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General information [add image]
Norway, officially Kingdom of Norway (Norwegian Kongeriket Norge), constitutional monarchy in northern Europe. A long and mostly narrow country, Norway occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Norway’s extensive coastline is washed on three sides by seas. To the north is the Barents Sea, an arm of the Arctic Ocean; to the west is the Norwegian Sea; and to the south are Skagerrak Strait, which separates Norway from Denmark, and the North Sea. Norway shares a long eastern border with Sweden, and in the far northeast Norway shares a frontier with Russia and Finland.
Norway has several overseas possessions. In the Arctic Ocean is the Svalbard archipelago, a group of nine islands, and Jan Mayen, a volcanic island northeast of Iceland. Norway’s possessions also include Bouvet Island, an uninhabited island in the South Atlantic Ocean; Peter I Island, off Antarctica; and the portion of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, which lies between longitude 20° west and 45° east.
Norway is a land of pine-topped mountain ranges, valleys gouged out by glaciers, and narrow deep-sided inlets from the sea known as fjords. A line of offshore islands called the skerry guard shields the coastline and forms a protected inland waterway. Norway’s name, which means “northern way,” reflects the importance of this waterway in linking the many small fjord and valley communities that are otherwise separated by rugged terrain. Norway is sometimes called the Land of the Midnight Sun. One-third of Norway lies north of the Arctic Circle, where there is almost continuous daylight from May through July. In midwinter the far north is dark almost all of the time.
Today, as in the past, most of Norway’s people live along the shores of the fjords in the south. For many centuries, as fishers and traders, they lived off the sea. It was from Norway’s coast that the Vikings—skilled sailors who built a vast maritime trading network—ventured across the Atlantic Ocean to Iceland, later becoming the first Europeans to reach Greenland and North America toward the end of the 10th century. The lure of the sea has remained strong into modern times. Norway retains a sizable fishing industry and its merchant marine fleet is one of the world’s largest. The discovery of vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas in Norway’s portion of the North Sea during the late 20th century has brought a new source of prosperity to the country.
The first unified Norwegian kingdom emerged in the 9th century ad. In 1397 Norway became a province of Denmark and was dominated by that country until 1814, when Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden. A surge of nationalist sentiment in Norway in the 19th century led to the dissolution of the union with Sweden. Norway became an independent nation in 1905, with a constitutional monarch as head of state and a democratically elected government
Climate
Coastal areas have a moderate climate owing to the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift. Inland temperatures are more extreme with hot summers and cold winters (November to March). In general, the lowlands of the south experience colder winters and warmer summers than the coastal areas. Rain is distributed throughout the year with frequent inland snowfalls during the winter. The northern part of the country inside the Arctic Circle has continuous daylight at midsummer, and twilight all day during winter. (southtravels.com)
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Native Name: Norge
Capital: Oslo
Population: 4,577,457
Currency: Norske kroner (NOK)
Phone Perfix: +47
Voltage: 230 V, 50 Hz
Emergency: Police: 112, Ambulance: 113, Fire: 110
Official Site: External Site
Vaccination: None required
Abb.:
DT = Diptheria (10yr+)
P = Polio (10yr+)
MP = Malaria Prophylaxis
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Inter Rail Zone Map |
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National Rail Service |
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Operated by: Norges statsbaner, NSB
Rail Length: 4,077 km
Information: NSB AS is one of Norway's most important transport companies, with traditions going back to the opening of the first railway in Norway in 1854.
The NSB Group's main activities comprise passenger traffic on trains and buses and freight traffic on railways. The Group consists of a number of wholly owned and partly owned subsidiaries.
Web Page:
▪ Norwegian State Railways
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