This article is about the Danish island. For the Dutch province, see Zeeland; for the Pacific island country named after the province, see New Zealand.
Zealand (Danish: Sjælland) is the largest island of Denmark. It is separated from Funen by the Great Belt and from Scania in Sweden by the Øresund.
Zealand is connected to Funen by the Great Belt Bridge and to Sweden by the Øresund Bridge.
The capital of Denmark, Copenhagen is partly located on the eastern shore of Zealand and partly on Amager. Other cities on the island are Roskilde and Elsinore (Danish: Helsingør).
Cities
The name originates from the huge seal populations on the shores of Zealand, making the original name Seal-land (Sæl-land). In ancient Danish seal (sæl) and "soul" (sjæl) are very closely related words, as seals were thought to be souls of lost seamen.
