The main industries on the island today include fishing, arts and crafts like

glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming.

Tourism is important during the summer.

The topography of the island consists of dramatic rock formations

in the north, sloping down towards “pine and deciduous forests”

(greatly damaged by storms in the 1950s) and farmland in the

middle and sandy beaches in the south.

It also refers to Bornholm Regional Municipality, the municipality

(Danish: kommune) which covers the entire island.

Bornholm was one of the three last Danish municipalities not belonging

to a county— the others being Copenhagen and Frederiksberg.

On 1 January 2007, the municipality lost its short-lived (2003 until 2006)

county privileges and became part of Region Hovedstaden

(i.e. the Copenhagen Capital Region).

The small islands Ertholmene are located 18 km (11 mi) to

the northeast of Bornholm.

They do not belong to either a municipality or a region but are

administered by the Ministry of Defence.

Strategically located in the Baltic Sea, Bornholm has been a

bone of contention usually ruled by Denmark, but also by Lübeck and

Sweden.

The castle ruin Hammershus, on the northwestern tip of the island,

is the largest medieval fortress in northern Europe, testament to the

importance of its location.

Language

Many inhabitants speak bornholmsk (Bornholmian), which officially is

a dialect of Danish. However, among many Bornholmians there is also a

strong public sentiment towards having it officially accepted as language,

backed by it recently being included among the languages of Skåneland by

UNESCO on its Red Book of Endangered Languages.

Bornholmsk retains three grammatical genders, like Icelandic and most

dialects of Norwegian, but unlike standard Danish. Its phonology includes

archaisms (unstressed [a] and internal {{[d̥, g̊]}}, where other dialects

have [ə] and [ð̞, ʊ / ɪ]) and innovations ([tɕ, dʝ] for [kʰ, ɡ̊] before and after front-tongue vowels).

This renders the dialect difficult to understand for some Danish-speakers.

However, Swedish-speakers often consider Bornholmian to be easier to

understand than standard Danish. The intonation resembles the Scanian

dialects spoken in the nearby Scania, the southernmost province of Sweden.

History

In Old Norse the island was known as Borgundarholm, and in ancient

Danish especially the island's name was Borghand or Borghund; these

names were related to Old Norse borg "height" and bjarg/berg "mountain,

rock", as it is an island that rises high from the sea.

Other names known for the island include Burgendaland (9th century),

Hulmo / Holmus (Adam of Bremen), Burgundehulm (1145), and Borghandæholm (14th century).

Alfred the Great uses the form Burgenda land. Some scholars believe

that the Burgundians are named after Bornholm; the Burgundians were

a Germanic tribe which moved west when the western Roman Empire

collapsed, and occupied and named Burgundy in France.

Bornholm formed part of the historical Lands of Denmark when the nation

united out of a series of petty chiefdoms.

It was originally administratively part of the province of Scania and was administered by the Scanian Law after this was codified in the 13th century.

Control over the island evolved into a long-raging dispute between the See

of Lund and the Danish crown culminating in several battles.

The first fortress on the island was Gamleborg which was replaced by

Lilleborg, built by the king in 1150. In 1149, the king accepted the transfer

of three of the island's four herreder to the archbishop. In 1250, the archbishop constructed his own fortress, Hammershus.

A campaign launched from it in 1259 conquered the remaining part of

the island including Lilleborg. The island's status remained a matter of

dispute for an additional 200 years.

Bornholm was pawned to Lübeck for 50 years starting 1525. Its first militia, Bornholms Milits was formed in 1624.

Swedish forces conquered the island in 1645, but returned the island to

Denmark in the following peace settlement. After the war in 1658, Denmark

ceded the island to Sweden under the Treaty of Roskilde along with the

rest of the Scanian provinces and Trøndelag and it was occupied by

Swedish forces.

A revolt broke out the same year, culminating in Villum Clausen's shooting

of the Swedish commander Johan Printzensköld on 8 December 1658.

Following the revolt, a deputation of islanders presented the island as a gift

to King Frederick III on the condition that the island would never be ceded

again. This status was confirmed in the treaty of Copenhagen in 1660.

Swedes, notably from Småland and Skåne, immigrated to the island during

the 19th century, seeking work and better conditions. Most of the migrants

did not remain on the island.

Bornholm, as a part of Denmark, was captured by Germany relatively

early in the Second World War, and served as a lookout post and listening

station during the war, as it was a part of the eastern front.

The island's perfect central position in the Baltic Sea meant that it was an

important "natural fortress" between Germany and Sweden, effectively keeping submarines and destroyers away from Nazi occupied waters.

Several concrete coastal installations were built during the war, and several

coastal batteries had tremendous range. However, none of them were ever

used and only a single test shot was fired during the occupation.

These remnants of Nazi rule have since then fallen into disrepair and are

mostly regarded today as historical curiosities. Many tourists visit the ruins

each year, however, providing supplemental income to the tourist industry.

On 22 August 1943 a V-1 flying bomb (numbered V83, probably launched

from a Heinkel He 111) crashed on Bornholm during a test - the warhead

was a dummy made of concrete.

This was photographed or sketched by the Danish Naval Officer-in-Charge

on Bornholm, Lieutenant Commander Hasager Christiansen.

This was the first sign British Intelligence saw of Germany's aspirations

to develop flying bombs and rockets - which were to become known as

V1 and V2.

Bornholm was heavily bombarded by Soviet forces in May 1945.

Gerhard von Kamptz, the German superior officer in charge of the island

garrison refused to surrender to Soviets, as his orders were to surrender to the Western Allies.

The Germans sent several telegrams to Copenhagen requesting that at

least one British soldier should be transferred to Bornholm, so that the

Germans could surrender to the western allied forces instead of the Russians.

When von Kamptz failed to provide a written capitulation as demanded

by the Soviet commanders, Soviet aircraft relentlessly bombed and destroyed

more than 800 civilian houses in Rønne and Nexø and seriously damaged

roughly 3000 more during 7-8 May 1945.

During the Russian bombing of the two major cities on 7 May and again

8 May, the Danish radio was not allowed to broadcast the news because

 as it was thought it would spoil the liberation festivities in Denmark.

On 9 May Soviet troops landed on the island and after a short fight, the

German garrison (about 12,000 strong) surrendered. Soviet forces left the

island on 5 April 1946.

These events could be considered to be part of the origins of the Cold War

as much as being part of WWII. More recently NATOradar installations

have been placed on the island.

After the evacuation of its forces from Bornholm, the Soviets took the

position that "The stationing 'foreign troops' on Bornholm would be considered

a declaration of war against the Soviet Union, and that Denmark should

keep troops on it at all times to protect it from such foreign aggression".

This policy remained in force also after NATO was formed and Denmark

joined it - i.e. the Soviets accepted the stationing of Danish troops, which

were perforce part of NATO but were far from that alliance's most powerful

element, but strongly objected to the presence of other NATO troops on the

island - particularly, of US troops.

This caused diplomatic problems at least twice: once when an American

helicopter landed outside the city of Svaneke due to engine problems in a

NATO exercise over the Baltic Sea, and once (sometime between 1999 and 2003) when the Danish government suggested shutting down Almegårdens Kaserne,

the local military facility, since "the island could quickly be protected by

troops from surrounding areas and has no strategic importance after the

fall of the Iron Curtain".

                                                                  Contact: king@kingofbornholm.dk