1.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
2.
Monarchy of Norway
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The Norwegian monarch is the monarchical head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The present monarch is King Harald V, who has reigned since 17 January 1991, succeeding his father, the heir apparent is his only son, Crown Prince Haakon. The crown prince undertakes various public functions, as does the kings wife. The crown prince also acts as regent in the kings absence, there are several other members of the Royal Family, including the kings daughter, grandchildren and siblings. Whilst the Constitution of Norway grants important executive powers to the King, formally the King appoints the government according to his own judgement, but parliamentary practice has been in place since 1884. Constitutional practice has replaced the meaning of the word King in most articles of the constitution from the king personally to the elected government. The powers vested in the monarch are significant, but are treated only as reserve powers, the King does not, by convention, have direct participation in government. He ratifies laws and royal resolutions, receives and sends envoys from and to foreign countries and he has a more tangible influence as the symbol of national unity. The annual New Years Eve speech is one occasion when the King traditionally raises negative issues, the King is also Supreme Commander of the Norwegian Armed Forces and Grand Master of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit. The King has no role in the Church of Norway. The position of King of Norway has been in existence since the unification of Norway in 872. In recent years members of the Socialist Left party have proposed the abolition of the monarchy during each new session of parliament and this gives the Norwegian monarchy the unique status of being a popularly elected royal family and receiving regular formal confirmations of support from the Storting. Prior to and in the phase of the Viking Age Norway was divided into several smaller kingdoms. Harald Fairhair was the first king of Norway, the boundaries of Fairhairs kingdom were not identical to those of present-day Norway, and upon his death the kingship was shared among his sons. Some historians emphasise the actual control over the country and assert that Olaf II, alias Saint Olaf. Olaf is generally held to have been the force behind Norways final conversion to Christianity. In the 12th and 13th centuries the Norwegian kingdom was at its geographical and cultural peak, the kingdom included Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Shetland, Orkney and other smaller areas in the British Isles. The king had diplomatic relations with most of the European kingdoms and formed alliances with Scotland and Castile, large castles such as Haakons Hall and cathedrals, the foremost being Nidaros Cathedral, were built
3.
2008 in Norway
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Monarch, Harald V Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg January 1 – The Agency for Public Management and eGovernment is established. January 1 – Nordic Battlegroup consisting of forces from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland. January 1 – Mercury becomes banned from use in Norway, January 11 – Norwegian police announce that they have arrested a 55-year-old man suspected of being the sexual predator known as The Pocket Man. 13 January – A school in Lørenskog is closed after threats of a school shooting came from a video on YouTube, a 15-year-old was arrested for the threat. January 21 – The OBX Index drops 6. 4%, then the second biggest fall since August 1991, February 21 – An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the moment magnitude scale hits Svalbard. This oblique-slip shock had a maximum Mercalli intensity of IV and was the strongest earthquake ever to hit Norway, February 23 – The 8 km Eiksund Tunnel near Volda in Møre og Romsdal is opened. February 26 – The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is officially opened,28 February – Three people were arrested in Oslo, accused of having participated in the financing of terrorist acts abroad. February 29 – Anniken Huitfeldt is appointed Minister of Children and Equality, March 1 – Austrian Matthias Lanzinger collides with a gate during a World Cup Super-G run at Kvitfjell, resulting in injuries that lead to his left leg being amputated below the knee two days later. 28 March – Norway recognizes Kosovo as an independent state,12 April – Official opening of the Oslo Opera House. 15 May – Ingeborg Synnøve Midtømme is appointed bishop of the diocese of Møre, june 11 – Norway legalises same-sex marriage. September 9 – The OBX Index drops 5. 57%, then the fourth biggest drop ever. September 29 – In conjunction with the liquidity crisis the index of Oslo Stock Exchange drops 8. 3%, then its third largest drop ever in one day. October 6 – The OBX Index drops 9. 71%, the third largest drop ever in one day, October 8 – The OBX Index drops 6. Author Stig Sæterbakken resigns as the content director in protest over the decision. October 15 – The OBX Index drops 8. 81% October 24 – The OBX Index drops 9, March 29– The Norwegian Premier League 2008 kicks off, lasting through November 2. November 2– The Norwegian Premier League 2008 ends, september 29 – Emma Tallulah Behn, the daughter of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn. December 15 – Anne-Catharina Vestly, childrens author December 27 – Arild Andresen, footballer and ice hockey player
4.
Knut Hamsun
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Knut Hamsun was a major Norwegian writer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsuns work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to the subject, perspective and he published more than 20 novels, a collection of poetry, some short stories and plays, a travelogue, and some essays. The young Hamsun objected to realism and naturalism and he argued that the main object of modernist literature should be the intricacies of the human mind, that writers should describe the whisper of blood, and the pleading of bone marrow. Hamsun is considered the leader of the Neo-Romantic revolt at the turn of the 20th century, with such as Hunger, Mysteries, Pan. His later works—in particular his Nordland novels—were influenced by the Norwegian new realism, portraying life in rural Norway and often employing local dialect, irony. Hamsun is considered to be one of the most influential and innovative literary stylists of the past hundred years, isaac Bashevis Singer called Hamsun the father of the modern school of literature in his every aspect—his subjectiveness, his fragmentariness, his use of flashbacks, his lyricism. The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun, on August 4,2009, the Knut Hamsun Centre was opened in Hamarøy. Since 1916, several of Hamsuns works have been adapted into motion pictures, Knut Hamsun was born as Knud Pedersen in Lom in the Gudbrandsdal valley of Norway. He was the son of Tora Olsdatter and Peder Pedersen. When he was three, the moved to Hamsund, Hamarøy in Nordland. They were poor and an uncle had invited them to farm his land for him, at nine Knut was separated from his family and lived with his uncle Hans Olsen, who needed help with the post office he ran. Olsen used to beat and starve his nephew, and Hamsun later stated that his chronic nervous difficulties were due to the way his uncle treated him. In 1874 he finally escaped back to Lom, for the five years he did any job for money, he was a store clerk, peddler, shoemakers apprentice, sheriffs assistant. At 17 he became an apprentice, at about the same time he started to write. He asked businessman Erasmus Zahl to give him significant monetary support, Hamsun later used Zahl as a model for the character Mack appearing in his novels Pan, Dreamers, and Benoni and Rosa. He spent several years in America, traveling and working at various jobs, working all those odd jobs paid off, and he published his first book about it, Den Gaadefulde, En Kjærlighedshistorie fra Nordland. In his second novel Bjørger, he attempted to imitate Bjørnstjerne Bjørnsons writing style of the Icelandic saga narrative, the melodramatic story follows a poet Bjørger and his love for Laura. This book was published under the pseudonym Knud Pedersen Hamsund and this book later served as the basis for Victoria, En Kærligheds Historie
5.
Haakon VII of Norway
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Haakon VII, known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was a Danish prince who became the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the union with Sweden. He reigned from November 1905 until his death in September 1957, as one of the few elected monarchs, Haakon quickly won the respect and affection of his people. He played a role in uniting the Norwegian nation in its resistance to the Nazi invasion. He became King of Norway before his father and older brother became kings of Denmark, during his reign, he saw his father, his brother and his nephew, Frederick IX, ascend the throne of Denmark, respectively in 1906,1912 and 1947. He died at the age of 85 on 21 September 1957 and he was succeeded by his only son, Olav V. Prince Carl of Denmark was the son of King Frederik VIII of Denmark. Furthermore, he was a brother of Christian X, a paternal grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark. Prince Carl was born at Charlottenlund Palace near Copenhagen and he belonged to the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg branch of the House of Oldenburg. The House of Oldenburg had been the Danish royal family since 1448, the house was originally from northern Germany, where the Glucksburg branch held their small fief. The family had permanent links with Norway beginning from the late Middle Ages, several of his paternal ancestors had been kings of independent Norway. Christian Frederick, who was King of Norway briefly in 1814, Prince Carl was raised in the royal household in Copenhagen and educated at the Royal Danish Naval Academy. Their son, Prince Alexander, the future Crown Prince Olav, was born on 2 July 1903, gradually, Prince Carl became the leading candidate, largely because he was descended from independent Norwegian kings. The new royal family of Norway left Denmark on the Danish royal yacht Dannebrog, at Oscarsborg Fortress, they boarded the Norwegian naval ship Heimdal. After a three-day journey, they arrived in Kristiania early on the morning of 25 November 1905, two days later, Haakon took the oath as Norways first independent king in 518 years. The coronation of Haakon and Maud took place in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on 22 June 1906, King Haakon gained much sympathy from the Norwegian people. Although the Constitution of Norway vests the King with considerable executive powers, Haakon confined himself to non-partisan roles without interfering in politics, a practice continued by his son and grandson. However, his long rule gave him moral authority as a symbol of the countrys unity. Haakon, Maud and Crown Prince Olav became interested in skiing and this sport is often viewed as typically Norwegian
6.
2003 in Norway
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Events in the year 2003 in Norway. 25 May – After docking in Miami at 05,00, SS Norway is severely damaged by an explosion at 06,30, that kills 7. A few weeks later it is announced by NCL that she will never again as a commercial ocean liner. 15 September – Norwegian county council elections,15 September – Municipal and county elections are held throughout the country. 1 December – King Harald V was announced to be suffering from bladder cancer,8 December – King Harald V successfully undergoes a 5½-hour cancer operation in which his bladder is removed and a new one constructed, at Rikshospitalet University Hospital in Oslo. 10 December – Shirin Ebadi of Iran receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. 12 December – Keiko, the orca whale who starred in the 1993 film Free Willy, dies of pneumonia while in the Taknes Bay located at the Arasvikfjord in Norway, where he had lived in the recent years. 6 March – Claus Helberg, resistance fighter and mountain guide 17 March – Anne-Olaug Ingeborgrud, politician 29 March – Herbjørn Sørebø, media personality
7.
2004 in Norway
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Events in the year 2004 in Norway. 19 January – The freighter MS Rocknes capsizes in Vatlestraumen,26 March – Norsk Hydros fertilizer business was spun off as a separately stock-listed company under the name of Yara International. 4 April – NOKAS robbery, the NOKAS teller central in Stavanger was robbed, the outcome of the robbery was approximately NOK57,4 million, making it the largest robbery in Norwegian history. A policeman was shot and killed during the robbery,15 June – The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training is created. 20 June – The first edition of Skolelinux is released,22 August – Armed robbers steal Edvard Munchs The Scream, Madonna, and other paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. 6 March – Selection of the participant for Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004,20 July – Maria Mena performs Youre the Only One on Late Show with David Letterman. 21 January – Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, the daughter of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway,13 January – Arne Næss, Jr
8.
1972 in Norway
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Events in the year 1972 in Norway. Monarch - Olav V Prime Minister - Trygve Bratteli until 17 October,16 July - Divers discover the wreck of the Dutch merchant ship Akerendam which sank near the island Runde in 1725 during its maiden voyage killing the entire ships crew of 200 people. A large gold and silver treasure was discovered aboard the ship. 25 September - Norwegian European Communities membership referendum where a 53,23 December – Braathens SAFE Flight 239 crashes in Asker upon landing at Fornebu airport, Oslo, Norway, killing 40 of 45 people on board. 25 January – Anita Østby, politician 13 April – Hugo Rocha, Norway-born Portuguese competitive sailor and Olympic medalist
9.
John Engh
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John Engh was a Norwegian architect, most known for his innovative work in stone and concrete. Engh was born in New York City and he was the son of Adolf Abel Engh and Anna Madsine Hald. His father was a Norwegian engineer who was working in the United States at the time of his birth, Engh grew up in Catalonia, Spain, where his father also worked as an engineer. Engh was educated at ETH Zürich and the Norwegian Institute of Technology where he earned his diploma in 1938 and he had apprenticeships at various architectural firms in Oslo, Barcelona, and Pittsburgh before being hired as an architect with the Royal Norwegian Air Force at CFB Borden in Canada. During the World War II, he served at the Norwegian bases in Canada and he also worked for the United States government on reconstruction projects. Upon returning to Scandinavia, he worked for the Scandinavian Airlines System in Stockholm and he later moved to Oslo where he joined in partnership with Peer Qvam. In 1970, he entered partnership with Jon Seip. He sat on the board of Norwegian Architects Association from 1952 to 1968 from 1964 as president and his designs include the Oslo Central Station, HSH headquarters, Indekshuset at Solli plass in Oslo and several other offices buildings. He designed the Norwegian Embassy in Brasilia and acted as architect for the building of the American Embassy in Oslo which was designed by Eero Saarinen. He died in Bærum during 1996
10.
1992 in Norway
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Events in the year 1992 in Norway. 5 September - The Norwegian commercial television station TV2 has its first television broadcast,25 November – Norway applies for membership in the European Union. 16 December – The current version of the Norwegian coat of arms is approved,26 June – Harald Sverdrup, poet and childrens writer
