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The history of Copenhagen is mostly synonymous with the history of Denmark, for its growth as a major centre for trade runs concurrent with Denmark's growth as a world power. Ever since Bishop Absalon built his 'Castle at Havn' in 1167, the city has been a lynch-pin in the country's history: Not always as the country's capital, but always as one of the most important localities in the Kingdom.
The Bishops town Situated on the coast of Øresund, Copenhagen has been the setting for more than 1000 years of life and trade. The city has always been open to external influences from foreign traders, craftsmen, and artists and has not remained untouched by wars. The city has been appropriated and ruled over by changing potentates. If one went back in time to over a thousand years ago, the site of present-day Copenhagen would be nothing but damp salt marshes and a couple of small, low-lying islets that provided shelter for a small trading centre. The main industry was the sale of herring and the occasional crossing to Scania. In the 1100s Havn (Harbour), as the town was called, assumed increasing importance and the town is reinforced with earthworks. The Catholic Church erected cathedrals in Roskilde and in Lund (in what is now Sweden), which laid the basis for further development in those regional centres, and as Havn was midway between the two cities, it was centrally located for traffic and trading. In around 1160 King Waldemar the Great gave control of Copenhagen to Absalon, Bishop of Roskilde. Whereas other cities in the Danish realm are under the governance of the king, Havn or Købmannehavn (Merchants' Harbour) as it comes to be known, is given the Bishop of Roskilde as its lord and master. In the years that follow, the town grew tenfold in size. Churches and abbeys are founded. Købmannehavn's economy blossomed due to the income from an enormous herring fishery trade, which provided large parts of Catholic Europe with salted herring for Lent. Behind the New Earthworks Copenhagen is located at the most important approach to the Baltic Sea and the rich North German trading towns of the Hanseatic League, providing Copenhagen with power and wealth, but also threatening its very existence. Time and again the town is besieged and laid waste by the Hanseatic League. At the same time the Danish king was also attempting to take Copenhagen back from the bishop. The crown succeeded in 1416, when King Erik of Pomerania took over control of the town. Thenceforth Copenhagen belonged to the Danish Crown. Despite centuries of power struggles and warring, the town grew increasingly rich. Copenhageners did a brisk trade with friend and foe alike. Foreign merchants come to the town. Craft guilds are established and the University of Copenhagen is founded. By the time of Christian IV's coronation in 1596, Copenhagen had become rich and powerful. The new king decides to make the town the economic, military, religious, and cultural centre for the whole of the Nordic region. The king establishes the first trading companies with sole rights to trade with lands overseas. In order to restrict imports, factories are set up so that the country can manufacture as many goods as possible on its own. Christian IV expanded Copenhagen by adding two new districts: Nyboder (New Booths) for the large numbers of navy personnel and the merchants' new district and Christianshavn (Christian's Harbour), which is modelled after Amsterdam. A modern fortification with earthworks and bastions was built to surround the whole of the extended town. Gradually, however, it paralleled the town limits, and for the next 200 years or so traffic entering and leaving Copenhagen had to pass through Copenhagen's four narrow town gates. Apart from the new earthworks Christian IV commissioned German and Dutch architects and craftsmen to construct magnificent edifices designed to enhance his prestige. To this very day those buildings make their mark on the cityscape of Copenhagen. By the time of Christian IV's death in 1648, Copenhagen had become Denmark's principal fortification and naval port, and the town formed a framework for the administration of the Danish kingdom and as a centre of trade in Northern Europe. During 1658-59 the city withstood a severe siege by the Swedes under Charles X. The 1700s In July of 1700 Copenhagen underwent a bombardement from a british-dutch-swedish navy yet did not suffer much damage. From June 1711 to March 1712 it was haunted by the plague which killed about 1/3 of the population. At the fire of 1728 about a third of the city (the entire northern part), 1600 houses and 5 churches burned down in the course of four days. Christian VI tore the old Copenhagen Castle down in 1731-32 to replace it with Christiansborg Palace, and during the reign of Frederick V Frederiksstad, the most distinguished district of Copenhagen, with Amalienborg Palace at its center was developed. Near the end of the 18th century the trade of Copenhagen and the wealth that followed reached its so far highest level, and the damage caused by the fire of 1795 was relatively quickly repaired. The 1800s
The 1900s During World War II Copenhagen was occupied by German troops along with the rest of the country from April 9, 1940 until May 4, 1945. In August 1943, when the government's collaboration with the occupation forces collapsed, several ships where sunk in Copenhagen Harbour by the Royal Danish Navy to prevent them being used by the Germans. The bombardment of the Shellhouse, the headquarters of the Gestapo, on March 21, 1945 by british mosquito airplanes. During this attack the French School on Frederiksberg was bombed as well by mistake resulting in the death of many children. The city has grown greatly since the war, in the seventies using the so-called five-finger-plan of commuter trainlines to surrounding towns and suburbs. In 1992 construction on the Copenhagen Metro and in 1993 development of a new city area, the Ørestad, began on the island of Amager. The metro opened for traffic in 2002. Since the summer 2000, the cities of Copenhagen and Malmö have been connected by a toll bridge/tunnel (Øresund Bridge), which allows both rail and road passengers to cross. It was inaugurated in July 2000 by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. As a result, Copenhagen has become the centre of a larger metropolitan area which spans both nations. The construction of the bridge has led to a large number of changes to the public transportation system and the extensive redevelopment of Amager, south of the main city. The bridge has not yet been as widely used by motorists as was originally hoped, likely due to the high road tolls, allegedly slowing the planned integration of the region. Train passengers, however, are plentiful and increasing in numbers. The lack of a commonly acceptable currency throughout the area is another hindrance to the integration of the region, even though a growing number of shops, restaurants etc, if not usually encouraged, accept payment with either nation's currency in the other country. | ||||||||||
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