The Little Belt (Danish: Lillebælt, pronounced [ˈliləˌpelˀt]) is a strait between the island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark.

The Little Belt's western coastline is largely broken up by irregular inlets called fjords, and both sides feature steep sand bluffs.

The area around the Little Belt is shaped by numerous glacial moraines, the first of which was formed during the early Weichsel glaciation approximately 22-25,000 years ago.

Approximately 14-15,000 years ago, during the late Weichsel glaciation, ice arrived from the south and southeast, one part of which became the Little Belt Glacier, causing hilly terrain with deep fjords.

[8] Human populations lived around the Little Belt during the Stone Age, hunting aurochs, reindeer, and other game in the tunnel valleys and forests.

[9] Climate and geological changes brought new plants and animals to the area and made the fishery in the fjords and neighboring archipelagoes into an important food source.

Harbor porpoises winter in Danish waterways, and fishermen would wait in the narrow parts of the belt and drive them to the shallows where they would be slaughtered.

The law was overturned by a royal resolution on May 4, 1899, although shortages during World War I and II caused short-lived resurgences in porpoise hunting.

This reflects the fact that the Denmark-Germany border has shifted several times over the centuries, so that the current Danish region of Southern Jutland was once part of the Duchy of Schleswig.