The island of Langeland – an introduction
A drive of about 2 hours and 40 minutes. Expected arrival on Thursday, July 6.
Well, we’ve arrived and probably played the first round before you read this little prelude story.
This island golf tour goes to Langelands Golf Club, where we expect to play 2 rounds (in good weather). Then we will continue to the island of Ærø.
The trip to Ærø goes with a boat trip of approx. 40 minutes
But first, some info about Langeland
The island is 52 km long and up to 11 km wide and has a total area of 284 km² and a total population of 12,071 in 2022.
Langeland was formed by the Great Belt glacier during the last ice age. That is, in a period from between about 110,000 to about 15,000 years ago.
On Langeland, the ice glacier deposited long, parallel rows of 10-20 meter high hills. There are about 700 of these hat-shaped hills. They are found scattered throughout the island.
See images below.
Another unusual image you see in the landscape are dolmens and tombs
Langeland is the place in the world with the most dolmens (portal tomb) per km2.
Rundshøj dolmen
Dolmen (from Old Norse dys, burial mound, stone heap) is a type of megalithic tomb (megalith, I have learned, means Great Stone Tomb) and is the term for tombs from the Neolithic period. In ancient times, the word dolmen was used to refer to all the great stone tombs of the Stone Age. Later, the concept of passage chambers came into being.
Below is the picture of Hulbjerg Passage Room, which is estimated to have been built 5000 to 7000 years ago.
They found the remains of at least 53 people – 17 of whom were children.
Hulbjerg tomb is one of the graves on Langeland that we know a lot about, because in 1960, Langelands Museum embarked on a major excavation and restoration project. Labour was provided by the county and assigned unemployed people to do the heavy work at the excavation.
During the excavation, piles of bone heaps and rich finds of objects of clay, flint, bone and amber were found in the southern and inner parts of the chamber. Examination of the bone material revealed that there were remains of at least 53 people, 17 of whom were children.
Using carbon-14 dating, it was also possible to determine that the people whose bones were placed in the tomb had not lived at the same time, i.e. that the tomb had been used over a long period of time, probably over many centuries from its construction at the end of the 4th millennium BC. Kr.
Kong Humbles gravhøj
Another well-known burial ground is King Humble’s burial mound. It is about 55 meters long and 9 meters wide and about 4000 years old. The latter has been documented by human bones found in the grave, inclusive a cow.
There are many stories about King Humble. One thing is for sure; He was not living 4000 years ago, but probably in the beginning of the Viking age. And that is about 400 years after Christ. Anyway, now to something different.
The Swedes on Langeland
Langeland shares a lot of history with Læsø.
For those who have not read that story, it is briefly that Læsø was completely cleared of trees by the Swedish victors, of the Danish-Swedish war.
The Swedish king ordered the army to cut down the trees (which there were plenty of) and transport them to Sweden.
Without trees the island became just a sandy island and without trees it lost the opportunities to produce salt – which was a very large source of income for Læsø.
Much the same started in 1658, when the Swedish king came to Langeland with 2,000 horsemen, horses, cannons, and chariots, and occupied the island.
People were tortured or killed, and buildings looted and burned. Or demolished and transported to Sweden to be used as building materials and heating.
Historically, the island’s population has always lived by agriculture and fishing, but many were poor.
This was the reason why Langeland was the island or area in Denmark that in the 1800s had the most people who emigrated from Denmark to the United States and other overseas countries to find a better quality of life.
One in four left the island
This is the strongest emigration Denmark has seen.
For the country as a whole, every 10th inhabitant emigrated. But on Langeland, one in four inhabitants went there.
The first Danish settlement in the United States was founded by Langeland immigrants.
It was in 1848 in Brown County near the town of Green Bay in the state of Wisconsin. The colony was named New Denmark. Actually very interesting. See about New Denmark of 2023
And so, I could go on. But now the last piece that have nothing to do with golf.
See the bird in the next picture.
This bird is a Rørdrum bird (Eurasian bittern or Great bittern) photographed on Langeland’s golf course, hole 12.
It is said that the Rørdrum is one of the most distinctive Danish birds. Wingspan 125-135 cm. Length 76 cm. Sized like a medium-sized heron.
Can say, that I have never even heard the name Rørdrum. But I hope to see one on the golf course.
And yes, now to Langeland’s golf course. A course the members started to build in 1998 and ready to play on in 2000.
