Samsø (Anglicized: "Samso" or "Samsoe") is a Danish island in the

Kattegat The Kattegat (; ; ) is a sea area bounded by the peninsula of Jutland in the west, the Danish straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the Swedish provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Scania in Swede ...

off the Jutland Peninsula. Samsø is located in Samsø municipality. 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 (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

as a meeting place. The

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of the island's name is unknown. In 1997, Samsø won a government competition to become a model

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

community. Now 100% of its electricity comes from

wind power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...

and

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

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

Geography

The beach and village of are popular with visitors. The island is served by a bus service which runs around the island, including the two ferry terminals in and Ballen. The peninsula of Helgenæs to the north is visible in clear weather. 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 Deglaciation is the transition from full glacial conditions during ice ages, to warm interglacials, characterized by global warming and sea level rise due to change in continental ice volume. Thus, it refers to the retreat of a glacier, an ice shee ...

, while the southern part is made of both areas of boulder clay () 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 glacier terminus, terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying r ...

s (). 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 they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable con ...

s and small patches of woodland and

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

. 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 the northernmost town in Denmark, on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Jutland, part of Frederikshavn Municipality in North Denmark Region, Nordjylland, north of Frederikshavn and northeast of Aalbo ...

s " Grenen". The small towns of Nordby, Mårup and Langør are 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 Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

woodland, grown on a previous

christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...

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

safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

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

Stavns Fjord

The shallow lagoon houses most of the smaller islands of Samsø municipality. The largest of them is and most of the rest are small

islets An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and ...

, and 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 close to the surface or ...

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. A group of small islands (, Lindholm, Rumpen, Vejrø) are located east of Stavns Fjord, in Kattegat.

South Island

The South Island is home to the seat of the mayor and Samsø's largest town Tranebjerg, but there are many other

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

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 Samsø Energiakademi. Most of the land on the South Island is cultivated, but there are spots of nature like the forest and the cliffs, shrubs and beach meadows on the southcoast. Just south of the Kanhave canal is Samsø Airport.

History

People have lived and hunted on Samsø since 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, burial mounds, passage graves, kitchen middens, etc. from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

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

On this island,

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (), 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. He is the author ...

relates that there was a legendary battle, when the Swedish champion Hjalmar and his friend Orvar-Odd fought against the twelve sons of the Swedish berserker Arngrim. 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 (Old Norse: ''Hervǫr'') is the name shared by two female characters in the Tyrfing Cycle, presented in ''Hervarar saga, The Saga of Hervör and Heidrek'' with parts found in the ''Poetic Edda''. The first, the Viking Hervör, challenged ...

from approaching the mounds and demanding the enchanted sword Tyrfing from her father Angantyr. "Samsey" (-'' ey'' being an earlier Norse form of -ø) is the island upon which

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

, under the name Jalk, learned Seid magic.

Kanhave canal

A canal was dug across the island at its narrowest place. 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 historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

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

Vikings Vikings were 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 settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

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 known sources suggest that the island was the property of the

Monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

throughout

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

, but it was an age of conflict and insecurity nevertheless, as a total of five

fortress A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...

es were built on Samsø in the Middle Ages; Vesborg where the lighthouse is nowadays, Gammel Brattingsborg where the town of Tranebjerg is now, Hjortholm on the

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

of the same name in the Stavns Fjord

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'') an ...

, 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, 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 S ...

initiated thorough archaeological investigations of the fortification sites a few years ago and the field work terminated in 2012.

The quarantine of Kyholm

From 1831-1857 there was a plague- and

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

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 bee ...

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 German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

outpost during the

German invasion of Denmark (1940) The German invasion of Denmark (), was the German attack on Denmark on 9 April 1940, during the World War II, Second World War. The attack was a prelude to the Norwegian campaign, invasion of Norway (, 9 April – 10 June 1940). Denmark's stra ...

. During this time, an American

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

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 island's economy, but compared to the rest of Denmark, it has developed in its own direction. Free range 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 potatoes. The first few pounds of these potatoes usually fetch prices around £100, and are considered a great delicacy. Samsø is popular among French, Welsh and

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

for

strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...

picking during the months of June and July every year.

Ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

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 Systems theory, whole-systems thinking. It applies t ...

and forest garden experiments. There are several plans for extending the overall ecological production and broaden the industry (a slaughterhouse, orangery, forest gardens and education), with a wish for creating more jobs and opportunity for inhabitants of the island.

Renewable energy

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, Samsø became the worlds first net renewable energy island. Many different projects were started to realize the plan. An onshore

wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park 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 turbines covering an exten ...

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 30 MW from 21 turbines altogether including land-based windmills), were completed in 2003, funded by the islanders. Some of the farmers on Samsø heat their homes by straw burned in a central heating system, and they power some vehicles on

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...

which they also grow. The island has four

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heater, space heating and w ...

plants in total. An annual equivalent of 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, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

and biomass energy. An Energy Academy, the Samsø Energiakademi, 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 A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geolog ...

free by 2030, which is 20 years earlier than the national goal.

Notable people

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

Diocese of Aarhus The Diocese of Aarhus (Danish language, Danish: ''Århus Stift'') is one of 10 dioceses in the Church of Denmark, with headquarters in the city of Aarhus. The diocese covers a large district of northeast Jutland and comprises 14 deanery, deanerie ...

1261-1272 * Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve, Count of Samsø (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 dec ...

and his royal mistress Sophie Amalie Moth *

Carl Frederik Sørensen Carl Frederik Sørensen (8 February 1818, Besser, Samsø – 24 January 1879, Copenhagen) was a Denmark, Danish artist who specialized in marine painting. His paintings not only attracted customers in Denmark but also in the courts of Saint Peters ...

(1818 in Besser, Samsø – 1879) was a Danish artist who specialized in marine painting. * Lotte Glob (born 1944 in Samsø) is a Danish ceramic artist, lives in the north of Scotland, the daughter of Peter Glob * Anne Marie Løn (born 1947), novelist * Nicolas Michaux (1984-), Belgian singer and songwriter. * Kristine Raahauge (1949–2022), Greenlandic municipal politician, activist, eskimologist and writer who was resident of and died on Samsø

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