Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History
Norway may have become the epitome of a modern, peaceful country, but its history is
soaked in blood. How one led to the other is one of world history's great epics. It is a story
peopled with picaresque characters and always revolving around recurring grand themes.
Before there were people in this land, Norway's story began with the great geological
shifts and ice ages that formed one of Europe's most dramatic landscapes. Onto this terrain,
at once forbidding and majestic, stepped the first and most enduring of Norwegian peoples,
the forerunners of the modern Sami fleeing the icy wastes of Siberia.
But more than any other people, it was the Vikings who would come to dominate Norwe-
gian history. Throughout their five centuries at the pinnacle of European power, their con-
quests extended across much ofEurope, while at home enlightened and despotic kings, civil
wars and battles between Norse godsand growing Christian influence produced some ofthe
most fascinating sagas of Scandinavian history. The Vikings were a hard act to follow and
centuries of decline - during much of which Norway was the restless vassal of its neigh-
bours - cast a shadow over the Middle Ages in what would later become Norway.
Little is known about the nomadic, hunter-gatherer Nøstvet-Økser people, who were most likely tall, blond-
haired, blue-eyed and spoke a Germanic language, the predecessor of modern Scandinavian languages.
Independence was hard-won and brought with it a flourishing cultural scene and growing
national pride. Such events were, however, often overshadowed by desperate poverty and
widespread emigration as Norwegians fled the depredations of home in search of a better
life. WWII, and with it Nazi occupation, dealt a devastating blow to a country still reeling
from the effects of the Great Depression. But the war also gave rise to stirring tales of Nor-
wegian resistance that became an important pillar in forging a modern national identity.
Thediscoveryofoilinthe1960schangedNorwayforever.Suddenlytransformedfroman
economicbackwaterintoEurope'swealthiest country,Norwayhasneverlookedbackandis
now regarded as a model social democracy and almost without peer in its willingness to use
its oil wealth to take the best possible care of its citizens.
The History of Norway - From the Ice Age to Today,
by Øvind Stenersen and Ivar Libæk, provides more
than enough historical detail for most travellers and is available at larger bookshops in Norway.
