History - Norway - page 941

The mystery behind the disappearance of the Greenland colonies is examined in Jared Diamond's Col-
lapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive .
In 1469 Orkney and Shetland were pawned - supposedly a temporary measure - to the
Scottish CrownbytheDanish-Norwegian KingChristian I,whohadtoraise moneyforhis
daughter's dowry. Just three years later the Scots annexed both island groups.
Buffetedbythesewindsofchange,Norwayhadbecomeashadowofitsformerself.The
only apparent constant was the country's staunch Christian faith. But even in the country's
faith there were fundamental changes afoot. In 1537, the Reformation replaced the incum-
bent Catholic faith with Lutheran Protestantism and the transformation of the Norway of
the Vikings was all but complete.
Denmark & Sweden - the Enemy
Talk to many Norwegians and you're likely to find that there's no love lost between them
and their neighbours, Denmark and Sweden. Here's why.
A series of disputes between the Danish Union and the Swedish crown were played out
on Norwegian soil. First came the Seven Years War (1563-70), followed by the Kalmar
War (1611-14). Trondheim, for example, was repeatedly captured and recaptured by both
sides and during the Kalmar War an invasion of Norway was mounted from Scotland (see
the boxed text, Click here ).
In two further wars during the mid-17th century Norway lost a good portion of its ter-
ritory to Sweden. The Great Nordic War with the expanding Swedish Empire was fought
in the early 18th century and in 1716 the Swedes occupied Christiania (Oslo). The Swedes
were finally defeated in 1720, ending over 150 years of warfare.
Despite attempts to re-establish trade with Greenland through the formation of Norwe-
gian trading companies in Bergen in 1720, Danish trade restrictions scuppered the nascent
economic independence. As a consequence, Norway was ill-equipped to weather the so-
called 'Little Ice Age', from 1738 to 1742. The failure of crops ensured a period of famine
and the death of one-third of Norwegian cattle, not to mention thousands of people.
Sweden and Visions of Norway: Politics and Culture 1814 - 1905 , by H Arnold Barton, offers a detailed
analysis of the enmity and uneasy neighbourliness between Norway and Sweden in the pivotal 19th cen-
tury.
During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain blockaded Norway, causing the Danes to surrender
on 14 January 1814. The subsequent Treaty of Kiel presented Norway to Sweden in a
'Union of the Crowns'. Tired of having their territory divided up by foreign kings, a con-