The Cold, Hard Facts
Official title: Kongeriket Norge (The Kingdom of Norway)
Government: Constitutional monarchy
Head of State: King Harald
Population: 4,554,000
Capital: Oslo
Land mass: 385,155 km2
Language: Norwegian (two forms: Bokmål & Nynorsk), Saami
National Day: May 17th
Per capita GDP (2001): 334,279 NOK
Currency: 1 krone = 100 ore
A Short History:
Norway was ruled by many 'jarls' until 872 AD, when Harald Hairfair made it one kingdom (although, technically, he didn't put all of Norway under his rule; the North of the country was added only under later kings). During the Viking age, Norwegians colonised Iceland, as well as parts of Scotland, Normandie ('nordmann' means 'man from the north' and is today the Norwegian term for Norwegians), Ireland, Greenland and even found the Americans 400 years before Columbus.
The little ice age ended the Viking gold age, and the Scandinavian countries formed a union. Sweden later left it, leaving the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway. It lasted until 1814, when Denmark was forced to sign over Norway to Sweden after having been on the losing side of the Napoleon war (Sweden had signed on with the Brits). Norway (rather miffed at being traded like a cow on a market and having had a growing independence movement) declared independence and wrote a Constitution, which was signed on May 17th at Eidsvoll. Sweden (rather miffed at its 'prize' for be on the winning side trying to avoid becoming a part of Sweden) invaded, and later a compromise was reached with Norway keeping its Constitution, but having the Swedish King as the head of state. The troubled union lasted to 1905, when a referendum was held in Norway leading to an overwhelming vote for independence.
The Northern Lights
A Danish prince was invited to become the new King of Norway (our own royal line had vanished) and took the name King Haakon VII, ruling with Queen Maud.
Norwegian independence lasted until 1940, when German troops invaded on April 9th. The Norwegian Royal family and the government escaped and went into exile. Vidkun Quisling, leader of a very small fascist party named National Gathering declared himself Prime Minister and the Germans occupying forces (after some to and fro) gave him the position. His name can today be found in English dictionaries as a word for traitor. After the war ended in 1945, Quisling was tried for treason as well as murder; of Jews he allowed to be deported and the Norwegians convicted of civil disobedience he allowed executed. He was found guilty and shot.
After the war, the Royal family gained a popular support as icons of Norway enjoyed to this very day. In 1950, King Olav took over at the death of his father. Labour came into power and started building a welfare state and a social democracy. Norway was from the beginning a strong supporter of the UN, the first Governor-General of the UN was in fact a Norwegian.
In the 1970s, oil was found in the Atlantic off Norway and gave a strong boost to Norwegian economy continuing to this very day. Norway is today the world's third largest exporter of oil and oil products. It is also considered by the UN to be the country with the highest quality of life three years in a row. Has rejected membership to the European Union twice (1972, 1994) in referendums. It is a member of NATO.
Most recently, the economic downturn has affected Norway as well, but with an oil fund (the State saves up most of the oil income) of over 100 billion USD, the future looks rather promising.
Culture and Society
Norway is one of the three countries that make up Scandinavia; the two others are Sweden and Denmark. Norway is also part of the Nordic countries; the others are Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland (and the Fareo Islands). The Scandinavian language group of Swedish, Norwegian and Danish is similar enough that the three can understand each other. Icelandic is based upon ancient Norse and Finnish is of a very different language group to all other European languages except Hungarian.
Medkila, Norway
The bonds between the Scandinavian countries are strong, but there are definitely a lot of individual streaks in each country. At least we like to think so. Norway is often viewed as slightly more old-fashioned than the others, and is the only of the three that is not a member of the EU. (Denmark has a limited membership, however.)
Norwegians also like a good binge, but will whine constantly about the price of alcohol (which is outrageous). We like our winter sports and our football and anything we can win. We're very interested in Eurosong, one can only hope we actually do it because we're amused.
Some myths of Norway and Scandinavia - true or false
The Scandinavian countries have a much higher rate of suicide than the rest of the world.
False. The rate of suicide in Norway is at the same level as other European countries, as is Sweden and Denmark's. Finland has a higher rate, however, but is not a part of Scandinavia.
The midnight sun
Norwegian girls are sex-crazy!
False. We do not have orgies every weekend in the saunas. Where the smeg this myth came about I don't know, but we are not sex beasts up here in Scandinavia. We are perhaps a bit more open about the whole business (and get sex ed in school) and women fairly liberated but that does not mean orgies every chance we get, kay?
Norwegians are born with skis on their feet.
This is a saying in Norway yes, and we certainly kick major ass in many kinds of skiing. But it's not actually true -- that would be very, very painful.
Scandinavians are all blond(e) and blue-eyed!
Sorry, but no. Though the blonde-blue-eyed gene is somewhat more prominent in Scandinavia, we got brunette and redheads in the mix here too.
Polar bears roam the strees of Norway.
Nu-up. There are no polar bears on the Scandinavian mainlead. However, there are polar bears on Svalbard, an island belonging to Norway way up north. And polar bears have been known to roam strees there.
Gay marriage has ruined Scandinavian society.
Pffft. Certain American conservaties will have you believe this. They also seem to think we're communists. To which I say - what the heck have they been smoking?
You have a myth or a question about Norway you'd like answered, send it my way.