A short history of Norway

The Viking Age

The Viking Age is usually dated from the attack on the Lindisfarne monastery in England in 793 to the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. Norwegians sailed west to Shetland, Orkney, Ireland, Iceland and Greenland. They were not only warriors – most were farmers, fishermen and traders.

This was also when Norway was gathered into one kingdom. The sagas give the credit to Harald Fairhair, but unification took a long time. Olav Haraldsson, who fell at Stiklestad in 1030, became Saint Olav after his death, and Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim was built over his grave. If you want to see real Viking ships, go to the Museum of the Viking Age at Bygdøy in Oslo, and in Borre in Vestfold there are large burial mounds.

The union with Denmark

The Black Death arrived in 1349 and killed a large part of the population. The royal line died out, and from 1380 Norway and Denmark shared a king. The Kalmar Union of 1397 also brought in Sweden for a time, but Sweden broke away, while Norway stayed with Denmark all the way until 1814.

Norwegians often call this period «the four-hundred-year night». Power sat in Copenhagen, and Danish became the written language. That is why Bokmål looks so much like Danish, and why Ivar Aasen later built Nynorsk from Norwegian dialects. If you have wondered why Norway has two written standards, the explanation starts here.

1814: the Constitution at Eidsvoll

After the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark had to hand Norway to Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel in January 1814. Norwegians did not simply accept it. 112 men gathered at Eidsvoll, north of Oslo, and on 17 May 1814 the Constitution was adopted and dated. It was based on separation of powers and was very liberal for its time.

Sweden answered with a short war that summer. The result was a compromise: Norway entered a union with Sweden under a shared king, but kept its Constitution and got its own parliament, the Storting. That is why 17 May is the national day, and why it is celebrated with children's parades rather than military ones. The Eidsvoll building is open to visitors and well worth a day trip.

1905 and Haakon VII

The union with Sweden became more and more contested, and the dispute over Norway having its own consulates was the last straw. On 7 June 1905 the Storting declared the union dissolved. A referendum in August showed an overwhelming majority for the break, and negotiations in Karlstad meant it happened without war.

Norway chose to remain a monarchy and offered the throne to the Danish Prince Carl. He asked for a referendum first, got a yes, and took the name Haakon VII. He became a unifying figure, especially during the war. Today's royal family – King Harald V, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon – descends from him.

The occupation 1940–45

Germany attacked Norway on 9 April 1940. In the Oslofjord the cruiser Blücher was sunk at Oscarsborg fortress, which gave the King and the government time to get out of Oslo. After two months of fighting they went to London and led the resistance from there. Vidkun Quisling took power with German backing, and his name has become a word for traitor in many languages.

The occupation lasted five years. Many Norwegian Jews were deported, and in Finnmark and northern Troms the Germans burned almost everything during their retreat in autumn 1944. Liberation came on 8 May 1945. The Norwegian Resistance Museum at Akershus Fortress and the Falstad Centre in Trøndelag tell this story well.

Oil and the oil fund

After the war Norway was a modest country living off fishing, shipping and industry. Then, just before Christmas 1969, the Ekofisk field was found in the North Sea. The state decided early on that the oil should belong to everyone: Statoil (today Equinor) was founded, and the state took a large share of the revenue through taxes and ownership.

The money goes into the Government Pension Fund Global, which everyone calls oljefondet, the oil fund. It is invested in shares, bonds and property around the world, and politicians may only spend a small part of its value each year, governed by the fiscal rule (handlingsregelen). That is why Norwegians can discuss the oil fund as passionately as football: everyone has an opinion on how much should be spent, and on what.