Danish Coastscape

Prompt

How has and does Denmark’s coastscape shaped life and identity in Denmark? 

Today the class visited the town of Gillelej to study the coastal landscape. Denmark's coastscape has shaped life and identity in Denmark in many ways. One way is through the fishing industry. Fishing has always been a significant part of Danish history, and continues to be today. Today, Denmark is the world's fifth largest exporter of fish, and the largest in all of Europe. You can recognize fishing as a large part of coastal Danish culture when seeing all of the old fishing boats in the harbor, and by tasting Denmark's famous smoked herring.  

                             

Another way the coast has shaped life and identity in Denmark by creating the summerhouse trend for Danish residents. People began to enjoy summerhouses along the northern coasts of Zealand as well as in Jutland starting in the 19th century. During the summer months, people would escape the urban life and head for the coast. When summerhouses were first beginning to be established, they were only really affordable for the wealthy city-dwellers. Now, summerhouses have become very popular amongst Danes of all different incomes. It is quite common for someone within the city to have a coastal summerhouse. Gillelej is an example of a coastal town where people go to live in their summerhouses (as shown below).

Although Denmark's coastscape has reaped many benefits, it has faced some issues in the past, such as erosion from water and sand in Gillelej. This erosion essentially caused the dunes to creep. However, the town worked to stabilize the dunes by planting grasses and trees, starting as early as the 1660s. These reforesting efforts created a boom in Denmark's export of commercial lumber. The greenspace that surrounds Gillelej looks astonishingly natural, but it is actually manmade.