

. The northernmost part of Jutland is separated from the mainland by the Limfjord, a narrow stretch of water bisecting the peninsula from coast to coast. The Limfjord was formerly a long brackish water inlet, but the February flood of 1825 created a coast to coast connection. This area is called the North Jutlandic Island,

- Thy (after its districts) or simply ''Jutland north of the Limfjord''; it is only partly coterminous with the North Jutland Region. The islands of

Læsø Læsø ("Isle of Hlér") is the largest island in the North Sea bay of Kattegat, and is located off the northeast coast of the Jutland Peninsula, the Danish mainland. Læsø is also the name of the municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') on that is ...

, Anholt, and Samsø in Kattegat, and

Als Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most com ...

at the rim of the

, are administratively and historically tied to Jutland, although the latter two are also regarded as traditional districts of their own. Inhabitants of Als, known as ''Alsinger'', would agree to be South Jutlanders, but not necessarily Jutlanders. The Danish Wadden Sea Islands and the German North Frisian Islands stretch along the southwest coast of Jutland in the German Bight.

Danish portion

The largest cities in the Danish section of Jutland are as follows: #

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalb ...

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022)

# Randers # Kolding #

Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 61,074 (1 January 2022) and the municipality's population is 94,443 (), making it the 8th largest city in De ...

Vejle Vejle () is a city in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle River and Grejs River and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality ('' kommune'') and the R ...

Herning Herning () is a Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 50,565 (1 January 2022)Silkeborg # Fredericia

, Silkeborg, Billund, Randers, Kolding,

, Fredericia and Haderslev, along with a number of smaller towns, make up the suggested East Jutland metropolitan area, which is more densely populated than the rest of Jutland, although far from forming one consistent city. Administratively, Danish Jutland comprises three of the five

regions of Denmark The five Regions of Denmark ( da, regioner) were created as administrative entities at a level above the municipalities and below the central government in the public sector as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, when the 13 counties ('' a ...

, namely Nordjylland, Midtjylland, and the western half of

Southern Denmark The Region of Southern Denmark ( da, Region Syddanmark, ; german: Region Süddänemark, ; frr, Regiuun Syddanmark) is an administrative Regions of Denmark, region of Denmark established on Monday 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Munici ...

(which includes

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

). The five administrative regions came into effect on 1 January 2007, following a structural reform.

German portion

The southern third of the peninsula is made up of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Bundesland of

. The German parts are usually not seen as Jutland proper, but often described more abstract as part of the Jutlandic Peninsula, Cimbrian Peninsula or Jutland-Schleswig-Holstein. Schleswig-Holstein has two historical parts: the former duchies of Schleswig (a Danish fief) and Holstein (a German fief), both of which have passed back and forth between Danish and German rulers. The last adjustment of the Danish–German border followed the

Schleswig Plebiscites The Schleswig plebiscites were two plebiscites, organized according to section XII, articles 100 to 115 of the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919, in order to determine the future border between Denmark and Germany through the former Duchy of S ...

in 1920 and resulted in Denmark regaining Northern Schleswig ( da, Nordslesvig or more commonly today: ''Sønderjylland''). The historic southern border of Jutland was the river Eider, which forms the border between the former duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, as well as the border between the Danish and German realms from 850 to 1864. Although most of Schleswig-Holstein is geographically part of the peninsula, most German residents there would not identify themselves with Jutland or even as Jutlanders, but rather with Schleswig-Holstein. The medieval law

Code of Jutland ''Codex Holmiensis C 37'' contains the oldest manuscript of the Danish ''Code of Jutland'' ( da, Jyske Lov),Riis, Thomas. Det kongelige bibliotek, Denmark. Det kongelige bibliotek, Denmark. a civil code enacted under Valdemar II of Denmark. The ...

applied to Schleswig until 1900, when it was replaced by the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch The ''Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'' (, ), abbreviated BGB, is the civil code of Germany. In development since 1881, it became effective on 1 January 1900, and was considered a massive and groundbreaking project. The BGB served as a template in sev ...

(''Civil Code''). Some rarely used clauses of the Jutlandic Code still apply north of the Eider.

Cities

The largest cities in the German area of the Jutland Peninsula are: #

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

# Lübeck #

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

Geology

Geologically, the

Mid Jutland Region The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish mun ...

and the

as well as the

Capital Region of Denmark The Capital Region of Denmark ( da, Region Hovedstaden, ) is the easternmost administrative region of Denmark. The Capital Region has 29 municipalities and a regional council consisting of 41 elected members. As of 1 August 2021 the chairperson ...

are located in the north of Denmark which is rising because of post-glacial rebound. Some circular depressions in Jutland may be remnants of collapsed

pingo Pingos are intrapermafrost ice-cored hills, high and in diameter. They are typically conical in shape and grow and persist only in permafrost environments, such as the Arctic and subarctic. A pingo is a periglacial landform, which is define ...

s that developed during the Last Ice Age .

History

Jutland has historically been one of the three lands of Denmark, the other two being

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conte ...

and Zealand. Before that, according to

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

, Jutland or the ''Cimbric Chersonese'' was the home of

Teutons The Teutons ( la, Teutones, , grc, Τεύτονες) were an ancient northern European tribe mentioned by Roman authors. The Teutons are best known for their participation, together with the Cimbri and other groups, in the Cimbrian War with th ...

, and Charudes. Many Angles,

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

and Jutes migrated from

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

starting around 450 AD. The Angles gave their name to the new emerging kingdoms called England (i.e., "Angle-land"). The Kingdom of Kent in south east England is associated with Jutish origins and migration, also attributed by

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

in the ''Ecclesiastical History''. This is also supported by the archaeological record, with extensive Jutish finds in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

from the fifth and sixth centuries. Saxons and Frisii migrated to the region in the early part of the Christian era. To protect themselves from invasion by the Christian

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

emperors, beginning in the 5th century, the

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

Danes initiated the Danevirke, a defensive wall stretching from present-day Schleswig and inland halfway across the Jutland peninsula. The pagan Saxons inhabited the southernmost part of the peninsula, adjoining the Baltic Sea, until the

Saxon Wars The Saxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the thirty-three years from 772, when Charlemagne first entered Saxony with the intent to conquer, to 804, when the last rebellion of tribesmen was defeated. In all, 18 campaigns were fought ...

in 772–804 in the

Nordic Iron Age Iron Age Scandinavia (or Nordic Iron Age) was the Iron Age, as it unfolded in Scandinavia. Beginnings The 6th and 5th centuries BC were a tipping point for exports and imports on the European continent. The ever-increasing conflicts and wars ...

, when

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

violently subdued them and forced them to be Christianised.

Old Saxony "Old Saxony" is the original homeland of the Saxons. It corresponds roughly to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, eastern part of modern North Rhine-Westphalia state (Westphalia), Nordalbingia (Holstein, southern part of Schleswig-Holstein ...

was politically absorbed into the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lom ...

and Abodrites (or

Obotrites The Obotrites ( la, Obotriti, Abodritorum, Abodritos…) or Obodrites, also spelled Abodrites (german: Abodriten), were a confederation of medieval West Slavs, West Slavic tribes within the territory of modern Mecklenburg and Holstein in norther ...

), a group of Wendish

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

who pledged allegiance to Charlemagne and who had for the most part

converted to Christianity Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to Christianity. Different Christian denominations may perform various different kinds of rituals or ceremonies initiation into their community of belie ...

, were moved into the area to populate it. Old Saxony was later referred to as Holstein. In medieval times, Jutland was regulated by the Law Code of Jutland (''Jyske Lov''). This civic code covered the Danish part of the Jutland Peninsula, i.e., north of the

Eider (river) The Eider (german: Die Eider; da, Ejderen; Latin: ''Egdor'' or ''Eidora'') is the longest river in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The river starts near Bordesholm and reaches the southwestern outskirts of Kiel on the shores of the Balt ...

as well as

Fehmarn Fehmarn (, da, Femern; from Old Wagrian Slavic "''Fe More''", meaning "''In the Sea''") is an island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Germany's northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is Germany's third-largest island, after Rüg ...

. Part of this area are now in Germany. During the industrialisation of the 1800s, Jutland experienced a large and accelerating

urbanisation Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the ...

and many people from the countryside chose to emigrate. Among the reasons was a high and accelerating population growth; in the course of the century, the Danish population grew two and a half times to about 2.5 million in 1901, with a million people added in the last part of the 1800s. This growth was not caused by an increase in the

fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if: # she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime # she were t ...

, but by better nutrition, sanitation, hygiene, and health care services. More children survived, and people lived longer and healthier lives. Combined with falling grain prices on the international markets because of the Long Depression, and better opportunities in the cities due to an increasing industrialisation, many people in the countryside relocated to larger towns or emigrated. In the later half of the century, around 300,000 Danes, mainly unskilled labourers from rural areas, emigrated to the US or Canada. This amounted to more than 10% of the then total population, but some areas had an even higher emigration rate. In 1850, the largest Jutland towns of Aalborg, Aarhus and Randers had no more than about 8,000 inhabitants each; by 1901, Aarhus had grown to 51,800 citizens. To speed transit between the Baltic and the North Sea, canals were built across the Jutland peninsula, including the Eider Canal in the late 18th century, and the Kiel Canal, completed in 1895 and still in use. In 1825, a severe North Sea storm on the west coast of Jutland breached the isthmus of

Agger Tange Agger may refer to: * Agger (surname) * Agger (ancient Rome), a type of ancient Roman rampart or embankment * Agger (river), a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Agger nasi, an anatomical feature of the nose * Agger Rockshelter, in Wisconsi ...

in the Limfjord area, separating the northern part of Jutland from the mainland and effectively creating the North Jutlandic Island. The storm breach of Agger Tange created the Agger Channel, and another storm in 1862 created the

Thyborøn Thyborøn is a fishing village in Jutland, Denmark with a population of 1,890 (1 January 2022), Skagerrak Sea. The Agger Channel closed up again over the years, due to natural siltation, but the Thyborøn Channel widened and was fortified and secured in 1875.

World War I and Battle of Jutland

Denmark was neutral throughout the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. However, Danes living in North Slesvig, since it was part of the German Empire from 1864 to 1920, were conscripted for the imperial German army. 5000 Danish South Jutlanders are estimated to have fallen in German military service during the War. The 1916

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy ...

was fought in the North Sea west of Jutland as one of the largest naval battles in history. In this pitched battle, the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

engaged the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...

, leading to heavy casualties and losses of ships on both sides. The British fleet sustained greater losses, but remained in control of the North Sea, so in strategic terms, most historians regard Jutland either as a British victory or as indecisive. The battle is commemorated and explained at the Sea War Museum Jutland in

Thyborøn Thyborøn is a fishing village in Jutland, Denmark with a population of 1,890 (1 January 2022), Bunker verschoben - panoramio

Denmark had declared itself neutral, but was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany within a few hours on 9 April 1940. Scattered fighting took place in South Jutland and in Copenhagen. Sixteen Danish soldiers were killed. Some months before the invasion, Germany had considered only occupying the northern tip of Jutland with Aalborg airfield, but Jutland as a whole was soon regarded as of high strategic importance. Work commenced on extending the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...

along the entire west coast of the peninsula. Its task was to resist a potential allied attack on Germany by landing on the west coast of Jutland. The Hanstholm fortress at the northwestern promontory of Jutland became the largest fortification of Northern Europe. The local villagers were evacuated to Hirtshals. Coastal areas of Jutland were declared a military zone where Danish citizens were required to carry identity cards, and access was regulated. The small Danish airfield of Aalborg was seized as one of the first objects in the invasion by German paratroopers. The airfield was significantly expanded by the Germans in order to secure their traffic to Norway, and more airfields were built. Danish contractors and 50,000–100,000 workers were hired to fulfill the German projects. The alternative for workers was to be unemployed or sent to work in Germany. The fortifications have been estimated to be the largest construction project ever performed in Denmark at a cost of then 10 billion kroner, or 300-400 billion DKK today (45-60 billion USD or 40-54 billion euro in 2019). The Danish National Bank was forced to cover most of the cost. After the war, the remaining German prisoners of war were recruited to perform extensive mine clearance of 1.4 million mines along the coast. Many of the seaside bunkers from World War II are still present at the west coast. Several of the fortifications in Denmark have been turned into museums, including Tirpitz Museum in Blåvand, Bunkermuseum Hanstholm, and Hirtshals Bunkermuseum. In Southern Jutland, parts of the German minority openly sided with Germany and volunteered for German military service. While some Danes initially feared a border revision, the German occupational force did not pursue the issue. In a judicial aftermath after the end of the war, many members of the German minority were convicted, and German schools were confiscated by Danish authorities. There were some instances of Danish mob attacks against German-minded citizens. In December 1945, the remaining part of the German minority issued a declaration of loyalty to Denmark and democracy, renouncing any demands for a border revision.

Culture

Up until the

industrialisation Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

of the 19th century, most people in Jutland lived a rural life as farmers and fishers. Farming and herding have formed a significant part of the culture since the late Neolithic Stone Age, and fishing ever since humans first populated the peninsula after the last Ice Age, some 12,000 years ago. Thorvald Niss - Mark med korntraver - KMS3458 - Statens Museum for Kunst

Thorvald Niss - Mark med korntraver - KMS3458 - Statens Museum for Kunst

The local culture of Jutland commoners before industrial times was not described in much detail by contemporary texts. It was generally viewed with contempt by the Danish cultural elite in Copenhagen who perceived it as uncultivated, misguided or useless. While the peasantry of eastern Denmark was dominated by the upper feudal class, manifested in large estates owned by families of noble birth and an increasingly subdued class of peasant tenants, the farmers of Western Jutland were mostly free owners of their own land or leasing it from the Crown, although under frugal conditions. Most of the less fertile and sparsely populated land of Western Jutland was never feudalised. East Jutland was more similar to Eastern Denmark in this respect. The north–south ridge forming the border between the fertile eastern hills and sandy western plains has been a significant cultural border until this day, also reflected in differences between the West and East Jutlandic dialect. Frederik Vermehren - A Jutland Sheperd on the Moors - Google Art Project

Frederik Vermehren - A Jutland Sheperd on the Moors - Google Art Project

When the industrialisation began in the 19th century, the social order was upheaved and with it the focus of the intelligentsia and the educated changed as well.

Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , , ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on ...

(1818–1855) grew up in Copenhagen as the son of a stern and religious West Jutlandic wool merchant who had worked his way up from a frugal childhood. The very urban Kierkegaard visited his sombre ancestral lands in 1840, then a very traditional society. Writers like

Steen Steensen Blicher Steen Steensen Blicher (11 October 1782, Vium – 26 March 1848 in Spentrup) was an author and poet born in Vium near Viborg, Denmark. Biography Blicher was the son of a literarily inclined Jutlandic parson whose family was distantly rela ...

(1782-1848) and H.C. Andersen (1805–1875) were among the first writers to find genuine inspiration in local Jutlandic culture and present it with affection and non-prejudice. Blicher was himself of Jutish origin and, soon after his pioneering work, many other writers followed with stories and tales set in Jutland and written in the homestead dialect. Many of these writers are often referred to as the

Jutland Movement The ''Jutland Movement'' or folkelige realister opular realists were a group of loosely affiliated Danish writers. Their writing style, which dealt with the rural life of the Jutland peasants, formed them into a group. They existed around the tur ...

, artistically connected through their engagement with public social realism of the Jutland region. The Golden Age painters also found inspiration and motives in the natural beauty of Jutland, including

P. C. Skovgaard Peter Christian Thamsen Skovgaard (known as P. C. Skovgaard; 4 April 1817 – 13 April 1875) was a Danish national romantic landscape painter. He is one of the main figures associated with the Golden Age of Danish Painting. He is especially known ...

Dankvart Dreyer Dankvart Dreyer (13 June 1816 – 4 November 1852) was a Danish landscape painter of the Copenhagen School of painters who was educated under the guidance of Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg. Around 1840, he was part of the emerging National Romanti ...

, and art collective of the

Skagen Painters The Skagen Painters ( da, Skagensmalerne) were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the village of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. Skagen was a summer destination whose scen ...

. Writer

Evald Tang Kristensen Evald Tang Kristensen (24 January 1843 – 8 April 1929) was a Danish folklore collector and author. Working first as a schoolteacher and later solely as a collector, he assembled and published a huge amount of detailed information on all aspects ...

(1843-1929) collected and published extensive accounts on the local rural Jutlandic

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

through many interviews and travels across the peninsula, including songs, legends, sayings and everyday life. Peter Skautrup Centret at

Aarhus University Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

is dedicated to collect and archive information on Jutland culture and dialects from before the industrialisation. The centre was established in 1932 by Professor in Nordic languages

Peter Skautrup Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

(1896-1982). Wahlkarte_Folketing_Dänemark_2015_da

With the railway system, and later the automobile and

mass communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...

, the culture of Jutland has merged with and formed the overall Danish national culture, although some unique local traits are still present in some cases. West Jutland is often claimed to have a mentality of self-sustainment, a superior

work ethic Work ethic is a belief that work and diligence have a moral benefit and an inherent ability, virtue or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. It is a set of values centered on importance of work and manifested by determination o ...

and entrepreneurial spirit as well as slightly more religious and socially conservative values, and there are other voting patterns than in the rest of Denmark.

Dialect

The distinctive Jutish (or Jutlandic)

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

s differ substantially from the standard

Danish language Danish (; , ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark. Communities of Danish speakers are also found in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the northern German region of Southern Schles ...

, especially those in the West Jutland and South Jutland parts. The Peter Skautrup Centre maintains and publishes an official dictionary of the Jutlandic dialects. Dialect usage, although in decline, is better preserved in Jutland than in eastern Denmark, and Jutlander speech remains a stereotype among many

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

ers and eastern Danes. Musicians and entertainers Ib Grønbech and

Niels Hausgaard Niels Samuel Hausgaard (born 31 August 1944) is a Danish singer, songwriter and comedian. He is best known for his songs and understated comedy which often combine dry observations on the human condition with the trials and tribulations of life in ...

, both from

in Northern Jutland, use a distinct Jutish dialect. In the southernmost and northernmost parts of Jutland, there are associations striving to conserve their respective dialects, including the

North Frisian language North Frisian (''nordfriisk'') is a minority language of Germany, spoken by about 10,000 people in North Frisia. The language is part of the larger group of the West Germanic Frisian languages. The language comprises 10 dialects which are thems ...

-speaking areas in

Literature

In the Danish part of Jutland, literature tied to Jutland, and Jutland culture, grew significantly in the 1800s and early 1900s. That was a time when large numbers of people migrated to the towns during the industrialisation, and there was a surge of nationalism as well as a quest for social reform during the public foundation of the modern democratic national state.

wrote about the Jutland rural culture of his times in the early 1800s. Through his writings, he promoted and preserved the various Jutland dialects, as in ''E Bindstouw'', published in 1842. Danish social realist and radical writer

Jeppe Aakjær Jeppe Aakjær (10 September 1866 – 22 (23) April 1930) was a Danish poet and novelist, a member of the ' Jutland Movement' in Danish literature". A regionalist, much of his writings were about his native Jutland. He was known for writings t ...

used Jutlanders and Jutland culture in most of his works, for example in ''Af gammel Jehannes hans Bivelskistaarri. En bette Bog om stur Folk'' (1911), which was widely read in its time. He also translated poems of Robert Burns to his particular Central Western Jutish dialect. Karsten Thomsen (1837–1889), an inn-keeper in Frøslev with artistic aspirations, wrote warmly about his homestead of South Jutland, using the dialect of his region explicitly. Two songs are often regarded as regional anthems of Jutland: ''Jylland mellem tvende have'' ("Jutland between two seas", 1859) by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

and ''Jyden han æ stærk aa sej'' ("The Jute, he is strong and tough", 1846) by Steen Steensen Blicher, the latter in dialect. Jutland native Maren Madsen (1872-1965) emigrated to the American town of

Yarmouth, Maine Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland. When originally settled in 1636, as North Yarmouth, it was part of Massachusetts, and remained as such for 213 years. In 1849, ...

, in the late 19th century. She wrote a memoir documenting the transition, ''From Jutland's Brown Heather to the Land Across the Sea''. Publisher Frederick William Anthoensen was born in Torland, South Jutland. He moved to the United States with his parents in 1884.Guide to the Fred Anthoensen Collection, 1901-1969
–

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

References

Sources

External links

{{Coord, 55, N, 9, E, display=title Geography of Germany Geography of Denmark Peninsulas of Denmark Peninsulas of Europe Divided regions Peninsulas of the Baltic Sea Peninsulas of Schleswig-Holstein