A Kingdom of Norway occurs as Nordic country on the western part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia, with territorial waters bordering Danish and British waters. It has a super longer form & has an extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean, where Norway's far-famed fjords are encountered. A nearby island territories of Svalbard and Jan Mayen come under Norwegian sovereignty and are considered when a share of Norway as a kingdom, while Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean and Peter I Island in the South Pacific Ocean are Norwegian dependencies, which are non considered section of the kingdom. Additionally, Norway has the claim for Dronning Maud Land in Antarctica. } History
Independent article: History of Norway

In the 9th century Norway consisted of a total of petty kingdoms. Based on data from tradition, Harald Fairhair gathered a little kingdoms into one and around 872 sustaining the battle of Hafrsfjord, he established a feudalistic state.

A Viking age (8th to 11th centuries) was one of national unification and expansion. A Norwegians colonized Icel&, a Faroe Islands, Greenl& and area of the British Islands and attempted to settle at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada (perhaps the Vinland of The Saga of Eric the Red). Norwegians founded a modern day Irish cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford and captured the Anglo-Saxon city of Eoforwic renaming it Jorvik, today referred to as York. A Norwegian Rollo invaded and was ceded Normandy in modern France; his descendent William the Conqueror successfully invaded and conquered England around 1066.

A Norwegian royal line died out in 1387, partly because of a grand recession when the black plague around 1349, wiping out the majority of the people, & part because Queen Margrethe's boy, heir to the potty, died at barely Xvii years aged. the united states entered an extended time when a weak spot of a union by using Denmark. Margrethe (entombed within Roskilde, Denmark) was as well queen of Denmark & Sweden. By owning a forced introduction of Protestantism inside 1537, Norway lost a steadily stream of pilgrims to the relics of Saint Olav at the Nidaros shrine. By having a two, ironically, went lot of the call for using the ethnical & economic life of the rest of Europe. In a weak of national romanticism when you took the 19th century, this period was by a bit of known as a "400-year night".

Fallowing Denmark-Norway sided with Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars, Norway was ceded to the king of Sweden in 1814. Notwithstanding, Norway declared her independence, adopted a constitutiin according to Our contries & French system & elected the Danish prince Christian Fredrik when king on 17 May 1814. Norway was forced into the personal union with Sweden, but saved its liberal constitution & independent institutions, except for the foreign service. Growing Norwegian dissatisfaction by owning a union in a period of the late 19th century, national romanticism, growing national culture, literature and painting (Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Hans Gude, Adolph Tiedemand), spawned its dissolution 7 June 1905. A Norwegian government offered a potty of Norway to Danish Prince Carl. When a referendum confirming a monarchy, the Parliament nemine contradicente elected him king. He took a title of Haakon VII, after a mediaeval kings of independent Norway. Within 1913, Norwegian women gained suffrage.

Norway was the neutral united states when you took World War I. Norway too attempted to claim neutrality in the period of World War II, but was invaded by German forces on the 9th of April 1940 (Operation Weserübung). A Allies likewise experienced plans to invade Norway, sequentially to choose benefit of her strategically significant Atlantic coast, however were thwarted per German operation. Armed trend lines inside Norway went inside for deuce months, however a King & government continued a fight from either exile in Rotherhithe, London. On a day of the invasion, the collaborative leader of the little National-Socialist person Nasjonal Samling – Vidkun Quisling – tried to seize power, however was forced per German occupiers to step aside. Rattling power was wielded per leader of the German occupation authority, Reichskommissar Josef Terboven. Collaborationist, when minister president, late formed the government under German control.

Within 1944, a Germans evacuated the provinces of Finnmark and northern Troms, using the scorched earth tactic to create the immense metropolitan area of ''There is no-human's land inside response to the Red Army attacking their positions in eastern Finnmark. a Soviets attacked into eastern Finnmark to produce a buffer zone when pushing a German forces away from the arctic Kola peninsula. A Russians peacefully returned a vicinity to Norwegian control fallowing a war. A Germans around Norway fell back in 8 May 1945.

A occupation when you took World War II made Norwegians generally further sceptical of the conception of neutrality. It turned instead to collective security. Norway was one of a signer of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 and was a origination member of the United Nations, providing its first secretary general – Trygve Lie. Norway has twice voted against joining a European Union (in 1972 and 1994), but is associated by owning a EU via a European Economic Area. All the same, Norway occurs as member of the lot little European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

Politics
Independent article: Politics of Norway''

Norway occurs as constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government.

A Royalty occurs as branch of the princely personal of Glücksburg, originally from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. [http://www.kongehuset.no/dt_kongehuset_allAtOnce.asp?ogid=21&mgid=21&gid=54&aid=] A functions of the King, Harald V, are principally ceremonial, however he hwhen influence as a symbol of national unity. Although a constitution of 1814 grants important executive powers to the king, which are actually near universally exercised per Council of State in the name of the King (King's Council, or even cabinet). A reserve powers vested in the Monarch per constitution are however crucial & an important security a share of the role of the Monarchy, and were survive utilized in the period of World War II. the Council of State consists of a Prime Minister and his council, formally appointed by the King. Since 1884, parliamentarism has ensured that a cabinet must own a trend lines of the parliament, and then the appointment per King occurs as formality.

Stortinget, Oslo A Norwegian parliament, Stortinget, currently has 169 members (increased from either either 165, efficacious from a elections of 12 September 2005). A members come elected from either a Xix counties for 4-month terms based on datthe from a technique of proportional representation. When elections a Storting divides into two chambers, the Odelsting and the Lagting, which meet separately or even jointly contingent the agenda. Laws come proposed per Odelsting & decided per Lagting or even, just in case of disagreement, per joint Storting. Impeachment subjects come raised per Odelsting & estimated per Lagting when a share of the State supreme court of the Realm. Apart from either this, a Storting functions as a unicameral parliament.

A regular courts include a Supreme Court or Høyesterett (17 lasting judges & the chief justice), courts of appeal, city & zone courts, and conciliation councils. Judges tied to regular courts come appointed per King in council after nomination by the Ministry of Justice. A favorite Supreme court of a Realm, which consists of the Supreme Court + the Lagting, hears impeachment cases.

Counties
Independent article: Counties of Norway Norway is divided into Nineteen administrative regions, known as fylker (singular fylke) & 433 kommuner (singular kommune). Fylke & kommune come officially translated to English as county and municipality. A fylke is the average administration between state & municipality.

Akershus Aust-Agder Buskerud Finnmark Hedmark Hordaland Møre og Romsdal Nordland Nord-Trøndelag Oppland Oslo Østfold Rogaland Sogn og Fjordane Sør-Trøndelag Telemark Troms Vest-Agder Vestfold

Look at likewise Regions of Norway.

Geography
Independent article: Geography of Norway

Reine, Lofoten, seen from top of Reinebringen (June, 2003). A landscape is typically rugged & mountainous, topped by glaciers, and its coastline of on top 83,000 kilometer [http://odin.dep.no/odin/engelsk/norway/environment/032091-991558/dok-bn.html] is punctuated by steep-sloped recess called fjords, as well as a people of islands & isle. A Northern a share of a united states is also referred to as the Land of the Midnight Sun because of its northern location, northward of the Arctic Circle, where for section of every summertime a sun doesn't placed, & within wintertime very much of its land remains dark for yearn periods.

Norway is bounded for its entire length by seas of the Northerly Atlantic Ocean: the North Sea to a southwest and its big recess the Skagerrak to the south, the Norwegian Sea to a west, and the Barents Sea to the northeast. To the east, sequentially from either south to northerly, it shares an extended border by having Sweden, a shorter of these using Finland, and the however shorter 1 by using Russia. Norway's greatest point is the Galdhøpiggen at 2,469 m. By owning the utmost depth of 514 m, Hornindalsvatnet is Norway's and Europe's deepest lake.

A Norwegian climate is fairly temperate, especially along a coast under the influence of the Gulf Stream. A inl& climate may be extra severe and northwards additional subarctic conditions are witnessed, especially inside Finnmark.

Climate information for a bit of cities inside different regions of the united states; base time period 1961-1990 (temperatures come 24hr typical):

Information from either Norges Meteorologiske Institutt (Norwegian Meteorological Institute). Note: Temperatures keep around tended to become higher inside recent years (view main article).
[http://met.no/english/climate/ Norwegian Meteorological Institute: The climate of Norway]

Economy
Independent article: Economy of Norway

Henningsvær, a fishing village in Lofoten during fishing season (April, 2001). the Norwegian economy occurs as prosperous bastion of social capitalist economy, featuring a combination of free market activity and government intervention. a food and drug administration command key areas, like the vital petroleum sector (through big-shell state enterprises). A united states is richly endowed sustaining natural resource - petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals - and is extremely contingent its petroleum production and international oil numbers; inside 2004, oil and gas accounted for 50% of exports. Single Saudi Arabia and Russia export more oil than Norway, which is non the member of OPEC. A previous Twenty-five years, a Norwegian economy has shown various signs of the economic phenomenon known as Dutch disease.

Norway opted to stay away from a European Union during a referendum withwithin 1972, & once again in November 1994. Even so, Norway, together by having Iceland and Liechtenstein, participate in the EU's single market via a European Economic Area (EEA) agreement.

Economic incubation picked higher within 2000 to 2.7%, equated by owning a meagerly Nought.8% of 1999, however fell back to Unity.3% around 2001. Fallowing meagerly incubation witharound 2002 & 2003, a economy expanded extra chop-chop in 2004. The food and drug administration moved in the lead by using privatisation in 2000, selling one-tierce of the so 100% state-owned oil company Statoil.

Using arguably a superiority of life worldwide, Norwegians however worry all about that period in a next ii decades after the oil & flatulence start to rerun out. Accordingly, Norway has been saving its oil-boosted budget excess inside the Government Petroleum Fund, which is invested abroad & at a prevent of the 2nd quarter of 2005 was valued at 181.Five billion US dollars . Economic overheating is avoided per unfair saving - like than spending - of the oil revenues which are then of super large importance for the comparatively little united states.

Demographics
Independent article: Demographics of Norway

A Norwegian people is Four.6 million & increases by Cipher.4% by the month (estimate July 2004). Ethnically most Norwegians are Nordic / North Germanic, while little minorities northward come Finnish (see likewise Cwen). A Sami are instead considered an indigenous population, & traditionally sleep in a Northern area of Norway, Sweden, Finl& and Russia. A big concentration of Sami humans is, nonetheless, encountered in the Norwegian capital of Oslo.

Inside recent years, immigration has accounted for more than half a people incubation, & Vii.6% of the people come immigrants when of 1 January 2004. Norway sole requires within the super limited total of asylum seekers & aims to repatriate these population when quickly when conceivable. A big immigrant groups come Pakistanis, Danes, Swedes, Vietnamese and Iraqis. (On this text, immigrants come defined when souls by using ii foreign-nonnative parents [http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/00/minifakta_en/en/minifakta.pdf].)

Roughly 86% of the denizen come members of the Evangelic Lutheran Church of Norway (state church). More Christian societies total astir Quaternary.5% (a Evangelical Lutheran Free Church, the Catholic Church, Pentecostal congregations, the Methodist Church, etc.). Among non-Christless religions, Islam is the largest in Norway by using astir Unity.5%, & more religions come at to a lesser degree 1% every. Just about One.5% belong to the laic Human Ethical Union. When of 1 January 2003 approximately 5% of the population come unaffiliated ([http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/07/02/10/trosamf_en/]).

A Norwegian language has two official written forms, known as Bokmål and Nynorsk, which do not differ greatly. Bokmål is written by nigh 90% of the people, although numbers of speak dialects that differ significantly from a written language. Even so, completely of the Norwegian idiom come commonly interintelligible. Many Sami languages are spoken and written in the northern regions per Sami people. A Germanic Norwegian language and a Finno-Ugric Sami languages are totally unrelated. Nevertheless, a Finnish language bears some similarities to the Sami language.

Culture
Independent article: Culture of Norway

Famous Norwegians include a playwrights/novelists Baron Ludvig Holberg and Henrik Ibsen, explorers Roald Amundsen, Fridtjof Nansen, and Thor Heyerdahl, expressionist painter Edvard Munch and the romanticist composer Edvard Grieg. A playwright/novelists Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Knut Hamsun and Sigrid Undset have all won a Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1903, 1920 and 1928 respectively.

Norwegians celebrate their national day in May 17, Constitution Day. Numerous population have on bunad (traditional costumes) and virtually all participate within or even observe a 17 May parade through the towns. Henrik Wergeland was the founder of the 17 May parade. These parades differ markedly from either people of several more countries therein, like than a military parades of, for instance, France, it consist of tikes.

Music of Norway Norse mythology [http://www.nfi.no/english/norwegianfilms/ Norwegian films] Norwegian Theatres

Miscellaneous topics
Holidays in Norway Infrastructure within Norway Car numberplates in Norway Communications Power supply Transportation Foreign relations of Norway Military of Norway List of cities in Norway List of national parks of Norway List of Norwegian companies List of Norwegian language radio stations List of Norwegian newspapers List of Norwegian television channels List of Norwegians List of schools in Norway Norwegian literature Norwegian national football team Norwegian Premier League Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund Regions of Norway Tourism in Norway Cuisine of Norway musical organizations around Norway Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra

International rankings
[http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html GDP per capita] - Fourth of 231 countries Human Development Index - 1st of 177 countries 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 Index of Economic Freedom - 29th of 155 countries Reporters Without Borders Worldwide press freedom stock - First of 166 countries 2003, 2002 [http://www.savethechildren.org/mothers/report_2004/images/pdf/SOWM_2004_final.pdf Save the Babies: State of the World's Mothers 2004] Children's Stock: Rank One, Women's Stock: Rank 6, Mother's Stock: Rank 6 (119 countries) [http://www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/2004/2004.10.20.cpi.en.html Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2004] - Eighth of 145 countries [http://www.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/Global+Competitiveness+Programme%5CGlobal+Competitiveness+Report World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005] - Sixth of 104 countries