All You Need to Know About Norway
Print your friends and family with these remarkable facts and startling truths about the one and only Norway.
The fjords, mountains and northern lights of Norway are known throughout the world. As is the "capitalism with a conscience" philosophy. But other than the obvious, how much exercise you really know nigh this Scandinavian land?
Whether yous're preparing for a quiz nighttime or you just want to impress your friends with some random noesis, these Norwegian tidbits are just what y'all need!
Take hold of a pen, get comfortable, accept your favourite hot drink handy. Here come up the Norway facts yous never knew you lot needed to know!
one. The world's longest road tunnel is in Norway
At an astonishing 15 miles (24.five km) long, the Lærdal Tunnel is the globe's longest. Costing 1 billion Norwegian kroner to build (that'south about USD $110 one thousand thousand) the tunnel connects the small communities of Lærdal and Aurland.
Its design is admired all around the world, as it incorporates features to help manage the mental strain on drivers. Every 6km there is a cave to separate sections of road. The lighting varies throughout the tunnel and caves to break routine and provide a varied view.
Having driven through the tunnel myself, I tin can attest to the importance of the design. It'southward a tiring bulldoze, and the lighting makes a massive difference. At each end, cameras count the number of cars inbound and exiting. This helps ensure a swift response in the event of accident or breakdown.
If you drive through the tunnel, consider taking the 'snow road' back. It'southward one of Kingdom of norway's national scenic routes and a spectacular drive, albeit closed for half of the year.
Read more: Norway stats
ii. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo
The Norwegian capital has been the proud venue of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony every twelvemonth (with just a few exceptions) since 1901. The other Nobel prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Physics and Physiology or Medicine are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden.
That's due to the wishes of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist who bequeathed his wealth to create the awards upon his death. No-1'south quite sure why he chose Norway for the Peace Prize.
Located betwixt the City Hall and the Aker Brygge development, the Nobel Peace Centre chronicles the fascinating history of the award, and usually has a special exhibition on the electric current holder of the prize. It opened in 2005. If you've always in Stockholm, it'south worth stopping by the Nobel Centre there also, for the complete story.
3. The world's nigh remote island is a Norwegian territory
But it may surprise you to acquire that information technology'southward not in the n! It'southward actually on the other side of the earth. Administered by Norway since 1929, Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean is Planet World'south near remote island.
It is located approximately 1,700km n of the coastline of Antarctica and 2,600km away from the S African declension. The closest inhabited country is the British overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha, more than 2,000km away. Tristan is also an extremely remote place, with no aerodrome.
Norway designated the 49km² island and its territorial waters a nature reserve in the 1970s. While no-i lives on the island, Norwegian authorities exercise maintain an (unmanned) conditions station. This means it's like shooting fish in a barrel to bank check the weather there from Norway, or anywhere else in the world for that matter.
Because of Bouvet's remoteness and the lack of an airport, visiting the island is a no-go. Unless you're a scientist on a inquiry expedition, this is ane island yous'll likely never get to visit.
4. Norway has a country border with Russia
This one had me scratching my head and checking a map when I kickoff moved to Norway. Although there is just one road crossing, the Norway-Russia land border is really 120 miles long.
The Storskog crossing on the E105 highway is the northernmost road border crossing in Europe. In September 2017, a new tunnel and bridge opened on the Kingdom of norway side of the border, decreasing travel time for those crossing the border.
By the manner, that'due south something many people exercise. Norwegians cross over to buy cheaper fuel for their cars, while Russians cross over to buy better quality goods in Kirkenes.
Much of the edge is defined by a river and cuts through dense wood for the majority of the route. Distinctive posts coloured bright yellow on the Norway side and cherry-green striped on the Russian side marker the border. It'southward important to pay attending if you're out hiking in these remote areas, because taking fifty-fifty a couple of steps to encircle the posts is illegal.
5. Kirkenes is farther east than all of Finland
In fact, the pocket-size Arctic town is as far eastward as Cairo. This continues to blow my mind when thinking about it and I'thou rarely surprised when people doubtfulness it! Don't believe information technology? Bank check a map!
At only 9 miles (fifteen km) from the Russian border, Kirkenes is one of Norway's virtually interesting places from a social perspective. As information technology'southward so shut to the border, there is a big Russian influence.
You'll see bilingual street signs and plenty of shops advert offers and deals primarily to Russian visitors. Because of the number of non-locals spending time in the town, English is very much a third language in this minor town.
Almost international visitors have heard of the name because Kirkenes is the point at which the Hurtigruten littoral ferry "turns effectually" to keep its epic multi-day voyage back to Bergen. Most international visitors continuing their journey on board accept effectually three hours to explore the metropolis.
Attractions of note include a World State of war II bunker that's open to visitors by prior arrangement, the Borderlands museum, office of Varanger museum , and the church, pictured above.
6. Kingdom of norway is abode to Hell
Yes, really! A little over one thousand Norwegians tin say they live in Hell. The small village is within walking distance of Trondheim's international aerodrome and fifty-fifty has its own train station.
The train station is in itself something of a tourist attraction. Several times I've spotted tourists snapping a photo of themselves in front of the station sign! But there're more than to Hell than just the name.
Take a short walk from the station via a signed forest trial and you'll detect some crude stone carvings of reindeer, believed to be effectually five,000 years onetime. There's besides a hotel and a small shopping heart, amid other local facilities.
7. Norway introduced salmon sushi to Nihon
While sushi is absolutely a Japanese invention, they did non utilise salmon in the dish until it was suggested by a Norwegian delegation in 1980'due south.
Despite the distance between the countries, Japan seemed a natural fit for Norwegian seafood. Japan's fish stocks were suffering from overfishing but demand from consumers was high.
The deals created all those years ago have helped to boost Norwegian seafood exports. In Japan, Norwegian salmon sushi is i of the nigh popular dishes, specially among younger people.
Information technology took time to happen though, as the Japanese were originally concerned with the health impact of eating raw salmon. Only they got over that, and Norwegian exports haven't looked back and seafood is now one of Kingdom of norway'southward biggest industries.
8. Income and wealth of all residents is on public tape
Everyone living in Norway has three figures taken from their almanac tax render published: their annual income, income tax paid, and total wealth. Aye, really!
Prior to 2013, this information was completely open up and searchable by anyone. That has since changed though, and now a person is able to run into who has looked upwards their own data.
The thought behind this concept is that taxation evasion becomes much more difficult to attain. If you're recording a depression income and/or wealth simply are driving around in a brand-new Tesla, the authorities are going to get suspicious.
The open nature of this data is also one of the reasons why it's and so easy for Norwegian media to come up with their almanac lists of Norway's richest people and the country's biggest taxpayers.
9. The first U.N. Secretarial assistant-General was Norwegian
In fact, Norway was a founding member of the United Nations back in 1945, when 850 delegates from 50 nations met in San Francisco. Those delegates discussed the proposals worked out by the representatives from Red china, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States from August to Oct the previous year.
The pragmatic and adamant Trygve Lie, who served as Norwegian Foreign Minister during the 2nd World War years of exile in London, took upwardly the post as Secretary-General during the post-state of war years from 1946 to 1952. He passed away in 1968 at the historic period of 72.
Today, with the 2011 addition of South Sudan, there are 193 UN member states, including all undisputed independent states autonomously from the The holy see. The current – and ninth – Secretarial assistant-General is the Portuguese politico António Guterres.
10. There are two versions of the Norwegian language
Or to be more precise, two written variants. Bokmål is used by the vast majority of the country, while Nynorsk is more than popular in rural areas, particularly in the western fjord region.
Read more than: The languages of Norway
All schoolchildren learn both, national broadcaster NRK publish news in both versions of the language, and all public authorities are required to offering forms and other documentation in both variants.
11. Modern and ancient skiing were invented in Kingdom of norway
This one should come as no surprise given the Norwegian obsession with skiing and their success at international level.
Sondre Norheim is said to be the father of mod skiing. In the late 19th-century, he began using stiff ski bindings so he could swing and jump with less adventure of falling. His new ski design – the Telemark ski – led to the modern skis we know and love.
But skiing itself goes much further back. An ancient stone carving at Rødøy in northern Norway shows that people used a course of skis to get around in the Norwegian mountains as long ago as 4,000 years.
Finnmark is dwelling to the oldest preserved ski ever institute, at an incredible 2,300-years former. To superlative it off, many Norwegian words including ski and slalom originated correct hither in Kingdom of norway.
12. Norway rocks the Winter Olympics
Perhaps unsurprising given the facts above, Norway is the world'southward nigh successful nation at the Winter Olympic Games. Despite having little more than v million residents, Norway has won more than medals than any other country in Olympic history.
Post-obit the 2018 games in South korea, Kingdom of norway's full medal haul stood at 368, including 132 golds, from the 23 competitions. Their closest rivals in the table are the United States (305/105) and Germany (238/92).
The state hosted the issue twice: In 1952 in Oslo, and in 1994 in Lillehammer. The legacy of the latter contest continues to this day, and the Norwegian Olympic Museum in Lillehammer is ane of the country's most interesting museums.
Another fun Olympic-related fact about Norway: King Olav V won an Olympic gold medal in sailing in 1928. He was an active crewman throughout his life and his reign.
13. Europe's biggest herd of wild reindeer lives here
Although it may surprise you to larn they don't live in the Arctic! The herd roam Hardangervidda, Europe's biggest mountain plateau. The National Park includes vast plateaus, lush valleys, high mountains, afar glaciers, waterfalls and stunning fjords.
The number of wild reindeer in winter totals effectually 25,000 animals, of which up to 7,000 are found on Hardangervidda.
For centuries, wild reindeer used to roam freely across Norway but as a result of extensive hunting, they were driven into the mountainous areas of south-central Norway in the late nineteenth century.
fourteen. Kingdom of norway has a volcano!
But don't panic, it'south nowhere near the land's biggest cities and won't impact Norway's mainland if it were to erupt. That's because Norway's just agile volcano is on the isle of January Mayen in the Norwegian Bounding main.
Information technology's about half-way between Norway and Greenland, north of Republic of iceland, and is considered together with Svalbard for administrative purposes past the Government.
Although no permanent residents alive anywhere near the 7,306 feet (2,227 m) Beerenberg volcano, inquiry scientists regularly visit the island and even some cruise ships cease by.
15. Norway isn't called Kingdom of norway!
At to the lowest degree, not in Norwegian. Norway is the proper noun of the country in the English language language. In Norwegian, the land is called Norge. In the bottom-used nynorsk diversity of Norwegian, the spelling is Noreg.
In fact, the total proper name of the country is actually the Kingdom of Norway. In Norwegian, this is written as Kongeriket Norge, or Kongeriket Noreg in nynorsk.
Other names for the country include Norwegen (Frg), Noruega (Spanish & Portuguesre), Norvegia (Italian), Norvège (French), and Norja (Finnish). Meanwhile, the Norwegian linguistic communication is known in Norway as norsk.
16. Norway gave the globe the cheese slicer
You're welcome, world! The cheese slicer was invented way back in 1925 by Thor Bjørklund and has become a staple of all Scandinavian kitchens, and many others around the earth.
While a lot of cheese is sold pre-sliced, many people withal buy blocks of cheese and use the invention that has changed piddling in nigh 100 years.
17. Oslo is Norway's most diverse city
Of the 648,000 people in Oslo, 190,000 were born to immigrants or are immigrants themselves. That'south well-nigh thirty% of the city's population, compared to around 15% in the country overall.
The largest ethnic minority in Oslo is Pakistani, followed past immigrants from Sweden, Somalia, and Poland. The diversity of Oslo was among the many emerging topics addressed in the Norwegian Television receiver youth drama Skam. It establish fans beyond the globe thanks to unofficial translations on YouTube.
For many years, Oslo was Europe's fastest growing urban center in pct terms, merely that growth has begun to level off. During the beginning one-half of 2017, more people moved out of Oslo than moved in, for the first time in several years.
xviii. Kingdom of norway isn't powered by oil
Sure, Norway's oil and gas industry has powered the economy, simply it doesn't power the nation's homes. Effectually 98% of Norway's domestic ability usage is drawn from hydroelectric power plants.
Although Norway is only ranked 9th globally based on the percentage of domestic power sourced from renewable sources, the country really generates more electricity than all of the 8 countries ranked to a higher place them – combined!
While the Norwegian government says Norway will be carbon neutral by 2030, that only takes into account domestic emissions, and not the much larger amount embedded in its oil and gas exports.
The regime has also tightened free energy-efficiency standards for buildings, and has encouraged firms and homeowners to burn wood and other forms of biomass for heat and power, instead of fossil fuels.
19. The Colonel-in-Master of the Norwegian King's Guard is a Scottish penguin
Expect, what? Yep, y'all heard right. Brigadier Sir Nils Olav has held the title since 2005, but the involvement goes back to 1972 when the regiment adopted a penguin from Edinburgh Zoo, and to the zoo's opening in 1913 when Norway presented it with its showtime male monarch penguin.
The name 'Nils Olav' and ranks in the Norwegian military have been passed down through iii king penguins since 1972. The current holder is Nils Olav Three.
Information technology's not as unique as you may call up. William "Billy" Windsor (a goat) served in the British Army, while Syrian brown carry Wojtek was enlisted in the Polish ground forces as a private, and subsequently promoted to corporal.
20. No-i knows how long Norway's coastline is!
It's known throughout the world for its jagged mountains and stunning fjords, but believe it or not, no-ane knows for certain just how long Norway'southward epic coast is.
The somewhat counterintuitive ascertainment that the coastline of a landmass does not accept a well-defined length is known equally the coastline paradox. Considering of the fractal nature of a coastline, y'all can only ascertain its length past using units of a specific length. When the unit of measurement length differs, the total length differs – and the difference can be massive.
Stretching all the mode from the Oslofjord down to the sunny south, in and out of the many western fjords and then stretching out for many, miles northward before bending effectually the height of the Scandinavian peninsular to meet with Russia, only one thing's for sure: It's very long!
Arguably the all-time mode to bask the Norwegian coastline – if you don't have your own gunkhole that is – is by taking the full Hurtigruten coastal voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes and back again. On the 12-day voyage you'll get upward shut to some of the country'due south most iconic scenery.
21. Kingdom of norway supplies London with a Christmas tree every yr
And information technology'south not simply whatsoever tree. To say thank you lot for their help during World War Two, the metropolis of Oslo sends Great britain a tree every Christmas. The alpine Norwegian spruce from the Oslo forest is placed prominently in Trafalgar Square.
The tree, busy in a typical Norwegian fashion with white lights, provides a focal point for the ballad-singing festivities that take place on the foursquare throughout the Christmas period.
22. Kingdom of norway was neutral during the Get-go World War
After the First World War broke out, Norway alleged its neutrality. Despite this, Norway still made trade agreements with Great Uk and in 1917 allowed them to accept control of Norwegian body of water vessels.
Kingdom of norway's impartial position was in identify until April 1940, just two months into the Second World War, when the Germans invaded. The Scandinavian country was an attractive location for Adolf Hitler, who was interested by its many accessible bounding main ports and the extraction of iron ore from nearby Sweden.
The Norwegian Regal Family and the government were hastily transported to London, where they managed to form a government in exile and organise the Norwegian war try from distant.
23. Roald Dahl spoke Norwegian
Writer Roald Dahl may have been built-in in Wales, but he was the son of Norwegian parents. He was best known for his children'south short stories, most notably The BFG, James and the Giant Peachand Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
The final mentioned was inspired past Norway's most famous chocolate brand, Freia. Dahl is said to accept taken inspiration for the story from the Freia chocolate mill. Still, the BBC recently claimed Dahl was inspired by Cadbury running tasting tests at Dahl's boarding school in Derbyshire. Peradventure there'due south truth in them both!
24. Harry Pigsty's favourite Norway hangouts are real
Jo Nesbø is Kingdom of norway's leading offense fiction author. His dark and moody portrayal of the country'south most dangerous individuals, especially its murderers, is captured in detail in the Harry Hole series of crime thrillers.
Most of the places featured in the serial are based on real-life locations. Visitors to Oslo can follow in footsteps of detective Hole: accept a stroll downward his abode residence on Sofies Gate in Bislett, visit his workplace, the Oslo district police station (Politihuset), or simply wander through Frogner Park on a wintertime'southward day.
25. Norway'south capital wasn't e'er called Oslo
Founded in 1040, its proper name was originally spelt Ânslo or Áslo. In 1624, later on a great fire destroyed large parts of the metropolis, the determination was made to motility and rebuild it closer to Akershus Fortress. The move also involved changing the name to Christiania in honour of the ruling monarch, King Christian IV.
Between 1814 and 1905, the metropolis existed as a co-official capital of the wedlock betwixt Norway and Sweden. In 1877, after the spelling reform, the metropolis's proper noun was altered to Kristiania. It remained that fashion until 1925, when it returned to its origin name, Oslo.
The city too has a nickname, Tigerstaden (the Metropolis of Tigers). Named and then in 1870 by Norwegian writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson who referred to the urban center as an inhospitable environment (cold and uninviting). At that place is statue of a tiger outside Olso Central Station in laurels of the reference.
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Source: https://www.lifeinnorway.net/norway-facts/
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