1.
Norwegian language
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Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is the official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as extinct languages. Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them, as established by law and governmental policy, the two official forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål and Nynorsk. The official Norwegian Language Council is responsible for regulating the two forms, and recommends the terms Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk in English. Two other written forms without official status also exist, one and it is regulated by the unofficial Norwegian Academy, which translates the name as Standard Norwegian. Nynorsk and Bokmål provide standards for how to write Norwegian, no standard of spoken Norwegian is officially sanctioned, and most Norwegians speak their own dialects in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in other countries, the use of any Norwegian dialect. Outside Eastern Norway, this variation is not used. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to nationalism, rural versus urban discourse, historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. The unofficial form known as Riksmål is considered more conservative than Bokmål, Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. A2005 poll indicates that 86. 3% use primarily Bokmål as their written language,5. 5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7. 5% use primarily Nynorsk. Thus, 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, though the majority speak dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål. Broadly speaking, Nynorsk writing is widespread in western Norway, though not in major urban areas, examples are Setesdal, the western part of Telemark county and several municipalities in Hallingdal, Valdres, and Gudbrandsdalen. It is little used elsewhere, but 30–40 years ago, it also had strongholds in rural parts of Trøndelag. Today, not only is Nynorsk the official language of four of the 19 Norwegian counties, NRK, the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. Bokmål is used in 92% of all publications, and Nynorsk in 8%
2.
ISO 4217
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The ISO4217 code list is used in banking and business globally. ISO4217 codes are used on tickets and international train tickets to remove any ambiguity about the price. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself, so Japans currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the dollar, franc, peso and pound being used in dozens of different countries. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency codes last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. Other changes can be seen, however, the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB and these currency units are denominated as one troy ounce of the specified metal as opposed to USD1 or EUR1. The code XTS is reserved for use in testing, the code XXX is used to denote a transaction involving no currency. There are also codes specifying certain monetary instruments used in international finance, the codes for most supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO. The predecessor to the euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU, the use of an initial letter X for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned. Because of this rule ISO4217 can use X codes without risk of clashing with a country code. ISO3166 country codes beginning with X are used for private custom use, consequently, ISO4217 can use X codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes. The inclusion of EU in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list, the ISO4217 standard includes a crude mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the exponent and assumes a base of 10. For example, USD is equal to 100 of its currency unit the cent. So the USD has exponent 2, the code JPY is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used. Usually, as with the USD, the currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but in some cases 1/1000 is used. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya equal to 5 khoums, some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all and these are given an exponent of 0, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value. There is also a code number assigned to each currency
3.
Currency symbol
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A currency symbol is a graphic symbol used as a shorthand for a currencys name, especially in reference to amounts of money. The European Commission considers the global recognition of the euro sign € part of its success, in 2009, India launched a public competition to replace the ₨ ligature it shared with neighbouring countries. It finalised its new symbol, ₹ on 15 July 2010. It is a blend of the Latin letter R with the Devanagari letter र, when writing currency amounts the location of the symbol varies by currency. Many currencies in the English-speaking world and Latin America, place it before the amount, the Cape Verdean escudo places its symbol in the decimal separator position. The usage of many European countries, such as France, Germany, the decimal separator also follows local countries standards. For instance, the United Kingdom often uses an interpunct as the point on price stickers. Commas or decimal points are common separators used in other countries, see decimal separator for information on international standards. Older currency symbols have evolved slowly, often from previous currencies, the dollar and peso symbols originated from the mark employed to denote the Spanish real de a ocho, whereas the pound and lira symbols evolved from an L standing for libra, a Roman pound of silver. Newly invented currencies and currencies adopting new symbols have symbolism closer to their adopter, the added center bar in the real sign is meant to symbolize stability. The new Indian rupee symbol, ₹, is a combination of Latin. There are also considerations, such as the perception of the business community. For a new symbol to be used, software to render it needs to be promulgated, the EU was criticized for not considering how the euro symbol would need to be customized to work in different fonts. The original design was exceptionally wide. These two factors have led to most typefaces employing customized, font-specific versions, usually with reduced width, List of currencies List of circulating currencies Currency Symbols
4.
Banknotes of the Norwegian krone
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Norwegian banknotes are circulated, in addition to Norwegian coins, with a denomination of Norwegian kroner, as standard units of currency in Norway. From 1877, after the establishment of the Scandinavian Monetary Union, the first 200 kroner banknote was first published in 1994. The others have been in used since 1877, banknotes of 5 and 10 kroner were in use until 1963 and 1983 when they were replaced by coins. From 1917-1925 and 1940-1950 there was a shortage of small change, the first edition was canceled in 1926, while the second edition was formally valid right up to 1999. From 1877, after the establishment of the Scandinavian Monetary Union, and until present day, Norwegian banknotes have included 1000,500,100, in 1994 the first 200 kroner note was issued. 5 and 10 kroner notes were used from 1877. During World War I and World War II and war aftermaths of 1917–1925 and 1940–1950, there was a shortage of change, the World War I edition was rendered invalid in 1926, whereas the World War II edition was technically valid until 1999. For more details see the section on historical Norwegian banknotes below, the 50 kroner note portrays Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, writer and collector of Norwegian folktales. Since 1999 the serial number has been printed with ultraviolet fluorescence, the previous edition, no longer valid, portrays Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, poet, author, and proponent of Nynorsk. This was the first Norwegian banknote featuring the Nynorsk name of Norway, the 50 kroner note may well be replaced by a 50 kroner coin in the not too distant future. The 100 kroner note portrays Kirsten Flagstad, opera singer and first director of the Norwegian National Opera, in 2003 this note was upgraded with a holographic metal foil stripe. The previous edition, no longer valid, was the first Norwegian banknote featuring a woman, Camilla Collett, author, feminist activist, sister of Henrik Wergeland, Camilla actually replaced her brother on the 100 kroner note, where he had been the motif since 1949. It portrays Kristian Birkeland, magnetism researcher, inventor, and co-founder of Norsk Hydro, in 2002 this note was upgraded with a holographic metal foil stripe. The front of the 200 kroner note shows a portrait of Kristian Birkeland against a pattern of the aurora borealis. Birkelands terrella experiment, which consisted of a small, magnetized sphere representing the Earth suspended in a box, is shown on the left. When subjected to an electron beam a glow of light would appear around the poles of the terrella. The back of the 200 kroner note shows a map of the polar regions including Scandinavia to the right. A ring encircling the magnetic dip pole symbolizes the location of auroral phenomena including the satellite-determined statistical location of Birkeland currents, birkelands original depiction of field-aligned currents published in 1908 is shown in the lower right corner
5.
Norwegian krone
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The krone, plural kroner, is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. It is subdivided into 100 øre, which exist only electronically since 2012, the name translates into English as crown. The krone was the thirteenth most traded currency in the world by value in April 2010, the krone was introduced in 1875, replacing the Norwegian speciedaler/spesidaler at a rate of 4 kroner =1 speciedaler. In doing so, Norway joined the Scandinavian Monetary Union, which had established in 1873. After its dissolution, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden all decided to keep the names of their respective, within the Scandinavian Monetary Union, the krone was on a gold standard of 2,480 kroner =1 kilogram of pure gold. This gold standard was restored between 1916 and 1920 and again in 1928 and it was suspended permanently in 1931, when a peg to the British pound of 19.9 kroner =1 pound was established. In 1939, Norway pegged the krone temporarily to the U. S. dollar at a rate of 4.4 kroner =1 dollar, nonetheless, Norway would continue to hold the Kingdoms gold reserves. During the German occupation in the Second World War, the krone was initially pegged to the Reichsmark at a rate of 1 krone =0.6 Reichsmark, after the war, a rate of 20 kroner =1 pound was established. The rate to the pound was maintained in 1949, when the pound devalued relative to the U. S. dollar, in 1875, coins were introduced in denominations of 10 and 50 øre and 1 and 10 kroner. These coins also bore the denomination in the currency, as 3,15. Between 1875 and 1878, the new coinage was introduced in full, in denominations of 1,2,5,10,25, and 50 øre and 1,2, and 10 kroner. The 1,2, and 5 øre were struck in bronze, the 10,25, and 50 øre and 1 and 2 kroner, in silver, the last gold coins were issued in 1910, silver was replaced by cupro-nickel from 1920. Between 1917 and 1921, iron replaced bronze. 1917 also saw the last issuance of 2 kroner coins, during the German occupation in the Second World War, zinc was used in place of cupro-nickel in 10,25, and 50 øre coins, and production of the 1 krone piece was suspended. In 1963,5 kroner coins were introduced, production of 1 and 2 øre coins ceased in 1972. The following year, the size of the 5 øre coin was reduced, production of the denomination ceased in 1982, ten-kroner coins were introduced in 1983. In 1992, the last 10 øre coins were minted, between 1994 and 1998, a new coinage was introduced, consisting of 50 øre,1,5,10, and 20 kroner. These are the coins which are currently legal tender, with the exception of the 50-øre coin which was withdrawn on 1 May 2012
6.
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
7.
Svalbard
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Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Situated north of mainland Europe, it is midway between continental Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the range from 74° to 81° north latitude. The largest island is Spitsbergen, followed by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya, administratively, the archipelago is not part of any Norwegian county, but forms an unincorporated area administered by a governor appointed by the Norwegian government. Since 2002, Svalbards main settlement, Longyearbyen, has had a local government. Other settlements include the Russian mining community of Barentsburg, the station of Ny-Ålesund. Svalbard is the northernmost settlement in the world with a permanent civilian population, other settlements are farther north, but are populated only by rotating groups of researchers. The islands were first taken into use as a base in the 17th and 18th centuries. Coal mining started at the beginning of the 20th century, the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 recognizes Norwegian sovereignty, and the 1925 Svalbard Act made Svalbard a full part of the Kingdom of Norway. They also established Svalbard as an economic zone and a demilitarized zone. The Norwegian Store Norske and the Russian Arktikugol remain the mining companies in place. Research and tourism have become important supplementary industries, with the University Centre in Svalbard, no roads connect the settlements, instead snowmobiles, aircraft and boats serve inter-community transport. Svalbard Airport, Longyear serves as the main gateway, the archipelago features an Arctic climate, although with significantly higher temperatures than other areas at the same latitude. The flora take advantage of the period of midnight sun to compensate for the polar night. Svalbard is a ground for many seabirds, and also features polar bears, reindeer, the Arctic fox. Seven national parks and twenty-three nature reserves cover two-thirds of the archipelago, protecting the largely untouched, yet fragile, approximately 60% of the archipelago is covered with glaciers, and the islands feature many mountains and fjords. Svalbard and Jan Mayen are collectively assigned the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code SJ, both areas are administered by Norway, though they are separated by a distance of over 500 nautical miles and have very different administrative structures. The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 defines Svalbard as all islands, islets and skerries from 74° to 81° north latitude, the land area is 61,022 km2, and dominated by the island of Spitsbergen, which constitutes more than half the archipelago, followed by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya
8.
Jan Mayen
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Jan Mayen is a Norwegian volcanic island situated in the North Arctic Ocean. It is 55 km long and 373 km2 in area, partly covered by glaciers and it has two parts, larger northeast Nord-Jan and smaller Sør-Jan, linked by a 2.5 km wide isthmus. It lies 600 km northeast of Iceland,500 km east of central Greenland and 1,000 km west of the North Cape, the island is mountainous, the highest summit being the Beerenberg volcano in the north. The isthmus is the location of the two largest lakes of the island, Sørlaguna, and Nordlaguna, a third lake is called Ullerenglaguna. Jan Mayen was formed by the Jan Mayen hotspot, although administered separately, Svalbard and Jan Mayen are collectively assigned the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code SJ. Jan Mayen Island has one exploitable natural resource, gravel, from the site at Trongskaret, other than this, economic activity is limited to providing services for employees of Norways radio communications and meteorological stations located on the island. Jan Mayen has one unpaved airstrip, Jan Mayensfield, which is about 1,585 m long, the 124.1 km coast has no ports or harbours, only offshore anchorages. There are important fishing resources, and the existence of Jan Mayen establishes a large Exclusive Economic Zone around it, a dispute between Norway and Denmark regarding the fishing exclusion zone between Jan Mayen and Greenland was settled in 1988 granting Denmark the greater area of sovereignty. Significant deposits of petroleum and natural gas are suspected by geologists to lie below Jan Mayens surrounding seafloors, Jan Mayen Island is an integral part of the Kingdom of Norway. Since 1995, Jan Mayen has been administered by the County Governor of the northern Norwegian county of Nordland to which it is closest. However, some authority over Jan Mayen has been assigned to the commander of the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation. The only inhabitants on the island are personnel working for the Norwegian Armed Forces, eighteen people spend the winter on the island, but the population may double during the summer, when heavy maintenance is performed. Personnel serve either six months or one year, and are exchanged twice a year in April, the main purpose of the military personnel is to operate a Loran-C base. The support crew, including mechanics, cooks, and a nurse, are among the military personnel, both the LORAN transmitter and the meteorological station are located a few kilometres away from the settlement Olonkinbyen, where all personnel live. Transport to the island is provided by C-130 Hercules military transport planes operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force that land at Jan Mayensfields gravel runway, the planes fly in from Bodø Main Air Station eight times a year. Since the airport does not have any instrument landing capabilities, good visibility is required, for heavy goods, freight ships visit during the summer, but since there are no harbours, the ships must anchor. The island has no population, but is assigned the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code SJ. It uses the Internet country code top-level domain. no and data code JN, Jan Mayen has telephone and internet connection over satellite, using Norwegian telephone numbers
9.
Bouvet Island
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Bouvet Island is an uninhabited subantarctic high island and dependency of Norway located in the South Atlantic Ocean at 54°25. 8′S 3°22. 8′E. The island has an area of 49 square kilometres, of which 93 percent is covered by a glacier, the centre of the island is an ice-filled crater of an inactive volcano. Some skerries and one island, Larsøya, lie along the coast. Nyrøysa, created by a slide in the late 1950s, is the only easy place to land and is the location of a weather station. The island was first spotted on 1 January 1739 by Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, after whom it was later named and he recorded inaccurate coordinates and the island was not sighted again until 1808, when the British whaler captain James Lindsay named it Lindsay Island. The first claim of landing, although disputed, was by Benjamin Morrell, in 1825, the island was claimed for the British Crown by George Norris, who named it Liverpool Island. He also reported Thompson Island as nearby, although this was shown to be a phantom island. The first Norvegia expedition landed on the island in 1927 and claimed it for Norway, at this time the island was named Bouvet Island, or Bouvetøya in Norwegian. After a dispute with the United Kingdom, it was declared a Norwegian dependency in 1930 and it became a nature reserve in 1971. The island was discovered on 1 January 1739 by Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, commander of the French ships Aigle and this was the first time that land had been spotted south of the 50th parallel south. Bouvet, who was searching for a large southern continent, spotted the island through the fog. He was not able to land and did not circumnavigate his discovery and his plotting of its position was inaccurate, leading several expeditions to fail to find the island again. James Cooks second voyage set off from Cape Verde on 22 November 1772 to find Cape Circoncision, the next expedition to spot the island was in 1808 by James Lindsay, captain of the Samuel Enderby & Sons whaler Snow Swan. They reached the island and recorded its position, though they were unable to land, Lindsay could confirm that the cape was indeed an island. The next expedition to arrive at the island was American Benjamin Morrell, Morrell, by his own account, found the island without difficulty before landing and hunting 196 seals. In his subsequent lengthy description, Morrell does not mention the islands most obvious physical feature and this has caused some commentators to doubt whether he actually visited the island. On 10 December 1825, SE&Ss George Norris, master of the Sprightly, landed on the island, named it Liverpool Island and claimed it for the British Crown and George IV on 16 December. The next expedition to spot the island was Joseph Fuller and his ship Francis Allyn in 1893, german Carl Chuns Valdivia expedition arrived at the island in 1898
10.
Queen Maud Land
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Queen Maud Land is a c.2.7 million-square-kilometre region of Antarctica claimed as a dependent territory by Norway. The territory lies between 20° west and 45° east, between the British Antarctic Territory to the west and the Australian Antarctic Territory to the east. On most maps there had been an area between Queen Maud Lands borders of 1939 and the South Pole until June 12,2015 when Norway formally annexed that area. Positioned in East Antarctica, the territory comprises about one-fifth of the area of Antarctica. The claim is named after the Norwegian queen Maud of Wales, Norwegian Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen was the first person known to have set foot in the territory, in 1930. On 14 January 1939, the territory was claimed by Norway, from 1939 until 1945, Nazi Germany claimed New Swabia, which consisted of part of Queen Maud Land. On 23 June 1961, Queen Maud Land became part of the Antarctic Treaty System and it is one of two Antarctic claims made by Norway, the other being Peter I Island. They are administrated by the Polar Affairs Department of the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, most of the territory is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, and a tall ice wall stretches throughout its coast. In some areas further within the ice sheet, mountain ranges breach through the ice, allowing for birds to breed, the region is divided into the Princess Martha Coast, Princess Astrid Coast, Princess Ragnhild Coast, Prince Harald Coast and Prince Olav Coast. The waters off the coast are called the King Haakon VII Sea, there is no permanent population, although there are 12 active research stations housing a maximum average of 40 scientists, the numbers fluctuating depending on the season. Six are occupied year-round, while the remainder are seasonal summer stations, the territory is estimated to cover around 2,700,000 square kilometres. The limits of the claim, put forth in 1939, did not fix the northern and southern limits other than as the beach in Antarctica. With the land lies beyond this beach and the sea beyond. The sea that extends off the coast between the limits of Queen Maud Land is generally called King Haakon VII Sea. There is no land at the coast, the coast consists of a 20-to-30-metre high wall of ice throughout almost the entire territory. It is thus possible to disembark from a ship in a few places. The other major mountain ranges are the Heimefront Range, Orvin Mountains, Wohlthat Mountains, geologically, the ground of Queen Maud Land is dominated by Precambrian gneiss, formed c.1 to 1.2 Ga, before the creation of the supercontinent Gondwana. The mountains consist mostly of crystalline and granitic rocks, formed c.500 to 600 Ma in the Pan-African orogeny during the assembly of Gondwana, in the farthest western parts of the territory, there are younger sedimentary and volcanic rocks
11.
Peter I Island
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Peter I Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Bellingshausen Sea,450 kilometres from Antarctica. It is claimed as a dependency of Norway, and along with Queen Maud Land, Peter I Island is 11 by 19 kilometres long and 156 square kilometres, slightly larger than Staten Island. The tallest peak is the ultra and 1, 640-meter tall Lars Christensen Peak, nearly all of the island is covered by a glacier and it is surrounded most of the year by pack ice, making it inaccessible almost all year round. There is little life on the island apart from seabirds and seals, the island was first sighted by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen on 21 January 1821 and was named for Peter I of Russia. Since then, the sovereignty over the island belongs to the tsar, not until 2 February 1929 did anyone set foot on the island, when Nils Larsen and Ola Olstads Second Norvegia Expedition, financed by Lars Christensen, was successful. They claimed it for Norway, who annexed it in 1931, the next landing occurred in 1948 and the island has been subject to some scientific research and a limited amount of tourism. The island became subject to the Antarctic Treaty in 1961, since 1987, there has been an automated meteorological station on the island. Three amateur radio DX-peditions have visited the island and there are sporadic landings by tourists, the first sighting of Peter I Island was made on 21 January 1821 by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausens expedition, who commanded the ships Vostok and Mirnyy under the Russian flag. He named the island for Tsar Peter I the Great of Russia, drift ice made it impossible for Bellinghausen to come nearer than 25 kilometers from the island. It was the first land to have been spotted south of the Antarctic Circle, in 1926 and 1927, Norwegian Eyvind Tofte circumnavigated and surveyed the island from Odd I. However, he was prevented from landing. The Norwegian whale-ship owner Lars Christensen financed several expeditions to the Antarctic, in part for research, the first expedition to land on the island was the Christensen-financed second Norvegia expedition, led by Nils Larsen and Ola Olstad. They landed on 2 February 1929 and claimed the island for Norway, Larsen attempted to land again in 1931, but was hindered by pack ice. On 6 March 1931, a Norwegian royal proclamation declared the island under Norwegian sovereignty, the next landing occurred on 10 February 1948 by Larsens ship Brategg. Biological, geological and hydrographic surveys underwent for three days, before the ice forced the expedition to leave. The expedition built a hut and placed a copy of the document of occupation from 1929 inside, on 23 June 1961, Peter I Island became subject to the Antarctic Treaty, after Norways signing of the treaty in 1959. Since then, there have been several landings on the island by various nations for scientific investigations, in 1987, the Norwegian Polar Institute sent five scientists to spend eleven days on the island. The main focuses were aerial photography and topographical measurements to allow an accurate map of the island to be produced, the second important area was marine biological investigations, although also geological, biological and other surveys were conducted
12.
Central bank
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A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages a states currency, money supply, and interest rates. Central banks also usually oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries, Central banks in most developed nations are institutionally designed to be independent from political interference. Still, limited control by the executive and legislative bodies usually exists, prior to the 17th century most money was commodity money, typically gold or silver. However, promises to pay were widely circulated and accepted as value at least five hundred years earlier in both Europe and Asia. The Song dynasty was the first to issue generally circulating paper currency, in 1455, in an effort to control inflation, the succeeding Ming Dynasty ended the use of paper money and closed much of Chinese trade. The Bank of Amsterdam, established in the Dutch Republic in 1609, is considered to be the forerunner to modern central banks. The Wisselbanks innovations helped lay the foundations for the birth and development of the banking system that now plays a vital role in the worlds economy. Along with a number of local banks, it performed many functions of a central banking system. Lucien Gillard calls it the European guilder, and Adam Smith devotes many pages to explaining how the bank guilder works, the model of the Wisselbank as a state bank was adapted throughout Europe, including the Bank of Sweden and the Bank of England. Established by Dutch-Latvian Johan Palmstruch in 1668, Sveriges Riksbank is often considered by many as the worlds oldest central bank, the lenders would give the government cash and also issue notes against the government bonds, which could be lent again. A Royal Charter was granted on 27 July through the passage of the Tonnage Act 1694, the bank was given exclusive possession of the governments balances, and was the only limited-liability corporation allowed to issue banknotes. The £1. 2M was raised in 12 days, half of this was used to rebuild the Navy and these modern central banking functions evolved slowly through the 18th and 19th centuries. The currency crisis of 1797, caused by panicked depositors withdrawing from the Bank led to the government suspending convertibility of notes into specie payment. The bank was accused by the bullionists of causing the exchange rate to fall from over issuing banknotes. Nevertheless, it was clear that the Bank was being treated as an organ of the state, henry Thornton, a merchant banker and monetary theorist has been described as the father of the modern central bank. An opponent of the real bills doctrine, he was a defender of the bullionist position, thorntons process of monetary expansion anticipated the theories of Knut Wicksell regarding the cumulative process which restates the Quantity Theory in a theoretically coherent form. Until the mid-nineteenth century, commercial banks were able to issue their own banknotes, many consider the origins of the central bank to lie with the passage of the Bank Charter Act of 1844. Under this law, authorisation to issue new banknotes was restricted to the Bank of England, at the same time, the Bank of England was restricted to issue new banknotes only if they were 100% backed by gold or up to £14 million in government debt
13.
Norges Bank
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Norges Bank / Noregs Bank is the central bank of Norway. The limited transparency of some SWFs makes it difficult to make assessments of their assets under management. On 31 December 2010, the bank had 590 employees, all Executive Board appointments are made by the King of Norway, after a decision by the Council of State. The Chairman of the Executive Board, Øystein Olsen, who presides over the Bank, is also the acting Central Bank Governor, both the Governor and the Deputy Governor make speaking appearances across the country on a number of occasions each year. The bank then decided that the unit was to be the speciedaler. The Money Act of 17 April 1875 discontinued the terms daler and skilling and this was done to prepare for Norways entry, on 16 October that year, into the Scandinavian Monetary Union. This union had established between Denmark and Sweden in 1873 on the recommendation of a joint commission to establish a common Scandinavian coin based on gold. It meant that the other coins were to be legal tender on the same basis as those struck at home. The union functioned until 1914, thereafter it lacked all practical significance, during the second world war, the seat of Norges Bank was temporarily moved to London in 1940, in that the Norwegian government-in-exile established a new board. The banks gold reserves were evacuated via Åndalsnes, Molde and Tromsø to London and this gold and the banks other currency reserves were under the control of the London board. At the same time, the bank continued its operations in Norway under the direction of the Nazis until the war was over, a commission of inquiry after the war concluded that the Banks Oslo management had taken a firm and correct attitude towards the Nazi authorities. In 1962, the Mint Supervisory Authority and the Royal Mint were transferred from the state to Norges Bank, NBIM is a separate part of Norges Bank and is responsible for the operational management of the Government Pension Fund - Global. NBIM also manages Norges Banks foreign exchange reserves, NBIM invests the funds assets and the foreign exchange reserves in international equities and fixed income instruments, money market instruments and derivatives. Karl Gether Bomhoff Nicolai Rygg Arnold C
14.
Currency
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A currency in the most specific use of the word refers to money in any form when in actual use or circulation as a medium of exchange, especially circulating banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use, under this definition, US dollars, British pounds, Australian dollars, and European euros are examples of currency. These various currencies are recognized stores of value and are traded between nations in exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are defined by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance, other definitions of the term currency are discussed in their respective synonymous articles banknote, coin, and money. The latter definition, pertaining to the systems of nations, is the topic of this article. Currencies can be classified into two systems, fiat money and commodity money, depending on what guarantees the value. Some currencies are legal tender in certain jurisdictions, which means they cannot be refused as payment for debt. Others are simply traded for their economic value, digital currency has arisen with the popularity of computers and the Internet. Currency evolved from two basic innovations, both of which had occurred by 2000 BC, originally money was a form of receipt, representing grain stored in temple granaries in Sumer in ancient Mesopotamia, then Ancient Egypt. In this first stage of currency, metals were used as symbols to represent value stored in the form of commodities and this formed the basis of trade in the Fertile Crescent for over 1500 years. Trade could only reach as far as the credibility of that military and it is not known what was used as a currency for these exchanges, but it is thought that ox-hide shaped ingots of copper, produced in Cyprus, may have functioned as a currency. It is thought that the increase in piracy and raiding associated with the Bronze Age collapse, possibly produced by the Peoples of the Sea, brought the trading system of oxhide ingots to an end. In Africa, many forms of value store have been used, including beads, ingots, ivory, various forms of weapons, livestock, the manilla currency, the manilla rings of West Africa were one of the currencies used from the 15th century onwards to sell slaves. African currency is still notable for its variety, and in many various forms of barter still apply. These factors led to the metal itself being the store of value, first silver, now we have copper coins and other non-precious metals as coins. Metals were mined, weighed, and stamped into coins and this was to assure the individual taking the coin that he was getting a certain known weight of precious metal. Coins could be counterfeited, but they created a new unit of account. Most major economies using coinage had several tiers of coins, using a mix of copper, silver, gold coins were used for large purchases, payment of the military and backing of state activities, they were more often used as measures of account than physical coins
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Dependencies of Norway
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Norway has three dependent territories, all uninhabited and located in the Southern Hemisphere. Bouvetøya is a Subantarctic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, Queen Maud Land is a sector of Antarctica which spans between 20° west and 45° east. Peter I Island is an island located 450 kilometres off the coast of Ellsworth Land of continental Antarctica. Both Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land are south of 60°S and are part of the Antarctic Treaty System. While the treaty states that the claims are not affected by the treaty, the dependencies are administered by the Polar Affairs Department of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security in Oslo, Norways capital. Norwegian criminal law, private law and procedural law applies to the dependencies, Norway also has two unincorporated areas which are part of Norway, not dependencies, Jan Mayen and Svalbard. The dependency status entails that the island is not part of the Kingdom of Norway, specifically, this implies that the island can be ceded without violating the first article of the Constitution of Norway. Norwegian administration of the island is handled by the Polar Affairs Department of the Ministry of Justice, the annexation of the island is regulated by the Dependency Act of 24 March 1933. It establishes that Norwegian criminal law, private law and procedural law applies to the dependencies and it further establishes that all land belongs to the state, and prohibits the storage and detonation of nuclear products. Since 5 May 1995, Norwegian law has required all Norwegian activity in Antarctica, including Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land, all Norwegian citizens who plan activities must therefore report to the Norwegian Polar Institute, who may deny any non-conforming activity. All people visiting the area must follow laws regarding protection of nature, treatment of waste, pollution and insurance for search, bouvetøya has been designated with the ISO 3166-2 code BV and was subsequently awarded the country code top-level domain. bv on 21 August 1997. On 14 December 1911 five Norwegians, under the leadership of Roald Amundsen, were the first to reach the South Pole, bouvet Island was claimed in 1927. Peter I Island was claimed in 1929, Queen Maud Land was formally claimed as a Norwegian possession on 14 January 1938. King Harald V became the first reigning monarch to visit Antarctica and he visited Queen Maud Land in 2015. Bouvetøya is an uninhabited Subantarctic volcanic island located in the end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, either in the South Atlantic Ocean or the Southern Ocean. The island has an area of 49 square kilometres, of which 93 percent is covered by a glacier, the center of the island is an ice-filled crater of an inactive volcano. Some skerries and one island, Larsøya, lie along the coast. Nyrøysa, created by a slide in the late 1950s, is the only easy place to land and is the location of a weather station
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Norwegian rigsdaler
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The rigsdaler was the unit of currency used in Norway until 1816 and in Denmark until 1873. The similarly named Reichsthaler, riksdaler and rijksdaalder were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, Sweden, during the political union between Denmark and Norway, Danish currency circulated alongside Norwegian. In 1816, following the establishment of the union between Sweden and Norway, the rigsdaler specie was renamed the speciedaler and became the unit of currency in Norway. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, coins were issued in denominations of 1,2,4,8 and 24 skilling, 1⁄15, 1⁄5, 1⁄3, 1⁄2, 2⁄3 and 1 rigsdaler specie. In 1695, government notes were issued for 10,20,25,50 and 100 rigsdaler, in 1807, notes were reintroduced by the government, in denominations of 1,5,10 and 100 rigsdaler courant, with 12 skilling notes added in 1810. In 1813, Rigsbankens Norske Avdeling began issuing notes, in denominations of 1,5,50, and 100 Rigsbankdaler. Subsequent series were issued by Norges Midlertidige Rigsbank, Stattholderbevis, and Norges Bank
17.
Scandinavian Monetary Union
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The Scandinavian Monetary Union was a monetary union formed by Denmark and Sweden on 5 May 1873, by fixing their currencies against gold at par to each other. An equal valued krone/krona of the union replaced the three legacy currencies at the rate of 1 krone/krona = 1⁄2 Danish rigsdaler = 1⁄4 Norwegian speciedaler =1 Swedish riksdaler. The monetary union was one of the few results of the Scandinavian political movement of the 19th century. The union provided fixed exchange rates and stability in monetary terms, upon acceding to the union, Sweden had the name of its currency changed from Riksdaler Riksmynt to Swedish krona. The word krone/krona literally means crown, and the differences in spelling of the name represent the differences between the North Germanic languages, the political union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, but this did not affect the basis for co-operation in the monetary union. It was instead the outbreak of World War I in 1914 that brought an end to the monetary union, Sweden abandoned the tie to gold on 2 August 1914, and without a fixed exchange rate the free circulation came to an end. All three countries use the same currencies as during the monetary union, but they lost their peg, one to one. The Icelandic króna is a derivative of the Danish krone, established after Iceland was elevated to a kingdom in union with Denmark in 1918. Iceland cut its ties to Denmark in 1944 and became a republic, the Scandinavian Monetary Union was inspired by the Latin Monetary Union, established in 1865. The Scandinavian currency union 1875–1914. in Jaime Reis, ed. International Monetary Systems in Historical Perspective, the impact of the Scandinavian Monetary Union on financial market integration
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Gold standard
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A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. Three types can be distinguished, specie, bullion, and exchange, the gold bullion standard is a system in which gold coins do not circulate, but the authorities agree to sell gold bullion on demand at a fixed price in exchange for the circulating currency. The gold exchange standard usually does not involve the circulation of gold coins. This creates a de facto standard, where the value of the means of exchange has a fixed external value in terms of gold that is independent of the inherent value of the means of exchange itself. Most nations abandoned the standard as the basis of their monetary systems at some point in the 20th century. An estimated total of 174,100 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history and this is roughly equivalent to 5.6 billion troy ounces or, in terms of volume, about 9,261 cubic metres, or a cube 21 metres on a side. There are varying estimates of the volume of gold mined. One reason for the variance is that gold has been mined for thousands of years, another reason is that some nations are not particularly open about how much gold is being mined. In addition, it is difficult to account for the output in illegal mining activities. World production for 2011 was at 2,700 tonnes, since the 1950s, annual gold output growth has approximately kept pace with world population growth of around 2x, although far less than world economic growth of some 8x, or some 4x since 1980. The gold specie standard arose from the acceptance of gold as currency. Various commodities have been used as money, typically, the one that loses the least value over time becomes the accepted form, the use of gold as money began thousands of years ago in Asia Minor. During the early and high Middle Ages, the Byzantine gold solidus, commonly known as the bezant, was used widely throughout Europe, however, as the Byzantine Empires economic influence declined, so too did the use of the bezant. In its place, European territories chose silver as its currency over gold, Silver pennies based on the Roman denarius became the staple coin of Mercia in Great Britain around the time of King Offa, circa CE 757–796. Similar coins, including Italian denari, French deniers, and Spanish dineros circulated in Europe, Spanish explorers discovered silver deposits in Mexico in 1522 and at Potosí in Bolivia in 1545. International trade came to depend on such as the Spanish dollar, the Maria Theresa thaler, and later. In modern times, the British West Indies was one of the first regions to adopt a gold specie standard, following Queen Annes proclamation of 1704, the British West Indies gold standard was a de facto gold standard based on the Spanish gold doubloon. A formal gold specie standard was first established in 1821, when Britain adopted it following the introduction of the sovereign by the new Royal Mint at Tower Hill in 1816
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Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
20.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
21.
Gold holdings of Norway
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The gold reserves of Norway were the physical reserves of gold of the Kingdom of Norway. In 2004, the gold reserves consisted of approximately 37 tonnes divided on 33.5 tonnes of bars and 3.5 tonnes of coins. In 2004, the Bank of Norway—the central bank issuing the Norwegian crown—excluded the gold from its reserves and sold all bars, except seven. In April 1940, when Norway was invaded by Germany, the reserves included 48.8 or 60 tonnes. During the morning hours of 9 April,818 boxes of 40 kilos each,685 boxes of 25 kilos each, and 39 barrels of 80 kilos each were brought out of Oslo parallel with the capital city being invaded. The gold was transported to the United Kingdom by the British Royal Navy and, in June and July, further to Montreal, later Ottawa, in Canada. Only a small portion, approximately 5,715 troy ounces, was kept in London, from 1940 to 1945, the gold reserves would fund both the exiled King and Government and the resistance movement. The gold that served as Norways forex reserves had been transported abroad before the invasion, the gold that was still in Norway as of 1940 served as gold standard reserves backing the Norwegian crown, and that gold was required by law to be stored within the Realm. After the 1940 transport, only an amount of gold remained in Oslo. In 1987, approximately 10 tonnes of coins were returned home from the Federal Reserve Bank. The gold bars remained in the United States, additionally, coins that were considered having no numismatic or historic value were remelted into bars. In 1988, Oslo Mynthandel, represented by Jan Olav Aamlid, purchased 100,484 coins from the gold reserves, in 2015, the Royal Canadian Mint commemorated the 1940 transport with a special issue of the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf. In the 2015 TV series Okkupert, the reserves are sent by express train to Sweden as Russia invades Norway. Flight of the Norwegian National Treasury Museum of Cultural History, The worlds biggest coin deal Global Gold News, Bank of Norway, Norges Bank har solgt deler av gullreserven, men beholder myntene fra gulltransporten 28 January 2004 Bank of Norway, FAQ - Gull 14 November 2007 GullNorge
22.
German occupation of Norway
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The German occupation of Norway began on 9 April 1940 after German forces invaded the neutral Scandinavian country of Norway. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht. This period of occupation is in Norway referred to as the war years or occupation period. By the late 1930s, the Norwegian parliament had accepted the need for a military and expanded the budget accordingly. As it turned out, most of the plans enabled by the expansion were not completed in time. Although neutrality remained the highest priority until the invasion was a fait accompli, it was throughout the government that Norway, above all. By the autumn of 1939, there was a sense of urgency that Norway had to prepare, not only to protect its neutrality. Efforts to improve military readiness and capability, and to sustain an extended blockade, were intensified between September 1939 and April 1940, several incidents in Norwegian maritime waters, notably the Altmark incident in Jøssingfjord, put great strains on Norways ability to assert its neutrality. In March and April 1940, British plans for an invasion of Norway were prepared, mainly in order to reach and it was hoped that this would divert German forces away from France, and open a war front in south Sweden. It was also agreed that mines would be laid in Norwegian waters, because of Anglo-French arguments, the date of the mining was postponed from 5 April to 8 April. A major storm on 7 April resulted in the British Navy failing to make contact with the German shipping. Consistent with Blitzkrieg warfare, German forces attacked Norway by sea, the first wave of German attackers counted only about 10,000 men. In the other cities that were attacked, the Germans faced only weak or no resistance, the surprise, and the lack of preparedness of Norway for a large-scale invasion of this kind, gave the German forces their initial success. The major Norwegian ports from Oslo northward to Narvik were occupied by advance detachments of German troops, at the same time, a single parachute battalion took the Oslo and Stavanger airfields, and 800 operational aircraft overwhelmed the Norwegian population. The first troops to occupy Oslo entered the city brazenly, marching behind a German military brass band, on establishing footholds in Oslo and Trondheim, the Germans launched a ground offensive against scattered resistance inland in Norway. Allied forces attempted several counterattacks, but all failed, while resistance in Norway had little military success, it had the significant political effect of allowing the Norwegian government, including the royal family, to escape. The Blücher, which carried the main forces to occupy the capital, was sunk in the Oslofjord on the first day of the invasion, an improvised defence at Midtskogen also prevented a German raid from capturing the king and government. The Norwegian Army rallied after the confusion and on several occasions managed to put up a stiff fight
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World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
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Reichsmark
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The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig. The Mark is an ancient Germanic weight measure, traditionally a half pound, from 1871 to 1918 Germany was called the Kaiserreich, or the Deutsches Reich. Although Germany became a republic in 1919, the term Reich remained part of the official name. The Reichsmark was introduced in 1924 as a permanent replacement for the Papiermark and this was necessary due to the 1920s German inflation which had reached its peak in 1923. The exchange rate between the old Papiermark and the Reichsmark was 1 ℛℳ =1012 Papiermark, the Reichsmark was put on the gold standard at the rate previously used by the Goldmark, with the U. S. dollar worth 4.2 ℛℳ. As the market crash of 1929 expanded into the Great Depression and it retained a gold peg at that time. Hyper inflation ensued to the point it was cheaper to burn reichsmark paper notes than to buy fire wood, a number of companies were created with inadequate capital for their operations and authorized to issue bonds exchangeable at a 1,1 rate for Reichsmarks and sold at a discount. The Reichsbank rediscounted the bills of these companies creating a monetary expansion without formally renouncing the link to gold, Deutsche Gesellschaft für öffentliche Arbeiten AG, founded 1 August 1930, ended up issuing 1.26 billion Reichsmarks of Öffa bills to finance public construction. It formed the model for further fraudulent issues of bills. MEFO was a company that was formed with relatively small amounts of capital that was used to finance German rearmament off the books. It issued bills without backing by its own resources but which were guaranteed redeemable at 1,1 for Reichsmarks for five years by the government, the MEFO bills amounts were considered a state secret and were an important element in the impression that Hitlerian economics was a success. This company essentially created an amount of Reichsmarks off the books. With the unification of Germany and Austria in 1938, the Reichsmark replaced the Schilling in Austria. The rates were as follows, After the Second World War, the Reichsmark continued to circulate in Germany, in practice, massive inflation dating back to the latter stages of the war had rendered the Reichsmark nearly worthless. For all intents and purposes, it was supplanted by a barter economy, the Reichsmark was replaced in June 1948 by the Deutsche Mark in the Trizone and later in the same year by the East German Mark in East Germany. Tenenbaum of the US military government, and was executed abruptly on 21 June 1948, three days later, the new currency also replaced the Reichsmark in the three Western sectors of Berlin. In November 1945, the Reichsmark was superseded by the Allied Military Schilling in Austria, in 1947 a local currency was introduced in the Saar. In 1924, coins were introduced in denominations of 1,2,5,10, and 50 Reichspfennig, the 1 and 2 Reichspfennig were struck in bronze, and depicting a wheat sheaf
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Skilling (currency)
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The skilling was the Scandinavian equivalent of the schilling or shilling. It was used as a subdivision of the Swedish riksdaler, the Danish rigsdaler, the Norwegian rigsdaler, from 1625 to 1873, one Danish skilling was equivalent to 1⁄96 of a rigsdaler. The word is used colloquially for an unspecified but presumably low amount of money. During the 19th century, one Swedish skilling was equivalent to 1⁄48 of a riksdaler and it was in usage between 1776-1855. One Norwegian skilling was from 1816 equivalent to 1⁄120 of a speciedaler, before that 1⁄120 of a rigsdaler specie and it was introduced in Norway early 16th century and cancelled 1875
26.
Cupronickel
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Cupronickel is an alloy of copper that contains nickel and strengthening elements, such as iron and manganese. Despite its high content, cupronickel is silver in colour. Cupronickel is highly resistant to corrosion in seawater because its potential is adjusted to be neutral with regard to seawater. Another common use of cupronickel is in silver-coloured modern-circulated coins, a typical mix is 75% copper, 25% nickel, and a trace amount of manganese. In the past, true silver coins were debased with cupronickel, Cupronickel alloys are used for marine applications due to their resistance to seawater corrosion, good fabricability, and their effectiveness in lowering macrofouling levels. Alloys ranging in composition from 90% Cu–10% Ni to 70% Cu–30% Ni are commonly specified in heat exchanger or condenser tubes in a variety of marine applications. Desalination plants, Cupronickel alloys are used in brine heaters, heat rejection and recovery, offshore oil and gas platforms and processing and FPSO vessels, Cupronickel alloys are used in systems and splash zone sheathings. Power generation, Cupronickel alloys are used in steam turbine condensers, oil coolers, auxiliary cooling systems and high pressure pre-heaters at nuclear, seawater system design, Cupronickel alloys are used in tubular heat exchangers and condensers, piping and high pressure systems. Seawater system components, Cupronickel alloys are used in condenser and heat exchanger tubes, tubesheets, piping, fittings, pumps, in Europe, Switzerland pioneered the nickel billon coinage in 1850, with the addition of silver. In 1968, Switzerland adopted the far cheaper 75,25 copper to nickel ratio then being used by the Belgians, the United States, and Germany. From 1947 to 2012, all “silver” coinage in the UK was made from cupronickel, prior to these dates, both denominations had been made only in silver in the United States. Cupronickel is the cladding on either side of United States half-dollars since 1971, currently, some circulating coins, such as the United States Jefferson nickel, the Swiss franc, and the South Korean 500 and 100 won are made of solid cupronickel. Single-core thermocouple cables use a single pair of thermocouple conductors such as iron-constantan. These have the element of constantan or nickel-chromium alloy within a sheath of copper. Cupronickel is used in cryogenic applications, beginning around the turn of the 20th century, bullet jackets were commonly made from this material. It was soon replaced with gilding metal to reduce fouling in the bore. Currently, cupronickel remains the basic material for silver-plated cutlery and it is commonly used for mechanical and electrical equipment, medical equipment, zippers, jewelry items, and as material for strings for string instruments. Fender Musical Instruments used CuNiFe magnets in their Wide Range Humbucker pickup for various Telecaster and Starcaster guitars during the 1970s, for high-quality cylinder locks and locking systems, cylinder cores are made from wear-resistant cupronickel
27.
Harald V of Norway
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Harald V is the King of Norway, having ascended the throne following the death of his father on 17 January 1991. Harald was the child and only son of Olav V of Norway. He was second in the line of succession at the time of his birth, in 1940, as a result of the German occupation during World War II, the royal family went into exile. Harald spent part of his childhood in Sweden and the United States and he returned to Norway in 1945, and subsequently studied for periods at the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Military Academy, and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1957, following the death of his grandfather, Haakon VII, a keen sportsman, he represented Norway in sailing at the 1964,1968, and 1972 Olympic Games, and later became patron of World Sailing. Harald married Sonja Haraldsen in 1968, with their relationship initially being controversial due to her status as a commoner, the couple had two children, Märtha and Haakon. Harald succeeded his father as king in 1991, with Haakon becoming his heir apparent, Prince Harald was born in Skaugum and was baptized in the Royal Chapel in the Royal Palace in Oslo on 31 March 1937 by Bishop Johan Lunde. His parents already had two daughters, Princess Ragnhild and Princess Astrid, in 1940 the entire royal family had to flee Oslo because of the German invasion. It was deemed safer for the family to split up, the King and Crown Prince Olav would remain in Norway and the Crown Princess was to make her way to Sweden with the three children. The latter party reached Sweden on the night of 10 April, according to Princess Astrid and others who were present, they were admitted only after the driver threatened to ram the border gate. Another account does not describe the escape so dramatically, however, when the King and Crown Prince inquired of Swedish foreign minister Christian Günther whether they could sleep one night in Sweden without being interned, they were denied. Harald spent the days in Sälen before moving to Prince Carl Bernadottes home in Frötuna on 16 April. On 26 April the group moved to Drottningholm in Stockholm, King Gustaf V has been accounted to have had an amicable relationship with his Norwegian guests, but the topic of the war in Norway was not to be raised. However, influential Swedish politicians, including Minister of Justice Westman, wanted the Crown Princess and Prince Harald to be sent back to Norway so he could be proclaimed King by the Germans. After the King and Crown Prince had to leave Norway on 7 June they felt Sweden might not be the best place for the rest of the family, and started planning for them to go to the United States. On 17 August the Crown Princess and her left for the United States from Petsamo, Finland. One of the events he remembers from that time is standing behind Franklin D. Roosevelt when he was sworn in for his fourth term on the South Portico of the White House in 1945. Such childhood experiences are reflected in a trace of an American accent when he speaks English, Harald visited Norwegian servicemen training in the United States
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Fowl
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Fowl are birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl and the waterfowl. Studies of anatomical and molecular similarities suggest these two groups are close relatives, together, they form the fowl clade which is scientifically known as Galloanserae. This clade is supported by morphological and DNA sequence data as well as retrotransposon presence/absence data. In colloquial speech, however, the term fowl is often used near-synonymously with poultry, nonetheless, the fact that the Galliformes and Anseriformes most likely form a monophyletic group makes a distinction between fowl and poultry warranted. The historic difference is due to the Germanic/Latin split word pairs characteristic of Middle English, while they are quite diverse ecologically and consequently, in an adaptation to their different lifestyles, also morphologically and ethologically, some features still unite water- and landfowl. Many of these, however, are plesiomorphic for Neornithes as a whole, Galloanserae are very prolific, they regularly produce clutches of more than five or even more than 10 eggs, which is a lot for such sizeable birds. By comparison, birds of prey and pigeons rarely lay more than two eggs, while most living birds are monogamous, at least for a breeding season, many Galloanserae are notoriously polygynous or polygamous. To ornithologists, this is well known in dabbling ducks. The general public is probably most familiar with the habits of domestic chickens. Hybridization is extremely frequent in the Galloanserae, and genera, not usually known to produce hybrids in birds. Guineafowl have successfully produced hybrids with domestic fowl and Indian peafowl and this is an important factor complicating mtDNA sequence-based research on their relationships. The mallards of North America, for example, are mostly derived from some males which arrived from Siberia, settled down. Fossils such as Vegavis indicate that essentially modern waterfowl, albeit belonging to an extinct lineage, were contemporaries of the nonavian dinosaurs. As opposed to the fairly conservative Galliformes, the Anseriformes have adapted to filter-feeding and are characterized by a large number of autapomorphies related to this lifestyle. However, as support for the Galloanserae has emerged in subsequent studies. Benson, D. Presbyornis isoni and other late Paleocene birds from North Dakota, smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 69, 253-266. New nuclear evidence for the oldest divergence among neognath birds, the utility of ZENK. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 30, 140-151 Feduccia, A, the Origin and Evolution of Birds, Second Edition
29.
Order of St. Olav
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The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav is a Norwegian order of chivalry that was instituted by King Oscar I of Norway and Sweden on August 21,1847, as a distinctly Norwegian order. It is named after King Olav II, known to posterity as St. Olav, nobility was abolished in Norway in 1821. Just before the union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905, the Order of the Norwegian Lion was instituted in 1904 by King Oscar II, the Order of St. Olav thus became the kingdoms only order of chivalry for the next 80 years. The Grand Master of the order is the monarch of Norway. It is awarded to individuals as a reward for remarkable accomplishments on behalf of the country, since 1985, the order has only been conferred upon Norwegian citizens, though foreign heads of state and royalty are awarded the order as a matter of courtesy. The Lord Chamberlain nominates the members of the commission, and the monarch approves them, nominations for the award are directed at the commission through the county governor. The order is divided into five classes and may be awarded for civilian or military contributions. The collar is awarded as a distinction of the Grand Cross to those recipients deemed exceptionally worthy. Grand Cross of St. Olav – awarded to heads of state as a courtesy and in cases to individuals for merit, wears the badge on a collar. The insignia are expected to be returned either upon the advancement to a higher level of the order or upon his or her death. Since it was instituted, the order has been awarded approximately 19,500 times, the insignia are produced in Norway by craftsmen. The medal does not confer upon the recipient membership in an order, the badge of the Order is a white enamelled Maltese Cross, in silver for the knight class and in gilt of the higher classes, crowned monograms O appear between the arms of the cross. The cross is topped by a crown, military awards have crossed swords between the crown and the cross, the star of the Order for the Grand Cross is an eight-pointed silver star with faceted rays, bearing the obverse of the badge of the Order. The star for Commander with Star is a silver faceted Maltese Cross, the central disc is red with the golden Norwegian lion rampart bearing a battle axe, surrounded by a white-blue-white ring. The ribbon of the Order is red with white-blue-white edge stripes, the Order of St. Olav is the highest civilian decoration currently awarded by Norway, and only ranks after the military War Cross among all Norwegian decorations still awarded in the general ranking. Bearers of the Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav are ranked 16th and this list contains holders of the Grand Cross, some of whom have also been awarded the Collar and gives the year of their appointment. The list is collated alphabetically by last name, those not possessing a last name, such as royalty. Six of the listed are not heads of states or royals, before the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit was created in 1985, the Order of St Olav was awarded to members of a foreign delegation during state visits
30.
Acanthus (plant)
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Common names include Acanthus and Bears breeches. The generic name derives from the Greek term for the Acanthus mollis, ἄκανθος, akanthos, the genus comprises herbaceous perennial plants, rarely subshrubs, with spiny leaves and flower spikes bearing white or purplish flowers. Size varies from 0.4 to 2 m in height, Acanthus balcanicus Heywood & I. Richardson Acanthus dioscoridis Willd. Acanthus ebracteatus Vahl, This species occurs in South Asia, including Brunei Darussalam, China, South Taiwan, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Indonesia. In Australasia it is found in northeast Australia, northwest Australia, Papua New Guinea, Acanthus eminens C. B. Clarke, native to tropical Africa Acanthus hirsutus Boiss. Acanthus ilicifolius L. native to India and Sri Lanka Acanthus mollis L. native to Mediterranean Europe Acanthus montanus T. Anders, west and Central African species, from Ghana in the west to Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Alternative name for A. polystachyus Acanthus polystachyus Delile, native to Burundi, Rwanda, DRC, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Acanthus spinosus L. Acanthus syriacus Boiss. Several species, especially A. balcanicus, A. spinosus, Acanthus leaves were the aesthetic basis for capitals in the Corinthian order of architecture, see acanthus. Flora Europaea, Acanthus Images of Acanthus Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Acanthus
31.
Stave church
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A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the structure of post and lintel construction. Two related church building also named for their structural elements. Originally much more widespread, most of the stave churches are in Norway. Similar palisade constructions are known from buildings from the Viking Age, logs were split in two halves, set or rammed into the earth and given a roof. This proved a simple but very strong form of construction, if set in gravel, the wall could last many decades, even centuries. An archaeological excavation in Lund uncovered the postholes of several such churches, in post churches, the walls were supported by sills, leaving only the posts earth-bound. Such churches are easy to spot at archaeological sites as they leave very distinct holes where the posts were once placed, occasionally some of the wood remains, making it possible to date the church more accurately using radiocarbon dating and/or with dendrochronology. Under the Urnes stave church, remains have been found of two churches, with Christian graves discovered beneath the oldest church structure. A single church of palisade construction has been discovered under the Hemse stave church, the next design phase resulted from the observation that earthbound posts were susceptible to humidity, causing them to rot away over time. To prevent this, the posts were placed on top of large stones, the stave church in Røldal is believed to be of this type. In still later churches, the posts were set on a raised sill frame resting on stone foundations and this is the stave church in its most mature form. Those with the roof, Type B, are often further divided into two subgroups. The first of these, the Kaupanger group, have a whole row of posts and intermediate posts along the sides. These churches give an impression of a basilica, the other subgroup is the Borgund group. In these churches the post are connected halfway up one or two horizontal double ″pincer beams″ with semicircular indentations, clasping the row of posts from both sides. Cross-braces are inserted between the posts and the upper and lower beams, forming a very rigid interconnection. This design made it possible to omit the lower part of intermediate posts
32.
Viking ships
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Viking ships were marine vessels of unique design, built by the Vikings during the Viking Age. The boat-types were quite varied, depending on what the ship was intended for and they were clinker built, which is the overlapping of planks riveted together. Some might have had a head or other circular object protruding from the bow and stern, for design. Viking ships were not just used for their military prowess but for long-distance trade, in the literature, Viking ships are usually seen divided into two broad categories, merchant ships and warships. These categories are overlapping, some kinds of merchant ships, built for transporting cargo specifically, were regularly deployed as warships. The majority of Viking ships were designed for sailing rivers, fjords and coastal waters, while a few types, such as the knarr, could navigate the open sea and even the ocean. The Viking ships ranged from the Baltic Sea to far from the Scandinavian homelands, to Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Newfoundland, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and Africa. Scandinavia is a region with relatively high mountain ranges, dense forests. Consequently, trade routes were operated via shipping, as inland travel was both more hazardous and cumbersome. The Viking kingdoms developed into cities, all of which were deeply dependent on the North Sea. Control of the waterways was of importance, and consequently advanced war ships were in high demand. But in fact, because of their importance, ships became a mainstay of the Viking pagan religion, as they evolved into symbols of power. Throughout the first millennium, respectable Viking chieftains and noblemen were commonly buried with an intact, furthermore, the Hedeby coins, among the earliest known Danish currency, have ships as emblems, showing the importance of naval vessels in the area. Through such cultural and practical significance, the Viking ship progressed into the most powerful, a faering is an open rowboat with two pairs of oars, commonly found in most boat-building traditions in Western and Northern Scandinavia, dating back to the Viking Age. Knarr is the Norse term for ships that were built for Atlantic voyages and they were cargo ships averaging a length of about 54 feet, a beam of 15 feet, and a hull capable of carrying up to 122 tons. Because of this, the knarr was used for longer voyages, ocean going transports, the design of the knarr later influenced the design of the cog, used in the Baltic Sea by the Hanseatic League. Longships were naval vessels made and used by the Vikings from Scandinavia and Iceland for trade, commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age. The longships design evolved over years, beginning in the Stone Age with the invention of the umiak and continuing up to the 9th century with the Nydam
33.
Syrian pound
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The Syrian pound or Syrian Lira is the currency of Syria and is issued by the Central Bank of Syria. The pound is subdivided into 100 qirsh, although coins in qirsh are no longer issued, before 1947, the word qirsh was spelled with the initial Arabic letter غ, after which the word began with ق. Until 1958, banknotes were issued with Arabic on the obverse, after 1958, English has been used on the reverses, hence the three different names for this currency. Coins used both Arabic and French until Syrian independence, then only Arabic, the standard abbreviation for the Syrian pound is SYP. On 5 December 2005, the rate quoted by the Commercial Bank of Syria was 58.4 SYP to the US dollar. A rate of about 50 pounds to one dollar has been usual in the early 2000s, the maximum amount that is allowed to be taken out with the Syrian traveler is US$3,000 per flight per year. Any amount in excess of US$3,000 is confiscated by the authorities, the Syrian pound is not a hard currency, and there are restrictions on its export. During the period when Syria was a part of the Ottoman Empire—which lasted about 400 years—the Ottoman lira was the currency, the pound was introduced in 1919 and was pegged at a value of 20 French francs. As the political status of Lebanon evolved, the Banque de Syrie, the BSL issued the Lebanese-Syrian currency for 15 years, starting in 1924. Two years before the expiration of the 15-year period, the BSL split the Lebanese-Syrian currency into two separate currencies that could still be used interchangeably in either state, in 1939, the bank was renamed the Banque de Syrie et du Liban. This rate was based on the conversion rate between the franc and sterling. In 1946, following devaluation of the franc, the Syrian pound was pegged once again to the franc at a rate of 1 pound =54.35 francs. In 1947, the U. S. dollar was adopted as the peg for the Syrian currency, with 2.19148 pounds =1 dollar, the Lebanese and Syrian currencies split in 1948. The market was allowed to flourish because everybody, including government and public sector companies, the black market rate diverged dramatically from the official rate in the 1980s. During the Syrian Civil War, Syrian Pound value decreased dramatically, affected by migration to the nearby countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt. In addition to the sanctions imposed by United States and European Union. The official exchange rate of USD against SYP was 46.98 at the beginning of 2011, in 1921, cupro-nickel 1⁄2 qirsh coins were introduced, followed in 1926 by aluminium bronze 2 and 5 qirsh. In 1929, holed, nickel-brass 1 qirsh and silver 10,25 and 50 qirsha were introduced, nickel-brass 1⁄2 qirsh were introduced 1935, followed by zinc 1 qirsh and aluminium-bronze 2½ qirsh in 1940
34.
Slug (coin)
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By resembling various features of a genuine coin, including the weight, size, and shape, a slug is designed to trick the machine into accepting it like a real coin. Though slug usage is a violation of the law, prosecution for slug usage is due to the low value of the theft. Offenders in casinos are most likely to be prosecuted, as casinos have high levels of surveillance and other security measures. Honest customers may also suffer losses when change returned to an honest customer for overpayment is in the form of a rather than a genuine coin. In some cases, a slug can be a coin used in another country. One example was the use of Australian and New Zealand 5c. The Canadian quarter was also accepted by at least some US vending machines interchangeably with the US quarter until at least 2001. The 10 Syrian pound coin is used as a slug in Norway, as the shape. As of February 1,2014, ten Syrian pounds converts to 0.44 Norwegian kroner,20 NOK is over 45.4 times the value of the Syrian coin. In the summer of 2005, a Norwegian man was sentenced to 30 days, suspended, in the UK, during the late 1990s some coin-operated slot machines would accept two Austrian Schillings glued together as if they were a £1.00 coin. It did not take long for industry to reprogram the coin detectors to detect and reject the Austrian Schilling trick. Not long after it was possible to buy on the Internet a bag of 100 washers for under £20 that had been made to fool the machines into thinking they were £1 coins. Again profits could be made, and again the industry reacted, many coin-operated machines in Germany would accept the 1992,1993 and 1995 stampings of the cupronickel Estonian 1 kroon coin as a German 1 mark coin. This was profitable for users of the Estonian coins as the kroon was pegged to the mark at a rate of 8,1. All cupronickel 1 kroon coins were demonetized in May 1998 and the replacement aluminium-bronze Estonian 1 kroon coin was not interchangeable with the German mark in coin-operated machines. Use of 100 won coin for the slug of 100 yen coin, slugs are usually made from metals differing from those of real coins. Slugs may or may not have the details of real coins. Some slugs that are made to match the details may not be immediately recognizable as such to handlers
35.
Posten Norge
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Posten Norge or Norway Post is the name of the Norwegian postal service. The company, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications has a monopoly on distribution of letters weighing less than 50g throughout the country, there are 30 post offices in Norway, in addition to 1400 outlets in retail stores. Posten was founded in 1647 as Postvesenet by general post master Henrik Morian and it was established as a private company, and the King Christian IV gave his blessing to the founding of the company. Postvesenet was privately run until 1719, when the took over. From that point on, national service was a state monopoly. Local city postal services remained private, but in 1888 a new law was introduced which expanded the monopoly to the entire country. In 1933, Postvesenet was renamed Postverket, in 1996, Posten Norge BA was established as a state-owned company in which the Norwegian state had limited liability. In 2002 Posten changed its structure to that of a stock company. Posten Norge AS is still owned by the Norwegian state. The postal service is divided into four divisions, Post, Logistics, Distribution Network, the latter specialized in electronic services and outsourcing. ErgoGroup merged with EDB to form Evry ASA, which Posten now jointly owns with the Norwegian multinational telecommunications company Telenor ASA, in 2002 Norway Post acquired 57% of the shares of a private Swedish postal company, CityMail and acquired the remaining 43% in the first quarter of 2006. Norway Post also owns, or partly owns Nor-Cargo as well as Frigoscandia, Pan Nordic Logistics, Scanex B. V. Nettlast Hadeland, many of which have their own subsidiaries. Posten, the Swedish postal service List of oldest companies English version of the site of Norway Post The four divisions Norway Post Logistics subsidiaries
36.
Gokstad ship
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The Gokstad ship is a 9th-century Viking ship found in a burial mound at Gokstad in Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway. It is currently on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, in 1880, sons of the owner of Gokstad farm, having heard of the legends surrounding the site, uncovered the bow of a boat while digging in the still frozen ground. As word of the find got out, Nicolay Nicolaysen, then President of the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments, having ascertained that the find was indeed that of an ancient artifact, he liaised for the digging to be stopped. Nicolaysen later returned and established that the mound still measured 50 metres by 43 metres, with his team, he began excavating the mound from the side rather than from the top down, and on the second day of digging found the bow of the ship. The Gokstad ship is clinker-built and constructed largely of oak, the ship was intended for warfare, trade, transportation of people and cargo. The ship is 23.80 metres long and 5.10 m wide and it is the largest in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. The ship was steered by a quarter rudder fastened to a block of wood attached to the outside of the hull. The block is known as the wart, and is fastened by osiers, there are 16 tapered planks per side. The garboard planks are near vertical where they attach to the keel, the garboard planks are narrow and remain only slightly wider to take the turn of the bilge. The topside planks are progressively wider, each oak plank is slightly tapered in cross section to allow it to overlap about 30mm the plank above and below in normal clinker style. Iron rivets are about 180 mm apart where the planks lie straight, at the bow, all of the planks taper to butt the stem. The stem is carved from a curved oak log to form the cutwater and has one land for each plank. The inside of the stem is hollowed into a v shape so the inside of the rivets can be reached during construction or repair, each of the crossbeams has a ledge cut about 25 mm wide and deep to take a removable section of decking. Sea chests were placed on top of the decking to use when rowing, most likely on longer voyages sea chests were secured below decks to act as ballast when sailing. The centre section of the keel has little rocker and together with flat midships transverse section the hull shape is suited to medium to flat water sailing. When sailing downwind in strong winds and waves, directional control would be poor, in such conditions the ship would take water aboard at an alarming rate if sailed at high speed. The ship was built to carry 32 oarsmen, and the oar holes could be hatched down when the ship was under sail and it utilized a square sail of approximately 110 square metres, which, it is estimated, could propel the ship to over 12 knots. The mast could be raised and lowered, while the ship was traveling in shallow water, the rudder could be raised very quickly by undoing the fastening
37.
Orion (constellation)
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Orion is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous and recognizable constellations in the night sky and it was named after Orion, a hunter in Greek mythology. Its brightest stars are Rigel and Betelgeuse, a blue-white and a red supergiant, the earliest depiction that has been linked to the constellation of Orion is a prehistoric mammoth ivory carving found in a cave in the Ach valley in West Germany in 1979. Archaeologists have estimated it to have been fashioned approximately 32,000 to 38,000 years ago, the distinctive pattern of Orion has been recognized in numerous cultures around the world, and many myths have been associated with it. It has also used as a symbol in the modern world. The Babylonian star catalogues of the Late Bronze Age name Orion MULSIPA. ZI. AN. NA, the Babylonian constellation was sacred to Papshukal and Ninshubur, both minor gods fulfilling the role of messenger to the gods. In ancient Egypt, the stars of Orion were regarded as a god, because Orion rises before Sirius, the star whose heliacal rising was the basis for the Solar Egyptian calendar, Sah was closely linked with Sopdet, the goddess who personified Sirius. The god Sopdu was said to be the son of Sah, Sah was syncretized with Osiris, while Sopdet was syncretized with Osiris mythological wife, Isis. In the Pyramid Texts, from the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, the Armenians identified their legendary patriarch and founder Hayk with Orion. Hayk is also the name of the Orion constellation in the Armenian translation of the Bible, the Bible mentions Orion three times, naming it Kesil. e. Job 9,9, Job 38,31, and Amos 5,8, in ancient Aram, the constellation was known as Nephîlā′, the Nephilim may have been Orions descendants. One myth recounts Gaias rage at Orion, who dared to say that he would kill every animal on the planet, the angry goddess tried to dispatch Orion with a scorpion. This is given as the reason that the constellations of Scorpius, however, Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, revived Orion with an antidote. This is said to be the reason that the constellation of Ophiuchus stands midway between the Scorpion and the Hunter in the sky. The constellation is mentioned in Horaces Odes, Homers Odyssey and Iliad, and Virgils Aeneid In medieval Muslim astronomy, Orion was known as al-jabbar, Orions sixth brightest star, Saiph, is named from the Arabic, saif al-jabbar, meaning sword of the giant. In China, Orion was one of the 28 lunar mansions Sieu （宿） and it is known as Shen （參）, literally meaning three, for the stars of Orions Belt. The Rig Veda refers to the Orion Constellation as Mriga, the Mriga means Deer, locally known as Harnu in folk parlance. There are many folk songs narrating the Harnu, the Malay called Orion Belt Bintang Tiga Beradik
38.
Kristian Birkeland
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Kristian Olaf Bernhard Birkeland was a Norwegian scientist. He is best remembered as the person whose theories of electric currents elucidated the nature of the aurora borealis. In order to fund his research on the aurorae, he invented the electromagnetic cannon, Birkeland was nominated for the Nobel Prize seven times. Birkeland was born in Christiania to Reinart Birkeland and Ingeborg and wrote his first scientific paper at the age of 18, Birkeland married Ida Charlotte Hammer in May 1905. They had no children and, due to Birkelands preoccupation with his work, a post-mortem revealed that Birkeland had taken 10 g of veronal the night he died, instead of the 0.5 g recommended. The time of death was estimated at 7am on 15 June 1917, some authors have claimed that he committed suicide. On the nightstand lay a revolver, Birkeland organized several expeditions to Norways high-latitude regions where he established a network of observatories under the auroral regions to collect magnetic field data. The discovery of X-rays inspired Birkeland to develop vacuum chambers to study the influence of magnets on cathode rays and this is essentially the theory of the aurora today. Such field-aligned currents are known today as Birkeland currents in his honour, the book on the 1902–1903 expedition contains chapters on magnetic storms on the Earth and their relationship to the Sun, the origin of the Sun itself, Halleys comet, and the rings of Saturn. Birkelands theory of the continued to be dismissed by mainstream astrophysicists after his death in 1917. It was notably championed by the Swedish plasma scientist Hannes Alfvén, proof of Birkelands theory of the aurora only came in 1967 after a probe was sent into space. The crucial results were obtained from U. S. Navy satellite 1963-38C, launched in 1963, magnetic disturbances were observed on nearly every pass over the high-latitude regions of the Earth. These were originally interpreted as waves, but on later analysis it was realized that they were due to field-aligned or Birkeland currents. The scale of Birkelands research enterprises was such that funding became an overwhelming obstacle, recognizing that technological invention could bring wealth, he developed an electromagnetic cannon and, with some investors, formed a firearms company. The coil-gun worked, except the high muzzle velocities he predicted were not produced, the most he could get from his largest machine was 100 m/s, corresponding to a disappointing projectile range of only 1 km. So he renamed the device an aerial torpedo and arranged a demonstration with the aim of selling the company. At the demonstration, one of the coils shorted and produced a sensational inductive arc complete with noise, flame and this was the first failure of any of the launchers that Birkeland had built. It could easily have been repaired and another demonstration organized, however, fate intervened in the form of an engineer named Sam Eyde
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