Nørre Vorupør Sunset at coast 2011-11-18

Thy (, local dialect ) is a traditional district in northwestern

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. It is situated north of the Limfjord, facing the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

and Skagerrak, and has a population of around 44,000. The capital is Thisted. Snedsted, Hanstholm and Hurup are minor towns in the area. Since the Danish municipal reform of 1 January 2007, Thy is roughly identical with Thisted Municipality which belongs to the North Denmark Region. The southernmost part of Thy, the

Thyholm Peninsula Thyholm Peninsula is a peninsula in Denmark located in Limfjorden north of Struer. It is connected by causeway with North Jutlandic Island and the rest of Thy. To the south, the Oddesund Bridge connects it to the rest of Jutland. With an area o ...

, belongs to

Struer Municipality Struer Municipality is a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Mid Jutland Region on the Jutland Peninsula in west Denmark. The municipality includes the island of Venø, and it covers an area of . It has a total population of 21,576 (1 April 2 ...

in the

Central Denmark Region The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish muni ...

. Before the merger, Thy consisted of four municipalities: Hanstholm, Thisted, Sydthy and Thyholm. Thy forms the western part of the North Jutlandic Island and borders

Hanherred Han Herred or Hanherrederne is a traditional district in northern Jutland, Denmark. It lies between Thy in the west and Vendsyssel in the east. To the north it faces the North Sea (Skagerrak) and to the south the Limfjord. There are only two towns ...

to the northeast with

Vendsyssel Vendsyssel () is the northernmost traditional district of Denmark and of Jutland. Being divided from mainland Jutland by the Limfjord, it is technically a part of the North Jutlandic Island, but the name often used informally for the entire island. ...

even further northeast. In the Limfjord is the island of Mors, considered a twin district of Thy, and south of the fjord is Hardsyssel in western mainland Jutland. Thy is traditionally regarded part of northern and western Jutland alike. The dialect belongs to the West Jutlandic group.

Nature

Thy has a very varied landscape. In the north it is marked by flat coastal plains which were covered by sea in Neolithic times, but fell dry because of the post-glacial rebound. These are interrupted with higher-lying plains that were islands in the Neolithic sea. In the slopes that formed the coast in these times, high-lying

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

is often visible - hence the name of the Limfjord. The eastern stretch, facing the Limfjord, has quite fertile soil, is slightly hilly and dotted with small villages and farms like the landscape in most of rural Denmark. The landscape is marked by strong western winds, most trees bending eastwards. The west coast has wide beaches and high dunes with Leymus grass and sea-buckthorn. Behind the dunes, there is heath with stretches of Calluna heather, Iceland moss, Cladonia,

crowberry ''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but ther ...

bilberry Bilberries (), or sometimes European blueberries, are a primarily Eurasian species of low-growing shrubs in the genus '' Vaccinium'' (family Ericaceae), bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is ''Vaccinium myrti ...

, blueberry, cranberry and

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of floweri ...

s including the unique ''

Dactylorhiza majalis ''Dactylorhiza majalis'', the broad-leaved marsh orchid, is a terrestrial Eurasian orchid. Subspecies include: western marsh orchid (''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''occidentalis''), southern marsh orchid (''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''pra ...

subsp. calcifugiens''. This is the result of huge

sand drift Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

s in the 15th to 19th centuries which covered much formerly fertile land. The sand drifting affected the whole west coast of Jutland, and various other parts of Denmark as well like

Tisvilde Tisvilde is a small town with a population of 1,444 (1 January 2022) conifer woods. A line of lakes, believed to have been caused by the sand drifts blocking the outflow to the sea, mark the border between the western, sparsely populated sandy area and the eastern, fertile farmland. The wetlands Vejlerne in the northeast are the largest bird sanctuary in Northern Europe. Nearby is the

bird cliff Bird cliffs, or nesting cliffs, are steep cliffs with numerous small shelves which serve as nesting locations for bird colonies. Bird cliffs are found on islands in the North Atlantic and Arctic, such as the Faroe Islands, Iceland, the Svalbar ...

Bulbjerg Bulbjerg is a limestone cliff in northern Jutland, Denmark, facing Skagerrak. It is the only rock formation in Jutland, the only bird cliff on the Danish mainland, and as such the only breeding place of the black-legged kittiwake on the Danish ...

The national park

On 22 August 2008, Thy National Park officially opened, as the first of three realized national parks out of seven planned. On 10 July 2007, a police officer from Hanstholm found a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite ( adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a C ...

in the state forest of Hjardemål Klit, one of the more deserted areas in the north of Thy. For three years, the middle-aged man from Zealand had been living in the primitive forest shelters of the district and made a living from collecting empty bottles. For the same period he had been missed by his parents, who thought he was dead, but he was now re-united with them on the initiative of the police officer. Forest workers told they were aware of the man's existence, particularly that he had left behind many eggshells at the shelters and seemingly was nourished on eggs, but since he didn't do any harm they had left him alone. On 19 November 2012, a dead

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

was found in the national park area. After thorough DNA-tests it was finally confirmed that there was a 100% match with a wolfpack in the Lausitz-region in Sachsen, Germany. The wolf was four years old and it is believed that it traversed the 850 km to Thy National Park. Wolves have been exterminated in Denmark for 200 years. In the beginning of 2013 a wolf-like creature was observed in Thy and a carcass bearing marks associated with a wolf-kill was found on 18 February. On 1 March 2013, the Minister of the Environment Ida Auken, initiated on this background the formulation of a Danish action plan concerning wolves.

History

''Thy'' is originally the same word as

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

''þjóð'' ("thioth"), meaning people. The

Danish Census Book The Danish Census Book or the Danish book of land taxation ( la, Liber Census Daniæ), ( da, Kong Valdemars Jordebog) dates from the 13th century and consists of a number of separate manuscripts. The original manuscripts are now housed in the Da ...

of King

Valdemar II Valdemar (28 June 1170 – 28 March 1241), later remembered as Valdemar the Victorious (), was the King of Denmark (being Valdemar II) from 1202 until his death in 1241. Background He was the second son of King Valdemar I of Denmark and Soph ...

of 1231 mentions ''Thiuthæsysæl'', i.e. the

syssel A syssel is a historical type of country subdivision in Denmark and elsewhere in Scandinavia. The mediaeval Danish ''sysler'' may be compared to the '' fylker'' of Norway, the ''landskaps'' of Sweden and Finland, the shires of England and Scotland, ...

of Thy. Thy is by some scholars thought to be the origin of the

Teutons The Teutons ( la, Teutones, , grc, Τεύτονες) were an ancient northern European tribe mentioned by Roman authors. The Teutons are best known for their participation, together with the Cimbri and other groups, in the Cimbrian War with th ...

;

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

placed the Teutons and the

Cimbri The Cimbri (Greek Κίμβροι, ''Kímbroi''; Latin ''Cimbri'') were an ancient tribe in Europe. Ancient authors described them variously as a Celtic people (or Gaulish), Germanic people, or even Cimmerian. Several ancient sources indicate ...

at the northern end of Jutland on his ancient map.

Antiquity

In the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with ...

, probably before it got its later name, Thy exported fine

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start ...

present in the limestone. A Neolithic flint quarry has been restored at Hov east of Thisted. Thy was densely populated in the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

and has a great number of burial mounds.

Middle Ages

In the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

the area had vital trade links across the North Sea, being Christianised from England by Saint Theodgarus, a missionary originally from Thuringia and trained in England, unlike other parts of Denmark that were Christianised from the south. The former

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

and

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

of Theodgarus in Vestervig is today the largest village church of Scandinavia. In 1085 Thy was the gatehead for King Canute the Holy's plans to retake England from

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

, with 1,000 ships gathered in the Limfjord until the expedition was cancelled and a peasant uprising broke out.

World War II

In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Denmark was occupied by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. The German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

built huge fortifications along the west coast of Jutland for fear that the

allied invasion An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

would take place here. The vast bunker complexes in Hanstholm have been restored and are open to the public.

Economy

Thy is still a mainly rural area, the traditional businesses of

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

and

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, ...

being more prevalent than in many other areas of Denmark. Fishing boat Nørre Vorupør 2012-11-18 cropped

Tourism

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

is a major business in summer, the coastal villages receiving many German tourists and smaller numbers of Norwegians, Swedes, Dutch and others. Although the coastal resorts have areas with individual holiday houses, they maintain a native population as well. The only major hotel-like holiday complex is at Vigsø Bugt east of Hanstholm. Thy has become a major destination for windsurfing.

Industry

There is some small and medium scale industry, with no single company exceeding 1,000 employees. These include wooden furniture ( ''NJA'' in Nors), prefab windows (''Ideal Combi'' in Hurup) and ''Sjørring Maskinfabrik'' in Sjørring (subsupplier to Volvo and

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skån ...

). The harbour of Hanstholm with related ferries and fish processing industries employ about 2-3000 people. Most major employers are based in Thisted: ''Cimbria'' ( combine harvesters and grain dryers), ''Coloplast'' (medical plastic products), '' Oticon'' (

hearing aid A hearing aid is a device designed to improve hearing by making sound audible to a person with hearing loss. Hearing aids are classified as medical devices in most countries, and regulated by the respective regulations. Small audio amplifiers s ...

s), and ''HM Automatic/Thy El-Teknik'' (industrial electrical systems). Food industry includes ''Tican'' ( meat processing/ slaughterhouse), ''Dragsbæk Maltfabrik'' ( malt), ''Dragsbæk Margarinefabrik'' ( margarine), and ''Mejerigaarden/Polar Is'' (one of Denmark's largest

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

manufacturers), all in Thisted. ''

Thisted Bryghus Thisted Brewery (Danish: ''Thisted Bryghus'') is a regional brewery in Thisted in the north of Denmark founded in 1902. The brewery supplies the local market with pilsner beer, and has gained recognition internationally for beers like ''Porse ...

'' was the first Danish

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

to introduce ecological beer and has a growing sale of its many speciality beer types.baja-thisted.dk
(in Danish)

Education

Secondary education includes the gymnasium and ''EUC Nordvest'' of Thisted. The latter offers technical and mercantile secondary education in Thy Uddannelsescenter which consists of several higher educations. Many youths leave the area for major centres of higher education such as

Ålborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of A ...

and

Århus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

, and only a few of them return to Thy after finishing their education. The Nordic Folk Centre for Renewable Energy is internationally known for its research in

wave energy Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter (WEC). Waves are generated by win ...

and small-scale windmills for developing countries.

Infrastructure

With its position in the northwestern corner of Jutland, Thy is far from the greater traffic corridors. There is, however, some international transit traffic due to the ferry lines from Hanstholm harbour to Western Norway and the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe a ...

Roads

*National route 26, in part a 2+1 road, goes from the harbour of Hanstholm diagonally across Jutland to Viborg (route 13) and

(

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

and European route E45). *National route 11 passes through Thy from north to south on its way from Aalborg down to the German border at

Tønder Tønder (; german: Tondern ) is a town in the Region of Southern Denmark. With a population of 7,505 (as of 1 January 2022), it is the main town and the administrative seat of the Tønder Municipality. History The first mention of Tønder might ...

. *National route 29 goes from Hanstholm eastwards to the E45 motorway at Hobro. *Secondary national route 181 is part of the Green Coastal Road, a scenic route along the

from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. In Thy it offers some of the straightest road in Denmark, set in a vast dune and heath landscape along the coast.

Bridges

Oddesund Bridge Oddesund Bridge ( da, Oddesundbroen) is a road and railway bascule bridge that crosses the Oddesund strait between the peninsulas of Jutland and Thyholm in Denmark. It connects mainland Jutland with the historical region of Thy. It is on the T ...

(southwards to western Jutland, carries national route 11 and railway) * Vilsund Bridge (eastwards to the island of Mors and from there onwards to central Jutland, national route 26)

Railways

* The

Thy Line The Thy Line ( da, Thybanen) is a long standard gauge single track railway line in Denmark which runs between Struer and Thisted through the historical region of Thy. The railway opened in 1882. It is owned and maintained by Rail Net Denmar ...

( Thisted- Struer), local trains operated by Arriva as well as two daily Intercity trains to Copenhagen. * A railway from Thisted to Aalborg via Fjerritslev existed from 1904 to 1/4-1969.

Ferries

To the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

and

: * Hanstholm -

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. " Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

- Seyðisfjörður

Smyril Line Smyril Line is a Faroese shipping company, linking the Faroe Islands with Denmark and Iceland. It previously also served Norway and the United Kingdom. is the Faroese word for the merlin. History Since 1983, the company has operated a re ...

* Hanstholm -

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporati ...

Thy ferries cargo as (in Norwegian) Small internal ferries on the Limfjord: *

Agger Agger may refer to: * Agger (surname) * Agger (ancient Rome), a type of ancient Roman rampart or embankment * Agger (river), a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Agger nasi, an anatomical feature of the nose * Agger Rockshelter, in Wisconsi ...

Thyborøn Thyborøn is a fishing village in Jutland, Denmark with a population of 1,890 (1 January 2022),Limfjord, on route 181) * Neessund (to Mors) * Feggesund (strictly speaking from

to Mors)

Airports

Thisted Airport Thisted Airport ( da, Thisted Lufthavn) is a small airport servicing the Danish town of Thisted. It is owned by Thisted municipality. It is located on Danish national road 26, 8 kilometers from Hanstholm and 15 kilometers from Thisted. The airpor ...

, currently no scheduled traffic The closest airports with scheduled flights are

Aalborg Airport Aalborg Airport ( da, Aalborg Lufthavn) is a dual-use (civilian/military) airport located in Nørresundby, Aalborg Municipality, Denmark, which is northwest of Aalborg. Facilities The airport is at an elevation of above mean sea level. It ha ...

and

Karup Airport Midtjyllands Airport ( da, Midtjyllands Lufthavn) , formerly known as Karup Airport, is an airport in Denmark. The airport is situated 3 km west of the town of Karup and carries passengers primarily from nine municipalities in mid- and west ...

References

External links

Official tourist informationThyweb
local events, news and information (Danish and German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Thy (District) Traditional districts of Denmark Thisted Municipality

Nature

The national park

History

Antiquity

Middle Ages

World War II

Economy

Tourism

Industry

Education

Infrastructure

Roads

Bridges

Railways

Ferries

Airports

See also

References

External links