Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1870s
Emissaries from London gentlemen's clubs journey to Norway's western fjords to
find blue ice for the clubs' drinks. Soon after, Thomas Cook begins the first tourist
cruises into the fjords.
1895
Alfred Nobel's will decrees that the interest on his vast fortune be awarded each year
'to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on
mankind'.
1905
Norwegians vote overwhelmingly for independence and against union with Sweden.
Norway becomes independent, with its own constitutional monarchy.
1911
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen becomes the first person to reach the South
Pole, highlighting a period of famous Norwegian explorers going to the ends of the
earth.
1913
Norway introduces universal suffrage for women long before many other European
countries and begins a tradition of gender equality that has become a hallmark of
modern Norway.
1914
Norway, Sweden and Denmark announce that they will remain neutral during WWI,
thereby sparing Scandinavia the devastation that the war visited upon much of the
rest of Europe.
1940
On 9 April Nazi Germany invades Norway. King Haakon and the royal family flee
into exile, first to the UK and then Washington, DC, where they remained throughout
the war.
1945
On 7 May the last foreign troops on Norwegian soil, the Russians, withdraw from
Arctic Norway, following the devastation wrought across the country by the retreat-
ing German army.
1945
