Norway, a country in northern Europe, occupies the western half of the Scandinavian peninsula. The capital, Oslo, is situated in the far south, where nearly half of the country’s population resides. Norway boasts a landscape that is about two-thirds mountainous, with a deeply indented coastline featuring around 50,000 islands carved by glacial fjords.
Indo-European peoples settled along Norway’s coast thousands of years ago, establishing a permanent settlement near present-day Oslo approximately 6,000 years ago. Due to challenging terrain and climate extremes, the interior remained sparsely populated, with the majority of the population concentrated in coastal cities like Bergen and Trondheim.
Early Norwegians, relying on fishing and farming, developed a seafaring tradition that peaked during the Viking era. Norse warriors engaged in regular raids on the British Isles, the coasts of western Europe, and even the interior of Russia. The Vikings established colonies in Iceland and Greenland and explored the coast of North America, referred to as Vinland by Leif Eriksson, over a thousand years ago.
This tradition of exploration continued into modern times, with notable figures like Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen, and Thor Heyerdahl.
In the late Middle Ages, Norway faced challenges such as the plague and economic decline, falling under the dominance of neighboring Denmark and Sweden. Norwegians turned to trade in fish and lumber. Modern Norway gained independence in 1905 and emerged as a major maritime transporter of global goods, specializing in shipbuilding. In the 1970s, the exploitation of offshore oil and natural gas became a dominant maritime industry, propelling Norway into the ranks of the world’s leading petroleum exporters in the 1990s.
