Danish overseas colonies

Danish overseas colonies and Dano-Norwegian colonies were the colonies that <a href="/facts/Denmark%25E2%2580%2593Norway/1BByzm5P">Denmark–Norway</a> (<a href="/facts/Denmark/KVtykzsw">Denmark</a> after 1814) possessed from 1537 until 1953. At its apex, the colonies spanned four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
The period of colonial expansion marked a rise in the status and power of <a href="/facts/Danes/rukzp11N">Danes</a> and <a href="/facts/Norwegians/K7PdhVMG">Norwegians</a> in the <a href="/facts/Kalmar_Union/oSIzwng4">Kalmar Union</a>. Danes and Norwegians during this time increasingly saw themselves as citizens of the same "State Fatherland" (Statsfædrelandet), the realm of the <a href="/facts/House_of_Oldenburg/mk3rpqAm">Oldenburg</a> monarchs.
In the 17th century, following territorial losses on the <a href="/facts/Scandinavian_Peninsula/7cv16h6P">Scandinavian Peninsula</a>, Denmark–Norway began to develop forts with trading posts in <a href="/facts/West_Africa/oV8Dk0kp">West Africa</a>, and colonies in the <a href="/facts/Caribbean/zRI9aMCh">Caribbean</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Indian_subcontinent/0XUWGXpx">Indian subcontinent</a>. <a href="/facts/Christian_IV_of_Denmark/6LjDe4RW">Christian IV</a> first initiated the policy of expanding Denmark–Norway's overseas trade, as part of the <a href="/facts/Mercantilism/96U7yI74">mercantilist</a> wave that was sweeping Europe. Denmark–Norway's first colony was established at <a href="/facts/Tharangambadi/xeb8z1hN">Tranquebar</a> (Trankebar) on India's southern coast in 1620. Admiral <a href="/facts/Ove_Gjedde/6DeaIFII">Ove Gjedde</a> led the expedition that established the colony.
After 1814, when Norway was ceded to Sweden following the <a href="/facts/Napoleonic_Wars/jo0MdaTD">Napoleonic Wars</a>, Denmark retained what remained of Norway's <a href="/facts/Greater_Norway/v2NksaTN">great medieval colonial holdings</a>.
Today, the only remaining vestiges are two originally Norwegian dependencies that are currently within the <a href="/facts/Danish_Realm/SErkFD5m">Danish Realm</a>, the <a href="/facts/Faroe_Islands/HMJ3bfmN">Faroe Islands</a> and <a href="/facts/Greenland/aagXRTB7">Greenland</a>; the Faroes were a Danish county until 1948, while Greenland's colonial status ceased in 1953. They are now autonomous territories within the Kingdom of Denmark with <a href="/facts/Home_rule/8oSS0uA9">home rule</a>, in a relationship referred to as the "<a href="/facts/Danish_Realm/SErkFD5m">Unity of the Realm</a>".

Danish overseas colonies open-in-new

Danish overseas colonies