1.
Counties of Norway
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Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties, until 1918, they were known as amter. The counties form the first-level subdivisions of Norway and are divided into 428 municipalities. Svalbard and Jan Mayen are outside the county division and ruled directly on national level, the capital Oslo is considered both a county and a municipality. In 2017 the government decided to abolish the current counties and to them with fewer, larger administrative regions. Below is a list of the Norwegian counties as they have been since 1919, note that the counties are administered both by appointees of the national government and to a lesser extent by their own elected bodies. The county numbers are from the numbering system ISO 3166-2, NO. The number 13 was dropped from the system when the city of Bergen was merged into Hordaland in 1972, from the consolidation to a single kingdom, Norway was divided into a number of geographic regions that had its own legislative assembly or Thing, such as Gulating and Frostating. The second-order subdivision of these regions was into fylker, such as Egdafylke and Hordafylke, in 1914, the historical term fylke was brought into use again to replace the term amt introduced during the union with Denmark. Current day counties often, but not necessarily, correspond to the historical areas. Finnmark, the Faroe Islands, the Orkney Islands, Shetland, the Hebrides, Isle of Man, Iceland and Greenland were Norwegian skattland, from the end of the 12th century, Norway was divided into several syssel. The head of the various syssel was the syslemann, who represented the king locally, the following shows a reconstruction of the different syssel in Norway c. 1300, including sub-syssel where these seem established, from 1308, the term len in Norway signified an administrative region roughly equivalent to todays counties. The historic len was an important administrative entity during the period of Dano-Norwegian unification after their amalgamation as one state, which lasted for the period 1536–1814. At the beginning of the 16th century the political divisions were variable, up to 1660 the four principal len were headquartered at the major fortresses Bohus Fortress, Akershus Fortress, Bergenhus Fortress and the fortified city of Trondheim. The sub-regions corresponded to the districts for the Lutheran church in Norway. Båhus len Akershus len Trondheim len Bergenhus len These four principal len were in the 1530s divided into approximately 30 smaller regions. From that point forward through the beginning of the 17th century the number of subsidiary len was reduced, from 1660 Norway had nine principal len comprising 17 subsidiary len, Len written as län continues to be used as the administrative equivalent of county in Sweden to this day. Each len was governed by a lenman, with the royal decree of February 19,1662, each len was designated an amt and the lenmann was titled amtmann, from German Amt, reflecting the bias of the Danish court of that period
2.
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
3.
Eastern Norway
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Eastern Norway is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Telemark, Vestfold, Østfold, Akershus, Oslo, Buskerud, Oppland, eastern Norway is by far the most populous region of Norway. It contains the capital, Oslo, which is Norways most populous city. In Norwegian, the region is called Østlandet and Austlandet in contrast to Vestlandet, as of 2010, the region had 2,454,700 inhabitants. In 2014, Norways population was 5,156,450, the region is bounded by mountains in the north and west, the Swedish border to the east and by Viken and Skagerrak to the south. The border towards Sørlandet is less obvious, the mountains reach a height of 2469 metres in the Jotunheimen mountain range, the highest point in the Nordic countries. Other prominent mountain ranges include part of the Dovrefjell in the far north of the region, the high plateau of Hardangervidda extends into Western Norway. Valleys cut deep into the mountains, from east to west the valleys are Østerdal, Gudbrandsdal, Valdres, Hallingdal, Numedal. Østerdalen is surrounded by mostly flat areas of forests. The population density in the flatlands is the highest in the nation, numerous islands shelter the coasts, creating a paradise for swimmers and boaters in the summer. The Norwegian dialects spoken in the south-east share a common intonation, the dialects of the interior mountainous areas are all distinct. The dialects of the areas are more similar to the written language. The eastern forests of Finnskogen were the home of an ethnic minority and their language and culture was preserved into the 20th century, but now only folk tunes and food specialities remain. The southernmost group of Norways Sami population is to be found in the north-eastern corner, the culture of mountain valleys is preserved to a greater degree than the more urbanized metropolitan areas. The area is distinguished with traditional architecture, like churches and lafting, folk music. Some are concerned for the loss of culture in the face of modernization. It is common to see moose warning signs missing from their posts and this is of course illegal, and can result in a fine. The coastal region is populated both by Norwegian and European standards
4.
Oslo
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Oslo is the capital and the most populous city in Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality, founded in the year 1040, and established as a kaupstad or trading place in 1048 by Harald Hardrada, the city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V of Norway around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814, after being destroyed by a fire in 1624, the city was moved closer to Akershus Fortress during the reign of Christian IV of Denmark and renamed Christiania in his honour. It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838, following a spelling reform, it was known as Kristiania from 1877 to 1925, at which time its original Norwegian name was restored. Oslo is the economic and governmental centre of Norway, the city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to companies within the maritime sector, some of which are among the worlds largest shipping companies, shipbrokers. Oslo is a city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission intercultural cities programme. Oslo is considered a city and ranked Beta World City in studies carried out by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group. It was ranked one in terms of quality of life among European large cities in the European Cities of the Future 2012 report by fDi magazine. A survey conducted by ECA International in 2011 placed Oslo as the second most expensive city in the world for living expenses after Tokyo. In 2013 Oslo tied with the Australian city of Melbourne as the fourth most expensive city in the world, as of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, while the population of the citys urban area was 942,084. The metropolitan area had an population of 1.71 million. The population was during the early 2000 increasing at record rates and this growth stems for the most part from international immigration and related high birth rates, but also from intra-national migration. The immigrant population in the city is growing faster than the Norwegian population. As of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, the urban area extends beyond the boundaries of the municipality into the surrounding county of Akershus, the total population of this agglomeration is 942,084. To the north and east, wide forested hills rise above the city giving the location the shape of a giant amphitheatre. The urban municipality of Oslo and county of Oslo are two parts of the entity, making Oslo the only city in Norway where two administrative levels are integrated
5.
Conservative Party (Norway)
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The Conservative Party is a conservative and liberal-conservative political party in Norway. It is the party of the Norwegian centre-right, and the leading party in the governing Solberg cabinet. The current party leader is the Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg, in national elections in September 2013, voters ended eight years of Labour Party rule. After winning the elections, Solberg said her win was an election victory for the right-wing electoral bloc. The party advocates economic liberalism, reduction of taxes, and individual rights and it has historically been the most outspokenly pro-European Union party in Norway, supporting Norwegian membership during both the 1972 and 1994 referendums. The party generally supports semi-privatization through state-funded private services and tougher law, founded in 1884, the Conservative Party is the second oldest political party in Norway after the Liberal Party. In the interwar era, one of the goals for the party was to achieve a centre-right alliance against the growing labour movement. The Conservative Party of Norway was founded in 1884 after the implementation of parliamentarism in Norway, the jurist Emil Stang was elected the first chairman of the party. Stang underlined important principles for the work in Høyre, the party was to be a social party of reforms that worked within the constitutional frames set by a parliamentary democracy. In the 1981-election, Høyre got 31. 7% and it was the best election since 1924. The result in 1993 was 17% and this election was influenced by the EU membership issue which divided the Liberal Party. The 1997 parliamentary election resulted in the lowest support since 1945, Høyre has since then seen increased popular support, and got 21. 3% in the 1999 local elections and 21. 2% in the 2001 parliamentary election. Throughout the years Høyre has supported a policy that aims to stimulate growth in order to avoid unemployment, in the beginning of the 20th century Høyre took the initiative to construct a modern Norwegian communications network. After the devastating First World War it was important for Høyre to work for the reconstruction of sound, an example of this is the resolution Høyre passed in 1923 introducing old-age insurance. But because of the States finances it was not possible to continue this effort, Høyre was the leading party in opposition in the post-war years in Norway. Høyre fought against the Labour Partys regulating policy, Høyre wanted another future for Norway consisting of private initiative and creative forces. Høyre has been a protagonist in the construction of the system in this country. Additionally Høyre has advocated that the States activity must concentrate on its basic problems, during the post-war years Høyre has consolidated its position as a party with appeal to all parts of the nation
listen) is a county in Norway, bordering Hedmark, Oppland, Buskerud, Oslo, and Østfold; it also has a short border with Sweden (Värmland). Akershus, with more than half a million inhabitants, is the second-largest county by population after Oslo. The county is named after Akershus Fortress. The county administration is in Oslo, which is not part of the county per se.
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Media related to Akershus at Wikimedia Commons
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