History History

From the end of the Ice Age (12000 BC), the Norwegian coasts (first ice-free territories) saw the appearance of semi-nomadic populations up to the northern extremity of the country. The first archaeological traces go back to more than 10 000 years (Melkøya, Slettnes...). The Saami, who today inhabit part of northern Scandinavia, are among the descendants of these first inhabitants of the Nordic lands. Among the remarkable prehistoric vestiges, the rock art of northern Scandinavia (sites of Nordland, Alta in Finnmark...) attests to the creativity of these populations since the 6th millennium BC.

Norwegians traveled to the United Kingdom in search of new lands in vessels that were used for navigation and burial. Decorated, carved and technically sophisticated boats from the ninth century have been found near the Oslo Fjord at Oseberg. The Norwegian society is organized in clans gathered around chiefs and princely families, like the Ynglinger. A state structure slowly emerged around 872 with the arrival in power of King Harald Hårfagre ("with beautiful hair") who gradually imposed common institutions in the military and economic fields. Attempt of Christianization around 950 which makes disappear little by little the traditional social order then based on the family and the clan. A sovereign and centralized power held by the Church and the royalty takes shape.

Son of Erik the Red and native of Iceland, Leif Erikson travels and arrives at the court of the king of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason, who converts him to Christianity and asks him to take a priest on a mission to Greenland. They leave on an expedition but deviate from their route. He would thus be the first European to discover North America, probably near Labrador and Newfoundland. He founded a colony there which he called "Vinland", because vines and grapes grew in abundance on these lands.

Battle of Stiklestad between the Christian king Olav I Haraldsson (known as Olav the Holy) and the landowners, the Bønder, who actively resisted the wave of evangelization. Death of the king but this battle marked the end of paganism in Norway and the introduction of Christianity.

King of Norway from 1046 to his death, Harald Haradrada (from the Old Norse harðráði which means "with severe command") tried to seize the throne of England by invading Yorkshire. He died there against the last Anglo-Saxon king Harold Godwinson. A few days later, William the Conqueror landed in Sussex and won with his troops the famous battle of Hastings which inaugurated the Anglo-Norman period.

The rural populations were wiped out by the Black Death and the country became dependent on the Germans for grain supplies. Artistic and intellectual life was in sharp decline. The Danish language was gradually assimilated into Norwegian, which formed the basis of Bokmål, one of the two standards of Norwegian spoken today.

Sweden, Denmark and Norway were united under a single monarch from 1397 to 1523 by the Union of Kalmar. A very powerful sovereign, Margaret^I of Denmark proposed this union and was crowned queen of the three countries until her death in 1412.

The royal charter imposed in 1536 by Christian III made Norway a province of Denmark. At the same time, Norway's economy was revitalized by forestry and a boom in herring and cod fishing. Norwegian farmers were able to buy farms from the Danish government, which led to agricultural expansion. Norway separated from Denmark in 1814 with the Kiel peace agreement. On April 10, 1814, a popularly elected National Assembly met in Eidsvoll north of Oslo (then Christiania) to establish a constitution.

Born in Borge, Norway and died in 1928 somewhere around Bear Island in northern Norway, Amundsen was a Norwegian polar explorer and sailor. He made the first wintering in Antarctica in 1898 on board the Belgian polar expedition of Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery. In 1905, he was the first to cross the passage linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific in the Canadian Far North. Thanks to his knowledge of dog sledding, skiing and meticulous preparation, he commanded the expedition that was the first to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911 from the base camp named Framheim, which had been set up on a floating glacier in the Bay of Whales, east of the Ross Barrier. With 52 dogs and four sleds, the team opened a route on the Axel-Heidberg glacier to reach the polar plateau. When they reached the South Pole, Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova expedition was 572 km away, but the Norwegians were ahead of them. Amundsen and his men returned with 11 dogs in January 1912, after having covered 2,824 km in 94 days (average of 30 km/day). Three years before his death and at the age of 53, Amundsen (who obtained his pilot's license in 1918) left accompanied by the pilot Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, the American millionaire Ellsworth and three other crew members. They took off from Spitsbergen in two seaplanes and made a complicated flight from which they returned safely. In 1928, Amundsen joined an expedition to find the Italian explorer Nobile, but it was to be his last: caught in a thick fog, the seaplane crashed somewhere in the depths of the Barents Sea and the remains were still not found.

Revolt in the Norwegian province of Kautokeino following an administrative decision to ban access to Saami hunting grounds.

For women, universal suffrage for municipal elections was adopted in 1910 and extended to national elections in 1913.

In 1938 the government announced its intention to abstain from any participation in an armed conflict. But the country's strategic geographical location jeopardized its security. On the one hand the British used Norwegian oil tankers, and on the other the Germans transported Swedish iron through the port of Narvik. Hitler attacked Norway on April 8, 1940 and the country quickly fell into the hands of the Nazi invader, who occupied Norway until 1945. But the Norwegians did not remain without resistance in the country and from London where the government of King Haakon VII had been able to go into exile.

Norway joined NATO. Eleven years later, in 1960, Norway joined EFTA (European Free Trade Association). General de Gaulle's veto blocked Norway's application to join the EEC (European Economic Community) at the same time as England's.

Discovery of the first oil field in Norwegian territorial waters by the American company Philips. After the 1988 oil crisis, Norwegian imports were reduced by 12% and Norway began to create its own oil companies.

Another referendum on Norwegian membership of the EU. Once again, the "no" vote wins (52.2% to 47.8%). Norway joins the Schengen Agreement. Thanks to oil, the Norwegian budget becomes largely in surplus. In 2008, opposition to Norwegian membership of the European Union reached a new high, according to a survey carried out by the Sentio agency. 53.4% of those questioned said they were opposed to EU membership, while 34.6% were in favor.

Two deadly terrorist attacks hit the current Labor government and the civilian population. The government district of Regjeringskvartalet in Oslo was targeted first. A bomb exploded in the offices of Minister of State Jens Stoltenberg, killing eight people and injuring 15 others. A second attack then hit the island of Utøya, in a youth camp organized by the Norwegian Labour Party. Anders Behring Breivik, a former member of the Progress Party (national-conservative right), shot at civilians and politicians present, killing 69 people and injuring 38 others. It was the deadliest attack in Norway since World War II. The number of people killed is more than double the average annual murder rate. The gunman of the Utøya massacre was arrested the same day at the scene of the tragedy and sentenced in 2012 to 21 years in prison. His main target was Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland who had made a speech an hour earlier on the island of Utøya.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, both a financial tool and a political player, has grown to more than 100 billion euros despite the Covid-19 pandemic, reaching nearly 1.1 trillion euros. 1.1 trillion. the fund, which is intended for future generations of "post-oil" investors, is one of the world's largest investors and makes the government's oil revenues work for it.

The Labour Party (Arberderpartiet) came out on top in the parliamentary elections. The party's leader, Jonas Gahr Støre, succeeds Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

A Danish citizen, armed with a bow, kills 5 people and wounds 3 others in a supermarket in the quiet town of Kongsberg. However, the victims were killed with knives. Although suspected of Islamist radicalization, the reason of mental illness is finally preferred.