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Portal:Norway

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Location of Norway within Europe

Norway (Bokmål: Norge, Nynorsk: Noreg), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula with a population of 5.5 million as of 2024. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of Norway. Bouvet Island, located in the Subantarctic, is a dependency, and not a part of the Kingdom; Norway also claims the Antarctic territories of Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land. The capital and largest city in Norway is Oslo.

Norway has a total area of 385,207 square kilometres (148,729 sq mi). The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden, and is bordered by Finland and Russia to the northeast. Norway has an extensive coastline facing the Skagerrak strait, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the Barents Sea. Harald V of the House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway. Jonas Gahr Støre has been Prime Minister of Norway since 2021. As a unitary state with a constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the parliament, the cabinet, and the supreme court, as determined by the 1814 constitution. The unified kingdom of Norway was established in 872 as a merger of petty kingdoms and has existed continuously for 1,151–1,152 years. From 1537 to 1814, Norway was part of Denmark–Norway, and, from 1814 to 1905, it was in a personal union with Sweden. Norway was neutral during the First World War, and in the Second World War until April 1940 when it was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany until the end of the war.

Norway maintains the Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system, and its values are rooted in egalitarian ideals. The Norwegian state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, having extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, and fresh water. The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). On a per-capita basis, Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East. The country has the fourth- and eighth-highest per-capita income in the world on the World Bank's and IMF's list, respectively. It has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, with a value of US$1.3 trillion. (Full article...)

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The Battle of Svolder, by Otto Sinding
The Battle of Svolder, by Otto Sinding
The naval Battle of Svolder (Svold, Swold) was fought in September 999 or 1000 somewhere in the western Baltic between King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway and an alliance of his enemies. The backdrop of the battle is the unification of Norway into a single state, long-standing Danish efforts to gain control of the country, and the spread of Christianity in Scandinavia. King Olaf was sailing home after an expedition to Wendland (Pomerania), when he was ambushed by an alliance of Svein Forkbeard, King of Denmark, Olaf Eiríksson, King of Sweden, and Eirik Hákonarson, Jarl of Lade. Olaf had only 11 warships in the battle against a fleet of at least 70. His ships were cleared one by one, last of all the Long Serpent, which Jarl Eirik captured as Olaf threw himself into the sea. After the battle, Norway was ruled by the Jarls of Lade as a fief of Denmark and Sweden. The most detailed sources on the battle, the kings' sagas, were written approximately two centuries after it took place. Historically unreliable, they offer an extended literary account describing the battle and the events leading up to it in vivid detail. The sagas ascribe the causes of the battle to Olaf Tryggvason's ill-fated marriage proposal to Sigrid the Haughty and his problematic marriage to Thyri, sister of Svein Forkbeard. As the battle starts Olaf is shown dismissing the Danish and Swedish fleets with ethnic insults and bravado while admitting that Eirik Hákonarson and his men are dangerous because "they are Norwegians like us". The best known episode in the battle is the breaking of Einarr Þambarskelfir's bow, which heralds Olaf's defeat. In later centuries, the saga descriptions of the battle, especially that in Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla, have inspired a number of ballads and other works of literature. (Full article...)

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From Hardanger, by Hans Gude (1847)
From Hardanger, by Hans Gude (1847)
Credit: From Hardanger, painting by Hans Gude (1847)
Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord. It consists of the municipalities of Odda, Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik, Granvin, Kvam and Jondal, and is located inside the fylke of Hordaland. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hardanger was a petty kingdom headquartered at Kinsarvik.

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Kåre Willoch

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Thorkildsen at GE Money Grand Prix in Helsinki, July 2005
Andreas Thorkildsen (born 1 April 1982 in Kristiansand) is a Norwegian javelin thrower. He is the world junior record holder in the event and has won gold medals at the Summer Olympics and European Championships in Athletics as well as a silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. He was leader of the IAAF world ranking in javelin throw until September 2007, and is currently second on the ranking list. (Full article...)

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Skibladner.

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Jens Stoltenberg
We have a high standard of living. ... In Norway, we've tripled our income since 1970. In the rest of western Europe, income has merely doubled.
Jens Stoltenberg, 2001

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The Seven Sisters
The Seven Sisters
Credit: Janter

De syv søstre (The Seven Sisters) is a mountain range on the island of Alsten in Norway. The range is popular with hikers and offers scenic views over the surrounding area. (Full article...)

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Norway in winter

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History: Ancient Norwegian property lawsNordic Stone AgeNordic Bronze AgeKomsaFosna-Hensbacka cultureFunnelbeaker cultureHamburg cultureNøstvet and Lihult culturesMaglemosian cultureViking AgeHarald I of NorwayOlav IV of NorwayHaakon I of NorwayOlaf I of NorwayOlaf II of NorwayBattle of StiklestadCanute the GreatMagnus I of NorwayHarald III of NorwayBattle of Stamford BridgeMagnus III of NorwaySigurd I of NorwayMagnus V of NorwaySverre of NorwayHaakon IV of NorwayMagnus VI of NorwayEric II of NorwayKalmar UnionDenmark–NorwayUnion between Sweden and NorwayDissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905Haakon VII of NorwayOlav V of NorwayHarald V of NorwayOccupation of Norway by Nazi GermanyNorwegian CampaignNorwegian resistance movementLegal purge in Norway after World War IIForeign relations of NorwayMilitary of NorwayNorway and the European Union

Language: ÅÆØBokmålDet Norske Akademi for Sprog og LitteraturDifferences between Norwegian Bokmål and Standard DanishHøgnorskNordic CouncilNordic Language ConventionNoregs MållagNorsk OrdbokNorth Germanic languagesNorwegian alphabetNorwegian dialectsNorwegian Language CouncilNorwegian language conflictNorwegian phonologyNynorskOld NorseRiksmålsforbundetRussenorsk

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