"Hyggelig å treffe deg." Norway by seagoingJLW

Norway Travel Guide: 13,466 reviews and 28,007 photos

Norway

What a beautiful country. And in the major cities, EVERYBODY speaks English. Here is the harbor in Oslo.

History

During their golden centuries, the Norwegian Vikings were the most enterprizing sailors in the world. Mariners, merchants and fisherman have livd in Oslofjord since the 8th century.

King Harald Fairhair unified the Norwegian lands about 900 AD, and St. Olav preached Christianity there a century later.

The city of Oslo probably dates from 1048 when Olav's brother built a fort and a settlement. About 1300, the powerful Akershus Castle was built to provid additional protection. But, in 1348, the Bubonic Plague ravaged Norway killing half of Oslo's people. In the weakened state, Norway became an outlying province of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The Luthern faith became the National church of Norway, dating from 1537. A desastrous fire in 1624 was reportedly set by three witches. After the fire, King Christian IV of Denmark rebuilt Oslo in the shadow of Akershus Fortress and renamed it Christiana. The name was changed back to Oslo exactly 300 years later.

In 1814, after the defeat of Napoleon, Denmark was punished for supporting the French Empire. Norway was transferred to Sweden and remained part of that country until independence in 1905.

German troops occupied the country in 1940 as Hitler sought to outflank a British naval blockade. Norwegian Resistance to the Nazi occupation was especially heroic.

In 1949 Norway joined the NATO alliance.

Miscellaneous Information

Norway is located on the western side of the Scandinavian peninsula. The North Sea separates Norway from the British Isles. The Skagerrak separates it from Denmark. Norway shares an extensive eastern border with Sweden and, to a lesser extent, with Finland and Russia.

Norway is about 1770 km long with an area of 323,878 sq km. Almost one third of the country lies within the Arctic Circle.

The climate is temperate. The severity of winter along the coast is moderated by southerly air currents brought in over the North Atlantic Drift which is warmed by the Gulf Stream. Summers are relatively cool throughout the country with extensive rainfall.

Norway's population (4,413,800 in 1997) is primarily Germanic. The largest ethnic minority are Sámi (Lapps) who live in Finnmark (northern Norway) who number about 30,000.

Norwegian is a Germanic language developed from the old Norse. It is related to Danish and Swedish. There are two official written norms, Bokmål and Nynorsk. There are hundreds of spoken dialects.

Pros and Cons

Pros:There are many things to see and many places to go.
Cons:None really. what's more, practically everybody speaks English
In a nutshell:Spend some time here

Last visit to Norway: May 1996
Intro Updated Apr 7, 2004
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Reviews (12)

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Written May 10, 2003

14 photos

Around Oslo

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Comments (24)

truus_s Feb 19, 2003 at 12:40 PM Report Abuse

Great page...I will to Norway this year!!Thanks
HawaiiGuy Jun 4, 2002 at 7:22 PM Report Abuse

Perfect pages. THANK YOU!
Porteplume May 11, 2002 at 11:32 AM Report Abuse

I never get enough of that lovely page...
Jimmytravel May 2, 2002 at 5:03 AM Report Abuse

Making me proud to be a Norwegian! Takk!
FrodeK Apr 26, 2002 at 5:46 AM Report Abuse

A beautifull page from my hometown!
nighthawk Apr 17, 2002 at 1:29 AM Report Abuse

well told info, interesting pics
zampieri Jan 10, 2002 at 10:58 AM Report Abuse

i am dreaming to come back to norway
maritagnes Jan 5, 2002 at 9:53 AM Report Abuse

Great page and good info about my country!
Christer81 Nov 28, 2001 at 2:23 AM Report Abuse

Awesome page - you really got the essence of Oslo
kristineb Nov 26, 2001 at 3:58 AM Report Abuse

Fascinating perspective. Glad you found people helpful here!