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Danish overseas colonies
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<h2 id="overview">Overview</h2> <p class="note">Further information: <a href="/facts/List_of_Danish_colonial_trading_posts_and_settlements/IF9ovzKI">List of Danish colonial trading posts and settlements</a></p> <h3>Africa</h3> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/Danish_Gold_Coast/FhKfJmeU">Danish Gold Coast</a></p> <p>Denmark-Norway maintained several trading stations and four forts along the <a href="/facts/Gold_Coast_(region)/3zwzJhwA">Gold Coast</a> in West Africa, especially around modern day <a href="/facts/Ghana/IkUw32Ya">Ghana</a>. Three trading stations were built:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> <a href="/facts/Fort_Frederiksborg/tv9gN0BQ">Fort Frederiksborg</a>, Kpompo; <a href="/facts/Osu_Castle/p7VGeK50">Fort Christiansborg</a> near <a href="/facts/Accra/wm954H5w">Accra</a> in 1661, which was purchased from Sweden; and Frederiksberg. The forts were <a href="/facts/Fort_Fredensborg/D6rIfCxx">Fort Fredensborg</a> (1734), <a href="/facts/Fort_Kongenstein/LmKSvGpb">Fort Kongenstein</a> (1783), <a href="/facts/Fort_Prinzenstein/5DKES1JP">Fort Prinzenstein</a> (1784), and <a href="/facts/Fort_Augustaborg/pMaBJTMP">Fort Augustaborg</a> (1787), several of which exist as ruins today. Of these, only one is still in existence, the <a href="/facts/Osu_Castle/p7VGeK50">Osu Castle</a>, which used to be the residence of Ghanaian presidents. </p><p>Plantations were established near Frederiksborg, but they failed. Fort Christiansborg became the base for Danish power in West Africa, and the centre for the slave trade to the Danish West Indies. In 1807, Denmark's African business partners were suppressed by the <a href="/facts/Ashanti_Empire/MSPj5ytj">Ashanti</a>, which led to the abandonment of all trading stations. Denmark sold its forts to the <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom/kuPAILt2">United Kingdom</a> in 1850. </p> <h4>List</h4> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Fort_Fredensborg/D6rIfCxx">Fort Fredensborg</a> (Ningo: 1734 – March 1850)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Osu_Castle/p7VGeK50">Fort Christiansborg</a> (<a href="/facts/Accra/wm954H5w">Accra</a>/Osu: 1658 – April 1659, 1661 – Dec 1680, February 1683 – 1693, 1694–1850)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Fort_Augustaborg/pMaBJTMP">Fort Augustaborg</a> (<a href="/facts/Teshie/yMLW6RhF">Teshie</a>: 1787 – March 1850)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Fort_Prinzenstein/5DKES1JP">Fort Prinzenstein</a> (<a href="/facts/Keta/yopJlC2L">Keta</a>: 1780 – 12 March 1850)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Fort_Kongenstein/LmKSvGpb">Fort Kongenstein</a> (<a href="/facts/Ada_Foah/fk4524QK">Ada</a>: 1784 – March 1850)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Cape_Coast_Castle/spNEQbVC">Fort Carlsborg</a> (February 1658 – 16 April 1659, 22 April 1663 – 3 May 1664)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Fort_Frederiksborg/tv9gN0BQ">Fort Frederiksborg</a> (Amanful or Amanfro: 1659 – 16 April 1685)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Fort_William%2c_Ghana/usCNdCW0">Fort William</a> (Ghana) in <a href="/facts/Anomabu/Vw2LPAsK">Anomabu</a> (1657–1659)</li> <li>Small base near Ningo from 1784 to 1850</li></ul> <h3>Asia</h3> <p class="note">Main articles: <a href="/facts/Danish_India/EnFDecgM">Danish India</a> and <a href="/facts/Danish_East_India_Company/EYEgzJ9f">Danish East India Company</a></p> <p>Denmark maintained a scattering of small colonies and trading posts throughout the Indian sub-continent from the 17th to 19th centuries, after which most were sold or ceded to Britain which had become the dominant power there.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> The most important economic aspect was <a href="/facts/Spice_trade/Al4oz2x4">spice trade</a> and access to the east Asian area, including <a href="/facts/Imperial_era_of_Chinese_history/TNqRSvQ4">Imperial China</a> situated farther to the east. </p> <h4>Tranquebar (1620–1845)</h4> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/Tharangambadi/xeb8z1hN">Tharangambadi</a></p> <p>The colony at <i>Trankebar</i> (modern day: Tharangambadi) was kept for over 200 years, with a few interruptions, until it was sold to the British in 1845. </p> <h4>Serampore (1755–1845)</h4> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/Serampore/WePFbuja">Serampore</a></p> <p>In 1755, Denmark acquired the <i>Frederiksnagore</i> (now Serampore), and later the towns of Achne and Pirapur. They are located about 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). In 1818, <a href="/facts/Serampore_College/NLCKdCQj">Serampore College</a> was established in Serampore, which still exists today. These towns were also sold to Britain in 1845. </p> <h4>Nicobar Islands (1756–1848/1868)</h4> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/Nicobar_Islands/rzKffjsI">Nicobar Islands</a></p> <p>There were also colonization attempts of the <a href="/facts/Nicobar_Islands/rzKffjsI">Nicobar Islands</a>, called <i>Frederiksøerne</i> ("Frederik Islands") or <i>Ny Danmark</i> ("New Denmark") by the Danes between 1754 and 1868. </p> <h3>Europe</h3> <h4>Iceland (1537/1814–1944)</h4> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/History_of_Iceland/a1RUsk1I">History of Iceland</a></p> <p>As with Greenland and the Faroe Islands, Norwegian claims to <a href="/facts/Iceland/E4KGYs2j">Iceland</a> were inherited by Denmark–Norway. Also like those possessions, Iceland was retained by Denmark at the Treaty of Kiel. A growing independence movement in Iceland led to Denmark granting it home rule in 1874 and expanding that home rule in 1904. In 1918, Iceland became a fully sovereign kingdom, titled the "<a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Iceland/Lr2Elt1S">Kingdom of Iceland</a>", in <a href="/facts/Personal_union/cBjL324v">personal union</a> with Denmark. </p><p>During <a href="/facts/Nazi_Germany/8kRbqRpo">Nazi Germany</a>'s <a href="/facts/Denmark_in_World_War_II/yAUv0LN3">occupation of Denmark</a> from 1940 to 1945, the <a href="/facts/Republic_of_Iceland/E4KGYs2j">Republic of Iceland</a> was declared on 17 June 1944 after the result of a <a href="/facts/Icelandic_referendum%2c_1944/sN1rQT97">referendum</a>. </p> <h4>Faroe Islands (1537/1814–present)</h4> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/History_of_the_Faroe_Islands/aQ0D2scA">History of the Faroe Islands</a></p> <p>As with Greenland, Denmark–Norway inherited the medieval Norwegian claims to the <a href="/facts/Faroe_Islands/HMJ3bfmN">Faroe Islands</a> as the successor state to Norway. The Faroes had become part of the Kingdom of Norway in 1035. After Norway was given to Sweden after the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark retained the Faroes as a condition of the Treaty of Kiel. The Faroe Islands were incorporated into Denmark in 1851 with the implementation of the Danish constitution. </p> <h3>North America</h3> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/Danish_colonization_of_the_Americas/tCjPnC1l">Danish colonization of the Americas</a></p> <h4>Danish West Indies (1666–1917)</h4> <p class="note">Main articles: <a href="/facts/Danish_West_Indies/KYbPdkYo">Danish West Indies</a> and <a href="/facts/Danish_West_India_Company/9noranGz">Danish West India Company</a></p> <p>Denmark–Norway acquired the island of <a href="/facts/Saint_Thomas%2c_U.S._Virgin_Islands/0FbUujBo">St. Thomas</a> in 1671<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> and <a href="/facts/Saint_John%2c_U.S._Virgin_Islands/PzQaKzjV">St. Jan</a> (now St. John) in 1718, and bought <a href="/facts/Saint_Croix/gSGvExXy">St. Croix</a> from <a href="/facts/France/CxIeIKM3">France</a> in 1733. All of the islands' economies were based primarily on <a href="/facts/Sugar/jb5KXRHT">sugar</a>. These islands were known as the <a href="/facts/Danish_West_Indies/KYbPdkYo">Danish West Indies</a> and were eventually sold to the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> in 1917 for 25 million dollars.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> Several Danish-American succession talks had been made since 1870 due to a rising number of riots and unrest from the poorer English-speaking population. The Zahle Government (1914–1920) held a heavily boycotted election for Danish mainland constituencies, which produced a minority for the sale of the islands. The United States hoped to use them as naval bases. Since 1917, the islands have been known as the <a href="/facts/United_States_Virgin_Islands/VwDBzBGT">United States Virgin Islands</a>. </p> <h4>Greenland (1814–present)</h4> <p class="note">Main articles: <a href="/facts/History_of_Greenland/DL2xBgnQ">History of Greenland</a> and <a href="/facts/Royal_Greenland_Trading_Department/9NtVjhVe">Royal Greenland Trading Department</a></p> <p>Greenland was settled by immigrants from <a href="/facts/Iceland/E4KGYs2j">Iceland</a> and <a href="/facts/Norway/wlDRKRTR">Norway</a> in the <a href="/facts/Viking_Age/sP3Ax2wX">Viking Age</a> after the arrival of <a href="/facts/Erik_the_Red/gDu6zd9b">Erik the Red</a> in 995 or 996. Medieval Greenland was a <a href="/facts/Bishopric/Uts2PByI">bishopric</a> with 22 churches and 2 convents under the <a href="/facts/Archdiocese_of_Nidaros/CcS6FUJC">archdiocese of Nidaros</a>. In 1261, the Greenlanders became subjects of the <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Norway_(872%25E2%2580%25931397)/cV91xNlD">Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)</a>. With the ratification of the <a href="/facts/Kalmar_Union/oSIzwng4">Kalmar Union</a> in 1397, <a href="/facts/Denmark%25E2%2580%2593Norway/1BByzm5P">Denmark–Norway</a> inherited <a href="/facts/Greenland/aagXRTB7">Greenland</a>. After the <a href="/facts/Norsemen/sXH813Vv">Norse</a> <a href="/facts/Norse_colonization_of_the_Americas/pGTr2UJc">settlement in Greenland</a> finally disappeared in the 15th century, Europeans did not settle the island again until 1721, when the <a href="/facts/Lutheran/L4pMlRcS">Lutheran</a> minister <a href="/facts/Hans_Egede/BvbC4XpQ">Hans Egede</a> arrived and established the town now known as <a href="/facts/Nuuk/jpcGkh9x">Nuuk</a>. After Norway was ceded to the king of <a href="/facts/Sweden/u3qC7lyj">Sweden</a> in 1814 following the <a href="/facts/Napoleonic_Wars/jo0MdaTD">Napoleonic Wars</a>, Denmark retained the old territorial claims as a condition of the <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_Kiel/D2En3bWz">Treaty of Kiel</a>. </p><p>The development and settlement of Greenland accelerated in 1945, instigated by the region's geostrategic importance in the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a> era, itself exemplified and manifested by the <a href="/facts/Thule_Air_Base/kdQtDsCE">U.S. Air Base of Thule</a> from 1943. Another reason and driving force was the emergence of fundamental technical abilities, such as aircraft and <a href="/facts/Icebreaker/jMGLK96X">icebreakers</a> at Greenland's disposition, giving the otherwise remote island a supply situation somewhat similar to Europe. </p><p>Following a period of increasing integration in the 19th century, Greenland was incorporated into Denmark in 1953 with the implementation of the Danish constitution. </p> <h2 id="legacy">Legacy</h2> <p><a href="/facts/Greenland/aagXRTB7">Greenland</a> and the <a href="/facts/Faroe_Islands/HMJ3bfmN">Faroe Islands</a> were the last vestiges of the colonial empire. Greenland's colonial status ceased in 1953, becoming an integral part of the <a href="/facts/Danish_Realm/SErkFD5m">Kingdom of Denmark</a>. It gained <a href="/facts/Home_rule/8oSS0uA9">home rule</a> in 1979 and further autonomy, including <a href="/facts/Self-determination/bk7dhtju">self-determination</a>, in 2009. Likewise, the Faroes were incorporated into the Kingdom in 1816, with the status of a county, and then given home rule in 1948. </p> <h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2> <ul><li>Armstrong, Douglas V., et al. "Variation in venues of slavery and freedom: interpreting the late eighteenth-century cultural landscape of St. John, Danish West Indies using an archaeological GIS." <i>International Journal of Historical Archaeology</i> 13.1 (2009): 94–111.</li> <li>Blaagaard, Bolette B. "Whose freedom? whose memories? commemorating Danish colonialism in St. Croix." <i>Social Identities</i> 17.1 (2011): 61–72.</li> <li>Christensen, Rasmus. "‘Against the Law of God, of nature and the secular world’: conceptions of sovereignty in early colonial St. Thomas, 1672-1680<i>." Scandinavian Journal of History</i> (2021): 1-17.</li> <li>Gøbel, Erik. "Danish trade to the West Indies and Guinea, 1671–1754." <i>Scandinavian Economic History Review</i> 31.1 (1983): 21-49. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03585522.1983.10407999">online</a></li> <li>Green-Pedersen, Sv E. "The scope and structure of the Danish Negro slave trade." <i>Scandinavian Economic History Review</i> 19.2 (1971): 149-197. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03585522.1971.10407697">online</a></li> <li>Green‐Pedersen, Svend E. "Colonial trade under the Danish Flag: A case study of the Danish slave trade to Cuba 1790–1807." <i>Scandinavian Journal of History</i> 5.1-4 (1980): 93-120.</li> <li>Hall, Neville A.T. "Maritime maroons: grand marronage from the Danish West Indies." in <i>Origins of the Black Atlantic</i> (Routledge, 2013) pp. 55-76. <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e76b/6e3883bcfecadd5a6c18f2756b690c04e1c8.pdf">online</a></li> <li>Hall, Neville. "Slave laws of the Danish Virgin Islands in the later eighteenth century." <i>Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences</i> 292.1 (1977): 174-186.</li> <li>Hvid, Mirjam Louise. "Indentured servitude and convict labour in the Danish-Norwegian West Indies, 1671–1755." <i>Scandinavian Journal of History</i> 41.4-5 (2016): 541-564.</li> <li>Jensen, Mads Langballe, <a href="/facts/Gloria_Agyemang/cPyNTIPD">Gloria Agyemang</a>, and Cheryl R. Lehman. "Accountabilities, invisibilities and silences in a Danish slave trading company on the Gold Coast in the early 18th century." <i>Critical Perspectives on Accounting</i> 77 (2021): 102181.</li> <li>Jensen, Lars. "Danish Colonialism Revisited, Deconstructed or Restaged." Review article of Danmark og kolonierne [Denmark and the Colonies](Copenhagen: Gad, 2017). KULT. Postkolonial Temaserie 15 (2018): 128-41. <a href="http://postkolonial.dk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/12_Lars-Jensen_Review-article-Danmark-og-kolonierne_final.pdf">online</a></li> <li>Jensen, Niklas Thode; Simonsen, Gunvor (2016). <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080%2F03468755.2016.1210880">"Introduction: The historiography of slavery in the Danish-Norwegian West Indies, c. 1950-2016"</a>. <i><a href="/facts/Scandinavian_Journal_of_History/9IbcUu0m">Scandinavian Journal of History</a></i>. 41 (4–5): 475–494. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080%2F03468755.2016.1210880">10.1080/03468755.2016.1210880</a>.</li> <li>Jordaan, Han, and Victor Wilson. "The Eighteenth-Century Danish, Dutch and Swedish Free Ports in the Northeastern Caribbean: Continuity and Change." in <i>Dutch Atlantic Connections, 1680-1800</i> (Brill, 2014) pp. 273-308. <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/32183/613427.pdf?sequence=1#page=287">online</a></li> <li>Kelsall, Philip. "The Danish monopoly trading companies and their shareholders, 1730–1774." <i>Scandinavian Economic History Review</i> 47.3 (1999): 5-25.</li> <li>Mulich, Jeppe. "Microregionalism and intercolonial relations: the case of the Danish West Indies, 1730–1830." <i>Journal of Global History</i> 8.1 (2013): 72-94. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/download/33442900/Mulich2013.pdf">online</a>[<i>dead link</i>]</li> <li>Odewale, Alicia, H. Thomas Foster, and Joshua M. Torres. "In Service to a Danish King: Comparing the Material Culture of Royal Enslaved Afro-Caribbeans and Danish Soldiers at the Christiansted National Historic Site." <i>Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage</i> 6.1 (2017): 19-54.</li> <li>Pedersen, Mikkel Venborg (2013). <i>Luksus: forbrug og kolonier i Danmark i det 18. århundrede</i>. Kbh.: Museum Tusculanum. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-87-635-4076-6.</li> <li>Poddar, Prem, and Lars Jensen, eds., <i>A historical companion to postcolonial literatures: Continental Europe and Its Empires</i> (Edinburgh UP, 2008), "Denmark and its colonies" pp 58-105. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Historical-Companion-Postcolonial-Literatures-Continental/dp/0748623949/">excerpt</a></li> <li>Richards, Helen. "Distant garden: Moravian missions and the culture of slavery in the Danish West Indies, 1732-1848." <i>Journal of Moravian History</i> (2007): 55-74. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41179825">online</a></li> <li>Røge, Pernille. "Why the Danes got there first–A trans-imperial study of the abolition of the Danish slave trade in 1792." <i>Slavery & Abolition</i> 35.4 (2014): 576-592.</li> <li>Roopnarine, Lomarsh. "Contract labor migration as an agent of revolutionary change in the Danish West Indies." <i>Labor History</i> 61.5-6 (2020): 692-705.</li> <li>Roopnarine, Lomarsh. <i>Indian Indenture in the Danish West Indies, 1863-1873</i> (Springer, 2016).</li> <li>Simonsen, Gunvor. "Sovereignty, Mastery, and Law in the Danish West Indies, 1672–1733." <i>Itinerario</i> 43.2 (2019): 283-304.</li> <li>Simonsen, Gunvor. <i>Slave Stories: Law, Representation, and Gender in the Danish West Indies.</i> (ISD LLC, 2017) <a href="https://samples.pubhub.dk/9788771844931.pdf">online</a>.</li> <li>Sircar, Kumar K. "Emigration of Indian Indentured Labour to the Danish West Indian Island of St. Croix 1863–68." <i>Scandinavian Economic History Review</i> 19.2 (1971): 133-148. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03585522.1971.10407696">online</a></li> <li>Westergaard, Waldemar. <i>The Danish West Indies under company rule (1671–1754): with a supplementary chapter, 1755-1917</i> (Macmillan, 1917) <a href="https://archive.org/details/danishwestindies008145mbp">online</a>.</li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110704123045/http://www.colonialvoyage.com/eng/colonies/denmark/index.html">List of Danish colonial possessions</a></li> <li> Danish Empire travel guide from Wikivoyage</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Prem Poddar, and Lars Jensen, eds., A historical companion to postcolonial literatures: Continental Europe and Its Empires (Edinburgh UP, 2008), "Denmark and its colonies" pp 58-105. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>* Benedikter, Thomas (19 June 2006). "The working autonomies in Europe". Society for Threatened Peoples. Archived from the original on 9 March 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2019. Denmark has established very specific territorial autonomies with its two island territories Ackrén, Maria (November 2017). "Greenland". Autonomy Arrangements in the World. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019. Faroese and Greenlandic are seen as official regional languages in the self-governing territories belonging to Denmark. "Greenland". International Cooperation and Development. European Commission. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2019. Greenland [...] is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark "Facts about the Faroe Islands". Nordic cooperation. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2015. The Faroe Islands [...] is one of three autonomous territories in the Nordic Region <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080309063149/http://www.gfbv.it/3dossier/eu-min/autonomy.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20080309063149/http://www.gfbv.it/3dossier/eu-min/autonomy.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Olson, James Stuart; Shadle, Robert, eds. (1991). Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313262579. Retrieved 4 September 2012. <a href="9780313262579" target="_blank">9780313262579</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Olson, James Stuart; Shadle, Robert, eds. (1991). Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313262579. Retrieved 4 September 2012. <a href="9780313262579" target="_blank">9780313262579</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Olson, James Stuart; Shadle, Robert, eds. (1991). Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313262579. Retrieved 4 September 2012. <a href="9780313262579" target="_blank">9780313262579</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Olson, James Stuart; Shadle, Robert, eds. (1991). Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313262579. Retrieved 4 September 2012. <a href="9780313262579" target="_blank">9780313262579</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>