{{Short description|Three channels in Denmark connecting the Baltic Sea to the North Sea}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}{{Use British English|date=January 2025}} {{Distinguish|Denmark Strait|Danish Strait}} thumb|upright=1.8|Belts and sounds in Denmark and southwestern Baltic Sea The '''Danish Straits''' connect the Baltic Sea to the North Sea through the Kattegat and Skagerrak. Historically, the Danish Straits were internal waterways of Denmark; however, following territorial losses, Øresund and Fehmarn Belt are now shared with Sweden and Germany, while the Great Belt and the Little Belt have remained Danish territorial waters. The Copenhagen Convention of 1857 made all the Danish Straits open to commercial shipping.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Law of the Sea Institute |title=The Law of the Sea in the 1980s |publisher=Law of the Sea Institute |year=1983 |location=University of Virginia |pages=600}}</ref> The straits have generally been regarded as an international waterway.
==Toponymy and geography== Five straits are named 'belt' ({{langx|da|bælt}}), the only ones in the world.{{clarificationneeded|date=August 2023}} Several other straits are named 'sound' (Danish, Swedish and German: {{lang|da|sund}}). Where an island is situated between a "belt" and a "sound", typically the broader strait is called "belt" and the narrower one is the "sound":
* Als: ** separated from the continent by {{lang|da|Alssund}} ** separated from Fyn by the southern part of the ''Little Belt'', an area referred to in German (but not Danish) as {{lang|de|Alsenbelt}} * Fehmarn ** separated from the continent by {{lang|da|Fehmarnsund}}, also {{lang|da|Femersund}} ** separated from Lolland by {{lang|de|Fehmarnbelt}} (German) / {{lang|nds|Femerbelt}} (Low German) / {{lang|da|Femernbælt}} (Danish; former spelling: {{lang|da|Femer Bælt}})[[Image:oresund from helsingborg.jpg|thumb|The {{lang|da|Øresund}}, seen from Helsingborg]] * Langeland: ** separated from Tåsinge Island by {{lang|da|Siø Sund}} (Tåsinge is separated from Fyn by {{lang|da|Svendborg Sund}}) ** separated from Lolland by {{lang|da|Langelandsbælt}}, the southern part of the ''Great Belt'' * Lolland: ** separated from Falster by {{lang|da|Guldborgsund}} (Falster is separated from Zealand by {{lang|da|Storstrømmen}} Strait and by Møn by Grønsund) ** separated from Langeland by {{lang|da|Langelandsbælt}} ** separated from Fehmarn by {{lang|da|Femernbælt}}, which is the common continuation of Great Belt–{{lang|da|Langelandsbælt}} and Little Belt ** separated from Zealand by Smålandsfarvandet * Zealand ({{langx|da|Sjælland}}) ** separated from the Scandinavian peninsula by {{lang|da|Øresund}} (Danish) / {{lang|sv|Öresund}} (Swedish) ** separated from Fyn by the Great Belt ** separated from Lolland, Falster and Møn (as well as from smaller islands Bogø and Farø) by Smålandsfarvandet , Storstrømmen Ulvsund and Bøgestrøm.
==Crossing the straits== During the 20th and 21st centuries the surrounding areas grew in population and cross-border trade developed, particularly as part of the European single market. The European Union Scandinavian–Mediterranean Corridor runs north-south through the Danish straits.
thumb|One of the first fixed links - the Little Belt Bridge opened in 1935
Ferries crossed many of the straits but some of these have been replaced with fixed links to reduce journey times. Most significantly, since 1999 the cities of Hamburg and Copenhagen have been linked without the use of ferries. The fixed links include: *1930 – King Christian X's Bridge in Sønderborg *1935 – "Old" Little Belt Bridge *1937 – Storstrøm Bridge *1960 – Siøsund Bridge *1970 – "New" Little Belt Bridge (1970) *1981 – Alssund Bridge *1998 – Great Belt Bridge *1999 – Øresund Bridge *2032 – expected completion of Fehmarn Belt fixed link<ref>https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/femern-baelt-forbindelsen-bliver-foerst-brugbar-bilister-i-2032</ref>
==See also== * Kiel Canal * Göta Canal * Eider Canal * List of islands of Denmark * March across the Belts
== References == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140427005959/http://download.kortforsyningen.dk/content/danmark-1500000 Denmark 1:500,000 – official map for download] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140427010830/http://www.nob-ordbok.uio.no/perl/ordbok.cgi?OPP=+sund&begge=+&ordbok=begge Norwegian dictionary: ''sund''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140426234741/http://www.nob-ordbok.uio.no/perl/ordbok.cgi?OPP=+sundre&begge=+&ordbok=begge Norwegian dictionary: ''sundre''] {{Reflist}}
{{Denmark topics}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Danish Straits}} Category:Straits of Denmark Category:Baltic Sea Category:Kattegat Category:Bodies of water of the North Sea Category:International straits Category:Straits of Sweden Category:Straits of Germany Category:Straits of the Atlantic Ocean