Geography and Climate
Known as “the land of the midnight sun,” Norway stretches up the western coast of the Scandinavian Peninsula to the Arctic Circle. The Norwegian Sea, Sweden, Finland, the North Sea and Russia all border Norway. Norway’s territory also includes the archipelago of Svalbard and the volcanic island of Jan Mayen, both located in the Arctic Ocean.
Norway is a narrow country spread across nearly 150,000 square miles, making it the ninth largest country in Europe and sixty-eighth in the world. The country is made up of 19 administrative counties, the autonomous islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen and 92 settlements with city status. Norway has over 25,000 miles of rugged coastline, adding to its natural beauty. It also shares an over 1,000 mile eastern border with Sweden, which is the longest uninterrupted border within Europe.
The country is divided into five general regions. The Southern Coastal region is mountainous with low river valleys and the Southeastern region consists mostly of valleys and some low mountainous areas. The third region, the Western Fjords, is dominated by the Scandinavian Mountains and includes the city of Trondheim. The Northern Fjords region also is mountainous with deep valleys and many coastal islands. The fifth region, the Far Northeast, shares a small water and land border with the westernmost part of Russia.
Norway is a mountainous nation with one major range that runs along the coast and mid-section of the country called the Scandinavian Mountain Range. Galdhøpiggen is the highest mountain in Norway, Scandinavia and Northern Europe at 8,100 ft. The range separates Norway from its Scandinavian Peninsula neighbor, Sweden.
Norway is in the Central European Time (CET) zone and observes Central European Summer Time (CEST), which typically starts the last week of March and ends the last week of October. Norway is nine hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time (PST).
Norway is called the “land of the midnight sun” because of its northern latitude, which causes large seasonal variations in daylight. From May to late July, the sun never descends below the horizon in the area north of the Arctic Circle, while the rest of Norway has up to 20 hours of daylight each day. The amount of daylight is reversed from the long summer sunshine from late November to late January. Norway’s climate is influenced by the Atlantic Gulf Stream along its western coast, which brings more precipitation and milder winters to the southern and western parts of the country. The lowlands around Oslo have the warmest and sunniest summers. The inland areas of Norway in particular see lots of snow and cold during the winter and the polar region has almost year-round snow and ice.
The country does experience a few natural disasters, mainly flooding and landslides.
People and Culture
Officially the Kingdom of Norway, the country has a unitary constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. The King of Norway is the head of state and Norway’s Prime Minister is the head of government.
Norway’s population of just over five million makes it the one hundred-eighteenth largest country in the world. The predominant language spoken is Norwegian, which has two dialects: Bokmål and Nynorsk. Both dialects have official status and are spoken either as a first or second language. A small minority of the population speaks different dialects of the Sami language, depending on the region.
A significant portion of the population also speaks or understands English, primarily because it is a required subject in Norway’s schools.
The main ethnic group in Norway is Norwegian. There are two minor ethnic groups: the Samis, indigenous Scandinavian nomads who make up 1.3 percent of the total population; and, immigrants from Western Europe who represent 12 percent of Norway’s population.
The three largest cities in Norway are Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim. Oslo is the capital of Norway and has a metropolitan area population of over 1.5 million. The city is known for hosting the annual Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Bergen is the country’s second largest city and one of the oldest maritime trading cities in the world, with a metro population of nearly 400,000. Located on Norway’s southwest coast, Bergen is a major university town. Trondheim has a population of just above 167,000 people and is the third largest city in Norway.
When most people think of Norwegian history, the first things that often come to mind are long ships and Viking raiders. But Norway has a very long and complex history. Modern humans first entered the Scandinavian Peninsula around 12,000 years ago, establishing one the earliest known cultures in northern Europe.
In the first four centuries A.D., the Roman Empire had some contact with the Norwegians, who were mostly cow or sheep farmers. The eighth century generally is considered to be the beginning of the famous Viking Age, where a seafaring culture spread from the Scandinavian coast, often raiding and then establishing settlements in the northern regions of Europe. The start of the Viking Age began with the victory of Harald FairHair, who united the Vikings and became the first recognized king of a united Norway. The Viking Age was an age of discovery, which included the colonization of Iceland in 870 A.D., followed by the discovery and colonization of Greenland. Remains of a Viking settlement also have been found in Newfoundland, Canada.
In the mid-14th century, Norway became one of the worst areas in the world to be affected by the Black Plague, which decimated nearly 60 percent of its population. Following this catastrophe, Norway’s king married the princess of Sweden, uniting the two countries as part of the Kalmar union, which also included Iceland and Denmark. Sweden left the Kalmar Union in 1523 and Norway fell under the rule of Frederick I of Denmark. A series of wars between Sweden and Denmark-Norway led to the Treaty of Kiel in 1814 and the declaration of Norwegian independence from Denmark. Norway joined Sweden following the Treaty of Kiel, but they functioned as two sovereign states presided over by a Swedish king.
Norway eventually regained its independence from Sweden in 1905 and became a constitutional monarchy. The country was neutral in World War I but was invaded by Germany in 1940 and suffered a brutal occupation by the Nazis until the country was liberated in 1945. Post-war aid helped Norway prosper in the mid-20th century. In the late 1960s, oil was discovered in the North Sea in Norwegian waters. Since then, exports of oil and gas have made Norway a wealthy country with one of the world’s highest standard of living, but also one of the most expensive.