Norway - Norway Travel

Norway Travel, a country forming the north-western part of Scandinavia in northern Europe.

Travel Norway's extensive coast, fringed with innumerable small islands, it stretches from the Arctic Ocean to the North Sea. Inland it borders on Sweden (a long boundary), Finland, and Russia. It is mountainous, rising to 2,470 m (8,104 feet) in the Jotunheimen range. In the north, it is light all 24 hours in high summer--and equally dark in winter. Its warm climate is caused by the Gulf Stream, which usually keeps the fiords from freezing. Norway Travel The south is barren moorland plateau cut by forested valleys.

Economy. Norway Travel has one of the world's largest reserves of aluminium, though the main resource is North Sea oil and natural gas; north in the Arctic the Svalbard (Spitsbergen) archipelago, contains rich deposits of coal. The extraction of North Sea oil and natural gas increased sharply in the 1970s and 1980s, and they made up about half of exports in the 1990s. Most electricity is generated by hydroelectric sources. Norway's annual fish catch is the second highest in Europe after that of the former Soviet Union. Norway has an industrial economy, exporting aluminium and ferrous metals, machinery, ships, chemicals, and paper. Norway Travel Fur production and conifer forestry are significant. Mineral resources include iron ore, copper, zinc, and lead. Agriculture is limited since only 3 per cent of land area is cultivable. Norway's defiance of an international ban on whaling has angered environmentalists.

Norway Travel History Norway was inhabited in prehistoric times by primitive hunting communities. Rivalry between chiefs, and the desire for land provoked excursions by the Norwegian Vikings as far as England, Greenland, and Iceland. Political organization strengthened under Harald Fairhair (c. 900) and under Olaf I, who brought Christianity.

Olaf II furthered the work of Christian conversion, but was killed in a battle with the Danes. Danish rule (1028-35) followed, and thereafter civil war, and, in 1066, an unsuccessful expedition to assert Harald Hardrada's claim to the English throne. Norway Travel The reign of Haakon IV brought order and, from 1254, Norway traded with the Hanseatic League. In 1397 the Union of Kalmar brought Norway, Sweden, and Denmark together under a single monarch. Danish rule resulted in conversion to Lutheranism.

The Union was dissolved in 1523, though Norway was ruled by Danish governors until 1814 when it was ceded to Sweden. The country had established its own parliament (Storting) in 1807. Norway Travel had been a founding member of EFTA in 1960, but by 1990 64 per cent of its export revenue was coming from the EC trade, and only 15 per cent from EFTA. Hence Norway was a leading negotiator for the establishment of the European Economic Area in February 1992. Gro Harlem Brundtland (1939-), author of the report on sustainable development world-wide, Our Common Future (1987), led four minority Labour governments (1981; 1986-9; 1990-3; 1993-6), facing high unemployment and a banking crisis in 1992.

Norwegians voted against joining the European Union in a referendum held in 1994. Following Brundtland's resignation in November 1996, Thorbjoern Jagland became prime minister: however, poor results in the general election of 1997 led the Labour government to resign in favour of a new centrist coalition. King Olav V (1957-91) was succeeded by his son, Harald V. Norway Travel

Fact Summary
Capital : Oslo
Area : 323,878 km2 (125,050 sq. mi.)
Population : 4.360 million (1995)
Currency : 1 krone = 100 ore
Religions : Church of Norway (Evangelical Lutheran) 88.0%; Penticostalist 1.0%
Ethnicity : Norwegian 98.0%; Danish 0.3%; US 0.3%; British 0.2%; Swedish 0.2%; Pakistani 0.2%
Languages : Norwegian (official)
International Organizations : UN; NATO; EFTA; OECD; Council of Europe; CSCE

Norway Travel Diversity

Norway Travel is a long stretched country, reaching from an idyllic rocky coast with skerries in the south, to a wild and untamed meeting between land and sea in the north. The south coast is home to the Norwegian summer, the north is home to the Sami. Travel along the Norwegian coast and experience it all.

Life in the capital of Oslo, or the Hanseatic city of Bergen on the west coast, and life in a coastal fishing village in the Arctic seem like two different worlds. You can try both within a few days.

Norway Travel Fjords and mountains

On your way north you travel through untouched wilderness where the mountains dive hundreds of metres into the world famous fjords.

You see small farms spread out in the countryside, not clustered in villages like in the rest of Europe. Spend a night or two at one of them, and get to know a farmer. Farm holidays are very popular.

Norway Travel Midnight sun and Northern lights

Further north you join wildlife safaris to see whales and eagles. During summer the sun never sets in Northern Norway, and in winter the magical northern lights light up the totally dark sky. Furthest north, you stand on the North Cape, the northernmost point on mainland Europe, and feel the breeze from the North Pole.

Known as the "Land of the Midnight Sun", this ruggedly beautiful northern country of glaciers and fjords offers a true escape from it all. Like the Vikings before you, come and explore one of Europe’s most unspoiled countries.

Norway Travel has produced its fair share of artistic sons including the painter Edvard Munch, composer Edvard Grieg, and playwright Henrik Ibsen. The country holds strong to many of its cultural traditions and traditional folk dancing, singing and storytelling are very popular. Sights to see when in Norway include its capital, Oslo, the oldest of the Scandinavian capitals. Founded in 1050, it is Norway’s largest city and home to the spectacular Akershus Fortress – Norway Travel a medieval castle and fortress built in 1300. Its banquet halls and staterooms and chapel are still used for royal functions today. The historic city of Bergen is ideal for exploring nearby natural attractions such as Sognefjord, Norway’s longest and deepest fjord, the breathtaking waterfalls at Geirangerfjord and the enormous Jostedalsbreen glacier. The northern town of Tromso is known as the - Gateway to the Artic - and is a lively town with street music and more pubs than any other place in the country. For a really spectacular experience, journey north to Hammerfest to see the Norway Travel Northern Lights. Known as the aurora borealis, they are a natural phenomenon characterized by the appearance of streamers of coloured light in the sky caused by the interaction of charged particles from the sun with atoms in the upper atmosphere. Truly spectacular, the experience will stay with you for life.