What's in Norway. Full description of Norway

• 9000 BC NS. The first evidence of a person's stay in Norway.
• 4000 BC NS. Agricultural settlements emerge in the south of Norway.
• End VIII- middle of the X century. Age of the Vikings.
• 872-930 King Harald the Fair-haired begins the unification of Norway.
• 961 Hakon the Good, son of Harald the Fair-haired and the first Norse king to convert to Christianity, is killed in battle.
• 1015-1028 Olaf II unites Norway and introduces Christianity to the country.
• 1030 Olaf is killed at the Battle of Stiklestad. Subsequently, he becomes the patron saint of Norway under the name of Olaf the Saint.
• 1070 The construction of the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim begins.
• XIII v. A short golden age of stability and prosperity.
• 1349-1351 The Black Death reduces the country's population by two-thirds.
• 1397-1536 Norway is a member of the Kalmar Union with Sweden and Denmark.
• 1536-1814 Norway maintains union with Denmark.
• 1814-1905 After the Napoleonic Wars, Norway unites with Sweden.
• 1905 Norway gains full independence after the peaceful withdrawal from the union with Sweden.
• 1914 During the First World War, Norway is neutral.
• 1918 Norwegian women get the right to vote.
• 1940-1945 Germany occupies Norway during World War II.
• 1949 Norway is a NATO member.
• 1968-1969 Discovery of oil fields in the North Sea. Oil production begins in 1971.
• 1972 Norway votes against joining the European Union.
• 1981 Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes the first woman to lead a government formed by the Labor Party.
• 1994 Norway voted against joining the European Union for the second time. Olympic Games in Lillehammer.
• 2008 Opening of the first Norwegian Opera House in Oslo.
• 2010 The Norwegian Nobel Committee is displeasing China over the award of the Peace Prize to Chinese political prisoner Liu Xiaobo.

Sports and recreation

Summer

Hiking and visiting glaciers. Most of all, Norwegians love to spend their leisure time "on their feet" (ga pa tur), that is, putting on a pair of shoes and stocking up on provisions, go for the whole day to wander among the delightful places, be it mountains, fjords, forest or field. There are countless trails here, maps of which can be obtained from local travel agencies. Some of Norway's many national parks (33 on land and 7 on Svalbard), such as Jutunheimen or Hardangervidda, are particularly good in this regard: most hiking trails are well equipped and marked with piles of stones or signposts. Remember that hiking time is limited from May to October, and even shorter in the High North. The weather is changeable even during the height of summer, so make sure you check it out before your hike. The Norwegian Travelers' Union can provide you with more information and also runs the hikes itself (www.turistforeningen.no). The short summer is also suitable for glacier travel.

Nigardsbre, the tongue of the Joustedalsbre glacier, offers adventure-seekers the opportunity to explore the glacier with an experienced guide on a 2-5 hour excursion from mid June to mid September (www.jostedal.com). In addition, you can visit the Okstindan and Svartisen glaciers located in the Arctic Circle, for which you need to inquire at the Rana Spesialsport organization (www.spesialsport.no).

Bike. Norwegian roads are relatively calm, making them great for cycling in spring, summer and autumn. City streets have become equipped with cycle paths, and driving on country roads is rarely a concern. Bicycles can be easily rented, even in the rural outback, where hotels often rent them out to their guests on an hourly or daily basis. In mountainous terrain, such a ride sometimes requires a lot of effort, and besides, it must be borne in mind that the distance can be great, and along the way, especially in the Far North, you can rarely count on help. One of the most beloved routes is the Miners' Road, which runs from the train station Hötastöl or Finse to Flåm or Boss, up to 108 km. Also famous is the North Sea Cycling Route, which is part of the world's longest cycling route, passing through seven countries. For more information and maps, contact Bike Norway (www.bike-norway.com).

Fishing. In a country with so much water, you shouldn't be surprised by the fishing craze. You can go fishing in the sea or on the river. The Lofoten Islands are the most convenient for such activities, and the original culture of fishing is best preserved here, as evidenced by the old Rorbu fishing huts, where you can rent accommodation.

Fishing trips are organized in many places in Norway, which can be checked with local travel agencies or you can purchase a fishing license sold at www.inatur.no.

This activity is popular in many places. The center of rock climbing is the Lofoten Islands with their inaccessible mountains, and there is a mountaineering school in Henningsver (www.nordnorskklatreskole.no). In addition, one can note the Jutunheimen with peaks up to 2000 m, the ridge of the Vesteralen archipelago and the ridge of the Lyngen Alps. You can also climb on ice (over frozen waterfalls) in Rjukan. The Norwegian Travelers' Union (Den Norske Turistforening, DNT) provides training for climbers (www.turistforeningen.no).

Rafting, sailing and canoeing. You can raft along the numerous rivers and by the sea among the fjords. Rafting on the Vestfjord between the Lofoten Islands and the mainland is possible only with favorable winds and currents. Sailing is common mainly in the south of the country and in the Oslofjord region. Rowing can be done wherever there is water, but the western fjords are especially picturesque, while in the Far North the places are calmer, there are fewer pleasure boats and ferries. For more information, contact the Norwegian Canoe Association (www.padling.no).

Wildlife and bird watching. In many places in Norway there is the opportunity to see animals such as reindeer and elk, and in the Dovrefjell National Park the more exotic musk ox (www.moskussafari.no) and the Finnmark red king crab. A huge number of birds (473 species) nest inland and on the coast. To combine bird watching with a crab safari, contact the Arctic Tourist (www.arctictourist.no) in Finnmark county.

Midnight sun. The midnight sun can be seen in many parts of Northern Norway from May to August, depending on the latitude of the location. It is best to admire them from a hill or from the sea.

In winter

Running and downhill skiing. Cross-country skiing is Norway's favorite winter sport, with over 7,000 km of ski slopes built by the Norwegian Travelers' Union alone. Such trails are found even within Oslo, and most counties have their own trails, sometimes illuminated in the evenings, so that people can go skiing after work. The National Parks of Jutunheimen, Rondane and Dovrefjell have some of the best cross-country skiing conditions in the country. In addition, skiing is possible in many places, from Geilo, Hemsedal and Trysil counties in the center of the country to Narvik in the north. The best time for skiing is February - April, but it is quite possible to ski from November to mid-May. Check the snow conditions at www.skiinfo.no.

Dog sledding. In the north of the country, dog sledding trips are arranged, lasting from an hour to two to five days. You can either drive the sled yourself, or sit tightly wrapped up, and leave all the work to the driver with the dogs. For more information, visit the information website www.visitnorway.com, or the travel agency Nordland Adventures (www.nordlandturselskap.no).

Skates. With the arrival of winter, open skating rinks appear, including the beloved one in the center of Oslo, near the National Theater. There are also natural ice skating rinks on frozen lakes, rivers and fjords, but check with the locals before heading out there. On artificial ice rinks, skates can usually be rented, and sometimes lessons can also be rented.

Ice fishing (pimpling). For this kind of activity, a hole is drilled in the ice, through which the fish are then pulled out, getting a good catch even in winter. Bring waterproof gloves and a thermos of hot chocolate with you. Tour operator Competent Travels (www.competenttravels.no) from Tromsø runs a three-day ice fishing safari.

Northern Lights (aurora borealis). This natural phenomenon is best observed in October, February and March between 6 pm and 1 am. The brightest flashes are visible in the Arctic Circle, where there is less light pollution of the environment, but the northern lights can be admired further south. When going to see such a sight, dress warmly.

Shopping

Consumer prices can be high, but around 3,000 stores across Norway are running tax-free sales. Therefore, look for such shops with a tax-free sign. Norway's VAT on many goods is 25%, and 12-19% can be claimed back by tourists from countries outside the EU / EEA.

Refunds can be made through the Worldwide Refund Network locations at border checkpoints, airports, border ferries and cruise ships.

The quality of most of the goods is usually excellent, and the traditions of local crafts go back hundreds of years. Look for the salg sign in the shop windows, meaning a sale or an offer to sell on more favorable terms.

Where to buy

The country's largest cities, Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim, are equipped with great shopping centers, but there are also interesting shops in smaller towns, especially those selling local handicrafts.

Oslo has big department stores like Glasmagasinet and House of Oslo, and quirky fashion boutiques in the up-and-coming Grunerlokka and ultra-modern Majorstuen. Aker Brygge is another shopping area with shops, restaurants and bars in an old converted shipyard.

In Bergen, the area around Bryggen, Strandgaten Pier, Strandgaten and Torget Square is full of interesting shops with local handicrafts, furs and knitwear. There is also the famous Fish Market, where you can refresh yourself, buy fresh fish and seafood.

Stavanger is famous for its glass products, so here you can visit the workshops of glass blowers and buy their products in specialized shops. In Midtbuen, the center of Trondheim, next to the main square, the Trondheim Torg shopping arcade has recently opened with 75 shops, not counting cafes and restaurants, and old-fashioned stalls can be found on Jomfrugaten, where the trade is mostly women.

There are many other places to shop in Norway as well. For example, in Tromsø many shops and stalls are housed in old wooden buildings; and in the Far North, Sami crafts (duodji) made of silver and reindeer hides or bones are widely represented.

What to buy

Here is just a small list of those things that are either found only in Norway, or are of excellent quality.

Local handicrafts. Traditional crafts in Norway have been around for hundreds of years, and the origins of modern craftsmen using local materials go back to ancient crafts. Knitted items - sweaters, scarves, gloves, mittens and hats - are world renowned for their quality. Crafts made of wood, glass, silver and jewelry, reindeer skins and woven goods are in great demand among visitors. In the High North, as already mentioned, Sami crafts are sold.

Local food and drinks. Norway is also famous for its food, from smoked salmon and dried fish to akvavitt-type vodka, and the world's northernmost brewery in Tromsø brews Mack beer. To bring back memories of Norway, you can buy homemade venison or elk smoked sausage and cloudberry jam.

Clothing. Men's and women's clothing is often distinguished by a wonderful style, but only the price can scare off. Jerseys are usually heavy, but lighter items can be found. As a rule, there are more private shops here than chain stores, although products from well-known world manufacturers are widely represented in large cities. Moods of Norway, a Norwegian fashion studio, has made a name for itself in Japan and Beverly Hills with striking designs (www.moodsofnorway.com).

Sport equipment. Norwegians are perhaps the most athletic people in the world, which is reflected in the shops here. Excellent all-weather and winter clothing is sold everywhere, including complete ski equipment along with skis and skates.

Entertainment

In a country as sprawling as Norway, home to five million people, the quality and quantity of entertainment varies from one area to another, both in the city and in the countryside. Norway is famous for its musical and theatrical traditions; festivals are held here, especially in summer.

Tickets for cultural events can be booked in advance using the services of the Norwegian branch of the American company Ticketmaster (tel: 81-53-31-33; www.billettservice.no). Sometimes travel agencies can help with this matter.

Musical, opera and dance art

Classical music is played throughout Norway, celebrating the name of the national composer Edvard Grieg. The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra has a well-deserved reputation. He performs at his home in the city's Concert Hall (Konserthus) from late August to early June (check www.oslofilharmonien.no for tickets and repertoire). The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra performs at the Grieghallen Concert Hall (www.harmonien.no); there is also the Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, created in 2009 and based in Tromsø (www.noso.no).

Jazz is very popular in Norway, and if the classical music season lasts from autumn to spring, then jazz festivals and performances fall on the summer. There are over 30 jazz establishments in the country, including those located off the main roads. For more information visit www.jazz-clubs-worldwide.com. Recently, there has been a fascination with such a direction of hard rock as black metal, and the Norwegian performers of this music are very famous abroad.

Norwegian folk music has not lost its attractiveness, and after Alexander Rybak won the Eurovision song contest in 2009, the halling folk dance and violin playing in the winning song gained even more popularity. The dance itself comes from the Hallingdal Valley in Buskerud.

In Oslo, by the harbor itself, a new Opera House has appeared, which opened its doors in 2008. It houses troupes of the national opera and ballet (you can check the performances on the website www.operaen.no). This is the country's first opera house with excellent acoustics, where foreign opera and ballet troupes often perform, and a chamber music festival is held in August.

Theater and cinema

Norway can be proud of its theatrical tradition, dating back to the late 19th century dramas penned by Henrik Ibsen and Björnstierne Björnson. Oslo National Theater (www.nationaltheatret.no), Den Nationale Scene in Bergen (www.dns.no), Rogaland Teater in Stavanger (www.rogaland-teater.no) and Trendelag Teater in Trondheim ( www.trondelag-teater.no) have an extensive repertoire, but where, naturally, most of the performances are in Norwegian. In cinemas, films are almost always shown in the original language with Norwegian subtitles.

Night life

Cities such as Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim have a vibrant nightlife with their bars and clubs that often open after midnight all year round. In the summer, neighborhoods like Aker Brygge in Oslo are crowded in the evenings with outdoor dining. Bars usually close around 1am and even later on weekends. Keep in mind that high-priced booze can make you spend a lot at night, but fortunately, some establishments have discounted drinking times after work or in the early evening.

In rural areas, nightlife is not so diverse, but there, as a rule, there is at least one bar, which is worth stopping by to communicate with the locals. Many county towns near the fjords come to life in the summer, and hotels often have bars open not only to guests, but to everyone. And the ski resorts have plenty of fun in the winter at night. Visit the Oslo Tourism Authority website www.visitoslo.com for a helpful guide "What" s on in Oslo.

Norway for children

Children are especially taken care of in Norway. In public transport, there is not only an entrance for baby strollers, but also special seats in buses.

Most restaurants and cafes have highchairs and a children's menu. Often in hotels, campsites and other places of accommodation, playgrounds are provided, and sometimes "paddling pools". Cities and county centers are equipped with outdoor playgrounds, which are also found in many public places. There are significant discounts for children when visiting attractions, ski centers and public transport. In addition, family tickets are sold for most attractions.

Cities are not always the best place for children, but Oslo does a lot to keep them entertained and entertained; for example, many museums provide live (interactive) communication with visitors (www.visitoslo.com). Just 20 km from Oslo, there is the TusenFryd Recreation Park (late April - early October, opening hours vary; entrance fee) with many attractions, including Europe's first 5D attraction and a water park. 15 km north of Lillehammer, the Hunderfossen Family Park (www.hunderfossen.no; opening hours vary; admission charge) with 50 attractions including a troll park, cable car, rafting and a full-size fairytale palace.

In winter, it turns into a winter park. In Telemark, located 80 km west of Oslo, the largest water park in Scandinavia, Vo Sommarland (www.sommarland.no; June-August; admission fee), has 20 different ponds and water slides. In addition, clowns perform here, there is a Tarzan trail, rowing, the only water roller coaster in Europe "Master Blaster". The Zoo in Kristiansand just outside the city is open all year round, and there are animals from all over the world in five parks, including a young animals' area and a place where you can get acquainted with the northern desert. Pirate ships and playgrounds are also built here (www.dyreparken.no).

The National Interactive Experimental Center Rockheim in Trondheim (www.rockheim. Until; Tue-Sun 11.00-18.00; admission fee), opened in 2010, is dedicated to Norwegian rock and pop music. You can send your restless teenagers here after dinner.

The country has all the conditions for children to play sports, so that almost everywhere you can rent sports equipment like skis and skates, even for toddlers who are just starting to walk. From a very early age, Norwegian children start skiing and skating and accompany their parents on hikes. There are always good trainers for children of all ages.

Festivals and Holidays

• January. Northern Lights Festival (Tromsø).
• February. Opera Festival (Kristiansund).
• March. Holmenkollen Ski Festival (Oslo). The Winter Festival (Narvik) includes sporting events, concerts and a carnival. Ski race of birkebeiners (literally: birch-legged, lapotniki) (Rena - Lilleham-mer), a 53-kilometer ski marathon, where up to 12 thousand skiers participate.
• April. Amateur Jazz Festival (Voss), three days of jazz and folk music.
• May. International Music Festival (Bergen), one of the largest music events in Scandinavia.
• June. North Cape Procession (Honningsvag), a 68 km trek from Honningsvag to North Cape. Emigrant Festival (Stavanger and Quinesdal) in memory of the Norwegians who moved to North America. Midsummer (everywhere), the summer solstice is celebrated. The White Nights Marathon (Tromsø), starting in northern Norway with the onset of the White Nights.
• July. International Jazz Festival (Kongsberg), open-air concerts and performances by foreign jazzmen. Games at the Bislett stadium in Oslo, international athletics competition. International Jazz Festival (Molde), Norway's oldest jazz festival lasting over six days. Day 29 July (olsok) (Trondheim), the day of commemoration of King Olaf the Saint; and a feast of food Oi! (Trondheim). Gladmat Culinary Festival (Stavanger), "a feast of gluttony".
• August. International Folk Music Festival in Telemark, a festival of folk music and folk dance. Feast of Peer Gynt in Vinstra, celebrations in honor of the hero of the drama of the same name Ibsen. Jazz Festival (Oslo), held since 1986. Chamber Music Festival (Oslo), chamber music sounds in the castle and Akershus fortress.
• September. Oslo Marathon.
• December. Christmas markets (Oslo and elsewhere). With the onset of Christmas fast (early December), unusual Christmas gifts, handicrafts and sweets are sold at fairs in many places in the country on weekends. Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony (Oslo), held at the City Hall annually on December 10

Public holidays

• January 1st. New Year
• March, April. Good Thursday
• March, April. Good friday
• March, April. Light monday
• The 1 of May. Labor Day
• May 17. Constitution day
• May June. Ascension
• End of May / beginning of June. Spirits monday
• December 25. Christmas
• December 26. Boxing Day

Norwegian cuisine

Norwegian cuisine, with a preference for fresh local produce, has recently taken on its face, and the fish and seafood here, from cod to arctic crabs and smoked salmon, are world renowned. Desperate meat lovers have something to try here: for example, venison and elk dishes are increasingly appearing on the menus of the best restaurants. A new generation of chefs is rediscovering local cuisine, either sticking strictly to traditional cuisine or introducing an international flair.

Rural food in Norway was usually prepared from what the local land provided at one time or another of the year. Many dishes that are still loved to this day date back to the old way of peasant or fishing life, so that on the coast, fish predominates in food, and game in the depths of the country.

The relief of the country, which includes the coast, peasant lands, forests and mountains, testifies to the different food habits of the Norwegians. Pickling, drying, smoking, salting, and pickling originated before freezing, canning and modern food processing techniques appeared and served to store food during the long winter. Some meat and fish dishes have a strong flavor to get used to, but at their core, Norwegian dishes are fresh, healthy and tasty, and the portions are quite impressive.

But all of the above does not mean that you will only find Norwegian food here. Norwegian cuisine is becoming more and more international. Pizza, pasta and hamburgers are becoming as commonplace as lefse, a Norwegian pancake usually made from potatoes, and sursild, a pickled herring with onions.

Cuisine of countries such as Italy, China, Thailand and India is widely represented, at least in large cities. In addition, in recent years, food festivals have begun to take place in the summer, featuring both Norwegian and international cuisine. Food culture in Norway varies from region to region, and Oslo's table may differ significantly from what is eaten, for example, in Bergen or Tromsø, but they prefer local products whenever possible. As a rule, in rural areas, excellent restaurants can be found in hotels, where food is not only for guests.

Food festivals

Norwegians are extremely responsible for food, so over the past decade, food festivals have appeared in the country, a kind of gluttony celebrations. Norsk Matglede in Geilo, Gladmat in Stavanger, Norwegian Gluttony in Alesund and Oi! The Trendersk Matfesival in Trondheim is just a few of the food festivities. Their program is varied: from tasting dishes to cooking lessons, classes with chefs and special treats from local restaurateurs. Most of them strictly adhere to the traditions of Norwegian cuisine, which are at the origins of modern national cuisine, but the Gladmat culinary festival, held every summer on the shores of the picturesque harbor of Stavanger, tries to instill in it an international spirit. In Geilo, on the other hand, preference is given to small-scale producers and natural products. Holidays are often held in the middle of summer, when the stalls are taken out on the street, so you can enjoy your food in the fresh air while admiring the beauty of the Norwegian nature.

Where there is

In Norway, they try to eat relatively early. Although most Norwegians work outside the home, they dine surprisingly early, apparently out of old-time habit. It is unusual to see restaurants serving dinner from 5 pm, and in small towns it can be difficult to eat after 9 or 10 pm, when almost all the bars are closed.

What is

Most hotels serve an international breakfast, while for Norwegians, breakfast can be hearty and consist of one cup of coffee, always black. A working Norwegian cannot do without a "dry ration" (matpakke) brought along, even now that eating out or buying a sandwich is common.

As you might expect, Norwegians consume more fish than people in many other countries, and fish has been a staple of their table for centuries. But shellfish entered their diet later.

More than 200 species of fish and shellfish are found in Norwegian waters, some are caught in the sea, others are grown. Norway is one of the world's largest suppliers of seafood, selling about 3 million tons of its catch abroad. Most often on the menu and on the market you can see cod, salmon, trout, herring, arctic char, pollock, anglerfish, mackerel and red sockeye salmon. But even this variety is not enough, so we are also offered sea flounder, kalkan, silver pollock, moth (sea pike), sea burbot, whiting, haddock, catfish, halibut and river flounder - and these are just the most common species.

As soon as the fish is not cooked, but the Norwegian cuisine is rather stingy with spices and seasonings: most often salt, pepper and a few herbs like dill and mustard seed are used. Boiling, stewing, stewing, smoking and salting are favorite types of fish preparation, often served with one boiled young potato and a piece of butter. Perhaps the most famous Norwegian dish is gravlaks (literally "buried salmon"), salmon fillet salted with sugar.

Fish soup, usually milk-based, is a favorite on the coast of the country, made from a variety of fish and shellfish with the addition of vegetables and potatoes. Herring, pickled with all sorts of additives, from mustard and onions to tomatoes and herbs, is another truly adored dish here. The taste of fermented trout (rakfisk), along with dried fish (lutefisk) soaked in an alkaline solution, moth or cod, takes some getting used to. They are usually eaten at Christmas, although from habit, their inherent smell may seem fetid to many. Dried fish (torrfi.sk) is incredibly loved here as a light snack. It is eaten both dried and boiled.

On the coast, especially on the north, there may be a dish such as whale meat. Norwegians do not consider it shameful to eat it, and whaling in the north has been going on for more than one century. Roast whale meat, whale hamburgers, etc. are offered in many restaurants, although less often now that the quotas for catching whale have been cut.

Shellfish, which have become a common food only since the second half of the 20th century, have won great love here, so now Norwegians consume large quantities of seafood, including arctic shrimp, lobster, oysters, mussels, scallops and crabs. The huge king crab caught near the North Cape is especially good. In the summer, crab feasts (krabbelag) are held, where the crabs are eaten with plain bread, butter and possibly a slice of lemon.

However, Norway is not limited to fish and seafood alone. There are also many meat dishes, and dairy products have always been adored. As for the gluttons, there is a lot to offer to the desperate tasters. In the north, there are venison dishes, as well as elk meat, including “buried elk” (gravet elg), salted elk with sugar, as is the case with the already mentioned salmon. In addition, pork, beef, chicken, lamb and mutton are widely used. Favorite meatballs (kjottekaker), often with sour lingonberry sauce or spices. Braised lamb with cabbage (farikal, "lamb with cabbage"), a warming dish in winter, is served with potatoes.

All kinds of sausages, including venison and elk salami, or simple hot sausages (varme pelser), are often sold in stalls or on counters as a light snack. Many restaurants offer dishes from the gifts of nature that correspond to the season: for sweets, gravies or marinades in summer and early autumn, fresh berries are used, a little later they are replaced by a variety of mushroom dishes, it is time for great game in autumn, and hearty stews, soups and casseroles in winter ...

Unfortunately, the vegetables on the local table are not so generously presented, so vegetarians will have to dodge in search of something suitable, but this situation is beginning to change, at least in big cities.

Bread goes with many dishes and is represented by various grains. Sandwiches are usually open here: all kinds of slices are piled on a slice of bread.

Desserts consist mainly of fresh berries with sour cream or cream, and a Norwegian innovation is waffles served with melted cream and jam from all kinds of berries: most often strawberries, cloudberries, raspberries and blueberries.

What drink

Norwegians simply adore coffee, ranking first in the world in terms of consumption of this drink (about 160 liters per person per year). No short break, no friendly or family meeting is complete without coffee, and any pastime cannot be imagined without a large cup of coffee.

It even introduced coffee and liquor (karsk), a drink that originated in Tronnelag. Usually vodka or moonshine is added to coffee.

In recent years, tea has become widespread, so now there is a rich selection of tea in shops, hotels and restaurants. Soft drinks and fruit juices from local and foreign producers are widely represented. In addition, in rural areas, many people still prefer to drink a large mug of milk at lunch.

Norway is well known for its tough attitude towards alcohol, but the Norwegians themselves love to drink. The country has a state monopoly on the production and sale of wine (Vinmonopolet), and although the prices for liquor in stores can be quite high, they are quite reasonable compared to prices in bars and restaurants.

In Norway, beer has been drunk for a long time, there are many breweries here, for example Ringnes in Oslo, Nasha in Bergen, SV in Kristiansand and the world's northernmost brewery Mack in Tromsø. In addition, spirits like akevitt and vodka are produced in Norway. Vikingfjord is a variety of our own Norwegian vodka. Well-known brands of Norwegian aquavit are Gammel Opland, Lime and Gilde, and aquavit is drunk mostly at Christmas. In the rest of the year, foreign brands of alcohol are preferred. Wine is spreading, which, however, is not cheap. Indeed, if you order wines for dinner, the bill will more than double.

Moonshine (hjemmebrent), which is usually distilled from potatoes, is quite widespread, especially in rural areas.

Accommodation

The level of hotels in Norway is generally high. Prices can also be quite high as many hotels cater to business travelers. In summer or on weekends, there are significant discounts when hotels offer special conditions to attract guests. In recent years, international hotel chains have started buying up smaller family-run hotel businesses. Such moves do not appear to have resulted in lower service levels, but have in some way contributed to increased competition and drive down prices. Please note that the main tourist season in Norway is very short, so not all rental conditions are valid all year round, although this is changing.

Along with hotels, there are other accommodation options, in particular, in the countryside, guest houses and rooms with accommodation and breakfast, accommodation in a peasant estate, a youth hostel, a camping and, most of all, in demand, a separate house, the so-called hut, hutte (hytte ). Hotel groups such as Historic Hotels and Restaurants in Norway (De Historiske; www.dehistoriske.com) have a number of distinctive hotels throughout the country. On the coast, for example on the Lofoten Islands, you can stay in the old Rorbu fishing hut or even in the lighthouse. Norway's largest hotel pass, the Fjord Pass, offers discounts at 170 locations nationwide (www.fiordtours.com). The Norwegian Tourism Board will advise on where to stay, and online hotel reservations can be made at www.visitnorway.com.

Campsites

There are about a thousand campgrounds in Norway, ranging from one to five stars. Most campsites are open only in June-August, and only a few are open longer, including year-round for caravans. In addition, many places are equipped with cabins that can be rented for a week in the summer. The cost of a seat is 80-150 CZK per day, with an additional charge for electricity. The Norwegian and Scandinavian Camping Card can be purchased at all associated locations, giving holders the right to receive discounts, expedited check-in and many other benefits.

The international camping card has the same benefits. Useful information can be found at www.camping.no and www.norwayd.irect.com. Under Norwegian law on the right of access to public places, you can pitch a tent or sleep outdoors anywhere on open, unfenced land in rural areas for up to 48 hours, provided that you are at least 150 meters from the nearest house. For a longer stay, you will need the permission of the owner of the land. In addition, please note that you cannot start a fire near the forest from April 15 to September 15.

Airports

The main airports in Norway are Gardermoen in Oslo, Flesland in Bergen, Sola in Stavanger and Vaernes in Trondheim. In addition, Oslo is served by the Torp airport Sandefjord near the Sanefjord. Due to the distance and the local terrain, it is not a bad idea to travel around the country by plane, given the developed network of local airlines. Norway has 16 major airports, including those serving international flights, and 29 domestic airports. Taxis at major airports are not cheap. Oslo Gardenmoen Airport is located 50 km from the center of the capital, and here international and domestic flights are served by a single terminal, where there are many eateries, duty-free shops, a tourist information office and a car rental service. The fastest way to get to Oslo city center in 19 minutes is the Flytoget express train, which leaves six times an hour to Central Station. In addition, the Norwegian State Railways commuter trains run regularly and there is a coach and taxi stand in front of the airport (www.oslo.no). Ryanair and other low-cost airlines fly into Torp airport near Sanefjord, 110 km from Oslo. Buses are served before the arrival of aircraft, and the journey takes 2-2.5 hours. In addition, trains and shuttle buses (www.torp.no) run to the Sanafjord. Bergen Airport Flesland is located 20 km from the city and is equipped with everything you need. Frequent bus services link the bus station and Radisson hotels to the airport, and the journey takes about half an hour (www.bergen-guide.com).

Stavanger Sola Airport is located 15 km from the city center and is equipped, in addition to the conference center, with everything you need. A regular bus reaches the city in 20-30 minutes, taxis also run (tep .: 67-03-10-00, www.avinor.no).

Trondheim Airport Vaernes is located 35 km north of the city center and has shops and restaurants, a hotel, a waiting room and currency exchange offices. You can get here by train, bus express, regular bus or taxi. The journey takes about 35-40 minutes (tel .: 67-03-25-00, www.avinor.no).

Trip budget

In cities and rural areas, during the high season and in the low season, prices for services are different. The prices below are only approximate. As a rule, living in cities is more expensive than in the outback (with few exceptions, like the well-known fjords).

Car rental. Prices fluctuate a lot. A weekly rental will cost from 2800 CZK for a small car to 3700 CZK for a large car. Many companies install a child seat for an additional price.

Hotels. Housing, depending on the cost of daily accommodation, can be conditionally divided into cheap, affordable and expensive (for two, including breakfast): 1100 CZK, 1100-1800 CZK and over 1800 CZK. Prices can be significantly less than 1100 CZK, and significantly more than 1800 CZK. There are many special offers with discounts, Sunday rates and travel packages.

Food and drinks. Breakfast in a cafe or restaurant costs 50-80 CZK; lunch 60-120 CZK; dinner in an average restaurant without drinks 200-250 CZK per person; coffee or soft drink 20-30 CZK; a bottle of wine from 150 CZK; spirits (400 ml) 80 CZK Breakfasts and lunches in the hotel are profitable, and the first ones are especially satisfying, while in most restaurants one ordinary dish is served for lunch.

Museums. 30-80 CZK. Children usually get half the discount.

Fuel. 12.20 kroons per liter of petrol and 11.20 kroons per liter of diesel. Most gas stations are equipped with automatic pumps that accept banknotes and credit cards. Public transport. Traveling in Norway is expensive, but buses and trains are comfortable. The average cost of a train ticket from Oslo to Bergen is 600 CZK.

Taxis are expensive. The journey from Gardermoen airport to the center of Oslo will cost 610-720 CZK, depending on the time of day.

Tourist card. The Oslo Pass and Bergen Card offer free admission to many attractions, as well as free travel on public transport, providing many more benefits. For more information visit www.visitoslo.com and www.visitbergen.com. On the website www. visitnorway.com has information about all passes and tourist maps.

Bike rental

Bicycles can be easily rented from the rental office or from the local travel agency, guesthouse and hotel. The roads are usually not crowded, and there are cycle paths in the big cities. Please note that the trip can be difficult in mountainous areas. There are few cities and villages, the distances between them are large, especially in the Far North, and the weather is changeable. Prices vary depending on the quality of the bike and the terrain, ranging from CZK 60-350 per day. Travel agencies usually have good maps and information on cycling routes. Two routes are especially picturesque, around the North Sea and the "Miners' Road". For more information visit www.bike-norway.com.

Car rental

All major car rental companies are present in Norway, including Avis, Eigorsag and Hertz, and they also offer competitively priced local Norwegian car rental locations. In most cities, you can meet car rental companies or rent them directly at the airport by making a reservation or upon arrival. The prices are usually lower the longer you rent a car, and during the summer and on weekends there are special discounts. As a rule, a car can be rented in one place and left in another. When renting a car, you must have a driving license of your country of residence with a validity of at least one year. If you are not an EU citizen, you must have an international driving license with you. Cars are rented to people over 19 years old, but if you are under 25 years old you will have to pay a young driver's tax, which is about 100 CZK per day. Insurance is mandatory, so make sure it is included in your car rental price.

Climate

The Gulf Stream contributes to the establishment of a milder climate in Norway than is expected for such latitudes, so the temperature in summer sometimes rises to 25-30 ° C. Temperatures vary significantly in winter and summer, in the north and south, on the coast and inland, at sea level and on mountain peaks. The weather is also changeable, so in many places they joke that "all seasons of the year fit in one day." From late June to mid-August, the days are sunny, and the air temperature is about 25 ° C, and the water temperature is 15-18 ° C, with the exception of the Far North. In the arctic regions, the midnight sun can be observed at this time. It is colder and damp in the spring and autumn. In the fall, you can already see the northern lights (aurora borealis) at these latitudes, especially in October, February and March. In winter, much of Norway, with the exception of the coast, is covered with snow, and inland temperatures can drop to -40 ° C. It can rain on the coast at any time of the year, and even in summer the temperature here sometimes drops to 10 ° C, especially in the evenings.

clothing

Since the weather can be changeable during the day, it is a good idea to wear something over the top to protect yourself from the vagaries of the weather. Even on a sunny day, try to take an umbrella and raincoat along with sunglasses and a wide-brimmed sun hat. Norwegians are not stiff, so wear shorts and a T-shirt when sightseeing on a warm day. In the evening or when going on a boat trip, be sure to take a sweater with you. Sturdy footwear is important not only for hiking and outdoor activities, but also for walking on the cobbled sidewalks of many cities. In winter, you need warm clothes, boots, a scarf, gloves and a hat.

Crime and security

Norway is a relatively safe country, with a low crime rate, especially in terms of serious crimes, so that newcomers rarely face offenses. In rural areas, night theft or petty theft prevails. Take the same precautions as at home, keep an eye on your belongings, especially in crowded places and on public transport, do not walk alone at night in unlit places in large cities.

Car driving

Roads are generally calm, with the exception of large cities (but even there, traffic jams are rare) and well maintained. In winter, winter tires are required (fitting times vary from location to location). Some roads in the High North are closed in winter. In spring, when the ground thaws, it becomes dangerous to drive on certain road sections. In mountainous areas, there are long tunnels, including the longest in the world, 24.5 km long.

Speed ​​limit. Usually the speed limit is 80 km / h. In residential areas, it does not exceed 30 km / h; in densely built-up areas - 50 km / h; on two-way roads and on motorways - 90 or 100 km / h. Cars with trailers and trailers must not travel at speeds higher than 80 km / h, even on a faster lane.

The documents. You must have a driving license of your country of residence valid for at least one year, or, if you are not a citizen of an EU / EEA country, an international driving license.

Traffic Laws. Drive on the right, go around on the left and give way to traffic on the right, unless there are other signs. Seat belts are required in both the front and rear seats. The attitude to drunkenness while driving in the country is irreconcilable, therefore, random checks of drivers are often arranged on the roads. The permissible level of alcohol in the body should not exceed 0.2 mg per liter of blood, so it is better to abstain from alcohol when driving, otherwise the specified limit may be exceeded and, as a result, a large fine and even deprivation of rights are inevitable.

Accidents and breakdowns. In the event of an accident or breakdown, you must display an emergency stop sign and wear a yellow fluorescent jacket. Emergency services: Norges Automobil-Forbund NAF, tel: 0810-00-505, Falken, tel: 02222 (toll free) or Viking, tel: 06000 (toll free).

Electricity

Mains voltage 220 V / 50 Hz, two-pin European plug. Take your adapter with you just in case.

Embassy and consulates

Embassy of Russia in Norway. Norge, 0244 Oslo, Drammensveien, 74. Tel .: (8-10-47) 22-55-32-78. Fax: (8-10-47) 22-55-00-70. Email: [email protected]

Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Kirkenes. Norge, 9900 Kirkenes, Postbox 98, Radhusplassen. Tel .: (8-10-47) 78-99-37-37, 78-99-37-38. Fax: (8-10-47) 78-99-37-42. Email: [email protected]

Consulate of the Russian Federation in Barentsburg (Spitsbergen island). Norge, Svalbard, Barentsburg, Den Russiske Foderasjons Konsulat. Tel .: (8-10-47) 79-02-17-85. Fax: (8-10-47) 79-02-17-85. Email: [email protected]

Emergency services

Call the police 112, the ambulance - 113, the fire department - 110. For non-urgent matters, call the police on tel .: 02800.

Information for gays and lesbians

Legislation and, as a rule, residents of Norway are quite tolerant of representatives of sexual minorities. Most of these types of travelers do not experience any inconvenience, but remember that Norway is a sparsely populated country, so there are not very many places for them besides large cities, although there are very few special bars or clubs there. A tolerant attitude towards supporters of same-sex love can not always be found in the rural outback, although one rarely encounters explicit intolerance. More information can be obtained from the Norwegian Union of Sexual Minorities, LLH: Valkyriegaten 15A 5th floor, N-0366 Oslo, tel: 023-10-39-39, www.llh.no. There is also a section for them on the website www.visitoslo.com/en/gay-oslo.

Arrival

By plane. Many international airlines, including SAS, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Norwegian, KLM, Lufthansa and Thai Airways, fly to Norway either directly or with a stopover. Domestic flights are operated by SAS, Norwegian and Wideroe.

By sea. There is a ferry service between Norway and Denmark operated by the carriers Color Line (www.colorline.com), DFDS Seaways (www.dfdsseaways. Co.uk), Fjordline (www.jjordline.com) and Stena Line ”(Www. Stenaline.co.uk), and in addition, ferries of the“ Color Line ”carrier operate from Oslo to German Kiel and from Swedish Strömstad to Sannefjord. Numerous ferries and ships run along the coast in Norway: the most famous is the Hurtigruten steamboat line between Bergen and Kirkenes in the High North (www.hurtigruten.co.uk or www.hurtigruten.com).

By train. One of the options for arriving in the country, traveling around it and leaving is associated with the purchase of a train ticket like Interrail (for Europeans) or Eurail (for others). It can be ordered prior to departure from your home country online using the services of the Eurail Group (www.interrailnet.cell), or by contacting European Rail at 020-7619-1083 or www.europeanrail.com (regular rail tickets within Europe).

Guides and excursions

English is spoken by many in Norway, so it is easy to find English-speaking guides and English-speaking excursions here. Many bus, boat and museum tours are conducted in several languages: Norwegian, English, German, French, and increasingly in Russian, Chinese and Japanese. Travel agents can book a tour and guide and provide multilingual booklets about available tours. Some of the more popular excursions, such as Norway in a Nutshell, are run by Nutshell Tours and Fjord Tours (www.norwaynutshell.com and www.fjordtours.com). A useful list of travel agencies can be viewed at www.visitnorway.com.

Health and medical care

Norway is a member of the European Economic Area, so visitors from the countries of this zone are provided with the same medical care as Norwegians. Citizens of countries belonging to the European Union / European Economic Area must be in possession of a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) issued online at www.ehic.org.uk; it is issued free of charge for five years. It is highly advisable to obtain travel insurance. Make sure it also covers winter or extreme sports if you're going to try them. No vaccinations are required to travel to Norway, and the tap water is safe.

There is a 24-hour pharmacy (apotek) in Oslo: Jernbanetorvet Pharmacy, Jernbanetorget 4B, N-0154 Oslo, tel .: 23-35-81-00.

Language

Norway has two official written languages ​​- Bokmal (written language) and Nynorsk (New Norwegian). About 86% of the population uses Bokmål. In addition, in Norway more than 20 thousand people speak the Sami languages, which are part of the Finno-Ugric language branch and are not related to Norwegian. English is widely spoken and taught at school from an early age.

Knowledge of some common expressions in Norwegian, although not required, will be appreciated. Pronunciation can be a stumbling block, and in addition, the Norwegian alphabet has three additional letters for vowels located at the end of the alphabet: æ, ø and å. Å is pronounced as “o”, æ as “e”, and ø as “e”, and at the beginning of the word as “e”.

Cards

Most local travel agencies have excellent maps of their region.

Mass media

Radio and television. There are two leading television companies in the country - state-owned NRK with four channels and TV2, also with four channels. All programs are in their original language with subtitles. State radio is also dominated by NRK with three channels operating in the FM radio frequency range and digital broadcasting.

Newspapers and magazines. According to the international non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders, Norway ranks first in the world in terms of freedom of the press. The leading daily newspapers are Aftenposten, Dagbladet and Dagsavisen, but there are many more local newspapers and magazines. The Norway Post (www.norwaypost.no), which publishes news from Norway, is published in English.

Money

Currency. The monetary unit of Norway is the Norwegian krone (krone; denoted by kg or NOK). 1 crown equals 100 ore. There are coins in circulation in denominations of 50 ore, 1, 5, 10, 20 kroons and notes of 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 kroons.

Exchange offices. Money can be exchanged at the airport and Oslo Central Station, as well as many commercial and savings banks, some post offices, Forex branches and some hotels. The exchange is carried out mainly through Forex branches (as a rule, open Mon-Fri 8.00-20.00, Sat 9.00-17.00).

Credit and debit cards. Most of the well-known credit cards are accepted even in small establishments, which eliminates the need to carry large amounts of cash with you. ATMs are everywhere, and they are easy to use, and in all cities there is sure to be at least one such device, but in the outback it is better to have some cash with you.

If you lose your credit card, call: American Express, tel: 0800-68-100. Diners Club, tel .: 021-01-50-00. Mastercard, tel .: 0800-30-250. VISA, tel .: 0815-00-500.

Traveler's checks. Traveler's checks are gradually becoming obsolete, but they can still be exchanged at banks, Forex and other exchange offices. In banks, the exchange rate is usually more favorable.

Opening hours

The shops. Most shops are open Mon-Fri 10.00-17.00 or until 18.00, Sat 9.00-14.00. Stores in large cities and large shopping centers or supermarkets are open longer, until 20.00 or 21.00, and also on Sunday. Some shops still close for lunch, especially in rural areas, and private shops tend to close for two weeks or more in July or August.

Banks. Banks are open Mon-Fri 9.00-15.30, until 17.00 Thu. In the summer (mid-May - mid-August), banks close at 2.30 pm every day, but exchange offices work longer.

Police

Most police stations operate on weekdays and have a duty officer to whom people can report a crime or other incident. The police phone is 112, the call is free even from a payphone.

mail

Norwegian mailboxes for both domestic and international mail are of the same color, red. Most post offices are open Mon-Fri 8.00-17.00 and Sat 9.00-15.00, closed on Sun.

Public transport

Norway has public transport links to many parts of the country, but remote rural areas or places in the High North have to be reached by car or boat.

Aircraft. One of the best means of transportation in the country is air transport. There are about 50 airports in Norway, from where planes fly to even the smallest counties. Major domestic carriers are SAS (www.flysas.com), Norwegian (www.norwegian.com) and Wideroe (www.wideroe.no).

The Norwegian State Railways, NSB, run 3,000 km all the way to Bodø. Some of the tracks are surprisingly scenic, notably the Bergen Railway from Oslo to Bergen, the non-electrified Rauma line from Dombas to Andalsnes, and the Flåm Railway from Myrdal to Flåm. For tickets, please visit www.nsb.no.

There are a number of bus carriers operating in Norway, the largest of which is Nor-Way Bussekspress, serving 40 routes (www.nor-way.no). Tickets can be bought online or at the bus station. If there is free space, you can carry your bike and skis with your luggage. Many buses have timetables that are aligned with ferry or other bus crossroads.

Ferries / ships. A huge number of ferry and ship carriers serve the Norwegian coast. In many cases, these are steamship lines or car ferries linking the fjords and numerous islands to the mainland. Crossing the fjord is often faster by ferry rather than the nearest bridge, which still needs to be reached, and many roads are connected by ferry crossings. The leading carriers are Hurtigruten, Fjordl, Tide, Fjordline, Kolumbus, Rodne Fjordcruise and Senja Ferries.

Religion

Approximately 80% of the country's population is Protestant, belonging to the Lutheran Church. Such a figure is somewhat misleading, since a person is ranked as a church immediately after baptism, but in reality Norway appears to be one of the most secular states in Europe, where residents attend church once or twice a year. About 10% of the population does not profess any religion, and the rest belong to one religion or another, from Sami shamanism to the Bahai religion.

Phones

Payphones accept coins, phone or credit cards and can be found easily in major cities. Telephone cards are sold at newsstands, the 7-Eleven chain of small stores and other similar stores. In the hinterland, including the Far North, pay phones are harder to find. Therefore, it is better to take your mobile phone with you or, in case of a long stay in the country, buy a Norwegian SIM card, not forgetting about high roaming rates and the inability to receive a call back.

Difference in time

Time in Norway is two hours behind Moscow time. When it's noon in Moscow, it's ten in the morning in Norway. Norway switches to summer time at the end of March and to winter time at the end of October.

Tips

It is customary to round off the bill in a restaurant or bar to the next 5 or 10 crowns, but they rarely get offended if this is not done. In case of good service in a restaurant or bar, you can leave a tip in the amount of 10% of the bill. Taxi drivers sometimes receive a slightly larger tip, whereas, for example, in a hairdressing salon, they are not accepted.

Toilets

There are many clean and tidy public toilets in cities; in most cases, payment is made via a machine, the average cost is 5 kroons. In rural areas, it is not easy to find a toilet, but it is possible to use, and often free of charge, a toilet at service stations, near the main square, or at travel agencies. There are roadside parking lots with toilets along the motorways, but, naturally, latrines are not provided in the outback and on country roads.

Information for tourists

A ledge on Mount Skjeggedal called "Troll's Tongue"

The Norwegian Tourism Authority has 17 main tourist information offices in the country, and there are also many local tourist information offices, although some are only open in summer. All offices have an international tourist sign (white letter "i" on a green background). The employees are knowledgeable everywhere, often speak several languages, so they can tell about their area and book accommodation and excursions.

• Central Station Tourist Information Office, Trafikanten Service Center, Jernbanetorget 1, N-0154 Oslo (Mon-Fri 9.00-16.00), Tel: 81-53-05-55, www.visitoslo.com.
• The Norwegian Information Office, Fridtjof Nansens Plass 5, N-0160 Oslo, tel: 24-14-77-00, www.visitnorway.com, has information about Oslo and other parts of Norway.
• Bergen, Vagsallmenningen 1, N-5003 Bergen, tel .: 55-55-20-00, www.visitbergen.com.
• Stavanger, Domkirkeplassen 3, N-4006 Stavanger, men .: 51-85-92-00, www.regionstavanger.com.

Visas and passports

To travel to Norway, residents of the EU countries only need to have a valid passport with them. Coming from Canada, Australia, USA and New Zealand do not need a tourist visa if they spend no more than 90 days in Norway.

Citizens of other countries should make inquiries at their country's Norwegian embassy. A tourist visa is usually issued for three months.

Norway is one of the countries - members of the Schengen Agreement. Citizens of Russia and the CIS countries need a visa and a passport to visit Norway.

• "Ga pa tur", which means "to walk", is one of the features of a purely Norwegian attitude to life, when everyone, young and old, rushes off somewhere, if not every weekend, then quite often. Dressed warmly and putting on sturdy boots, they go to nature, often their path lies in the mountains. A break is certainly made to refresh yourself with the food taken, usually consisting of sandwiches with a thick slice of bread and hot black coffee from a thermos. On summer weekends, in many of the country's scenic spots, whole families go to conquer peaks and fjords, in particular in 33 national parks.
• After the adoption by Norway in the XI century. Christianity, the first local preachers began to build churches in the once pagan lands. These so-called stave buildings are medieval wooden structures, named for the supporting pillars installed in the middle, around which a wooden frame was then built. Previously, there were about two thousand such churches in Northern Europe, but very few of them have survived to this day.
  Twenty-nine stave rocks, most of the 12th century, can be seen today. Stavkirka from Urnes in Sogn og Fjordane county listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Olav Haraldson (995-1030) completed the unification of Norway, which he began in the 9th century. his ancestor Harald Horfager (Fair-haired). He, who adopted Christianity in England, was destined not only to convert the country to this faith, but also to unite it. Long before all this happened, he fell in the battle of Stiklestad, but soon miracles began to happen at his grave, which is now in the Nidaros Cathedral of Trondheim, as a result of which he began to be revered as a saint. Olaf becomes the patron saint of Norway. In 1997, the pilgrimage route to Trondheim was resumed, declared in 2010 the cultural route of Europe.
• The Viking Shipbuilding Museum in Oslo contains some of the most successful finds, including a ship from Oseberg, found in a burial mound on the Oseberg farm, near the town of Tønsberg, west of Oslo. The rook dates back to around 800 AD.
• When entering the house, do not forget to take off your shoes, otherwise you will make the first (and perhaps unforgivable) mistake.
• Nightclubs are only open to adults, often 21 years of age or older. Therefore, if you look younger than your age, bring your ID with you.
• At Christmas, you can try soaked dried fish (lutefisk), lamb ribs, partridge and, of course, alcohol: mulled wine (glogg, often diluted with stronger alcohol), yuleel (Jula0l, Christmas beer) and vodka aquavit (akvavitt), the strongest drink ( from grain or potatoes with the addition of caraway seed).
• Norwegians love black coffee, no milk, no sugar, which they drink from a large cup. Nor do they suffer from insomnia at all.

Approximately one third of the country's population is concentrated in the Oslofjord area, therefore it is the region with the highest density - 1404 people / km². Moreover, in the actual urban agglomeration of Oslo, 906 681 people live (as of January 1, 2011). Other major cities are Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger, Kristiansand, Fredrikstad, Tromsø and Drammen.

Age and sex structure

Norway is dominated by the working-age population between the ages of 16 and 67. The pyramid reflects not only an increase in life expectancy, but also an increase in fertility. The numerical superiority of men is small and is replaced by the prevalence of women from 55-59 years old. This factor is typical for a number of northern states.

Ethnic composition

More than 90% are Norwegians. The largest national minority is the Arabs - several hundred thousand people. Also, the Sami live in Norway (about 40 thousand people, exact calculations are difficult), Kvens (Norwegian Finns), Poles, Swedes, Russians, Gypsies, etc.

Migration

Throughout most of its history, Norwegian society has been ethnically homogeneous. However, since the 1980s, immigration to Norway has increased dramatically, with many of the newcomers settling in the Norwegian capital Oslo and its suburbs. By 2008, the number of immigrants amounted to 10% of the total population of the country, with 70% of them from non-Western countries. This statistic does not include children of migrants born in Norway. The total number of people who came to Norway in 2010 is 73,852, of which 65,065 are foreign nationals. A large influx of migrants is observed in the northern provinces, which is associated with the government's policy to attract labor to these regions unfavorable from a climatic point of view. The migration balance is positive, despite the fact that the number of emigrants is increasing every year and already in 2010 reached 31,506.

In addition to external migration, there is also internal migration in Norway, both between municipalities and districts, the former of which is twice as developed as the latter. In 2010, the number of people who moved to another municipality reached a record high of 214,685 people. Migration does not depend on gender and mainly occurs in the direction from the north and northwest to southeast.

Languages

The official language is Norwegian. In a number of communes in Troms and Finnmark, Sami has equal status. The classic literary Norwegian language - Bokmål (Norwegian bokmål - "book language"), or Riksmol (Norwegian riksmål - "state language") - developed on the basis of the Danish language during the Danish domination over Norway (1397-1814). At the end of the 19th century, in contrast to Bokmål, a new literary language was created on the basis of rural Norwegian dialects with an admixture of medieval Old Norse - Lannsmål (Nynorsk landsmål - “language of the country” or “rural language”), or Nynorsk (Nynorsk nynorsk - “New Norwegian”). Lannsmole received formal recognition in the 19th century. Its creator was the linguist Ivar Osen. Both Bokmål and Nynorsk are considered equal literary languages, but the former is much more widespread and is the main language for about 85-90% of Norwegians. Nynorsk is most widespread in Vestland, where about 87% of its speakers live, and it is widely used in rural areas. In the first half of the 20th century, the Nynorsk and Bokmål “policy of rapprochement” (Norwegian tilnærmingspolitikken) was officially pursued with the aim of creating a “common Norwegian” norm (samnoshk, Norse samnorsk) in the future, but in 1966 it was decided to abandon this policy.

Religion

Main articles: Church of Norway, Catholicism in Norway, Orthodoxy in Norway

Only from 21.05.2012 the church of Norway is separated from the state - a kind of record for Europe. See Church of Norway

Article 2 of Section A of the Constitution of Norway guarantees every citizen of the country the right to freedom of religion. at the same time, the same article still indicates that Evangelical Lutheranism is the state religion of Norway. By law, the king of Norway and at least half of the ministers must be Lutheran. As of 2006, according to official statistics, 3,871,006 people or 82.7% of the population belong to the State Church of Norway (Norwegian Den norske kirke). As of January 1, 2014, according to the church itself, 75% of the country's population belonged to the Church of Norway. However, only about 2% of the population attend church regularly. Many of the Norwegians are “registered” as members of the Church of Norway “by default”. If at least one of the parents in the family is a member of this official church, then the child automatically "receives" the faith of the registered parent, therefore the vast majority of the members of the Norwegian church did nothing to join this religion.

A 2005 Eurobarometer poll shows Norway to be at the bottom of the list of believers in Europe: only 32% of Norwegians believe in God, 47% believe in any spirit or life force, 17% do not believe in God or in any - either spirit or life force.

In Norway, there are 403,909 people, or 8.6% of the population as of 2007, belonging to other confessions and teachings.

Among them, the most numerous are adherents of Islam (79,068 people or 1.69% of the population), the Roman Catholic Church (51,508 people or 1.1%) and the Pentecostal Movement of Norway (40,398 people or 0.86%).

The Foreningen Forn Sed neo-pagan community is officially registered in the country.

History

Main article: History of Norway

Prehistoric period

In the early Mesolithic, two related cultures of hunters and gatherers, later named after the main monuments of Fosna and Koms, penetrated into the territory of Norway after the retreating glacier to the north. The climate in Norway after the end of the ice age was exceptionally favorable, and Norway was one of the most densely populated areas during this period of Earth's history.

During the Neolithic period in the south of Norway there was a megalithic, presumably pre-Indo-European culture of funnel-shaped cups, and in the east - a culture of pit-comb ceramics (the latter was presumably Finno-Ugric).

Ancient history

Traditional Norwegian house

The ancestors of the modern Norwegians, who pushed the nomadic Finnish tribes to the north, belonged to a separate Scandinavian tribe, related to the Danes and Angles.

It is not fully understood how Norway was settled. According to one version, Norway was settled from the north, but then the settlers settled on the west coast and in the center. Some historians, on the other hand, suggest that settlement took place from south to north - an opinion supported by archaeological excavations. It is even possible that the settlement took place from several sides at once, since the tribes of settlers very quickly spread across the territory of Norway. It is reliably known that the very first people came to Norway more than 10,000-9,000 years ago, settling in the area of ​​the village of Komsa in Finnmark and Vosna in Nurmør. These places gave their name to the first Norse hunter-gatherer cultures. According to the sagas, the Norwegians occupied an area from the southern part of Vike Bay to Drontheim, (formerly called Nidarose), but, like the Goths and Swedes, did not have a centralized authority. The population split into 20-30 separate groups called fylke (Norse fylke, people). Each fylk had its own king, or jarl. In order to create a single state, several fülks were united into one general meeting - Thing. The Ting was convened at a certain place, and all free members of society were present, but affairs were conducted by delegates appointed by each king separately, who made up the supreme assembly, or supreme court. the ranks of the commissioners were not admitted to persons dependent on the king.

Later, the country was divided into four large districts, each with its own separate division, with its own separate laws and customs; namely: Frostating, which included the county located north of the Sognefjord; Gulating, covering the southwestern county; The Opplandna and Vika tinges, located to the south and east of the Central Mountain Range, first gathered together at Eijating, but the Vik County subsequently separated and became a separate ting.

Inside the fylk there was a division into hundreds (herad); at the head of the herad was hersir, who held this position by inheritance law. He was in charge of the civil and religious affairs of the district. The kings who bore the name yngling were considered to be descended from God and were representatives of fülks in foreign affairs and leaders of troops during wars, but their rights were determined by their personal qualities and the size of their personal possessions; the most important matters were decided by the people themselves at the tinge.

The peasants paid the king Viru in the event of a violation of the peace and brought him free gifts. If the king "introduced violence instead of law", then an arrow was sent to all inhabitants of the fylk as a sign that the king should be seized and killed. If it was not possible to kill, the king was expelled from the country forever. The rights to the throne were, along with legitimate, and illegitimate children, the origin of which was proved by testing with iron.

Thus, Old Norse society consisted of two estates: princes and free villagers, or peasants. unfree people, or slaves, with whom they treated, however, not severely, were strictly dependent on them. They were mostly prisoners. After death, they were not allowed into Valhalla, where only free people who died in battle were accepted. The two free estates did not constitute castes isolated from each other. The title of a peasant was considered honorable. Entry into the service of the king was considered shameful for the peasants and was imposed in some cases as a punishment.

The king was the largest landowner and ruled his lands with the help of persons called armadr. At the court of the king lived a detachment of warriors - hirdmann. They were dependent on the king, although they enjoyed complete personal freedom. The activities of the vigilantes were wars, predatory raids, military exercises and hunting. They threw feasts, which were attended by women, loved to have fun, but at the same time longed to die a heroic death. Belief in a destiny that no one can escape elevated the courage of the Norwegians. They believed that Odin gives victory, and therefore they boldly went into battle.

Age of the Vikings

Due to the scarcity of the soil, with the thirst for fame and enrichment, the passion for expeditions to foreign lands increased, so that already in the 8th century, the Norwegians began to terrorize neighboring countries with their raids. When, at the end of the 9th century, vast states began to form in Norway, the kings of which hampered the freedom of individual districts, the number of those leaving for long voyages increased even more. Sometimes the kings themselves set out on a campaign, for conquest or plunder, wishing to glorify their name. Only those expeditions that were undertaken under the command of princes, who were called sea kings, were called honorary. There are two periods of Viking expeditions: in the first, the Norwegians swim across the sea in small detachments, attack only the shores and islands, and retire home when winter comes; in the second period, they gather in large troops, go far from the coast, stay for the winter in the country that they plunder, take possession of it, build fortifications there, settle in them. This period begins in some of the lands visited by the Vikings earlier, in others later - in Ireland in 835, at the mouth of the Loire - about the same time, in England and along the lower reaches of the Seine - in 851.

Viking ship at the Oslo Museum

The Norwegians even attacked the territory of present-day Turkey, where they were attracted by the riches of Constantinople, which they called Mykklgård. at the end of the 9th century, Norway rallied into one kingdom, and since then there is more reliable information about its fate. On the western bank of the Vik, present-day Christiansfjord, was the small region of Westerfüld, ruled by the descendants of the kings who, according to popular tradition, once reigned in Uppsala. The first king of Westerfjord, who left a memory of himself, was Halfdan the Black, who, partly thanks to family ties, partly through conquest, annexed to his kingdom all the areas near the upper end of the bay and extended inland to Lake Miesen. Halfdan died early, leaving a ten-year-old son, Harald (863). The latter continued the work started by his father, subordinating neighboring jarls and kings to his power and establishing autocracy in Norway. He succeeded, but the proud ancestors were reluctant to submit to the king, to whom they had previously been equal; very many noble people were expelled by Harald for resisting him and sailed off to look for new lands. The area to the south of the Sognefjord was subjugated later. Her leaders gathered a significant army, but in the fierce battle of Gafursfjord, Harald defeated (885). Harald made a complete revolution in the economic and social order of the country. Masses of dissatisfied with the destruction of the old liberties left for Iceland, the Shetland, Hebrides and Orkney Islands. From there they made frequent raids on the shores of Norway, but Harald defeated them and placed the Norse Jarls on the islands. At the end of his life, Harald betrayed the principle of autocracy: he divided the country between his sons, allocating a kingdom to each, and gave the descendants of the female line a county along with the title of Jarl. Only 16 kingdoms were formed, the connection between which Harald thought to preserve, declaring his eldest son Eirik the senior king. Harald was still alive when Erich made an attempt to reassert a unified monarchy and was nicknamed the Bloody Ax for the extermination of his brothers. His harsh, tyrannical nature helped revitalize the reaction fueled by Harald's strict rule. the year of the latter's death (936), his youngest son Haakon appeared on the scene, born of a slave and given to the education of Athelstan of England. Haakon was elected king after he solemnly promised the peasants to restore their ancient rights and return their ancestral lands. Eirik had to leave for England. Haakon the Good kept his promises. Baptized at the court of thelstan, Haakon made an attempt to establish Christianity in Norway, but the peasants abruptly refused and stubbornly insisted that the king unswervingly perform pagan rituals, so that a break almost occurred between him and the people.

Olaf II, miniature

After Haakon, a number of kings, of which the most famous - Olaf I Tryggvason (995-1001) and Olaf II the Tolstoy (1015-1024), tried to introduce Christianity, withstanding a stubborn struggle with the people. Due to his personal qualities, Olaf Tryggveson has become a favorite hero of Norwegian history. Olaf II the Tolstoy, named after his death as a Saint and considered the patron of Norway, was the great-grandson of Harald the Fair-haired. He united the whole of Norway under his rule, rebuilt Nidaros, founded by Olaf Tryggveson and then destroyed, and made it the capital of the state. He was a zealous Christian; the age-old resistance of the people to the new faith was suppressed. Having established Christianity, Olaf changed the laws of the country according to the new conditions of life and drew up the church code. Powerful families, who enjoyed complete independence under his ancestors, had to submit to him. He eliminated the inheritance of the positions of landers and verziers. Even the rank of Jarls was destroyed; Jarl began to call the king's closest assistant in war and in peacetime. Under other kings, the yarls entered into a struggle with the royal power and received tremendous importance, which most often happened in the early childhood of kings. The neighboring kings, Swedish and Danish, did their best to harm the Norwegian king. Although the Swedish king Olaf the Beloved, was forced, in the end, to reconcile with him at the insistence of his peasants and even marry his daughter to him, but the Danish Knud constantly instigated revolts against him and supported the insurgents. Olaf took advantage of Knud's departure to Rome to attack his state, but Knud returned, drove away the enemies and sailed to Norway the next year. The people, irritated against Olaf for his willful rule, swore allegiance to Knud. Olaf was forced to flee and found shelter with Yaroslav in the Old Russian state. In 1029 he gathered an army and sailed to Norway, but at Stiklestad he was met by a Norwegian army three times more numerous, and he was killed. Knud appointed his son Sven as governor in Norway; but the intolerable oppression which the Norwegians had to endure under the Danish yoke aroused their irritation, and everyone remembered Olaf with bitter regret. The very people who killed Olaf brought his ten-year-old son Magnus from Russia and proclaimed him king. Sven fled to Denmark, with which a treaty was concluded: Magnus was to become king of Denmark after the death of Hardeknud. When the latter died, Magnus' authority was indeed recognized in Denmark. He appointed Sven as his governor, but a year later Sven refused to obey him. Magnus was victorious in several battles, but, after winning a big battle on the island of Zealand (1047), he was killed. His successor, Harald the Severe, fought incessant wars with the Danes: he was called the northern lightning, the destroyer of the Danish islands. He was carried away by the hope of conquering England, sailed there and died. This was followed by the more peaceful reign of Olaf the Peaceful, who ruled Norway peacefully for 27 years. his reign Norway has achieved significant prosperity. After the death of Olaf, in 1095, Norway was again divided into two states, and strife began again, until one of the kings, Magnus Barfud, became the reign of the united Norway. He made expeditions to foreign countries, conquered the Hebrides and Orcadian islands and the English Isle of Man, and fell in Ireland in 1103. He was succeeded by his sons, Erich and Sigurd. The first wise management contributed to the peaceful annexation of new regions to Norway, built churches, monasteries, etc. Sigurd, on the contrary, was distinguished by the brave, restless spirit of the ancient Vikings. 1107-1111, he undertook a crusade to St. Land and returned with many looted treasures. Jerusalem, he pledged to the patriarch to establish a bishopric in Norway and establish church tithes, which he did. After his death (1130), a long period of internecine wars begins. The state was sometimes fragmented between several sovereigns, sometimes united under the rule of one. The clergy managed to take advantage of the times of troubles to expand their rights and privileges. This significantly weakened royal power, which in Norway could never have gained such great importance as in the rest of Europe, because the rights of the Norwegian people were very extensive, and they stubbornly defended them, defending themselves against any attempts to subjugate them. The Norwegian aristocracy moved more and more away from the people and after the introduction of Christianity began to draw closer to the clergy, striving, together with them, to concentrate the government of the country in their hands. 1161, during the reign of Haakon II Broad-shouldered, Norway was visited by a papal legate, who forced to recognize the prohibition of the marriage of priests and introduced various other reforms. Bergen he anointed 8-year-old Magnus, who was elected king in 1162, to reign. Magnus was descended from Harald the Fair-haired by his mother; the church, by consecrating his hereditary rights, enabled a number of descendants of the royal daughters to lay claim to the Norwegian throne. King Magnus in 1174, according to the conviction of the Archbishop of Nidaros Eystein, promulgated a law called the Diploma of the Golden Pen and gave the Norwegian clergy very great rights. Magnus, who in this charter called himself the king of God’s mercy, promised to establish tithes in favor of the church, refused any interference in the election of bishops and other church dignitaries, and gave the Archbishop of Nidaros and his spiritual advisers the predominant influence in deciding which of the sons or relatives the king must be given the crown. Thus, the appointment of the king by the popular assembly was replaced in Norway by the influence of the clergy and the crowning. This was explained by the fact that each king received Norway, as it were, in flax from St. Olaf. The people could not endure such a violation of their rights and rebelled under the leadership of Eystein Moyle, who called himself the grandson of one of the Norwegian kings, Harald Gille. A struggle arose between two parties, one of which was called the Birch-Legged (birkebeiners), and the other Krivozhezlova (baglers), from the crooked bishop's baton. The birch-legged opposed the expansion of the rights of the clergy and defended the rights of the people, and the crooked-stems were clerics. The struggle lasted for over a century and caused a number of coups. The Birkebeiners were already close to death when they were headed by the former priest Sverrir, an Icelander by birth, posing as the son of King Sigurd Munds. 1184 Magnus was killed and Sverrir was elected king. His reign marks a new era in the history of Norway; he dealt a decisive blow to both allies - the clergy and the aristocracy - and approved the democratic principles on which the Norwegian state was based. He destroyed the power of the nobility, appointing to rule the country new persons who depended exclusively on him; the titles were preserved, but they now represented nothing more than an empty phrase. He also destroyed the predominance of the clergy on the grounds that the king receives his title from God and rules over all his subjects. The clergy revolted against him, Pope Innocent III excommunicated him, all the bishops left Norway, but Sverrir remained adamant. If he failed to bring the matter of centralization to the end, it was only because he had to fight all the time not only with internal, but also with external enemies. The struggle continued after his death (1202), both under his son Haakon III, and during the interregnum period that followed, when the birkebakers appointed one king and the spiritual party another, until Sverrir's side grandson, Haakon, was recognized as king. both parties at a meeting in Bergen, which was attended by the higher clergy, the Yarls and the peasants. A period of peaceful development has come for Norway. Haakon did not agree to recognize the letters of the Golden Pen, but at the same time he acted as a conciliator between the peasants and the clergy. in the case of jurisdiction, the clergy was granted complete independence from the civil court; it elected its dignitaries without royal interference, and church estates were declared free from military service. thanks for that the clergy helped Haakon to conquer almost all of Iceland and Greenland. His son Magnus VI ascended the throne (1263) no longer by choice at the Thinge, but at the request of his father, who offered the people to swear allegiance to him before the proposed campaign to Denmark and promulgated in 1257 the law on succession to the throne, which destroyed the influence of the bishops on this matter and prevented fragmentation of the state into parts. Magnus maintained peace within the state and peace with his neighbors and earned the title of Law Improver (Laegebaetr); he established a general law for the entire kingdom, based on the old legislation of the country, gulating, frostating, etc. The punishments were softened, more precise rules of succession were established, which completely eliminated the election of the king. Significant changes made in the state system consisted in the increase in the importance of the royal servants and the rise of the power of the king himself.

King Hakon V the Saint (1319) completely destroyed the title of Lendermen, without encountering any resistance: the Lendermen ceased to be the leaders of the people, representing only large free landowners. Norway remained a country of peasants - small landowners. Hakon died without male heirs, and since the minor Swedish king Magnus Ericsson was the grandson of Hakon by his mother, the Norwegians elected him their king: the throne of Norway passed to the Swedish line, and both countries retained their laws and their supreme councils. Norway had 4 local councils (Orething) and one general council, meeting mostly in Bergen. Larger cities had their own self-government.

Union with Denmark and Sweden

See also: Kalmar Union, Danish-Norwegian Union, and Swedish-Norwegian Union

Since the election of Magnus Eriksson, the history of Norway is inseparably linked with the history of other Scandinavian states and is losing its independent significance. Norway is being towed by Sweden, participating, among other things, in the wars between Sweden and the Hansa, which strengthened the latter's domination and delayed the development of Norwegian trade for a long time. In Norway, all power was concentrated in the hands of officials; there was no aristocracy, no permanent assembly of the people that could oppose them, although the peasants and cities retained their primordial liberties. In 1349, a plague broke out, claiming more than a third of the country's population. The Norwegians strongly demanded the presence of the king, and in 1350 Magnus sent his youngest son Gakon, 12 years old, as king. In 1376, the Swedish State Council, upon the termination of the male line of the reigning dynasty, elected four-year-old Olaf, the son of the Norwegian king Gakon and his wife Margarita, as king, and Margarita was appointed regent. Following this, the Hansa recognized Olaf as the Danish king. Thus, all 3 Scandinavian states merged into one. When Gakon of Norway died in 1380, Margaret of Denmark was recognized as the Norwegian regent. But her power in Denmark and Norway was very weak. Olaf died in 1387, and both the Danish and Norwegian Sejms elected Margaret queen, and in 1388 the Swedes also elected her queen of Sweden. When electing Margarita, the Norwegian Sejm recognized her as the heir to her sister's grandson, Erich Pomeranian. In July 1396, the Danish and Swedish Seims promised that Erich, upon reaching adulthood, would be given control of their states and that the Scandinavian states would not wage war among themselves. To strengthen the position of her heir, Margarita convened the councils of state of all three kingdoms in Kalmar; they in June 1397 worked out a law called the squid union. On the basis of it, Denmark, Norway and Sweden should have always had one king, elected from the Erich dynasty along the line of the primogeniture; the Scandinavian states should not fight among themselves, but should defend each other when attacked by enemies; treaties with foreign states must be common to all three states; declared a rebel in one of them should be prosecuted in the other two, but each of the three Scandinavian states retains its own special laws.

The Kalmar Union brought little benefit to the Scandinavian states; they were drawn into the policy of conquest by her, which the reigning dynasty adhered to and which did them much harm. Norway had to make sacrifices for several decades for purposes completely unknown to it, to pay huge taxes for the costs of wars alien to its interests. The Norwegians never saw the king, and his officials oppressed the people, pulled all the juice out of the country, forced them to take a badly minted coin at the face value. The Norwegians asked to send them a governor, if the king could not come himself; having neither aristocracy, nor a common Diet, they needed the king's direct concern for their state affairs - but they did not pay attention to their requests. “We are ruled by foreign cruel Fochts, we have no order in the coin, no governor, or even a seal, so the Norwegians must run abroad for their seal,” the Norwegians complained in 1420. This is where the hostile attitude to the dominion of foreign kings and a whole series of troubles arose; the people refused to obey foreigners and vigorously resisted all kinds of encroachments on local laws and customs. The troubles in Denmark gave the Norwegians the opportunity to defend their independence and turn the union into a personal and equal union (1450). Each state retained its separate name and its own laws, was governed by its compatriots, had its own separate finances and treasury. Karl Knudson, chosen by the Norwegians, ceded his rights to the Danish king Christian I. It was decided that Norway would always have a king in common with Denmark; the choice of the king must take place in Halmstad, and if the king of Christians leaves behind his sons, they must first of all be elected. From that time until 1814, Norway and Denmark had common kings.

Throughout the 15th century and until 1536, when the liberties of Norway were finally suppressed, the Norwegians did not cease to worry and resent any encroachment on their rights. They recognized Danish kings only after long hesitation and resistance. The Norwegians were especially outraged by the fact that the most important and ancient of their colonies, the Orkney and Shetland Islands, were given by Christian I in 1468 as a pledge to the Scottish king and have not been redeemed since then, so they remained in the possession of Scotland. There were constant armed uprisings against foreigners.

After the Danish king Christian II, expelled from Denmark and supported by Norway, was taken prisoner by the Danes and deposed, the Danish rigsdag in 1536, in spite of the Kalmar Union, turned Norway from an equal member of the union into a governed province. A separate Norwegian Sejm, a separate army and navy, separate finances, etc. were destroyed. The Norwegian Supreme Court was destroyed; all trials were decided in Copenhagen by Danish judges; Bishops were ordained there, and youths studied there and devoted themselves to the state and church service. Norwegian soldiers and sailors joined the ranks of the Danish fleet and troops. The administration of Norway was entrusted to the Danish vogts, sent by the Danish government and completely independently in charge of it. The only thing that the Danes did not dare to touch upon was the peasants' land rights, "odelsret". The loss of political independence had a depressing effect on the development of Norway. She seemed to have frozen in place, especially after the reformation, which was introduced in Norway in almost the same violent ways as Christianity. Norway's trade was destroyed by the almighty Hansa; the industry did not develop. Both the country's finances and its population suffered from constant wars with Sweden, whose soldiers ravaged its border areas. At the same time, Sweden captured three Norwegian regions: Jämtland, Herjedalen and Bohuslän. mental life is completely stagnant. Even the rewriting of the old manuscripts has ceased; one might think that the Norwegians even forgot to read, says one writer. But if in these relations the domination of Denmark had an unfavorable effect on Norway, but in others it acted beneficially, directing the life of Norway along the course on which it began to go, and strengthening the democratic principles that were at the foundation of its state system. The last remnants of feudalism disappeared in the 17th century, and a new aristocracy could not form due to the absence of a court, the absence of a king and a constant change of officials, who were an alien element and could not take firm roots in the country. After the end of dependence on the Hansa, in 1613, Norway's trade developed greatly, as well as shipping, fishing and forestry, and the population increased significantly, with all population growth rushing to the cities, contributing to their prosperity. At the end of the 18th century, when Norway had to suffer a lot during the wars between Denmark and England, the spirit of nationality and love of freedom awakened among the Norwegians. British cruisers and the fleet for whole years interrupted communication between Denmark and Norway, and the latter would have already separated from Denmark, if not for the affection for the stadtholder Prince Augustus Christian of Holstein-Glüsburg, who managed to win popular love with his management. After his death, in 1809, the idea of ​​restoring independence appeared again. A society for the good of Norway was formed, actively working in this direction. He succeeded in 1811, after long resistance from the Danes, to found a university in Christiania, thanks to which Copenhagen ceased to be the center of Norwegian culture. The spirit of national independence began to speak with particular force when the Norwegians learned that the Danish king, forced by Sweden, after a stubborn struggle, ceded his rights to Norway to the Swedish king, according to the Treaty of Kiel in 1814.

19th century

The Treaty of Kiel was signed in 1814. They decreed the following: "Norway should belong to the king of Sweden and constitute a kingdom united with Sweden, and the new king undertakes to rule Norway as an independent state, according to its own laws, freedoms, rights and privileges." Norwegian historians pay special attention to the fact that it was not Denmark that ceded its rights to Norway to Sweden, because the Danish state did not have any rights to Norway, which it could cede: Norway and Denmark were twin brothers who constituted legally equal parts the same monarchy. The king of Denmark ruled in Norway not by someone else's will, but by virtue of the ancient hereditary law of Norway. He could dispose of her as her legitimate sovereign, but only within the limits of legality, therefore, he had no right to transfer her to anyone without her consent. He could do only one thing - to renounce the throne, and then Norway received the right to independently control its fate. For these reasons, the Norwegians opposed the Treaty of Kiel. Thus, in 1814, Norway entered into a personal union with Sweden.

Christian VIII

The ruler of Norway at that time was Prince Christian Friedrich, a 28-year-old man who, according to his contemporaries, was distinguished by determination and energy. Convinced of the unshakable determination of the Norwegians to prevent the country from turning to the Swedish province, the prince summoned the highest dignitaries of Norway, provided them with all the documents regarding the Swedish-Danish agreement, declared himself regent for the interregnum and invited the Norwegians to elect representatives to the Diet in Eidswold, authorized to draw up a new constitution. After that, the troops and civil guards in the square solemnly vowed to defend the independence of Norway: this oath was repeated for them by the people and the prince-regent, who swore allegiance in the churches. Elections were held for a national constituent assembly. On April 10, the meeting was opened, and in a committee of 15 persons, chaired by Falsen, a draft constitutional bill was worked out, which was then adopted in the general meeting. the following can be distinguished as its main provisions:

• Norway forms a free, independent and undivided kingdom. Legislative power belongs to the people, who exercises it through representatives.
• Taxation is the exclusive right of the representatives of the people.
• The right to declare war and make peace belongs to the king.
• The judiciary is separate from the legislative and executive branches.
• Freedom of the press.
• The Evangelical Lutheran faith is recognized as the state religion, but complete freedom of religion is allowed; only Jesuits are not allowed to enter the state; Monastic Orders and Jews are also not allowed.
• The king can, for outstanding services to the state, give orders, but he does not have the right to elevate to any rank or rank unrelated to the position held by this person. No personal and hereditary benefits can be accorded to anyone. This was a preparation for the complete destruction of the nobility, since the hereditary nobility turned into a personal one. Falsen said at the same time that, not wanting to have, even by name, any advantage over his fellow citizens, he for himself and his descendants renounces his nobility and all the advantages associated with it.
• The king is granted veto suspensivum, but not absolutum.
• The king has no right to accept any other crown without the consent of the ⅔ Storting.
• The king must live within the present limits of the state.

On May 19, 1814, Prince Regent Christian Friedrich was unanimously elected King of Norway. The Swedish government did not obey the decision of the Norwegian people; the Swedish army was ordered to march to capture Norway. Attempts were made on the part of foreign powers to settle the matter diplomatically, but they did not lead to anything. The Norwegian troops were led by inexperienced people, as a result of which the Norwegian soldiers soon began to lose confidence in victory and talk about treason. On the other hand, the Swedish crown prince Karl-John acted with extreme caution and, after long hesitation, agreed to enter into direct relations with the Norwegian people, to negotiate with them as with a completely independent nation. The offer was accepted; The Maritime Convention was signed on August 14, and the Kiel Treaty was destroyed by the Swedish government itself. King Christian convened the Storting on October 7, 1814. During the debate, the need for unification became more and more clear, since Norway was unable to continue the costly struggle. The King of Christians conveyed a message to the congregation in which he finally renounced the authority given to him and freed Norway from the oath. Swedish commissioners were dispatched to negotiate with the Storting regarding the unification of Norway with Sweden, with instructions to show the greatest possible courtesy and compliance. The following agreement was worked out: Norway forms a free and independent kingdom, which has a king in common with Sweden. In all its own affairs, Norway should be governed independently, and in general it should enjoy equal influence with Sweden. The same idea lay at the basis of the structure of external relations. Norway was to have its own management of foreign affairs, but foreign affairs concerning both states were to be decided in a joint Norwegian and Swedish state council, according to the principle: equal influence or complete equality. Norway could, in the person of two members of the state council who were with the king, participate in the Swedish state council whenever an issue of national importance was discussed in it. In such a case, the consent of the Norwegian government was required to resolve it. Only when the commissioners agreed on behalf of the king to the terms of the union set by the Storting, the Storting accepted the resignation of King Christian and elected Charles XIII as the constitutional king of Norway, not by virtue of the Treaty of Keel, but by virtue of the Norwegian constitution. The crown prince gave the king's written oath to "rule Norway in accordance with its constitution and its laws"; the members of the Storting, for their part, took an oath of allegiance to the constitution and to the king, and the debate ended with a dignified speech by the president, in which he expressed the hope that the sacred bond connecting the two peoples would increase the common good and security and that descendants ".

Beautiful hopes were not destined to come true. Sweden began to pursue its favorite idea - the conquest of Norway, and Norway - to defend its independence. at first the Swedes were very happy about the agreement with Norway; most were convinced that Norway had already been conquered, others hoped for a voluntary merger of both nations. But since things did not go well, discontent and disappointment began to arise in Sweden. Norway's first clash with Sweden broke out in 1815, when the Storting destroyed the nobility and hereditary privileges. Karl-John did not agree with the decision of the Storting. The law passed through a three-fold vote and became binding without the king's sanction, which terribly outraged the latter. One threatening rescript was sent to the Storting after another; even an attempt was made to restrict freedom of the press, they threatened with the intervention of foreign powers, but democratic Norway insisted on its way. in the same spirit, the people's representatives of Norway continued to act further. The king proposed, in 1824, a series of restrictive constitutional changes. All these proposals were rejected by the Storting. Great difficulties were created by the question of the external representation of Norway. After a series of escalating negotiations in 1836, it was established that a Norwegian member of the Council of State was "present" whenever general diplomatic matters were discussed; when discussing purely Norwegian affairs, he expressed his opinion, but his voice was not decisive. This concession did not satisfy anyone. Several unionskomité were convened to discuss this issue and revise the act of union; but the revision met with unfavorable treatment in the Norwegian Storting. The July Revolution had revitalized Norway's democratic aspirations even earlier. In 1836, the last land tax was abolished. In 1838, rural self-government was transformed, the influence of the administration on it was eliminated. Rejected in 1839 were the government's proposals to replace the restraining royal veto with an absolute one, to restrict the Storting's right to naturalize, etc. In 1842, the Storting decided that the king's sanction was not required for the naturalization of foreigners in Norway. In the 1840s, the struggle for stadtholding arose. Section 14 of the Constitution determined that a stadtholder in Norway could be indifferent to a Norwegian or a Swede. Soon the Norwegians felt all the inconvenience of this decree and began to ask for the elimination of the stadtholder post. Charles XV, on his accession to the throne in 1859, promised to fulfill their desire, but the Swedish Rigsdag opposed this, and the king confirmed the decision of the Rigsdag. This angered the Norwegians terribly; The Storting protested against the interference of the Swedish Rigsdag in purely Norwegian affairs. Since the Rigsdag, in his address to the king, proposed revising the constitution in order to expand the scope of issues considered by the general council, and, consequently, to increase the supreme power of Sweden, the Storting also protested against this kind of revision of the constitution, which violates its basic principle - equality. Nevertheless, the unionskomité was convened and decided to establish a new union council, and with it general ministers for both states, with a common constitution superior to the individual constitutions of this or that kingdom, and with a general range of actions, very extensive and embracing the most significant issues. concerning both nations. The Storting continued to stand for the previous state of affairs, but 17 votes were in favor of the new: this was the first indication that it was impossible to rely on Norwegian officials, so persistent in the past, during the struggle with the government for independence. Upon his accession to the throne in 1872, King Oscar II managed to win over the Norwegian Storting by various concessions, so that the latter agreed to transform the customs business (1874), to introduce a common Scandinavian coin (1875), etc. In 1880, the struggle flared up again. Back in 1872, a bill was introduced to the Storting that the ministers, at his first request, were at its meetings. In 1880, the Storting began to insist on the implementation of this law; Stang's ministry did not agree and was forced to resign. Then new reasons for disagreement appeared on the scene: the government demanded an increase in the fleet and army, the Storting rejected this demand and adopted a project to establish a militia like the Swiss. The king did not approve this project. The Storting put the ministers on trial, and they were convicted, but the king cashed in the verdict. After the resignation of Selmer's ministry, a radical Sverdrup ministry was formed, which, having yielded to the king questions about absolute veto, etc. Union surfaced again in 1885, when Sweden independently changed its foreign affairs administration without asking Norway's consent. The King has ceased to be the head of Sweden's foreign policy: it is governed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is entrusted with constitutional responsibility. But since the Swedish foreign minister was at the same time the head of Norwegian foreign affairs, the right of the Norwegian king to rule Norway's foreign policy thus passed to Sweden. In addition to its ideological significance, the question seemed very important from a practical point of view: an awkward step in foreign policy could threaten the country's political and national existence. Foreign policy was especially important for Norway as a predominantly trading country, as opposed to Sweden, a predominantly agricultural country. Negotiations began between the Norwegian ministry of Sverdrup and the Swedish one. the result was the protocol of May 15, 1885: it was decided that the ministerial council should include as many Norwegian officials as Swedish; Norwegians will participate in solving cases and will be accountable to the Storting, but in return, Norway must recognize that the leadership of foreign policy belongs to Sweden. The Storting became so indignant that Sverdrup was forced to resign; after that the negotiations also ceased. In the next elections, both the right and left parties of the Norwegian Storting introduced the question of foreign policy to the House. The left won, but since its two groups, pure and moderate, could not come to an agreement in any way, the right became the head of the department, forming the Stang ministry, and negotiations with Sweden resumed, but did not lead to any results. The fruitlessness of any negotiations and any kind of joint political action became more and more obvious and things moved on to a new stage, expressed in the program for the elections of January 30, 1891: “a new procedure for the administration of diplomatic affairs, which would impose more fundamental constitutional responsibility on the Norwegian state authorities ". The left won the elections, and Minister Sten became the head of the department, who expressed a direct demand for the appointment of a separate Norwegian foreign minister. The Storting, not wishing to act too harshly, has limited itself for the time being to the establishment of separate Norwegian consulates, which are of great practical importance for a country that lives almost exclusively by seafaring and trade. On June 10, 1892, the Storting assigned money to make the required changes, but the king refused to approve this decision and dismissed the Sten ministry, which had a majority of 64 votes; Stang was appointed minister, which in itself constituted a violation of the parliamentary regime. The radicals passed in 1893 a decree on the reduction of the king's civil list and the maintenance of ministers; the majority of the Storting set the date for the separation of the Norwegian consulates from the Swedish on January 1, 1895 and assigned 340,450 crowns for their maintenance. The government responded by refusing to separate the consulates and used the money assigned to the individual consulates for general consulates. The country was divided between two parties: the right and the left. The right wants to carry out the principle of equality within the boundaries of the now existing agreement, but from the point of view of the left, this is nothing more than a chimera; the left sees only one way out of the humiliating and unsatisfactory state of affairs for Norway - the separation of both countries, the abolition of the alliance regarding everything that was not included in the treaty.

The hope of Stang's conservative cabinet to achieve a majority in the elections to the Storting in 1894 was in vain: the left lost several seats, but still had a majority of 59 in the new Storting against 55 moderate and conservatives. Stang's cabinet filed a letter of resignation on January 31, 1895. The king entered into negotiations with the left side of parliament, demanding from her some obligations regarding her further course of action, and when such obligations were not given, he categorically refused to accept Stang's resignation (April 3, 1895). As a result, the opposition to the left side of the Storting became extremely acute; speeches were heard so harsh in tone and content, which previously could not be heard in it. However, Stang's cabinet managed to get the Storting to agree to negotiate with Sweden, for which a committee of agreement of 7 Swedes and 7 Norwegians was chosen by the parliaments (in November 1895). Earlier, in October, the Stang ministry finally resigned, giving way to Gagerup's coalition cabinet, which consisted of representatives of all Storting parties. However, the reconciliation business was not going well. In 1896, the Storting, by an insignificant majority of votes (41 to 40), decided to replace the Swedish-Norwegian flag exclusively with the Norwegian one. The decision was made a second time, and the king again refused his sanction. In response to this, the Storting, again by an insignificant majority (58 against 56), rejected the proposal made by the Conservatives to raise the civil list of the king and crown prince to the previous level of 326,000 crowns for the first and 88,000 crowns for the second, on which he stood until 1893. The participation of Norway in the Stockholm exhibition, proposed by the Swedish government, was also accepted by an insignificant majority (58 against 56). Discussion of the Swedish-Norwegian trade agreement with Japan gave rise to sharp attacks against Gagerup, who, according to the radicals, neglected the interests of Norway in favor of Sweden; nevertheless, the treaty was approved, albeit by a tiny majority. At a time when in other European countries the conservatives are usually for strengthening the army, and the liberals and radicals are fighting against it, in Norway the opposite happened: the strengthening and rearmament of the army proposed by the Gagerup government was not only accepted by the Storting, but even the reform costs were significant increased in comparison with the government's requirement, because Norway seriously considered the possibility of war with Sweden. In 1896-1897, the Storting passed several important bills in the field of constitutional and social legislation. The right to vote in elections to the Storting is granted to persons outside Norway. The electoral right in elections to local self-government bodies has been significantly expanded. The radicals' demand to extend the right to vote to women was rejected. A law of 1897 imposed a criminal sanction in addition to the constitutional provision, by virtue of which the Storting has the right to summon every person on public affairs, with the exception of the king and members of the royal family. Persons summoned in this way and failing to appear at the call of the Storting are subject to a fine of 1,000 to 10,000 kroons; any statement made by the summoned person, in its legal consequences, is equivalent to a statement made under oath. This law was already voted on in 1894, but then the king denied him his authorization; this time he gave it. In 1897, a significant number of commercial and industrial enterprises were closed on holidays. in the same 1897, a short story to the 1894 law on insurance of workers against accidents was developed.

The elections to the Storting in 1897 brought triumph to the left, which held 79 representatives, while the number of members on the right dropped from 55 to 35. Thus, the left had a sufficient majority both to revise the constitution and to convict members of the council of state (ministry) ... The first election result was the resignation of the Gagerup ministry. On February 18, 1898, a radical cabinet was formed, chaired by former Prime Minister Steen. In 1898, a reform of the electoral law was carried out. The number of voters, which in the 1880s did not exceed 6% of the population, had risen to 11% by 1897, was immediately raised by this reform to 20%. In March 1898, the Swedish-Norwegian committee of the agreement presented its report to the parliaments of both countries, from which it turned out that the agreement did not follow. The Swedes insisted on retaining a common Swedish-Norwegian foreign minister. Disagreements emerged among the Norwegian members; the majority (moderate) agreed to the temporary retention of general consuls, so that after a few years separate Norwegian consuls would be appointed; the (radical) minority, influenced by the electoral triumph of the radicals, insisted on the immediate appointment of a Norwegian foreign minister and Norwegian consuls. In November 1898, the Storting for the third time adopted a resolution to replace the Swedish-Norwegian flag with the Norwegian flag. The king again refused to authorize this law, and the project became law without his sanction, as adopted in a row by three Storting. The members of the Norwegian Council of State (ministry) strongly advised the king not to undermine his authority by refusing to sanction this project, which was practically completely useless; but the king stubbornly stood his ground, referring to the fact that the Swedish-Norwegian flag was received at one time by the Norwegian people with enthusiasm and that it fluttered with honor on all oceans. On February 15, Gustav announced that at the Hague Peace Conference, Sweden and Norway will be represented by one common delegate, and not by two delegates, as the Norwegian Storting wishes. This decision was one of the immediate reasons that when Gustav entered Christiania, he was met with a hostile demonstration from the people; on the contrary, on his return to Stockholm, he was greeted with enthusiasm by the Swedish people. More sharply than ever it has been said here that the struggle between Sweden and Norway is being waged not only by governments, but also by peoples, each of whom was almost unanimous on this issue. In May 1899, the Storting unanimously voted without debate an extraordinary loan for the army and navy in the amount of 11.5 million crowns. On May 11, King Oscar again took control of the country.

XX century

In early 1905, Gagerup retired and was replaced by Michelsen. In May 1905, a new electoral law passed through the Storting, which introduced direct elections, established individual election by districts and the number of members of the Storting increased from 114 to 123. (over 2,000 inhabitants) a separate deputy; as a result, towns with 2,000 inhabitants have a deputy, while Christiania with a population of over 200,000 has only 5 deputies. At the beginning of 1905, King Oscar, due to illness, ceded the royal power to his heir Gustav, the antipathy Norwegians. A law passed through the Storting on the division of the Swedish-Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs into two special ones and on the creation of special Norwegian consulates; Gustav refused to authorize it; Michelsen's ministry responded by resigning. The Regent, after unsuccessful attempts to form a new cabinet, refused to accept it. Then the Storting unanimously, on June 7, 1905, adopted a resolution to dissolve the union with Sweden. Not wanting, however, to bring the matter to war, the Storting, with all votes against 4 Social Democrats, decided to ask Oscar II to allow one of his younger sons to take the place of King of Norway; the Social Democrats who voted against this proposal wanted to seize the opportunity to declare Norway a republic. The resolution adopted by the Storting read: “in view of the fact that all members of the ministry have resigned from their posts; in view of the king's declaration that he is not in a position to form a new government; in view of the fact that the constitutional royal power thereby ceased to fulfill its functions, the Storting instructs the members of the ministry, which has now resigned, to temporarily assume the power belonging to the king and, under the name of the Norwegian government, to rule the country on the basis of the constitution of the Kingdom of Norway and the laws in force, introducing in them those changes that are inevitably caused by the breakdown of the union that linked Norway with Sweden under the rule of one king, who ceased to fulfill his functions as king of Norway. " Simultaneously with this resolution, the Storting decided to draw up an address to King Oscar, where the idea was persistently carried out that the nature of the union was being misinterpreted by Sweden. Solidarity of interests and direct unity are more valuable than political ties; union has become a danger to this unity; the destruction of the union is not associated with hostile feelings either towards the Swedish people or towards the dynasty. In conclusion, the Storting expressed the hope that the new choice of the king would prepare for Norway a new era of calm work and truly friendly relations with the people of Sweden and its king, towards whose personality the Norwegian people will invariably retain feelings of respect and loyalty. the proclamation of the Storting to the Norwegian people, the hope was expressed that the Norwegian people will live in peace and harmony with all peoples, especially with the Swedish, with whom they are bound by numerous natural ties. The ministry drew up an address to the king, in which, mentioning his decision not to accept their resignations, stated that by virtue of the constitution, the king was obliged to give the country a constitutional government. From the moment the king prohibits the formation of a responsible cabinet, the Norwegian royal power ceases to function. The king's policy on the reorganization of consular law is incompatible with the constitutional regime; no other government is willing to take responsibility for this policy, and the current cabinet cannot take part in it. King Oscar protested against the behavior of the Storting and did not agree to the accession of one of his sons to the Norwegian throne, citing a violation of the constitution made by the Storting. From a formal point of view, such a violation undoubtedly took place, since the act of union with Sweden is a constitutional act in Norway and as such could be changed or canceled only after it was twice adopted in two successive Stortings and the consent of the crown. The Norwegian side responded to this that the king was the first to enter the road of violation of the constitution, who refused to authorize the law adopted by the Storting, who resigned the ministry and was unable to form a new one, so that all his activities took place without the countersignature of the ministry responsible to the Storting. In response to this statement, the king turned with a message to the president of the Norwegian Storting, in which he argued that he did not go beyond the rights granted to him by the constitution, and the Norwegian Storting committed a revolutionary act. the first time after these negotiations, the king was clearly leading the case to war; in turn, the Norwegian interim government, headed by Michelsen, was energetically preparing for it. The name of the king was no longer remembered at divine services in churches; justice began to be administered on behalf of the provisional government, to which the entire army unanimously swore allegiance. All Norwegians in the diplomatic service of Sweden and Norway have retired; only the envoy to Washington, Grip, remained in office. A ministry of foreign affairs was organized by the provisional government, but it could not appoint consuls until it was recognized by the European powers. The session of the Swedish Riksdag opened on June 20. The President of the Swedish Council of Ministers said that it was not in Sweden's interests to resort to violence and spoke in favor of negotiations with Norway. The danger of war was averted. The Norwegian interim government, wishing to find support among the people, turned to a referendum, which had not been practiced in Norway until then. On August 13, 1905, a popular vote was held to break the union with Sweden; the referendum was preceded by passionate agitation. The result exceeded the most fervent expectations: 321,197 votes were cast for the break with Sweden, against - only 161 votes; 81% of all persons entitled to vote took part in the voting. A conference of Swedish and Norwegian delegates, elected by the parliaments of both countries, opened on 31 August. At the conference, both sides came to an agreement on the basis of which Norway undertook to tear down the fortifications located near the border. In the Storting, this caused discontent on the extreme left, but the Karlstad Convention was ratified by a majority vote and, after ratification by the Swedish Riksdag, entered into force. This was followed by the question of whether Norway should be a monarchy or a republic. a lively campaign was conducted in the country; the establishment of the republic was supported by social democrats and radicals. The entire right, on the contrary, insisted on a monarchical form of government, indicating that the Norwegian constitution is the most republican in the world and even as a kingdom, Norway will remain in reality a republic, only with a hereditary president, whose power is more limited than the power of the English king or the French. president of the republic. The republic can seclude Norway politically, while the king, especially if Prince Charles of Denmark is elected king, will bring with him an alliance with a number of powers. Apparently, this consideration had a decisive influence; both the Storting and the people established a monarchical form of government in a referendum and elected Charles, Prince of Denmark, as king, who ascended the throne under the name of Haakon VII. In November 1905, Michelsen made a proposal to the Storting to establish the civil list of the Norwegian king at 700,000 crowns for the entire period of his reign (until now, the civil list was set for a year). The extreme left protested both against doubling the size of the civil sheet and against fixing it for a long time. Nevertheless, both measures were taken by a majority of 100 votes to 11.

In international relations, the independence of Norway was finally enshrined in the Christian Convention, signed by representatives of the four great powers, who pledged to respect the borders of the new kingdom and provided their guarantees of its territorial integrity.

XXI Century

Norway Economy

Main article: Economy of Norway Norwegian oil platform Statfjord

Advantages: the largest producer of oil and gas in Northern Europe. Hydropower covers most of the energy needs, which allows the export of most of the oil. Oil funds serve for the development of future generations. Mineral reserves. Large merchant fleet. Low inflation (3%) and unemployment (3%) compared to the rest of Europe.

Weak sides: very high dependence on oil. Small domestic market, peripheral location. There are too few highly qualified personnel. The harsh climate restricts agricultural development, high taxes and very expensive labor also inhibits development.

In terms of GDP, it is currently ranked 26th in the world (2006). to a large extent, well-being depends on the gas and oil refining industries. Since the mid-1990s, Norway has become the world's second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia. This industry employs almost 80 thousand people, many work in industries related to oil and gas production. About half of export revenues and 1/10 of government revenues come from oil and gas trade, which is one third of government revenues as a whole (according to 2005 data). More than a quarter of all Norwegian investments are in the construction of drilling platforms in the North Sea, west of Bergen, where one of the largest natural gas fields is located. The Norwegians built the world's largest drilling platform with a displacement of 1 million tons and a height of 465 meters. The value of the remaining hydrocarbon resources on the Norwegian continental shelf is estimated in the state budget at 4,210 billion kroons (for 2006). less than a third of Norway's proven hydrocarbon reserves have been produced so far. At the same time, Norway is the world leader in technologies that ensure the safety of oil and gas production. The main achievement of the country is the adoption of measures to create a system for preventing carbon dioxide emissions. Today, the leading deposits are Snow White (Snevit) and Ormen Lange.

The country has large reserves of wood, deposits of iron, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, titanium, molybdenum, silver, marble, granite. Norway is the largest producer of aluminum and magnesium in Europe. The largest titanium ore deposit in Europe is located in the southwest of Norway.

In the chemical industry, Norsk Hydro stands out, which is a leading European supplier of nitric acid and complex fertilizers, urea and saltpeter. Norway is also a supplier of vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which are used as raw materials for the production of synthetic paints. Norway also produces other technical goods. Paints, adhesives, detergents and fine chemicals are another sector of the Norwegian chemical industry.

Mechanical engineering specializes in the production of equipment for the oil and gas production and refining industries. Platforms are supplied to other countries as well. Another important branch of mechanical engineering is shipbuilding. The main part of the industrial potential of Norway is concentrated in the south of the country (4/5 of industrial production); about 9/10 of the country's industrial enterprises are concentrated in port cities.

The fish processing industry is almost as important to Norway as the extraction of oil and gas. The main fish processing centers are Stavanger, Bergen, Alesund, Trondheim. A significant part of Russian fishermen give their catch to Norway for processing. Russia is also one of the largest consumers of finished fish products. Over the past three decades, Norwegian aquaculture has developed rapidly. The country has accumulated rich experience in the production of equipment for fish farming (including feeding and breeding), monitoring and various production technologies in the field of fish processing.

Forests cover 27% of the country's area. And forestry is a small but very important industry for local farmers.

Rich forest resources and the availability of affordable electricity have made Norway a leading role in the global pulp and paper market. About 90% of the pulp and paper produced in the country is exported. Norwegian mills produce various types of pulp, including short-fiber and long-fiber kraft pulp, which is an important component of newsprint and magazine paper.

The Norwegian maritime economy encompasses a widespread network of maritime transport and aquaculture industries, providing an ever-increasing variety of goods and services.

Agriculture

Crops, Ediswall, Norway

The share of agriculture in the Norwegian economy declined with the development of the manufacturing industry; in 1996, agriculture and forestry accounted for only 2.2% of the country's total production. The development of agriculture in Norway is difficult due to natural conditions - the country's high-latitude position, a relatively short growing season, cool summers and low soil fertility.

Agriculture in Norway is in dire straits despite government subsidies. As of 1996, the share of cultivated land did not exceed 3% of the total area of ​​the country, and 5.6% of the country's working-age population was employed in agriculture and forestry. The number of farms reaches 200,000, and most of them are small in size: about half of all farms have plots of no more than 10 hectares, and only 1% of farmers own more than 50 hectares of land. The main agricultural regions are Trøndelag and the Oslofjord region.

The leading industry is intensive animal husbandry, which provides about 80% of all agricultural products, mainly meat and dairy products. In connection with this, as well as with climatic conditions, mainly fodder crops are grown. Sheep breeding is well developed. In the second half of the 20th century, wheat production increased many times, from 12 thousand tons in 1970 to 645 thousand tons in 1996. Despite this, Norway provides itself with agricultural products of its own production by only 40% and is forced to import grain crops.

Energy

Wind farm Hundhammarfjellet, Norway

In terms of electricity production per capita, Norway ranks first in the world. At the same time, despite the presence of large reserves of hydrocarbons, 99% of electricity is generated at hydroelectric power plants, due to the presence of significant hydro resources in Norway. A third of the electricity produced in Norway is consumed by the metallurgical industry.

There is no nuclear power in Norway. Nevertheless, the laws of the country leave the possibility of building nuclear power plants. Since the 2000s, the idea of ​​using atomic energy has been seriously considered and supported by most of the country's industrial leaders. Statkraft, Vattenfall, Fortum and Scatec are considering the possibility of building a nuclear power plant with thorium fuel cells. The involvement of Russian partners in the project is not ruled out either.

Wind power plants are becoming widespread.

Salary level in Norway

In 2011, the average monthly salary in Norway was 38,100 kroons, an average of 3.8% more than in 2010. on average, men earned 6,000 kroons more than women - 40,800 and 34,800 kroons, respectively. The share of women's wages for the year increased from 85% to 85.3%. In the public sector, the gap in the wages of women and men remained practically unchanged, and the increase was mainly due to the private sector.

Transport

Railway transport

Main article: Rail transport in Norway

Norway's railway network consists of several main lines diverging from Oslo, connecting it with the main cities of the country - Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim and Bodø, as well as with Sweden. Another line, small in length in Norway, connects Narvik with Sweden. The total length of the railways in Norway is 4,087 km (of which 2,528 km are electrified) as of 2005.

Automobile transport

The total length of roads in Norway as of 2007 is 92,946 km, of which 27,343 km are national roads, 27,075 km are regional roads and 38,528 km are local roads. Of these, 74% have a hard surface.

The total vehicle fleet in Norway as of 2006 totals 2,599,712 vehicles, including 2,084,193 cars, 26,954 buses and 488,655 trucks and others.

Air Transport

Norway has 53 airports with regular flights, of which 8 have international status - Gardermoen (Oslo), Flesland (Bergen), Sula (Stavanger), Värnes (Trondheim), Thorp (Sandefjord), Tromsø (formerly Langnes), Rygge (Moss ), Wigra (Alesund). The country's civil aircraft fleet as of 2005 is 888 aircraft and 168 helicopters. The total volume of external and internal passenger traffic in 2005 amounted to 34 803 987 people, and almost half of this number, 15 895 722 people, falls on the Oslo airport.

Sea transport

Culture

Main article: Norwegian culture

mass media

• Media concern Schibsted

Among the largest newspapers in Norway are the daily Verdens Gang (365 thousand copies), Aftenposten (250 thousand), Dagbladet (183 thousand), which widely presents foreign policy materials, and others. Norway has one of the leading places in the world in terms of the number of periodicals per capita. The Norwegian Newspaper Union united 152 newspapers in 1998. Most of the publications are supported or controlled by the Conservative Party - 44 publications, with a total circulation of 800 thousand copies.

National News Agency - Norwegian Telegraph Bureau - NTB (joint stock company). Founded in 1867. NTB is the premier news provider for Norwegian newspapers, radio and television stations. Norway's public radio and television broadcasting (except cable and commercial television) is operated by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (Norsk Rikskringkasting, NRK), which includes radio channels NRK P1, NRK P2, NRK P3, TV channels NRK1, NRK2 and NRK3. The commercial TV channel TV2 in Bergen, which began broadcasting on September 5, 1992, rivals NRK in popularity. This is followed by TVNorge and TV3. The new Norwegian TV channel MEtropol has recently opened, specializing in films and entertainment.

Holidays

date	Name	Norwegian name	Notes (edit)
January 1st	New Year	Nyttårsdag	day off
January 21	Princess Ingrid Alexandra's birthday	HKH Prinsesse Ingrid Alexandras fødselsdag
February 6	Sami people day	Samefolkets dag
21 february	King Harald's birthday	HM Kong Haralds fødselsdag
varies	Palm Sunday	Palmesøndag	day off
varies	Maundy Thursday	Skjærtorsdag	day off
varies	Good Friday	Langfredag	day off
varies	1st day of Easter	1.påskedag	day off
varies	2nd day of Easter	2.påskedag	day off
The 1 of May	Public holiday	Offentlig høytidsdag	day off
May 8	Liberation Day 1945	Frigjøringsdag 1945
May 17	Constitution day	Grunnlovsdag	day off
varies	Ascension of Christ	Kristi himmelfartsdag	day off
varies	1st day of Trinity	1.pinsedag	day off
varies	2nd day of Trinity	2.pinsedag	day off
June 7	Day of dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905	Unionsoppløsningen 1905
4th of July	Queen Sonya's birthday	HM Dronning Sonjas fødselsdag
July 20	Crown Prince Haakon's birthday	HKH Kronprins Haakons fødselsdag
July 29	Day of death of King Olaf the Saint	Olsok
August 19	Birthday of Crown Princess Mette-Marit	HKH Kronprinsesse Mette-Marits fødselsdag
December 24	Christmas
December 25	1st day of Christmas	1.juledag	day off
December 26	2nd day of Christmas	2.juledag	day off

Sport

Norway has participated in almost every Summer Olympics since the 1900 Paris Games and all the Winter Olympics since the 1924 Chamonix Games. With about one and a half hundred total (including more than fifty gold) medals at the summer games and more than three hundred (including more than a hundred gold) medals at the winter games, in the overall medal standings of the Olympic Games, Norway closes the top twenty countries in the summer games and is third in the Winter Games.

Norway has twice hosted the Winter Olympics itself. The 1952 Olympics were held in Oslo, and in 1994 - in Lillehammer.

The Norwegian National Olympic Committee was formed in 1900.

Winter species are predominantly developed. The Norwegians won the most medals in cross-country skiing and speed skating. The biathlon team, along with Russia and Germany, is one of the strongest in the world. The most outstanding modern biathlete is Ole Einar Bjørndalen, the world's only eight-time Olympic champion in biathlon and multiple medalist in other competitions. Hockey, however, is underdeveloped and inferior to the more popular football. The highest achievement of the football team is reaching the 1/8 finals of the 1998 World Cup in France. Most of the national team players play in the English Championship. The Norwegian Championship is traditionally led by Rosenborg (20-time champion), Brann, Valerenga, Viking and others. In the 1990s, Rosenborg successfully played in the Champions League, reaching 1 / 4 finals, and in 2008 won the Intertoto Cup. Famous footballers - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Touré Andre Flo, John Carew, Jon Arne Riise and others.

Music

Archaeological excavations on the territory of the country reveal the ancient origins of Norwegian music. There are many folk instruments - different varieties of violins, harps and flutes. Ethnic music in Norway is extremely diverse. in particular, it includes lyric-epic motifs created during the time of the Vikings.

A-ha in 2005

Norwegian academic music began to develop somewhat later than in most other Western European countries, which is largely due to more than 400 years of dependence on Denmark. late 18th century the Linnemann family of organists-composers ("Norwegian Bachs") became famous. Halfdan Hjerulf, the creator of the Norwegian romance, is often called the founders of the national music school; Ole Bull, composer-improviser and virtuoso violinist; Ricardo Nurdrok, promoter of national music, author of the national anthem. The most significant Norwegian composer can be called Edvard Grieg, who laid the basic traditions of Norwegian romanticism. In addition, a significant contribution to the development of Norwegian music was made by Christian Sinding, officially named "the largest national composer after Grieg"; F. Walen (student of Arnold Schoenberg), who applied the principles of dodecaphony in his work; Alf Hurum, Harald Severud and others. Homeland of the composer and performer Kötil Björnstad and Axel Kolstad.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a new wave emerged in Norway, represented by bands such as Kjøtt, De Press, The Aller Værste !, Blaupunkt.

The most popular and recognizable Norwegian musical group is a-ha, formed in 1983 in the city of Oslo. A-ha is one of the leading electro-pop bands that emerged at the end of the "new wave".

The American press has dubbed the opera and popular singer Sissel Shirshebo “the songbird of Norway”, best known for her participation in the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway and for her vocals in James Cameron's movie Titanic.

There is a well-developed metal scene in Norway, especially the black metal and viking metal scene. A large number of black metal bands, including the pioneers of this style, are originally from Norway. Among the most famous are: Antestor, Burzum, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Immortal, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Gorgoroth, The Kovenant, Satyricon, Storm, Windir. In addition, symphonic metal and gothic metal are very popular in Norway: Theater of Tragedy, Leaves "Eyes, Tristania, Sirenia, Mortemia, etc.

The most significant musician in Norwegian jazz is saxophonist Jan Garbarek, who works in a huge stylistic range: free jazz, ethno-jazz, symphonic music.

Roy Khan, owner of a unique velvet voice and former vocalist of the power metal band Kamelot, is also from Norway.

Among the musical groups that combine several styles, Katzenjammer can be distinguished.

Norway won the Eurovision Song Contest three times (1985, 1995, 2009).

There are many folk bands that take their inspiration from the days of the Vikings. The most significant folk group today is Wardruna.

Literature

Main article: Norwegian literature Henrik Ibsen

Norwegian literature traces its rich history back to the Old Icelandic sagas created by settlers from Norway. However, after the conclusion of the union with Denmark, the written Norwegian language was gradually replaced by Danish, and until the beginning of the 20th century, Norwegian writers created their works in a language practically indistinguishable from Danish. The revival of the Norwegian literary language was in no small measure promoted by Henrik Vergeland, who fought for the cultural independence of Norway. His work influenced the great writers of the second half of the 19th century - Henrik Ibsen and Björnstierne Björnson.

At the end of the 19th century, Norwegian modernists began to assert themselves. Knut Hamsun and Sigbjörn Obstfeller became prominent representatives of modernism. Modernism flourished in the 1960s. The student magazine Profil, published at the University of Oslo, gathered around itself a group of young authors who experimented with different literary forms. Many of them subsequently made outstanding contributions to Norwegian literature: Dag Sulstad (Norwegian) Russian, Tour Obrestad (Norwegian) Russian, Eldrid Lunden and others. Playwright Jun Fosse is also a prominent representative of modernism.

Among the prominent Norwegian writers of the 20th century are Johan Borgen and Axel Sandemuse. In the new millennium, Lars Soby Christensen, Nikolai Frobenius and Erlend Lu are very popular, including in Russia.

Three of the Norwegian writers received the Nobel Prize for Literature: Björnstierne Björnson in 1903, Knut Hamsun in 1920, and Sigrid Undset in 1928.

Norway is also famous for its children's literature. In 1874, Peter Asbjørnsen and Jorgen Mu published a collection of folk tales “Norske Folkeeventyr” based on the Norwegian folklore they had collected and processed, earning themselves the fame of the “Norwegian Brothers Grimm”. Modern children's writers Anne-Katarina Vestli and the rising star of Norwegian children's literature Maria Parr have gained immense popularity all over the world.

Kitchen

Lutefisk Main article: Norwegian cuisine

Norwegian cuisine is primarily due to the cold Scandinavian climate. The main ingredients of Norwegian cuisine are fish, meat, cereals, bread and dairy products.

To preserve stocks for the winter, preservation of food is widely used, such as: drying, pickling, fermentation. The most typical dishes include lutefisk (dried fish soaked in an alkaline solution and then soaked in water), forikol (lamb meat with cabbage and potatoes), rakfisk (fermented trout), smurbred (open sandwiches). Aquavit is a traditional Norwegian alcoholic drink.

Travelers

Norway is famous for its many travelers. The most famous of them, who have made the greatest contribution to the geographical and other sciences are:

• Eric the Red (950-1003) - navigator and discoverer who founded the first settlement in Greenland. He got the nickname "redhead" for the color of his hair and beard. Father of Leif and Thorvald Eriksson, pioneers of America;
• Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) - polar explorer, zoologist, founder of a new science - physical oceanography, politician, Nobel Peace Prize laureate for 1922;
• Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) - polar traveler and explorer. First person to reach the South Pole (December 14, 1911). The first explorer who made a sea passage both by the North-East (along the coast of Siberia) and by the North-West sea route (along the straits of the Canadian archipelago). Killed in 1928 while searching for the expedition of Umberto Nobile;
• Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) - one of the most famous travelers of the XX century, made a number of expeditions on ships built according to the technologies of the ancient world. The first major expedition of Heyerdahl was sailing on the Kon-Tiki raft. The next achievement of the Norwegian was the expedition on the papyrus boats "Ra" and "Ra-II". The success of "Ra-II" was regarded as evidence that even in prehistoric times, Egyptian sailors could make voyages to the New World. Both expeditions were attended by the famous Russian traveler and TV presenter Yuri Senkevich. In addition to these projects, Tour, together with like-minded people, conducted research on about. Easter, Maldives and Canary Islands, USSR and other regions of the world. His research has made significant contributions to history, ethnography and other sciences.

see also

• Norway Health Inspectorate
• Norway possessions
• Social projects of Norway in Russia
• Norway awards
• Postage stamps and postal history in Norway
• Norway in World War II
• Philosophy in Norway

Notes (edit)

1. 1 2 Brief information about Norway. Statistics Norway (Statistisk sentralbyrå) (January 2013). Retrieved September 3, 2013.
2. Statistical Yearbook of Norway 2012, Table 19: Total area, distribution of area and length of coastline, by county. 2011 (English). Statistics Norway (Statistisk sentralbyrå). Retrieved September 3, 2013.
3. Population, by age. Per 1 January (eng.). Statistics Norway (Statistisk sentralbyrå). Retrieved September 3, 2013.
4. Human Development Index and its components
5. 1 2 Statistical Yearbook of Norway 2011
6. Kuznetsov A. E., History of Norway. Moscow. 2006 .-- S. 183
7. CIA - The World Factbook
8. Statistical Yearbook of Norway 2012, Table 19: Total area, distribution of area and length of coastline, by county. 2011 (English).
9. Statistisk sentralbyrå
10. Shot down multicultural
11. Fakta om norsk språk
12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Norway - encyclopedia "Krugosvet"
13. Statistisk sentralbyrå
14. Kirken.no - Medlemskap i kirken
15. KOSTRA: kirke, 2010 (norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.20 June 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2011. Archived from the original February 18, 2013. (English)
16. http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf Special EUROBAROMETER 225 "Social values, Science & Technology" (p. 9)
17. Statistisk sentralbyrå
18. Statistisk sentralbyrå
19. Community site Foreningen Forn Sed
20. Economy Statistics> GDP (most recent) by country. Retrieved November 11, 2010. Archived from the original on August 22, 2011.
21. 1 2 3 Geographical Encyclopedic Dictionary - Moscow: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2003
22. 5ballov.ru | Education in Russia
23. Nuclear legislation in OECD countries - Regulatory and Institutional Framework for Nuclear Activities. Norway
24. The Norwegian Post - Norwegian industry wants nuclear energy
25. Green nuclear power coming to Norway - Cosmos magazine
26. Who lives well in Norway? - CFO Russia
27. 1 2 Statistisk sentralbyrå
28. Statistisk sentralbyrå
29. Statistisk sentralbyrå
30. Statistisk sentralbyrå
31. Aftenposten newspaper website
32. Dagbladet newspaper website

Links

• Official website of Norway in Russia
• Holidays in Norway - Official travel portal for Norway
• All Norway in Russian
• Russian Portal in Norway
• Cultural articles about Norway
• Closer to Norway, together with Norvegus.ru
• Norway Wiki

European countries

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When writing this article, material was used from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890-1907).

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Norway Information About

An amazing country: it is not just the northern land of the Vikings and fjords, but also a European state with cozy cities and friendly people. If you love majestic landscapes, snowy peaks and dream of relaxing body and soul, then Norway is the perfect option for you. There is no scorching southern sun, warm ocean and white sandy beaches, but nature has awarded this corner of the planet with powerful mountains, stunning beauty fjords and mountain rivers rich in fish.

Every guest of the country will find something for themselves in Norway. Here you can stay in fashionable or more modest family hotels, in lodges in ski resorts and even unique ice hotels. Lovers of cultural recreation will appreciate the large variety of museums and excursion programs. What else does Norway attract tourists?

01 03

Geography

The state is located in the northern and western regions of the Scandinavian Peninsula, and also includes the Svalbard archipelago. It is washed by the Norwegian Sea, the waters of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. In addition, there are about one hundred and fifty thousand lakes here. If we count the territory of all the islands belonging to the state (and there are about fifty thousand of them), the area of ​​the country is 385,186 square meters. borders with (in the Murmansk region), and Sweden. Cape Nordkin is located in this country, which is the northernmost point of continental Europe.

The relief of the country is represented by elevated plateaus, deep valleys and several glaciers (including the Justedalsbreen, the largest glacier in Europe). Also, Norway is distinguished by a large number of mountain ranges (according to this indicator, it significantly surpasses many states of the Old World). On the west coast of the country you can find many fjords (narrow sea bays with rocky shores). The most famous and visited among them are Westfjord, Geirangerfjord, Sognefjord, Trondheimsfjord, and Hardangerfjord.

In northeastern Norway, beyond the Arctic Circle, the landscape is generally described as arctic tundra. Due to the short growing season, there is practically no vegetation there. The southern and central parts of the country are a plateau that slopes gently towards the Trendelag region. It is a hilly area with fertile soil. The southeastern part of the country is mostly lowland.

01 03

Climate

Despite the fact that the country is located in the same latitude as Siberia, Greenland and Alaska, it can be said that the local climate is much milder. The coldest months are January and February, during which time the average temperature varies from -17 (in the north of the country) to +2 degrees Celsius (in the south). The warmest of all is in July: in Oslo it is usually up to +17, and in the north - up to +7 degrees Celsius.

In terms of precipitation, the driest periods are March, April and May. On average, from 30 to 50 mm per month at this time, the total number of days with precipitation ranges from 11 to 15. In other seasons, it can fall from 80 to 100 mm per month, the total number of days with precipitation is 16-17.

In general, the weather in this country is variable. The fog can be replaced by the sun, followed by rain and gusty winds, after which it will become clear again. Aboriginal people joke that if someone doesn't like the weather in their country, they just need to wait fifteen minutes.

Countries closest to Norway in spirit

02 03

About residents

The population of the state, according to 2015, is 5,245,041 people. This is one of the lowest rates in all of Europe. At the same time, residents are unevenly settled: over eighty percent have chosen for themselves the eastern, southern and western parts of the country. Moreover, more than half of the population lives in the first. Oslo and nearby towns are home to over one and a half million people. At the same time, any city is considered large if its population exceeds thirty thousand inhabitants.

The guests of the country note that the Norwegians are very polite and well-mannered people. The older generation is trying to carefully preserve the traditional way of Scandinavian life. The local population is also strikingly honest: the majority of Norwegians are responsible for compliance with the law, and surveillance cameras can be found only in some large supermarkets. For many tourists, it will be a pleasant surprise that the vast majority of Norwegians (excluding, perhaps, the oldest) are fluent in English. Moreover: many programs on local television are broadcast in this language, accompanied by Norwegian subtitles.

The locals treat tourists with restraint, but very friendly. You can always count on a hint or all possible help. In general, despite the proximity of Sweden, the Norwegians are absolutely different from their neighbors. In general, this nation is the most distinctive of all Scandinavians. You can be convinced of this only by visiting Norway once. And, of course, after that you will want to return more than once, because it is very difficult not to fall in love with this small northern country.

About culture and art

One of the most mysterious countries. Situated partly on the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as many large and small archipelagos, it offers tourists extraordinary natural beauty and amazing cultural features. Everyday life, traditions, crafts, folklore of the inhabitants of this country are unusual. In many ways, they are a continuation of the culture of the Sami - an ancient people who once lived on the peninsula. Therefore, one of the main holidays celebrated on February 6 is the Day of the Sami people.

Continuity is also traced in the arrangement of the dwelling. Norwegians are adherents of a simple, Spartan, rustic way of life. Houses made of log cabins with numerous outbuildings are still popular.

Some restraint can be noticed in communication: Norwegians are emphatically polite, preferring simple handshakes to passionate hugs. Although they have a good sense of humor: the language is rich in anecdotes and jokes.

This is not to say that the inhabitants of this country are very fond of dancing. But literature is popular. To preserve and develop the traditions of this art form, a large number of grants are allocated annually, there is a separate permanent line in the budget. There are not very many theaters operating in the country, but the state is trying to instill the interest of residents in them as well. Museums are in demand, and not only among tourists. The inhabitants of the country are sensitive to the traditions and history of the state. For example, the royal family is highly respected; it is generally not accepted to joke about this topic.

But sports are very popular, especially outdoor games. Norwegians love football, swimming, sailing, speed skating, boating, fishing and hunting. And the leaders in terms of preferences, of course, are skiing competitions.

Another feature of the culture of Norway is the desire for equality: men and women, nationalities, minorities. For example, same-sex marriages are officially registered here. Tolerance in everything is one of the fundamental principles of the life of any Norwegian. Therefore, tourists are always comfortable here!

Books and films related to Norway

01 03

National cuisine

Any country is famous for its special national dishes that delight tourists or, conversely, cause bewilderment in them. The description and its cuisine simply cannot be imagined without mentioning fish and various dishes from it. Today this country ranks second in the world for the export of all kinds of seafood. One of the traditional dishes is smoked salmon, and rakfisk - fermented trout is also popular. In the northern regions, you should definitely try törrfisk dried cod, as well as mölje - a dish made from boiled cod, liver and caviar. In southern Norway, mussels, crabs and shrimps are very popular.

Naturally, meat dishes can also be found on the menus of local restaurants and Aboriginal homes. Norwegian lamb is considered one of the best in the world. At Christmas, lamb ribs, dried with sea salt, are often cooked here - pinneschöt. Smalakhove, a stewed sheep's head, is also considered traditional. And for those who want to try something less exotic, we can recommend fenalore - dried leg of lamb.

Norway is also famous for its delicious cheeses. Brunust is a caramelized milk whey product that tastes like the familiar toffee. Locals love to use it with traditional waffles. In general, there are about one and a half hundred cheese dairies in Norway, which are ready to offer a variety of types of this product: from camembert to pultust (made from sour milk with the addition of caraway seeds).

Römmegret porridge, cooked from sour cream, whole milk and butter and flavored with cinnamon, is very popular. You should also try the Norwegian biscuits - krumkake.

During the hunting season, elk, venison and partridge dishes are very popular. If you want to dine on something a little more familiar, you can order the local meatballs. Of course, Norway keeps up with world trends, so you will find both pizza and hamburgers in the country's cafes and restaurants. Many tourists believe that the latter are especially tasty here, because cows in Norway graze in untouched mountain meadows.

Norway / Norge

Kingdom Norway (Kongeriket Norge / Noreg) is located in the north of Europe, in the eastern part of the northern hemisphere. Norway, cut by fjords and mountain ranges, stretches along the northwestern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula as a thin ribbon on the map (maximum width 420 km.). In addition to territories on the mainland, Norway has a number of islands and an archipelago (some of which are very remote from the mainland). This is the Svalbad archipelago, aka Svalbard, Jan Mayen, the Bouvet and Peter I islands, the land of Queen Mary. Norway's area is approximately 386 thousand square meters. km (66th in the world). And more than half of this territory lies at an altitude of more than 500 meters above sea level.

Location: Norway is one of the 4 Scandinavian countries that are located in the northern expanses of Europe. In the east it is bordered by Sweden, Finland and Russia, in the west by the Norwegian Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, in the north by the Barents Sea, and in the south by the North Sea. The total area of ​​the country is 386,958 square meters. km.

Geography: Norway is a mountainous country. It is an elongated and narrow country, more than 30% of which is covered with forests, many rivers and lakes. And more than half of the country's area is occupied by mountain ranges. Almost all of its territory is occupied by the Scandinavian mountains, strongly dissected by fjords and cut by deep valleys. In the southern and northern parts of the country there are high plateaus (fjelds), along the coast there are many islands. The highest and most extensive plateaus are in the southern part of the country. In some places they are crowned with ridges and sharp peaks - nunataks. The most powerful and highest fjelds are Jutunheimen, Yuste-dalsbrs, Telemark. It is here, on the Yutunheimen massif, that the highest peak of the Scandinavian Highlands is located - Galhopeyggen (2470 m).
There are more than 150 thousand islands along the coast of the country. They are located both separately and as whole archipelagos. The largest archipelago is Lofoten and their northern part is Nesterolene. Their close formation covers the strip of the flat countries from the destructive waves of the ocean. The sea is always calm between the islands and the coast.
Capital of Norway- Oslo, which is the business and cultural center of the country. It is home to about 500,000 people.
Form of government: Norway is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary form of government. The monarchy has a strong position in the state, and the reigning king Harald V is very popular and respected among the inhabitants of the country.

Population of Norway- about 4.3 million people. About 30 thousand inhabitants belong to the ethnic minority - the Sami, who live in the Arctic Circle and have their own culture, traditions and language. Half of the country's population lives in cities.

Currency unit: Norwegian krone (1 krone is equal to 100 ore, currency code is NOK, 1 EUR is approximately 8 NOK)

Per capita income in Norway is one of the highest in the world. Oil and gas deposits in the North Sea are one of the foundations of the Norwegian economy. Other leading industries include fishing, forestry, paper, mining and shipbuilding.

Language: There are three languages ​​in Norway. Two of them are similar to each other, and the Sami language has a completely different origin. Both Norwegian languages ​​are used in government offices, schools, churches, radio and television. Books, magazines and newspapers are also published in both languages. Anyone who speaks Norwegian, be it the local dialect or the two standard official languages, will be understood by other Norwegians.
The Sami language, spoken by the indigenous people of Norway, has an equal status with Norwegian in the northern provinces of Troms and Finnmark.

Religion: Evangelical Lutheranism is the state religion of Norway. By law, the king of Norway and at least half of the ministers must be Lutheran.

Norway flag- a red cloth with a blue Scandinavian cross on a white lining. Adopted December 15, 1899. From 1748 to 1814, under the conditions of the Danish-Norwegian union, Norwegian ships sailed under the Danish flag (Dannebrog). In 1814, when the King of Sweden became King of Norway, the Norwegians gained the right to use this flag by adding a Norwegian golden lion, crowned with a crown and holding an ax. But the struggle for its flag continued, and in 1821 parliament adopted a new design for the flag: the Dannebrog with a dark blue cross on a white backing. This combination of red, white and blue follows the French tricolor, which was considered a symbol of freedom at the time. The cross is a common symbol of the flags of Denmark and Sweden.

One of the oldest European coats of arms. It originates from the coat of arms of the royal family. The modern version has been officially in effect since May 20, 1992. Haakon the Old used a shield with a lion. The earliest surviving information about its flowers is contained in the Royal Saga, written in 1220.
In 1280, King Eric Magnusson added a crown and a silver ax to the lion.

« Ja, vielskerdettelandet"(Yes, we love this land)- official hymn Norway. Lyricist - Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1859), composer - Rikard Nordraak (1864). It was first performed on May 17, 1864 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the constitution.

Climate. The climate of Norway is temperate oceanic, and in the far north it is subarctic. The average January temperature is from + 2 ° C on the southern coast to -12 ° C in the fjelds (in the interior of Northern Norway, January frosts down to -40 ° C occur); July, respectively, from + 15 ° С to + 6 ° С. Summer on the coast is cool, windy and rainy. On the western slopes of the mountains, precipitation is 2,000-3,000 mm per year, in the east and in Finnmarken - 300-800 mm.

Short story. On the territory of the country, sites dating back to the Paleolithic were found. Agriculture has been known in Norway since 3000 BC. Since ancient times, Norway has been inhabited by tribes belonging to the Germanic group. In the 8th - 11th centuries, many Norwegians took part in the famous Viking campaigns. The locals had close contacts with the Gauls and the Roman Empire. From the Gauls, they adopted the runic script, samples of which were found on tombstones. The country's population was replenished mainly by people who came from the south. Hence the name of the country Norway, which means "way to the north". In those days, people united in tiny kingdoms. The most famous of them is the Ynglings.

In the 9th century, King Harald I of Horfager began to unite the country into a single state. Together with Jarl Hladir of Tronnelag, his army defeated the forces of the feudal lords opposing them at the Battle of Hawsfjord. Due to the growth of the country's population, many small owners were pushed into the interior of the country, where the land is less fertile. Many of the refugees become pirates, traders, or go in search of new lands. It is believed that as early as 793 they came to Scotland. In 1000 the Vikings reach the coast of Greenland. In the 11th century, the first large markets appeared on the banks of the fjords in Norway, next to which cities were formed.

In the 13th century, the position of Christianity was strengthened in Norway. The first missionaries to bring Christianity to the country were the British. The preachers became the owners of large estates. The city of Oslo becomes the capital of the country. The city's prosperity lasted only until the middle of the XIV century, when a terrible plague epidemic broke out. In the XII-XIII centuries, civil wars broke out in Norway, caused by the oppression of spiritual feudal lords. Norway is gradually losing its influence in England and Ireland.

Iceland was annexed to Norway in 1262-1264. In 1397, Norway entered into an alliance with Denmark, becoming its province by 1537. According to the Kiel Peace Treaty of 1814, Norway was supposed to go to Sweden. But the Norwegians began their liberation struggle. Sweden used troops to suppress the uprising, and the Norwegians were forced to accept the union. The limitation of the absolute monarchy in the kingdom was, first assembled in 1814, the Storting. However, the king had the right to veto his decisions. In 1905, the union with Sweden was broken, and Norway became an independent state.

During World War I, the country remained in neutrality. However, she helped the Allies to break the blockade imposed by German submarines. In 1940, Norway was occupied by German troops who surrendered on May 8, 1945. Norway has been a NATO member since 1949. The 1980s were marked by major environmental problems in the country, and not through the fault of local residents. For example, Norway's forests have been severely damaged by acid rain from industrial operations in the UK. And in 1986, reindeer husbandry suffered from the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Kitchen... The Norwegian menu includes many different dishes. An important place is given to fish and seafood - fried or smoked salmon "laki", boiled shrimp "reker", smoked dried cod "lutefisk". Whale meat traditional for Norwegians and various dishes from it may seem like a delicacy. Dairy products play an important role: in many hot dishes, spices are replaced with sour cream, and different varieties of goat cheese are distinguished by an unusual color (from yellow to chocolate) and a specific smell. In meat, preference is given to fried pork ribs, fried lamb and sheep heads "smalkhovt", elk and venison of all kinds, meatballs, game, various steaks and steaks. Porridge is included in the menu of even elite restaurants; potatoes are used as an independent dish and as a side dish. The recipes for pies and breads are unique to each region. For dessert, various muffins are usually served, apple casserole with breadcrumbs and sour cream "tislert bondepiker", cinnamon rolls "spillingball", fruit soufflé "fromash", mousse of egg whites, whipped with wild berries and sugar "trollkrem", traditional pancakes "swellingball" ".

Favorite drinks of the Norwegians are coffee, herbal liqueurs, yoghurts. Popular alcoholic beverages include “Rignes” beer and purely Norwegian “akevit” - moonshine made from potatoes with caraway seeds, aged in wooden barrels. In winter, in Norway, they drink "glogg" from red wine with cardamom, cloves, raisins and almonds.

Interesting facts about Norway

1. Norway is a fantastic country. The richest and most diverse nature, huge reserves of energy resources and their intelligent development make the Norwegians an extremely wealthy nation.
2. The population of Norway is negligible less than 5 million people. This is about a quarter of modern Moscow. More than 1.5 million Norwegians live in the capital Oslo and its suburbs. Any city with a population of more than 30 thousand is considered large.
3. 100% of Norwegians speak, write and read English well. Children learn the language from the age of 5-6 or earlier. Any child over the age of 10 can easily communicate with you in English. The exception is pensioners 75+.
4. Norwegians love and appreciate the sea. They prefer to live no further than 200-300 meters from the water, or in its line of sight. Those who live in the interior of the country still buy a second house by the sea. Boats or boats are owned by 80% of the population.
5. Norway has an incredibly variable climate. Fog, sun, harsh wind, rain, and again fog can change with fantastic frequency. The Norwegians even wrote a saying: “Don't like our weather? wait 15 minutes. "
6. The nature of Norway is majestic and varied. Forests, mountains, rivers, lakes, the sea are in their original state. The attitude to nature is very careful. There are no poachers, there is practically no garbage either. Thanks to the sea, there are no mosquitoes and other insects.
7. According to the law, any resident of the country and its guest has the right of unhindered access to all natural resources without restrictions - both in the forest and at sea. You can walk and swim wherever you want. If the land is private or fenced, it is advisable to ask permission out of courtesy.
8. The stories that Norway is a very expensive country are true. In general, all goods are expensive, services (such as a taxi) will be even more expensive.
9. Products in Norway of the highest quality. Especially dairy. By the way, here are the most expensive hamburgers in Europe.
10. Compliance with the law and the absence of crime - almost everywhere. Theft is unthinkable for most residents. Only large retail chains have frames-detectors of theft of goods at the exit, or surveillance cameras. Otherwise, they are practically nowhere to be found.
11. Almost 100% of the population is connected to high-speed Internet. Due to the climate and long distances, Norwegians use the net a lot.
12. Norwegians love and protect their monarchy. Adults are more proud than young people that they have kept the royal family.
13. The average salary for many Norwegians can be up to 5-7 thousand euros per month.
14. Sea and lake fishing in Norway is a connoisseur's paradise. Fish are an incredible variety. There are fishing regions only in the northern regions, and there is no fishing starting from the city of Bergen and to the south. Fishing licenses are not required.
15. That is why many Europeans have recently developed a profitable hobby: coming to Norway in refrigerated trucks, living in the cheapest houses or tents, fishing for two weeks without a break, providing themselves with fish for 6 months in advance, and leaving back. The Germans, Dutch and Belgians are perhaps the most active.
16. Norwegians do not collect forest gifts, do not understand mushrooms and berries, do not know the properties of herbs. In a harvest year, there are so many mushrooms that in 2-3 hours one person can collect a 100-liter bag of selected porcini mushrooms.
17. Norwegians are terribly surprised and admire the knowledge of the Russian about mushrooms and berries. Many are sure that we are brave and risky people if we go to the forest to collect them.
18. Strong alcohol in Norway just can't be bought! It is sold only in specialty stores - Vinmonopolet (alcohol monopoly), owned by the state. They work strictly Monday-Friday, in the capital there are Saturday shops that are open until 19.00 maximum, with a long lunch break in the middle of the day. Alcohol is very expensive.
19. In supermarkets you can only buy beer or cider no stronger than 5.2 degrees. Anything above, including wine, can only be found in a restaurant, bar, in Vinmonopolet.
20. Norwegians love to drink, but they do not know how. They behave noisy and funny.
21. Norway has the longest fjords in the world. The fjord is a wide, often winding and deep channel with rocky shores, piercing from the sea inland for many kilometers.
22. Norwegians are of medium height, stocky, tightly built with wide-set eyes, snub-nosed, and usually very independent.
23. Norwegians are tall, athletic, many natural blondes.
24. Many Norwegian children are extraordinarily beautiful. Blond, slender, athletic, some with curly hair - the purity of the genetic lines is visible. Children are brought up quite strictly. Pampering is not accepted.
25. You can drive all day in the central part of Norway, however, in any other part of it, and not meet a single police car. Or the police themselves.
26. Life flows very calmly and measuredly. The Norwegians start working at about 10 am, and by 4 am they finish. On weekends, only restaurants or supermarkets are open.
27. Almost 100% of the population go skiing and snowboarding.
28. Children are put on skis from 4-5 years old.
29. On country roads, usually near the farm, you can often find a table with vegetables or fruits with prices. It will also have scales, shopping bags, and a jar for money. This is a kind of self-service. Everything is built on trust. No one is around.
30. Young Norwegians and even middle-aged people are very fond of science fiction and fantasy as a genre. Films like The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars are very popular.
31. Most of the programs on TV are in English, with Norwegian subtitles at most. It is very convenient.
32. Norwegians dress very casually and simply, like the whole of Europe in general. Seeing a beautifully dressed girl or guy is difficult.
33. Local cuisine is simple and unpretentious. The Norwegians have succeeded in fish preparation recipes: dried, salted, smoked, etc.
34. For the most part, Norwegians are well-mannered and gullible people. The older generation is quite pedantic, many observe the traditional way of life and business.
35. It is not at all difficult to get a very large loan from a bank at 3-4 percent per annum. In general, everything is done for the sake of man. You can plan your life 10 years in advance, including any expenses and career advancement. And the plan will come true.
36. The attitude towards foreigners is restrained, but friendly. Norwegians calmly invite you to visit, share food, help with advice. Making good friends is possible.
37. There is practically no active life outside the big cities.
38. The state in every possible way supports the employment of the population with at least something.
39. The killing of at least one person has been discussed on national TV and radio for at least a week. Robbery too.
40. Roads in Norway are very good, but almost the entire regional transport network is single-lane. The highway only offers one lane each way.
41. In recent years Norway has increased the influx of immigrants from other countries.
42. Learning Norwegian, or Norsk, is difficult. There are a lot of jumping intonations, different roots.
43. Many young Norwegians complain about dull life, excessive law enforcement, high prices and a harsh climate. However, they are proud to be themselves and a part of the nation.
44. In summer, the southern part of the country is a very warm place. Strawberries, plums and pears ripen in abundance. The water in some places warms up to 20 degrees.
45. Flying by plane within and outside the country is extremely cheap. At the same time, the quality of service is higher than that of European air discounters.
46. ​​Smoking is fought by high tobacco prices.
47. Norway has the largest cumulative number of tunnels in Europe. There is one that runs under the sea channel at a depth of about 4 km.
48. Renting a car, even the simplest one, is an expensive pleasure. 2-3 times more expensive than in some European countries. Almost all cars are diesel.
49. Norway is the northernmost point of mainland Europe. Called North Cape, it is located on the edge of a cliff in the far north. In good weather, you can see the edge of the Arctic glaciers.
50. Despite the geographical proximity to Sweden, the people of Norway are different people. And in general, among all Scandinavians, they should be the most distinctive. Nature is also different.
51. The funds that Norway receives from the sale of the resources are prudently allocated. Norway just has a large amount of real estate and land abroad.
52. Due to the large number of islands and straits, the ferry network is very developed. Ferries run anywhere and very often.
53. In Norway it is allowed to catch sea crab - but it is forbidden to catch lobster. Live lobsters are sold at the fish market, their catching is scheduled according to quotas.
54. In Norway, inexpensive silver. Good quality silverware.
55. If you are a tourist, do not forget to ask for Tax-free. It can be issued almost everywhere and for any goods, from the purchase amount equivalent to 50 euros. As a result, you can return up to 30% of the money spent.
56. The hero of Norwegian folklore, the troll is a very popular symbol of many establishments. Trolls are spirits of nature, they protect it, and also help good people.
57. Pets, especially dogs, are extremely well mannered. They bark a little, they are very friendly, and do not interfere with the owners at all. Even with each other, they are very reserved.
58. It is not easy to piss off a Norwegian. Many will choose not to get involved. But if you have achieved your goal, do not expect anything good. In anger, Norwegians are terrible.
59. Energy costs in Norway are crazy money. In 4 weeks, a family of 5 can spend about 1000 euros on electricity.
60. The guardianship of children and youth is very strong. It is not uncommon when 20-30 children from the same locality go to kindergarten, and no one else. Another kindergarten is being built for others.
61. There are few multi-storey and residential complexes, almost none. Mostly people live in private houses. The houses are simple but comfortable. They are usually painted red or blue and white, often with a field grass lawn on the roof.
62. There are not many well-known facts about Norway. The most famous associations are Vikings, Edvard Grieg, mountains, fjords and trolls.
63. Most of the income of the economy comes to the treasury from the sale of petroleum products. This is followed by offshore fishing, shipbuilding, engineering and the construction of deep-sea platforms.
64. The northern part of the country is very different from the southern in terms of climate. In winter, it is cold and snowy in the north. In the south, there may be no snow at all and the temperature in winter is above zero.
65. You can buy whale meat at the market or in the supermarket. It is small and expensive.
66. In some cities, the local fauna is quite accustomed to the neighborhood of man. Pigeons in the square can sit right on your hand and start pecking at your roll.
67. Engineering universities, maritime academies, as well as oil and gas institutes are very prestigious.
68. Traditionally, every man should make a knife and scabbard for himself.
69. Along the road you can often find small cairns of stones. They are called "tog" and no one touches them. Previously, they were folded so as not to go astray after a snowfall or in heavy fog. It's a funny tradition now.
70. There are many game and wild animals.
71. Drinking, the Norwegians clink glasses and say "Skol!" It is not accepted to say toasts.
72. The population of the country is not very religious. There are churches and churches, of course, but not many. Mostly adults go to the service.
73. If you live in nature in your house and have only electricity, you can feed yourself 80% from the earth.
74. Norwegians have nothing, and there is no need to share with each other. Plus, a lot of people usually know each other. As a result, there is a complete absence of clashes or hostile groups. But newcomers who were allowed to come and live in the country often crowd out the locals with their behavior and impudence.
75. Finding decent Russian products is not easy at all. It is easier to order them via the Internet with delivery, but there are exceptions, for example, Kefir is sold in supermarkets everywhere. But pickling cucumbers or fermenting cabbage is easier yourself.
76. If you set a goal, then in a fairly short time you can achieve a meeting with the Prime Minister of the country.
77. If the owners are at home, it is customary to raise the national flag on a flagpole next to the house. Many have it. When leaving, it is lowered.
78. Respect for private property is universally respected. During the day, most houses are not locked at all, except for housing in large cities - and this is completely safe. Visiting is accepted by invitation.
79. Recently, online poker has become very popular in the country. Today it is a common trend throughout Scandinavia. The Norwegian players are popular and very dangerous: they are aggressive, persistent and calculating. Many are achieving great results in the global poker arena.
80. You can bring high-quality alcohol as a gift to the Norwegians. It is even recommended from the hands of the Russians.
81. After sea fishing, many people want to try lake or river fishing. Often, at the entrance to a freshwater lake, you can find a poster prohibiting the use of sea gear in the lake. In especially fishy lakes at the entrance there are devices with detergents for your fishing rods and tackle. This measure prevents marine microorganisms on the gear from moving into fresh water. There have already been cases of algae contamination.
82. There are practically no expensive cars on the roads in Norway. In half of the cases, the new S-Сlasse or BMW X6 will be driven by Germans or other Europeans.
83. It is almost impossible to meet begging people on the streets. The only exceptions are large cities, and almost always it is one of the immigrants. In the nineties, this did not happen at all.
84. It is quite easy to register your own company. Be prepared to pay high taxes and remember that Norwegians are very conservative in their choice of goods and services.
85. There is a beautiful amusement park near Oslo. It is very interesting and fun, there are very few queues.
86. Civil aviation pilots are cold-blooded and fearless. Takeoff and landing are often very fast and the weather conditions are not ideal. But this is justified - there are solid mountains around, there are not many direct platforms, and you need to take off quickly. Dozens of flights around the country under very harsh conditions have repeatedly proved their professionalism.
87. When traveling in Norway, spare some money and get yourself a traditional wool sweater! Usually they are painted in a multi-colored ornament, sometimes in deer, in squares or broken lines. They can be very expensive, from 300 euros - but the quality is excellent, and they will serve you for an incredibly long time without fading or shrinking.
88. Unless it's a foreigner or immigrant, the chances of being asked for a cigarette on the street are zero. If you yourself share it with a friend, he will try to return it to you.
89. Local residents are not inclined to be overweight. They spend a lot of time at the sea and in the fresh air, the food is not greasy and of good quality. There is very little fast food.
90. When they get married, Norwegian wives become very housewives. They are often very educated, hardworking and well-mannered. Given the fact that many citizens have inherited benefits for several generations, women are often quite wealthy even before marriage.
91. All cars on the roads in Norway have a built-in mode of always-on dipped beam. It is not disabled in most cases. This is due to the changeable weather.
92. For renting a boat with an engine less than 9 HP. no management license required. It is almost impossible to rent anything that is more powerful and faster without special water rights.
93. The English word Thursday (Thursday) comes from the name of the Norse god of thunder Thor. At first, the day was called Thor's day.
94. Norwegians are not held in high esteem to display their successes and achievements. This is mainly the behavior of immigrants and tourists.
95. In the summer, Norwegians like to go to warm countries, while they do not mind going to places where it is warm and there are also mountains. For example, you can find them in Croatia, Montenegro, western Italy.
96. Go to the grocery store, find a large refrigerator with bags of frozen shrimp sold in bulk, put them in a thermal bag, weigh them, pay - and at home just put them in the kitchen sink and turn on the boiling water. Once the shrimp is thawed and heated, remove and serve. The shrimp will be juicy, flavorful and already salty enough. They do not need to be cooked or specially cooked.
97. Finding a sushi restaurant or cafe that serves sushi is almost impossible. They are only found in Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger. In other cities there is only one such establishment. The quality is very modest and, of course, expensive.
98. The privacy of citizens rarely becomes public domain. Climbing into other people's relationships is not accepted and Norwegians usually do not talk about personal ones.

The Kingdom of Norway is a country with a strong economy. The lack of opportunities for farming, the state, thanks to its rich natural resources, was able to fully compensate. Residents of other parts of the world know Norway as a country with beautiful nature and numerous fjords surrounded by inaccessible rocks.

Geographic characteristics

Norway is a Nordic country located in the western part of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The territory of the state includes adjoining small islands and an overseas possession in the Atlantic Ocean, Bouvet Island.

The country is bordered by Finland, Sweden and Russia. Its total area is 324,200 square kilometers.

The majority of the population is Norwegians. They are 86% of the total population. The rest of the residents are representatives of European countries and refugees.

Nature

Mountains and rocks

Norway is a mountainous country. The highest peak is Mount Gallhepiggen. Its height is 2,469 m.

In the list of the Norwegian mountain ranges:

• Jotunheimen
• Hardangervidda;
• Finnmarksvidda;
• Sunnmeri Alps;
• Dovrefjell;
• Lyngsalpen;
• Trolltunga and others.

Most of the mountains are covered with tundra vegetation and forests, there are waterfalls, lakes and glaciers that do not melt throughout the year. The ridges off the coast are cut by deep fjords ...

Rivers and lakes

Large rivers flow through the territory of Norway, irrigating green valleys: Glomma, Tana, Pasvik, Otra, Alta, Namsen, Logen and others. Mountain rivers, deep, with rapids. They are fed by sediments and glaciers. Due to the relief of the country, many rivers have waterfalls. The highest reaches 600 meters. Their channels are rich in fish, in particular, salmon.

There are more than 400 lakes in the country. Deep reservoirs with branches are located in mountainous regions, on the plains the lakes are characterized by a larger area and are the sources of many rivers ...

Seas washing Norway

The territory of Norway is washed by the waters of three seas at once:

• from the south by the North;
• from the north-east by the Barents;
• from the northwest Norwegian.

Despite the northern location, there is a swimming season in Norway. The warm waters of the coast are due to the warm current of the Gulf Stream.

The sea affects the life of the entire kingdom. Most of the population lives in coastal communities. The sea is for Norway an important way of trade with other countries ...

Forests

A large part of the mountains in Norway is covered with forests. Depending on climatic conditions, there are taiga forests, represented by such conifers as spruce and pine, deciduous with oak, birch, alder and beech.

An incomplete felling volume allows forests to renew themselves without outside interference. In areas with poor soils, additional artificial care is carried out with the creation of a melioration system and the introduction of mineral fertilizers.

Most of the forests, 5.5 million hectares, are privately owned, a fifth of this area is state land, and about 0.2 million hectares are public forests ...

Plants and animals of Norway

Due to the peculiarities of the relief and the harsh climate, the flora of the country is interesting. Coastal areas are forests with small shrubs, deciduous and coniferous forests are located to the north and higher above sea level, followed by planting of dwarf birches. At the highest altitudes, only lichens, mosses and grasses can be found.

The most common animals in the kingdom are the hare, squirrel, elk and fox. The forests are home to brown bears and wolves. Their population is relatively small. In the south, off the coast, you can find red deer ...

Norway climate

The Gulf Stream has a powerful influence on the climate of the kingdom. Off the coast of the country, temperatures rise to 25 degrees Celsius in summer. Winters here are mild and warm, the average January temperature is 1.7 degrees Celsius with a plus sign, summers are cool with heavy rainfall.

In the interior of the country, the temperature is slightly lower. In January, the average is -3.5 degrees Celsius. Warm masses from the Atlantic, due to the mountain ranges that create obstacles, do not come here ...

Resources

Natural resources

There are few minerals on the mainland. The main share of resources important to the economy is represented by oil, gas and iron ore, and is concentrated on the islands or in the territorial waters of the state.

Norway is famous for its fish stocks, both river and sea, as well as seafood. Forests provide the country with timber and make it possible to export it ...

Industry and agriculture

The main sectors of the Norwegian economy are the oil and gas industry. It is these natural resources, extracted in the territorial waters of the country, that are sent by the Norwegians for export. Since the 90s, Norway has been among the top ten world leaders in terms of oil exports.

Mechanical engineering and a huge merchant fleet are also closely associated with the oil industry, and for the most part, focused on serving it. Chemical industry enterprises are engaged in the production of urea, saltpeter, and nitric acid fertilizers.

Climatic conditions and a small number of fertile soils do not create conditions for the development of agriculture. Only fodder varieties of cereals are grown. Agriculture is represented mainly by animal husbandry. The population breeds cattle and other meat and dairy animals ...

Culture

People of Norway

Norwegians honor their traditions and folk art. They value musical talents, hand-painted woodwork, painting, etc. Norwegians treat handmade jewelry with special respect, they are passed on jewelry from generation to generation, by inheritance.

The population of the country approaches the preservation of the surrounding nature with trepidation and responsibility. The streets and places of outdoor recreation are always clean and well-groomed. Smoking and drinking alcohol is prohibited in public places. The Norwegians themselves are hospitable ...