Copenhagen - Copenhagen municipality, History of Copenhagen, Geography, Culture, Transport, Places of note in or near Copenhagen
The original designation for the city, from which the contemporary Danish name is derived, was Kjøbmandehavn, "merchants' harbor".
Copenhagen municipality
Copenhagen is one of three Danish municipalities that are not part of any county (that is, county functions are performed by the municipality), the others being the city of Frederiksberg (an enclave within Copenhagen itself) and the island of Bornholm. On 1 January 2007, when the counties are to be replaced by fewer but larger "regions", Copenhagen will lose this special status and become an ordinary municipality within the new Region Hovedstaden (i.e.
The municipal seat of government is the Copenhagen City Hall (Rådhus). Frederiksberg is located as an enclave within the municipality, and is thus surrounded by Copenhagen.
Copenhagen municipality will not be merged with other municipalities by January 1, 2007 as the result of nationwide Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007).
History of Copenhagen
Copenhagen was founded around year 1000 by Sweyn I Forkbeard (Svend Tveskæg) and his son Canute the Great (Knud den Store). The excellent harbour encouraged Copenhagen's growth until it became an important centre of commerce (hence its name). In 1801 a British fleet under Admiral Parker fought a major battle, the Battle of Copenhagen, with the Danish navy in Copenhagen harbour. When a British expeditionary force bombarded Copenhagen in 1807, to gain control of the Danish navy, the city suffered great damage and hundreds of people were killed. The reason why the devastation was so great was that Copenhagen relied on an old defence-line rendered virtually useless by the increase in shooting range available to the British. In 1901, Copenhagen expanded further, incorporating communities with 40,000 people, and in the process making Frederiksberg an enclave within Copenhagen.
During World War II Copenhagen was occupied by German troops along with the rest of the country from 9 April 1940 until 4 May 1945. In August 1943, when the government's collaboration with the occupation forces collapsed, several ships were sunk in Copenhagen Harbour by the Royal Danish Navy to prevent them being used by the Germans.
Since the summer 2000, the cities of Copenhagen and Malmö have been connected by a toll bridge/tunnel (Øresund Bridge), which allows both rail and road passengers to cross. As a result, Copenhagen has become the centre of a larger metropolitan area which spans both nations.
Geography
Copenhagen is located on the eastern shore of the island of Zealand (Sjælland) and partly on the island of Amager. Copenhagen faces to the east the Øresund, the strait of water that separates Denmark from Sweden, and that connects the North Sea with the Baltic Sea.
1,211,000 people live in metropolitan Copenhagen (Storkøbenhavn), a statistical abstract comprising the municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg and Copenhagen County. Of these, 501,158 live in the Municipality of Copenhagen, 91,855 in the Municipality of Frederiksberg, and 618,529 in the 18 municipalities of Copenhagen County.
An even larger metropolitan region is known as the Copenhagen Region (Hovedstadsregionen), which consists of the municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, and the counties of Copenhagen, Frederiksborg and Roskilde. Thus, the Copenhagen Region comprises 6,5% of the land area of Denmark, but has 34% of Denmark's population. The population density of the Region is around 300 inhabitants per km² (777/ sq mi) outside the metropolitan area of Copenhagen, and this is also the population density of Zealand as a whole.
Copenhagen is also a part of the Øresund region, which consists of the eastern part of Zealand in Denmark and the western part of Scania in Sweden.
The city itself is divided into 15 administrative, statistical and tax districts (bydele):
| Indre By ("Copenhagen Center") Christianshavn Indre Østerbro ("Inner Østerbro") Ydre Østerbro ("Outer Østerbro") Indre Nørrebro ("Inner Nørrebro") | Ydre Nørrebro ("Outer Nørrebro") Vesterbro Kongens Enghave Valby Vanløse | Brønshøj-Husum Bispebjerg Sundbyøster Sundbyvester Vestamager |
Demography
Historic population
| 1450: est. 65,000 15.1.1769: 80,000 1.7.1787: 90,032 1.2.1801: 100,975 1.2.1840: 120,819 1.2.1850: 129,695 1.2.1860: 155,143 1.2.1870: 181,291 1.2.1880: 234,850 1.2.1890: 312,859 1.2.1901: 360,787 1.2.1901: 400,575 | 1.2.1911: 462,161 1.2.1921: 561,344 5.11.1930: 617,069 5.11.1940: 700,465 7.11.1950: 768,105 26.9.1960: 721,381 9.11.1970: 622,773 1971: 625,678 1972: 610,985 1973: 595,751 1974: 576,030 1975: 562,405 1976: 545,350 1977: 529,154 1978: 515,594 | 1979: 505,974 1980: 498,850 1981: 493,771 1982: 490,597 1983: 486,593 1984: 482,937 1985: 478,615 1986: 473,000 1987: 469,706 1988: 468,704 1989: 467,850 1990: 466,723 1991: 464,773 1992: 464,566 1993: 466,129 | 1994: 467,253 1995: 471,300 1996: 476,751 1997: 483,658 1998: 487,969 1999: 491,082 2000: 495,699 2001: 499,148 2002: 500,531 2003: 501,285 2004: 501,664 2005: 502,362 2006: 501,158 |
Culture
Danish newspapers rank Copenhagen as one of the world's best cities in which to live, despite the high cost of living.
Strøget, a pedestrian shopping street in central Copenhagen was inaugurated in 1961. Copenhagen's extensive pedestrian network has been developed over the last 40 years through the work of architect and professor Jan Gehl.
The Copenhagen Jazz Festival is a popular annual event that is the result of a significant jazz scene having existed for many years. Women should encounter little or no discrimination in Copenhagen, and sexual harassment is rare compared to other Western capital cities, as well as crime in general.
Copenhagen is a popular destination for homosexual travellers. It has an active gay community and a wide selection of nightlife options for those such as gay clubs for example the popular Pan Club Copenhagen. The more widely known gay pride festival is the annual Copenhagen Pride (formerly the Mermaid Pride Parade), a big Mardi Gras-like bash that occurs on a Saturday in early August, as well as Gay And Lesbian Film Festival Copenhagen held annually in late October.
Copenhagen is a 24-hour party city.
Sports
Copenhagen has a wide variety of sport teams. Denmark's two leading football teams, Brøndby IF and FC København, are based in Copenhagen and its suburbs. FC København plays at Parken in Østerbro, Copenhagen. Brøndby IF plays at Brøndby Stadion outside of the municipality of Copenhagen.
In recent years, Brøndby IF has become the second most successful team in Danish history, winning the Danish Championship 10 times and the Danish Cup 5 times since 1985. FC København has won the Danish Championship 5 times and the Danish Cup 3 times over the last 14 years (4 times Danish champions since 2001) - FC København was founded in 1992 and won their first Danish championship in their first season.
Notable Copenhagen teams playing at the second highest level in Danish football (the Danish 1st Division) include AB, HIK, Frem, Brønshøj, Fremad Amager and Skjold.
Copenhagen also has three ice hockey teams: Rødovre Mighty Bulls, Herlev Hornets and Nordsjælland Cobras.
Rugby is also played in the Danish capital with teams such as CSR-Nanok, Copenhagen Scrum, Exiles, Froggies and Rugbyklubben Speed.
The Danish Australian Football League, based in Copenhagen is the largest Australian rules football competition outside of the English speaking world.
Copenhagen is also home to a number of Denmark's 40-odd cricket clubs.
Copenhagen is also home to three prominent paintball teams, the Copenhagen Ducks, The Ugly Ducklings and the Copenhagen Berserks.
The second World Outgames will take place in Copenhagen in 2009, after Berlin refused to stage them due to the continuing rivalry between the two gay sporting organisations.
Cuisine
Copenhagen offers a great variety of fine restaurants and it is possible to find modest eateries with open sandwiches (called "smørrebrød"), which is the traditional and most known dish.
Also, Copenhagen is known for the hotdog stands found throughout the city.
Transport
The public transportation system of Copenhagen consists of commuter trains (called "S-Trains" (S-tog)), buses, and a metro. The S-trains form the basis of the transportation network, stretching to most areas of metropolitan Copenhagen, with their main hub at Copenhagen Central Station (København H).
The entire system is operated by the Greater Copenhagen Authority (Hovedstadens Udviklingsråd), covering the three counties and two municipalities of Hovedstadsregionen (Copenhagen Region) – 50 municipalities in total. Copenhagen is known as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world , and is a center of bicycle culture.
Places of note in or near Copenhagen
Amalienborg Palace Assistens Cemetery (Assistens Kirkegård) Arken Museum of Modern Art Børsen The former Stock Exchange The Copenhagen Opera House Bakken Christiania Christiansborg Copenhagen Zoo Danish National Gallery The Deer Park Frederiksborg Palace in Hillerød Gefion fountain Kastellet Kongens Have Kronborg Castle — Hamlet's castle in Elsinore (Helsingør) The Little Mermaid La Fontaine Louisiana Museum of Modern Art National Museum of Denmark Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Nyhavn Rosenborg Castle Roskilde Cathedral Rundetårn Strøget Tivoli Gardens University of CopenhagenNotable natives
| Niels Bohr Physicist, Nobel laureate Aage Bohr Physicist, Nobel laureate Georg Brandes Critic Karen Blixen Writer, also known as Isak Dinesen August Bournonville Ballet choreographer Helena Christensen Model Tove Ditlevsen Writer Arne Jacobsen Designer | J. |
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