NORWAY
The Samis are the indigenous people of Norway. In the 9th century and around the year 900 King Harald Fairhair unified a number of small Norwegian communities, into larger regions to subsequently form one kingdom and became its first supreme ruler. King Harald’s rule was followed by two centuries of Viking rule. Norway and Sweden became united in 1319, under King Magnus Eriksson. Almost 60% of the population of Norway died in 1349 as a result of Black Death.
For a total of 436 years, till 1814 Norway remained united with Denmark due to the Kalmar Union, under the rule of Queen Margrethe of Denmark. Thereafter Norway came under Sweden subjugation subsequent to the Norwegian-Swedish war.
From 1905 to 1907, the Prime Minister of Norway, Christian Michelson, played a central role in the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden on 7 June 1905. The country was then temporarily occupied by Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1945.
Abandoning its neutral status in WW2, in 1949 Norway became a member of NATO. The country’s economic fortunes witnessed a boost in the 1960s due to the discovery of oil and gas in the adjacent waters. Norway rejected the joining of EU in two referendums, one in 1972 and second in 1994.
LOCATION AND GEOGRAPHY
Norway means “the northern way’ and true to its name, the country is situated in northern Europe, in the western portion of Scandinavia. The eastern border of the country is flanked by Sweden, Finland and Russia. To its west, across the North Sea, lie U.K and the Faroe Islands and to its west across the Norwegian Sea lie Iceland and Greenland. To its south lies Denmark.
Norway has a coastline that is rugged, extends to 2,500 km and includes long fjords and numerous small islands. The terrain is glaciated and comprises mostly high plateaus and rugged mountains broken by fertile valleys and small, scattered plains. In the north of the country lies the Arctic Tundra. The total area of the country is 323, 802 sq. km.
The environment of Norway is suffering from damages like water pollution, air pollution and acid rain, which is damaging forests and adversely affecting lakes, threatening fish stocks.
CLIMATE
The climate of Norway is temperate along coast, modified by North Atlantic Current. The interior areas are colder with increased precipitation and colder summers. Along the west coast the climate is mostly rainy the year-round.
There are large seasonal variations in daylight, due to the high latitude of Norway. the sun never completely descends beneath the horizon in areas north of the Arctic Circle (hence Norway's description as the "Land of the Midnight Sun") and the rest of the country experiences up to 20 hours of daylight per day, from late May onwards to late July. Conversely, in the north, the sun never rises above the horizon, from late November to late January and the daylight hours are very short in the rest of the country.
PEOPLE AND LANGUAGES
According to the latest census the country has a population of 4,660,539 and about 77% of this population is urbanized. Nearly 94% of the people are Norwegian in origin (this includes the 60,000 Samis) and the largest minority of 4 % is formed by the Europeans. There is almost 100% literacy in the country!
The Norwegian people are essentially egalitarian and have a culture which is based on democratic principles of respect and interdependence. They are not prone to ostentation or excessive showiness and have simple tastes. Honesty and sincerity in their personal relationships is of great value to them. They do not judge the worth of people by what they do for a living their professional accomplishments or how much money they earn but value the person for what he stands.
Almost the entire population speaks the official language, which is Norwegian and has two written forma “Bokmal”, or Book Norwegian and ‘Nynorsk” or New Norwegian. Both these forms enjoy the same legal recognition, although "Bokmal" is increasingly more common.
ECONOMY AND CURRENCY
The monetary unit of Norway is the Krone, which is written officially as NOK and translates as “crown’.
Norway has a mixed economy, featuring a combination of free market activity and government intervention and the Norwegians enjoy the second highest GDP per-capita (after Luxembourg) and third highest GDP (PPP) per-capita in the world.
The country is highly dependent on the petroleum sector, which accounts for nearly half of exports and over 30% of state revenue and the petroleum sector, is controlled by the government through large-scale state enterprises. The other natural resources the country possesses are petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals.
Its position as an oil exporter has slipped from 3rd to seventh-largest as production has begun to decline due to which Norway saves almost all state revenue from the petroleum sector in a sovereign wealth fund.
In Norway the cost of living is 30% higher than that of the USA and 20% higher than that of U.K.
CAPITAL
Surrounded by the blue Oslo fjord and green hills and forests, Oslo, the capital city of Norway has a blue-green image.
Oslo’s history goes back to 1000 years ago, when the first settlements were built at the inlet of the Oslo fjord, making it the oldest of the Scandinavian capitals. With a population of 500,000 the city illustrates a mix of old and new architecture, parks, hills, museums, monuments, lakes, forests and the fjord. It is an excellent place for shopping, cultural and sports activities and also has a wide range of good restaurants and a lively nightlife.
HOLIDAYING IN NORWAY
Norway is abundantly endowed with great natural beauty, so the best thing to do when there is to travel around the country and experience its varied nature.
From the North Cape in the far Arctic, enjoy the midnight sun and from the comfort of the Coastal Express cruise liner enjoy the coastline, which calls at a number of ports on the voyage north.
To go to the summit of one of the seven mountains surrounding the former hanseatic port of Bergen with its
UNESCO
World Heritage Site-designated historic wooden wharfside buildings, you can take the cable car or the funicular railway ride.
A great fun thing to do is to spend a few days in a lakeside mountain hytte, or cabin, enjoying fishing and nature walks.
Norway has thousand of kilometers of marked skiing trails, so you can indulge all you want in your skiing fantasies.
Visit Oslo’s excellent collection of museums, including the Thor Heyerdahl Kon-tiki Museum, the Munch Museum and the Viking Ship Museum.
28 surviving wooden medieval stave churches are located in Oslo around the southern half of the country. Out of these oldest is Urnes Stave Church, dating from 1130, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The Royal Palace is thrown open to visitors from late June to mid August and you might want to do some ‘royal-spotting’.
ACCOMMODATION
There are first class hotels all over the country; the big international chains are often present in larger towns and cities and in smaller cities many hotels are family-run establishments.
Guest houses or pensions offer less elaborate facilities than hotels and are generally smaller than them but are a reasonable way to stay.
Rural or farm stay accommodations, which are working farms and anyone who wants to can join in the work, but guests are at liberty to plan their own day, are a great way to stay if you want to get a taste of the rural life of Norway.
Cabins or chalets, called hytter and holiday apartments are very popular types of holiday accommodation in Norway that can be found almost everywhere around the country.
A cottage used by northern Norwegian fishermen during the winter cod-fishing season, called the rorbu, is a unique accommodation style available in the country. Rorbus are leased to holidaymakers during the summer and are equipped with all the necessary facilities.
Norway has about a 100 youth hostels which are opened the year round. Some youth hostels are apartment houses attached to schools or universities and are open only during the summer season.
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