22. Norway

Photographs from Norway

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: Oslo is the capital city of Norway.
: Ålesund is a beautiful Norwegian city.
: Hammerfest is a city in Northern Norway..
: Vardø is located on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.
: A typical Norwegian landscape.
: The shore regions of Norway are known for their beauty.
: A member of the Sami people with a reindeer.

Basic facts: Norway

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Surface area: 323 787 km² (approximately the same as Finland)

Population: 5 million, or 5 000 000 (approximately the same as Finland)

Currency: Norwegian krone

Most important livelihoods: oil and natural gas production, fishing, services, the mechanical and chemical industries

What is Norway like?

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Norway is a constitutional monarchy. This means that on paper, the nation is led by a king, but that its actual political power is held by its democratically elected parliament. The current king of Norway is Harald V.

The capital city of Norway is Oslo. It is also the nation's largest city. It is Norway's largest center of politics, economy and culture. Oslo is located in the southern part of the nation.

Most of the Norwegian people speak the Norwegian language. It is the official language of the nation. In the northern parts of Norway, the Sami language is considered the second official language.

Norway is a rich nation

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Norway has one of the highest standards of living on the planet. Norway's riches are based on its oil and natural gas resources, as well as its large waterpower plants.

Most of the electricity produced in Norway comes from waterpower plants, which are powered by water that flows down from the Scandinavian mountain range towards the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the oil and natural gas produced in Norway is sold to other nations.

Fishing and fish farming are also important Norwegian livelihoods, especially on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

Norwegian geography

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Typical Norwegian landscapes are characterized by the presence of mountains and the sea. Norway is surrounded in the north by the Barents Sea, in the west by the Atlantic Ocean and the Norwegian Sea, and in the south by the strait of Skagerrak.

Norway is a very mountainous country. The mountain range of the Scandes rises on the border between it and Sweden. Its highest peak is Galdhøpiggen, which is part of the Jotunheim Mountains. It is the highest mountain in Northern Europe. It is over 2 469 meters tall.

The Lofoten islands, Jan Mayen and the Bouvet Island also belong to Norway.

The Norwegian coast is full of bends and narrow fjords. There are also many rivers and lakes. Glomma is a long river in Southern Norway, whereas the river Tana acts as a border between Norway and Finland in Northern Lapland.

Norwegian nature

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Over half of Norway's land surface area consists of treeless mountain tops, where the only vegetation consists of shrubs, mosses and lichens. Approximately one third of the nation's surface area is covered by forest. The most common Norwegian trees are spruce and birch. Norwegian wood is widely used as a raw material in the milling and paper industries.

The sea is important part of Norwegian nature. Fishing and fish farming are some of the most important Norwegian livelihoods. The sea also offers transportation routes for people and cars in the mountainous and difficult terrain.

One of the worlds' most famous shipping routes, the Hurtigruten, travels for over two thousand kilometres from the city of Bergen to the city of Kirkenes on the Arctic Ocean. The name of the route literally means "the quick route", but the journey still takes 11 days.

The Atlantic Ocean and its Gulf Stream provide warmth to the Norwegian coast. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, the Norwegian harbours do not freeze during the winter.

The maritime climate of Norway is characterized by rain. Bergen is one of the rainiest cities in all of Europe. During the summer, the rain falls down as water, whereas during the winter it falls down as snow.

Terminology

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Norway
Term	Explanation
monarchy	A form of goverment where a nation is led by a monarch, such as a king or a queen.
parliament	A democratically elected form of government.