Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km
2 is the largest and most populous
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
in
Denmark proper
)
, 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 = Kingdom of Denmark
, established ...
(thus excluding
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
and
Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020.
It is the
13th-largest island in Europe by area and the
4th most populous. It is connected to
Sprogø and
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 ...
by the
Great Belt Fixed Link and to
Amager
Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...
by several bridges in Copenhagen. Indirectly, through the island of Amager and the
Øresund Bridge, it is also linked to
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 ...
in Sweden. In the south, the
Storstrøm Bridge and the
Farø Bridges connect it to
Falster
Falster () is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010. , and beyond that island to
Lolland
Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of Region Sjælland (Region Zealand). As of 1 January 2022, it has 57,618 inhabitant ...
, from where the
Fehmarnbelt Tunnel to Germany is planned.
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 ...
, the capital of Denmark, with a population between 1.3 and 1.4 million people in 2020, is located mostly on the eastern shore of Zealand and partly on the island of
Amager
Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...
. Other cities on Zealand include
Roskilde
Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 51,916 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...
,
Hillerød,
Næstved,
Helsingør
Helsingør ( , ; sv, Helsingör), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a city in eastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 62,686 on 1 January 2018. Helsingør and Helsingborg in Sweden together form the northern ...
,
Slagelse
Slagelse () is a town on Zealand, Denmark. The town is the seat of Slagelse Municipality, and is the biggest town of the municipality. It is located 15 km east of Korsør, 16 km north-east of Skælskør, 33 km south-east of Kalundborg and 14 km ...
,
Køge
Køge (, older spelling ''Kjøge'') is a seaport on the coast of Køge Bugt (''Bay of Køge'') 39 km southwest of Copenhagen. It is the principal town and seat of Køge Municipality, Region Sjælland, Denmark. In 2022, the urban area had a p ...
,
Holbæk
Holbæk () is a town in Denmark and the seat of Holbæk municipality with a population of 29,608 (1 January 2022).[Kalundborg
Kalundborg () is a Danish city with a population of 16,211 (1 January 2022),][Capital Region
A capital region, also called a capital district or capital territory, is a region or district surrounding a capital city. It is not always the official term for the region, but may sometimes be used as an informal synonym. Capital regions can exis ...](_blank)
, while the major and more rural part of the island belongs to the
Zealand Region
Region Zealand ( da, Region Sjælland) is the southernmost administrative region of Denmark, established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional counties ("amter") and set up five larger regi ...
.
Etymology
The origin of the Danish name ''Sjælland'' is not exactly known. in modern Danish means "soul", but this interpretation can be excluded. A derivation from ''/'' (meaning "lake" or "sea") has been assumed. However, today a common hypothesis is that the Old Danish form is based on the word * with the ending *''wundia-''. The latter means "indicates, resembles". The word * may have two different meanings: "seal" (in modern Danish ) or "deep bay, fjord". Since Roskilde is a major and ancient settlement on Zealand, accessible by sea through the narrow
Roskilde Fjord (branched from the
Isefjord
Ise Fjord ( da, Isefjorden) is a deeply branched arm of the sea into the Danish island Zealand.
From its relatively narrow entrance from the Kattegat at Hundested and Rørvig, branches of Ise Fjord stretch 35 km inland and divide the northern ...
), it has been assumed that the sailors named the island after this.
The English form may be borrowed from the German form ''Seeland''. These forms might be based on the assumption that the first part means ''sea'' or ''lake'' (German ''See''), or they could simply be based on an alternative Danish form of the name, ''Sælland'', which was common until the 19th century.
Unlike the Danish island, the Pacific nation of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
is named after the Dutch province of
Zeeland.
History
The tribal Danes came from Zealand and
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 spoke an early form of
North Germanic. Historians believe that before their arrival, most of
Jutland
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 ...
and the nearest islands were settled by tribal
Jutes. The Jutes migrated to
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 ...
eventually, some as mercenaries of
Brythonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
King
Vortigern
Vortigern (; owl, Guorthigirn, ; cy, Gwrtheyrn; ang, Wyrtgeorn; Old Breton: ''Gurdiern'', ''Gurthiern''; gle, Foirtchern; la, Vortigernus, , , etc.), also spelled Vortiger, Vortigan, Voertigern and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in ...
, and were granted the south-eastern territories of
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 ...
, the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
and other areas, where they settled. They were later absorbed or
ethnically cleansed
Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...
by the invading
Angles and
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 ...
, who formed the
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
. The remaining
Jutish population in Jutland assimilated in with the settling
Danes
Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
Danes generally regard t ...
.
Valdemar's Zealandic Law governed was a civil code enacted in the 13th century. Prior to the adoption of the Jutlandic, Zealandic and the Scanian laws, there had been no uniformity of laws throughout settlements in Denmark.
Ringsted and later
Roskilde
Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 51,916 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...
were the first important political and religious centres on the island, a role later taken over by Copenhagen. Other important religious centres prior to the Reformation were
Sorø Abbey
Sorø Abbey was the preeminent and wealthiest monastic house in all of Denmark during the Middle Ages. It was located in the town of Sorø in central Zealand.
After Denmark became Lutheran in 1536, the abbey was confiscated by the Crown. The ab ...
at Sprø and
Esrom Abbey
Esrum Abbey, also Esrom Abbey ( da, Esrum or ), was the second Cistercian monastery founded in Denmark, located near Hillerød in Region Hovedstaden, on the island of Zealand (Sjælland), on the north side of the Esrum Sø (Lake Esrum) near Es ...
at
Rsrum. With its strategic location at the entrance to the Øresund, especially after the construction of
Kronborg Castle and the introduction of
Sound Dues
The Sound Dues (or Sound Tolls; da, Øresundstolden) were a toll on the use of the Øresund, or "Sound" strait separating the modern day borders of Denmark and Sweden. The tolls constituted up to two thirds of Denmark's state income in the 16th a ...
,
Helsingør
Helsingør ( , ; sv, Helsingör), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a city in eastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 62,686 on 1 January 2018. Helsingør and Helsingborg in Sweden together form the northern ...
would later develop into the most important town and seaport outside Copenhagen.
Most of
North Zealand
North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently in ...
was for centuries, starting in the late 16th century, owned by the crown and used mainly as a royal hunting domain. Local manors played a central role in the economy on the rest of the island.
Early industrial centres outside Copenhagen included
Mølleåen with its watermills, the
Kronborg Arms Factory at
Hellebæk
Hellebæk is a town located on the coast five kilometres northwest of Helsingør, North Zealand, some 40 kilometres north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It has merged with the neighbouring community of Ålsgårde to form an urban area with a population o ...
,
Johan Frederik Classen
Johan Frederik Classen, frequently also J. F. Classen, (11 February 1725 – 24 March 1792) was a Danish-Norwegian industrialist, major general, landowner and founder of Det Classenske Fideicommis. He served as chancellery adviser to King ...
's
Frederick's Works at
Frederiksværk and Niels Ryberg's
Køng Textile Factory at Vordingborg. Substantial parts of the southernmost part of the island was in the 18th century part of
Vordingborg Cavalry District.
The first railways on the island were constructed by Det Sjællandske Jernbaneselskab (1847-1888). The first section opened between Copenhagen and Roskilde in 1847.
Mythological origins
In
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
as told in the ''
Gylfaginning'', the island was created by the goddess
Gefjun
In Norse mythology, Gefjon (Old Norse: ; alternatively spelled Gefion, or Gefjun , pronounced without secondary syllable stress) is a goddess associated with ploughing, the Danish island of Zealand, the legendary Swedish king Gylfi, the legenda ...
after she tricked
Gylfi, the king of Sweden. She removed a piece of land and transported it to Denmark, which became Zealand. The vacant area was filled with water and became
Mälaren
Mälaren ( , , or ), historically referred to as Lake Malar in English, is the third-largest freshwater lake in Sweden (after Vänern and Vättern). Its area is 1,140 km2 and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from e ...
.
[ Den Store Danske Encyklopædi, article ''Gefion''] However, since modern maps show a similarity between Zealand and the Swedish lake
Vänern
Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland in ...
, it is sometimes identified as the hole left by Gefjun. Gefjun is queen of King
Skjöldr, eponymous ancestor of the
Scyldings, related to the etymological debate.
Geography
Zealand is the most populous Danish island. It is irregularly shaped, and is north of the islands of
Lolland
Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of Region Sjælland (Region Zealand). As of 1 January 2022, it has 57,618 inhabitant ...
,
Falster
Falster () is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010. , and
Møn
Møn () is an island in south-eastern Denmark. Until 1 January 2007, it was a municipality in its own right but it is now part of the municipality of Vordingborg, after merging with the former municipalities of Langebæk, Præstø, and Vordingbo ...
. The small island of Amager lies immediately east.
Copenhagen is mostly on Zealand but extends across northern Amager. A number of bridges and the
Copenhagen Metro
The Copenhagen Metro ( da, Københavns Metro, ) is a 24/7 rapid transit system in Copenhagen, Denmark, serving the municipalities of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, and Tårnby.
The original system opened in October 2002, serving nine stations on t ...
connect Zealand to Amager, which is connected to
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 ...
in Sweden by the
Øresund Bridge via the artificial island of
Peberholm
Peberholm ( , sv, Pepparholm, links=no ()), is a small artificial island in the Danish part of the Øresund strait, created as part of the Øresund Bridge connecting Denmark with Sweden. Peberholm lies approximately 1 km south of the small n ...
. Zealand is joined in the west to Funen, by the Great Belt Fixed Link, and Funen is connected by bridges to the country's mainland,
Jutland
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 ...
.
On 5 June 2007 the regional subsidiary of national broadcaster
DR reported that
Kobanke in the southeast near the town
Rønnede in
Faxe Municipality, with a height of , was the highest natural point on Zealand.
Gyldenløveshøj, south of the city
Roskilde
Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 51,916 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...
, has a height of , but that is due to a man-made hill from the 17th century and its highest natural point is only .
Zealand gives its name to the
Selandian era of the
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...
.
Cities and towns
Urban areas with 10,000+ inhabitants:
See also
*
North Zealand
North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently in ...
*
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Geography of Copenhagen
Islands of Denmark