Archaeological findings indicate that Norway was inhabited since early in the 6th millennium BC. Most historians agree that the populations colonizing Scandinavia came from present-day Germany. In the first centuries AD, Norway consisted of a number of petty kingdoms. According to tradition, Harald Fairhair (Harald Hårfagre) unified them into one, in 872 after the Battle of Hafrsfjord near Stavanger, becoming the first king of a united Norway.
The Viking age, 8-11th centuries AD, was characterized by expansion and thanks to the Vikings’ skill in shipbuilding they roamed far and wide in their amazing longships. Many Norwegians left the country to live in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and parts of Britain and Ireland. The modern-day Irish cities of Limerick, Dublin, and Waterford were founded by Norwegian settlers.
Norse traditions were slowly replaced by Christianity in the 10th and 11th centuries. Introduced by the missionary kings Olav Tryggvasson and St. Olav.
Haakon the Good was Norway’s first Christian king, in the mid tenth century, though his attempt to introduce the religion was rejected.
There followed various forms of unions with Denmark and Sweden, until in 1814 when Norwegians again asserted their independence. During the national romanticism of the 19th century – the long period of the unions was referred to as the “400-year night” when all royal, intellectual and administrative power was centered in Copenhagen, Denmark
With the introduction of Protestantism in 1536, the archbishopric in Trondheim was dissolved, and the church’s incomes were distributed to the court in Copenhagen.
Norway lost the steady stream of pilgrims to the relics of St. Olav at the Nidaros shrine, and with them, much of the contact with cultural and economic life in the rest of Europe.
Norway saw its land area decrease in the 17th century with the loss of the provinces Båhuslen, Jemtland, and Herjedalen to Sweden, as a result of wars between Denmark–Norway and Sweden.
After Denmark-Norway was attacked by Great Britain, it entered into an alliance with Napoleon. The war led to dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812. Later Norway took the opportunity to declare independence, adopted a constitution based on American and French models. The Danish crown prince Christian Fredrik was elected king on the 17th of May 1814. This caused a war that was relatively short lived because of the stronger military of Sweden and the fact that Norway’s treasury was insufficient to support a protracted war. A union with Sweden followed lasting until 1905.
During this time Norwegian romantic nationalism developed seeking to define and express a distinct national character. All branches of culture were involved in this movement, including literature, painting, music and even language policy. Some of the well known personalities from this period are Henrik Wergeland, Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Jorgen Moe and Henrik Ibsen (literature), Hans Gude, Edvard Munch, Adolph Tidemand and H. C. Dahl (painters), Edvard Grieg (music), to name a few.
Today Norway is considered one of the most peaceful countries in the world with an enviable standard of living. It is a popular tourist destination due to a comfortable climate, spectacular scenery, mountains and fjords. Norway is also one of the few countries on the planet with an annual budget surplus.
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