How the hell does little Denmark have control over such vast territory ?
Viking days ?
Lief Ericson
“How the hell does little Denmark have control over such vast territory ?
Viking days ?” [Truthoverpower, post 9]
Denmark, Sweden, and Norway have not been sovereign states for century after century, with static borders.
All three were together in the Union of Kalmar, from 1397 to 1523 when Sweden left. The Danes declared Norway to be a Danish province in 1536, finishing off the Union. The Norwegians were not consulted.
Sweden became a great power, controlling the northern Baltic Sea directly, and getting areas in what are now Estonia and Latvia to swear fealty. That ran from about 1650 to 1720. Swedish power was greatly reduced following wars with Russia, Saxony, Poland, Denmark, and Norway early in the 1700s. Sweden and Norway entered a union in 1814, lasting to 1905.
Denmark entered into union with Norway in 1380, Sweden joined them in the Union of Kalmar, until 1523; Denmark and Norway remained unified until 1814.
Norway was a sovereign kingdom in the late medieval period, claiming what is now Iceland, Greenland, and parts of what is now Scotland. Its trade was taken over by the Hanseatic League in the 14th century. It was unified with Denmark in 1380 when Olaf Haakonsson inherited both thrones. Denmark held most of the power in the Union of Kalmar which followed in 1397. When Sweden left it in the 1520s, Denmark and Norway remained united. Norway was ceded to Sweden in 1814, but Denmark held onto territories like Iceland and Greenland.
That’s how Greenland came under control of what is now modern Denmark.
If the relative sizes seem odd, consider how Belgium ruled over large colonies in the 19th and early 20th centuries.