Danmarks Handel og Industri

chants from Sleswig found their way to Wenden, Sweden and Garderike (Russia), and, indeed, according to the accounts of an old chronicler »even to Greece«. Tradition also relates of old fairs, which in ancient times were the meeting places for merchants from far and near. Later the Danish fishery, especially the herring fishery in the Sound, attracted for man\ cen- turies thousands of participants from the whole of Scandinavia. In their wake came merchants from all quarters, and in those times »The Scanian Fair« was renowned over the whole of Europe, much as the Leipziger Fail is wellknown nowadays. An idea of the significance of these fisheries may be formed when we add that about the year 1500 /,515 boats with a new of about 37,500 men were gathered at Falsterbo for a single season. But in other respects Danish shipping and commerce had many diffi- culties to overcome; more especially the northern Germans towns were dangerous competitors, and their influence became particularly depressing when in 1241 under the leadership of Hamburg and Lübeck they had formed the powerful Hanseatic League. And matters did not improve when Copen- hagen from being a modest little fishing hamlet had developed into a com- paratively important commercial town, and in 1422 had become the capital of the country. On the contrary, circumstances have continually been the same through varying times, and up to our days Hamburg has been Copen- hagen’s keenest competitor. In this connection it may be remembered, that Denmark from about 1425 and for more than 400 years, by virtue of her recognised sovereignty over the Sound, exacted from all ships passing the Sound, the so-called Øresundstold (»Sound Dues«) which were not abolished until 1857, in consideration of a compensation of 70 Million Kroner once and for all. The little town of Helsingør (Elsinore), at the entrance to the Sound, which, assisted by the cannons in the historical Kronborg Castle, had the task of watching over this rich source of revenue, thereby came to play a compara- tively important part as a commercial town. But most of the Danish Kings tried to support and promote Danish shipping and commerce to the best of their abilities. It is not, however, accidental, that the heart of the Danish nation specially adhere to Christian IV., the old sailor and merchant King, who was not only an able seaman but also the architect of his own ships. He sent daring explorers northward to Greenland and Hudson Bay, he sent a Danish squadron to India exactly