NORWAY

Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Scandinavian unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and the subantarctic Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of about 5 million^. It is the second least densely populated country in Europe. The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east; in its south Norway borders the Skagerrak Strait across from Denmark. The capital city of Norway is Oslo. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords.
Two centuries of Viking raids tapered off following the adoption of Christianity by King Olav Tryggvason in 994. A period of civil war ended in the 13th century when Norway expanded its control overseas to parts of Britain, Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland. Norwegian territorial power peaked in 1265, but competition from the Hanseatic League and the spread of the Black Death weakened the country. In 1380, Norway was absorbed into a union with Denmark that lasted more than four centuries. In 1814, Norwegians resisted the cession of their country to Sweden and adopted a new constitution. Sweden then invaded Norway but agreed to let Norway keep its constitution in return for accepting the union under a Swedish king. Rising nationalism throughout the 19th century led to a 1905 referendum granting Norway independence. Although Norway remained neutral in World War I, it suffered heavy losses to its shipping. Norway proclaimed its neutrality at the outset of World War II, but was nonetheless occupied for five years by the Third Reich. In 1949, neutrality was abandoned and Norway became a founding member of  NATO. Discovery of oil and gas in adjacent waters in the late 1960s boosted Norway's economic fortunes. In referenda held in 1972 and 1994, Norway rejected joining the European Union. Key domestic issues include immigration and integration of ethnic minorities, maintaining the country's extensive social safety net with an aging population, and preserving economic competitiveness.
Norway is a unitary parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, with King Harald V as its head of state and Jens Stoltenberg as its prime minister. It is a unitary state with administrative subdivisions on two levels known as counties (fylke) and municipalities (kommuner). The Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act. Although having rejected European Union membership in two referenda, Norway maintains close ties with the union and its member countries, as well as with the United States. Norway remains one of the biggest financial contributors to the United Nations, and participates with UN forces in international missions, notably in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Sudan and Libya. Norway is a founding member of the United Nations, NATO, the Council of Europe, and the Nordic Council; a member of the European Economic Area, the WTO, and the OECD; and is also a part of Schengen Area.
Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, fresh water, and hydropower. The country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world. On a per-capita basis, it is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside the Middle East, and the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country's gross domestic produc^{t. T}he country maintains a Nordic welfare model with universal health care, subsidized higher education, and a comprehensive social security system. From 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 through 2011, Norway has had the highest human development index ranking in the world. In 2011, Norway also ranked the highest on the Democracy Index.

                                                                   CLIMATE

The climate of Norway is much more temperate than expected for such high latitudes; this is mainly due to the North Atlantic Current with its extension theNorwegian Current raising the air temperature (^[4]), and the prevailing southwesterlies bringing the mild air on shore, as well as the general southwest - northeast orientation of the coast allowing the westerlies to penetrate into the Arctic. The January average in Brønnøysund ^[5] is almost 15 °C (27 °F)warmer than the January average in Nome, Alaska,^[6]even if both towns are situated on the west coast of the continents at 65°N. In July, the difference is reduced to 3 °C (5.4 °F). January average inYakutsk, situated inland in Siberia but slightly further south, is 42 °C (76 °F) colder than in Brønnøysund.^[7]

[edit]Precipitation

Some areas of Vestlandet and southern Nordland are Europe's wettest due to orographic lift, particularly where the moist westerlies first are intercepted by high mountains; this occurs slightly inland from the outer skerry guard. Brekke in Sogn og Fjordane has the highest annual precipitation with 3,575 mm (140.7 in); annual precipitation can exceed 5,000 mm (196.9 in) in mountain areas near the coast. Lurøy, near the Arctic Circle, gets 2,935 mm on average, a remarkable amount of precipitation for a polar location. Precipitation is heaviest in autumn and early winter along the coast, while April to June is the driest. The innermost parts of the long fjords are somewhat drier; annual precipitation in Lærdal is 491 mm (19.3 in), in Levanger 750 mm (29.5 in) and only 300 mm (11.8 in) in Skibotn at the head of Lyngenfjord, the latter also has the national record for clear-weather days. The regions to the east of the mountains (including Oslo) have a more continental climate with less precipitation, and enjoy more sunshine and usually warmer summers; precipitation is highest in summer and early autumn (often brief, heavy showers) while winter and spring tend to be driest inland. Valleys surrounded by mountains can be very dry compared to nearby areas, and a larger area in the interior of Finnmark gets less than 400 mm (15.7 in) of precipitation annually. Svalbard Airport has the lowest average annual precipitation with 190 mm (7.5 in), while Skjåk has the lowest average on the mainland with only 278 mm (10.9 in), the lowest ever recorded on the mainland is 64 mm (2.5 in) at Hjerkinn in Dovre. Monthly averages varies from 5 mm (0.20 in) in April in Skjåk to 454 mm (17.9 in) in September in Brekke. Coastal areas from Lindesnes north to Vardø have more than 200 days/year with precipitation; however, this is with a very low threshold value (0.1 mm precipitation). The average annual number of days with at least 3 mm (0.12 in) precipitation is 77 in Blindern/Oslo, 96 in Kjevik/Kristiansand, 158 in Florida/Bergen, 93 in Værnes/Trondheim and 109 in Tromsø.^[8]

[edit]Temperature

The coast experiences much milder winters than other areas at the same latitudes. The temperature difference from the coldest month to the warmest is only 11–15 °C (52–59 °F) in coastal areas; some lighthouses have a year amplitude of just 10 °C (18 °F), such as Svinøy in Herøy with a coldest month of 2.7 °C (36.9 °F).^[9] The amplitude of inland areas are larger, with a maximum of 30 °C (86 °F) inKarasjok. Finnmarksvidda has the coldest winters in mainland Norway, but inland areas much further south can also see severe cold;Røros has recorded −50 °C (−58 °F) and Tynset has a January average −13 °C (9 °F).

The inland valleys have reliable snow cover in winter; Sigdal has a February average of −7 °C (19 °F) (1961-90). Due toinversion, the valley floor is often colder than the hillsides above during winter.

The islands in southern Lofoten are the most northerly locations in the world where all winter months have mean temperatures above 0 °C (32 °F).^[10] Spring is the season when the temperature differences between the southern and northern part of the country is largest; this is also the time of year when daytime and nighttime temperatures differs the most. Inland valleys and the innermost fjord areas have less wind and sees the warmest summer days; the Oslofjord lowland is warmest with July 24-hr average of 17 °C (62.6 °F), but even Alta at70°N has July average of 13.5 °C (56.3 °F), and commercial fruit orchards are common in the innermost areas of the western fjords, but also in Telemark. Inland areas reach their warmth peak around mid-July, and coastal areas by the first half of August. Humidity is usually low in summer. The North Atlantic Current splits in two in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea; one branch goes east into the Barents Sea, while the other goes north along the west coast of Spitsbergen; this modifies the Arctic polar climate somewhat and results in open water throughout the year at higher latitudes than any other place in the Arctic. On the eastern coast of the Svalbard archipelago, the sea used to be frozen during most of the year, but the last years warming (graph) have seen open waters noticeably longer.

Normal monthly averages range from −17.1 °C (1.2 °F) in January in Karasjok 129 m (423 ft) amsl.^[11] to 17.3 °C (63.1 °F) in July in Oslo - Studenterlunden 15 m amsl.^[12] The warmest year average temperature is 7.7 °C (45.9 °F) in Skudeneshavn in Karmøy, and the coldest is −3.1 °C (26.4 °F) in Sihcajarvi in Kautokeino (excluding higher mountains and Svalbard); this is a 10.8 °C (19.4 °F) difference, about the same as the temperature difference between Skudeneshavn and Athens, Greece.^[13]

The warmest temperature ever recorded in Norway is 35.6 °C (96.1 °F) in Nesbyen. The coldest temperature ever recorded is −51.4 °C(−60.5 °F) in Karasjok. The warmest month on record was July 1901 in Oslo, with a mean (24hr) of 22.7 °C (72.9 °F), and the coldest month was February 1966 in Karasjok with a mean of −27.1 °C (−16.8 °F). Southwesterly winds further warmed by foehn can give warm temperatures in narrow fjords in winter; Tafjord has recorded 17.9 °C (64.2 °F) in January and Sunndal 18.9 °C (66.0 °F) in February.

Compared to coastal areas, inland valleys and the innermost fjord areas have larger diurnal temperature variation, especially in spring and summer. In July, the average daily high temperature is 20.1 °C (68.2 °F) in Lærdal and 17.8 °C (64.0 °F) in Karasjok, roughly 3 °C(5.4 °F) warmer than coastal locations at the same latitude.

Kayaking in Flam

Among the many activities that can be performed in the fjords, and specifically from Flam, as the main destination of the region for all its attractions, today we bring you a very interesting proposal, nautical activities in the Sognefjord, and more specifically the kayaking , or canoeing Aurland fjord.

Along with programs hiking, kayaking has become one of the main activities popular among visitors, and no wonder, since knowing the fjord from a small boat for one or two people, at water level, between the verticality of the stone walls that form the fjord, and the refreshing sight of dozens of waterfalls falling around us make this activity suitable for everyone, a unique experience that few visitors can resist.

With minimal notions about the sport you can rent kayaks to enjoy the fjord freely on our own, provided they do not think of ourselves paddling out, safety is the most important and probably would not rent the equipment unless accompanied go more people. But we will also have the opportunity to learn something more along with an experienced guide who will teach us to properly handle the boat, plus "secrets" of the fjord.

Film

this is a film about the history of norway


http://kat.ph/max-manus-i1029235/DVDRip/

HISTORY

The history of human settlement in what is present day Norway goes back at least 11,000 years, to the late Paleolithic. Archaeological finds in the county of Møre og Romsdal have been dated to 9,200 BC and are probably the remains of settlers from Doggerland, an area now submerged in the North Sea, but at the time a landbridge that connected the present day British Isles with Jutland. The Fosna-Hensbacka culture inhabited parts of Norway about 8300 BC to 7300 BC. Petroglyphs dating from the Neolithic Age (in Norway 4000 BC to 1800 BC) show scenes of hunter-gatherers. More permanent settlements developed during the Bronze Age (1800 BC to 400 BC) and Iron Age. The earliest runes (an inscription in North Germanic) that have been found were inscribed on an arrowhead dating from about 200 AD. Many more inscriptions appear until 800 AD; a number of small kingdoms developed during these centuries.

The period from 800–1066 saw significant expansion, and is referred to as the Viking age. During this period, Norwegians, as well as Swedesand 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. The Black Death arrived in Norway in 1349, killing perhaps half the population, after which Norway entered into a period of decline.

Between 1396 and 1536 Norway was a part of the Kalmar Union, and from 1536 to 1814 Norway was effectually a tributary to Denmark, named as the personal union 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, in which Norway was permitted to maintain its own Constitution.

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. Norway claimed neutrality again during World War II, but was occupied by German forces from April 9, 1940 until May 8, 1945.

Norway joined NATO in 1949 and in 1960 the European Free Trade Area as one of the seven founding members.^[1] 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. Whaling was once an important industry and commercial fishing continues to be so.

EDUCATION IN NORWAY

It is bassed on that education should be for everyone regardless of their cocial or cultural background.
Teaching in Norwegian schools is adapted to the skills and  abilities of each student.
Compulsory Education in Norway is ten years and consists of primary, junior secundary and upper secundary. Of course the education in Norway is free

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BERGEN

 Bergen is the second biggest city in Norway. A long time ago Bergen was the capital of Norway

This is a video of Bergen