Øresund Bridge

The Øresund/Öresund Bridge (Danish: Øresundsbroen [ˈøːɐsɔnˀsˈb̥ɔn̩], Swedish: Öresundsbron [œːrəˈsɵnːdsˈbruːn], hybrid name: Ø̈resundsbron) is a railway and motorway bridge across the Øresund strait between Sweden and Denmark. The bridge runs nearly 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island of Peberholm in the middle of the strait. The crossing is completed by the 4 km (2.5-mile) Drogden Tunnel from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager.

The Øresund Bridge is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe and connects two major metropolitan areas: Copenhagen, the Danish capital city, and the Swedish city of Malmö. It connects the road and rail networks of the Scandinavian Peninsula with those of Central and Western Europe. A data cable also makes the bridge the backbone of internet data transmission between central Europe and Sweden/Finland.

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Øresund

Øresund (Danish: Øresund, pronounced [ˈøːɐsɔnˀ]; Swedish: Öresund, pronounced [œrəˈsɵnːd]) is a strait separating Denmark from southern Sweden which is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) wide at its narrowest point between Helsingør in Denmark and Helsingborg in Sweden.

The Øresund Region has 3.8 million inhabitants on the Danish and Swedish sides.

Øresund is one of three Danish Straits that connect the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean via Kattegat, Skagerrak, and the North Sea, and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The Øresund Bridge, between the Danish capital Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö, was inaugurated on 1 July 2000 by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. The HH Ferry route, between Helsingør, Denmark and Helsingborg, Sweden, in the northern part of Øresund, is one of the world's busiest international ferry routes with more than 70 departures from each harbour per day.

Etymology

It is first attested on a Danish runestone from about 950, where it is written ura suti, i.e. Ø̄rasundi (in the dative case). The West Norse and Icelandic form is Eyrarsund. The first part of the word is øre (Old Norse eyra) "ear", and the second part is sund, i.e. strait or narrow seaway. The Øresund is so called because øre "ear" is a term for a small piece of land between two waters, and the Øresund stretches between two such "ears", from Siellands Øre to Skan-Øre. The strait is today called Øresund in Danish and Öresund in Swedish, informally Sundet (lit. "the Strait") in both languages. According to linguist Ole Lauridsen in the Danish radio program Sproghjørnet the first part "øre" comes from an antiquated term for a beach consisting of gravel and pebbles. Compare with the Danish city name Korsør, where the coast does not form an "ear". The "ear" interpretation is a later rationale to explain the name.

Denmark

Denmark (ⁱ/ˈdɛnmɑːrk/; Danish: Danmark [ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊]), officially the Kingdom of Denmark is a country in Northern Europe. The southernmost of the Nordic countries, it is southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark is part of Scandinavia, together with Sweden and Norway. It is a sovereign state that comprises Denmark and two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark proper has an area of 42,924 square kilometres (16,573 sq mi), and a population of 5,707,251 in January 2016. The country consists of a peninsula – Jutland – and an archipelago of 443 named islands, of which around 70 are inhabited. The islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate.

Sweden

Coordinates: 62°N 15°E / 62°N 15°E / 62; 15

Sweden (ⁱ/ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən; Swedish: Sverige [ˈsvæːrjə]  listen ), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish:  Konungariket Sverige ), is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund. At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of over 9.8 million. Sweden consequently has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54/sq mi), with the highest concentration in the southern half of the country. Approximately 85% of the population lives in urban areas. Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the geographical area of Fennoscandia.

Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear and constituting the sea peoples known as the Norsemen. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, beginning with the annexation of present-day Finland by Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union.