In the 1920s, Norway annexed Jan Mayen and was given the sovereignty over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty. The polar territories of Bouvet Island, Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land are external dependencies, but not parts of Norway. Norwegian claim for a sector of Antarctic mainland called Queen Maud Land is not recognised by the international community.
Since World War II Norway has experienced rapid economic growth, and is now amongst the wealthiest countries in the world. Norway is the world's fourth largest oil exporter and the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of GDP.
Norway also has rich resources of gas fields, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals. Norway was the second largest exporter of seafood (in value, after China) in 2006. Other main industries include food processing, shipbuilding, metals, chemicals, mining, fishing and pulp and paper products. Norway has a Scandinavian welfare model and the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation.
Norway was ranked highest of all countries in human development from 2001 to 2006, and shares first place with Iceland from 2007 to 2008. It was also rated the most peaceful country in the world in a 2007 survey by Global Peace Index. It is a founding member of NATO.
THE HISTORY OF NORWAY
From around the time of the Roman Empire until about 800 AD, many stone inscriptions can be found, written in Runes. Apparently, the small kingdoms developed during these centuries.
The period from 800–1066 is referred to in Norwegian history as the Viking age. During this period, Norwegians, as well as Swedes and Danes, traveled abroad on longships, as raiders, explorers, settlers and traders.
By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingdom was firmly established, although there was still only a very rudimentary administrative framework. After the Black Death Norway entered into a period of decline.
1396–1537 Norway was a part of Kalmar Union.
From 1537 to 1814 Norway was a part of Denmark-Norway.
Denmark–Norway entered into an alliance with Napoleon, with the war leading to dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812. In 1814 Denmark-Norway was defeated in the Napoleonic wars and the king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel (January 14). Sweden and Norway adopted a loose union.
This period also saw the rise of the Norwegian romantic nationalism cultural movement, as Norwegians sought to define and express a distinct national character. The union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905.
Norway remained neutral during World War I. During both World Wars, Norway claimed neutrality, but it was invaded by German forces during World War II on April 9, 1940.
Norway joined NATO in 1949. Two plebiscites to join the European Union failed by narrow margins in 1972 and 1994. Norway has been a close ally of the United States. Large reserves of petroleum and natural gas were discovered in the 1960s, which led to a continuing boom in the economy.
THE SÁMI PEOPLE
The Sámi people are the indigenous people of northern Europe inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Their ancestral lands span across an area the size of Sweden in the Nordic countries. The Sámi people are among the largest indigenous ethnic groups in Europe. Their languages are the Sámi languages, which are classified as members of the Finno-Volgaic group of the Uralic language family.
Anthropologists have been studying the Sámi people for hundreds of years for their physical and cultural differences from the rest of Europeans. Recent genetic studies have indicated that the two most frequent maternal linages of the Sámi people are the first Homo sapiens inhabitants of Europe and the second, descendants of common ancestorswith Catalonians and the Basque people, one of the earliest inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula. The most common paternal linage among the Sami are possible ancestors originating from the Volga-Ural region who may represent a Finno-Ugric speaking people.
Because of the cultural assimilation of the Sami people that had occurred in the four countries over the centuries, population estimates are difficult to precisely measure.However, the population has been estimated to be between 80,000-135,000 across the whole Nordic region, including urban areas such as Oslo, Norway, traditionally considered outside Sápmi. The Norwegian state recognizes any Norwegian as Sámi if he or she has one great-grandparent whose home language was Sámi, but there is not, and has never been, any registration of the home language spoken by Norwegian people.
There is no one Sami identity that signifies someone who is Sami. For example, regarding language, there are several areas in Sapmi where few of the Sami speak their native language due to the forced cultural assimilation, but still consider themselves Sami. Other identity markers could include kinship, the geographical region of Sápmi where their family came from, and/or protecting or preserving certain aspects of Sami culture.
Roughly half of all Sámi live in Norway, but many live in Sweden. Smaller groups live in the far north of Finland and Russia. The Sámi in Russia were forced by the Soviet authorities to relocate to a collective called Lovozero/Lujávri, in the central part of the Kola Peninsula.
Traditionally, the Sámi had a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding. However, the best known recognition of Sami livelihood is reindeer herding, but less than 10% of Sámi are connected with reindeer herding, with 2,800 still actively involved full-time. For traditional and cultural reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved only for Sámi people in some parts of the Nordic countries. Today, many Sámi lead modern lives in the cities inside and outside the traditional Sápmi area, with modern jobs.
