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Long ago, the people of Jutland , the Jutes, were a separate tribe from the more warlike Danes who occupied the eastern islands. In pagan times, the peninsula had its own rulers and much power, and it was here that the legendary ninth-century monarch Harald Bluetooth began the process that turned the two tribes into a unified Christian nation. By the dawn of the Viking era, however, the battling Danes had spread west, absorbing the Jutes, and real power gradually shifted towards Zealand. This is where it has largely stayed, making unhurried lifestyles and rural calm the overriding impression of Jutland for most visitors; indeed, its distance from Copenhagen makes it perhaps the most distinct and interesting area in the country. In the south, Schleswig is a territory long battled over by Denmark and Germany, though beyond the immaculately restored town of Ribe it holds little of abiding interest. Esbjerg , further north, is dull too, but as a major ferry port you might well pass through. The old military stronghold of Fredericia is worth a brief stop before reaching Arhus halfway up the eastern coast, Jutland's main urban centre and Denmark's second city. Further inland, the landscape is the country's most dramatic - stark heather-clad moors, dense forests and swooping gorges. Ancient Viborg is the best base for this, from where you can head north to vibrant Aalborg , on the southern bank of the Limfjord, which cuts deep into Jutland this far north - across which the landscape reaches a crescendo of storm-lashed savagery around Skagen , on the very tip of the peninsula. Frederikshavn , on the way, is the port for boats to Norway and Sweden.
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