Norway
Luke Pomeroy
10/31/16
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Norwegian Land
I chose Norway for my place. I've always been interested in Norway, the name is catchy and the scenery is beautiful. I wanted to learn about the country's history and their culture. I know that Norway was once roamed by Vikings, and Norwegians still celebrated their history with festivals. Although Viking’s were not the first to rule, there's been artifacts found from the end of the last ice age, which brought new animals and life. Norway has a rich history and story that I find very interesting, and hope one day I'll be able to visit.
To get started Norway is located on the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Eastern border is drawn by Sweden, while the North Sea borders the West. The Barent Sea lies north of the country along with Finland and Russia. Norway has a total of 125,181 square miles of a long and narrow landmass.
The highest elevation reaches 8,100 feet above sea level and is know as Galdhopiggen.
Galdhopiggen is in the Jotunheimen National park in southern part of Norway. (www.everyculture.com)
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Within the 125,181 square miles of land, Norway has a population of 5,205,000 people, as of 2015. Oslo, the capital holds about 658,390 of the people. Norway is a constitutional monarchy separating the Parliament and the King's Council of State. The King's council is ran by a prime ministers of the state, Erna Solberg as of October, 2013. The parliament consists of 165 representatives, which are elected by a direct vote for a four year term. Norwegians are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Norway has a Army, Air Force, and Navy which participates in peacekeeping operations.
The first people to roam Norway has been dated to sometime after 7,000 BC, when rising temperatures melted away the ice age and brought in the new life. The land was ran by all sorts of animals bears, elks, reindeer, foxes, wolves, and adders the only poisonous snake native to Norway. The first settlers to the land survived by hunting and fishing, until the bronze age introduced farming and raising livestock. The iron age was followed, settlers were able to make better tools and started trading. Soon after this era viking became present in Norway. (www.norway.org)
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The viking ruled norway around AD 800 threw 1066. There seaworthiness led to most of the norwegian coast being populated and grown into trading post, leading west towards iceland. Soon before the end of the vikings age Harald Fairhair ruled as king of norway leading up to the middle ages, after his death the family continued to rule Norway. Sigurd the Crusader was norway's last king till his death in 1130, his death left Norway in a long series of civil wars.
Stability came back for Norway around 1217 under control from Haakon IV. Haakon took control of iceland and greenland, expanding this territory. Haakon’s son Magnus took over after his death in december 1263. The black death hit norway in 1349 when trading ships landed at Askoy, then spread to iceland. The pandemic took about half of the populations lives during the time. The loss of the population killed Norway's political and economic status in northern europe, throughout the middle ages norway continued to decline from the black plague. (http://www.localhistories.org/norway.html)
By the 14th century Norway was converted to christianity and linked with Denmark and Sweden. Queen Margaret I was at rule. 1523 sweden broke off, while denmark stayed united with norway till 1814. By 1530 Denmark accepted the lutheran doctrines, forcing the norwegians to follow the acceptance. The 16th century through the 18th century Norway's trade and commerce grew. During the 17th century towns grews, with a population of 728,000 people in 1769. Sweden arrived again in 1813, along with swedish forces to invade Denmark. Witch forced Norway to surrendered to the sweden government.
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From 1891 to 1905 Norwegians rebelled against the swedish king, till the overwhelming of the people got to the king and he gave up the throne of norway. Once Norwegians gained their independence the economy started to grow. During world war one Norway stayed neutral, even when the unrestricted German submarines took out half the norwegian fleet and killed around 2000 sailors. By the second world war the depression hit, and Norway stayed neutral. Although on April 9, 1940 the Germans invaded Norway, they quickly captured Bergen and Oslo. By june 7 the French and Britches reinforcements were forced to leave, followed by norwegian government officials and the king whom fled to Britain. After the war norway gave up on the neutrality policy and joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The following years were priceless, even till today Norway is full of employment, trade and manufacturing are bombing and the norwegians are happy with a high standard of living . (www.localhistories.org)
Norway is a amazing country filled with beautiful sceneries and exctioc wildlife. Norwegians have a great history from the dawn of the ice age to the middle ages when ferace vikings roamed. I learned a lot about the country threw my research. With hope I wish to visit one day, and explore the streets of the country that I'm interested in.