Q 01/05

Copenhagen sits mainly on which Danish island?

A) Zealand

B) Funen

C) Jutland

D) Bornholm

Answer · why

A) Zealand

Zealand holds most of the city; the rest spills onto Amager, where a king settled Dutch farmers in 1521 to grow vegetables for the royal court.

Q 02/05

Copenhagen's Danish name København originally meant what?

A) King's harbour

B) Merchants' harbour

C) Cold harbour

D) Herring harbour

Answer · why

B) Merchants' harbour

Merchants' harbour, Old Norse Kaupmannahǫfn: the town grew up as a trading post during the great Øresund herring fishery of the 11th century.

Q 03/05

Which chemical element is named after Copenhagen's Latin name, honouring the city where it was discovered?

A) Holmium

B) Helium

C) Hafnium

D) Hassium

Answer · why

C) Hafnium

Hafnium, from Hafnia, was found at Niels Bohr's institute by Coster and de Hevesy, who searched zirconium ores to test the theory that element 72 was ...

Q 04/05

Which bishop built a fortress on Slotsholmen in 1167, traditionally Copenhagen's founding?

A) Ansgar

B) Asser

C) Eskil

D) Absalon

Answer · why

D) Absalon

Absalon built it, Saxo says, to fight piracy, but the Hanseatic League later captured the city and tore the castle down; its ruins survive beneath the...

Q 05/05

Copenhagen became Denmark's capital around 1416 when which king moved his seat to Copenhagen Castle?

A) Valdemar I

B) Christian I

C) Eric of Pomerania

D) Sweyn Forkbeard

Answer · why

C) Eric of Pomerania

Eric of Pomerania also introduced the Sound Dues, a toll on ships through the Øresund that lasted over 400 years, yet he was deposed in all three unio...