100 Interesting Facts About Norway
Hello Friends:
Welcome to Countries Facts and today we're talking about the most noir of all the ways Norway yes the land of phoric all iconic artwork and literally how on earth you'll see you'll see but who is this penguin and why is he so important which famous movie planet did Norway double up for and will my axons be in any way convincing will it Oh two out of three those questions gonna be answered so grab your skis and get ready to encounter one of the happiest places on earth what a sweet change that'll be as we count through 100 facts about Norway.
1 Hello it it all way or rather Dolph your cap into a curtsy because this is the kingdom of Norway don't you know it's one of those cool Scandinavian countries that likes to hang out in northwestern Europe wearing cardigans and solving murders.
2 The capital is Oslo which is also also backwards sort of anyway it was founded in about 1050 and as of the 27th of February 20 22 - polity of Oslo has a population of around six hundred ninety three thousand four hundred and ninety one.
3 The city is sometimes known under the nickname the taiga city probably inspired by an 1870 poem by Bjorn bjornsen which reference then Christiana in central Oslo not because they're fans of Joe exotic the nickname is mostly used by Norwegians from out of town and rarely by those in the actual Oslo region.
4 The city used to be called Kristiania after a fire ripped through Oslo in 1624 King Christie in the fourth of Denmark and Norway ordered the city to be rebuilt across the bay near Akershus castle and called the new Oslo Kristiania.
5 Oslo was kept for the now poor suburb where the original city stood which today is known as gambler BN after many years of fierce debate the original name of Oslo's have stored in 1925.
6 Ultimately residents are some of the healthiest people in Norway ninety misunder the population is overweight which compares favorably to the national average of 28 percent the survey also found that Oslo drinks less sugary soft drinks than average and the numbers walking at least 30 minutes per day are better than a fridge.
7 They've also got a severe case of the jerseys because Norway is the second happiest country in the world beaten by the finish line by you guessed it the lines then after them the finish line.
8 According to the 2013 Global Peace Index Norway's one of those peaceful countries in the world ranking 18th out of 163 countries hmm and lack of war and violence making people happier kind of nonsense.
9 Speaking of Oslo by the way the Nobel Prize award to health and Oslo in the City Hall every autumn whether or not they will be this year who knows but nice to know the location your head if you feel kind of noble.
10 They love Nobel Prizes so damn much there's also a Nobel Peace Center where visitors can find out more about the prize that's been given out since 1903.
11 The 14th to the 25th of February 1952 Oslo held the Winter Olympics Norway topped the medal table but 16 medals of which 7 were gold so they clearly weren't very Oslo up or slow there's only so many puns I can make you guys.
12 The river that goes through the city is pretty unique because it has two spellings where some will say a cassava others will say akka Sylvan this is similar to my name some people call me Sam and some people call me dick for some reason even though my name's not Richard weird.
13 Normally shares its borders with three countries Russia and Finland the Northeast but these are tiny compared to the whopping 1600 kilometer border it shares with Sweden the longest entirely inside Europe and lucky Russian Ukraine.
14 When you think of Norwegian territory you probably think of this long thin thing with a massive gangly bit on the end that snug it up next to Sweden but look up and you'll find the island of Svalbard which has been part of the kingdom of Norway since 1925.
15 Svalbard is unique as it said visa-free zone that means anyone from any country can go there to live or work in some cases in the grunty were denied a visa to live in Maine no way moved to the island lived there for seven years become Norwegian citizens then moved back to Norway you know the long dangly bit oh I can't say that with a straight face.
16 Approximately 5.4 million people live in Norway giving a population smaller than London plus those lucky Norwegians have a load more space too with the country rocking three hundred eighty-five thousand one hundred seventy eight kilometers squared of territory bonus fact that's bigger than London and my flat.
17 Oslo is Norway's most ethnically diverse city - twenty-five percent of the city's population were born elsewhere and an additional seven point eight percent were born to immigrant parents most of the city's population with an immigrant background come from Pakistan followed by Poland Sweden and Somalia.
18 All that space means Norway has a population density of just 15 people per square kilometer the only place in the whole of Europe you're less likely to bump into someone is Iceland no not that one the Nordic one it has just 3.5 people per square kilometre.
19 While we're on the subject of Nordic countries Norway is both Nordic and Scandinavian but what's the difference I hear at least one of you asked we'll sit down and strap in because it's gonna get complicated first off we've got the Scandinavian Peninsula which refers to main lab Norway mainland Sweden and dis bit of Finland.
20 Then we've got the more common definition of Scandinavia which includes Norway Sweden and Denmark but not that tiny bit of Finland these three kingdoms are part of the continental Scandinavian language group and share languages descended from Old Norse still with me no well it's not gonna get any better.
21 Because now it's time for the Nordic countries now these include Norway Sweden Denmark Finland Iceland and their associated bits and pieces this geographical grouping share cultural links and were once all United as part of the Kalmar Union back in the 15th century.
22 It's fairly common for English speakers to use Nordic and Scandinavian interchangeably but when you're referring to Norway you can't be wrong in this regard since it's in both so few.
23 As an English speaker I'm used to calling nor well Norway but in the local lingo it's actually called Norge or noir egg two different names well that's because the Norwegian language has two different written forms bokmal and the orsk although 85 to 90% of Norwegians use Bock mal so I guess norge is the winner.
24 The name Norway has traditionally been thought to mean North Way or away leading to the north but seeing as that's deep you know easy answer there's debate about whether or not that's true alternative theories say the name actually means the way within their ofyou're to lakes the inlet country or that it was named after king nor a mythological king who was short in stature.
25 People have lived in Norway for ages number 20 I'm joking I met him that was it the truth is evidence of humans doing their thing in Norway goes back around 12,000 years but a kingdom of Norway similar to the one that we might recognize today didn't come into existence until 872.
26 Prior to that date Norway was basically Game of Thrones on steroids with the land divided up between at least 20 rulers each ruling their own petty kingdoms.
27 All that changed at the Battle of half of cieaned sometime between 872 and 900 where the Viking chief Harald fairhair holic right name one victory and crowned himself the first king of the Norwegians and who has a better story than fair hair.
28 Well his successor does Eric haraldson earned himself the nickname blood axe by killing his brother so he could sit on the throne that's brother's plural by the way according to the sagas Eric had 19 of them but B brought the killer only managed to murder between four and seven bros and ultimately lost the Norwegian crown double of his younger siblings respect a fair head though 20 sons he must have been knackered.
29 Norway in Vikings are like fish and chips or Sam and Jennifer they just go together those Luton tooten Raiders come from all over Scandinavia but the actual term Viking might specifically come from a part of Norway one theory suggests that the word Viking refers to a person from vikon a part of Norway not too far from Oslo now all the fans of pillaging and violence go checking up 100 facts about Vikings after this one obviously.
30 After a period of civil war between 11:30 and 12:00 40 which saw over 20 kings and pretenders to the throne battens outfit supremacy again normally finally found a bit of peace and quiet until 13 49 that year a mysterious ghost ship arrived in Bergen Harbor and it wasn't carrying presents for the lone calls.
31 Legend has it the boat set sail from England but on its journey the crew had been struck down with a horrible disease leaving the boat to drift into Norwegian territory on board was the Grim Reaper and the Black Death Thorpe maybe Thanos because they subsequently infected the country and killed up to 40 to 50 percent of the entire Norway population.
32 Things didn't get much better for Norway when King Olaf the fourth died suddenly in 1387 and spoiler alert he would be the last Norwegian king born on the Wheaton soil for more than five hundred and fifty years after Olaf kicked the bucket Norway became part of the Kalmar Union with its scandi neighbours Denmark and Sweden.
33 Sadly things weren't exactly neighborly inside the kalmar union with Denmark acting like it owned the place in 1523 Sweden packed its bag said goodbye and became independent that left Norway to fend for itself against Denmark who went power mad between 15 36 and 37 essentially relegating Norway - the status of Danish province and forced it to accept Protestantism.
34 During the Napoleonic Wars Denmark Norway was allied with France and was defeated getrekt under the terms of the Treaty of KL in 1814 Denmark was forced hand all the way over to Sweden as war booty although the Danes managed to keep control of old Norwegian territories like Iceland Greenland and the Faroe Island so all in all what a great time for Norwegians.
35 Norway trying to escape this shotgun marriage by declaring independence before Sweden could take control but when Sweden arrived in the summer of 1814 with actual guns and British ships they forced Norway to say I do - a union between the two kingdoms.
36 Every year on May 17th Norway remembers this brief foray into independence with Constitution Day the National Day of Norway and a public holiday with parades and lots of flags Norwegian ones.
37 Norway finally regained its freedom in 1905 out of the Norwegian Parliament the Storting moved to dissolve the union with Sweden they then asked voters whether they agreed with the decision in a referendum and ninety-nine point nine five percent of them told Sweden to do one only one hundred and eighty four Norwegians voted to remain in the Union.
38 In a second referendum that year seventy eight point nine percent of voters decided it would be best for Norway to be in monarchy rather than a republic and the sprint skylab Denmark was chosen to become King Haake on the 7th of Norway the first independent monarch of the country since fact 32 I mean 1387.
39 During World War one Norway stayed neutral and it tried to do the same in World War two but Hitler wasn't having any of that and invaded the country in April 1940 allied troops arrived a week later but one able to kick out the Nazi forces who occupied the country until the end of the war.
40 Good old King Hakam of seventh and the government didn't really fancy life under the jackboot and fled to Britain to organize resistance since 1947 to say thanks and to remember Britain's support during this difficult time Norway has donated a massive Christmas tree to the UK every year which goes on display in Trafalgar Square.
41 Unfortunately not all the regions at the time were anti-nazi discount Hitler a massive Bell Vidkun Quisling helped establish a regime with the nazis to run the way during the war as a result his name literally became another word for traitor.
42 The meaning of life look it up in the dictionary and it means a person who helps an enemy that has taken control of his or her country and is synonymous with adulteress backstabber betrayal betrayer break ranks deserter do the dirty on someone you get the idea.
43 After the war norway joined the United Nations in 1945 and became a founding member of NATO in 1949 but despite having close ties with the EU it isn't actually a member twice in referendums in 1972 in 1994 just over half the public voted against joining the organisation so Norway stayed out.
44 Shortly after the Cold War ended Norwegian scientists almost caused a nuclear apocalypse in 1995 a group of scientists studying the Northern Lights to rocket from the island of andorra but Russia mistook this for a US nuclear strike handed their president the nuclear briefcase and activated its nuclear keys.
45 For about 20 minutes Russia seriously considered launching nukes in America and NATO but thankfully realized their mistake before toasting all life on Earth.
46 In 1714 Norwegian naval opposite Peter Jensen vessel tordenskjold had a run-in with an English ship fighting ensued lasting 14 hours and leaving both ships badly damaged during the battle vessel ran out of ammo but rather than give up he asked the English ship if they would give him any of their ammo so they could continue fighting how do you think that went.
47 The English captain said no so not very well oh wait no actually instead they shared a drink and went their separate ways afterwards how lovely.
48 Monty Python's the life of prime was banned in Norway on the grounds it was blasphemous as a result it was marketed in Sweden as the film so funny it was banned in Norway.
49 Everyone's favourite Willy come on now get better from that I'm talking about Keiko the Orca from Free Willy who was released into the wild in 2002 after more than two decades in captivity weeks on his release he was found living up in Norway in scull Vic fjord.
50 He miss human contact so much he would let children go for ride on his back but if she found in a free world ride sadly Keiko passed away in 2003 but we'll always have Willy.
51 Every year the people of Norway consume about 50 million frozen pizzas that's 5 kilos of frozen pizza for every one of them according to some they're the biggest consumers of pizza per person in the entire world.
52 It's one brand in particular that the locals just can't get enough of grandiose er 20% of the population consider it a national dish and when the company released the pizza theme song called respect for grandioso in 2006 it topped the charts for eight consecutive weeks.
53 The national dish is 40 call this is a stew consisting of mutton to the bone cabbage and boil potatoes.
54 On September 29th 2012 Guinness World Records approved the world record of making the largest portion of for recall ever the result was five hundred ninety four point two kilograms of full recall prepared to be finished at the same time consisting of 60 percent lamb and 40 percent cabbage this happened in Spica supa Oslo Norway and there were 10,000 guests present I wonder what they ate definitely the for recall.
55 Bruno's store brown cheese is considered an important part of Norwegian gastronomical and cultural identity and heritage Bruno is primarily produced and consumed in Norway and it's for gardeners from the country's most iconic foodstuffs.
56 Ulster hvala in modern cheese slicer or cheese plain was invented by Thor Bjorklund in 1925 in Norway and the design is based on the carpenter's plane it's not an actual plane a plane Medicis wouldn't go far but it would taste nice.
57 Norway's national drink is a cadet tour aquavit this is a potato based spirit seasoned with caraway seeds or sometimes fennel cumin star anise seed dill or orange peel it was derived in 1831 from whisky created by SK Billy.
58 There are almost as many people with Norwegian ancestry living in America today than there are people in Norway around 4 million 650,000 or 1.5 percent of Americans have Norwegian blood the bulk of this emigration took place between 1825 and 1925 when 800,000 the Weejuns came to the USA.
59 The exception of Ireland no other country lost to higher share its population to the u.s. these roots are clearly still very important as one Luigi immigrants who became a US World War 2 veteran was given a full Viking burial by the US Coast Guard in 2014.
60 Nowadays Norway's population growth is actually from immigration in 2018 52,000 immigrants arrived in the country and with 34,000 people emigrating plus low birth rates Norway would actually have a declining population without it.
61 In fact approximately 750,000 immigrants call more way home that's just over fourteen point four percent of the entire population this means there's four million 650 Norwegians in Norway versus four million six hundred fifty thousand or beaten Americans in America so if you can't afford a trip to more slow just go to Minnesota.
62 You may remember that I mentioned earlier that Norway is the happiest country on earth or at least one of them well according to the UN's reports editors the secret to happiness includes good social support network social trust honest government safe environments and healthy lives and lots and lots of pizza that last bit was me not the UN.
63 Lots of money also helps in the realm of happiness or at least untold and that's good because Norway has plenty of dollars back in 1990 the country set up a fund to preserve the nation's fast oil and gas wealth for future generations nintendo.
64 Today that fund is worth one trillion dollars and owns around 1.5 percent of all shares and listed companies this sovereign wealth fund helps pay for top-notch social welfare and its value means that there's 160 thousand dollars for each person living in Norway.
65 Norway has its fair share of war heroes one is a command up in the name of John bars fruit who became a legend darter a 1943 raid he was on in the fjords went wrong on the run from the Germans for nine weeks Bell's roots somehow survived the following his feet being frozen solid being buried up to his neck in an avalanche and being trapped again in a snow tomb for four days.
66 There's more two weeks in a cave or a enter amputate most of his toes to avoid frostbite and gangrene and several weeks on a stretcher carried by various Norwegians who go up to safety amazingly he recovered from that and helped train other fighters to fight the Nazis you're a legend balls rude.
67 Norway invented salmon sushi back in the 1980s Norway had too much of it so they hatched a plan to introduce salmon sushi to Japan it took until 1995 the plan to work because until Norway's campaign raw salmon was considered disgusting by Japanese consumers as their local species carried parasites today salmon sushi can be found all over the world and it's all thanks to Norway.
68 The Norwegian military is home to the world's highest ranking penguin Brigadier Sir Nils Olav the third is a king penguin and a member of Norway's Kingsguard sir Nils also carries a knighthood after one of his predecessors was given the honor by King Harald v in 2008.
69 There's a long-held myth that it's illegal to die on the island of Longyearbyen what is true is that you're not allowed to be buried there it's so cold the bodies won't decompose and remains in a cemetery there still carry traces of Spanish flu a pandemic that killed 50 million people between 1918 and 1920 although the virus is not thought to be a danger.
70 If you can ignore the potentially deadly virus lurking in the grounds Valle bard isn't actually that bad a place to go in case of the apocalypse on the island buried in a vault 100 meters deep inside a mountain is the global Seed Vault inside there are around 1 million samples of various crops so in the event of doomsday we'll have stuff to grow.
71 Norway is a great country to be in if you're aspiring to be a writer the Arts Council buys 1000 copies of new Norwegian books to give out to libraries the idea is to support small publishers and new writers who get royalties from the copies bought if you publish a children's book they even buy an extra five hundred fifty.
72 The Scream by Edvard Munch is I could be the most famous Norwegian painting but it's actually four of them there's two in paint and two in pastels.
73 In 2012 one of the pastel version sold were 120 million dollars making it the most expensive artwork sold at auction at the time it now sits seventh on that list.
74 The iconic mask from the film scream yeah that's based on the scream as is the face screaming in fear emoji so big cultural touchstones.
75 You know what sucks running out of money at Christmastime or not having enough cash to enjoy your holidays in the summer but don't panic though because the Lowe agent government has you covered you see Norway operates on a 10.5 month income tax system which means you don't pay tax in June and only half tax in December I mean technically you just pay more in the other months but still the extra moolah Rin holiday time does sound great.
76 Ferns of Star Wars or The Empire Strikes Back in particular might enjoy a trip to Norway the iconic scenes of the planet Hoth were filmed in the right town of finns and in the nearby hard danger yoculan yard during filming in 1979 and George Lucas in Qom had to battle the elements as the country experienced its worst winter storm in the years.
77 Temperatures reached - 29 degrees Celsius that's minus 20 point 2 degrees Fahrenheit and around five point five meters of snow fell the shot of Luke escaping the Whomper by running out to its cave was actually just Mark Hamill running to their hotel and into the snow right outside the building.
78 Even though he was born in Wales Roald Dahl's parents were both Norwegian immigrants his first language was Norwegian and he was baptized at the Norwegian Church in Cardiff.
79 Dahl was influenced by Norwegian folklore myths and legends that his mother would tell him and some of his children's books contain references or elements inspired by these stories such as the Giants in The BFG the Fox family in fantastic mr. Fox and the trolls in the men pins.
80 In fact the Chocolate Factory in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was based on the frere chocolate factory.
81 In 2002 one of Cardiff Bay's modern landmarks the oval Basin Plaza was renamed Roald Dahl PLAs bass is the reason for place or square alluding to the rightest Norwegian roots.
82 In 2017 the airline Norwegian announced dance image would appear on the tail fin of one of their Boeing 737-800 aircraft he's one of the company's six British tail fin heroes including Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.
83 The Weejuns are obsessed with skiing and a man called Sondra norheim is said to be the pioneer upon skiing and the father of the Telemark skiing what's that I hear you ask well hang on.
84 Telemark skiing is a skiing technique that combines the elements of Alpine and Nordic skiing Telemark skiing named after the Telemark reaches Norway where it all came from baby.
85 They love skiing so much that cross-country skiing is the country's national sport in fact one chap called burger route who was Norwegian that's why we're talking about him 1 both the men ski jumping until 1932 and the downhill racing event in 1936 making him the only athlete to ever win both in the Winter Olympics.
86 The holmenkollen ski festival is the world's oldest ski festival attracting nearly 1 million people per year it was established as early as 1870.
87 While skiing is their national sport and you know that a lot of their stuffs to do with skiing they do love football or soccer and that's considered to be the most popular sport in the country.
88 It's said that the paperclip was invented by Johan philia in 1887 without him we never would have had Clippy so you know thank you fella.
89 The land old tunnel is the world's longest road tunnel at 50 miles and is located in the vest land it cost 113 point 1 million US dollars to make or around 1.08 2 billion Norwegian kroner.
90 How long did that take to make oh here you ask well welcome a tunnel began in 1995 and it wasn't completed until 2020 now I'm joking mm the tunnel sees around 2,000 vehicles every single day.
91 It's worth noting that Norway has a very tall dark and handsome mountain called God hole Pugin at 8,000 100 feet tall it's actually the highest mountain in the whole of Scandinavia.
92 Another thing about Norway they have some fast ladies let me tell ya Oslo born grete Waitz was the first woman to run a marathon in less than two and a half hours.
93 Sog nephew Odin is the largest fjord in Norway and third largest in the world it's the longest ice-free fraud in the world and stretches 127 miles inland from the ocean.
94 Speaking of lakes which we weren't but pretend we were the country has 450,000 of them is that too many some might say that's too many.
95 Remember when I mentioned Minnesota earlier well Minnesota is the unofficial Norwegian capital of the United States as more Norwegians lived there than in any other state.
96 Officially adopted on the 17th of January 1821 the flag of Norway were designed by a guy called Frederick Meltzer who was a member of parliament.
97 Originally the national flag of Norway was described as one that had a golden line with a crown and an axe on a red background however this flank gradually phased out in the 17th and 18th centuries the original flag is still one present used as the royal standard.
98 Villa thousand is the world's sixth tallest and Europe's highest waterfall it's a 816 meters in height.
99 In the up decodes Norway and like looking at animals here the ones you can find there the red squirrel a polar bear musk ox Vipers and reindeer.
100 over there is a village in Norway that's particularly hellish let me tell ya what in the it's called hell it has 1524 inhabitants so number 201 it's worth noting about the village by the way that the temperature there can reach minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 25 degrees Celsius in winter which means hell quite literally freezes over every year smells one hunter one fact about Norway have you ever been to Norway do you live in Norway have you ever met so Niels the penguin.
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