Norway otherwise known as “Northern Way” is made up of 4,419,955 people and has an 0.44% rate of growth. The birth rate is 12. 9 births to every 1000 people. But just the same the death rate is 10. 17 Deaths to every 1000 people. Net immigration rate is 1. 64 migrants to every 1000 people. With that Norway occupies the western half of the Scandinavian Peninsula of Northern Europe. Norway has only land borders to the east , with Sweden , Finland , and the Soviet Union. The official language is Norwegian but with imigration there are many other languages spoken as in the US. Total land ocupancy of Norway is 324,220 sq km with 307,860 sq km being land.
Norways climate is temperate along the coast and cooler in the interior regions. The terrain is glaciated , mostly high plateaus and rugged mountain broken by fertile valleys , small , scattered plains and coastlines deeply indented by fjords. The highest point of Norway at 2472 m is Glittertind and the lowest at0 m is the Norwegian Sea. About two-thirds of Norway are mountainous and about 50000 small islands lying around its coast. Norway has always depended on its relations with foreign countries.
Glaciation and many other forces in time have worn down the surface to create thick sandstone, conglomerate, and limestone deposits known as sparagmite, as well as other numerous extensive areas called peneplains whose relief has been largely eroded. Remains of the latter include the Hardanger Plateau, which is the largest mountain plateau covering 4600 square miles of southern Norway. The climate of Norway is an interesting one, it shares almost the same latitudes as Alaska but its climate is moderately warmer. Norway owes its much gentler weather to the gulf- stream.
The Gulf Stream brings 40000 to 50000 tons of water per second into its seas, which surround Norway and contribute greatly to its climate. Even in the more arctic regions the Gulf Stream keeps the frigid waters from freezing. On the west- coast there is a separate climate which is unique from any other part of Norway. The separate climate is a very rainy one. All year round it is either raining or very moist. Norway mines only a few ores in quantity. Mainly they mine pyrites (yielding copper and sulfur) and iron ore and smaller amounts of lead and copper and zinc are mined as well.
Probably one of its most important natural resource is its rivers. The rivers play such a vital role in producing electricity. The rivers have a host of different hydro plants on them. These hydro plants supply most of Norways electricity. Roughly one fourth of Norways imports are food and consumer goods. The rest consist of raw materials, fuels, and capital goods. The rate of reinvestment has been very high in Norway for a number of years. This is illustrated by the fast rising of building and construction industries. Even faster growth had been registered in the commercial and service occupations.
Total tax revenues are equivalent to about half the gross national product, most of this represents transfers of income and that it is returned to the private sector in the form of price subsidies, social insurance benefits and the like of. All this has played parts in the economic problem of inflation, but increases in productivity have made it possible for a high rate of growth in real income. The strongly centralized trade unions and employer associations respect one another as well as government guidelines, and this helps to control the rapidly expanding economy.
Foreign trades, the form of commodities exported chiefly to western Europe or of shipping services throughout the world, accounts for nearly 50% of Norways national income. Located on the outskirts of Europe and with much of its inland pop almost isolated until the 20th century Norway has been able to preserve much of its old folk culture. Seafarers and traders on the other hand have always received fresh cultural Stimuli from abroad. Norwegians have made contributions in return, notably the playwright Henrik Ibsen and composer Edward Grieg.
There are roughly 5000 public or school libraries in Norway, which annually lend 24,000,000 books. Arts and crafts and industrial designs flourish side by side often inspired by the archeological finds from the Viking Age, by the culture of the Northern Lapps and by the advanced schools of design. Norway has markedly increased its exports of furniture, enamelware, textiles, tableware, and jewelry, much of which incorporates design motifs reflecting these cultural heritages as well as avant-grade styles. There are about 165 newspapers published in Norway and about half of them are published daily.
A monarch (king) rules Norway. His name is King HARALD V and he has been there since January 17,1991. The crown prince is named HAAKON MAGNUS and he was born July 20 1973. The head of government is the Prime Minister and his name is Kjell Magne Bondevik and he has been there since Oct. 15 1997. There are no elections in Norway. The king is a hereditary monarch. Following preliminary elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed Prime Minister by the king with the approval of the parliament.
The legislation branch is modified unicameral parliament or shorting which, for certain purposes, divides itself into two chambers which consist of 165 seats and members are elected by popular vote by proportional representation to serve 4 year terms. For certain purposes the parliament divides itself into two chambers and elects one fourth of its membership to an upper house or lagting. The 39 member Saami assembly has advisory functions on regional control of natural resources and decision-making capacity on matters relating to the preservation of the Saami culture.
About 90% of Norwegians belong to the Evangelical lutheran National Church, which is endowed by the government. The largest groups outside this establishment are pentecostalist, Lutheran free church members , Roman Catholics, Methodist, Jehovahs witnesses and Baptists. As a result of Asian imagration there are also groups of Muslims and Buddhists. Earliest trace of human occupation are found along the coast, where the huge ice shelf of the last ice age melted first,between 11,000 and 800 bc.
The earliet finds are stone tools created by Komsa type. Between 3000 and 2500 bc, new migrants settled in eastern Norway. They were farmers who grew barely and grazed cows and sheep. Vikings were a Norweigian way. They built ships and sailed while invading other countries such as Ireland, Scotland, England, France, the Shetlands, Orkneys, and Herbiides, the isles of man and the unpopulated Faeroe islands and Iceland. Following the rule of Magnus IIIs sons was the increasing power of church and monarch contributed to the century of civil war.
The cival war continued until 1217 when Sverrirs grandson Haakon IV became King beginning the Golden age of Norway. He modernized the administration by creating a chancellors office and the royal council. Norway in WW II declared neutrility like its neighbors Denmark and Sweden. Norway was badly hurt at sea losing about half their merchant ships. Allied powers would not allow Norway to export iron pyrates to Germany which was very important to German war industries. Norway again declared neutrality in WW II.
On April 9, 1940 German troops invaded Norway taking over its capital Oslo. Probably in a desperate attempt to help them in aiding their war industries. The German troops withdrew there troops several weeks after. At the end of the war the German troops in Norway capilulated without offering resistance. On their retreat from Finland in the winter of 1944-45, however the Germans burned and ravaged Finmark and Northern Troms. The Soviet troops who liberated eastern Finmark in November 1944 withdrew in the summer of 45.
