1.
Norway
–
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
–
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.
Roald Amundsen
–
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the Antarctic expedition of 1910–12 which was the first to reach the South Pole, in 1926, he was the first expedition leader for the air expedition to the North Pole. Amundsen is recognized as the first person, without dispute, as having reached both poles and he is also known as having the first expedition to traverse the Northwest Passage in the Arctic. In June 1928, while taking part in a mission for the airship Italia. Amundsen was a key leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, in the class of Douglas Mawson, Robert Falcon Scott. Amundsen was born to a family of Norwegian shipowners and captains in Borge and his parents were Jens Amundsen and Hanna Sahlqvist. Roald was the son in the family. His mother wanted him to avoid the family trade and encouraged him to become a doctor. He promptly quit university for a life at sea, Amundsen had hidden a lifelong desire inspired by Fridtjof Nansens crossing of Greenland in 1888 and Franklins lost expedition. He decided on a life of exploration of wilderness places. Amundsen joined the Belgian Antarctic Expedition as first mate and this expedition, led by Adrien de Gerlache using the ship the RV Belgica, became the first expedition to winter in Antarctica. The Belgica, whether by mistake or design, became locked in the sea ice at 70°30′S off Alexander Island, the crew endured a winter for which they were poorly prepared. By Amundsens own estimation, the doctor for the expedition, the American Frederick Cook, probably saved the crew from scurvy by hunting for animals and feeding the crew fresh meat. In cases where citrus fruits are lacking, fresh meat from animals that make their own vitamin C contains enough of the vitamin to prevent scurvy and this was an important lesson for Amundsens future expeditions. In 1903, Amundsen led the first expedition to successfully traverse Canadas Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and he planned a small expedition of six men in a 45-ton fishing vessel, Gjøa, in order to have flexibility. His ship had relatively shallow draft and his technique was to use a small ship and hug the coast. Amundsen had the ship outfitted with a gasoline engine. They traveled via Baffin Bay, the Parry Channel and then south through Peel Sound, James Ross Strait, Simpson Strait and they spent two winters at King William Island in the harbor of what is today Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, Canada
4.
Airship
–
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from large gas bags filled with a gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early dirigibles, the gas used was hydrogen, due to its high lifting capacity. Helium gas has almost the same lifting capacity and is not flammable, unlike hydrogen, significant amounts were first discovered in the United States and for a while helium was only used for airships by the United States. Most airships built since the 1960s have used helium, though some have used hot air, the envelope of an airship may form a single gas bag, or may contain a number of internal gas-filled cells. An airship also has engines, crew, and optionally also payload accommodation, the main types of airship are non-rigid, semi-rigid, and rigid. Non-rigid airships, often called blimps, rely on internal pressure to maintain the shape of the airship, semi-rigid airships maintain the envelope shape by internal pressure, but have some form of supporting structure, such as a fixed keel, attached to it. Rigid airships have a structural framework which maintains the shape and carries all structural loads. Rigid airships were first flown by Count Zeppelin and the vast majority of rigid airships built were manufactured by the firm he founded, as a result, rigid airships are called zeppelins. S. Navy helium-filled rigids, the USS Akron and USS Macon respectively, during the pioneer years of aeronautics, terms such as airship, air-ship, air ship and ship of the air meant any kind of navigable or dirigible flying machine. In 1919 Frederick Handley Page was reported as referring to ships of the air, in the 1930s, large intercontinental flying boats were also sometimes referred to as ships of the air or flying-ships. Nowadays the term airship is used only for powered, dirigible balloons, semirigid architecture is the more recent and the late appearance is caused by both advancements about deformable structures and exigiency of reducing weight and volume of the airships. They have a structure that ensure to keep the shape jointly with overpressure of the gas envelope. An aerostat is an aircraft which remain aloft using buoyancy or static lift, Airships are a type of aerostat. The term aerostat has also used to indicate a tethered or moored balloon as opposed to a free-floating balloon. A blimp is a non-rigid aerostat, in American usage it refers specifically to a non-rigid type of dirigible balloon or airship. In British usage it refers to any non-rigid aerostat, including balloons and other kite balloons, having a streamlined shape. The initials LZ, for Luftschiff Zeppelin, usually prefixed their crafts serial identifiers, streamlined Parsifal-shaped rigid airships are usually referred to as Zeppelin, because of the fame that this company has acquired due to the number of airships it produced
5.
2005 in Norway
–
Events in the year 2005 in Norway. Monarch, Harald V Prime Minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik to 17 October Jens Stoltenberg 1 January – The University of Stavanger is established,11 March – Ole Christian Kvarme is appointed bishop of Oslo. 8 June – At least 10 are dead after an outbreak of Legionnaires disease, the source is localized to a Borregaard teatment plant in Sarpsborg. 13 June – The new Svinesund Bridge is opened joining Norway, the old Svinesund Bridge still stands 1 kilometre to the east. 14 July – The Nærøyfjord, the Geiranger Fjord and the Struve Geodetic Arc are designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites,12 September – The 2005 Parliamentary election takes place. The election was won by the opposition centre-left Red-Green Coalition, which took 87 seats,19 September – The trial of the accused in the NOKAS robbery starts in Stavanger. 17 October – Stoltenbergs Second Cabinet was appointed, Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 Rock band Accidents Never Happen forms 7 June – Centennial of the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden. Metliaas, civil servant and politician Ove Skaug, engineer and civil servant
6.
2008 in Norway
–
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
7.
North Pole
–
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is defined as the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earths axis of rotation meets its surface. The North Pole is the northernmost point on the Earth, lying diametrically opposite the South Pole and it defines geodetic latitude 90° North, as well as the direction of true north. At the North Pole all directions point south, all lines of longitude converge there, along tight latitude circles, counterclockwise is east and clockwise is west. The North Pole is at the center of the Northern Hemisphere, while the South Pole lies on a continental land mass, the North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean amid waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice. This makes it impractical to construct a permanent station at the North Pole, however, the Soviet Union, and later Russia, constructed a number of manned drifting stations on a generally annual basis since 1937, some of which have passed over or very close to the Pole. Since 2002, the Russians have also established a base, Barneo. This operates for a few weeks during early spring, studies in the 2000s predicted that the North Pole may become seasonally ice-free because of Arctic ice shrinkage, with timescales varying from 2016 to the late 21st century or later. The sea depth at the North Pole has been measured at 4,261 m by the Russian Mir submersible in 2007 and at 4,087 m by USS Nautilus in 1958. The nearest land is said to be Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland about 700 km away. The nearest permanently inhabited place is Alert in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada, around the beginning of the 20th century astronomers noticed a small apparent variation of latitude, as determined for a fixed point on Earth from the observation of stars. Part of this variation could be attributed to a wandering of the Pole across the Earths surface, the wandering has several periodic components and an irregular component. The component with a period of about 435 days is identified with the eight-month wandering predicted by Euler and is now called the Chandler wobble after its discoverer and it is desirable to tie the system of Earth coordinates to fixed landforms. Of course, given plate tectonics and isostasy, there is no system in all geographic features are fixed. Yet the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the International Astronomical Union have defined a framework called the International Terrestrial Reference System. As early as the 16th century, many eminent people correctly believed that the North Pole was in a sea and it was therefore hoped that passage could be found through ice floes at favorable times of the year. Several expeditions set out to find the way, generally with whaling ships, one of the earliest expeditions to set out with the explicit intention of reaching the North Pole was that of British naval officer William Edward Parry, who in 1827 reached latitude 82°45′ North. In 1871 the Polaris expedition, a US attempt on the Pole led by Charles Francis Hall, another British Royal Navy attempt on the pole, part of the British Arctic Expedition, by Commander Albert H. Markham reached a then-record 83°2026 North in May 1876 before turning back. An 1879–1881 expedition commanded by US naval officer George W. DeLong ended tragically when their ship, over half the crew, including DeLong, were lost
8.
Spitsbergen
–
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway. Constituting the westernmost bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea, Spitsbergen covers an area of 39,044 km2, making it the largest island in Norway and the 36th-largest in the world. Other settlements, in addition to research outposts, are the Russian mining community of Barentsburg, the community of Ny-Ålesund. The island was first used as a base in the 17th and 18th centuries. Coal mining started at the end of the 19th century and several permanent communities were established, the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 recognized Norwegian sovereignty and established Svalbard as a free economic zone and a demilitarized zone. The Norwegian Store Norske and the Russian Arktikugol remain the mining companies. Research and tourism have become important supplementary industries, featuring among others the University Centre in Svalbard, no roads connect the settlements, instead snowmobiles, aircraft, and boats serve as local transport. Svalbard Airport, Longyear provides the point of entry and exit. The island has an Arctic climate, although significantly higher temperatures than other places at the same latitude. The flora benefits from the period of midnight sun, which compensates for the polar night. Svalbard is a ground for many seabirds, and also supports polar bears, reindeer. Six national parks protect the largely untouched, yet fragile environment, the island has many glaciers, mountains and fjords. Spitsbergen was named by its discoverer, the Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz, the name Spitsbergen, meaning “pointed mountains”, was at first applied to both the main island and the archipelago as a whole. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, English whalers referred to the islands as Greenland, the Spitzbergen spelling was used in English during the 19th century, for instance by Beechey, Laing, and the Royal Society. In 1906, the Arctic explorer Sir Martin Conway thought that the Spitzbergen spelling was incorrect, preferring Spitsbergen as he noted that the name was Dutch and this had little effect on British practice. In 1920, the international treaty determining the fate of the islands was entitled the Spitsbergen Treaty, the islands were generally referred to in the USA as Spitsbergen from that time, although the spelling Spitzbergen was also commonly used through the 20th century. Under Norwegian governance, the archipelago was named Svalbard in 1925, by the end of the 20th century, this usage had become common. The first confirmed and recorded sighting of the island by a European was by Willem Barentsz, the first good map with the east coast roughly indicated, appeared in 1623, printed by Willem Janszoon Blaeu
9.
Haakon VII of Norway
–
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
