Lolland in the context of "Kattegat"

Zealand (Danish: Sjælland [ˈɕeˌlænˀ]) is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size) at 7,031 km (2715 sq. mi.). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020, comprising 40% of the country's population.

Zealand is the 13th-largest island in Europe by area and the 4th most populous. It is connected to Sprogø and Funen by the Great Belt Fixed Link and to Amager by several bridges in Copenhagen. Indirectly, through the island of Amager and the Øresund Bridge, it is also linked to Scania in Sweden. In the south, the Storstrøm Bridge and the Farø Bridges connect it to Falster, and beyond that island to Lolland; the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, currently under construction, would connect Lolland to the German island of Fehmarn, which is itself connected with mainland Europe.

The Storstrøm Bridge (Danish: Storstrømsbroen, pronounced [ˈstoɐ̯stʁɶmsˌpʁoˀn̩]) is a road and railway arch bridge that crosses Storstrømmen between the islands of Falster and Masnedø in Denmark.

Together with Masnedsund Bridge it connects Falster and Zealand (Sjælland). It was the main road connection between the islands until the Farø Bridges were opened in 1985. It is still part of the railway connection between the islands of Lolland, Falster, and Zealand. It is on the rail line between Copenhagen and Hamburg, Germany.

The Fehmarn Belt fixed link (Danish: Femern Bælt-forbindelsen, German: Fehmarnbelt-Querung) or Fehmarn Belt tunnel is an under-construction immersed tunnel, which will connect the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of Fehmarn, crossing the 18-kilometre-wide (11 mi) Fehmarn Belt in the Baltic Sea. The tunnel is intended to be a major wider connection between mainland Europe and Scandinavia.

The tunnel is planned to become world's longest road and rail (combination) tunnel and will directly replace a heavily travelled ferry service of the "Bird flight line" (German: Vogelfluglinie; Danish: Fugleflugtslinjen) operated by Scandlines. The tunnel will provide a direct link from northern Germany to Lolland, with Fehmarn connected with the German mainland by the Fehmarn Sound Bridge and Lolland connected by a tunnel and bridges with the Danish island of Zealand, which includes Copenhagen, via the island of Falster. The Fehmarn Belt project will therefore provide a more direct and efficient connection between Germany and Zealand (which in turn is connected with the Swedish mainland via the Øresund Bridge), compared to the existing road-rail link that is the detoured Great Belt Bridge via Jutland and Funen. Travel time between Lolland and Fehmarn is to be reduced from 45 minutes by ferry (excluding waiting and boarding time) to 10 minutes by car and seven minutes by train. The electrified high-speed rail line will be capable of reaching 200 km/h (125 mph).

Fehmarn (German: [ˈfeːma⁠ʁn] ; Danish: Femern; from Old Wagrian Slavic "Fe More", meaning "In the Sea") is an island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Germany's northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is Germany's third-largest island, after Rügen and Usedom. Fehmarn is separated from the German peninsula of Wagria in Holstein by the Fehmarn Sound, and from the southern Danish island of Lolland by the Fehmarn Belt. It is connected to the Holsatian mainland by the Fehmarn Sound Bridge. The island belongs to the district of Ostholstein (East Holstein). The closest larger towns on the mainland are Heiligenhafen (Saints’ Harbor) and Oldenburg in Holstein (founded as Starigard). Right opposite Fehmarn, on the tip of the Wagrian Peninsula, is Großenbrode.

The Vogelfluglinie (Danish: Fugleflugtslinjen), an important transport corridor connecting the Danish capital of Copenhagen on the island of Zealand to the second-largest German city of Hamburg via Lübeck, runs across the island. There are currently two tunnels under construction in the region: the Fehmarn Belt Tunnel between Puttgarden on Fehmarn and Rødbyhavn on Lolland, and the Fehmarn Sound Tunnel between Strukkamp (Fehmarn) and Großenbrode (Wagria). The most notable settlements on Fehmarn are Burg auf Fehmarn (Low German: Borg op Fehmarn) and Puttgarden, with the island's ferry port.

Region Zealand (Danish: Region Sjælland) is an administrative region of Denmark. It is one of the five classified NUTS-2 statistical regions of Denmark. It was established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional counties ("amter"). The region incorporates the southernmost parts of the country, and encompasses an area of 14,197 km (5,481 sq mi). Zealand will merge with the Capital Region of Denmark on 1 January 2027 to create the Region of Eastern Denmark.

The region shares the island of Sjælland (Zealand) with the neighbouring Capital Region of Copenhagen. The region also includes the islands of Lolland, Falster, and Møn. It incorporates the provinces of Østsjælland and Vest-og Sydsjælland, which consists of 17 municipalities. With a population of just over 0.85 million, it is the second least populated of the all the regions in Denmark. The largest city is Roskilde.

Puttgarden is a ferry harbour and a village on the German island of Fehmarn. It lies on an important route between Germany and Denmark known as the Vogelfluglinie which crosses the 18 kilometres (11 mi) strait, the Fehmarnbelt, to Rødby on the island of Lolland.

Rødby is a town located on the island of Lolland in south Denmark. It has a population of 1,982 (1 January 2025). Until 2007, it was the seat of the former Rødby Municipality (Danish: kommune), and is now located in Lolland Municipality in Region Sjælland.

Fehmarn Belt (German pronunciation) (Danish: Femern Bælt, former spelling Femer Bælt; Low German: Femernbelt) is a strait connecting the Bay of Kiel and the Bay of Mecklenburg in the western part of the Baltic Sea between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland. Ferries operated by Scandlines connect Puttgarden and Rødby on the two islands.

The strait features an 18-kilometre-wide (11 mi) wide area with depths of 20–30 metres (66–98 ft). Currents in the strait are weak and mostly dependent on wind.

Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (Sophia; 4 September 1557 – 4 October 1631) was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1572 to 1588 as the wife of Frederick II. She was the mother of Christian IV and Anne of Denmark, and served as regent of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein from 1590 to 1594. Especially noted for her effective management of her extensive dower lands and a large credit operation, which made her one of the wealthiest landowners and financiers of her time, she was an influential political figure in Northern Europe.

The only child of Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Güstrow and Elizabeth of Denmark, Sophie married her first cousin Frederick in 1572, aged fourteen. Their union is widely described as unusually affectionate for the period. As queen, she maintained her own household and patronages and pursued interests in natural philosophy, astrology, alchemy, chemistry and iatrochemistry. She supported scholars including Anders Vedel and Tycho Brahe, whom she visited on Ven in 1586 and later. She did not, however, exercise formal political power during the reign of her husband. Following Frederick’s death in 1588, Sophie sought to lead the regency for the underage Christian IV, bringing her into conflict with the Council of the Realm. Although she did not prevail in directing the royal regency, she was recognised by the Danish nobility and Emperor Rudolf II as regent in the duchies until 1594, after which she withdrew to her dower lands, consisting of Lolland and Falster. From there she continued to intervene in affairs of state through correspondence, credit, and marriage diplomacy, arranging advantageous Protestant alliances for her daughters and for Christian IV with the houses of Stuart, Welf (Brunswick-Lüneburg), Hohenzollern (Brandenburg), Holstein-Gottorp and Wettin (Saxony), often contributing substantial funds for jewellery and dowries herself.

The Bay of Mecklenburg (German: Mecklenburger Bucht or Mecklenburgische Bucht; Danish: Mecklenburg Bugt), also known as the Mecklenburg Bay or Mecklenburg Bight, is a long narrow basin making up the southwestern finger-like arm of the Baltic Sea, between the shores of Germany to the south and the Danish islands of Lolland, Falster, and Møn to the north, the shores of Jutland to the west, and joining the largest part of the Baltic to the east.

The Bay of Mecklenburg, which includes the Bay of Wismar and the Bay of Lübeck, connects to the Bay of Kiel in the northwest. Notable ports in the bay are Lübeck, Rostock and Wismar.