Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Nordic country.

Denmark proper, which is the southernmost of the Scandinavian countries, consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, Funen and the North Jutlandic Island.

The islands are characterized by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate.

The southernmost of the Scandinavian nations, Denmark lies southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and is bordered to the south by Germany.

The Kingdom of Denmark also includes two autonomous territories in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark has a total area of 42,924 km2 (16,573 sq mi), land area of 42,394 km2 (16,368 sq mi), and the total area including Greenland and the Faroe Islands is 2,210,579 km2 (853,509 sq mi), and a population of 5.8 million (as of 2019). \

The unified kingdom of Denmark emerges in the eighth century as a proficient seafaring nation in the struggle for control of the Baltic Sea.

Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are ruled together under one sovereign ruler in the Kalmar Union, established in 1397 and ending with Swedish secession in 1523.

The areas of Denmark and Norway remain under the same monarch until 1814, Denmark–Norway.

Beginning in the seventeenth century, there are several devastating wars with the Swedish Empire, ending with large cessions of territory to Sweden.

After the Napoleonic Wars, Norway is ceded to Sweden, while Denmark keeps the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland.

In the nineteenth century there is a surge of nationalist movements, which are defeated in the First Schleswig War.

After the Second Schleswig War in 1864, Denmark loses the Duchy of Schleswig to Prussia.

Denmark remains neutral during the First World War; however, in 1920 the northern half of Schleswig becomes Danish again.

In April 1940, a German invasion sees brief military skirmishes while the Danish resistance movement os active from 1943 until the German surrender in May 1945.

An industrialised exporter of agricultural produce in the second half of the nineteenth century, Denmark introduces social and labor-market reforms in the early twentieth century that create the basis for the present welfare state model with a highly developed mixed economy.

The Constitution of Denmark is signed on June 5, 1849, ending the absolute monarchy, which had begun in 1660.

It establishes a constitutional monarchy organized as a parliamentary democracy.

The government and national parliament are seated in Copenhagen, the nation's capital, largest city, and main commercial centrer.

Denmark exercises hegemonic influence in the Danish Realm, devolving powers to handle internal affairs.

Home rule is established in the Faroe Islands in 1948; in Greenland home rule is established in 1979 and further autonomy in 2009.

Denmark becomes a member of the European Economic Community (now the EU) in 1973, but negotiates certain opt-outs; it retains its own currency, the krone.

It is among the founding members of NATO, the Nordic Council, the OECD, OSCE, and the United Nations; it is also part of the Schengen Area

Denmark has close ties to its Scandinavian neighbors also linguistically, with the Danish language being partially mutually intelligible with both Norwegian and Swedish.

Denmark is considered to be one of the most economically and socially developed countries in the world.

Danes enjoy a high standard of living and the country ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including education, health care, protection of civil liberties, democratic governance, LGBT equality, prosperity, and human development

The country ranks as having the world's highest social mobility, a high level of income equality, has the lowest perceived level of corruption in the world, the eleventh-most developed in the world, has one of the world's highest per capita incomes, and one of the world's highest personal income tax rates.