If you had dropped by Copenhagen in the eleventh century you would have found yourself looking over a quite small fishing hamlet, with some lazy cattle gazing back at you while chewing fresh green grass from the meadows around the village. Looking east you would see a host of small islets protecting the small fishing harbour from harsh weather — really not the worst place to found a city. If you would rather trust the written word than the archaeologists, the earliest accounts date from the twelfth century, when a bearded clerk (or a renowned historian if you will) called Saxo Gramaticus scribbled down a few lines about the place, Portus Mercatorum, he called it, which was really just a fancy Latin version of Købmannahavn. This has since been mangled into København in modern Danish, and even further mangled into Copenhagen in English, but all it really means is "merchant harbour. "
Copenhagen, as in the rest of Denmark, has four distinct seasons. The best time to visit is definitely the warm period from early May to late August. The current weather forecast can be checked at the Danish Meteorological Institute website
Strøget is one of the largest pedestrian malls in the world which links City Hall, Kongens Nytorv, and Nørreport station. Impeccably dressed Copenhageners breeze through high-end fashion and design stores when not zig-zagging through the hordes of tourists during the summer and Christmas seasons. Your fellow visitors can make it all feel rather touristy at times but if nothing else, it is great for people watching. If all this strange outdoor shopping takes you too far from your usual habitat, head for Magasin du Nord (on Kongens Nytorv) or Illums (on Amagertorv) for more familiar surroundings.
Copenhagen (Danish: København) is the capital of Denmark and what a million Danes call home. This "friendly old girl of a town" is big enough to be a metropolis with shopping, culture and nightlife par excellence, yet still small enough to be intimate, safe and easy to navigate. Overlooking the Øresund strait with Sweden just minutes away, it is a cultural and geographic link between mainland Europe and Scandinavia. This is where old fairy tales blend with flashy new architecture and world-class design; where warm jazz mixes with cold electronica from Copenhagen's basements. You'll feel you've seen it all in a day, but could keep on discovering more for months.
Copenhague kɔpənaɡ est la capitale et la plus grande ville du Danemark.
Son nom danois, København, déformation de Købmandshavn, le port des commerçants, rappelle sa position stratégique à l'entrée de la mer Baltique. Le nom français est, lui, dérivé de l'allemand Kopenhagen.
Copenhague est la ville du parlement national, du gouvernement et de la monarchie danoise. Le premier fort fut bâti dans la ville en 1167.
La ville de Copenhague ou, plus officiellement, la commune de Copenhague (Københavns Kommune) à proprement parler, compte habitants (janvier 2008) (voir également les articles sur la ville de Copenhague et le grand Copenhague). Néanmoins, le nom de Copenhague est généralement donné à l'ensemble du comté de Copenhague, qui regroupe d'habitants (janvier 2008).
Son maire est, depuis le, le social-démocrate Frank Jensen.
Ses habitants s'appellent les Copenhaguois(es).
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