Svendborg municipality is a municipality (Danish

Danish language

Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...

, kommune

Municipalities of Denmark

This is a list of Municipalities of Denmark.-Region Hovedstaden:* Albertslund Municipality* Allerød Municipality* Ballerup Municipality* Bornholm Regional Municipality* Brøndby Municipality* Copenhagen Municipality* Dragør Municipality* Egedal Municipality...

) in Region of Southern Denmark on the southeast coast of the island of Funen

Funen

Funen , with a size of 2,984 km² , is the third-largest island of Denmark following Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy, and the 163rd largest island of the world. Funen is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 454,358 inhabitants . The main city is Odense, connected to the...

, as well as on the islands of Drejø

Drejø

Drejø is a Danish island south of Funen with 72 inhabitants, located in Svendborg municipality. The island covers an area of 4.26 km², and is 5 km long and 2 km wide at the widest place. A ferry plies between Svendborg, Skarø and Drejø....

, Hjortø

Hjortø

Hjortø is a Danish island south of Funen. The island covers an area of 0.9 km² and has 15 inhabitants. The island can be reached by ferry from Svendborg, maximum 12 passengers....

, Skarø

Skarø

Skarø is a Danish island south of Funen. The island covers an area of 1.97 km² and has 20 inhabitants. The island can be reached by ferry from Svendborg and Drejø....

, Thurø

Thurø

Thurø is a small Danish island in the south-east of Funen and belongs to the Svendborg municipality. Connected to Svendborg proper by a small bridge, Thurø has around 3699 inhabitants....

, and Tåsinge

Tåsinge

Tåsinge is a Danish island south of Funen, at Svendborg. The island covers an area of 70 km² and has 6,111 inhabitants.Tåsinge was once called Thorsinge or Thorsenge, which in the Danish means "Thor's Bed" or "Thor's Meadow"...

 off Funen's southeastern shores in south-central Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. The municipality covers an area of 418 km², and has a total population of 59,040 (2008). Its mayor is Curt Sørensen (2010), a member of the Social Democrats

Social Democrats (Denmark)

The Social Democrats , is a Danish political party committed to the political ideology of social democracy. It is the major coalition partner in Denmark's government since the 2011 parliamentary election, and party leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the current Prime Minister of Denmark...

 (Socialdemokraterne) political party

Politics of Denmark

The Politics of Denmark takes place in a framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic, constitutional monarchy, in which the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system...

. The main town and the site of its municipal council is the city of Svendborg

Svendborg

Svendborg is a town on the island of Funen in south-central Denmark. The town is in Svendborg municipality . Svendborg is the second-largest city on Funen and has a population of 27,009 ....

.

South of the municipality separating that part located on Funen from the other islands is Svendborg Strait (Svendborg Sund).

The 1,220-meter (4003-ft) long Svendborgsund Bridge (Svendborgsundbroen) connects the municipality at the city of Svendborg over the islands of Tåsinge and Siø

Siø

Siø is a small Danish island in the South Funen Archipelago between Tåsinge and Langeland. It is part of Langeland Municipality. With an area of 1.3 km2, as of 1 January 2010 it has a population of 18. Since 1681, a system of dykes has expanded it to include the former islands of Skovø and...

, where the 774 meter (2540 ft) long Langeland's Bridge (Langelandsbroen) continues to the city of Rudkøbing

Rudkøbing

Rudkøbing is a town on the island of Langeland in Denmark with a population of 4,697 belonging to Langeland municipality .-References:...

 on the island of Langeland. The Svendborgsund Bridge was opened in 1966. The Langeland's Bridge was opened in 1962, and is Denmark's 10th longest bridge.

Ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 service connects the municipality at the town of Svendborg to the municipality's islands of Skarø, Drejø, and Hjortø, and to the town of Ærøskøbing

Ærøskøbing

Ærøskøbing is a town in central Denmark, located in Ærø Municipality on the island of Ærø. The suffix -købing means a trade town in the languages that derive from Old Norse....

 on the island of Ærø

Ærø

Ærø is one of the Danish Baltic Sea islands, and part of Region of Southern Denmark. The western portion of the island was the municipality of Ærøskøbing; the eastern portion of the island was the municipality of Marstal...

.

On 1 January 2007 Svendborg municipality was, as the result of Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007), merged with Gudme

Gudme municipality

Until January 1, 2007 Gudme municipality was a municipality in Funen County in central Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 120 km², and had a total population of 6,407 . Its last mayor was Lars Erik Hornemann, a member of the Venstre political party...

 and Egebjerg

Egebjerg municipality

Until January 1, 2007, Egebjerg municipality was a municipality in Funen County on the south coast of the island of Funen in south-central Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 124 km², and had a total population of 8,792 . The last mayor of the municipality was Mogens Johansen...

municipalities to form an enlarged Svendborg municipality.