Copenhagen is the capital, the other chief cities being Odense, Aarhuus, Aalborg, Randers and Horsens. For administrative purposes Denmark is divided into 18 provinces or districts, besides the capital, nine of these making up Jutland and the other nine comprising the island possessions. On the south Denmark is bounded by Germany and the Baltic, on the west it is washed by the North Sea; while to the north lies Norway, separated by the Skagerrack, and on the east lies Sweden, separated by the Cattegat and the Sound.
The line of seaboard is irregular and broken, and the low, flat nature of the country necessitates the construction of dykes, in many places, in order to prevent the ocean from making inroads. There are few rivers, and these are small and not of value commercially. Timber is not abundant, and minerals are scarce and of little value. The climate is generally moist and cold, fogs are frequent and the winters generally severe. Cereals, potatoes, wool and dairy products are the principal products. Cattle raising is carried on extensively, much of the beef being exported.
The Danes, physically, are sturdy, and represent the truest physical characteristics of Scandinavian types. The people are brave, sober and industrious, and the sailors from this country are among the leading navigators of the world. The government is a constitutional monarchy, with the executive power vested in a king and a ministry, who are held responsible to the Rigsdag, which is the parliament.
LANDSTHING AND FOLKSTHING.
This parliament consists of a Senate, or Landsthing, and a lower house, or Folksthing. The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the State religion, but all other persuasions are fully and freely tolerated. Education is compulsory, and is largely disseminated. The army consists of 60,000 men, while the navy is quite small, having a personnel of about 4000 officers and men.
The authentic history dates from 1385, the year of the accession of Margaret, the "Semiramis of the North," and wearer of the triple Scandinavian crowns. The latest monarch, Frederick VIII, came to the throne in 1906.
Holland, the most picturesque of the neutral countries, aside from Switzerland with its wonderful scenery, is credited with having profited very largely by the war. It rests along the North Sea and adjoins the German Empire on the east and borders Belgium on the South. It contains about 11 provinces, with a total area of 12,582 square miles and a population of about 6,000,000.
Always one thinks of windmills, dykes, fat cattle, butter, eggs, ducks and green farms when Holland is mentioned, and it is in many respects one of the most highly developed commercial countries in the world. The country manufactures many articles of world-wide distribution, including chocolate, linens, fine damasks, pottery, chemical and pharmaceutical products, and Amsterdam is a center of diamond-cutting.
It has a large mercantile marine and was at one time a tremendous maritime power, doing an immense trading business in many waters. It still has rich and extensive colonies, including the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, comprising the Sunda Islands, except a portion of Borneo and Eastern Timor, and New Guinea. Java and Madura are two of the richest of the group and have a population of more than 30,000,000. There are also possessions in the West Indies and in South America.