Civilizations & archaeology

Danish colonial empire

from 1536 to 1953

The Danish colonial empire consisted of the overseas possessions of Denmark–Norway and later Denmark. Its Atlantic holdings included Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, while in India Denmark held Tranquebar and Serampore and in West Africa the Gold Coast forts such as Christiansborg. In the Caribbean it ruled the Danish West Indies, the islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix, where sugar plantations relied on enslaved labor; Denmark took part in the transatlantic slave trade, banned it in 1803 and abolished slavery in its colonies in 1848. Tranquebar was sold to Britain in 1845 and the Gold Coast forts in 1850, and the Danish West Indies were sold to the United States in 1917. Greenland was integrated into the Danish realm in 1953.

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