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<\/a>Norway has a total area of 385,207 square kilometers (148,729 sq mi) and a population of 5,385,300 as of November 2020. The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden (1,619 km or 1,006 mi long). Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, and the Skagerrak strait to the south, with Denmark on the other side. Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. The maritime influence also dominates Norway’s climate with mild lowland temperatures on the sea coasts, whereas the interior, while colder, is also a lot milder than areas elsewhere in the world on such northerly latitudes. Even during polar night in the north, temperatures above freezing are commonplace on the coastline. The maritime influence brings high rainfall and snowfall to some areas of the country.<\/p>\n Harald V<\/a> of the House of Gl\u00fccksburg<\/a> is the current King of Norway. Erna Solberg<\/a> has been prime minister since 2013 when she replaced Jens Stoltenberg<\/a>. As a unitary sovereign state with a constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the parliament, the cabinet and the supreme court, as determined by the 1814 constitution. The kingdom was established in 872 as a merger of many petty kingdoms<\/a> and has existed continuously for 1,149 years. From 1537 to 1814, Norway was a part of the Kingdom of Denmark\u2013Norway, and from 1814 to 1905, it was in a personal union with the Kingdom of Sweden. Norway was neutral during the First World War<\/a> and remained so until April 1940 when the country was invaded<\/a> and occupied<\/a> by Germany until the end of World War II.<\/a><\/p>\n Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels: counties and municipalities. The S\u00e1mi people<\/a> have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the S\u00e1mi Parliament<\/a> and the Finnmark Act<\/a>. Norway maintains close ties with both the European Union<\/a> and the United States. Norway is also a founding member of the United Nations<\/a>, NATO<\/a>, the European Free Trade Association<\/a>, the Council of Europe<\/a>, the Antarctic Treaty<\/a>, and the Nordic Council<\/a>; a member of the European Economic Area<\/a>, the WTO<\/a>, and the OECD<\/a>; and a part of the Schengen Area.<\/a> In addition, the Norwegian languages share mutual intelligibility with Danish and Swedish.<\/p>\n Norway maintains the Nordic welfare model<\/a> with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system, and its values are rooted in egalitarian ideals. The Norwegian state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, having extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, and fresh water. The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). On a per-capita basis, Norway is the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East.<\/p>\n The country has the fourth-highest per-capita income in the world on the World Bank<\/a> and IMF<\/a> lists. On the CIA’s GDP (PPP) per capita list (2015 estimate) which includes autonomous territories and regions, Norway ranks as number eleven. It has the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund<\/a>, with a value of US$1 trillion. Norway has had the highest Human Development Index<\/a> ranking in the world since 2009, a position also held previously between 2001 and 2006; it also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking per 2018. Norway ranked first on the World Happiness Report<\/a> for 2017 and currently ranks first on the OECD Better Life Index<\/a>, the Index of Public Integrity, and the Democracy Index<\/a>. Norway also has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.<\/p>\n The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles, Lithuanians, Norwegian-Swedes, Norwegian-Kurdistanis and Norwegian-Pakistanis.<\/p>\n The written history of Norway is extensive and well beyond the bounds of what can reasonably be covered here. The following a severely truncated version of the historical story of Norway which is told in detail elsewhere<\/a> along with the more general history of Scandinavia<\/a> that might also be of interest.<\/p>\n There is compelling evidence that that area now known as Norway was host to early humans by the 11th century BCE with sites along both the northern and southern coasts retaining archeological artifacts of a hunter-gatherer life style.<\/p>\n The Bronze age brought new settlers into eastern Norway who were farmers and herders. These groups would slowly replace the hunter-gatherer groups along the coast. There is strong evidence in the form of rock carvings that these Bronze Age Norwegians were ocean-going.<\/p>\n Little remains from the Iron Age but there is evidence of trade with Roman Gaul.<\/p>\n The period of the fall of the Western Roman Empire<\/a> was a time of great success for small petty kingdoms in Norway<\/a> that grew slowly into larger and larger entities, often rich with gold artifacts.<\/p>\n This period also introduced some level of group decision making either through direct representation or through the selection of representatives who attended these gatherings.<\/p>\n From the 8th to the 10th century, the wider Scandinavian region was the source of Vikings<\/a>. The looting of the monastery at Lindisfarne<\/a> in Northeast England in 793 by Norse people has long been regarded as the event which marked the beginning of the Viking Age<\/a>. This age was characterized by expansion and emigration by Viking seafarers. They colonized, raided, and traded in all parts of Europe. Norwegian Viking explorers discovered Iceland by accident in the 9th century when heading for the Faroe Islands<\/a>, and eventually came across Vinland<\/a>, known today as Newfoundland<\/a>, in Canada. The Vikings from Norway were most active in the northern and western British Isles and eastern North America isles.<\/p>\n According to tradition, Harald Fairhair<\/a> unified them into one in 872 after the Battle of Hafrsfjord<\/a> in Stavanger<\/a>, thus becoming the first king of a united Norway. Harald’s realm was mainly a South Norwegian coastal state. Fairhair ruled with a strong hand and according to the sagas, many Norwegians left the country to live in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland<\/a>, and parts of Britain and Ireland. The modern-day Irish cities of Dublin<\/a>, Limerick<\/a> and Waterford<\/a> were founded by Norwegian settlers.<\/p>\n Norse traditions were replaced slowly by Christian ones in the late 10th and early 11th centuries.<\/p>\n From the 1040s to 1130, the country was at peace. In 1130, the civil war era broke out on the basis of unclear succession laws, which allowed all the king’s sons to rule jointly. The wars ended in 1217 with the appointment of H\u00e5kon H\u00e5konsson<\/a>, who introduced clear law of succession.<\/p>\n The 14th century is described as Norway’s Golden Age, with peace and increase in trade, especially with the British Islands, although Germany became increasingly important towards the end of the century. Throughout the High Middle Ages<\/a>, the king established Norway as a sovereign state with a central administration and local representatives.<\/p>\n The Hanseatic League<\/a> took control over Norwegian trade during the 14th century and established a trading center in Bergen<\/a>. In 1380, Olaf Haakonsson<\/a> inherited both the Norwegian and Danish thrones, creating a union between the two countries. In 1397, under Margaret I<\/a>, the Kalmar Union<\/a> was created between the three Scandinavian countries.<\/p>\n King Magnus VII<\/a> ruled Norway until 1350, when his son, Haakon, was placed on the throne as Haakon VI<\/a>. In 1363, Haakon VI married Margaret, the daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark<\/a>. Upon the death of Haakon VI, in 1379, his son, Olaf IV, was only 10 years old. Olaf had already been elected to the throne of Denmark on 3 May 1376. Thus, upon Olaf’s accession to the throne of Norway, Denmark and Norway entered personal union. Olaf’s mother and Haakon’s widow, Queen Margaret, managed the foreign affairs of Denmark and Norway during the minority of Olaf IV.<\/p>\n Margaret was working toward a union of Sweden with Denmark and Norway by having Olaf elected to the Swedish throne. She was on the verge of achieving this goal when Olaf IV suddenly died. However, Denmark made Margaret temporary ruler upon the death of Olaf. On 2 February 1388, Norway followed suit and crowned Margaret. Queen Margaret knew that her power would be more secure if she were able to find a king to rule in her place. She settled on Eric of Pomerania<\/a>, grandson of her sister. Thus at an all-Scandinavian meeting held at Kalmar, Erik of Pomerania was crowned king of all three Scandinavian countries. Thus, royal politics resulted in personal unions between the Nordic countries, eventually bringing the thrones of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden under the control of Queen Margaret when the country entered into the Kalmar Union.<\/p>\n After Sweden broke out of the Kalmar Union in 1521, Norway tried to follow suit, but the subsequent rebellion was defeated, and Norway remained in a union with Denmark until 1814, a total of 434 years. This was a period of great prosperity and progress for Norway, especially in terms of shipping and foreign trade.<\/p>\n After Denmark\u2013Norway was attacked by the United Kingdom at the 1807 Battle of Copenhagen<\/a>, it entered into an alliance with Napoleon<\/a>, with the war leading to dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812. As the Danish kingdom found itself on the losing side in 1814, it was forced, under terms of the Treaty of Kiel<\/a>, to cede Norway to the king of Sweden, while the old Norwegian provinces of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands remained with the Danish crown. Norway took this opportunity to declare independence, adopted a constitution based on American and French models, and elected the Crown Prince of Denmark and Norway, Christian Frederick,<\/a> as king on 17 May 1814.<\/p>\n According to the terms of the Convention of Moss<\/a>, Christian Frederik abdicated the Norwegian throne and authorized the Parliament of Norway to make the necessary constitutional amendments to allow for the personal union that Norway was forced to accept.<\/p>\n On 4 November 1814, the Parliament (Storting) elected Charles XIII<\/a> of Sweden as king of Norway, thereby establishing the union with Sweden.<\/p>\n A national referendum in 1905 confirmed the people’s preference for a monarchy over a republic. However, no Norwegian could legitimately claim the throne, since none of Norway’s noble families could claim descent from medieval royalty. In European tradition, royal or “blue” blood is a precondition for laying claim to the throne.<\/p>\n The government then offered the throne of Norway to Prince Carl of Denmark, a prince of the Dano-German royal house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Gl\u00fccksburg<\/a> and a distant relative of several of Norway’s medieval kings. After centuries of close ties between Norway and Denmark, a prince from the latter was the obvious choice for a European prince who could best relate to the Norwegian people.<\/p>\n Following the plebiscite, he was unanimously elected king by the Norwegian Parliament, the first king of a fully independent Norway in 508 years; he took the name Haakon VII.<\/a> In 1905, the country welcomed the prince from neighboring Denmark, his wife Maud of Wales<\/a> and their young son to re-establish Norway’s royal house.<\/p>\n Throughout the First World War<\/a>, Norway was in principle a neutral country although the British managed to force some degree of assistance that resulted in Norwegian lives lost.<\/p>\n Norway also proclaimed its neutrality during the Second World War<\/a>, but despite this, it was invaded by German forces<\/a> on 9 April 1940.<\/p>\n Although Norway was unprepared for the German surprise attack, military and naval resistance lasted for two months. Norwegian armed forces in the north launched an offensive against the German forces in the Battles of Narvik<\/a>, until they were forced to surrender on 10 June after losing British support which had been diverted to France during the German invasion of France.<\/p>\n The wartime alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States was continued in the post-war years. Although pursuing the goal of a socialist economy, the Labour Party distanced itself from the Communists (especially after the Communists’ seizure of power in Czechoslovakia<\/a> in 1948), and strengthened its foreign policy and defense policy ties with the US. Norway received Marshall Plan<\/a> aid from the United States starting in 1947, joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) one year later, and became a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949.<\/p>\n The first oil was discovered at the small Balder field in 1967, production only began in 1999. In 1969, the Phillips Petroleum Company<\/a> discovered petroleum resources at the Ekofisk<\/a> field west of Norway. In 1973, the Norwegian government founded the State oil company, Statoil<\/a>. Oil production did not provide net income until the early 1980s because of the large capital investment that was required to establish the country’s petroleum industry.<\/p>\n Around 1975, both the proportion and absolute number of workers in industry peaked. Since then labor-intensive industries and services like factory mass production and shipping have largely been outsourced.<\/p>\n Norway was a founding member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Norway was twice invited to join the European Union, but ultimately declined to join after referendums that failed by narrow margins in 1972 and 1994.<\/p>\n In 2011, Norway suffered two terrorist attacks<\/a> on the same day conducted by Anders Behring Breivik<\/a> which struck the government quarter<\/a> in Oslo and a summer camp of the Labour party’s youth movement<\/a> at Ut\u00f8ya island<\/a>, resulting in 77 deaths and 319 wounded.<\/p>\n Norway’s core territory comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula<\/a>; the remote island of Jan Mayen<\/a> and the archipelago of Svalbard<\/a> are also part of the Kingdom of Norway. The Antarctic Peter I Island<\/a> and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island<\/a> are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica<\/a> known as Queen Maud Land.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The rugged coastline is broken by huge fjords and thousands of islands. The coastal baseline is 2,532 kilometers (1,573 mi). The coastline of the mainland including fjords stretches 28,953 kilometers (17,991 mi), when islands are included the coastline has been estimated to 100,915 kilometers (62,706 mi). Norway shares a 1,619-kilometre (1,006 mi) land border with Sweden<\/a>, 727 kilometers (452 mi) with Finland<\/a>, and 196 kilometers (122 mi) with Russia<\/a> to the east. To the north, west and south, Norway is bordered by the Barents Sea<\/a>, the Norwegian Sea<\/a>, the North Sea<\/a>, and Skagerrak<\/a>. The Scandinavian Mountains<\/a> form much of the border with Sweden.<\/p>\n The land is mostly made of hard granite and gneiss rock, but slate, sandstone, and limestone are also common, and the lowest elevations contain marine deposits.<\/p>\n Norwegians enjoy the second-highest GDP per-capita among European countries (after Luxembourg), and the sixth-highest GDP (PPP) per-capita in the world. Today, Norway ranks as the second-wealthiest country in the world in monetary value, with the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation. Norway maintained first place in the world in the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) for six consecutive years (2001\u20132006), and then reclaimed this position in 2009. The standard of living in Norway is among the highest in the world. Foreign Policy<\/a> magazine ranks Norway last in its Failed States Index<\/a> for 2009, judging Norway to be the world’s most well-functioning and stable country. The OECD ranks Norway fourth in the 2013 equalised Better Life Index and third in intergenerational earnings elasticity.<\/p>\n The country is richly endowed with natural resources including petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals. Large reserves of petroleum and natural gas were discovered in the 1960s, which led to a boom in the economy. Norway has obtained one of the highest standards of living in the world in part by having a large amount of natural resources compared to the size of the population. In 2011, 28% of state revenues were generated from the petroleum industry.<\/p>\n Due to the low population density, narrow shape and long coastlines of Norway, its public transport is less developed than in many European countries, especially outside the major cities. The country has long-standing water transport traditions, but the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications has in recent years implemented rail, road, and air transport through numerous subsidiaries to develop the country’s infrastructure. Under discussion is development of a new high-speed rail system between the nation’s largest cities.<\/p>\n Norway’s main railway network consists of 4,114 kilometers (2,556 mi) of standard gauge lines, of which 242 kilometers (150 mi) is double track and 64 kilometers (40 mi) high-speed rail (210 km\/h) while 62% is electrified at 15 kV \u200a16.7 Hz AC. The entire network is owned by the Norwegian National Rail Administration<\/a>. All domestic passenger trains except the Airport Express Train<\/a> are operated by Norges Statsbaner (NSB)<\/a>. NSB operates long-haul trains, including night trains, regional services and four commuter train systems, around Oslo<\/a>, Trondheim<\/a>, Bergen<\/a> and Stavanger<\/a>.<\/p>\n Norway has approximately 92,946 kilometers (57,754 mi) of road network, of which 72,033 kilometers (44,759 mi) are paved and 664 kilometers (413 mi) are motorway. The most important national routes are part of the European route scheme. The two most prominent are the European route E6 going north\u2013south through the entire country, and the E39, which follows the West Coast.<\/p>\n Norway has the world’s largest registered stock of plug-in electric vehicles per capita. In March 2014, Norway became the first country where over 1 in every 100 passenger cars on the roads is a plug-in electric. The plug-in electric segment market share of new car sales is also the highest in the world. According to a report by Dagens N\u00e6ringsliv<\/a> in June 2016, the country would like to ban sales of gasoline and diesel powered vehicles as early as 2025. In June 2017, 42% of new cars registered were electric.<\/p>\n Of the 98 airports in Norway, 52 are public, and 46 are operated by the state-owned Avinor<\/a>. Seven airports have more than one million passengers annually. A total of 41,089,675 passengers passed through Norwegian airports in 2007, of whom 13,397,458 were international.<\/p>\n The central gateway to Norway by air is Oslo Airport, Gardermoen<\/a>. It is hub for the two major Norwegian airlines: Scandinavian Airlines<\/a> and Norwegian Air Shuttle<\/a>, and for regional aircraft from Western Norway. There are departures to most European countries and some intercontinental destinations. A direct high-speed train connects to Oslo Central Station every 10 minutes for a 20 min ride.<\/p>\n The flag of Norway is red with an indigo blue Scandinavian cross fimbriated in white that extends to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side in the style of the Dannebrog<\/a>, the flag of Denmark.<\/p>\n It is difficult to establish what the earliest flag of Norway looked like. During ancient times countries did not fly flags.<\/p>\n The current flag of Norway was designed in 1821 by Fredrik Meltzer<\/a>, a member of the parliament (Storting<\/a>). It was adopted by both chambers of the Storting on 11 May and 16 May, respectively. However, the king refused to sign the flag law, but approved the design for civilian use by royal order in council on 13 July 1821.<\/p>\n Fredrik Meltzer submitted his proposal just in time to be exhibited in parliament on 4 May 1821 together with a large number of other proposals. It was approved by both chambers during the following two weeks. Meltzer himself provided no written explanation for his choice of design and colors. However, his intentions may be inferred from an earlier letter of 30 April with his comments regarding the proposal from the flag committee. That design was divided quarterly red and white. Meltzer objected to the colors because they were too similar to those of the Danish flag. He added that it would be equally unseemly to choose the colors of any of “those states with which we have been or are connected with”. Instead, he recommended a tricolor of red, white and blue, “three colors that now denote freedom, such as we have seen in the French flag of freedom, and still see in that of the Dutch and Americans, and in the Union of the Englishmen”.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
Early History:<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/a>Viking Age:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Civil War:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Kalmar Union:<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/a>Union with Sweden:<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/a>Dissolution of the Union:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>First and Second World Wars:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Post-World War II:<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/a>Geography:<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Transportation:<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a>Flag of Norway:<\/h2>\n
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