Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Greenland joins the Kingdom of Norway, followed a year later by Iceland, reflecting Norway's
growing influence over the affairs of Europe's far north.
1319
Magnus becomes King of Sweden and unites Sweden and Norway. This ends Norwegian inde-
pendence and the royal line of Harald Fair-Hair, and begins two centuries of decline.
1349
Bubonic plague (the Black Death) arrives in Bergen and quickly spreads throughout the country,
forever altering Norway's social fabric.
1469
The Orkney and Shetland islands, along with the Isle of Man, are sold to the Scots, bringing to an
end centuries of Norwegian expansion.
1537
The Reformation that sweeps across Europe reaches Norway, after which the incumbent Catholic
faith is replaced with Lutheran Protestantism.
1596
Willem Barents, a Dutch explorer searching for a northeast sea passage to Asia, becomes the first
European to set foot on Svalbard. He names the archipelago Spitsbergen ('sharp mountains').
1612
Commercial whaling begins on Svalbard, with English, Dutch, Norwegian, French and Danish
fleets driving many whale and other marine species to the brink of extinction in the centuries that
follow.
1720
After 150 years of conflict on Norwegian soil (the Seven Years War, the Kalmar War and the Great
Nordic War), Sweden is finally defeated, although Danish and Swedish influence remains strong.
