Samsø (Anglicized: "Samso" or "Samsoe") is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

island in the

Kattegat The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in Sweden ...

off the

Jutland Peninsula 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 ...

. Samsø is located in

Samsø municipality Samsø Municipality is a municipality (Danish: '' kommune'') in Region of Central Denmark. Samsø municipality covers an area of 115 km2 in the Kattegat sea, between the Danish mainland of Jutland and Zealand and comprises the island of Sams ...

. The community has 3,724 inhabitants (2017) (January 2010:4,010) called ''Samsings'' and is 114 km² in area. Due to its central location, the island was used during the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

as a meeting place. The

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

of the island's name is unknown. In 1997, Samsø won a government competition to become a model renewable energy community. Now 100% of its electricity comes from

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...

and biomass.

Etymology

The name Samsø is of unknown origin. The name is known from 1075 as ''Samse''. This word is a simplex and the addition of -,

for 'island', is thus a later compounding, known in toponymy as ''epexegesis''.

Geography

Ballen's beach and village are popular with visitors. The island is served by a bus service which runs around the island, including the two ferry terminals in Sælvig and Ballen. In clear weather, the peninsula of

Helgenæs Helgenæs is a peninsula, approximately twenty square kilometres in size, stretching out from Mols in Denmark. Mols is itself part of the large peninsula of Djursland, in the middle of the Kattegat sea between Denmark and Sweden. West of ...

to the north is visible. Geographically, the island divides into three areas: *the North Island *the Stavns Fjord *the South Island The soil and geology of the northern part of the island is made up of sand and gravel deposited during the deglaciation, while the southern part is made of both areas of

boulder clay Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists o ...

( da, moræneler) and

outwash plain An outwash plain, also called a sandur (plural: ''sandurs''), sandr or sandar, is a plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying rock surface and c ...

s ( da, smeltevandsslette). The North Island is divided from the South Island by the artificial Kanhave canal. Here a larger part of the countryside is uncultivated and it presents a wavy landscape of

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...

s and small patches of woodland and

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...

. Like the rest of Samsø, the coastline is characterized by steep cliffs and stony beaches, with some sandy beaches in between suited for bathing. Issehoved is Samsø's northernmost point and presents what have been described as a miniature of

Skagen Skagen () is Denmark's northernmost town, on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Jutland, part of Frederikshavn Municipality in Nordjylland, north of Frederikshavn and northeast of Aalborg. The Port of Skage ...

s "

Grenen Grenen is a long sandbar spit at Skagen Odde (the headland of Jutland), north of the town of Skagen. Overview ''Grenen'' (The Branch) was named for its shape like a tree-branch, reaching out from the mainland. The beach of Grenen appears in m ...

". The small towns of Nordby, Mårup and Langør is situated on the North Island. Just north of Nordby is the world's biggest permanent labyrinth named 'Labyrinten', founded in the year 2000. It comprise a patch of conifer woodland, grown on a previous christmas tree plantation. Northwest of Nordby, is the hill of Ballebjerg, Samsøs highest point, reaching 64 m. Near the village of Mårup is the harbour of Mårup Havn. In the summer months (17 June to 22 August) the old wooden freight-ship M/S Tunø, ferry passengers back and forth from here to the island of

Tunø Tunø is a Danish island in the Kattegat, approximately 4 km west of the neighbouring island of Samsø. The island covers an area of , has a circumference of and has total of 66 inhabitants as of November 2022. It comes under the administrat ...

just west of Samsø, two days a week. Other two days of the week, the same boat is offering

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

- safaris from Langør at Stavns Fjord.M/S Tunø
The ferry's homepage

Stavns Fjord

The shallow

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

Stavns Fjord houses most of the smaller islands of

. The largest of them is Hjortholm and most of the rest are just small

islets An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent ...

really, but have been named individually. The lagoon is separated from the sea of

by the 7 km long

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. ...

of Besser Rev. It is possible to walk on the reef all the way to the tip at low tide (ebb), except when the birds are breeding here. It is important to be aware of the tides, as there can be strong and dangerous currents at the reefs junction to Samsø during high tide (flow). East of Stavns Fjord, in Kattegat, lies a group of small islands (Kyholm, Lindholm, Rumpen, Vejrø) with a couple of sandbars. The entire area is to be protected.

South Island

The South Island is home to the seat of the mayor and Samsø's largest town

Tranebjerg Tranebjerg is a town, situated at the centre of the South Island of Samsø in Denmark. It is the largest town on Samsø and also the municipal seat of Samsø Municipality. Tranebjerg is an old town, with a big village church from the 14th century ...

, but there are many other

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

s and villages (18 in all) spread across the countryside. The village of Ballen, lies on the east coast and is also home to the

Energy Academy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat ...

. Most of the land on the South Island is cultivated, but there are spots of nature like the forest Brattingsborg Skov and the cliffs, shrubs and

beach meadow Beach Meadows are coastal meadows influenced by the presence of the nearby sea. Under this definition, the salinity of the air and wind is always high and the meadows are often flooded during and after stormy weather. These conditions implies t ...

s on the southcoast. Just south of the Kanhave canal is Samsø Airport.

History

People have lived and hunted on Samsø from the earliest of times, when the ice receded at the end of the last Ice Age. Samsø first became an island approximately 9,000 years ago and there are several traces like

dolmens A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...

burial mounds A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...

, passage graves,

kitchen middens A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and eco ...

, etc. from the Stone Age and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

cultures across the landscape. Excavations at Tønnesminde and Endebjerg, for example, show evidence of human habitation from the Stone Age through the Viking Age.

Norse mythology

Hjalmars avsked av Orvar Odd efter striden på Samsö

On this island,

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark ...

relates that there was a legendary battle, when the Swedish champion

Hjalmar Hjalmar () and Ingeborg () were a legendary Swedish duo. The male protagonist Hjalmar and his duel for Ingeborg figures in the '' Hervarar saga'' and in '' Orvar-Odd's saga'', as well as in ''Gesta Danorum'', '' Lay of Hyndla'' and a number of Fa ...

and his friend Orvar-Odd fought against the twelve sons of the Swedish berserker

Arngrim Arngrim was a berserker, who features in Hervarar saga, Gesta Danorum, Lay of Hyndla, a number of Faroese ballads and Orvar-Odd's saga in Norse mythology.Henrikson, Alf. (1998). ''Den stora mytologiska uppslagsboken''. Hervarar saga Accordin ...

. This battle was once famous, since it also figures in Faroese ballads, in Orvar-Odd's saga and in Hervarar saga. According to the Hervarar saga and the Waking of Angantyr, the mounds of the slain berserkers were haunted. This did not stop Arngrim's granddaughter

Hervor Hervör is the name shared by two female characters in the Tyrfing Cycle, presented in '' The Saga of Hervör and Heidrek'' with parts found in the '' Poetic Edda''. The first, the viking Hervör, challenged her father Angantýr's ghost in his gr ...

from approaching the mounds and demanding the enchanted sword

Tyrfing Tyrfing, Tirfing or Tyrving (the name is of uncertain origin, possibly connected to the Terwingi) was a magic sword in Norse mythology, which features in the Tyrfing Cycle, which includes a poem from the '' Poetic Edda'' called '' Hervarar ...

from her father

Angantyr Angantyr was the name of three male characters from the same line in Norse mythology, and who appear in '' Hervarar saga'', ''Gesta Danorum'', and Faroese ballads. The last generation named Angantyr also appears to be mentioned as ''Incgentheo ...

. "Samsey" (-'' ey'' being an earlier Norse form of -ø) is the island upon which Odin, under the name Jalk, learned Seid magic.

Kanhave canal

At its narrowest place, a canal was dug across the island. The canal was about 500 m long and 11 m wide and could in its time be navigated by vessels with a draught of up to 1 m. It was dug and clad with wooden linings in the years 726-729 AD; the last part of the Scandinavian

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

. Kanhave canal is one of the largest known engineering projects of the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...

and it is a sign of the centralized power of the time. Kanhave canal is thought of as instrumental to dominating the sea of

. There are plans to dig out the canal again.

Medieval fortresses

All the known sources suggests, that the island was the property of

the crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

throughout

medieval times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire an ...

, but it was an age of conflict and insecurity nevertheless, as a total of five fortresses were built on Samsø in the Middle Ages;

Vesborg Vesborg was a castle founded by King Valdemar Atterdag in the 1360s, on the southwestern coast of Samsø in Denmark. The castle does not exist anymore and a lighthouse was built on the site in 1858. Former Castle Vesborg was initiated after the ...

where the lighthouse is nowadays, Gammel Brattingsborg where the town of

is now, Hjortholm on the

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanen ...

of the same name in the Stavns Fjord

, Bisgård at the bishop's palace (official residence) in the parish of Onsbjerg and the small fortification of Blafferholm in the garden of Brattingsborg manor. None of them are left standing today. Only the castle hills and the archaeological excavations of the foundations remains. The

National Museum of Denmark The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from Strøget ...

initiated thorough archaeological investigations of the fortification sites a few years ago and the field work terminated in 2012. Kyholm set fra skansen på Lilleøre

The quarantine of Kyholm

From 1831-1857 there was a

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

- and cholera-

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...

on the tiny island of Kyholm just east of Samsø. Here, ships returning from long voyages had to dock, if they had disease on board. There is an abandoned cemetery of around 100 graves on the island. Kyholm is accessible year round, but it is advised not to be around when the birds are breeding.

German occupation

The strategic location of Samsø led it to become a

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

outpost during the

German invasion of Denmark (1940) The German invasion of Denmark (german: Operation Weserübung – Süd), was the German attack on Denmark on 9 April 1940, during the Second World War. The attack was a prelude to the invasion of Norway (german: Weserübung Nord, 9 April – 10 ...

. During this time, an American B-17 Flying Fortress safely crash-landed in Alstrup after being forced down by a German fighter. Navigator Carl Groesbeck was almost immediately captured by Germans but other members of the plane, including Co-Pilot Miles McCormack, were hidden by locals for some time until they too were eventually captured. All the crew members survived the ordeal and the war, except tail-gunner Douglas Farris who was killed in action while in the air.

Agriculture and sustainable production

Agriculture has been the primary occupation on Samsø for millennia and nearly all of the island comprise cultured landscapes. Nowadays, farming is still an important business and the biggest contributor to the islands economy, but compared to the rest of Denmark, it has developed in its own direction.

Free range Free range denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals, for at least part of the day, can roam freely outdoors, rather than being confined in an enclosure for 24 hours each day. On many farms, the outdoors ranging area is fenced, ...

farming is very prominent, and the agricultural produce comprise mostly potatoes, various other vegetables and berries as well as some animal husbandry. In the 2000s, especially the vegetable and berry production has increased, as the Samsø brand has become more widely known and popular. At the same time, packaging and industrial processing is increasingly taken care of on the island before shipping, again increasing the local revenue of the farming trade overall. Close to 16% of the islanders work in the fishing and farming sector, not including derived labour, compared to 3.5% countrywide. In Denmark, Samsø is well known for its early harvest of

new potato The potato is a starch#Food, starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial plant, perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be fo ...

es. The first few pounds of these potatoes usually fetch prices around £100, and are considered a great delicacy. Samsø is popular among French,

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

and

Irish people The Irish ( ga, Muintir na hÉireann or ''Na hÉireannaigh'') are an ethnic group and nation native to the island of Ireland, who share a common history and Culture of Ireland, culture. There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years ...

for strawberry picking during the months of June and July every year.

Ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

agriculture and production is significant on Samsø, with a broad network of cooperating associations. It comprise farming of a large variety of vegetables, grains and fruits, livestock meat and products (lambs, sheep, yarn, cows, pigs, horses, donkeys, goats, chickens, eggs), a dairy, a brewery, restaurants and cafés, candy production,

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

and

forest garden Forest gardening is a low-maintenance, sustainable, plant-based food production and agroforestry system based on woodland ecosystems, incorporating fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines and perennial vegetables which have yields directl ...

experiments. There are several plans for extending the overall ecological production and broaden the industry (a slaughterhouse,

orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...

, forest gardens and education), with a wish for creating more jobs and stimulate settlements on the island.

Renewable energy

Samsø - The Energy Self-Sufficient Island

In 1997, Samsø won a government competition to become a model renewable energy community. At the time, Samsø was entirely dependent on oil and coal, both imported from the mainland. Therefore, Samso became the worlds first renewable energy island. Many different projects were started to realize the plan. An onshore

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

comprising 11 turbines were built. The first turbine was erected and on-line in 2000. In addition to that, 10 offshore turbines (making a total of 21 altogether including land-based windmills), were completed in 2007, funded by the islanders. The people of Samsø heat their homes straw burned in a central heating system and they power some vehicles on biofuel which they also grow. The island has four district heating plants in total. Now 100% of the island's electricity comes from

, with surplus electricity exported to the mainland grid, and 75% of its heat comes from local

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...

and biomass energy. An Energy Academy has opened in the town of Ballen. It is a community hall for energy concerns and a meeting place for energy and local development. The academy is currently working towards making Samsø 100% fossil fuel free until 2030, which is 20 years earlier than the national goals.

Notable people

* Tyge (d. 1272 on Samsø) Bishop of the

Diocese of Aarhus In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

1261-1272 *

Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve, Count of Samsø {{Infobox noble, type , name = Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve , title = Count of Samsø , image = Christian Ulrik Gyldenløve.JPG , caption = Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve, son of Christian V.The Por ...

(1678 in Brattingsborg – 1719) a Danish navy Admiral and Governor of Iceland; acknowledged illegitimate son of King

Christian V of Denmark Christian V (15 April 1646 25 August 1699) was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670 until his death in 1699. Well-regarded by the common people, he was the first king anointed at Frederiksborg Castle chapel as absolute monarch since the decr ...

and his royal mistress

Sophie Amalie Moth Sophie Amalie Moth, Countess of Samsøe (28 March 1654 – 17 January 1719) was the officially acknowledged royal mistress of King Christian V of Denmark. Together they had six acknowledged illegitimate children, all of whom bore the surname G ...

* Carl Frederik Sørensen (1818 in Besser, Samsø – 1879) was a Danish artist who specialized in marine painting. *

Lotte Glob Lotte Glob (born 1944) is a Danish ceramic artist living in the north of Scotland. She is daughter of Peter Glob. Life Lotte Glob was born in 1944 on Samsø, a Danish island, the daughter of Peter Glob, a Danish archaeologist. She grew up in Aar ...

(born 1944 in Samsø) is a Danish ceramic artist, lives in the north of Scotland, the daughter of

Peter Glob Peter Vilhelm Glob (20 February 1911 – 20 July 1985), also known as P. V. Glob, was a Danish archaeologist. Glob was most noted for his investigations of Denmark's bog bodies such as the Tollund Man and Grauballe Man, mummified remains of Iron ...

* Nicolas Michaux (1984-), Belgian singer and songwriter.

Gallery

Nordby Kirke (Samsø Kommune).JPG, Nordby Church. Nordby Samsø 20130708 151341.jpg, The village bell in Nordby Ballebjerg Samsø.jpg, Ballebjerg (Nordby Bakker), the highest point on Samsø. Labyrinten.jpg, Inside ''Labyrinten'', the largest permanent maze in the world. Ved kæret nordby.jpg, Village pond in Nordby Stavns Fjord - panoramio.jpg, Stavns Fjord Langør set fra Kanhavekanalen - panoramio.jpg, Langør across Stavns Fjord Tranebjerg Kirke - panoramio - Jens Cederskjold.jpg, Tranebjerg church Tranebjerg set fra Møllebakken - panoramio.jpg, Tranebjerg Udsigt fra Dyret 2.jpg, View from ''Dyret'', the highest hill on the South Island. Kolby Kirke - panoramio.jpg, Kolby church Kolby Mølle - panoramio.jpg, Kolby grain mill (Museum Samsø) Gammeldags pløjning på Fredensdal.jpg, Museum Fredensdal Brattingsborg Gods 20130712 102954.jpg, Brattingsborg Manor AlstrupJættestueC3.jpg, Alstrup Jættestue

References

External links

*
The Energy Academy
The academy's homepage.
Nordby
The towns own homepage.
Labyrinten
The labyrinths homepage. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samso Samsø Municipality Saga locations Tyrfing cycle Viking buildings and structures Forts in Denmark Archaeological sites in Denmark Wind farms in Denmark Lagoons of Denmark Danish islands in Kattegat