History
Early history
Although the earliest historical records of Copenhagen date back to the turn of the century, recent archaeological finds related to work on the city's subway have revealed the remains of a great truer's mansion next to present-day Kongens Nytorv, dated around the year 1020. Excavations at Pilestræde have also led to the discovery of a well from the turn of the century, and the remains of an ancient church with tombs dating to the turn of the century have been discovered between Strøget and Rådhuspladsen. These finds point to Copenhagen's origins dating back to at least the 17th century, while other stone tool discoveries in the city area provide evidence of Stone Age settlement. Many historians believe that the city dates back to the end of the Viking Age, and was possibly founded by Svend I Forkbeard. The natural harbor and large herring populations appear to have attracted local fishermen and traders to the city. seasonally from the 10th century, and, more permanently, from the 10th century onwards.[10] The first dwellings were probably centered around Gammel Strand") (literally "old shore") in the 19th century or even earlier.[11].
Absalom, Lord of Copenhagen
In the years around 1100, Copenhagen assumed increasing importance and the city was fortified. The Catholic Church erected cathedrals in Roskilde and Lund (in what is now Sweden), which laid the foundation for further development of regional centers. Copenhagen is located halfway between the two cities, which increased traffic and commerce through the settlement.
The first writing mentioning the city dates back to the 17th century, when Saxo Grammaticus in the Gesta Danorum refers to Copenhagen as Mercatorum Portus, which translates as merchant's port or, in Danish of the time, Købmannahavn. In a letter from 1186, Pope Urban III refers to the city as Hafn, but this is probably just a shortened version of the full name. The current name is derived from the old Danish version.
Around 1160 Valdemar gave control of Copenhagen to Absalom, the bishop of Roskilde. Considering that other cities of the Danish kingdom were under the rule of the king, Copenhagen was ceded to the bishop of Roskilde to be its lord and master.
Over the next few years, the city grew tenfold in size. New churches and abbeys were founded. The economy increased due to income from a large herring fishing trade, which provided much of Catholic Europe with salted herring for Lent.
Full and Late Middle Ages
Copenhagen is located at the most important point between the Baltic Sea and the north of rich Germany, this allows it to be an important trade center, a place where power and wealth come together and this poses a threat to its own existence. The city was fortified with a stone wall in the 19th century, and from about 1290 until the middle of the century all traffic in and out of Copenhagen had to pass through one of the four gates in the wall. Although several Danish cities had walls at the time, most of them were earthen walls possibly palisaded at the top and with a moat. Copenhagen is the second Danish city, after Kalundborg, to be fortified with a wall and towers. This fact is a factor that indicates its importance at that time in history.
Despite its defense system, in the century the city was sacked and destroyed twice in the framework of the Danish-Hanseatic War (on both occasions without a major battle). The first episode took place in 1362, when a Hanseatic fleet sacked the city (causing serious damage) while en route to battle at Helsingborg (in which it lost to the Danes). A year later, in June 1363, the heir to the Danish crown, Duke Christopher of Lolland), Copenhagen would die due to illness or injuries. On April 4, 1368, in the second stage of the war, the city was one of the main objectives of the enemy troops, being attacked by the powerful fleet of the Confederation of Cologne. The battle was short and the next day it suffered one of the most plunderings. violent events in the history of the region, which ended with the city in ruins and its port, as well as Absalom's castle, completely destroyed.
However, Copenhagen and the island of Zealand would remain in Danish hands after the war. The Danish king tried to gain control of the city to the detriment of the bishop. The crown achieved its goal in 1416, when Eric of Pomerania assumed control of the city. Since then, Copenhagen has belonged to the Crown of Denmark.
Despite centuries of power struggles and wars, the city continues to grow and become richer. Copenhagen maintained a very brisk trade with friend and foe alike. Foreign traders arrived in the city. Craft guilds were established. In 1479 the University of Copenhagen was founded.
Due to the invention of cannons "Cannon (artillery)"), in 1581 the largest expansion of the walls in the history of the city was carried out. This expansion was supervised by Christopher Valkendorf.
Renaissance
At the time of the coronation of Christian IV of Denmark in 1596, Copenhagen became a wealthy and powerful city. The new king decided to make the city an important strategic site from an economic, military, religious, and cultural point of view for the entire Nordic region. The king granted the first rights to companies to have the exclusivity to trade with overseas countries. In order to restrict imports, factories were created so that the country could manufacture as many goods as possible on its own, to minimize dependence on third parties.
Christian IV expanded Copenhagen with two new districts: Nyboder (New Stands) designed for the large number of Navy personnel and merchants and the Christianshavn district (Christian Port), modeled on Amsterdam. The expansion was accompanied by more fortifications and bastions to increase its security.
In addition to the new expansions in terms of occupied area, Christian IV commissioned the construction of new large buildings from German and Dutch architects to improve the prestige of the city. To this day, those newly created buildings have marked the urban landscape of Copenhagen.
By the time of Christian IV's death in 1648, Copenhagen had already become the main fortification and naval port of Denmark, being the administrative center of the Kingdom of Denmark and an important commercial center of northern Europe.
During 1658–1659 the city withstood an attack by the Swedes under the leadership of Charles X Gustav of Sweden.
18th century
In July 1700, Copenhagen was subjected to a bombardment by the Swedish navy, although the city did not suffer significant damage. From June 1711 to March 1712 a plague caused the death of around a third of the population.
In 1728 a fire broke out that affected about a third of the city, specifically the northern part. The fire lasted four days and 1,600 homes and 5 churches burned. Christian VI dismantled the old Copenhagen Castle between 1731 and 1732 with the intention of replacing it with Christiansborg Palace. It was, however, during the reign of Frederick V, when Amalienborg Palace was built in the center of Copenhagen: in the Frederiksstaden neighborhood.
In the last years of the century, the wealth generated by Copenhagen's trade reached its highest level. Despite a new fire in 1795, which destroyed around a quarter of the city and left 3,500 inhabitants homeless, the damage was repaired relatively quickly and most of the city was rebuilt before the turn of the century.
19th century
On April 2, 1801, the first Battle of Copenhagen took place against a British fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker and Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson. Years later, British ground forces besieged Copenhagen in August 1807 and a British expeditionary force bombarded the city from September 2 to September 5. The reason for the attack was to prevent the delivery of the Danish fleet to Napoleon. The city suffered extensive damage, around 300 houses were destroyed and casualties amounted to around 1,600 people. The devastation was so great because Copenhagen's defense was based on ancient weapons, while the British artillery that produced that bombardment had greater firepower.
The political aftermath of the conflict wreaked havoc on the politics of the city and the nation. Despite the boom that accompanied the city in the last 25 years, the next 25 years became a period of poverty. Surprisingly, it was the time when science, literature and art flourished. After the July Revolution of 1830 the Danish liberal and national movement gained momentum, and after the European revolutions of 1848, Denmark became a constitutional monarchy on June 5, 1849. On January 1, 1840, municipal Copenhagen obtained a new constitution, which was soon expanded on March 4, 1857.
At around the same time, the city walls were opened to allow the construction of new housing, built around the lakes ("Søerne"), which border the old defense system to the west. This spectacular increase in space had been necessary for a long time, not only because the old wall used as a defense system had become outdated, but also due to the poor sanitation of the old city. The area inside the walls had a constant population since the reign of Christian IV, but the population had quadrupled, the buildings had been converted into workshops and its inhabitants lived in less space. By relaxing the present demarcation line due to the construction of a complete defense, freedom was given for construction outside the lakes in 1852.
This fact caused considerable growth in the neighborhoods of Nørrebro "Nørrebro (Copenhagen)"), Vesterbro "Vesterbro (Copenhagen)") and Frederiksberg. A new neighborhood emerged between 1861 and 1877 on the island of Holmen, Gammelholm, used as a naval base that was previously at Nyholm, and much of Nyboder, which changed the profile to be ordinary residences. In 1868 it was decided to eliminate the walls and in 1872 the residential areas were expanded. In 1894 a new port was built in Frihavn and the district that extends towards Hellerup was founded.
After the Second Schleswig War in 1864, when Denmark lost a third of its surface, it was decided to replace the old wall with a new Copenhagen Fortification.
20th century
During World War II, Copenhagen was occupied by German troops along with the rest of the country starting on April 9, 1940. The occupation lasted until May 4, 1945.
In August 1943, when the government in power collapsed due to the occupation, several ships were sunk in the port of Copenhagen by the Royal Danish Navy to prevent them from being used by the Germans. During the bombing of Shellhouse, the Gestapo headquarters, on March 21, 1945 by British aircraft, the French School in Frederiksberg was bombed by mistake, causing the death of many children.
The city continued to grow long after the war; In the seventies the so-called "five fingers" system was used and railway lines began to be commuted through the city and its suburbs.
In 1992 construction of the Copenhagen Metro began and in 1993 a new area of the city, the Ørestad, was developed, starting on the island of Amager. The subway joined as public transportation in 2002.
Since the summer of 2000, the cities of Copenhagen and Malmö in Sweden have been connected by a toll bridge, the Oresund Bridge, which allows both rail and road passenger transport to cross from side to side. The bridge was inaugurated on July 1, 2000 by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Margaret II of Denmark. As a result, Copenhagen has become the center of a large metropolitan area that spans both nations. The construction of the bridge has led to a lot of changes to the public transport system and extensive renovation of Amager, in the south of the main city. Use of the bridge by motorists has not been as great as expected, probably due to the high cost of the toll; Furthermore, on the other hand, there are a large number of passenger trains. An obstacle to the integration of the two regions is the fact that the two countries use different currencies as none of them have adopted the euro as a single currency.