Norway is the westernmost (and northernmost) of the three Scandinavian countries, located in Northern Europe west of Sweden. Best known for the complex and deep fjords along its west coast, it stretches from the North Sea near Denmark and Scotland into the Arctic Ocean.
Regions
Cities
Other destinations
Understand
Norway is well known for its amazing and varied nature. The fjords in the west of the country are long narrow inlets, flanked on either side by tall mountains where the sea penetrates far inland. Norway was an old Viking kingdom. Economically it is known for its oil and seafood exports.
Norway is a sparsly populated country, roughly the same size as Great Britain or Germany. It has a population of only 4.5 million people but a land area of 385,155 square kilometers. Thus, for each inhabitant there is 70,000 square meters of land, but the vast majority of this land is a rocky wilderness which is completely unusable for agricultural purposes. As a result, Norway has a large number of completely unpopulated areas, many of which have been converted to national parks. Even outside the national parks, much of the land is unspoiled nature, which Norwegians strive to keep unspoiled.
In winter, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and snowboarding are very popular. In summer, hiking and biking are obvious ways to enjoy the enormous mountain areas. For the adventurous, kayaking, wildwater rafting, paragliding, cave or glacier exploration are possible. Car tourists will enjoy driving along the fjords and mountains in the west or to the midnight sun in the north. Briefly, Norway has a lot to offer in terms of nature.
Norway is located on a large peninsula shared with Sweden in the north of Europe. In the north, it also borders Finland and Russia. A large but loosely defined northern part of of Norway and Sweden, as well as parts of Finland and Russia outlines an area known as Sapmi (Sameland), which is where the most of the Sami (lapp) people live.
Because of the gulf stream, the climate in Norway is noticeably warmer than what would otherwise be expected at such a high latitude. Almost half the length of Norway is north of the polar circle. Summers can be moderately warm (up to 30 degrees C), even in northern areas, but only for limited periods. The length of the winter and amount of snow varies. In the north there is more snow and winters are dark; on the southern and western coast, winters are moderate and rainy, while further inland the temperature can fall below -25 degrees C. Some mountain areas have permanent glaciers.
A rugged landscape shaped by the Ice Age, shows forested hills and valleys, mountains, waterfalls, and a long coastline with fjords, islands, and mountains growing directly up from the sea. Norway's highest point is Galdhøpiggen (2469m) in the Jotunheimen region that lies midway between Oslo and Trondheim, but away from the coast. In the far north (Finnmark), you will find flatter open spaces.
Norway's primary income(except for taxes) is the petroleum industry in the North Sea. It also has several other natural resources such as fish and minerals, some industry, and a healthy technology sector. Politically, it is dominated by a widespread and continued support for the Scandinavian model, which means high taxes and high government spending to support free schools, free healthcare, an efficient welfare system and many other benefits. As a result the unemployment rate in Norway is extremely low (about 2%).
The Norwegian people have rejected membership in the European Union (EU) in two independent popular votes in 1972 and 1994, both times just by a couple of percent, after first having being vetoed out of membership by France in the 50s and 60s. However, being a member state of the European Economic Area and part of the Schengen agreement, Norway is still closely connected to the EU, and is integrated as a full member in most economic matters as well as in customs and immigration matters.
Norway is a Christian country, so Sunday is considered a holy day and most business are closed Sundays. Many gas stations are open 24-7, some warehouses are partly open and restaurants are normally open, but this varies from place to place.
Get in
Norway is part of the Schengen countries, meaning you can travel from any other Schengen country with few or no border checks. Most citizens of industrialized nations do not need a visa to enter Norway for tourism or short business trips. You can find all the timetables you need from Rutebok timetable service.
By plane
Oslo Airport Gardermoen (OSL) is the biggest airport in the country and the main international hub, and is located 60 km north of Oslo. The airport had 17.5 million passengers in 2006 and is served by many major international and all domestic airlines.
The fastest way to reach the city of Oslo is with the Airport Express Train, which takes 19 minutes. See Flytoget.
The airport has scheduled flights to 71 destinations abroad and 24 destinations in Norway. New direct routes in 2006 will be Naples (SAS Braathens), Madrid (Norwegian), Rijeka (Norwegian), Florence (Sterling), Palanga (FlyLAL), Saint Petersburg (Norwegian), Bourgas (Norwegian), Heraklion (Norwegian), Rhodes (Norwegian), Varna (Norwegian), Kos (Norwegian), and Ibiza (Norwegian).
Sandefjord Lufthavn, Torp (TRF) is located just north of Sandefjord, 115 km to the south of Oslo, and is Ryanair's destination airport in Oslo. Here you can spend as much on the coach trip (about £10) as on the flight! Ryanair now operate another service, from London Stansted to Haugesund on the west coast.
Sandefjord Airport Torp has scheduled flights to 14 destinations in Europe and 3 destinations in Norway. New direct routes in 2007 will be to Bremen, Barcelona, and Warsaw.
Airlines operating at Sandefjord Lufthavn, Torp:
Ryanair
Coast Air
KLM
Widerøe
Wizz Air
Apart from to previously mentioned airports there are some international flights to Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger and Tromsø.
By train
There are trains from Sweden to Oslo, Trondheim and Narvik, with onwards inland connections.
For Oslo, daily service from Stockholm, as well as an every-night night train running through Gothenburg. The night train also carries rail cars from Malmö.
For Trondheim, the Nabotåget service from Östersund corresponds with one day and one night service from Stockholm, as well as the train from Sundsvall.
For Narvik, two trans daily run from Stockholm via Kiruna. Both are overnight.
Train schedule web site:
By bus
Several international bus lines run into Oslo from Sweden, the major operators being Eurolines, Swebus Express and Säfflebussen. Service to Gothenburg and Copenhagen is almost hourly. The service to Stockholm is also far more frequent than the train.
For budget travelers be sure to check out lavprisekspressen.no for cheap bus tickets between the large cities in Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
The minibus service between Kirkenes and Murmansk run three times per day. Contact Grenseland/Sovjetreiser (yes, they are actually still called that!) in Kirkenes for booking.
Other express lines go from Sweden to Bodø and Mo i Rana, as well as from Denmark to Stavanger.
By car
It is possible to enter by road from Sweden, Finland, or Russia.
By boat
From Germany
Color Line run a daily ferry from Kiel to Oslo. The ferry leaves Kiel at 1.30pm and arrives in Oslo at 9.30am, the following day. The ferry terminal in Kiel is located on Norwegenkai, which is a short walk across the bridge from Kiel's main railway station (note that the bridge may at times be closed for pedestrians due to ship traffic). At the Oslo end of the journey, the terminal is located at Hjortneskai, which is just west of the city. There is a bus from the terminal to the city center, which departs shortly after passengers disembark.
The return journey from Oslo to Kiel also departs at 1.30pm. A bus to the ferry dock departs opposite Oslo Sentral station at about 12.30pm.
On board the ferry are a number of restaurants, bars, casinos, cinemas and also a stage show to keep you entertained during the journey. There are various classes of cabins available, ranging from shared rooms to singles, doubles and luxury suites.
From Denmark
Several companies run from various harbours in Denmark (Frederikshavn, Hirtshals, Hanstholm, Copenhagen) to various Norwegian harbours (Oslo, Larvik, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen).
Color Line traffic from Hirtshals to Kristiansand, Larvik, Stavanger and Bergen, and from Frederikshavn to Oslo.
Fjord Line traffic from Hanstholm to Egersund, Haugesund and Bergen.
Master Ferries traffic from Hanstholm to Kristiansand.
DFDS Seaways traffic from Copenhagen to Oslo.
From England
DFDS operate a twice-weekly service from Newcastle to Stavanger, Haugesund and Bergen.
Thompson Cruise ships operate from Harwich and visit Flam, Bergen, Molde, Hammerfest, Honningsvag, the Northcape, Tromso, Lofoten Islands, Geiranger and Alesund in Norway. The duration of the cruise varies from 5 days up to 2 weeks. Sailing time from Harwich to south Norway is 1.5 days.
On board the crusie ship are a number of restaurants, bars, casinos, cinemas and also a stage show to keep you entertained during the journey. There are various classes of cabins available, ranging from shared rooms to singles, doubles and luxury suites.
Fly with Ryanair from Stansted, London to Haugesund Airport, Karmøy. It is easy to get both south to Stavanger and north to Bergen and the fjords from here.
From Shetland, Faeroe Islands and Iceland
Smyril Line operates a once-weekly service to Bergen.
Get around
Norway is a big country and getting around, particularly up north, is expensive and time-consuming. The best way to see the Norwegian wilderness and countryside is by having access to your own vehicle. This way you can stop whereever you want, admire the view and venture onto smaller roads.
By plane
Norway's craggy coastline makes roads and trains slow, so domestic flights are very popular and, at least by Norwegian standards, competitively priced. The largest operators are Coast Air, SAS Braathens, Norwegian and Widerøe.
It is especially in northern Norway, where towns and cities are fewer and further between, that air travel becomes almost obligatory to get from place to place. Planes between the small airports can be small, and they generally have several intermediate stops along the route to embark and disembark passengers. Unfortunately, it is also in these areas where ticket prices can be most expensive.
Flights in southern Norway are cheaper than in northern Norway, and even though this area has better roads and rail, planes are generally faster than taking the train or bus. There are however no air routes between the cities within 100 km of Oslo, use the train or bus for this kind of travel.
If you plan to fly to the many smaller towns in Northern or Western Norway you should consider Widerøes Explore Norway Ticket (Unlimited air travel for 14 days in summer for less than a full price return ticket.).
By train
Norges Statsbaner (NSB) connects major cities, as far north as Bodø, but there is no rail connection between the many cities on the coast (due to the hindrance by fjords). However, if you do travel by train, you'll travel through the most spectacular scenery in the world. Trains are generally well-maintained and comfortable with toilets, vending machines etc on board. You can buy a ScanRail card or a Norwegian Rail Passto travel cheap by train through Norway or Scandinavia.
Unlike much of Southern Europe, Norway does not have a high speed rail system, except for the route between Oslo and its airport. Attempts at implementing high speed trains have been failures. (The sleek blue and silver high speed trains still operate, just not at high speed). Therefore, a journey between the two largest cities, Bergen and Oslo, still takes as much as seven or eight hours.
Most long distance (regional) trains leave several times a day. Don't forget you'll have to make a reservation on long distance trains (Oslo-Bergen, Oslo-Stavanger, Oslo-Kristiansand, Oslo-Trondheim, Trondheim-Bodø). This will cost you NOK 50 per person extra, if it's not already included in your ticket. As a rule of thumb, the trains cover a bit under 100 km in one hour and charge a bit over NOK 100 for the distance. Regional trains have ordinær wagons, which get you a chance to board but no more (unless you have a seat reservation, when that seat is guaranteed for you), and komfort wagons, which cost 75 kr extra but get you a guaranteed seat, coffee/tea, a newspaper (in Norwegian), a table and a power socket.
Apart from the regular day trains, the longest stretches have night trains available. These are equipped with both regular seating carriages and sleeping carriages. In a regular seating carriage, which you can book at the same price as a regular day train, you will be given a blanket and maybe some earplugs, although the seats are a bit hard and not really designed for sleeping in. Sleeping carriages are perhaps more comfortable, but they are pretty expensive (750 NOK surcharge). The cabins have two bunks in them however, so if you are travelling as a couple you can share that surcharge.
In eastern Norway, where cities are closer together, there are several people who make a daily commute, and hence many of these cities have more frequent train service with hourly departures much of the day. This includes the cities in the counties of Østfold, Vestfold as well as Gjøvik, Hamar and Lillehammer. In general, these trains do not have ordinær class seating reservations available, but it is still possible to upgrade to komfort. If you get even closer to Oslo, there are local trains which may have departures as often as every 30 minutes. Local trains never have seating reservations, nor do they have a first class section. Local trains also go between Bergen and Voss, Stavanger and Egersund and around Trondheim.
Tickets can be, and should be, bought on the Internet for long-distance hauls. NSB runs a discount scheme where you pay NOK 199 or NOK 299, no matter what the distance of your travel is. However there are no stop-overs allowed, except for changing trains.
When ordering your tickets, check if there's an option called "minipris" under "Ticket group". Then press the "Calculate price"-button, and you're probably in for a pleasant surprise.
Another nice option is that when you pay the ticket, you can choose the option "henting i tog" under the "Ticket recievement" menu. This means that you just write down your carriage and seat number, and go on the train with some kind of ID. The ticket will be handed to you by the train steward. No queuing!
Generally, the trains are most crowded at the beginning and end of the weekend, and that means Friday and Sunday evening. If you try booking for these days at a late time, you may find all the cheap tickets sold out. Furthermore, the seat you reserve may be among the least desirable, that is, facing backwards, without recline, and facing towards and sharing the legroom with other passengers.
By ferry
Car ferries are an intregral part of the road network in coastal regions. Prices and time vary with the length of the crossing and amount of traffic, but expect 150 kr and 30 min as a standard fjord crossing with two adults in a normal car. Nearby camping sites and the ferries themself will often have timetables for other ferries in the region. Stretches with lots of ferries are desierable when bicycling, as the ferries are cheap for bicyclists and offer an often well-deserved break with a great view.
In regions with lots of fjords and islands, that is along all the coast from Stavanger to Tromsø, an extensive network of catamaran expressboats shuttle between towns and cities, and connect islands otherwise accessible only with difficulty. Service and prices are comparable with trains. Check in advance if you want to bring a bicycle.
One option particularly popular with tourists is the Hurtigruten ferry that hops along the coastline from Bergen all the way to Kirkenes, taking about a week for the whole journey. Cabins are expensive, but deck fares are more reasonable and there's even a 50% off discount with Inter Rail.
By bus
An extensive range of express buses connect cities all over Norway. Nor-way Bussekspress] and Timekspressen are the biggest operators, the latter even run the Oslo-Drammen-Kongsberg-Notodden service every hour, round the clock, every day. The bus even departs at midnight on New Year's eve...
However, buses are not that frequent elsewhere. Outside the major bus lines, most towns are reachable by local bus. Access by bus also includes most national parks, although buses often leave just once a day, or possibly even more infrequently. Plan ahead, all schedules are to be found various places on the Internet.
All major cities have some sort of city bus system, mostly quite good, but not always. Oslo also has local trains, metro and trams, Trondheim has local trains and one tram line, while Bergen has a trolley bus line and a funicular railway, as well as local trains. Stavanger/sandnes also has a local train system.
By car
Renting a car can be expensive, but can be essential for easy access to some of the more rural areas, if you are not too fond of walking. If you live in Europe, consider bringing your own, but if you arrive during winter (september - march), be aware that winter tires are necessary and required by law.
DO NOT try to drive without, even if you don't expect snow or ice.
Some other points to heed:
By thumb
Hitchhiking in Norway is best on the the routes from Oslo-Trondheim (E6), Oslo-Kristiansand (E18) and Kristiansand-Stavanger (E39). Don't try hitchhiking out of Oslo's airport. Hitchhiking is also easy connection with one of the many ferry connections across the fjords. It's best to ask on the ferry, and second, right after the port. Hitchhiking is not that common in Norway, but as long as you don't look too dodgy, and make sure to stand in a place where the cars can see you and have an opportunity to stop you should be fine.
Talk
Norwegian is the official language of Norway. The language is very close and mutually intelligible with the two other Scandinavian languages, Danish and Swedish. Sami is a minority language which has official status in some Northern regions.
Just about every Norwegian knows how to speak English. Most Norwegians at age 60 and downwards speak English pretty well, an impressive amount of them even speak it fluently. For the last 2-3 decades a lot of Norwegians have had at least a few years of either German or French at school, however this is nowhere near the high number of people who speak English. Spanish and Italian is also being learned more and more, but still almost only at larger schools in the largest cities.
In addition, a wide range of minorities live in Norway, both native and more modern immigrant groups. Several languages are spoken by cultural groups without having status as official languages, like Romani, Finnish, Kvensk and Urdu.
Do
A great introduction to Norway is the one-day Norway in a Nutshell package on a single ticket from Oslo or Bergen into the mountains, with a boat trip through the fjords. You can break the trip at several interesting huts for walking or just admiring the view, and even hire a mountain bike for part of the journey. One of the highlights of the 'Norway in a Nutshell' package is
Flåmsbana, a 20km railway that's one of the steepest in the world. Along the way you'll see beautiful mountains, rivers, valleys, waterfalls, and other beautiful sights on your way to the town of Flåm.
Hiking
In Norway, travelers enjoy a right to access, which means it is possible to camp freely in most places, as long as you're on uncultivated land, you're not leaving any traces and you're out of the way.
Den Norske Turistforening (DNT) (The Norwegian Mountain Touring Association) operates many staffed and self-service mountain cabins, marks mountain routes, offers maps and route information, guided tours, and several other services for mountain hikers in Norway.
Skiing
Both cross country and alpine skiing are popular sports in the winter, and the largest areas, Trysil or Hemsedal for example, compete well with the Alps.
Buy
The Norwegian currency is the Norwegian crown (norske krone), abbreviated kr. A 1/100th krone is called øre. When you need to disambiguate the Norwegian krone from e.g. the Swedish or Danish krone, use the official three-letter abbreviation NOK. As of August 2005, there are about 8 NOK to one euro (check out www.xe.com for live market rates).
Coins come in 50 øre, 1, 5, 10, and 20 kroner. Paper notes come in 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 kroner.
; Coins : Official coins
; Bills : Official bank notes
ATMs in Norway are called Minibank. There is no problem locating an ATM machine in urban areas. At the Oslo Central Station, you can withdraw euros, dollars, british pounds, swedish, danish and norwegian kroner. With a Bank Axept debit card, you can also withdraw money from most shops and gas stations. Nearly all stores accept major credit cards such as Mastercard and Visa (Bring your passport/driver's license, as you are required to identify yourself when using a credit card).
Costs
Norway is an expensive country. While it is possible to travel in Norway with a limited expense account, some care must be taken to do so. Because labour is costly here, anything that can be seen as a "service" will in general be more expensive than you expect. Transport costs can also be a killer, because the country is large and distances long, so a rail or air pass can save you a lot of money.
As rules of thumb, subsisting on under 500 kr/day will be difficult even if you stay in hostels and self-cater, with 1000 kr/day allowing a more comfortable mid-range lifestyle and over 2000 kr/day needed for good hotels and good restaurants.
Take care when buying alcohol and tobacco, it will most certainly be more expensive than you expect.
In Norway you will have problems buying alcohol with a credit card, especially from the state owned liquor stores (Vinmonopol)
Shopping
Opening hours in Norway are better than they used to be, but many smaller stores still close early on Saturday (1 PM or 3 PM is typical) and nearly everything is closed on Sundays. You'll often see opening hours written as "9-21 (9-18)" on doors, meaning 9 AM to 9 PM weekdays, 9 AM to 6 PM Saturday. The major exception is convenience stores, notably the big chains Narvesen and Mix (all over the country), Deli de Luca (Oslo only) and 7-Eleven (bigger cities only), which are open from early morning until late at night every day, with 24 hour service in the biggest cities. All over the country you will find gas-stations, Statoil, Shell, fresh/selected, YX (HydroTexaco) (these days turning into 7-eleven with gas) and Esso, On the Run. Every gas-station will serve fast-food, especially sausages. Also hamburgers, pizza, and so on. The gas-stations have long opening periods, and the bigger stations in cities and near bigger crossroads are open 24 hours.
Eat
Traditional Norwegian "farm" food is made by whatever can grow in the northern climate, be stored for a year until new crops come out, and contain enough energy for you to do hard work. Typical examples are variations of yeasted and unyeasted bread and other forms of bakery, porridges, soups, inventive uses of potato, salted and smoked meat, and fresh, salted or smoked fish. The National dish is fårikål. Fårikål is lamb's meat and cabbage cooked for several hours in a casserole. However, the regional variances in traditional food are huge and hence, and what is thought to be "typical traditional" for one Norwegian might be totally unknown to another.
Finer traditional food is usually based on hunted animals or fresh fish. Steak, medallions and meat balls from game, deer, reindeer and elk are highly appreciated foods with international reputation, so are fresh, smoked and fermented salmon varieties as well as a host of other fish products. Traditional pastries like lukket valnøtt (marzipan-covered whipped cream cake) are other original contributions to international cuisine. Cheese of various types is common, but one particularly Norwegian favorite is geitost (goat-cheese), a mild smoked cheese which bears a remarkable similarity to smooth peanut butter in color, texture and taste.
Today, Norwegians use plenty of sliced bread for almost any meal except dinner, whereas recipes for hot meals will be taken from almost anywhere in the world, including of course the traditional kitchen, but seldom the most extreme examples.
Places to eat
Eating out is expensive, with fast food starting from 50 kr and sit-down meals in a decent restaurant nearly always topping 100 kr or more for a main course. One way to cut costs is self-catering, as youth hostels and guesthouses often have kitchens for their guests. Breakfast is often hearty and buffet-style, so pigging out at breakfast and skipping lunch is also an option. Buy/bring a lunchbox before attending breakfast, as most of the bigger hotels will allow you to fill it up for free from the breakfast buffet for eating later in the day.
For a cheap quick snack Norwegian-style, look no further than the nearest grill or convenience store, which will dish up a pølse sausage in either a hot dog bun (brød) or wrapped in a flat potato bread (lompe) for around 20 kr.
Vegetarians
Very few Norwegian cuisine restaurants has vegetarian meals on the menu, but will make something if asked, with varying success. Some of the few chains of stores/restaurants where you will always have a vegetarian option is Dolly Dimple's, SubWay and Esso/On the run (spinach panini).
Food safety
Food safety is very good in Norway -Salmonella is very rare compared to other countries, and health officials inspect restaurants at a regular basis. Also tap-water is often very nice; tap-water from Voss is actually filled into bottles and exported to USA.
Drink
Norway is often described as a "dry" country, because alcohol is highly priced and glass of wine/beer in a restaurant is in the range of 60 kr (£6/$9/€9). Beer can be bought at the supermarkets, however wine and stronger alcoholic beverages have to be purchased in state owned liquor stores (Vinmonopolet). The price of alcohol, however does not stop the locals from having a good time. They are often found drinking and carrying on in local street parties and on their porches.
You must be at least 18 years old to purchase beer/wine and 20 years old to purchase spirits (alcohol levels of 22% and above) in Norway.
Technically, you're not allowed to drink in public. This law is very strict, and even encompasses your own balcony, if other people can see you! Luckily, the law is very seldom enforced (I've never heard of anyone being fined in their own balcony, for instance), and Norwegians indeed do drink in parks. There are calls for modifying the antiquated law, and recently, there has been a debate in media: most people seem to agree that drinking in parks is alright as long as people have a good time and remain peaceful. However, if you bother others and get too intoxicated or a policeman happens to be in a bad mood, you may be asked to throw away your alcohol, and in a worst-case scenario, fined. Drinking openly in the street is probably still considered somewhat rude, and it would be more likely to bring the police's attention than a picnic in a park, and is advised against. Having a glass of wine in an establishment that legally serves alcohol at the sidewalk, of course, is not a problem.
In Norway, all alcohol with a volume percentage of under 4,75% can be sold at regular shops. This means you can get decent beer all over the place. The price varies, but imported beer is usually expensive. Shopping hours for beer are very strict: The sale stops at 8 pm (20.00) every weekday, and at 6 pm (18.00) every day before holidays (incl sundays). This means the beer will have to be PAID before this time. If it's not paid, the person behind the counter will take your beer, and tell you "Sorry pal, too late!". On Sunday, you can't buy beer anywhere except bars/pubs/restaurants.
For strong beer, wine and hard alcohol, you will have to find a Vinmonopolet branch. The state shop have a marvellous choice of drinks, but at mostly sky-high prices. The general rule is that table wines are more expensive than in nearly any other country. Expect NOK 80-90 for a decent, "cheap" wine. They are open until 5 pm (17.00) Mon-Wed, 6 pm (18.00) Thu-Fri, and 3 pm (15.00) on Sat. Sunday? No way.
Sleep
A single hotel room should cost you from around 800 kr and up (special offers are common and cheaper), but you can find reasonable cheap lodgings in camping huts (300-600 kr, space for entire family), mountain cabins (150-300 kr per person), youth hostels (150-250 kr per person), etc. Most of these will require you to make your own food, bring your own bedsheets, and wash before leaving.
Work
Citizens of countries belonging to the European Union, plus Iceland and Lichtenstein do not require a permit and are free to live and work in Norway (some restrictions apply for recent members of the European Union). You may start from the local office of the public agency NAV, to get legal advise and a list of available jobs. Note that even though the unemployment rate in Norway is very low, short-term employment may be hard to find. (Certainly when not fluent in a Scandinavian language.)
Stay safe
Norway has a low crime rate. Crime is mostly limited to theft and vandalism. Single women should have no problems, although ordinary street sense is advised after dark, especially in Oslo. There are some areas that you should stay away from in Oslo.
Norwegians tend not to put up warning signs if there is no real reason; you will find few "watch your step" signs. Where there are warnings, pay attention. Every year, quite a few tourists get hurt, even killed, in the mountains or on the seas, usually after given unheeded warnings. For example, do not approach a glacier front unless you know what you're doing.
When hiking, ALWAYS make sure to bring a map and a compass, and make sure someone knows where you're going, and when you get back. While a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit may offer some help and convenience, do not rely on it exclusively. While a map is failsafe, a GPS is not. Make sure you bring some food and plenty of warm clothing. Always be prepared for a sudden shift in the weather, as these can happen very quickly in Norway. Even though the sun is shining when you sit out you can have a medium sized blizzard on your hands (no joke!) an hour or two later.
Smoking
Smoking is strictly forbidden in restaurants, bars or other public places indoors, and violations might force the establishment to deny you service, or else they'll risk getting fined bigtime by the county or the police. You'll have to go outside with all the other smokers.
Respect
Norwegians are generally sincere and polite, though small talk often doesn't come easy – it's usually up to you to break the ice (sometimes literally). They can be very direct and rarely say please, which can come across as rude, but it's usually not intended. They also tend to address people by their first name even in many formal occasions.
Contact
Cellphone coverage is universal in urban areas. Even in the most remote mountain cabins, as long as they are staffed, you will usually be able to send a postcard. As many as 66% (2004) of Norwegian homes are connected to the internet in some fashion, 80% of these by broadband, which make Cybercafés hard to find outside major cities, due to a relatively small market. Most public libraries have free public access to the internet, but a limited number of computers and limited opening hours.
However, if you bring a laptop with a wireless connection you will find wireless internet zones just about everywhere(gas stations, city centres, cafés, shopping malls, hotels etc).
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway (Kongeriket Norge (bokmål); Kongeriket Noreg (nynorsk)), is a Nordic country.
It occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula in Europe. Norway is bordered by 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. Norwegian sovereignty of Svalbard is based upon 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 where it has established the Troll permanent research station.
Norway is rated the most peaceful country in the world.
History
Seemingly, archaeological finds indicate that there were people in Norway as early as the 10th millennium BC (12,000 years ago). Archaeological research shows that they came from either southern regions (northern Germany), or from the north-east (northern Finland or Russia). From there they settled along the coastline.
In the 9th century it seems that Norway consisted of a number of petty kingdoms. According to tradition, Harald Fairhair gathered the small kingdoms into one in 872AD 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. Norwegians established settlements on Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and parts of Britain and Ireland, and attempted to settle at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada (the "Vinland" of the Saga of Eric the Red). Norwegians founded the modern-day Irish cities of Limerick, Dublin, and Waterford and established trading communities near the Celtic settlements of Cork and Dublin which later became Ireland's two most important cities. The spread of Christianity in Norway in this period is in large part attributed to the missionary kings Olav Trygvason (995–1000) and St. Olav (1015–1028), although Haakon the Good was Norway's first Christian king. Norse traditions were slowly replaced during the (9th and 10th centuries).
Also, in 1349, the Black Death killed between 40% and 50% of the Norwegian population, causing a decline in both society and economics. During this decline, it is probable that the Fairhair dynasty died out in 1387. Ostensibly, 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. Suddenly, Sweden declared its independence in 1523, but Norway remained under the Oldenburg dynasty for 434 years until 1814. During the national romanticism of the 19th century, this period was by some referred to as the "400-Year Night", since all of the kingdom's royal, intellectual, and administrative power was centred in Copenhagen, Denmark. However, it must be said that the common people of Norway had more freedom and paid lower taxes than the Danish people because it was difficult for royal bureaucracy to have strict control over its distant Norwegian provinces. Other factors also contributed to Norway's decline in this period. With the introduction of Protestantism in 1537, the archbishopric in Trondheim was dissolved, and the church's incomes were distributed to the court in Copenhagen in Denmark instead. 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 Great Britain, it entered into an alliance with Napoleon, and in 1814 found itself on the losing side in the Napoleonic Wars and in dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812. 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 the Bernadotte dynasty as rulers of Norway. 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, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, 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.
Christian Michelsen, a Norwegian shipping magnate and statesman, was Prime Minister of Norway from 1905 to 1907. Michelsen is most known for his central role in the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden on June 7, 1905. Norway's growing dissatisfaction with the union with Sweden during the late 19th century combined with nationalism to prompt the dissolution of the union. After a national referendum confirmed the people's preference for a monarchy over a republic, the Norwegian government offered the throne of Norway to the Danish Prince Carl and Parliament unanimously elected him king. He took the name of Haakon VII, after the medieval kings of independent Norway. In 1898, all men were granted universal suffrage, followed by all women in 1913.
During World War I, Norway was a neutral country. Norway also attempted to claim neutrality during World War II, but was invaded by German forces on April 9, 1940. The Allies also had plans to invade Norway, in order to take advantage of her strategically important Atlantic coast, but were thwarted by the German operation. Norway was unprepared for the German surprise attack, but military resistance continued for two months, longer than any country invaded by the Germans, save the Soviet Union. During the Norwegian campaign, the Kriegsmarine lost many ships including the brand new cruiser Blücher. The battles of Vinjesvingen and Hegra eventually became the last strongholds of Norwegian resistance in southern Norway in May, while the armed forces in the north launched an offensive against the German forces in the Battles of Narvik, until they were forced to surrender on June 10 after losing allied help following the fall of France. King Haakon and the Norwegian government continued the fight from exile in Rotherhithe, London. On the day of the invasion, the collaborative leader of the small National-Socialist party Nasjonal Samling — Vidkun Quisling — tried to seize power, but was forced by the German occupiers to step aside. Real power was wielded by the leader of the German occupation authority, Reichskommissar Josef Terboven. Quisling, as minister president, later formed a collaborationist government under German control. During the five years of Nazi occupation, Norwegians built a strong resistance movement which fought the German occupation forces with both armed resistance and civil disobedience. More important to the Allied war effort, however, was the role of the Norwegian merchant navy. At the time of the invasion, Norway had the fourth largest (as well as fastest and most effective) merchant navy in the world.page 93 It was led by the Norwegian shipping company Nortraship under the Allies throughout the war and took part in every war operation from the evacuation of Dunkirk to the Normandy landings.
Following the war, the Social Democrats came to power and ruled the country for much of the cold war. Norway joined NATO in 1949, and became a close ally of the United States. Two plebiscites to join the European Union failed by narrow margins in 1972 and 1994. Large reserves of oil and gas were discovered in the 1960s, which lead to a continuing boom in the economy.
Geography
Norway comprises the western part of Scandinavia in Northern Europe. The rugged coastline, broken by massive fjords and thousands of islands, stretches over 25,000 km. Norway shares a 2,542 km land border with Sweden, Finland, and Russia to the east. To the west and south, Norway is bordered by the Norwegian Sea, the North Sea, and Skagerak. The Barents Sea washes on Norway's northern coasts.
At 385,155 km² (including Jan Mayen, Svalbard), Norway is approximately the size of Germany, but much of the country is dominated by mountainous or high terrain, with a great variety of natural features caused by prehistoric glaciers and varied topography. The most noticeable of these are the fjords, deep grooves cut into the land flooded by the sea following the end of the Ice Age; the longest is Sognefjorden. Norway also contains many glaciers and waterfalls.
The land is mostly made of hard granite and gneiss rock, but slate, sandstone and limestone are also common, and the lowest elevations have marine deposits. Due to the Gulf Stream and prevailing westerlies, Norway experiences warmer temperatures and more precipitation than expected at such northern latitudes, especially along the coast. The mainland experiences four distinct seasons, with colder winters and less precipitation inland. The northernmost part has a mostly maritime Subarctic climate, while Svalbard has an Arctic tundra climate.
There are large seasonal variations in daylight. In areas north of the Arctic Circle, the summer sun may never completely descend beneath the horizon, hence Norway's description as the "Land of the Midnight Sun." During summer, inhabitants south of the Arctic Circle still experience sunlight nearly 20 of the day's 24 hours.
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. As it stands, the functions of the King, Harald V, are mainly ceremonial, but he has influence as the symbol of national unity. Although the constitution of 1814 grants important executive powers to the King, these are always exercised by the Council of State in the name of the King (King's Council, or cabinet). The reserve powers vested in the Monarch by the constitution are in reality symbolic, but has on a few occasions been important like World War II, when the Monarch said he would step down if the government should accept the German demand. The Council of State consists of a Prime Minister and other ministers, formally appointed by the King. Parliamentarism has evolved since 1884 and entails that the cabinet must not have the parliament against it, and that the appointment by the King is a formality when there is a clear majority in Parliament for a party or a coalition of parties. But after elections resulting in no clear majority to any party or coalition, the speaker of the parliament talks to all the different party leaders, and then the leader of the party most likely to be able to form a government is appointed Prime Minister by the King. Norway has often been ruled by minority governments. The King has government meetings every Friday at Oslo Palace (Council of State), but the government decisions are decided before in government conferences, headed by the Prime Minister, every Tuesday and Thursday. The King opens the Parliament every September, he receives ambassadors to the Norwegian court, and he is the symbolically Supreme Commander of the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Head of the Church of Norway.
The Norwegian parliament, Stortinget, currently has 169 members (increased from 165, effective from the elections of 12 September, 2005). The members are elected from the nineteen counties for four-year terms according to a system of proportional representation. When voting on legislation, the Storting – until the 2009 election – divides itself into two chambers, the Odelsting and the Lagting. Laws are in most cases proposed by the government through a Member of the Council of State, or in some cases by a member of the Odelsting in case of repeated disagreement in the joint Storting. Nowadays, however, the Lagting rarely disagrees, effectively rubber-stamping the Odelsting's decisions. A constitutional amendment of February 20, 2007 will repeal the division after the 2009 general election.
Impeachment cases are very rare (the last being in 1927, when Prime Minister Abraham Berge was acquitted) and may be brought against Members of the Council of State, of the Supreme Court (Høyesterett), or of the Storting for criminal offenses which they may have committed in their official capacity.
Prior to an amendment to the Norwegian Constitution on February 20, 2007 indictments were raised by the Odelsting and judged by the Lagting and the Supreme Court justices as part of the High Court of the Realm. In the new system impeachment cases will be heard by the five highest ranking Supreme Court justices and six lay members in one of the Supreme Court courtrooms (previously cases were heard in the Lagting chamber). Storting representatives may not perform as lay judges. Indictments will be raised by the Storting in a plenary session.
The Storting otherwise functions as a unicameral parliament and after the 2009 general election the division into Odelsting and Lagting for passing legislation will be abolished. Legislation will then have to go through two – three in case of dissent – readings before being passed and sent to the King for assent.
The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court (eighteen permanent judges and a chief justice), courts of appeal, city and district courts, and conciliation councils. Judges attached to regular courts are appointed by the King in council.
In order to form a government, more than half the membership of the Council of State is required to belong to the Church of Norway. Currently, this means at least ten out of nineteen members.
In December each year, Norway gives a Christmas tree to the United Kingdom, in thanks for the UK's assistance during World War II. A ceremony takes place to erect the tree in Trafalgar Square.
Administrative divisions
Norway is divided into nineteen first-level administrative regions known as fylker ("counties"; singular fylke) and 431 second-level kommuner ("municipalities"; singular kommune). The fylke is the intermediate administration between state and municipality. The King is represented in every county by a "Fylkesmann".
There is ongoing debate as to whether the nineteen fylker should be replaced with five to nine larger regions. Some expect this to happen by 2010, whereas others expect the intermediate administration to disappear entirely. Another option would probably require consolidating the municipalities into larger entities and delegating greater responsibility to them.
The counties of Norway are:
Economy
Norway possesses the second highest GDP per-capita and third highest PPP per-capita in the world, and has maintained 1st place in the world in the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) for the fifth consecutive year (2006). Cost of living is about 30% higher in Norway than in the US, and 25% higher than the UK.
The Norwegian economy is an example of mixed economy, featuring a combination of free market activity and large government ownership. The government controls key areas, such as the strategic petroleum sector (Statoil, Hydro, hydroelectric energy production Statkraft), and the largest Norwegian bank (DnBNOR) and telecommunication provider (Telenor). The government controls 31.6% of publicly listed companies. When non-listed companies are included the state has even higher share in ownership (mainly from direct oil license ownership).
The control mechanisms over petroleum resources are a combination of state ownership in major operators in the Norwegian fields (Statoil approx. 70% in 2005, Norsk Hydro 43% in 2004) and the fully state owned Petoro (market value of about twice Statoil) and SDFI. Finally the government controls licensing 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 and the substantial income related to this sector. Norway also has a very low unemployment rate, currently below 2% (June 2007). The hourly productivity levels, as well as average hourly wages in Norway are among the highest in the world. The egalitarian values of the Norwegian society ensures that the wage difference between the lowest paid worker and the CEO of most companies is much smaller than in comparable western economies.
In 2006, oil and gas accounted for 58% of exports. Only Russia and OPEC member Saudi Arabia export more oil than Norway, which is not an OPEC member. To reduce over-heating from oil-money, the uncertainty from the oil income volatility, and save money for an aging population, the Norwegian state started in 1995 to save petroleum income (taxes, dividends, licensing, sales) in a Sovereign wealth fund ("Government Pension Fund - Global"). This also reduces the boom and bust cycle associated with raw material production and the marginalization of non-oil industry (see also Dutch Disease).
Because of its size the fund is invested in developed financial markets outside Norway. The budgetary rule ("Handlingsregelen") is to spend no more than 4% of the fund each year (assumed to be the normal yield from the fund ). By January 2006, the Fund was at USD 200 billion, representing 70% of GDP in Norway. During the first half of 2007, the pension fund became the largest fund in Europe, totaling about USD 300 billion. Already (April 2007), Norway has the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation. Projections indicate that the Norwegian pension fund is set to become the largest capital fund in the world. Conservative estimates tell that the fund may reach USD 800-900 billion by 2017. Other natural resource-based economies (examples: Russia and Chile) are trying to learn from Norway by establishing similar funds.
The future size of the fund is of course closely linked to the oil price and the developments in international financial markets in which the fund is invested.
Referendums in 1972 and 1994 indicated that the Norwegian people wished to remain outside the European Union (EU). However, Norway, together with Iceland and Liechtenstein, participates in the European Union's single market via the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement. The EEA Treaty between the European Union countries and the EFTA countries – transposed into Norwegian law via "EØS-loven" – describes the procedures for implementing European Union rules in Norway and the other EFTA countries. This makes Norway a highly integrated member of most sectors of the EU internal market. However, some sectors, such as agriculture, oil and fish, are not wholly covered by the EEA Treaty. Norway has also acceded to the Schengen Agreement and several other intergovernmental agreements between the EU member states.
In 2000, the government sold one-third of the then 100% state-owned oil company Statoil in an IPO. The next year, the main telecom supplier, Telenor, was listed on Oslo Stock Exchange. The state also owns significant shares of Norway's biggest bank, DnB NOR and the airline SAS. Since 2000, economic growth has been rapid, pushing unemployment down to levels not seen since the early 1980s.
The Norwegian currency is the krone.
Demography
As of 2005, Norway's population of 4.6 million is growing by 0.73% per year. Most Norwegians are ethnic Norwegians, a Nordic/North Germanic people, while small minorities in the north are Sami, Romani and Kven. The Sami are considered an indigenous people and traditionally live in the central and northern parts of Norway and Sweden, as well as in northern Finland and in Russia on the Kola Peninsula. The largest concentration of Sami people is, however, found in Norway's capital and main city, Oslo. Norway has a small Finnish community originally from Finland, like the Sami the Finns speak a native Finno-Ugric language in addition to Norwegian, but Finland is culturally a Scandinavian country like Norway.
In recent years, immigration has accounted for more than half of Norway's population growth. At the beginning of 2006, there were 387,000 persons in Norway with an immigrant background (i.e. immigrants, or born of immigrant parents), comprising 8.3 per cent of the total population. The largest immigrant groups by country of origin are Pakistanis, Swedes, Iraqis, Danes, Vietnamese and Somalis. The Iraqi immigrant population has shown a large increase over the last years, and is now the third largest immigrant group in Norway after Pakistanis and Swedes. The largest increase in 2005 was of immigrants from Poland, Iraq, and Russia.
Religion
In common with other Scandinavian peoples, Norway's ancestral inhabitants – the indigenous Norse – followed a form of native Germanic paganism known as Norse polytheism. By the end of the tenth century, when Norway had been Christianized, the indigenous Norse religion and practices were prohibited. Anti-heathenry laws, however, were removed early in the twentieth century. Many remnants of the native religion of Norway exist today, including referential city names to the days of the week to the very language.
Small groups attempting to reconstruct the native Norwegian Norse polytheism exist in various forms, including groups such as Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost and Foreningen Forn Sed. These small groups have been recognized by the Norwegian government as a religious society, allowing them to perform "legally binding civil ceremonies" (i. e. marriages).
88% of Norwegians are members of the state Church of Norway. Many remain in the state church to be able to use services such as baptism, confirmation, marriage and burial, rites which have strong cultural standing in Norway.
Other Christian denominations total about 4.5% (the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church, the Roman Catholic Church, Pentecostal congregations, the Methodist Church, Adventists and others). Among non-Christian religions, Islam is the largest with around 1.5% represented in the Arab, Albanian, Pakistani, Somalian and Turkish communities, and other religions comprise less than 1% each, (including Judaism; see Jews in Norway, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Jehovah's Witnesses). Indian immigrants introduced Hinduism in Norway, but are only 0.50% of the population. There are eleven Buddhist organizations, grouped under the Buddhistforbundet organisation, which make up 0.42% of the population. Around 1.5% adhere to the secular Human Ethical Union. As of 1 January, 2003, approximately 5% of the population are unaffiliated.
In 2005, a survey conducted by Gallup International in sixty-five countries indicated that Norway was the least religious country in Western Europe, with 36% counting themselves as being religious, 9% as being atheists, and 46% neither.;
Languages
The Norwegian language has two official written forms, Bokmål and Nynorsk. They have officially equal status, i.e. they are both used in public administration, in schools, churches, radio and television, but Bokmål is used by the majority. Around 95% of the population speak Norwegian as their native tongue, although many speak dialects that may differ significantly from the written language. In general Norwegian dialects are inter-intelligible, though some may require significant effort. Several Sami languages are spoken and written throughout the country, especially in the north, by the Sami people. The state recognises these languages as official, and speakers have a right to receive communications from government in various Sami languages The Kven minority speak Kven, a variety of Finnish. The Germanic Norwegian language and the Finno-Ugric Sami and Kven languages are entirely unrelated.
The main foreign languages (primærfremmedspråk) taught in Norway are English, German and French. People may contact the authorities or take their exams in any of the three main foreign languages as well as in the two other Scandinavian languages (Danish and Swedish).
Any Norwegian student who is a child of immigrant parents is encouraged to learn the Norwegian language. The Norwegian government offers language instructional courses for immigrants wishing to obtain Norwegian citizenship.
Norwegian is highly similar to the other Scandinavian languages, Swedish and Danish. All three languages are intelligible and all the languages can be used to communicate with each other.
Individual human rights
Norway is the current top-ranked nation in the UN Human Development Index, an index made up by literacy rate, education level and per capita income.
Freedom of expression is enshrined in Article 100 of the Constitution of Norway. Freedom of religion is enshrined in Article 2 of the Constitution, which also establishes the state religion as "Evangelical Lutheran". The press is not censored. Editors adhere to self-imposed commandments of caution, in order to protect people's privacy and other civic rights (":no:Vær Varsom-plakaten|Vær Varsom-plakaten").
Public radio and TV broadcast mostly without interference from the government, although permission to broadcast depends on the programme spectrum. Broadcast advertisement is regulated, with particular restrictions on paid political messages and advertising directed at children.
The constitution forbids retroactive laws, punishment not based on laws and court decisions, and the use of torture. Capital punishment for high crime during wartime was abolished in 1979.
In 1999, the Human Rights conventions of the United Nations and the Council of Europe were constituted as law in Norway (menneskerettsloven) and given superiority to all laws after the constitution.
However, Norwegian lawyers have joined the Council of Europe's Committee Against Torture to express their concern about the long-term detention of criminal defendants and the use of solitary confinement in Norway, deeming it to be torture. The use of leg-irons and handcuffs on a group of robbers who, armed with G3s, shot and killed a police officer in 2004, was deemed illegal by Norwegian courts. Long processing times for asylum seekers and the treatment of those arriving without identity papers has also been under discussion.
In 2005, the international conventions against discrimination of women and race discrimination were incorporated in to (but not made superior to) Norwegian law. Amnesty International has recently focused on violence against women in Norway and a shortage of public services to victims of violence.
Norway has compulsory military service for men. Conscripts are drafted at age 18 for initial service (førstegangstjeneste) of between six to twelve months (Service may begin at age 17 with parental consent). After completion of the initial service period, personnel are transferred to reserve units, which may be called up for periodic training (repetisjonstjeneste) until age 44. Conscientious objectors serve sixteen months in an alternative civilian national service. If a candidate refuses to attend the assessment of fitness (sesjon), where any objections to future military service are to be stated, they are liable to prosecution. A person who is deemed fit for service and who is not a conscientious objector, but still refuses military service is also liable to prosecution. Changes to the structure of the armed forces has resulted in a lower demand for conscripts, and the number of males needing to serve is decreasing.
Homosexuality was officially decriminalized in 1972 and homosexual partnerships legalized in 1993. According to Statistics Norway (SSB), 192 homosexual partnerships were recorded in 2004. Since 2002, it has become possible for homosexual partners to adopt each other's children from previous relationships, although joint adoption is yet to be allowed.
Literature
The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the 9th and 10th centuries with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr Skáldaspillir. The arrival of Christianity around the year 1000 brought Norway into contact with European medieval learning, hagiography and history writing. Merged with native oral tradition and Icelandic influence this was to flower into an active period of literature production in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Major works of that period include Historia Norwegie, Thidreks saga and Konungs skuggsjá.
Little Norwegian literature came out of the period of the Scandinavian Union and the subsequent Dano-Norwegian union (1387—1814), with some notable exceptions such as Petter Dass and Ludvig Holberg. In his play Peer Gynt, Ibsen characterized this period as "Twice two hundred years of darkness/brooded o'er the race of monkeys", although the latter line is not as frequently quoted as the former. During the union with Denmark, written Norwegian was replaced by Danish.
Two major events precipitated a major resurgence in Norwegian literature. In 1811 a Norwegian university was established in Christiania Seized by the spirit of revolution following the American and French Revolutions, the Norwegians signed their first constitution in 1814. Soon, the cultural backwater that was Norway brought forth a series of strong authors recognized first in Scandinavia, and then worldwide; among them were Henrik Wergeland, Peter Asbjørnsen, Jørgen Moe and Camilla Collett.
By the late 19th century, in the Golden Age of Norwegian literature, the so-called Great Four emerged: Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Alexander Kielland, and Jonas Lie. Bjørnson's "peasant novels", such as "En glad gutt" (A Happy Boy) and "Synnøve Solbakken" are typical of the national romanticism of their day, whereas Kielland's novels and short stories are mostly realistic. Although an important contributor to early Norwegian romanticism (especially the ironic Peer Gynt), Henrik Ibsen's fame rests primarily on his pioneering realistic dramas such The Wild Duck and A Doll's House, many of which caused moral uproar because of their candid portrayals of the middle classes.
In the twentieth century three Norwegian novelists were awarded the Nobel prize in literature: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1903, Knut Hamsun for the book "Markens grøde" ("Growth of the Soil") in 1920, and Sigrid Undset in 1928. In the 20th century writers like Dag Solstad, Jostein Gaarder, Jens Bjørneboe, Kjartan Fløgstad, Lars Saabye Christensen, Johan Borgen, Herbjørg Wassmo, Jan Erik Vold, Rolf Jacobsen, Olaf Bull, Jan Kjærstad, Georg Johannesen, Tarjei Vesaas, Sigurd Hoel and Johan Falkberget have made important contributions to Norwegian literature.
National flower
Norway has two national flowers.
At an international congress for botanists held in Amsterdam in 1935, Saxifraga cotyledon was elected national flower of Norway.
Later, in 1976, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation held an referendum on one of their programs which elected Calluna vulgaris, commonly known as heather, as national flower.
Both plants are accepted as national flowers.
See also
Lists
External links
