- published: 05 May 2015
- views: 19043
Danish people or Danes are the nation and ethnic group that is native to Denmark, and who speak Danish.
The first mention of Danes within the Danish territory is on the Jelling Rune Stone which mentions how Harald Bluetooth converted the Danes to Christianity in the 10th century. Denmark has been continuously inhabited since this period and although much cultural and ethnic influence and immigration from all over the world has entered Denmark since then, Danes tend to see themselves as ethnic descendents of the early Danes mentioned in the sources.
Since the formulation of a Danish national identity in the 19th century the defining criteria for being Danish has been speaking the Danish language and identifying with Denmark as a homeland. Danish national identity was built on a basis of peasant culture and Lutheran theology, theologian N. F. S. Grundtvig and his popular movement played a prominent part in the process.
Today the main criterion for being considered a Dane is having Danish citizenship, although also people with a Danish ancestral or ethnic identity, living outside of Denmark such as emigrants, descendants of emigrants or members of the Danish ethnic minority in Southern Schleswig, can be considered Danes under a wider definition taking into consideration cultural self-identification.
This is a list of well known Danes.
It's a cold world, sometimes I feel all alone
It's a long road, that I'm rolling on
And I wonder, if I'm on the path I should have taken
And I'm still here, even though my heart is breakin'
Chorus: Someday I'm gonna find what I'm looking for
Someday I'll find my place in this world
Someday I'm gonna know why I'm here
When I find, what I'm looking for
It's a big old world, and sometimes I lose my way
But I keep searching, and I get closer every day
I can't look back, and I can't go back in time
I gotta move one, and leave the past behind