First of all, Viking is not the name of a people. In Old Norse, vikingrmeans a pirate or raider. The word is typically used to represent those Scandinavian peoples living in 800AD-1050AD who plundered churches and monasteries in extensive parts of Europe, such as England, Ireland, France and Russia. As traders and navigators, they even reached North America and China. Vikings once lived in the modern countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The first recorded plundering was made by Norwegian Vikings. Danes are probably the most powerful and influential, and hence most notorious.

But from another perspective, Vikings are like one single people. They shared almost the same language, worshipped the same god, and most of all, in the eyes of people from other parts of Europe where Christianity dominated, they were all pagans.

In this period, many kingdoms were scattered in Scandinavia. Some stood out such as one led by Godfred around 800. Godfred led the Danes to battle with Charlemagne when the Frankish empire waned.

Around 900, Harald Bluetooth conquered the whole Denmark and established the Jelling Dynasty. At this time, "Denmark" as a geographical concept has already included Jutland where Harald Bluetoothinherited from his father, Gorm the Old. The most important basis for the royal power has probably been its control over the chieftains who held the real power on a local level. In this period, the whole Scandinavia was under the control of this dynasty.

In 1016, a Danish king even became king of England, Denmark and Norway and even managed to gain some control in Sweden, though never managed to establish a lasting empire.

At the end of the period, Christianity was introduced.

The Middle Ages (1050-1536AD)

This period started with countless strifes between the Crown, the nobles and the Church. The kingdom was strengthened and weakened for many rounds. The culmination came with the Kalmar Union of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The story was all about an ambitious woman, Margrete I. She was married to the then King of Norway, and her son became the King of Denmark. After her husband and her son's deaths, she became both Queen of Norway and Queen of Denmark. The Swedish nobles soon also made her the ruler of Sweden. Officially, the event happened when Eric of Pomerania(Eric VII) was made king of the union in 1397, but always remember, it is all about Margrete I.

Norway remained under Danish rule until 1814, but the alliance with Sweden was totally different. The first Swedish fight for independence was the uprising of 1434-36; after that, it was endless. Christian II's brutal attempt to pacify Swedish resistance at the Massacre of Stockholm in 1520, where more than 80 union opponents were executed, had the exactly opposite effect. Under the leadership of Gustav Vasa (Gustav I), a new Swedish uprising finally led to the dissolution of the Union, and Sweden became a new north European kingdom in keen competition with Denmark-Norway.

South Jutland, or Schleswig as it came to be called, had been lost to Holstein during the troubled years of the 14th century, and many attempts of regaining failed. In 1459, when the childless prince of Schleswig-Holstein died, the nobility there and the Danish King came to an agreement "to ensure the countries would never be divided".

Reformation and Absolutism (1536-1849AD)

1536AD Danish Lutheran Church replaced Catholic Church.
1588-1648AD: prosperous Christian IV

Between 1536-1660, Denmark was basically an aristocratic government, which was a constitutional form of government in that the king was formally elected by the estates of the realm, in practice by the nobles in the Rigsraad, which, however, always elected the king's oldest son. The king, in turn, had to sign a constitutional charter which divided the power between the Crown and the Rigsraad. This was reversed in 1661, when the Hereditary Monarchy Act was established.

Danes and Swedes were constantly at wars in this period. The decisive turning point came in 1625-29 with Christian IV's involvement in the Thirty Years' War. His catastrophic defeat broke Denmark in military terms. Gustav II Adolf's military triumphs 1630 onwards clearly showed that Sweden had become the leading power in the Baltic region. In 1659, Denmark ceded all provinces east of the Sound to Sweden with the exception of Bornholm. Dano-Swedish wars continued, but since other big European powers arised, and Sweden had again been reduced to the same level as Denmark, the lengthy Danish-Swedish rivalry was soon replaced by a new partnership. The peace of 1720 introduced a long period of peaceful coexistence between the two Nordic kingdoms.

1720-1807 Denmark enjoyed the longest period of peaceful time. Russia became her friend, but Danes somehow didn't like Germans on their way of developing national identity.

The war came in 1807 when Britain attacked Denmark, bombarded Copenhagen and sailed away with the entire Danish fleet. Denmark then turned to Napoleon, whose defeat eventually forced Denmark to cede Norway to Sweden.

1849AD: Danish constitution was signed.
 

Modern Time (1849AD-)

1866AD: Denmark lost Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia.
1914AD: Denmark remained neutral in WWI.
1939AD: Denmark opted for neutrality in WWII. Signed nonaggression pact with Germany. Still occupied by Germany later.
1972AD: Queen Margrethe became queen.
1989AD: Denmark became the first country to allow women to join front-line military units, and the first country to recognize marriages between partners of the same sex.
1996AD: Copenhagen was designated the "Cultural Capital of Europe", after Athens, Florence, Paris and Madrid.
2000AD: Danes vote against the Euro. 10-mile Oresund Bridge links the island of Zealand with Sweden. (largest combined rail/road tunnel in the world)