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Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country on the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia. Norway has a very elongated shape; the country's extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean is home to its famous fjords. The Kingdom of Norway also includes the Arctic island territories of Svalbard and Jan Mayen. The Norwegian sovereignty on Svalbard is based on the Svalbard Treaty, but this does not apply to Jan Mayen. Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean and a claim for Peter I Island in the South Pacific Ocean are also external dependencies, but these are not part of the Kingdom. Norway also claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.
Its citizens enjoy a high standard of living in a country that is generally perceived as clean and modern.
History
Archeological finds indicate that there were people in Norway about 12,000 years ago. They probably came from more southern regions, that is northern Germany, and travelled further north along the Norwegian coastline.
In the 9th century Norway consisted of a number of petty kingdoms. According to tradition, Harald Fairhair gathered the small kingdoms into one in 872 with the battle of Hafrsfjord. He became the first king of a united Norway.
The Viking age (8th to 11th centuries) was one of unification and expansion.
In 1349, the Black Death wiped out between 1/3 and 2/3 of the Norwegian population, causing a decline in both society and economics. During this decline, the Fairhair dynasty died out in 1387. Royal politics at the time resulted in several personal unions between the Nordic countries, eventually bringing the thrones of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden under the control of Queen Margrethe when the country entered into the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Sweden. Sweden declared its independence in 1523, but Norway remained under the Danish crown until 1814. During the national romanticism of the 19th century, this period has sometimes been referred to as the 400-Year Night, since all of the kingdom's royal, intellectual, and administrative power was centred in Copenhagen, Denmark. Other factors also contributed to Norway's decline in this period. With the introduction of Protestantism in 1537, Norway lost the steady stream of pilgrims to the relics of St. Olav at the Nidaros shrine, and with them, much of the contact with cultural and economic life in the rest of Europe. Additionally, Norway saw its land area decrease in the 17th century with the loss of the provinces Båhuslen, Jemtland, and Herjedalen to Sweden, as a result of the wars between Denmark-Norway and Sweden.
After Denmark-Norway was attacked by England, it entered into an alliance with Napoleon, and in 1814 found itself on the losing side in the Napoleonic Wars and in dire economic conditions. The Dano-Norwegian Oldenburg king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden. Norway took this opportunity to declare independence, adopted a constitution based on American and French models, and elected the Danish crown prince Christian Fredrik as king on May 17 1814. However, Sweden militarily forced Norway into a personal union with Sweden, establishing Charles XIII of Sweden as king or Norway (as Carl II). Under this arrangement, Norway kept its liberal constitution and independent institutions, except for the foreign service. See also Norway in 1814.
This period also saw the rise of the Norwegian romantic nationalism cultural movement, as Norwegians sought to define and express a distinct national character. The movement covered all branches of culture, including literature (Henrik Wergeland, Maurits Christopher Hansen, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Jørgen Moe, Henrik Ibsen), painting (Hans Gude, Adolph Tiedemand), music (Edvard Grieg), and even language policy, where attempts to define a native written language for Norway led to today's two official written forms for Norwegian; Bokmål and Nynorsk.
Peter Christian Hersleb Kjerschow Michelsen (March 15, 1857 – June 29, 1925), a Norwegian shipping magnate and statesman, was Prime Minister of Norway from 1905 to 1907. In 1913, Norwegian women gained suffrage.
Norway was a neutral country during World War I. Norway also attempted to claim neutrality during World War II, but was invaded by German forces on April 9, 1940 (Operation Weserübung).
In 1944, the Germans evacuated the provinces of Finnmark and northern Troms, using a scorched earth tactic to create a vast area of No-man's land in response to the Red Army attacking their positions in eastern Finnmark. The Soviets attacked eastern Finnmark to create a buffer zone after pushing the German forces out of the arctic Kola peninsula. The Russians peacefully returned the area to Norwegian control after the war. The German forces in Norway surrendered on May 8 1945.
Norway was one of the signatories of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 and was a founding member of the United Nations, providing its first secretary general – Trygve Lie. Norway has twice voted against joining the European Union (in 1972 and 1994), but is associated with the EU via the European Economic Area. However, Norway is a member of the much smaller European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
Politics
Norway is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government.
The Royal House is a branch of the princely family of Glücksburg, originally from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, although controversy has recently surfaced about the true lineage of the Norwegian monarchs. [1] As it stands, however, the functions of the King, Harald V, are mainly ceremonial, but he has influence as the symbol of national unity.
Geography
The landscape is generally rugged and mountainous, with several major glaciers occupying central mountain plateau. Its coastline of over 83,000 kilometres (51,575 mi) [1] is punctuated by steep-sloped inlets known as fjords, as well as a multitude of islands and islets. The northern part of the country is also known as the Land of the Midnight Sun because of its location north of the Arctic Circle, where for part of each summer the sun does not set, and in winter much of its land remains dark for long periods. In summertime in the southern part of Norway, the sun is only away for a few hours.
Norway is bounded by seas of the North Atlantic Ocean: the North Sea to the southwest and its large inlet the Skagerrak to the south, and the Norwegian Sea to the west.
Culture
Norway is the home of several famous playwrights and novelists, among others Baron Ludvig Holdberg, Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and more recently, Jon Fosse, and Georg Johannesen, The playwright/novelists Knut Hamsun and Sigrid Undset, have both won the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1903 and 1920 respectively. Norway is the homeland of expressionist painter Edvard Munch and the sculptor Gustav Vigeland and romanticist composer Edvard Grieg. Many Norwegians have explored the farthest corners of the world, i.e. Roald Amundsen, Fridtjof Nansen, and Thor Heyerdahl.
Composers Edvard Grieg, Ole Bull, Christian Sinding and Arne Nordheim are recognised contributors to the Music of Norway. Among the contributors to pop music are A-ha, Röyksopp, Motorpsycho and Turbonegro. Norway is known for its large contributions to music, particularly in the black metal scene. Where such bands as Dimmu Borgir, Darkthrone, Enslaved, Burzum, Satyricon, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Immortal, and Emperor have all made a name for themselves.
Norwegians celebrate their national day on May 17, the Norwegian Constitution Day.
Languages
The Norwegian language has two official written forms: bokmål and nynorsk. There are no official spoken norms.
Economy
The Norwegian economy is an example of mixed economy, featuring a combination of free market activity and government intervention. The government controls key areas, such as the vital petroleum sector. The control mechanisms over the petroleum resources is a combination of state ownership in major operators in the Norwegian fields (Statoil ca 70% in 2005, Norsk Hydro 43% in 2004) while specific taxes on oil-profits for all operators are set to 78%, finally the government controls licencing of exploration and production of fields. The country is richly endowed with natural resources: petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals. Norway has obtained one of the highest standards of living in the world, partly from petroleum production but mainly from efficent economic policies, creating a good environment for doing business. Norway has a very high employment ratio.
In 2004, oil and gas accounted for 50% of exports. Only Saudi Arabia and Russia export more oil than Norway, which is not a member of OPEC. The last 30 years, the Norwegian economy has shown various signs of the economic phenomenon called Dutch disease. In response to Dutch Disease, and to concerns about oil and gas reserve depletions, in 1995 the Norwegian state started to put away the annual surplus in a fund, now called Government Petroleum Fund. The fund is invested in developed financial markets outside Norway. The fiscal strategy is to spend the normal interest of the fund each year, set to 4 per cent. By January 2006, the Fund was at USD 200 billion, representing 70 per cent of GDP in Norway.
Norway opted to stay out of the European Union during a referendum in 1972, and again in November 1994. However, Norway, together with Iceland and Liechtenstein, participates in the EU's single market via the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement. The EEA Treaty, between the EU nations and the EFTA nations, EØS-loven [5], is constituted as superior law in Norway, which makes Norway a full member of EU's free trade market.
In 2000 the government sold one-third of the then 100% state-owned oil company Statoil. The economic growth was 0.8% in 1999, 2.7% in 2000, and 1.3% in 2001. After little growth in 2002 and 2003, the economy expanded more rapidly in 2004.
Recent research shows early evidence of massive amounts of coal beneath the oil-reserves on the continental shelf of Norway.[2]. A rough estimate has been given at 3×1012 tonnes of coal of unknown quality in these reserves. In comparison, the currently known coal reserves for the entire world is estimated at 0.9×1012 tonnes. The coal is inaccessible today, but there are realistic hopes that it can be accessed in the future.
Animal rights and anti-whaling groups have commented that given Norway's economic position it is paradoxical that this is one of a very small number of countries actively engaged in, and favouring the continuation of, commercial whaling. This is despite the argued negligible contribution that whaling makes to the economy, and despite opposition from around the world ([6]). Many supporters of whaling agree that its macroeconomic importance is negligible, but hold that the livelihood of individuals and small firms depend on it and that sustainable development depends on human harvesting of all non-endangered species ([7]), and that it is an important part of culture in costal areas. Norway's whaling today is limited to the non-endangered Minke Whale, whom are killed using explosive grenade harpoons, which also accounts for more than 90% of the catch in Norwegian waters since the 1920s.
Demographics
The size of the Norwegian population is around 4.6 million and is increasing by 0.4% per year (estimate July 2004). Ethnically most Norwegians are Nordic / North Germanic, while small minorities in the north are Sami or Finnish (see also Kven). The Sami are considered an indigenous people and traditionally live in the Northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. The largest concentration of Sami people is, however, found in Norway's capital Oslo.