Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, got its name from the word køben-havn, which means "merchants' harbor." It grew in size and importance because of its position on the Øresund (the Sound), the body of water between Denmark and Sweden, guarding the entrance to the Baltic.

From its humble beginnings, Copenhagen has become the largest city in Scandinavia, home to 1 1/2 million people. It's the seat of one of the oldest kingdoms in the world.

Over the centuries Copenhagen has suffered more than its share of disasters. In the 17th century the Swedes repeatedly besieged it, and in the 18th century, it endured the plague and two devastating fires. The British attacked twice during the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s. Its last major disaster occurred in 1940 when the Nazis invaded Denmark and held the city in their grip until 1945 when the British army moved in again, this time as liberators.

Copenhagen is a city with much charm, as reflected in its canals, narrow streets, and old houses. Its most famous resident was Hans Christian Andersen, whose memory still lives on. Another of Copenhagen's world-renowned inhabitants was Søren Kierkegaard, who used to take long morning strolls in the city, planning his next addition to the collection of essays that eventually earned him the title, "father of existentialism."

In the summer of 2000, the Øresund Bridge was officially opened, linking Sweden and Denmark physically for the first time. Today there's a 16km (10-mile) motor and railway link between Zealand (the eastern part of Denmark) and Skån, the southern part of Sweden. If you'd like to tie in a visit with Copenhagen with the châteaux country of Sweden, just drive across the bridge.

Copenhagen still retains some of the characteristics of a village. If you forget the suburbs, you can cover most of the central belt on foot. It's almost as if the city was designed for strolling, as reflected by its Strøget, the longest and oldest pedestrians-only street in Europe.