Today we will help you out to know about some awesome and interesting facts about Norway, you will be amazed after reading these facts about Norway.
Interesting facts about Norway
History
- The Norwegian Vikings settled in the Shetland Islands (around 700), the Faroe Islands (around 800), attacked the holy island of Lindisfarne in Northumbria (794), then invaded the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. (between 795 and 821), where they founded the cities of Waterford, Cork, Dublin and Limerick. They then undertook the colonization of Iceland (c.860) and Greenland (982). It is now generally accepted that the expedition led by Leif Ericson to Vinland (probably in the Canadian province of Newfoundland) around the year 1000 was the first discovery of America by the Europeans.
- The unification of Norway was completed in 872, the year of the founding of the Kingdom of Norway, with Harald I, known as Belle Chevelure, as his first king. From 1319 to 1905, the Kingdom of Norway existed in union with Denmark, Sweden or both. The modern Kingdom of Norway has existed only as an independent entity since the dissolution of the personal union with Sweden on November 18, 1905.
Country & Construction
- Norway is the European country (Russia excluded) with the longest coastline – 53,199 km according to the World Resources Institute.
- Hornindalsvatnet, in central Norway, is the deepest lake in Europe, reaching a maximum depth of 514 meters.
- Vinnufossen is the highest waterfall in Europe (860 m) and sixth highest in the world.
- The Lærdal Tunnel, on the E16 European Road, is the longest road tunnel in the world (24.5 km).
- The Eiksund Tunnel is the deepest submarine tunnel of its kind in the world. It measures 7,765 meters long and reaches a depth of 287 meters.
- Scandinavia is famous for its stavkirke: medieval wooden churches consecrated with lintel technique. All surviving stavkirkes to date except one are in Norway. The other is in Sweden. There are about thirty of them, built for the most part in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Society & Population
- In 2011, 37% of Norwegians had attained a level of post-secondary education, making them the best educated people in Europe.
- Norway has one of the most generous maternity / paternity leave schemes, allowing mothers to take 44 weeks (13 months) of leave at 80% of their salary, or 34 weeks (10.5 months) at 100% their salary. An extra paid holiday of 12 weeks is reserved for the father.
- Norway was ranked the best country for the 2012 World Mothers State by Save the Children.
- Norway had the highest human development index in the world in 9 of the 11 years between 2001 and 2011. The other two years (2007 and 2008), it was ranked second after Iceland.
- Norway is the country with the highest nominal GDP per capita after Luxembourg, with around US $ 100,000 per capita in 2012. Even adjusted for purchasing power parity, Norway’s GDP per capita is only exceeded by city-states like Singapore, Macao, Doha (Qatar) and Luxembourg.
- The World Audit ranked Norway first in the world for press freedom in 2012. Norway ranked 4th for democracy (after Finland, Sweden and Denmark) and 7th for corruption, out of 150 countries surveyed.
- Norway has one of the lowest income inequalities in the world, just like the other Scandinavian countries.
- Although Norway is not a full member of the European Union, it has been a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) since its ratification in 1992 and the Schengen Borderless Area since 2001. In addition, Parliament Norwegian has put in place more EU directives than any other real member state, in part to be legally ready once Norway joins the EU as a full member.
- Norway has won more Olympic Winter Medals than any other country in the world, with a total of 303 medals (including 107 gold medals) starting in 2012, 50 more than the United States. Norway also has the highest combined number of Olympic Summer and Winter Olympic medals per capita, with a total of 451 medals per 4.7 million, or 95.9 medals per million population.
- The Arctic region of Norway, north of Trondheim, has traditionally been inhabited by the Sami people (also known as Lappons), descendants of the inhabitants of the Mesolithic Fennoscandia. They speak different Uralian languages related to Finnish (suomi). Genetic studies have confirmed that the Sami are also closely related to the Finn.
Inventions, Sciences & Arts
- Norwegians claim to have invented modern skiing as a sport. arched skis were developed in Telemark, southern Norway, around 1850, while the “Rat Trap” ski bindings, also known as Rottefella, were invented by Bror in 1927.
- The modern cheese slicer was patented in 1925 by Thor Bjørklund. On this subject, one of Norway’s most popular cheeses is brown, a caramelized whey cheese called brunost .
- The aerosol can was invented in 1926 by the chemical engineer Erik Rotheim of Oslo.
As of 2012, Norway has produced 12 Nobel laureates, including three awards for the economy, three for chemistry and two for peace. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Oslo each year. - The most famous Norwegian artists are the playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), the writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832-1910), the novelist Jonas Lie (1833-1908), the composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), the writer Alexander Kielland (1849-1906) and Symbolist painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944).
Political economics
- In 2011, Norway was the fifth largest oil exporter in the world, ahead of Kuwait, Nigeria, Canada or the United States. Norway is also the third largest exporter of natural gas after Russia and Canada.
- Oil and natural gas account for 57% of the Norwegian economy and one third of its tax revenues.
- The largest Norwegian company is Statoil, a giant of gas and oil 67% owned by the Norwegian government.
- Norway is one of the few Western countries still practicing state capitalism, as in China. As of 2012, SOEs accounted for over one-third of capitalizations on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
- Oslo is one of the most expensive cities in the world. In 2012, it was ranked as the most expensive European city by both the Economist Intelligence Unit and ECA International.
- In 1972, Norway became one of the first countries to set up a Ministry of the Environment. Most countries still do not have one.
- Norway has an annual hydropower output of 140.5 TWh, the highest in Europe and the 6th highest in the world. 98.5% of Norwegian electricity is generated by hydropower, the highest proportion of any country.
- The first Secretary-General of the United Nations was the Norwegian Trygve Lie, in office from 1946 to 1952.
