Photo:1
Photo:2
Photo:3
Photo:4
Photo:1 Photo:2 Photo:3 Photo:4 |
| Etymology | |
| 2>
Modern etymologists believe the country's name means "the northward route" (the "way north" or the "north way"), which in Old Norse would have been nor veg or *norð vegr. The Old Norse name for Norway was Nóregr, the Anglo-Saxon Norþ weg and mediaeval Latin Northvegia. The present name of the Kingdom of Norway in Nynorsk is "Kongeriket Noreg" and in Bokmål "Kongeriket Norge", both only a couple of letters removed from the original "northern way": Nor(d)-(v)e.g.
Tags:Nynorsk,No,Bokmål,King,Etymologists,Anglo-saxon, | |
| Prehistory | |
| 3>
Approximate extent of the Corded Ware culture.
Nordic Bronze Age rock carvings at Steinkjer, Central Norway
Main article: Scandinavian prehistory
The first inhabitants were the Ahrensburg culture (11th to 10th millennia BC) which was a late Upper Paleolithic culture during the Younger Dryas, the last spell of cold at the end of the Weichsel glaciation. The culture is named after village of Ahrensburg, 25 km (15.53 mi) northeast of Hamburg in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein where wooden arrow shafts and clubs have been excavated.[17] The earliest traces of human occupation in Norway are found along the coast, where the huge ice shelf of the last ice age first melted between 11,000 and 8,000 BC. The oldest finds are stone tools dating from 9,500 to 6,000 BC, discovered in Finnmark (Komsa culture) in the north and Rogaland (Fosna culture) in the southwest. However, theories about two altogether different cultures (the Komsa culture north of the Arctic Circle being one and the Fosna culture from Trøndelag to Oslo Fjord being the other) were rendered obsolete in the 1970s. More recent finds along the entire coast revealed to archaeologists that the difference between the two can simply be ascribed to different types of tools and not to different cultures. Coastal fauna provided a means of livelihood for fishermen and hunters, who may have made their way along the southern coast about 10,000 BC when the interior was still covered with ice. It is now thought that these so-called “Arctic” peoples came from the south and followed the coast northward considerably later. Some may have come along the ice-free coast of the Kola Peninsula, but the evidence of this is still poor.
In the southern part of the country are dwelling sites dating from about 5,000 BC. Finds from these sites give a clearer idea of the life of the hunting and fishing peoples. The implements vary in shape and mostly are made of different kinds of stone; those of later periods are more skillfully made. Rock carvings (i. e. petroglyphs) have been found, usually near hunting and fishing grounds. They represent game such as deer, reindeer, elk, bears, birds, seals, whales, and fish (especially salmon and halibut), all of which were vital to the way of life of the coastal peoples. The carvings at Alta in Finnmark, the largest in Scandinavia, were made at sea level continuously from 4,200 to 500 BC and mark the progression of the land as it rose from the sea after the last ice age (Rock carvings at Alta).
Tags:Nordic,Arctic,Corded Ware Culture,Nordic Bronze Age,Rock Carvings,Steinkjer,Scandinavian Prehistory,Ahrensburg Culture,Last Ice Age,Finnmark,Komsa Culture,Rogaland,Fosna Culture,Arctic Circle,Trøndelag,Oslo Fjord,Deer,Reindeer,Elk,Bears,Birds,Seals,Whales,Fish,Salmon,Halibut,Rock Carvings At Alta, | |
| Bronze Age | |
| 3>
Main article: Nordic Bronze Age
Sæbø sword from Sæbø, Hordaland (800 AD)
Between 3000 and 2500 BC new settlers (Corded Ware culture) arrived in eastern Norway. They were Indo-European farmers who grew grain and kept cows and sheep. The hunting-fishing population of the west coast was also gradually replaced by farmers, though hunting and fishing remained useful secondary means of livelihood.
From about 1500 BC bronze was gradually introduced, but the use of stone implements continued; Norway had few riches to barter for bronze goods, and the few finds consist mostly of elaborate weapons and brooches that only chieftains could afford. Huge burial cairns built close to the sea as far north as Harstad and also inland in the south are characteristic of this period. The motifs of the rock carvings differ from those typical of the Stone Age. Representations of the Sun, animals, trees, weapons, ships, and people are all strongly stylized, probably as fertility symbols connected with the religious ideas of the period.
Tags:Europe,Eu,Sæbø Sword,Sæbø, Hordaland,Indo-european,Farmers,Grain,Cows,Sheep,Harstad,Stone Age,Sun,Animals,Trees, | |
| Iron Age | |
| 3>
Main article: Pre-Roman Iron Age
Little has been found dating from the early Iron Age (the last 500 years BC). The dead were cremated, and their graves contain few burial goods. During the first four centuries AD the people of Norway were in contact with Roman-occupied Gaul. About 70 Roman bronze cauldrons, often used as burial urns, have been found. Contact with the civilized countries farther south brought a knowledge of runes; the oldest known Norwegian runic inscription dates from the 3rd century. At this time the amount of settled area in the country increased, a development that can be traced by coordinated studies of topography, archaeology, and place-names. The oldest root names, such as nes, vik, and bø (“cape,” “bay,” and “farm”), are of great antiquity, dating perhaps from the Bronze Age, whereas the earliest of the groups of compound names with the suffixes vin (“meadow”) or heim (“settlement”), as in Bjorgvin (Bergen) or Saeheim (Seim), usually date from the 1st century AD.
Tags:Norwegian,1st, | |
| Migration Age | |
| 3>
Main article: Migration Age
The destruction of the Western Roman Empire by the Germanic tribes (5th century) is characterized by rich finds, including chieftains’ graves containing magnificent weapons and gold objects. Hill forts were built on precipitous rocks for defense. Excavation has revealed stone foundations of farmhouses 60 to 90 feet (18 to 27 metres) long—one even 150 feet (46 metres) long—the roofs of which were supported on wooden posts. These houses were family homesteads where several generations lived together, with people and cattle under one roof. From this period and later (600–800), nascent communities can be traced. Defense works require cooperation and leadership, so petty states of some kind with a defense and administrative organization must have existed.
These states were based on either clans or tribes (e.g., the Horder of Hordaland in western Norway). By the 9th century each of these small states had things, or tings (local or regional assemblies), for negotiating and settling disputes. The thing meeting places, each eventually with a horg (open-air sanctuary) or a hov (temple; literally “hill”), were usually situated on the oldest and best farms, which belonged to the chieftains and wealthiest farmers. The regional things united to form even larger units: assemblies of deputy yeomen from several regions. In this way, the lagting (assemblies for negotiations and lawmaking) developed. The Gulating had its meeting place by Sognefjord and may have been the centre of an aristocratic confederation along the western fjords and islands called the Gulatingslag. The Frostating was the assembly for the leaders in the Trondheimsfjord area; the earls Jarls of Lade, near Trondheim, seem to have enlarged the Frostatingslag by adding the coastland from Romsdalsfjord to the Lofoten Islands. A lagting developed in the area of Lake Mjøsa in the east and eventually established its meeting place at Eidsvoll, becoming known as the Eidsivating. The area around Oslofjord, although at times closely tied to Denmark, developed a lagting—with its meeting place at Sarpsborg called the Borgarting.
Tags:5th,Denmark,Fjords, | |
| Viking Age | |
| 3>
Main article: Viking Age
The helmet found at Gjermundbu near Haugsbygd, Buskerud, is the only Viking Age helmet that has been found.
The Gokstad ship at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway.
The Norwegian Kingdom at its greatest extent, c. 1265
The Viking Age was characterized by expansion and emigration by Viking seafarers. According to tradition, Harald Fairhair (Harald Hårfagre) unified them into one in 872 after the Battle of Hafrsfjord in Stavanger, thus becoming the first king of a united Norway. (The date of 872 may be somewhat arbitrary. In fact, the actual date may be just prior to 900).[18] Harald's realm was mainly a South Norwegian coastal state. Harald Fairhair ruled with a strong hand and, according to the sagas, many Norwegians left the country to live in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and parts of Britain and Ireland. The modern-day Irish cities of Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford were founded by Norwegian (and Danish) settlers.[19] Norse traditions were slowly replaced by Christian ones in the 10th and 11th Centuries. This is largely attributed to the missionary kings Olav Tryggvasson and St. Olav. Haakon the Good was Norway's first Christian king, in the mid-10th century, though his attempt to introduce the religion was rejected. Born sometime in between 963–969, Olav Tryggvasson set off raiding in England with 390 ships. He attacked London during this raiding. Arriving back in Norway in 995, Olav landed in Moster.[20] There he built a church which became the first Christian church ever built in Norway.[20] From Moster, Olav sailed north to Trondheim were he was acclaimed King of Norway by the Eyrathing in 995.[20]
Feudalism never really developed in Norway and Sweden, as it did in the rest of Europe.[21] However, the administration of government took on a very conservative feudal character.[21] The Hanseatic League forced the royalty to cede to them greater and greater concessions over foreign trade and the economy.[21] The League had this hold over the royalty because of the loans the Hansa had made to the royalty and the large debt the kings were carrying.[21] The League's monopolistic control over the economy of Norway put pressure on all classes, especially the peasantry, to the degree that no real burgher class existed in Norway.[21]
Tags:Norwegians,Sweden,Viking,Iceland,Greenland,Hanseatic League, | |
| Kalmar Union | |
| 3>
Main article: Kalmar Union
Kalmar Union c. 1500 AD
Upon the death of Haakon V, King of Norway, in 1319, three year-old Magnus Erikson inherited the throne as King Magnus VII of Norway.[22] At the sa Tags: | |
zote monety click here click here click here click here |