Although there were some early emigrations from Denmark, the first real increase in emigrants came in the late 1860's and reached its highest peaks in 1881-90 and again in 1901-10. Even so, the Danish emigration never reached the dimensions that it did in Norway and Sweden. Up to 1968 the Danish emigration reached a total of about 500,000, and of these Danes about 70% departed for the USA. In the 1800's alone a vast majority of 90% went to the USA, as most of the emigration to Canada first came after WW1 and the emigration to Australia and other overseas countries never became popular to the same degree.

United States 70.0%     Canada 13.0%     Rest of America 6.0%     Australia / NZ 3.3%     Asia 2.7%     Africa 2.4%

The destinations of Danish emigrants up to 1968.

Emigration from Denmark is often divided into three different periods; the early emigration before 1868, the middle period 1868-1914 which saw the culmination of emigration, and the period after 1914.

The early emigration before 1868

One of the earliest records of Danish emigration is about the Danish Sea Captain Jonas Bronck who in 1639 bought some land later to be called Bronck's Land - The Bronx. In 1663 about 90 emigrants left the City of Ribe to settle in the area soon after to become New Jersey. There were Danish volunteers in the American War of Independence, and in the 1780's Christian Guldager had established himself as one of the best portrait painters in Boston.

The Danish emigrants were few - in the 1820's no more than 189 emigrants left Denmark - and they quickly blended into the established settlements. It was not before the 1840's that actual Danish settlements were seen. During the 1850's about 4,000 emigrants left Denmark, and in the 1860's the total number of Danish emigrants rose to about 18,000 emigrants.

Emigration from 1868 onwards

The law meant that the Commissioner of the Copenhagen Police after 1868 systematically registered any person who emigrated from a Danish port; both those who left directly from Copenhagen and those who left "indirectly", i.e. from an English port. These registers end at 1940 and 1935 respectively.