Capital: Oslo.
Official language: Norwegian (Bokmal and Nynorsk).
Official name: Kongeriket Norge (Kingdom of Norway).
Constitution: Monarchy (from 1991 King Harald V)
Population: estimated 2000 population 4,440,000:
density, 11 persons per sq. km. (7 persons per sq. miles) distribution, 74 percent urban, 26 percent rural.
National holiday: Constitution Day, May 17.
National anthem: "Ja, vi elsker dette landet". ("Yes, We Love This Land").
it has long periods every summer when the sun shines 24 hours a day. Oslo, Norway's capital and largest city, is in the southern part of the country. Most of the Norwegian people live near or along the sea. Winds warmed by the sea give the coast much warmer winters than other regions so far north, and snow melts quickly there. Even north of the Arctic Circle, nearly all of Norway's harbours are free of ice all year round. Inland areas are very much colder, and snow covers the ground much of the year. For thousands of years, the people have used skis for travel over the snow-covered ground. Today, skiing is Norway's national sport. Most Norwegians learn to ski before they even start school.
Since the time of the Vikings, the Norwegians have been seafaring people. Norway's coast is famous for its many long, narrow inlets of the sea called fiords, which provide fine harbours.
Norway is mostly a high, mountainous plateau covered by bare rock, and it has a relatively small amount of farmland. But the rivers that rush down from the mountains provide much cheap electricity. Norway generates more hydroelectric power per person than any other country. Norwegian manufacturing is based on this cheap power. Important products of Norway include chemicals, metals, petroleum, processed foods, wood pulp and paper. Norway is one of Europes largest producer of petroleum due to its massive oil reserves. Which has made Norwegians one of the richest people in the world.
A Norwegian Viking, Leif Ericson discovered America in about A.D. 1 000 (almost 500 years before Columbus A.D. 1492).
the Norwegian Roald Amundsen was the first man on the South Pole (year 1911).
Norway has the fourth largest shipping fleet in the world (after Greece, Japan and USA) and one of the largest fishing industry (after Japan).
Norway generates most hydroelectric power per person in the world.
Norwegians are the second richest people in the world (only Swiss people are richer).
Norway has the second highest amount of subscribers of mobile telephones in the world, 45% (only Finland lies higher with 48%), Norwegians invented the famous paperclip and the SKIS
and is the most jagged and dramatic country in the world.
