Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0268/02680.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 42KB | 719 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02680}
$Pretitle{436}
$Title{Norway
The history of Norway}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Tor Dagre}
$Affiliation{Embassy of Norway, Washington DC}
$Subject{norway
norwegian
government
party
king
period
denmark
union
first
norwegians}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Country:     Norway
Book:        Fact Sheets on Norway
Author:      Tor Dagre
Affiliation: Embassy of Norway, Washington DC
Date:        1990

The history of Norway

     The first men to appear in what is now Norway, emerged from dim
pre-history when the great inland ice sheets were retreating over Scandinavia.
10,000 years ago the forefathers of today's Norwegians hunted reindeer and
other prey on their long trek north. The land they came to had for centuries
borne the weight of the icecap, so the coastline was about 200 metres higher
than it is today. The oldest proofs of human activity were discovered on a
hill in the southeast region of Ostfold, not far from the southern frontier
with Sweden. At that time the hill was probably an offshore island, just
south of the glacier tip.

     There is no general agreement on where the ancestors of today's
Norwegians came from, or on the routes they took on their journey north, but
one of these routes certainly passed through Ostfold. Artefacts found at
settlements there are of the same type that have been discovered in southern
Sweden and in Denmark. A further possible route may have led from the
so-called North Sea continent to southwest Norway.

     These first Norwegians were hunters who, wherever nature permitted it,
settled in small groups. They left proof of their existence in flint tools,
clay vessels, and not least, rock carvings. In every part of Norway remain
specimens of their art, hewn or ground into the rock. The carvings depict
their prey: reindeer, moose, deer, bears and fish. People, or boats appear
only seldom.

     The transition to agriculture started in Norway approximately 5,000 to
6,000 years ago, initially in the area around the Oslofjord. By the Bronze
Age (1500 - 500 B.C.) it is the farmers' cultural relics that dominate the
archeological finds, particularly in south Norway. Finds from this same period
in north Norway show that the people were hunters. At many locations in far
north Finnmark there were sizeable settlements of hunters, clear proof of
seasonable cooperation between many people.

     From the Roman Age (0 -400 A.D.) grave finds show that there were links
with the civilized countries to the south. Utensils and bronze, and glass were
discovered, as well as weapons. The art of writing, in the form of runic
letters also became known in the Nordic lands at this time.

     The migrations of 400 to 550 A.D. were a restless period of continental
Europe's history, and relics found in Norway indicate that the same
conditions prevailed there too. The existence of farms in marginal areas
indicates that settlement had reached saturation point. Pollen analyses
reveal that at this time the coastal areas to the west were deforested. The
troubled times led tribes to establish defence systems such as forts, and on
the eastern banks of Norway's largest lake, Mjosa, the remains of these are
evident over a stretch of 50 km.

The age of the Vikings (ca. 800 - 1050 A.D)

     The Viking era marks the termination of the prehistoric period in Norway.
There were still no written sources of knowledge, and what is know about this
period is largely based on archaeological remains. Nevertheless, the Sagas
shed some light on this age. Although they were written down later, the Sagas
were based on word of mouth tales passed down from one generation to the
next. In synthesis they reveal that the Viking age must without comparison
have been the richest of all the prehistoric periods in the north.

     Many scholars regard the looting of the monastery of Lindisfarne, off
England's northeast coast, in the year 793 as the beginning of the Viking Age.
Over extensive parts of west and southwest Europe they are still regarded as
cruel brigands, who wraught havoc on their victims with fire and the sword.
This is only partially true. The Vikings also came on peaceful errand, to
trade and to colonize. Norwegian Vikings settled in the Orkney Isles, the
Shetlands, the Hebrides, and on the Isle of Man. The mainland of northern
Scotland and Ireland also became their home, and Dublin, founded by the
Vikings in the 840s, was under Nordic rule right up to 1171.

     On Iceland and Greenland the Norwegian Vikings found uninhabited land.
There they settled and built communities. Present-day Iceland is a direct
consequence of the Viking colonization. On Greenland, however, the Norse
communities, for reasons unknown, died out some few centuries later.

     The Norwegian Vikings came mostly from the south and west of the country,
where the land had been utilized to the maximum it could tolerate. In
southeast and north Norway, on the other hand, settlement based on agriculture
and other activities spread to previously uninhabited areas, particularly in
the mountains and valleys.

     For their many expeditions the Vikings needed fast and seaworthy ships,
and men with the skill to navigate them over open seas. The fact that these
hardy men repeatedly voyaged to America and back is evidence enough of their
mastery of the longships. The Sagas relate that it was Lief Eriksson who
discovered "Wineland the Good" in the year 1001, but present day scholars
claim that other Vikings had reached America before him. The Viking Age
finally culminated in 1066 when the Norwegian King Harald Hardruler and his
men were defeated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in England.

A United Kingdom

     Up to the 800s the regions that later became Norway were not unified.
But both groups and individuals attempted to bring them together. Two main
types of community were formed:

     assemblies or "tings" organized around a central "Allting"

     and

     petty kingships

     There must have been several reasons for this. Not least of them was the
farmers' need for peace and continuity, particularly in the coastal areas,
that were repeatedly troubled by robber bands and the harryings of the
homecoming Vikings. The coastal areas possessed at this time substantial
riches in the shape of stolen and traded goods. Safe on their "thrones" sat
the petty kings, who thanks to the kinships created by intermarriage, were a
tight-knit group with considerable power.

     The petty kings in the Viken - the areas surrounding the Oslofjord,
played a major role in this process. Their might increased steadily as
district after district was brought under their rule. After a battle at
Hafrsfjord near Stavanger, believably fought in the year 872, King Harald
Fairhair strengthened his position as ruler of large areas of the country.
This unifying process, however, continued for several more decades, bringing
harsh struggles between warring Norwegian chieftains, and between Norwegian
and other peoples of the north. By 1060 the unifying process appears to have
been completed.

The advent of Christianity

     Christianity was introduced into Norway over a lenghty period of time,
possibly two hundred years. It was a natural result of the Norwegians'
contact with Christian Europe, through trading connections and Viking raids.
Missions from the churches of England, Germany and Denmark had also
contributed to a weakening of traditional belief in the Nordic gods. This
development culminated with the three missionary kings, Hakon the Good;
Olaf Trygvasson, and Olaf the Stout. The latter's martyr death, at the
battle of Stiklestad in 1030 gave him saint's status. The Church had won the
final victory.

     From the middle of the 11th century the legislation that was enacted, the
songs that were sung, and the monuments that were erected demonstrated the
firm establishment of Christianity in Norway. Shortly before the year 1100 the
first bishoprics appeared, among them the see of Nidaros, later Trondheim,
where the archbishop held office from 115