NORWAY

Capital(and largest city)

Oslo59°56′N 10°41′E

Official languages Norwegian

(Bokmål and Nynorsk)

Government   Constitutional monarchy

King   Harald V

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg

Constitution 17 May 1814 

Independence 26 October 1905

Area  385,155 km² (61st)

Water (%) 7.03%

Population   5.ooo.ooo

Density 12/km²

•The Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country on the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula

• Located in Europe, and bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia.

• The country's extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean is home to its famous fjords.•The Kingdom of Norway also includes the Arctic (island territories of Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean and a claim for Peter I Island in the South Pacific Ocean are also external dependencies, but these are not part of the Kingdom.

• Norway also claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica where it has established the Troll permanent research station

NORWEGIAN LANDSCAPES

the biggest CITIES IN NORWAY

OSLO BERGEN

STAVENGER BAERUM

Oslo (called Christiania 1624-1878, Kristiania 1878-1924) is the capital and largest city of Norway. The population of the city proper is 544,073

The city area extends into the surrounding county of Akershus, with a total population of 825,105 in the conurbation The city has a current annual growth exceeding 15,000. In the entire Oslo Fjord Region there is a total population of about 1.7 million.

About 22 % of the population of Oslo is comprised of immigrants. The urban municipality (bykommune) of Oslo and county (fylke) is the same entity. Of Oslo's total area, 115 km² is built-up and 7 km² is agricultural. The open areas within the built-up zone amount to 22 km².

H i s t o r y

Archaeological finds indicate that there were people in Norway as early as about 12,000 years ago. The Viking age (8th to 11th centuries) was one of unification and expansion. The Norwegians established settlements on Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and parts of Britain and Ireland. After Denmark-Norway was attacked by Britain, it entered into an alliance with Napoleon.

World Norway was a neutral country during War I. Norway also attempted to claim neutrality during World War II, but was invaded by German forces on April 9, 1940 (Operation Weserübung).

Norway joined NATO in 1949. Two plebiscites to join the European Union failed by narrow margins. Large reserves of oil and gas were discovered in the 1960s, which lead to a continuing boom in the economy.

FAMOUS NORWEGIAN PEOPLE

Margrit sandemo(famouse writer)

Anders jacobsen(famouse ski jumper)

ERIC THERED

(FAMOUSE VIKING)

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS

Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called fylker and 431 kommuner .Fylke and kommune are officially translated to English as county and municipality. For a few years there's been an ongoing debate whether the 19 fylker should be replaced with 5 - 9 larger regions. Some expect this to happen by 2010, whereas other expect the intermediate administration to disappear entirely.

L A N G U A G EThe Norwegian language has two official written forms, Bokmål and Nynorsk. They have officially equal status, i.e. they are both used in public administration, but Bokmål is used by the majority. Around 95% of the population speak Norwegian as their native tongue, nevertheless, all of the Norwegian dialects are inter-intelligible. In Norwegian public schools, the most studied foreign language is English and is required for middle and high school-level students. Other language instruction courses offered in public schools and universities are Danish, Swedish, French, German and Russian..

Norway is a country that attracts tourists. It is famous for its fjord-indented coastline and its mountains, ski resorts, lakes and woods. Famous cities in Norway include the capital Oslo, On the west coast there are the cities of Bergen and Stavanger, each of them set alongside a fjord. Preikestolen is located in Lysefjorden right outside Stavanger. It is a cliff hanging 604 metres directly above the water. In the south you find the city of Kristiansand which is the fith largest in Norway. Trondheim, Norway's first capital, is home to the largest medieval cathedral in Scandinavia, Nidaros Cathedral.

tourism

Though approximately 86% of Norwegians are members of the state Church of Norway. Other Christian denominations total about 4.5% (the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church, the Roman Catholic Church.Among non-Christian religions, Islam is the largest with around 1.5% represented in the Arab, Kosovar, Pakistani, Somalian and Turkish communities, and other religions comprise less than 1% each, (including Judaism). Indian immigrants introduced Hinduism in Norway, but are only 0.50% of the population. Originally, Norway's ancestral inhabitants ( the Vikings) like all Scandinavian peoples practiced pre-Christian pantheist religions.

religion

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Edgar PrusaczykIES Thalassa Secondary SchoolSpain