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| Sunday, 15 January 2006 |
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Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Norway : The Land of the Midnight Sun Norway is a familiar country among Sri Lankans because of the role it plays in the peace process of our country. Today, we will have a closer look at this beautiful country, blessed with mountain ranges and breathtaking sceneries. Norway, a country in northern Europe, is located in the region known as Scandinavia. A long and mostly narrow country, Norway occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Norway's extensive coastline is borderd on three sides, by seas.
To the north is the Barents Sea, an arm of the Arctic Ocean; to the west is the Norwegian Sea; and to the south are the Skagerrak, a strait separating Norway from Denmark, and the North Sea. Norway shares a long eastern border with Sweden, and in the far northeast, Norway shares a frontier with Russia and Finland. Oslo, in the southeast, is Norway's capital and largest city. Norway is a land of rugged, pine-topped mountain ranges, valleys gouged out by glaciers, and narrow deep-sided inlets from the sea known as fjords. A line of offshore islands called the skerry guard, shields the coastline and forms a protected inland waterway. Norway's name, which means "northern way," reflects the importance of this waterway in linking the many small fjord and valley communities that are otherwise separated by rugged terrain. As one of the world's northernmost countries, Norway is sometimes called the Land of the Midnight Sun. One-third of Norway lies north of the Arctic Circle, where there is almost continuous daylight from May through July. In midwinter, the far north is dark almost all of the time. Today, as in the past, most of Norway's people live along the shores of the fjords in the south. For many centuries, as fishers and traders, they lived off the sea. It was from Norway's coast that the Vikings - skilled sailors who built a vast maritime trading network - ventured across the Atlantic Ocean to Iceland, later becoming the first Europeans to reach Greenland and North America in the late 10th century. The lure of the sea has remained strong into modern times. Norway retains a vigorous fishing industry and its merchant marine fleet is one of the world's largest. During the late 20th century, the discovery of vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas in Norway's portion of the North Sea brought an important new source of prosperity to the country. Today, Norway is among the world's largest exporters of fossil fuels. The first unified Norwegian kingdom emerged in the 9th century AD. In 1397, Norway became a province of Denmark and was dominated by that country until 1814, when Denmark ceded(handed over) Norway to Sweden. A surge of Norwegian nationalism in the 19th century led to the dissolution of the union with Sweden. Norway became an independent nation in 1905, with a constitutional monarch as head of State and a democratically elected government. Norway's official name is the Kingdom of Norway (Norwegian Kongeriket Norge). One of the most serious environmental problems facing Norway is acid rain, a form of air pollution caused by industrial activity. Acid rain has damaged many of Norway's forests and waterways. The population of Norway is 4,593,041 (2005 census). The Norwegians are a remarkably homogenous (of one kind) people of Germanic origin. Apart from several thousand Saami and people of Finnish origin in the northern part of Norway, the country has no large minority groups. Norway is home to small numbers of Americans, Britons, Chileans, Danes, Iranians, Pakistanis, Swedes, and Vietnamese, among other groups. Norway has the lowest population density in continental Europe, with 15 persons per sq km (39 per sq mi). Moreover, the distribution of the population is extremely uneven. About half of the country's population lives in the southeast, and more than three-quarters of all Norwegians live within about 16 km (about 10 mi) of the sea. Some 78 per cent of Norway's population lives in urban areas. Almost all important settlements are situated on, or within easy reach of, the coastline, which offers good transportation links and a moderate climate. Oslo is the nation's capital and the principal port and industrial centre. It is also the largest city, with an estimated population of 783,829 in the 2002 estimate. About one-fourth of the total population of Norway lives in the vicinity of Oslo. Modern architecture dominates the sprawling city, which covers hundreds of square kilometres and is one of the world's largest cities in area. Oslo is home to the Storting, the national parliament; many cultural institutions, including the University of Oslo; the Munch Museum, with paintings by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch; and the Kon-Tiki Museum, with exhibits showcasing the voyages of the Norwegian anthropologist and explorer Thor Heyerdahl. Despite Norway's ethnic homogeneity, two distinct forms of the Norwegian language are spoken in the country. Both forms of the language are officially recognised as equal, and both must be offered in schools. The majority language, Bokmal ("book language"), is spoken by more than 80 per cent of the population and taught to about 83 per cent of all children in schools. Finno-Ugric Saami languages are spoken by the Saami people, many of whom still inhabit their traditional lands in the far north. A striking feature of Norwegian society is a strong egalitarian (equal rights for all )outlook and the absence of conspicuous(clear) social divisions. Great wealth is not obvious. There is little poverty and few slums or luxury homes. Apart from forested areas, there are few large private landholdings in Norway. Farming, forestry, and fishing are typically small-scale, seasonal, family activities. Norway's living standards are among the highest in Europe. National anthem The words for the national anthem, written by Bjornstjerne Bjornson, one of Norway's great dramatists and poets, were first published in 1859. The original poem had six verses; the first verse and last two verses are used nowadays as the anthem. The music was composed by Rikard Nordraak, cousin of Bjornson and a friend of the famed Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, in 1864. It was first performed later that year for the 50th anniversary of their constitution, and caught on quickly. It became a part of the reading books in schools all over the country, and was sung by the children in the children's parades organised by Bjornson on every May 17. National Flag, The flag of Norway was officially adopted on July 17, 1821. The red, white and blue colours are said to be influenced by the French Tricolour (as a symbol of liberty). Inspiration also came from the flags of the United Kingdom and the United States. The off-centred white cross (the Scandinavian Cross) is taken from the
Danish flag, and the blue cross is the Cross of Sweden. |
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