Danish Settler-Colonial Communities in Australia and New Zealand

Authors

Julie K. Allen

Keywords

Danish settlements, Danish colonies, Danish Australians, Danish New Zealanders

Abstract

The vast majority of Danish emigrants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, around four hundred thousand people between 1850 and 1950, settled in the United States, from whom more than 1.3 million Americans claim descent. Significant numbers of Danes also went to other countries, however, including about 15,000 Danes who settled in Argentina; 3,500 Danes who immigrated to New Zealand, reaching their peak at one percent of the New Zealand population in 1878; and around 50,000 Danes who immigrated to Australia,1 a significant percentage of which later re-immigrated to Denmark; in 1988, approximately 165,000 people, or one percent of Australia’s population at that time, claimed some Danish ancestry. Although Danes never made up a significant percentage of the populations of either New Zealand or Australia, they established communities for themselves in Australasia that gave rise to a unique hybrid cultural identity.

Recommended Citation

Allen, Julie K. (2021) "Danish Settler-Colonial Communities in Australia and New Zealand," The Bridge: Vol. 44: No. 1, Article 12.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thebridge/vol44/iss1/12