Norway

According to archaeological research, Norway was inhabited as early as 14,000 years ago by a hunting people with a Paleolithic culture derived from that of western and central Europe. Later, colonies of farming people from Denmark and Sweden were established in the region. These settlers spoke a Germanic language that became the mother tongue of the later Scandinavian languages. These new arrivals made their homes on the shores of the large lakes and along the jagged coast. Mountains and fjords formed natural boundaries around most of the settled areas. In time social life in the separate settlements came to be dominated by an aristocracy and, eventually, by petty kings. By the time of the first historical records of Scandinavia, about the 8th century AD, some 29 small kingdoms existed in Norway. The Viking Period Inevitably, the kings turned their attention to the sea, the easiest way of communication with the outside world. About AD 800, ships of war were built and sent on raiding expeditions, initiating the era of the Vikings. The northern sea rovers were traders, colonizers, and explorers as well as plunderers. Around AD 875 they established settlements in Ireland, Britain, and Iceland and in the Orkney, Faroe, and Shetland islands. A century later, in about AD 985, Eric the Red led Viakings to Greenland from Iceland; a few years later, his son, Leif Ericson, was one of the first Europeans to explore North America. Bands of the northern Vikings penetrated Russia, where their influence on the Russian state is still the subject of scholarly debate and research. Others settled in France, where they became the ancestors of the Normans of Normandy. In the 9th century the first successful attempt to form a united Norwegian kingdom was made by King Harold I, called Fairhair, of Vestfold (southeast Norway). Succeeding to the throne of Vestfold as a child, Harold managed to establish his supremacy over all Norway shortly before 900, but at his death in about 940 his sons divided Norway, with Eric Bloodaxe as overking. Dissensions and wars among the heirs disrupted the temporary unity, and many of the petty rulers refused to surrender their independence. In addition to the domestic struggles, Danish and Swedish kings were attempting to acquire Norwegian territory. Christianity Introduced  In 995 Olaf I, a great-grandson of Harold I, became king. Before his accession Olaf had lived in England, where he had been converted to Christianity. He took the throne with the firm purpose of forcing Christianity on Norway and was partially successful. Five years after his accession he quarreled with King Sweyn I of Denmark and was killed in battle. Norway was divided for a short time but the country was reunited by Olaf II, who made himself king of Norway in 1015. He continued the religious work of his predecessor, using the sword against all who refused to be baptized. By about 1025 Olaf was more powerful than any previous Norwegian king had been. He aroused the enmity of the powerful nobles, who, together with Canute II (the Great), king of England and Denmark, in 1028 drove Olaf into exile in Russia. Two years later Olaf returned and was killed in battle. Subsequently he was canonized as Norway's patron saint. Native Kings On the death of Canute in 1035, Olaf's son, Magnus I, was called from Russia by partisans of his father. He became king and then united Denmark and Norway under his rule. For the next three centuries a succession of native kings ruled Norway. Although internal confusion and wars between rival claimants to the throne disrupted the country intermittently, Norway began to emerge as a united nation, enjoying a comparative prosperity brought by its great trading fleets. The Norwegians had become strongly Christian, and a powerful clergy was one of the strongest influences in the kingdom. In 1046 Magnus made his uncle Harold Hårdråde coruler. At the death of Magnus one year later, Harold became king as Harold III; he was killed while participating in the invasion of England in 1066. The last king of the line of Harold III was Sigurd I, whose rule lasted from 1103 until his death. Dynastic conflict followed the death of Sigurd. Of the many later kings, the most notable was Sverre, king from 1184 to 1202. A statesman of great ability, Sverre built a strong monarchy and considerably weakened the power of the clergy and the great nobles. During the reign of Håkon IV from 1217 to 1263, Norway reached the apex of its medieval prosperity and political and cultural power. Iceland was added to the kingdom in 1262, and royal authority was greatly increased by Håkon and his son, Magnus VI; the landed aristocracy was virtually crushed by Håkon V, who reigned from 1270 to 1319. After that the old noble families gradually declined, and for the most part the Norwegian people became a nation of peasants. Commercial activity was usurped by the increasingly powerful federation of European cities known as the Hanseatic League. The death of Håkon V in 1319, without male heirs, gave the throne to King Magnus II of Sweden, the three-year-old son of Håkon's daughter. In 1343 Magnus was succeeded by his son, Håkon VI, and in 1380 the latter's son, Olaf II, king of Denmark, became king of Norway as Olaf IV. The young king exercised only nominal rule, the power being in the hands of his mother, Margaret I. When he died, he was succeeded by his mother as ruler of Norway and Denmark and, in 1389, of Sweden also. To obtain German support against the dukes of Mecklenburg, who claimed the Swedish throne, Margaret had her grandnephew, Eric of Pomerania, elected king. Union with Denmark and Sweden By the Union of Kalmar in 1397, the three kingdoms were made a single administrative unit. Norway became a province of Denmark. Norwegian prosperity and culture declined steadily after the union. Moreover, the plague, called the Black Death, had swept Norway in the 14th century, greatly reducing the population. Sweden and Denmark were larger and wealthier than Norway, which the Scandinavian kings, for the most part, neglected. During the subsequent four centuries Norway remained stagnant under the arbitrary rule of Danish officials.  The Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815) finally occasioned the end of the union. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, Denmark, an ally of France, was compelled to sign the Treaty of Kiel, ceding Norway to the king of Sweden. The Norwegians, however, disavowed the treaty. They declared themselves an independent kingdom, drew up a liberal constitution, and offered the Crown to the Danish crown prince Christian Frederick (later Christian VIII). The Norwegian move was disapproved by the European powers, and, at the head of an army, Marshal Jean Bernadotte, later King Charles XIV John, persuaded Norway to accept the Treaty of Kiel. In return for this acceptance, Norway was allowed to retain the newly promulgated constitution. By the Act of Union of 1815, Norway was given its own army, navy, customs, and legislature and permitted full liberty and autonomy within its own boundaries. Second Union with Sweden After 1814, the Norwegian Storting, or legislature, was chiefly occupied with stabilizing and improving the financial condition of Norway and in implementing and guarding its newly won self-government. Despite the bitter opposition of Charles XIV John, an autocratic monarch, the Norwegian legislature passed a law in 1821 abolishing the Danish-created peerage. The Storting held that the true Norwegian nobles were the peasant descendants of the medieval barons. Norwegian nationalism increased, and the Storting complained that Swedish treatment of Norway was not consistent with the spirit of the Act of Union and with the status of Norway as a coequal state. At length, in 1839, Charles XIV John appointed a joint committee of Swedes and Norwegians to revise the wording of the Act of Union. King Charles died in 1844, before the committee submitted its report; his son, Oscar I, admitted the justice of many Norwegian claims and made himself popular by granting Norway a national flag for its navy, although the flag bore the symbol of union with Sweden. Ascendant Nationalism The liberal movement in Norwegian politics, accompanying the surge of nationalism, became more pronounced after the revolutions of 1848 in the major countries of Europe. Political nationalism was bolstered by intellectual and cultural nationalism. Norwegian folktales and folk songs were collected and arranged and became extremely popular. Norwegian dictionaries, histories, and grammars were compiled. The literary renaissance included such writers as Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland. When, in 1860, Sweden began to propose revisions in the Act of Union designed to give the ruling country additional powers, the two greatest Norwegian political parties, the Lawyers Party and the Peasant Party, combined to form the liberal Venstre ("Left") Party and blocked the revisions. Another significant controversy between the two countries was occasioned by renewed Swedish attempts at constitutional revision, including establishment of the royal right to dissolve the Storting. Led by Johan Sverdrup, president of the Storting, the Norwegian legislature engaged in a long struggle with King Oscar II. Oscar was forced to yield in 1884. Norwegian policy then centered on demands for a separate consular service and a Norwegian flag for the merchant marine without the symbol of union. The flag was approved by Sweden in 1898, but Sweden balked at the demand for a consular service. In 1905, after protracted negotiations, the Norwegian ministry then in office resigned and subsequently refused Oscar's request that they withdraw their resignations. As a result the Storting declared that Oscar was no longer ruler of Norway and proclaimed the country an independent kingdom. In a plebiscite in August 1905 the Norwegian people voted overwhelmingly for separation from Sweden. The Swedish Riksdag ratified the separation in October. A month later Prince Carl of Denmark accepted the Norwegian crown as Håkon VII. Independence The Norwegian government, dominated by ministers with liberal politics, became one of the most advanced in Europe in matters such as unemployment insurance benefits, old-age pensions, and liberal laws concerning divorce and illegitimacy. In 1913 Norwegian women achieved the right to vote in all national elections, and Norway has promoted equality in the workplace with progressive social policies. Women play a prominent role in the country's politics. After the beginning of World War I in 1914 the sovereigns of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark agreed to maintain the neutrality of the Scandinavian countries and to cooperate for their mutual interest. The policy of neutrality and friendship thus established continued to be the joint policy of all three nations after the war ended. The world economic depression that began in 1929 affected Norway considerably because of the country's dependence on commerce. The Labor Party was elected to power in 1935 and continued the policies of moderation and political liberalism that had dominated Norwegian politics since 1905. Norway maintained its traditional neutrality when World War II began in 1939. Despite sympathy for Finland during the Russo-Finnish phase of the conflict, Norway rejected an Anglo-French demand for transit of troops to aid Finland. German maritime warfare along the Norwegian coast, however, made neutrality increasingly difficult. On April 8, 1940, Great Britain and France announced that they had mined Norwegian territorial waters to prevent their use by German supply ships. The next day German forces invaded Norway.  Assisted by the Nasjonal Samling (National Union) Party and disloyal Norwegian army officers, the Germans attacked all important ports. Vidkun Quisling, head of the Nasjonal Samling, proclaimed himself head of the Norwegian government. King Håkon and his cabinet, after an unsuccessful attempt at resistance, withdrew to Great Britain in June. For five years thereafter, London was the seat of the Norwegian government-in-exile. Political leaders in Norway refused to cooperate in any way with Josef Terboven, the German commissioner. In September Terboven dissolved all political parties except the Nasjonal Samling, set up a so-called National Council composed of the party members and other German sympathizers, and announced the abolition of the monarchy and the Storting. These and other still more repressive measures of the Germans and their puppet government, headed by Quisling, were met with mass resistance by the Norwegian people. Quisling proclaimed martial law in September 1941 because of large-scale sabotage and espionage on behalf of the Allies. The leaders of the Resistance in Norway cooperated closely with the government-in-exile in London, preparing for eventual liberation. The German forces in Norway finally surrendered on May 8, 1945, and King Håkon returned to Norway in June. To punish traitors, the death penalty, abolished in 1876, was restored. Quisling, along with some 25 other Norwegians, was tried and executed for treason. Labor Governments The government-in-exile resigned after temporary order was established. In the general elections of October 1945, the Labor Party won a majority of votes, and a Labor cabinet was headed by Einar Gerhardsen. The party remained in power for the next 20 years. Under its stewardship, Norway developed into a social democracy and welfare state, became a charter member of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, participated in the European Recovery Program in 1947, and joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. The NATO membership, by which the country abandoned its traditional neutrality, was tacitly approved by the Norwegian people in the elections of October 1949. The Norwegian economy came out of the war badly damaged, both by German exploitation and by domestic sabotage; retreating German troops burned many northern towns. Reconstruction, however, began at once, directed by the Labor government, which soon took over the planning of the entire economy, reinforcing the country's position in international markets and redistributing the national wealth along more egalitarian lines. Within three years, Norwegian gross national product had reached its prewar level. This development was accompanied by new social legislation that greatly increased the welfare of the citizens. In 1959 Norway became one of the founding members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Political Shifts The parliamentary elections held in September 1961 resulted in the failure of the Labor Party for the first time since World War II to win a majority of seats, although it kept its place as the leading party. Gerhardsen, who had been prime minister since the end of the war, except for an interval from 1951 to 1955, was designated once again to head the cabinet. In 1965 the Labor Party was defeated in general elections, ending a 30-year rule. King Olaf V, who had succeeded Håkon VII on the latter's death in 1957, then asked Per Borten, leader of the Center Party, to form a government. He headed a coalition of nonsocialist parties. Economic policies, however, did not markedly change. Norway instituted a comprehensive social security program in 1967. In 1970 Norway applied for membership in the European Community, or EC (now called the European Union), a move that gave rise to increasing dissent within the government. Early in the following year Borten resigned after charges were made that he had divulged confidential information. Trygve Bratteli of the Labor Party then formed a minority government that campaigned strongly for EC membership. In a referendum in 1972, however, the voters rejected the government's recommendation. As a result, the government resigned and was succeeded by a centrist coalition headed by Lars Korvald of the Christian People's Party. In May 1973 Norway signed a free-trade agreement with the EC. Labor suffered considerable losses in the 1973 elections, but Bratteli again was able to form a minority government. Bratteli resigned in January 1976, but the party remained in power until the elections of September 1981. From February to October 1981, the party was headed by Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway's first woman prime minister. The nonsocialist parties gained a comfortable majority in September, and Kåre Willoch of the Conservative Party formed a coalition government in October. A broader coalition government, again headed by Willoch, was formed in 1983 and was reelected in 1985. Oil and gas deposits had been discovered in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea in the late 1960s; exploitation by a state company began in the 1970s. Oil from the North Sea fields accounted for some 30 percent of Norway's annual export earnings in the early 1980s. Oil prices dropped abruptly in 1985 and 1986, and the prospect of lower tax revenues and reduced export earnings led the Willoch government to call for higher gasoline taxes in April 1986. He lost a vote of confidence on the issue and was succeeded by a minority Labor government led by Brundtland in May. She resigned after inconclusive elections in September 1989, carrying Labor into the opposition. Jan P. Syse of the Conservative Party succeeded Brundtland as prime minister, heading a minority center-right coalition. The Syse government's tenure, however, was very short; unable to agree on a common position concerning future relations with the European Community (now the European Union), it fell in October 1990. Syse's government was replaced the following month by a coalition headed by Labor's Brundtland. King Olaf V died in January 1991 and was succeeded by his son, Harald V. In 1993 Norwegian officials, led by Foreign Minister Johan Holst, played an integral part in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization; Holst died in January 1994. In May 1994 the European Parliament endorsed membership for Norway in the European Union (EU). However, in a November 1994 referendum, Norwegians voted down membership by about 52 percent to about 48 percent. Many Norwegians feared that EU membership would reduce their farm subsidies and affect their exclusive fishing rights. In October 1996 Prime Minister Brundtland suddenly resigned. The prime minister stated that she was resigning in order to give the Labor Party time to prepare for the general election scheduled for September 1997. She was succeeded by Labor leader Thorbjoern Jagland.