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Das Denkmal wurde geschaffen von dem Salzburger Metallkünstler Martin Rehrl als Zeichen der Einheit und Solidarität in Europa.- The monument was created by the metal artist Martin Rehrl from Salzburg (Austria) as a sign of unity and solidarity in Europe.
A monument to the EU, consisting of poles with stars and flags around it, in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, the place where the EU open borders agreement was signed.
Salzburg is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of Iuvavum. Salzburg was founded as an episcopal see in 696 and became a seat of the archbishop in 798. Its main sources of income were salt extraction, trade and gold-mining. The fortress of Hohensalzburg, one of the largest medieval fortresses in Europe, dates from the 11th century. In the 17th century, Salzburg became a center of the Counter-Reformation, with monasteries and numerous Baroque churches built.
Salzburg's historic center (German: Altstadt) is renowned for its Baroque architecture and is one of the best-preserved city-centers north of the Alps. The historic center was enlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. The city has three universities and a large population of students. Tourists also visit Salzburg to tour the historic center and the scenic Alpine surroundings.
Since June 2015 dozens of migrants, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea, have been protesting in Ventimiglia, Italy, on the Italian-French border. The sit-in started when the French police refused to let them enter the country. French authorities claimed their decisions were in accordance with the Dublin Regulation, a EU law that determines the State responsible to examine an application for asylum status.
Österreich / Vorarlberg - Kleinwalsertal
In the background you can see the Fellhorn (2,038 m).
Im Hintergrund sieht man das Fellhorn (2.038 m).
Kleinwalsertal is a part of Mittelberg in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg.
It is part of the Bregenz district and due to the geographic location in the Allgäu Alps with its alpine terrain, the Kleinwalsertal has no direct traffic connection to the rest of Vorarlberg. It is accessible only via Oberstdorf, Germany, to the north, and thus is an Austrian "practical exclave" or "pene-exclave". Prior to Austria joining the European Union, the area had tax-free status.
The local football club, SV Kleinwalsertal, has the distinction of being one of only a few clubs in Central Europe that play in a local league based outside of the club's country. They play in the 10th tier A-Klasse Allgäu 4 in 2016–17.
The name of the valley derives from the Walsers who moved there from the Valais (German: Wallis) in the 13th century (see also "Großwalsertal").
The Kleinwalsertal is a high valley in the Allgäu Alps and is located in the east of Vorarlberg. The Breitach river runs through the entire valley and is fed by a few side streams, which come from the side valleys of the Kleinwalsertal.
The Kleinwalsertal is almost completely surrounded by high mountains. These are part of the Allgäu Alps, which are part of the northern eastern Alps. Its highest elevation is the Großer Widderstein at 2,533 metres (8,310 ft). The Kleinwalsertal is cut off from the rest of Austria. A traffic connection exists only to the Bavarian town of Oberstdorf.
The Kleinwalsertal was populated by the Walsers in 1270, a group of people who migrated from Switzerland. This Alemannic origin still distinguishes the inhabitants from the inhabitants of the surrounding communities by their dialect.
From 1891, the Kleinwalsertal enjoyed a customs union with Germany, a free border, and used the German Marks as currency. Since Austria joined the European Union in 1995, followed by the signing of the Schengen Agreement (1997) and the introduction of the Euro (2002), this special status has no longer applied.
By the time of EU accession goods from Austria had to be cleared in Germany or the import turnover tax had to be paid while German goods were free of taxes. Taxes were to be paid to the Austrian tax office in D-Mark until the introduction of the Euro. A special tariff was also applied to Swiss Post. Shipments to Austria were calculated according to the domestic tariffs of Austrian Post, those to Germany were to be freed with domestic porti of the Federal Post.
The most important industry in the last century was agriculture, which currently has only a marginal importance. Now tourism plays the major role and as early as 1960 the number of overnight stays reached a million. In 2015, there were 792,026 overnight stays in summer and 816,240 in winter of 2015/2016.
The hiking and excursion tourism - especially of families with small children and seniors - is very pronounced. The choice of easy walks and moderately difficult hiking trails is correspondingly wide and well signposted. Mobility in the valley is ensured with the tightly driven Walserbus, which is free of charge to tourists paying the tourist tax via ownership of the Walsercard.
The good transport connections to the north also helped to strengthen tourism. So you only need about two and a half hours for the Stuttgart-Kleinwalsertal route.
In Central Europe, the region is known as a ski and hiking resort. The 5,000 inhabitants, who are called "Walser", can provide up to 10,300 beds for tourists.
In the summer, the guests usually come for mountain hiking. There are also two very popular climbing routes (Mindelheimer Klettersteig and Zweienland Klettersteig) on the border to the neighbouring commune area of Oberstdorf, which are mostly accessed via the Kleinwalsertal because of the shorter route and easier accessibility.
The conditions for mountaineering on the Hohen Ifen and the Bärenköpfle are very good. However, it is severely restricted or completely forbidden for hunting reasons.
(Wikipedia)
Das Kleinwalsertal (auch: Kleines Walsertal | walserdeutsch nur Walsertal) liegt in den Allgäuer Alpen und gehört zum österreichischen Bundesland Vorarlberg. Das Hochtal liegt im Gemeindegebiet von Mittelberg und ist Teil des Bezirks Bregenz. Aufgrund der geographischen Lage mit seiner alpinen Geländestruktur hat das Kleinwalsertal keine direkte Verkehrsverbindung zum übrigen Vorarlberger Land. Das Tal ist nur von der Nachbargemeinde Oberstdorf in Bayern auf einer Straße zu erreichen. Für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland handelt es sich damit um eine sogenannte funktionale Enklave (vgl. auch Jungholz).
Der Name des Tals kommt von den Walsern, die im 13. Jahrhundert aus dem Wallis hierher zogen (siehe auch Großwalsertal). Auch wenn die einzige Straßenverbindung über Oberstdorf führt, gehört das Kleinwalsertal nicht zum Allgäu.
Das Kleinwalsertal ist ein hochgelegenes Kerbtal im Osten von Vorarlberg. Es ist umgeben von den Nordwestlichen und Südöstlichen Walsertaler Bergen die im Osten und Südosten an die Allgäuer und Lechtaler Alpen, im Süden an den Tannberg und im Westen an den Bregenzerwald grenzen. Nach Norden hin öffnet sich das Alpenvorland. Die Breitach zieht sich durch das gesamte Tal und wird von einigen Seitenbächen gespeist, die aus den Seitentälern des Kleinwalsertals stammen.
Das Kleinwalsertal wird fast vollständig von hohen Bergen umschlossen. Von ihnen wird das Kleinwalsertal gegenüber dem übrigen Staatsgebiet Österreichs abgeschnitten. Deren höchste Erhebung ist der Große Widderstein (2536 m). Eine Verkehrsverbindung besteht lediglich zum auf bayerischer Seite liegenden Oberstdorf (Enklave). Aus dieser geographischen Sonderstellung ergaben und ergeben sich eine Reihe von Besonderheiten, siehe Geschichte und Wirtschaft.
Weitere Berge sind der Elferkopf (2387 m), der Hohe Ifen (2230 m), die Kanzelwand (2058 m), das Fellhorn (2038 m) und das Walmendinger Horn (1990 m) – siehe Nordwestliche und Südöstlichen Walsertaler Berge.
Im Kleinwalsertal treffen vier geologische Einheiten aufeinander. Das Helvetikum mit dem verkarsteten Schrattenkalk (Ifen, Gottesackerplateau), der Rhenodanubische oder Vorarlberger Flysch (Walmendingerhorn, Heuberg, Güntlispitze, Fellhorn) und die schroffen Felsen des Ostalpin (Nördliche Kalkalpen) aus Hauptdolomit (die Walser Kerle: Widderstein, Elfer, Schafalpköpfe, Kanzelwand). Die Arosazone bildet einen schmalen lückenhaften Gürtel zwischen Flysch und Ostalpin. Sie enthält die größte Vielfalt an Gesteinen und zieht sich vom Üntschenjoch, dem Bärenkopf entlang quer durchs Gemstel- und Wildental bis unter die Kanzelwand. Aber auch Lias-Gesteine am Elfer und Gesteine der Ultrahelvetikum-Mélange, in der Umgebung Mittelalp finden sich im Kleinwalsertal.
Die europäische Hauptwasserscheide zwischen Rhein/Nordsee und Donau/Schwarzem Meer verläuft über das Gottesackerplateau und den Hohen Ifen zum Gerachsattel und weiter zum Hochalppass beim Widderstein.
Das Kleinwalsertal wurde im Jahre 1270 von den Walsern besiedelt, einer Volksgruppe, die aus dem deutschsprachigen Oberwallis in der Schweiz zuwanderte. Diese alemannische Herkunft unterscheidet die Bewohner sprachlich noch heute von den Bewohnern der umliegenden Gemeinden. Ihr Dialekt wird dem Höchstalemannischen zugeordnet, während man im Allgäu einen niederalemannischen Dialekt und im restlichen Vorarlberg einen hochalemannischen Dialekt (Vorarlbergerisch) spricht.
Das Tal ist heute Österreichs drittgrößtes Tourismusziel. Der jahrhundertelang bedeutendste Wirtschaftszweig war die Landwirtschaft, die aktuell nur mehr eine marginale Bedeutung hat. Schon 1960 erreichte die Nächtigungszahl erstmals eine Million. Im Tourismusjahr 2001/02 gab es insgesamt 1.678.180 Übernachtungen bei einer Kapazität von 12.000 Betten.
Der Wander- und Ausflugstourismus – vor allem auch von Familien mit kleineren Kindern und Senioren – ist sehr ausgeprägt. Die Auswahl an einfachen Spazierwegen und mäßig schwierigen Wanderpfaden ist entsprechend breit und gut ausgeschildert. Mit dem eng getaktet fahrenden Walserbus, der den Kurtaxe zahlenden Touristen als Inhabern der Walsercard kostenlos zur Verfügung steht, ist die Mobilität im Tal ohne PKW gewährleistet.
Zur starken Ausprägung des Tourismus verhalf auch die gute Verkehrsanbindung nach Norden. So benötigt man für die Strecke Stuttgart–Kleinwalsertal nur etwa zweieinhalb Stunden.
Im Jahr 2003 gab es am Ort 243 Gewerbebetriebe mit 1573 Beschäftigten und 144 Lehrlingen; lohnsteuerpflichtige Erwerbstätige waren 2518 Personen.
Der Tourismus ist der wichtigste Wirtschaftsfaktor im Tal, wobei der Sommertourismus etwa gleich ausgeprägt ist wie der im Winter.
Im Tourismusjahr 2017/2018 (November 2017 bis Oktober 2018) erzielte das Kleinwalsertal über 1,7 Mio. Nächtigungen (+4,9 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2016/2017). Es kamen rund 355.000 Gäste ins Kleinwalsertal (10.038 Gästebetten in der Sommersaison 2018).
Die Übernachtungszahlen betrugen im Winter 2018/19 828.180 (−1,5 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2017/18) gegenüber 927.543 (+3 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2017) in der Sommersaison 2018.
Im Sommer kommen die Gäste meist zum Wandern und Bergwandern. Die Wanderwege erstrecken sich über drei Höhenlagen zwischen 1.086 und 2.536 m. Das Wegenetz besteht aus 185 km naturbelassenen, markierten Wanderwegen. Sie werden von 40 Hütten, Sennalpen und Bergrestaurant flankiert. Das Kleinwalsertal ist auch Start- oder Zielpunkt des „Grossen Walserwegs“ von Zermatt ins Kleinwalsertal oder eben umgekehrt. Im Sommer sind 8 Lifte in Oberstdorf für einen erleichterten Auf- und Abstieg geöffnet.
Das Kleinwalsertal ist zudem Veranstaltungsort für Trailrunning Wettkämpfe und Trainingcamps.Drei verschiedene Höhenlagen zwischen 1.100 und 2.500 m erlauben ein Training der verschiedenen Höhen- und Bodenverhältnisse. Die Trails sind zudem in mehrere Schwierigkeitsgrade eingeteilt und ermöglicht so eine Anpassung an das eigene Leistungsniveau. Das nächste Trainingscamp "die Trampelpfadtage" für Anfänger und Fortgeschrittene findet Corona-bedingt vom 16. September – 19. September 2021 statt.
Relativ neu hinzugekommen sind zahlreiche Biketouren und -Trails. Vor allem eMountain-Bikes werden gerne von den Besuchern dazu benutzt etwas höher hinaufzufahren. Die Radtouren wurden von der Gemeinde entlang aussichtsreicher oder historischer Strecken errichtet. Typisch für das Kleinwalsertal ist die Route "kleiner Grenzverkehr" über die deutsch-österreichische Grenze. Diese Route führt über einen Panoramaweg nach Oberstdorf und entlang der Breitach zurück ins Kleinwalsertal.
In der Region gibt es zudem beliebte Klettersteige – der Mindelheimer Klettersteig (B–C) führt über die Schafalpköpfe im Wildental. 2007 wurde von der Bergschule Kleinwalsertal an der Kanzelwand der sportlich anspruchsvolle 2-Länder-Sportklettersteig (C–D) und der Walsersteig, der Erlebnissteig für Einsteiger (B), errichtet. Die Bedingungen für das Sportklettern am Hohen Ifen und am Bärenköpfle zählen zu den besten der Alpen. Es ist jedoch aus jagdlichen Gründen stark eingeschränkt oder ganz verboten. Diese Einschränkungen wurden besonders angesichts der umfangreichen Erschließungen der näheren Umgebung von Bergsteigerverbänden als unangebracht und fachlich nicht fundiert kritisiert. So schrieb die Zeitschrift Alpin, dass „[…] sich ein solches Sperrgebiet gut ins Gesamtkonzept des Kleinwalsertales einfügt: Harter und lauter Tourismus mit großem wirtschaftlichen Nutzen dort und eine Ruhezone hier, wo eben nichts zu holen ist“. Von Seiten der Jagdaufsicht wird hingegen die Notwendigkeit einer Ruhezone für das Wild in dem ganzjährig stark touristisch genutzten Tal betont.
(Wikipedia)
Bellingwolde
The history of the Border Office
On October 3, 1956, the Border Office was officially put into operation. Besides administrative operations, controls were also carried out here. It was a so-called Central Customs Post, where many people worked. The stationed customs officers were responsible for an area between Delfzijl and Sellingen, making the border office a major employer for the then municipality of Bellingwolde.
The Border Office served until the Schengen Agreement in 1993, after which it stood empty until 2021. The Border Office entered a dilapidated state and became a famous example of "a rotten tooth" for East Groningen.
Richart Joling, owner of Rolloek Holding bv acquired the building from the Westerwolde municipality in October 2020. Richart completely refurbished the building and restored as much as possible its old appearance. The former frontier office is now for rent as a flex office or meeting location.
Since June 2015 dozens of migrants, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea, have been protesting in Ventimiglia, Italy, on the Italian-French border. The sit-in started when the French police refused to let them enter the country. French authorities claimed their decisions were in accordance with the Dublin Regulation, a EU law that determines the State responsible to examine an application for asylum status.
The Salzach is a right tributary of the Inn and, at 225 km long, is its longest and richest in water. It flows in the state of Salzburg ( Austria ), in Bavaria ( Germany ) and in Upper Austria , is one of the large Alpine rivers and drains almost the entire Hohe Tauern to the north.
Etymology
The ancient Latin name of the Salzach was Iuvarus or Ivarus . The name came from the Celtic river deity Iuvavo , the divine personification of the Salzach. The Romans later adopted the name of this god, slightly Latinized, for the Roman city of Iuvavum .
However, only the lower reaches and the Saalach flowing into the Salzach were called Ivarus , as the upper reaches had their own name, Isonta .
The Salzach owes its current name to the salt shipping that operated on the river until the 19th century; The historical center of salt shipping was Laufen . Until after 1800 the river was generally called Salza (i.e. the same as a Lower Austrian-Styrian river ).
Course of the river
Sections of the Salzach Valley
Salzachtal describes the entire course of the Salzach river. The upper reaches characteristically stretch between the Hohe Tauern and the Salzburg Slate Alps as part of the northern longitudinal valley furrow in a west-east direction. Then it describes a knee, flows northwards in the middle reaches and breaks through the schist and northern Alps and in the lower reaches forms several valleys in the foothills of the Alps (breakthrough valleys through the hill ranges of the subalpine and foothill molasse ).
The sections are named as follows, whereby the more common terms used in the Salzburg districts can also refer to the secondary valleys more generally:
Salzachpinzgau , also Pinzgauer Salzachtal , the valley section of the upper reaches to Lend
Source valley of the Salzach, from the source at the Salzachgeier to Vorderkrimml
Oberpinzgau , the Trogtal from Gerlospass to the Niedernsill / Kaprun – Piesendorf area
Zeller Basin , a widening around Lake Zell , in which the valley opens completely to the north for a few kilometers (part of the Mitterpinzgau [8] or Saalfeldener–Zeller Basin )
Unterpinzgau from Bruck / Taxenbach to Lend
Salzachpongau , Pongau Salzach Valley , Bischofshofen–St.-Johanner Basin or Pongau Basin , up to the Limestone Alpine breakthrough at Pass Lueg (Berchtesgaden Alps/Tennen Mountains)
Salzburg–Hallein Basin , one of the most densely populated peripheral Alpine basins
Salzachtennengau , Tennengau Salzach Valley , [also Hallein Basin , Golling-Hallein Basin , Hallein Widening , or Tennengau Widening , the following valley of the lower reaches around Hallein
Salzburg Basin , , also Salzburg-Freilassing Basin , the peripheral Alpine basin landscape around the city of Salzburg
extra-Alpine valleys of the Alpine foothills until reaching the Lower Inn Valley (Salzach as the border river between Austria and Germany)
Laufener Salzachtal , near Laufen
Tittmoninger Salzachtal , Lower reaches section between the breakthroughs at Laufen and St. Radegund
Burghausener Salzachtal , narrow valley near Burghausen until you reach the Öttinger Inntal
Upper Austrian Salzach Valley , [20] the right-bank spatial unit in Upper Austria between the state border at Bürmoos / St. Pantaleon and reaching the Upper Austrian Inn Valley (part of the Upper Innviertel )
The southern side valleys of the upper Salzach, in the main Alpine ridge , are called Tauern valleys .
Upper reaches
The Salzach rises in the Kitzbühel Alps in the west of Salzburg. The spring streams drain several alpine pastures at around 2300 m above sea level. A. between Krimml and the Tyrolean border, 3 to 5 km north of the Gerlos Pass on the slopes of the Salzachgeier ( 2466 m above sea level ) and the Schwebenkopf (2354 m). Although some of these tributaries are longer, the Salzach is considered the main river due to its greater water abundance. The cirques or alpine pastures are named Salzachboden, -Ursprung and Schwebenalm , where one of the springs forms a small mountain lake (Schwebenlacke). About 5 km south at Vorderkrimml, the young Salzach unites with the Krimmler Ache , which is, however, more than half longer and, with almost three times the average water flow, is hydrologically the main source of the Salzach system.
In its approximately 90 km long upper reaches , whose catchment area almost coincides with the Pinzgau region , the Salzach follows a striking longitudinal valley furrow in a west-east direction to Schwarzach , where it gradually turns north. The longitudinal valley furrow, which is geologically related to the folding of the Alps , continues far to the east, where it forms the upper Ennstal .
The border between the Pinzgau (political district of Zell am See) and the Pongau (district of St. Johann) below the industrial town of Lend is considered the transition from the upper to the middle reaches . A little earlier, the Zeller / Saalfeldner Basin opens to the north , which separates Lake Zell and the catchment area of the Saalach , the largest tributary of the Salzach that flows into Salzburg, through a valley watershed . In early prehistoric times, its course was the lower reaches of the Salzach.
From Krimml to beyond the beginning of the middle reaches, the side valleys running south-north , which come from the main Alpine ridge (Venediger and Glockner group of the Hohe Tauern ), flow from the south in a regular, almost parallel sequence. Almost all of these 15 water-rich southern tributaries flow into the Salzach as hanging valleys because the Ice Age main glacier following the Salzach valley was able to deepen more than the less powerful side glaciers. Towards the east, the mouths become increasingly higher above the valley floor and end with almost vertical, deep gorges . The most famous are the Kitzlochklamm (Raurisertal), the Gasteiner Klamm (Gasteinertal) and the Liechtensteinklamm (Großarltal).
Middle and lower reaches
The Salzach nearwerfen with Hagengebirge , Hohenwerfen Fortress and Tennengebirge
Salzach ovens
At Schwarzach and St. Johann, the middle course turns north and widens into a valley basin, the Pongau Basin , in which Bischofshofen lies alongside St. Johann . The Salzach breaks through the northern Limestone Alps between the Hochkönig / Hagengebirge and the Tennengebirge at the Lueg Pass in the Salzachhöfen gorge .
In the lower reaches [3] the Salzach leaves the Alps into the Salzburg Basin , flows through the lower Tennengau with Golling , Kuchl and Hallein and the Flachgau with the city of Salzburg and Freilassing an der Saalach. It then breaks through the Laufener Enge near Oberndorf , flows through the Tittmoninger Basin and the Nonnreiter Enge and flows into the Überackern basin between Burghausen an der Salzach and Braunau am Inn at an altitude of 344 m above sea level. NN near Haiming into the Inn coming from the west .
It forms the border between Germany and Austria over a length of around 59 km and has a catchment area of 6,704 km². The average water discharge at the river mouth is 252 m³/s.
Tributaries
In the upper and middle reaches: Wenger Bach , Trattenbach and Dürnbach from the Kitzbühler Alps, Krimmler Ache , Obersulzbach , Untersulzbach , Habach , Hollersbach , Felberbach , Stubache , Kapruner Ache from the Hohe Tauern, Pinzga from Zeller See , Fuscher Ache , Rauriser Ache the Hohe Tauern, Dientener Bach from the Slate Alps, Gasteiner Ache , Großarlbach , Kleinarlbach from the Hohe Tauern, Fritzbach from the Dachstein massif, Mühlbach and Blühnbach from the Hochkönig.
In the lower reaches: Lammer from the east, Torrener Bach ( Bluntautal ) from the Berchtesgaden Alps, Tauglbach and Almbach from Hintersee , both from the Osterhorn group, Königsseeache from Königssee , Kehlbach , Fischach from Wallersee , Klausbach , Saalach as the largest tributary, Sur and Götzinger Achen Bavarian side, Oichten near Oberndorf and Moosach in the Salzburg-Upper Austrian border area.
Pinzgau: Nadernachbach Dürnbach near Neukirchen am Großvenediger, Trattenbach near Wald im Pinzgau, Walcherbach near Walchen, Friedensbach, Fürthbach, Pinzga (outflow of Lake Zell near Bruck ad Glocknerstrasse), Steinbach near Steinbach, Fischbach near Gries im Pinzgau.
Pongau: Dientener Bach near Lend, Seebach near Schwarzach im Pongau, Wenger Bach from the Putzengraben in Schwarzach im Pongau, Reinbach near St. Johann im Pongau.
Tennengau: Imlaubach near Pfarrwerfen, Blühnbach (Salzach) near Tenneck, Torrener Bach ( Bluntautal ) near Golling, Weißenbach between Golling and Kuchl, Steigbach near Stockach. Schrambach, Kotbach in Hallein, Königsseeache from Königssee near Taxach, Anifer Alterbach .
City of Salzburg: Almkanal , Glanbach , Saalach (largest feeder).
Berchtesgadener Land district: Sur .
Traunstein district: Götzinger Achen .
Altötting district: Alzkanal .
Orographically on the right side (from origin to mouth):
Pinzgau: Krimmler Ache , Obersulzbach , Untersulzbach , Habach , Hollersbach , Felberbach , Stubache , Mühlbach , Kapruner Ache from the Hohe Tauern, Fuscher Ache , Wolfbach , Rauriser Ache .
Pongau: Gasteiner Ache , Großarlbach , Kleinarlbach from the Hohe Tauern, Fritzbach from the Dachstein massif.
Tennengau: Lammer from the east, Tauglbach , Almbach from Hintersee .
Flachgau (south): Kehlbach near Elsbethen, Klausbach , near Glasenbach.
City of Salzburg: Alterbach
Flachgau (north): Fischach from Wallersee , Oichten near Oberndorf .
Upper Austria: Moosach near Riedersbach.
Municipalities and cities
The Salzach flows through the following communities and cities (viewed downstream); the G denotes those that the river touches as a border river and the D those that lie in Upper Bavaria , Bavaria ( Germany ):
Forest in Pinzgau
Neukirchen am Großvenediger
Bramberg am Wildkogel
Hollersbach in Pinzgau
Mittersill
Stuhlfelden
Uttendorf (Salzburg)
Niedernsill
Piesendorf
Kaprun (G)
Zell am See (G)
Bruck an der Glocknerstrasse
Taxenbach
Lend
Goldegg im Pongau (G)
Saint Veit im Pongau
Schwarzach im Pongau
St. Johann im Pongau
Bischofshofen
Throw
Pfarrwerfen (G)
Golling on the Salzach
Kuchl
Bad Vigaun (G)
Hallein
Puch near Hallein (G)
Anif (G)
Elsbethen (G)
Salzburg
Bergheim (G)
Freilassing (G; D)
Saaldorf-Surheim (G; D)
Anthering (G)
Nußdorf am Haunsberg (G)
Running (G; D)
Oberndorf near Salzburg (G)
Fridolfing (G; D)
Sankt Georgen near Salzburg (G)
St. Pantaleon (G)
Easter rental thing (G)
St. Radegund (G)
Tittmoning (G; D)
Burghausen (G; D)
Stronghold-Ach (G)
Überackern (G)
Haiming (G; D)
Bridges
In the city of Salzburg there are 13 Salzach bridges for motorized and non-motorized traffic. There are only cross-border bridges downstream, namely the listed bridge between Laufen and Oberndorf and the Europasteg , which is also located there, as well as a bridge between Tittmoning and Ettenau (municipality of Ostermiething) and two between Burghausen and Hochburg-Ach (towns of Wanghausen: Neue Brücke and Oh on the Salzach: Old Bridge ). There are numerous bridges on the upper and middle reaches of the river.
Many of these bridges were destroyed repeatedly by floods. The flood of August 13, 1959 at 2100 m³/s meant the end of the recently built motorway bridge below Salzburg, which collapsed due to a breakthrough in the bed .
The construction of an additional bridge for cross-border car traffic in the Laufen area is being discussed. So far no agreement has been reached despite the identification of a corresponding need. Resident protests and a large, protected alluvial forest belt, among other things, are proving to be an obstacle.
The construction of a pedestrian bridge shortly before the mouth of the Salzach between Haiming and Überackern is also being considered.
Hydrology
Amount of water and flooding
Data on water levels and discharge are continuously collected at eight gauges in Austria and two in Germany. The average discharge volume increases downstream due to the tributaries of the Salzach:
GollingSalzburgRunBurghausen
River kilometers93.4164.3547.5011.40
Average discharge in m³/s140176239251
This makes the Salzach one of the largest rivers in Bavaria and Austria . As an Alpine river, the Salzach has to absorb large amounts of water in unfavorable weather conditions and prolonged rain. In the period from June to September this regularly leads to floods, rarely even in winter. The probably largest flood in the history of the city of Salzburg on June 25, 1786 is documented by a high water mark in the old town. On the memorial plaque at the Haus der Natur Salzburg it says that the Salzach claimed the lives of 2,226 people in May 1571 and swept away 13 houses and barns in July of the following year. The largest amount of water in recent times flowed through the city of Salzburg at 2,300–2,500 m³/s on September 14, 1899 , and almost 2,200 m³/s on September 7, 1920. On August 12, 2002, the Salzach reached a water level of 8.30 m in the city of Salzburg and was only 10 centimeters below the critical level, which would have resulted in large parts of the old town being flooded. The maximum flow rate of the Salzach that day in the city of Salzburg was 2,300 cubic meters per second. Below the mouth of the Saalach, the 100-year flood discharge is over 3,100 m³/s. Winter floods are very rare; on March 21, 2002, the Salzach in Salzburg had 1,060 m³/s, an amount that occurs approximately every two years, but for the month of March represents at least a 100-year flood.
As early as February 23, 1899, the Imperial and Royal state government in Salzburg introduced a “provisional regulation for the flood intelligence service in the Duchy of Salzburg”. Today, the hydrological information system for flood forecasting (HYDRIS) developed by the Vienna University of Technology is responsible for flood warnings in Austria. Both meteorological and hydrological data are included here, which allow for advance warning and, through flood coordination, enable damming with the help of the Mittlere Salzach power plant chain.
Regulation of the riverbed
Since the Middle Ages, small parts of the Salzach in the urban areas of Salzburg, Laufen and Hallein have been fortified with willow fascines and wooden shoring. The first attempts to regulate the Salzach in the form of a continuous trapezoidal profile began in 1823 in Pinzgau, secured by stone sets. As a result of the regulations, building land and cultivated land were gained, but valuable, vital riparian forest and the rich structure of the river with gravel islands and countless side arms as space for animals and people were also lost. After the first treaty concluded between Bavaria and Austria in Munich in April 1816, the old border lines were precisely surveyed. In December 1820 in Salzburg the new state border was determined by mutual agreement.
The Bruck threshold was blown up in 1852, thereby lowering the Salzach. This enabled arable land near the river to be gradually gained in Pinzgau and boggy and marshy meadows to be drained.
In the city of Salzburg itself, the first heavy blocks from the city walls near the Klausentor were removed in 1852 and used to regulate the Salzach. The once extensive bastions of the new town and the vast majority of the fortifications on the old town side, as well as the Linzertor, were used as raw material for the regulation of the Salzach. The painter and local councilor Josef Mayburger implemented a somewhat more elegant, swinging structure within the urban area. Schwarz also wanted to use the material from the Müllner Schanze to regulate the Salzach, but Mayburger was able to prevent this. The regulatory work between the city bridge and the railway bridge was completed in 1862, and that between the city bridge and the Karolinenbrücke by 1873.
Initially, the Salzach below the city of Salzburg was planned to have a width of 80 Viennese fathoms (152 m). However, the self-deepening of the Salzach, which was initially very desired, largely failed to occur. Therefore, in a further step, the total width of the Salzach was reduced to 60 fathoms (114 m). Only the significant removal of bedload led to significant deepening after 1900. To this day, the Salzach has dug deeper and deeper into its bed. This deepening has become a problem for decades. It has now reached a level where the fine sand and sea clay layers, which are particularly susceptible to erosion, are only insufficiently covered or not covered at all. Even a medium-sized flood event can lead to uncontrollable consequences and sudden further depressions of several meters (bottom breakthrough). The result would be significant damage to buildings and the surrounding area. An acute danger could arise within a very short time, especially for bridge piers and bridge abutments, bringing all inner-city traffic to a standstill. There is therefore a need for action. A Bavarian-Austrian working group has developed possible solutions and is currently carrying out the first measures of the “Lower Salzach Renovation” project. Plans include widening the riverbed and installing dissolved bed ramps and so-called open revetments . The main aim of the measures is to prevent further deepening and to raise the river bed again in a dynamic process of its own and to bring this state into a dynamic equilibrium. This means that valuable, vital alluvial forest can be created on a small scale. This essential work to rehabilitate the Salzach over a length of 60 km is associated with a cost of around 300 million euros.
In 2009, the first phase began with the gradual widening of the lower Salzach below Weitwörth, combined with an uplift of the middle Salzach bed. In 2010 the widening of the river towards Oberndorf will continue.
Water quality
Due to the wastewater from the paper and pulp factory in Hallein , which was built in 1895 and greatly expanded in the 1960s , the Salzach was the most polluted in 1977. It was only from 1979 onwards that the amount of waste water to be discharged was limited (1979: 84 t BOD 5 per day (which corresponds to around 1.4 million inhabitants); 1985: 54 t; 1988: 20 t; 1990: 15 t; 1999: 8 t ; 2002: 2 t) and with the installation of a chlorine-free bleach in 1991 the quality suddenly improved.
Until 1999, the water quality from the factory was water quality class II-III (critically polluted), and until 1987 it was only III-IV. By installing or improving the wastewater treatment in autumn 1999, continuous water quality class II (“low pollution” according to the EU Water Framework Directive) could be achieved for the first time below Hallein and quality class I-II up to Salzburg, so that the water quality is sufficient for swimming. The renovation of the paper mill's wastewater technology was successfully completed at the end of 2002, but the amount of wastewater discharged every day since then still corresponds to around 25% of the Salzach's total pollution load.
In 1987, in the area of the city of Salzburg, the use of the large Siggerwiesen sewage treatment plant , which is designed for over 600,000 inhabitants, resulted in a further improvement of water quality by half a step. In addition to the wastewater from Salzburg, the wastewater treatment plant also cleans that from the surrounding area and from the Bavarian Ainring .
Tourism/Leisure
In the House of Nature there is the permanent exhibition Salzach Lifeline
The well-signposted Tauern cycle path begins at the Krimml Waterfalls in the Hohe Tauern National Park and leads along the Salzach, Saalach and Inn, partly on old towpaths (tread paths) to Passau.
A riverside path leads from Laufen via Tittmoning to Burghausen (approx. 40 km in total), which is very easy to hike on the German side.
Based on the former salt boat trip, so-called flat trips can be booked at the local tourist offices in the lowest section of the river, which take place several times a month in summer.
After a 20 miutes walk northward after EI-LNI arrived, this shot shows the presence of 4 large widebodies at the non-Schengen gates before 9 a.m. local time, a rather new thing at OSL 5 years ago
Today, in 2021, none of those 4 jets will arrive like this
From left to right:
gate 49 DK OY-VKG
gate 51 SK LN-RKM
gate 53 DY EI-LNI
gate 50 TG HS-TKX (which arrived before I came, and was soon to be parked at a remote stand waiting for the returnflight more than 5 hours later).
le village de Schengen (Luxembourg) Qui a donné son nom au traité de l'Europe concernant la libre circulation des hommes et de biens . Par contre,il était beaucoup plus "petit" lors de la signature de ce traité .
On aperçoit également dans le brouillard de ce matin, les vignobles luxembourgeois .
Österreich / Vorarlberg - Kleinwalsertal
Riezlern
Kleinwalsertal is a part of Mittelberg in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg.
It is part of the Bregenz district and due to the geographic location in the Allgäu Alps with its alpine terrain, the Kleinwalsertal has no direct traffic connection to the rest of Vorarlberg. It is accessible only via Oberstdorf, Germany, to the north, and thus is an Austrian "practical exclave" or "pene-exclave". Prior to Austria joining the European Union, the area had tax-free status.
The local football club, SV Kleinwalsertal, has the distinction of being one of only a few clubs in Central Europe that play in a local league based outside of the club's country. They play in the 10th tier A-Klasse Allgäu 4 in 2016–17.
The name of the valley derives from the Walsers who moved there from the Valais (German: Wallis) in the 13th century (see also "Großwalsertal").
The Kleinwalsertal is a high valley in the Allgäu Alps and is located in the east of Vorarlberg. The Breitach river runs through the entire valley and is fed by a few side streams, which come from the side valleys of the Kleinwalsertal.
The Kleinwalsertal is almost completely surrounded by high mountains. These are part of the Allgäu Alps, which are part of the northern eastern Alps. Its highest elevation is the Großer Widderstein at 2,533 metres (8,310 ft). The Kleinwalsertal is cut off from the rest of Austria. A traffic connection exists only to the Bavarian town of Oberstdorf.
The Kleinwalsertal was populated by the Walsers in 1270, a group of people who migrated from Switzerland. This Alemannic origin still distinguishes the inhabitants from the inhabitants of the surrounding communities by their dialect.
From 1891, the Kleinwalsertal enjoyed a customs union with Germany, a free border, and used the German Marks as currency. Since Austria joined the European Union in 1995, followed by the signing of the Schengen Agreement (1997) and the introduction of the Euro (2002), this special status has no longer applied.
By the time of EU accession goods from Austria had to be cleared in Germany or the import turnover tax had to be paid while German goods were free of taxes. Taxes were to be paid to the Austrian tax office in D-Mark until the introduction of the Euro. A special tariff was also applied to Swiss Post. Shipments to Austria were calculated according to the domestic tariffs of Austrian Post, those to Germany were to be freed with domestic porti of the Federal Post.
The most important industry in the last century was agriculture, which currently has only a marginal importance. Now tourism plays the major role and as early as 1960 the number of overnight stays reached a million. In 2015, there were 792,026 overnight stays in summer and 816,240 in winter of 2015/2016.
The hiking and excursion tourism - especially of families with small children and seniors - is very pronounced. The choice of easy walks and moderately difficult hiking trails is correspondingly wide and well signposted. Mobility in the valley is ensured with the tightly driven Walserbus, which is free of charge to tourists paying the tourist tax via ownership of the Walsercard.
The good transport connections to the north also helped to strengthen tourism. So you only need about two and a half hours for the Stuttgart-Kleinwalsertal route.
In Central Europe, the region is known as a ski and hiking resort. The 5,000 inhabitants, who are called "Walser", can provide up to 10,300 beds for tourists.
In the summer, the guests usually come for mountain hiking. There are also two very popular climbing routes (Mindelheimer Klettersteig and Zweienland Klettersteig) on the border to the neighbouring commune area of Oberstdorf, which are mostly accessed via the Kleinwalsertal because of the shorter route and easier accessibility.
The conditions for mountaineering on the Hohen Ifen and the Bärenköpfle are very good. However, it is severely restricted or completely forbidden for hunting reasons.
(Wikipedia)
Das Kleinwalsertal (auch: Kleines Walsertal | walserdeutsch nur Walsertal) liegt in den Allgäuer Alpen und gehört zum österreichischen Bundesland Vorarlberg. Das Hochtal liegt im Gemeindegebiet von Mittelberg und ist Teil des Bezirks Bregenz. Aufgrund der geographischen Lage mit seiner alpinen Geländestruktur hat das Kleinwalsertal keine direkte Verkehrsverbindung zum übrigen Vorarlberger Land. Das Tal ist nur von der Nachbargemeinde Oberstdorf in Bayern auf einer Straße zu erreichen. Für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland handelt es sich damit um eine sogenannte funktionale Enklave (vgl. auch Jungholz).
Der Name des Tals kommt von den Walsern, die im 13. Jahrhundert aus dem Wallis hierher zogen (siehe auch Großwalsertal). Auch wenn die einzige Straßenverbindung über Oberstdorf führt, gehört das Kleinwalsertal nicht zum Allgäu.
Das Kleinwalsertal ist ein hochgelegenes Kerbtal im Osten von Vorarlberg. Es ist umgeben von den Nordwestlichen und Südöstlichen Walsertaler Bergen die im Osten und Südosten an die Allgäuer und Lechtaler Alpen, im Süden an den Tannberg und im Westen an den Bregenzerwald grenzen. Nach Norden hin öffnet sich das Alpenvorland. Die Breitach zieht sich durch das gesamte Tal und wird von einigen Seitenbächen gespeist, die aus den Seitentälern des Kleinwalsertals stammen.
Das Kleinwalsertal wird fast vollständig von hohen Bergen umschlossen. Von ihnen wird das Kleinwalsertal gegenüber dem übrigen Staatsgebiet Österreichs abgeschnitten. Deren höchste Erhebung ist der Große Widderstein (2536 m). Eine Verkehrsverbindung besteht lediglich zum auf bayerischer Seite liegenden Oberstdorf (Enklave). Aus dieser geographischen Sonderstellung ergaben und ergeben sich eine Reihe von Besonderheiten, siehe Geschichte und Wirtschaft.
Weitere Berge sind der Elferkopf (2387 m), der Hohe Ifen (2230 m), die Kanzelwand (2058 m), das Fellhorn (2038 m) und das Walmendinger Horn (1990 m) – siehe Nordwestliche und Südöstlichen Walsertaler Berge.
Im Kleinwalsertal treffen vier geologische Einheiten aufeinander. Das Helvetikum mit dem verkarsteten Schrattenkalk (Ifen, Gottesackerplateau), der Rhenodanubische oder Vorarlberger Flysch (Walmendingerhorn, Heuberg, Güntlispitze, Fellhorn) und die schroffen Felsen des Ostalpin (Nördliche Kalkalpen) aus Hauptdolomit (die Walser Kerle: Widderstein, Elfer, Schafalpköpfe, Kanzelwand). Die Arosazone bildet einen schmalen lückenhaften Gürtel zwischen Flysch und Ostalpin. Sie enthält die größte Vielfalt an Gesteinen und zieht sich vom Üntschenjoch, dem Bärenkopf entlang quer durchs Gemstel- und Wildental bis unter die Kanzelwand. Aber auch Lias-Gesteine am Elfer und Gesteine der Ultrahelvetikum-Mélange, in der Umgebung Mittelalp finden sich im Kleinwalsertal.
Die europäische Hauptwasserscheide zwischen Rhein/Nordsee und Donau/Schwarzem Meer verläuft über das Gottesackerplateau und den Hohen Ifen zum Gerachsattel und weiter zum Hochalppass beim Widderstein.
Das Kleinwalsertal wurde im Jahre 1270 von den Walsern besiedelt, einer Volksgruppe, die aus dem deutschsprachigen Oberwallis in der Schweiz zuwanderte. Diese alemannische Herkunft unterscheidet die Bewohner sprachlich noch heute von den Bewohnern der umliegenden Gemeinden. Ihr Dialekt wird dem Höchstalemannischen zugeordnet, während man im Allgäu einen niederalemannischen Dialekt und im restlichen Vorarlberg einen hochalemannischen Dialekt (Vorarlbergerisch) spricht.
Das Tal ist heute Österreichs drittgrößtes Tourismusziel. Der jahrhundertelang bedeutendste Wirtschaftszweig war die Landwirtschaft, die aktuell nur mehr eine marginale Bedeutung hat. Schon 1960 erreichte die Nächtigungszahl erstmals eine Million. Im Tourismusjahr 2001/02 gab es insgesamt 1.678.180 Übernachtungen bei einer Kapazität von 12.000 Betten.
Der Wander- und Ausflugstourismus – vor allem auch von Familien mit kleineren Kindern und Senioren – ist sehr ausgeprägt. Die Auswahl an einfachen Spazierwegen und mäßig schwierigen Wanderpfaden ist entsprechend breit und gut ausgeschildert. Mit dem eng getaktet fahrenden Walserbus, der den Kurtaxe zahlenden Touristen als Inhabern der Walsercard kostenlos zur Verfügung steht, ist die Mobilität im Tal ohne PKW gewährleistet.
Zur starken Ausprägung des Tourismus verhalf auch die gute Verkehrsanbindung nach Norden. So benötigt man für die Strecke Stuttgart–Kleinwalsertal nur etwa zweieinhalb Stunden.
Im Jahr 2003 gab es am Ort 243 Gewerbebetriebe mit 1573 Beschäftigten und 144 Lehrlingen; lohnsteuerpflichtige Erwerbstätige waren 2518 Personen.
Der Tourismus ist der wichtigste Wirtschaftsfaktor im Tal, wobei der Sommertourismus etwa gleich ausgeprägt ist wie der im Winter.
Im Tourismusjahr 2017/2018 (November 2017 bis Oktober 2018) erzielte das Kleinwalsertal über 1,7 Mio. Nächtigungen (+4,9 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2016/2017). Es kamen rund 355.000 Gäste ins Kleinwalsertal (10.038 Gästebetten in der Sommersaison 2018).
Die Übernachtungszahlen betrugen im Winter 2018/19 828.180 (−1,5 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2017/18) gegenüber 927.543 (+3 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2017) in der Sommersaison 2018.
Im Sommer kommen die Gäste meist zum Wandern und Bergwandern. Die Wanderwege erstrecken sich über drei Höhenlagen zwischen 1.086 und 2.536 m. Das Wegenetz besteht aus 185 km naturbelassenen, markierten Wanderwegen. Sie werden von 40 Hütten, Sennalpen und Bergrestaurant flankiert. Das Kleinwalsertal ist auch Start- oder Zielpunkt des „Grossen Walserwegs“ von Zermatt ins Kleinwalsertal oder eben umgekehrt. Im Sommer sind 8 Lifte in Oberstdorf für einen erleichterten Auf- und Abstieg geöffnet.
Das Kleinwalsertal ist zudem Veranstaltungsort für Trailrunning Wettkämpfe und Trainingcamps.Drei verschiedene Höhenlagen zwischen 1.100 und 2.500 m erlauben ein Training der verschiedenen Höhen- und Bodenverhältnisse. Die Trails sind zudem in mehrere Schwierigkeitsgrade eingeteilt und ermöglicht so eine Anpassung an das eigene Leistungsniveau. Das nächste Trainingscamp "die Trampelpfadtage" für Anfänger und Fortgeschrittene findet Corona-bedingt vom 16. September – 19. September 2021 statt.
Relativ neu hinzugekommen sind zahlreiche Biketouren und -Trails. Vor allem eMountain-Bikes werden gerne von den Besuchern dazu benutzt etwas höher hinaufzufahren. Die Radtouren wurden von der Gemeinde entlang aussichtsreicher oder historischer Strecken errichtet. Typisch für das Kleinwalsertal ist die Route "kleiner Grenzverkehr" über die deutsch-österreichische Grenze. Diese Route führt über einen Panoramaweg nach Oberstdorf und entlang der Breitach zurück ins Kleinwalsertal.
In der Region gibt es zudem beliebte Klettersteige – der Mindelheimer Klettersteig (B–C) führt über die Schafalpköpfe im Wildental. 2007 wurde von der Bergschule Kleinwalsertal an der Kanzelwand der sportlich anspruchsvolle 2-Länder-Sportklettersteig (C–D) und der Walsersteig, der Erlebnissteig für Einsteiger (B), errichtet. Die Bedingungen für das Sportklettern am Hohen Ifen und am Bärenköpfle zählen zu den besten der Alpen. Es ist jedoch aus jagdlichen Gründen stark eingeschränkt oder ganz verboten. Diese Einschränkungen wurden besonders angesichts der umfangreichen Erschließungen der näheren Umgebung von Bergsteigerverbänden als unangebracht und fachlich nicht fundiert kritisiert. So schrieb die Zeitschrift Alpin, dass „[…] sich ein solches Sperrgebiet gut ins Gesamtkonzept des Kleinwalsertales einfügt: Harter und lauter Tourismus mit großem wirtschaftlichen Nutzen dort und eine Ruhezone hier, wo eben nichts zu holen ist“. Von Seiten der Jagdaufsicht wird hingegen die Notwendigkeit einer Ruhezone für das Wild in dem ganzjährig stark touristisch genutzten Tal betont.
(Wikipedia)
Departing Chicago O'Hare on October 29, 2017.
SOURCE FILE 1487
"S/N" is the aircraft's serial number. "L/N" is a Boeing code denoting what order the airframe came off the production line. "F/N" refers to an individual airline's fleet numbering system. Not all airlines use a fleet number; not all manufacturers use a line number.
Copyright
All my photographic and video images are copyrighted. All rights are reserved. Please do not use, copy or edit any of my photographs without my written permission. If you want to use my photo for commercial or private use, please contact me. Please do not re-upload my photos at any location on the internet without my written consent.
L'espace Schengen comprend les territoires des 26 États européens — 22 États membres de l'Union européenne, et 4 États associés.
Deutsch - österreichische Grenzbrücke
über die Salzach
von Laufen / Bayern nach Oberndorf / Salzburg,
erbaut 1902 / 03
unter Prinzregent Luitpold und Kaiser Franz Josef I.
als Hängebrücke im Jugendstil. Länge 166 m.
Generalsaniert 2005-2007.
Auf Grund ihrer Konstruktionsart, Form, Funktionalität
und üppigen Verzierung steht sie unter Denkmalschutz.
Für die Generalsanierung erhielt sie
den Bayerischen Denkmalpflegepreis 2010 in Bronze.
Bridge across the river Salzach,
connecting Laufen/Bavaria in Germany and Oberndorf/Salzburg in Austria.
It was built in 1902 / 03 under Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria
and the Austrian emperor Franz Josef I.
The suspension bridge in modern style has a length of 166 metres
and was completely renovated from 2005 to 2007.
Because of its construction, form, function and rich decoration
it is a monument that has to be protected.
Award 2010: Cultural heritage preservation.
See Album: Grenzbrücke
Looking northwest in the southeast portion of the town.
"Remerschen (Luxembourgish: Rëmerschen) is a former commune and small wine-growing town in south-eastern Luxembourg, belonging to the commune of Schengen, near the point where the borders of Germany, France and Luxembourg come together.
As of 2005, the town of Remerschen, which lies in the centre of the commune, has a population of 637.
To use the name recognition of the town of Schengen, the council of the commune of Remerschen decided on 18 January 2006 to rename the commune to Schengen. The Chamber of Deputies voted on 13 July 2006 a law allowing the change of name, which was published on 30 August 2006. The law took effect three days later, and the name of the commune of Remerschen was changed to Schengen as of 3 September 2006.
The town is famous for its Club des Jeunes, which organises enormous parties, such as the carnival fiesta Musel am Dusel.
Luxembourg (/ˈlʌksəmbɜːrɡ/ LUK-səm-burg; Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuerg [ˈlətsəbuəɕ]; French: Luxembourg [lyksɑ̃buʁ]; German: Luxemburg [ˈlʊksm̩bʊʁk] ), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a small landlocked country in Western Europe. It borders Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. Luxembourg is the only surviving grand duchy in the world. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembourg, is one of the four institutional seats of the European Union (together with Brussels, Frankfurt, and Strasbourg) and the seat of several EU institutions, notably the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest judicial authority. Luxembourg's culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its French and German neighbors; while Luxembourgish is the only national language of the Luxembourgish people and of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, French is the only language for legislation, and all three – Luxembourgish, French and German – are used for administrative matters in the country.
With an area of 2,586 square kilometers (998 sq mi), Luxembourg is Europe's seventh-smallest country. In 2023, it had a population of 660,809, which makes it one of the least-populated countries in Europe, albeit with the highest population growth rate; foreigners account for nearly half the population. Luxembourg is a representative democracy headed by a constitutional monarch, Grand Duke Henri, making it the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy.
Luxembourg is a developed country with an advanced economy and one of the world's highest GDP (PPP) per capita as per IMF and World Bank estimates. The nation's levels of human development and LGBT equality are ranked among the highest in Europe. The city of Luxembourg was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 due to the exceptional preservation of its vast fortifications and historic quarters. Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union, OECD, the United Nations, NATO, and the Benelux. It served on the United Nations Security Council for the first time in 2013 and 2014." - info from Wikipedia.
Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.
Now on Instagram.
2019 02 02
Meoda 8x10, Schneider Super-Angulon 121 mm, f/45 8 s, Kodalith ortho type 3 2556 exp 03-1994 @ ISO 6, POTA 12 min @ 20°C
Got some old expired ortho film, made a test to find out on which side is the emulsion (no notches on ortho film). Tried at ISO 6, but it looks more like ISO 10-12.
"Bech-Kleinmacher (Luxembourgish: Bech-Maacher, pronounced [ˌbæɕˈmaːχɐ]) is a small village in the commune of Schengen, in south-eastern Luxembourg. As of 2005, the village has a population of 536.
The village lies along the Moselle River, which forms the border with Germany. The area has been settled at least since Roman times as evidenced by the reconstructed funeral chamber that sits on a hilltop overlooking the river. Wine production is a major industry in Bech-Kleinmacher and the village is surrounded by vineyards.
The village is also home to Musée "A Possen" a folklore museum located in a 17th-century house that explores pre-industrial life, wine making, barrel making and toys.
The celebrated Luxembourg artist Nico Klopp was born in Bech-Kleinmacher on 18 September 1894. Olympian Marcel Chennaux was born here.
Luxembourg (/ˈlʌksəmbɜːrɡ/ LUK-səm-burg; Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuerg [ˈlətsəbuəɕ]; French: Luxembourg [lyksɑ̃buʁ]; German: Luxemburg [ˈlʊksm̩bʊʁk] ), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a small landlocked country in Western Europe. It borders Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. Luxembourg is the only surviving grand duchy in the world. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembourg, is one of the four institutional seats of the European Union (together with Brussels, Frankfurt, and Strasbourg) and the seat of several EU institutions, notably the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest judicial authority. Luxembourg's culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its French and German neighbors; while Luxembourgish is the only national language of the Luxembourgish people and of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, French is the only language for legislation, and all three – Luxembourgish, French and German – are used for administrative matters in the country.
With an area of 2,586 square kilometers (998 sq mi), Luxembourg is Europe's seventh-smallest country. In 2023, it had a population of 660,809, which makes it one of the least-populated countries in Europe, albeit with the highest population growth rate; foreigners account for nearly half the population. Luxembourg is a representative democracy headed by a constitutional monarch, Grand Duke Henri, making it the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy.
Luxembourg is a developed country with an advanced economy and one of the world's highest GDP (PPP) per capita as per IMF and World Bank estimates. The nation's levels of human development and LGBT equality are ranked among the highest in Europe. The city of Luxembourg was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 due to the exceptional preservation of its vast fortifications and historic quarters. Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union, OECD, the United Nations, NATO, and the Benelux. It served on the United Nations Security Council for the first time in 2013 and 2014." - info from Wikipedia.
Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.
Now on Instagram.
Österreich / Vorarlberg - Kleinwalsertal
Riezlern. In the background you can see the Großer Widderstein (2,533 m).
Riezlern. Im Hintergrund sieht man den Großen Widderstein (2.533 m).
Kleinwalsertal is a part of Mittelberg in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg.
It is part of the Bregenz district and due to the geographic location in the Allgäu Alps with its alpine terrain, the Kleinwalsertal has no direct traffic connection to the rest of Vorarlberg. It is accessible only via Oberstdorf, Germany, to the north, and thus is an Austrian "practical exclave" or "pene-exclave". Prior to Austria joining the European Union, the area had tax-free status.
The local football club, SV Kleinwalsertal, has the distinction of being one of only a few clubs in Central Europe that play in a local league based outside of the club's country. They play in the 10th tier A-Klasse Allgäu 4 in 2016–17.
The name of the valley derives from the Walsers who moved there from the Valais (German: Wallis) in the 13th century (see also "Großwalsertal").
The Kleinwalsertal is a high valley in the Allgäu Alps and is located in the east of Vorarlberg. The Breitach river runs through the entire valley and is fed by a few side streams, which come from the side valleys of the Kleinwalsertal.
The Kleinwalsertal is almost completely surrounded by high mountains. These are part of the Allgäu Alps, which are part of the northern eastern Alps. Its highest elevation is the Großer Widderstein at 2,533 metres (8,310 ft). The Kleinwalsertal is cut off from the rest of Austria. A traffic connection exists only to the Bavarian town of Oberstdorf.
The Kleinwalsertal was populated by the Walsers in 1270, a group of people who migrated from Switzerland. This Alemannic origin still distinguishes the inhabitants from the inhabitants of the surrounding communities by their dialect.
From 1891, the Kleinwalsertal enjoyed a customs union with Germany, a free border, and used the German Marks as currency. Since Austria joined the European Union in 1995, followed by the signing of the Schengen Agreement (1997) and the introduction of the Euro (2002), this special status has no longer applied.
By the time of EU accession goods from Austria had to be cleared in Germany or the import turnover tax had to be paid while German goods were free of taxes. Taxes were to be paid to the Austrian tax office in D-Mark until the introduction of the Euro. A special tariff was also applied to Swiss Post. Shipments to Austria were calculated according to the domestic tariffs of Austrian Post, those to Germany were to be freed with domestic porti of the Federal Post.
The most important industry in the last century was agriculture, which currently has only a marginal importance. Now tourism plays the major role and as early as 1960 the number of overnight stays reached a million. In 2015, there were 792,026 overnight stays in summer and 816,240 in winter of 2015/2016.
The hiking and excursion tourism - especially of families with small children and seniors - is very pronounced. The choice of easy walks and moderately difficult hiking trails is correspondingly wide and well signposted. Mobility in the valley is ensured with the tightly driven Walserbus, which is free of charge to tourists paying the tourist tax via ownership of the Walsercard.
The good transport connections to the north also helped to strengthen tourism. So you only need about two and a half hours for the Stuttgart-Kleinwalsertal route.
In Central Europe, the region is known as a ski and hiking resort. The 5,000 inhabitants, who are called "Walser", can provide up to 10,300 beds for tourists.
In the summer, the guests usually come for mountain hiking. There are also two very popular climbing routes (Mindelheimer Klettersteig and Zweienland Klettersteig) on the border to the neighbouring commune area of Oberstdorf, which are mostly accessed via the Kleinwalsertal because of the shorter route and easier accessibility.
The conditions for mountaineering on the Hohen Ifen and the Bärenköpfle are very good. However, it is severely restricted or completely forbidden for hunting reasons.
(Wikipedia)
The Großer Widderstein (or just Widderstein) is a mountain, 2,533 m (AA), in the west Austrian state of Vorarlberg. Topographically it belongs to the Allgäu Alps. It is the highest peak in the subgroup of the Southeastern Walsertal Mountains (Südöstliche Walsertaler Berge).
Location and surrounding area
The Widderstein is a massif in the mountains around the valley of Kleinwalsertal, which runs past it to the north. To the northeast of the Großer Widderstein, separated by the Karlstor (2,100 m), is the Kleiner Widderstein (2,236 m). To the east the valley of Gemsteltal divides the flanks of the Widderstein from the massif around the Elferkopf (2,387 m) and the Walser Geißhorn (2,366 m). To the south is the Hochtannberg Pass (1,676 m), where the Allgäu Alps give way to the Lechquellen Mountains. To the west lies the valley of Bärgunttal and the massif around the Heiterberg (2,188 m). In a hollow to the northwest below the side of the summit lies the lake of Hochalpsee (1,970 m).
The boundary between the municipalities of Warth and Mittelberg runs over the mountain.
Geology
The summit block of the Großer Widderstein consists of main dolomite of the Lech valley formation (Lechtaldecke), which here has been pushed up over the Allgäu formation (Allgäudecke). To the northwest in the area of the Hochalpsees there are Kössen beds (Kössener Schichten).
Origin of the name
The Großer Widderstein is mentioned for the first time in 1059 in a document belonging to the Bishopric of Augsburg: in Widerostein. Other records appears in 1471 and 1485 as Widerstain. Blasius Hueber's 1783 map of Vorarlberg shows a Widerstein Sp.. According to this the name means "Stein der Widder" ("Stone of the Widder"), a Widder being an ibex or a male sheep.
Alpinism
First ascent
The first recorded ascent of the Großer Widderstein took place on 25 July 1669 (1664 according to other sources) by a Reverend Bickel from Schröcken.
Normal route
The normal route to the top begins at the Hochtannberg Pass and runs across meadow slopes initially heading towards the Widderstein Hut. At a height of about 2,000 m a path forks off to the west that leads in just under 15 minutes to the rock massif of the Widderstein. From here a waymarked rock path (UIAA grade I) runs through a rockfall endangered gully to the summit ridge and from there eastwards to the summit cross.[3] The approach to this mountain path may be made from Baad, Austria in the Kleinwalsertal via the Hochalp Pass or from Bödmen through the Gemstelbach valley, through the Obere Gemstelalpe (1,694 m) via the Gemstel Pass to the Widderstein Hut.
Climbing
There are several climbing routes on the faces of the Widderstein. On the north face is a grade IV+ route. conquered by E. König and R. Schmierle in 1897. The North Pinnacle (Nordpfeiler) is classed as grade III/ IV (length of rope in the lower section), the East Arête is grade IV. The southwest face to the southwest summit (III-IV) was first climbed in 1951 by B. Segger and F. Hieber. The first ascent of the west face of the south shoulder (V+) was made in 1935 by Helmreich and Hutter. The south arête (II-III, one spot IV) was first negotiated by W. Blenk in the descent.
(Wikipedia)
Das Kleinwalsertal (auch: Kleines Walsertal | walserdeutsch nur Walsertal) liegt in den Allgäuer Alpen und gehört zum österreichischen Bundesland Vorarlberg. Das Hochtal liegt im Gemeindegebiet von Mittelberg und ist Teil des Bezirks Bregenz. Aufgrund der geographischen Lage mit seiner alpinen Geländestruktur hat das Kleinwalsertal keine direkte Verkehrsverbindung zum übrigen Vorarlberger Land. Das Tal ist nur von der Nachbargemeinde Oberstdorf in Bayern auf einer Straße zu erreichen. Für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland handelt es sich damit um eine sogenannte funktionale Enklave (vgl. auch Jungholz).
Der Name des Tals kommt von den Walsern, die im 13. Jahrhundert aus dem Wallis hierher zogen (siehe auch Großwalsertal). Auch wenn die einzige Straßenverbindung über Oberstdorf führt, gehört das Kleinwalsertal nicht zum Allgäu.
Das Kleinwalsertal ist ein hochgelegenes Kerbtal im Osten von Vorarlberg. Es ist umgeben von den Nordwestlichen und Südöstlichen Walsertaler Bergen die im Osten und Südosten an die Allgäuer und Lechtaler Alpen, im Süden an den Tannberg und im Westen an den Bregenzerwald grenzen. Nach Norden hin öffnet sich das Alpenvorland. Die Breitach zieht sich durch das gesamte Tal und wird von einigen Seitenbächen gespeist, die aus den Seitentälern des Kleinwalsertals stammen.
Das Kleinwalsertal wird fast vollständig von hohen Bergen umschlossen. Von ihnen wird das Kleinwalsertal gegenüber dem übrigen Staatsgebiet Österreichs abgeschnitten. Deren höchste Erhebung ist der Große Widderstein (2536 m). Eine Verkehrsverbindung besteht lediglich zum auf bayerischer Seite liegenden Oberstdorf (Enklave). Aus dieser geographischen Sonderstellung ergaben und ergeben sich eine Reihe von Besonderheiten, siehe Geschichte und Wirtschaft.
Weitere Berge sind der Elferkopf (2387 m), der Hohe Ifen (2230 m), die Kanzelwand (2058 m), das Fellhorn (2038 m) und das Walmendinger Horn (1990 m) – siehe Nordwestliche und Südöstlichen Walsertaler Berge.
Im Kleinwalsertal treffen vier geologische Einheiten aufeinander. Das Helvetikum mit dem verkarsteten Schrattenkalk (Ifen, Gottesackerplateau), der Rhenodanubische oder Vorarlberger Flysch (Walmendingerhorn, Heuberg, Güntlispitze, Fellhorn) und die schroffen Felsen des Ostalpin (Nördliche Kalkalpen) aus Hauptdolomit (die Walser Kerle: Widderstein, Elfer, Schafalpköpfe, Kanzelwand). Die Arosazone bildet einen schmalen lückenhaften Gürtel zwischen Flysch und Ostalpin. Sie enthält die größte Vielfalt an Gesteinen und zieht sich vom Üntschenjoch, dem Bärenkopf entlang quer durchs Gemstel- und Wildental bis unter die Kanzelwand. Aber auch Lias-Gesteine am Elfer und Gesteine der Ultrahelvetikum-Mélange, in der Umgebung Mittelalp finden sich im Kleinwalsertal.
Die europäische Hauptwasserscheide zwischen Rhein/Nordsee und Donau/Schwarzem Meer verläuft über das Gottesackerplateau und den Hohen Ifen zum Gerachsattel und weiter zum Hochalppass beim Widderstein.
Das Kleinwalsertal wurde im Jahre 1270 von den Walsern besiedelt, einer Volksgruppe, die aus dem deutschsprachigen Oberwallis in der Schweiz zuwanderte. Diese alemannische Herkunft unterscheidet die Bewohner sprachlich noch heute von den Bewohnern der umliegenden Gemeinden. Ihr Dialekt wird dem Höchstalemannischen zugeordnet, während man im Allgäu einen niederalemannischen Dialekt und im restlichen Vorarlberg einen hochalemannischen Dialekt (Vorarlbergerisch) spricht.
Das Tal ist heute Österreichs drittgrößtes Tourismusziel. Der jahrhundertelang bedeutendste Wirtschaftszweig war die Landwirtschaft, die aktuell nur mehr eine marginale Bedeutung hat. Schon 1960 erreichte die Nächtigungszahl erstmals eine Million. Im Tourismusjahr 2001/02 gab es insgesamt 1.678.180 Übernachtungen bei einer Kapazität von 12.000 Betten.
Der Wander- und Ausflugstourismus – vor allem auch von Familien mit kleineren Kindern und Senioren – ist sehr ausgeprägt. Die Auswahl an einfachen Spazierwegen und mäßig schwierigen Wanderpfaden ist entsprechend breit und gut ausgeschildert. Mit dem eng getaktet fahrenden Walserbus, der den Kurtaxe zahlenden Touristen als Inhabern der Walsercard kostenlos zur Verfügung steht, ist die Mobilität im Tal ohne PKW gewährleistet.
Zur starken Ausprägung des Tourismus verhalf auch die gute Verkehrsanbindung nach Norden. So benötigt man für die Strecke Stuttgart–Kleinwalsertal nur etwa zweieinhalb Stunden.
Im Jahr 2003 gab es am Ort 243 Gewerbebetriebe mit 1573 Beschäftigten und 144 Lehrlingen; lohnsteuerpflichtige Erwerbstätige waren 2518 Personen.
Der Tourismus ist der wichtigste Wirtschaftsfaktor im Tal, wobei der Sommertourismus etwa gleich ausgeprägt ist wie der im Winter.
Im Tourismusjahr 2017/2018 (November 2017 bis Oktober 2018) erzielte das Kleinwalsertal über 1,7 Mio. Nächtigungen (+4,9 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2016/2017). Es kamen rund 355.000 Gäste ins Kleinwalsertal (10.038 Gästebetten in der Sommersaison 2018).
Die Übernachtungszahlen betrugen im Winter 2018/19 828.180 (−1,5 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2017/18) gegenüber 927.543 (+3 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr 2017) in der Sommersaison 2018.
Im Sommer kommen die Gäste meist zum Wandern und Bergwandern. Die Wanderwege erstrecken sich über drei Höhenlagen zwischen 1.086 und 2.536 m. Das Wegenetz besteht aus 185 km naturbelassenen, markierten Wanderwegen. Sie werden von 40 Hütten, Sennalpen und Bergrestaurant flankiert. Das Kleinwalsertal ist auch Start- oder Zielpunkt des „Grossen Walserwegs“ von Zermatt ins Kleinwalsertal oder eben umgekehrt. Im Sommer sind 8 Lifte in Oberstdorf für einen erleichterten Auf- und Abstieg geöffnet.
Das Kleinwalsertal ist zudem Veranstaltungsort für Trailrunning Wettkämpfe und Trainingcamps.Drei verschiedene Höhenlagen zwischen 1.100 und 2.500 m erlauben ein Training der verschiedenen Höhen- und Bodenverhältnisse. Die Trails sind zudem in mehrere Schwierigkeitsgrade eingeteilt und ermöglicht so eine Anpassung an das eigene Leistungsniveau. Das nächste Trainingscamp "die Trampelpfadtage" für Anfänger und Fortgeschrittene findet Corona-bedingt vom 16. September – 19. September 2021 statt.
Relativ neu hinzugekommen sind zahlreiche Biketouren und -Trails. Vor allem eMountain-Bikes werden gerne von den Besuchern dazu benutzt etwas höher hinaufzufahren. Die Radtouren wurden von der Gemeinde entlang aussichtsreicher oder historischer Strecken errichtet. Typisch für das Kleinwalsertal ist die Route "kleiner Grenzverkehr" über die deutsch-österreichische Grenze. Diese Route führt über einen Panoramaweg nach Oberstdorf und entlang der Breitach zurück ins Kleinwalsertal.
In der Region gibt es zudem beliebte Klettersteige – der Mindelheimer Klettersteig (B–C) führt über die Schafalpköpfe im Wildental. 2007 wurde von der Bergschule Kleinwalsertal an der Kanzelwand der sportlich anspruchsvolle 2-Länder-Sportklettersteig (C–D) und der Walsersteig, der Erlebnissteig für Einsteiger (B), errichtet. Die Bedingungen für das Sportklettern am Hohen Ifen und am Bärenköpfle zählen zu den besten der Alpen. Es ist jedoch aus jagdlichen Gründen stark eingeschränkt oder ganz verboten. Diese Einschränkungen wurden besonders angesichts der umfangreichen Erschließungen der näheren Umgebung von Bergsteigerverbänden als unangebracht und fachlich nicht fundiert kritisiert. So schrieb die Zeitschrift Alpin, dass „[…] sich ein solches Sperrgebiet gut ins Gesamtkonzept des Kleinwalsertales einfügt: Harter und lauter Tourismus mit großem wirtschaftlichen Nutzen dort und eine Ruhezone hier, wo eben nichts zu holen ist“. Von Seiten der Jagdaufsicht wird hingegen die Notwendigkeit einer Ruhezone für das Wild in dem ganzjährig stark touristisch genutzten Tal betont.
(Wikipedia)
Der Große Widderstein (auch Widderstein) ist ein 2533 m ü. A. hoher Berg in Vorarlberg im westlichen Österreich. Topografisch gehört er zu den Südöstlichen Walsertaler Bergen (Allgäuer Alpen), er ist der höchste Berg dieser Untergruppe.
Lage und Umgebung
Der Widderstein ist ein Bergmassiv in der Umrahmung des Kleinwalsertals, das nördlich an ihm verläuft. Zunächst geht der Große Widderstein nach Nordosten, getrennt durch das Karlstor (2100 m), zum Kleinen Widderstein (2236 m) über. Im Osten trennt das Gemsteltal die Flanken des Widdersteins vom Massiv um den Elferkopf (2387 m) und das Geißhorn (2366 m). Im Süden liegt der Hochtannbergpass (1676 m), wo die Allgäuer Alpen zum Lechquellengebirge übergehen. Nach Westen hin liegt das Bärgunttal und das Massiv um den Heiterberg (2188 m). In einer Mulde nordwestlich unter den Gipfelflanken liegt der Hochalpsee (1970 m).
Über den Berg verläuft die Grenze zwischen den Gemeinden Warth und Mittelberg.
Geologie
Der Gipfelkörper des Großen Widdersteins besteht aus Hauptdolomit der Lechtaldecke, die hier auf den Hauptdolomit der Allgäudecke aufgeschoben ist. Im Nordwesten im Bereich des Hochalpsees zeigen sich Kössener Schichten.
Namensherkunft
Zum ersten Mal erwähnt wurde der Große Widderstein 1059 in einer Urkunde des Augsburger Hochstifts: in Widerostein. Eine weitere Erwähnung erfolgte 1471 und 1485 mit Widerstain. Blasius Huebers Vorarlbergkarte verzeichnete 1783 ein Widerstein Sp. Die Erwähnung hat die Bedeutung „Stein der Widder“, was sowohl für Steinbock als auch für das männliche Schaf, den Widder, stehen könnte.
Alpinismus
Erstbesteigung
Die erste belegte Besteigung des Großen Widdersteins geschah am 25. Juli 1669, anderen Quellen zufolge 1664 durch einen Pfarrer Bickel aus Schröcken.
Normalweg
Der Normalweg zum Gipfel beginnt am Hochtannbergpass und führt über Wiesenhänge zunächst in Richtung Widdersteinhütte. Auf ungefähr 2000 m zweigt ein Pfad nach Westen ab, der in knapp 15 Minuten zum Felsstock des Widdersteins führt. Ab hier führt ein markierter Felssteig (UIAA I) durch eine steinschlaggefährdete Rinne zum Gipfelgrat und von dort nach Osten querend zum Gipfelkreuz.
Dieser Auf-/Abstieg zum/vom Widdersteingipfel wird häufig unerfahrenen oder auch unvorsichtigen Wanderern zum Verhängnis. So kommt es jedes Jahr zu mehreren Schwerverletzten oder Toten durch Abstürze.
Den Einstieg zum Steig erreicht man auch aus Baad im Kleinwalsertal über den Hochalppass oder von Bödmen durch das Gemstelbachtal, bei der Oberen Gemstelalpe (1694 m) über den Gemstelpass zur Widdersteinhütte.
Klettern
In den Wänden des Widdersteins gibt es einige Kletterrouten. In der Nordwand gibt es eine Route (Schwierigkeit IV+) von E. König und R. Schmierle aus dem Jahr 1897. Der Nordpfeiler hat die Schwierigkeit III/ IV (eine Seillänge im unteren Bereich), der Ostgrat IV. Die Südwestwand zum Südwestgipfel III-IV wurde 1951 erstmals von B. Segger und F. Hieber durchstiegen. Zum ersten Mal durch die Westwand der Südschulter (XI+) stiegen 1935 Helmreich und Hutter. Der Südgrat II-III, eine Stelle IV, wurde von W. Blenk erstmals im Abstieg begangen.
(Wikipedia)
The Château de Chambord in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Renaissance structures. The building, which was never completed, was constructed by the king of France, Francis I.
Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley; it was built to serve as a hunting lodge for Francis I, who maintained his royal residences at the Château de Blois and Amboise. The original design of the Château de Chambord is attributed to Italian architect Domenico da Cortona; Leonardo da Vinci may also have been involved or influenced the design.
Chambord was altered considerably during the twenty-eight years of its construction (1519–1547), during which it was overseen on-site by Pierre Neveu. With the château nearing completion, Francis showed off his enormous symbol of wealth and power by hosting his old archrival, Emperor Charles V, at Chambord.
In 1792, in the wake of the French Revolution, some of the furnishings were sold and timber removed. For a time the building was left abandoned, though in the 19th century some attempts were made at restoration. During the Second World War, art works from the collections of the Louvre and the Château de Compiègne were moved to the Château de Chambord. The château is now open to the public, receiving 700,000 visitors in 2007. Flooding in June 2016 damaged the grounds but not the château itself.
Who designed the Château de Chambord is a matter of controversy. The original design is attributed, though with several doubts, to Domenico da Cortona, whose wooden model for the design survived long enough to be drawn by André Félibien in the 17th century. In the drawings of the model, the main staircase of the keep is shown with two straight, parallel flights of steps separated by a passage and is located in one of the arms of the cross. According to Jean-Guillaume, this Italian design was later replaced with the centrally located spiral staircase, which is similar to that at Blois, and a design more compatible with the French preference for spectacular grand staircases. However, "at the same time the result was also a triumph of the centralised layout—itself a wholly Italian element." In 1913 Marcel Reymond suggested that Leonardo da Vinci, a guest of Francis at Clos Lucé near Amboise, was responsible for the original design, which reflects Leonardo's plans for a château at Romorantin for the King's mother, and his interests in central planning and double-spiral staircases; the discussion has not yet concluded, although many scholars now agree that Leonardo was at least responsible for the design of the central staircase.
Archaeological findings by Jean-Sylvain Caillou & Dominic Hofbauer have established that the lack of symmetry of some façades derives from an original design, abandoned shortly after the construction began, and which ground plan was organised around the central staircase following a central gyratory symmetry. Such a rotative design has no equivalent in architecture at this period of history, and appears reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci's works on hydraulic turbines or the helicopter. Had it been respected, it is believed that this unique building could have featured the quadruple-spiral open staircase, strangely described by John Evelyn and Andrea Palladio, although it was never built.
Regardless of who designed the château, on 6 September 1519 Francis de Pontbriand was ordered to begin construction of the Château de Chambord. The work was interrupted by the Italian War of 1521–1526, and work was slowed by dwindling royal funds and difficulties in laying the structure's foundations. By 1524, the walls were barely above ground level. Building resumed in September 1526, at which point 1,800 workers were employed in building the château. At the time of the death of King Francis I in 1547, the work had cost 444,070 livres.
The château was built to act as a hunting lodge for King Francis I; however, the king spent barely seven weeks there in total, that time consisting of short hunting visits. As the château had been constructed with the purpose of short stays, it was not practical to live in on a longer-term basis. The massive rooms, open windows and high ceilings meant heating was impractical. Similarly, as the château was not surrounded by a village or estate, there was no immediate source of food other than game. This meant that all food had to be brought with the group, typically numbering up to 2,000 people at a time.
As a result of all the above, the château was completely unfurnished during this period. All furniture, wall coverings, eating implements and so forth were brought specifically for each hunting trip, a major logistical exercise. It is for this reason that much furniture from the era was built to be disassembled to facilitate transportation. After Francis died of a heart attack in 1547, the château was not used for almost a century.
For more than 80 years after the death of King Francis I, French kings abandoned the château, allowing it to fall into decay. Finally, in 1639 King Louis XIII gave it to his brother, Gaston d'Orléans, who saved the château from ruin by carrying out much restoration work.
King Louis XIV had the great keep restored and furnished the royal apartments. The king then added a 1,200-horse stable, enabling him to use the château as a hunting lodge and a place to entertain a few weeks each year, for example Molière presented the premiere of his celebrated comedy, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme here. Nonetheless, Louis XIV abandoned the château in 1685.
From 1725 to 1733, Stanislas Leszczyński (Stanislas I), the deposed King of Poland and the father-in-law of King Louis XV, lived at Chambord. In 1745, as a reward for valour, the king gave the château to Maurice de Saxe, Marshal of France who installed his military regiment there. Maurice de Saxe died in 1750, and once again the colossal château sat empty for many years.
In 1792, the Revolutionary government ordered the sale of the furnishings; the wall panellings were removed and even floors were taken up and sold for the value of their timber, and, according to M de la Saussaye, the panelled doors were burned to keep the rooms warm during the sales; the empty château was left abandoned until Napoleon Bonaparte gave it to his subordinate, Louis Alexandre Berthier. The château was subsequently purchased from his widow for the infant Duke of Bordeaux, Henri Charles Dieudonné (1820–1883) who took the title Comte de Chambord. A brief attempt at restoration and occupation was made by his grandfather King Charles X (1824–1830) but in 1830 both were exiled. In Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea, published in the 1830s, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow remarked on the dilapidation that had set in: "all is mournful and deserted. The grass has overgrown the pavement of the courtyard, and the rude sculpture upon the walls is broken and defaced". During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) the château was used as a field hospital.
The final attempt to make use of the colossus came from the Comte de Chambord, but after the Comte died in 1883, the château was left to his sister's heirs, the titular Dukes of Parma, then resident in Austria. First left to Robert, Duke of Parma, who died in 1907 and after him, Elias, Prince of Parma. Any attempts at restoration ended with the onset of World War I in 1914. The Château de Chambord was confiscated as enemy property in 1915, but the family of the Duke of Parma sued to recover it, and that suit was not settled until 1932; restoration work was not begun until a few years after World War II ended in 1945. The Château and surrounding areas, some 5,440 hectares (13,400 acres; 21.0 sq mi), have belonged to the French state since 1930.
In 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the art collections of the Louvre and Compiègne museums (including the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo) were stored at the Château de Chambord. An American B-24 Liberator bomber crashed onto the château lawn on 22 June 1944. The image of the château has been widely used to sell commodities from chocolate to alcohol and from porcelain to alarm clocks; combined with the various written accounts of visitors, this made Chambord one of the best known examples of France's architectural history. Today, Chambord is a major tourist attraction, and in 2007 around 700,000 people visited the château.
After unusually heavy rainfall, Chambord was closed to the public from 1 to 6 June 2016. The river Cosson, a tributary of the Loire, flooded its banks and the château's moat. Drone photography documented some of the peak flooding. The French Patrimony Foundation described effects of the flooding on Chambord's 13,000-acre property. The 20-mile wall around the château was breached at several points, metal gates were torn from their framing, and roads were damaged. Also, trees were uprooted and certain electrical and fire protection systems were put out of order. However, the château itself and its collections reportedly were undamaged. The foundation observed that paradoxically the natural disaster affected Francis I's vision that Chambord appears to rise from the waters as if it were diverting the Loire. Repairs are expected to cost upwards of a quarter-million dollars.
The Château de Chambord has further influenced a number of architectural and decorative elements across Europe. Château de Chambord was the model for the reconstruction and new construction of the original Schwerin Palace between 1845 and 1857.
Yet in the later half of the 19th century, the château's style is seen proliferating across the United Kingdom, influencing the Founder's Building at Royal Holloway, University of London, designed by William Henry Crossland and the main building of Fettes College in Edinburgh, designed by David Bryce in 1870. Between 1874 and 1889, the country house in Buckinghamshire, Waddesdon Manor, was built with similar architectural frameworks as the Château de Chambord, disseminated via the architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur. For instance, the twin staircase towers, on the north façade, were inspired by the staircase tower at the Château.[36] However, following the theme of unparalleled luxury at Waddesdon, the windows of the towers at Waddesdon were glazed, unlike those of the staircase at Chambord, and were far more ornate.
Francis I (French: François Ier; Middle French: Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father-in-law Louis XII, who died without a legitimate son.
A prodigious patron of the arts, he promoted the emergent French Renaissance by attracting many Italian artists to work for him, including Leonardo da Vinci, who brought the Mona Lisa, which Francis had acquired. Francis' reign saw important cultural changes with the growth of central power in France, the spread of humanism and Protestantism, and the beginning of French exploration of the New World. Jacques Cartier and others claimed lands in the Americas for France and paved the way for the expansion of the first French colonial empire.
For his role in the development and promotion of the French language, he became known as le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres (the 'Father and Restorer of Letters'). He was also known as François au Grand Nez ('Francis of the Large Nose'), the Grand Colas, and the Roi-Chevalier (the 'Knight-King').
In keeping with his predecessors, Francis continued the Italian Wars. The succession of his great rival Emperor Charles V to the Habsburg Netherlands and the throne of Spain, followed by his election as Holy Roman Emperor, led to France being geographically encircled by the Habsburg monarchy. In his struggle against Imperial hegemony, Francis sought the support of Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. When this was unsuccessful, he formed a Franco-Ottoman alliance with the Muslim sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, a controversial move for a Christian king at the time.
Early life and accession
Francis of Orléans was born on 12 September 1494 at the Château de Cognac in the town of Cognac, which at that time lay in the province of Saintonge, a part of the Duchy of Aquitaine. Today the town lies in the department of Charente.
Francis was the only son of Charles of Orléans, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy, and a great-great-grandson of King Charles V of France. His family was not expected to inherit the throne, as his third cousin King Charles VIII was still young at the time of his birth, as was his father's cousin the Duke of Orléans, later King Louis XII. However, Charles VIII died childless in 1498 and was succeeded by Louis XII, who himself had no male heir. The Salic Law prevented women from inheriting the throne. Therefore, the four-year-old Francis (who was already Count of Angoulême after the death of his own father two years earlier) became the heir presumptive to the throne of France in 1498 and was vested with the title of Duke of Valois.
In 1505, Louis XII, having fallen ill, ordered for his daughter Claude and Francis to be married immediately, but only through an assembly of nobles were the two engaged. Claude was heir presumptive to the Duchy of Brittany through her mother, Anne of Brittany. Following Anne's death, the marriage took place on 18 May 1514. On 1 January 1515, Louis died, and Francis inherited the throne. He was crowned King of France in the Cathedral of Reims on 25 January 1515, with Claude as his queen consort.
Reign
As Francis was receiving his education, ideas emerging from the Italian Renaissance were influential in France. Some of his tutors, such as François de Moulins de Rochefort (his Latin instructor, who later during the reign of Francis was named Grand Aumônier de France) and Christophe de Longueil (a Brabantian humanist), were attracted by these new ways of thinking and attempted to influence Francis. His academic education had been in arithmetic, geography, grammar, history, reading, spelling, and writing and he became proficient in Hebrew, Italian, Latin and Spanish. Francis came to learn chivalry, dancing, and music, and he loved archery, falconry, horseback riding, hunting, jousting, real tennis and wrestling. He ended up reading philosophy and theology and he was fascinated with art, literature, poetry and science. His mother, who had a high admiration for Italian Renaissance art, passed this interest on to her son. Although Francis did not receive a humanist education, he was more influenced by humanism than any previous French king.
Patron of the arts
By the time he ascended the throne in 1515, the Renaissance had arrived in France, and Francis became an enthusiastic patron of the arts. At the time of his accession, the royal palaces of France were ornamented with only a scattering of great paintings, and not a single sculpture, not ancient nor modern.
Francis patronized many great artists of his time, including Andrea del Sarto and Leonardo da Vinci; the latter of whom was persuaded to make France his home during his last years. While da Vinci painted very little during his years in France, he brought with him many of his greatest works, including the Mona Lisa (known in France as La Joconde), and these remained in France after his death. Other major artists to receive Francis' patronage included the goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini and the painters Rosso Fiorentino, Giulio Romano, and Primaticcio, all of whom were employed in decorating Francis' various palaces. He also invited architect Sebastiano Serlio, who enjoyed a fruitful late career in France. Francis also commissioned a number of agents in Italy to procure notable works of art and ship them to France.
Man of letters
Francis was also renowned as a man of letters. When he comes up in a conversation among characters in Baldassare Castiglione's Book of the Courtier, it is as the great hope to bring culture to the war-obsessed French nation. Not only did Francis support a number of major writers of the period, but he was also a poet himself, if not one of particular abilities. Francis worked diligently at improving the royal library. He appointed the great French humanist Guillaume Budé as chief librarian and began to expand the collection. Francis employed agents in Italy to look for rare books and manuscripts, just as he had agents looking for artworks. During his reign, the size of the library greatly increased. Not only did he expand the library, but there is also evidence that he read the books he bought for it, a much rarer event in the royal annals. Francis set an important precedent by opening his library to scholars from around the world in order to facilitate the diffusion of knowledge.
In 1537, Francis signed the Ordonnance de Montpellier, which decreed that his library be given a copy of every book to be sold in France. Francis' older sister, Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, was also an accomplished writer who produced the classic collection of short stories known as the Heptameron. Francis corresponded with the abbess and philosopher Claude de Bectoz, of whose letters he was so fond that he would carry them around and show them to the ladies of his court. Together with his sister, he visited her in Tarascon.
Construction
Francis poured vast amounts of money into new structures. He continued the work of his predecessors on the Château d'Amboise and also started renovations on the Château de Blois. Early in his reign, he began construction of the magnificent Château de Chambord, inspired by the architectural styles of the Italian Renaissance, and perhaps even designed by Leonardo da Vinci. Francis rebuilt the Louvre Palace, transforming it from a medieval fortress into a building of Renaissance splendour. He financed the building of a new City Hall (the Hôtel de Ville) for Paris in order to have control over the building's design. He constructed the Château de Madrid in the Bois de Boulogne and rebuilt the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The largest of Francis' building projects was the reconstruction and expansion of the Château de Fontainebleau, which quickly became his favourite place of residence, as well as the residence of his official mistress, Anne, Duchess of Étampes.
Military action
Although the Italian Wars (1494–1559) came to dominate the reign of Francis I, which he constantly participate at the forefront as le Roi-Chevalier, the wars were not the sole focus of his policies. He merely continued the wars that he succeeded from his predecessors and that his heir and successor on the throne, Henry II of France, would inherit after Francis' death. Indeed, the Italian Wars had begun when Milan sent a plea to King Charles VIII of France for protection against the aggressive actions of the King of Naples. Militarily and diplomatically, the reign of Francis I was a mixed bag of success and failure. Francis I tried and failed to become Holy Roman Emperor at the Imperial election of 1519, primarily due to his adversary Charles having threatened the electors with violence. However, there were also temporary victories, such as in the portion of the Italian Wars called the War of the League of Cambrai (1508–1516) and, more specifically, to the final stage of that war, which history refers to simply as "Francis' First Italian War" (1515–1516), when Francis routed the combined forces of the Papal States and the Old Swiss Confederacy at Marignano on 13–15 September 1515. This grand victory at Marignano allowed Francis I to capture the Italian city-state of Duchy of Milan. However, in November 1521, during the Four Years' War (1521–1526) and facing the advancing Imperial forces of the Holy Roman Empire and open revolt within Milan, Francis I was forced to abandon Milan.
Much of the military activity of Francis's reign was focused on his sworn enemy, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Francis and Charles maintained an intense personal rivalry. Charles, in fact, brashly dared to challenge Francis to single combat multiple times. In addition to the Holy Roman Empire, Charles personally ruled Spain, Austria, and a number of smaller possessions neighbouring France. He was thus a constant threat to Francis I's kingdom.
Francis I attempted to arrange an alliance with Henry VIII at the famous meeting at the Field of Cloth of Gold on 7 June 1520, but despite a lavish fortnight of diplomacy they failed to reach an agreement. Francis I and Henry VIII both shared the dreams of power and chivalric glory; however their relationship featured intense personal and dynastic rivalry. Francis I was driven by his intense eagerness to retake Milan, despite the strong opposition of other powers. Henry VIII was likewise determined to recapture northern France, which Francis I could not allow.
However, the situation was grave; Francis I had to face not only the whole might of Western Europe, but also the internal hostility in form of Charles III de Bourbon, a capable commander who fought alongside Francis I as his constable at the great battle of Marignano, but defected to Charles V after his conflict with Francis I's mother over inheritance of Bourbon estates. Despite all this, the Kingdom of France still held the balance of power in its favour. Nevertheless, the defeat suffered from the cataclystic battle of Pavia on 24 February 1525, during part of the continuing Italian Wars known as the Four Years' War upheaved the political ground of Europe. He was actually taken prisoner: Cesare Hercolani injured his horse, and Francis I himself was subsequently captured by Charles de Lannoy. Some claims he was captured by Diego Dávila, Alonso Pita da Veiga, and Juan de Urbieta, from Guipúzcoa. For this reason, Hercolani was named "Victor of the battle of Pavia". Zuppa alla Pavese was supposedly invented on the spot to feed the captive king after the battle.
Francis I was held captive morbidly in Madrid. In a letter to his mother, he wrote, "Of all things, nothing remains to me but honour and life, which is safe." This line has come down in history famously as "All is lost save honour." Francis I was compelled to make major concessions to Charles in the Treaty of Madrid (1526), signed on 14 January, before he was freed on 17 March. An ultimatum from Ottoman Sultan Suleiman to Charles additionally played a role in his release. Francis I was forced to surrender any claims to Naples and Milan in Italy. Francis I was forced to recognised the independence of the Duchy of Burgundy, which had been part of France since the death of Charles the Bold in 1477. And finally, Francis I was betrothed to Charles' sister Eleanor. Francis I returned to France in exchange for his two sons, Francis and Henry, Duke of Orléans, the future Henry II of France, but once he was free he revoked the forced concessions as his agreement with Charles was made under duress. He also proclaimed that the agreement was void because his sons were taken hostage with the implication that his word alone could not be trusted. Thus he firmly repudiated it. A renewed alliance with England enabled Francis to repudiate the treaty of Madrid.
Francis persevered in his rivalry against Charles and his intent to control Italy. By the mid-1520s, Pope Clement VII wished to liberate Italy from foreign domination, especially that of Charles, so he allied with Venice to form the League of Cognac. Francis joined the League in May 1526, in the War of the League of Cognac of 1526–30. Francis' allies proved weak, and the war was ended by the Treaty of Cambrai (1529; "the Peace of the Ladies", negotiated by Francis’ mother and Charles’ aunt).The two princes were released, and Francis married Eleanor.
On 24 July 1534, Francis, inspired by the Spanish tercios and the Roman legions, issued an edict to form seven infantry Légions of 6,000 troops each, of which 12,000 of 42,000 were arquebusiers, testifying to the growing importance of gunpowder. The force was a national standing army, where any soldier could be promoted on the basis of vacancies, were paid wages by grade and granted exemptions from the taille and other taxes up to 20 sous, a heavy burden on the state budget.
After the League of Cognac failed, Francis concluded a secret alliance with the Landgrave of Hesse on 27 January 1534. This was directed against Charles on the pretext of assisting the Duke of Württemberg to regain his traditional seat, from which Charles had removed him in 1519. Francis also obtained the help of the Ottoman Empire and after the death of Francesco II Sforza, ruler of Milan, renewed the contest in Italy in the Italian War of 1536–1538. This round of fighting, which had little result, was ended by the Truce of Nice. The agreement collapsed, however, which led to Francis' final attempt on Italy in the Italian War of 1542–1546. Francis I managed to hold off the forces of Charles and Henry VIII. Charles was forced to sign the Treaty of Crépy because of his financial difficulties and conflicts with the Schmalkaldic League.
Republic of Lithuania Lietuvos Respublika (Lithuanian)
During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe; present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were the territories of the Grand Duchy.
With the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772–95, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.
• Independence declared 16 February 1918
• 1st Soviet occupation 15 June 1940
• Nazi German occupation 22 June 1941
• 2nd Soviet occupation July 1944
Now Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the Eurozone, Schengen Agreement and NATO. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, and part of Nordic-Baltic cooperation of Northern European countries. The United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a "very high human development" country. Lithuania has been among the fastest growing economies in the European Union and is ranked 21st in the world in the Ease of Doing Business Index.
Borgund Stave Church (Norwegian: Borgund stavkyrkje) is a former parish church of the Church of Norway in Lærdal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was built around the year 1200 as the village church of Borgund, and belonged to Lærdal parish (part of the Sogn prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin) until 1868, when its religious functions were transferred to a "new" Borgund Church, which was built nearby. The old church was restored, conserved and turned into a museum. It is funded and run by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments, and is classified as a triple-nave stave church of the Sogn-type. Its grounds contain Norway's sole surviving stave-built free-standing bell tower.
Borgund Stave Church was built sometime between 1180 and 1250 AD with later additions and restorations. Its walls are formed by vertical wooden boards, or staves, hence the name "stave church." The four corner posts are connected to one another by ground sills, resting on a stone foundation. The intervening staves rise from the ground sills; each is tongued and grooved, to interlock with its neighbours and form a sturdy wall. The exterior timber surfaces are darkened by protective layers of tar, distilled from pine.
Borgund is built on a basilica plan, with reduced side aisles, and an added chancel and apse. It has a raised central nave demarcated on four sides by an arcade. An ambulatory runs around this platform and into the chancel and apse, both added in the 14th century. An additional ambulatory, in the form of a porch, runs around the exterior of the building, sheltered under the overhanging shingled roof. The floor plan of this church resembles that of a central plan, double-shelled Greek cross with an apse attached to one end in place of the fourth arm. The entries to the church are in the three shorter arms of the cross.
Structurally, the building has been described as a "cube within a cube", each independent of the other. The inner "cube" is formed by continuous columns that rise from ground level to support the roof. The top of the arcade is formed by arched buttresses, knee jointed to the columns. Above the arcade, the columns are linked by cross-shaped, diagonal trusses, commonly dubbed "Saint Andrew's crosses"; these carry arched supports that offer the visual equivalent of a "second storey". While not a functional gallery, this is reminiscent of contemporary second story galleries of large stone churches elsewhere in Europe. Smaller beams running between these upper supporting columns help clamp everything firmly together. The weight of the roof is thus supported by buttresses and columns, preventing downward and outward movement of the stave walls.
The roof beams are supported by steeply angled scissor trusses that form an "X" shape with a narrow top span and a broader bottom span, tied by a bottom truss to prevent collapse. Additional support is given by a truss that cuts across the "X", below the crossing point but above the bottom truss. The roof is steeply pitched, boarded horizontally and clad with shingles. The original outer roof would have been weatherproofed with boards laid lengthwise, rather than shingles. In later years wooden shingles became more common. Scissor beam roof construction is typical of most stave churches.
Borgund has tiered, overhanging roofs, topped at their intersection by a shingle-roofed tower or steeple. On each of its four gables is a stylised "dragon" head, swooping from the carved roof ridge crests, Hohler remarks their similarity to the carved dragon heads found on the prows of Norse ships. Similar gable heads appear on small bronze church-shaped reliquaries common in Norway and Europe in this period. Borgund's current dragon heads are possible 18th century replacements; similar, original dragon heads remain on older structures, such as Lom Stave Church and nearby Urnes Stave Church. Borgund is one of the only stave churches to have preserved its crested ridge caps. They are carved with openwork vine and entangled plant designs.
The four outer dragon heads are perhaps the most distinctive of all non-Christian symbols adorning Borgund Stave Church. Their function is uncertain, and disputed; if pagan, they are recruited to the Christian cause in the battle between Good and Evil. They may have been intended to keep away evil spirits thought to threaten the church building; to ward off evil, rather than represent it,
On the lower side panel of the steeple are four carved circular cutouts. The carvings are weather-beaten, tarred and difficult to decipher, and there is disagreement about what they symbolize. Some[who?] believe they represent the four evangelists, symbolised by an eagle, an ox, a lion and a man. Hauglid describes the carvings as "dragons that extend their heads over to the neighboring field's dragon and bite into it", and points out their similarity to carvings at Høre Stave Church.
The church's west portal (the nave's main entrance), is surrounded by a larger carving of dragons biting each other in the neck and tail. At the bottom of the half-columns that flank the front entrance, two dragon heads spew vine stalks that wind upwards and are braided into the dragons above. The carving shares similarities with the west portal of Ål Stave Church, which also has kites[clarification needed] in a band braiding pattern, and follows the usual composition[clarification needed] in the Sogn-Valdres portals, a larger group of portals with very clear similarities. Bugge writes that Christian authority may have come to terms with such pagan and "wild scenes" in the church building because the rift could be interpreted as a struggle between good and evil; in Christian medieval art, the dragon was often used as a symbol of the devil himself but Bugge believes that the carvings were protective, like the dragon heads on the church roof.
The church interior is dark, as not much daylight enters the building. Some of the few sources of natural light are narrow circular windows along the roof, examples of daylighting. It was supposed that the narrow apertures would prevent the entry of evil spirits. Three entrances are heavily adorned with foliage and snakes, and are only wide enough for one person to enter, supposedly preventing the entry of evil spirits alongside the churchgoers. The portals were originally painted green, red, black, and white.
Most of the internal fittings have been removed. There is little in the building, apart from the row of benches that are installed along the wall inside the church in the ambulatory outside of the arcade and raised platform, a soapstone font, an altar (with 17th-century altarpiece), a 16th-century lectern, and a 16th-century cupboard for storing altar vessels. After the Reformation, when the church was converted for Protestant worship, pews, a pulpit and other standard church furnishings were included, however these have been removed since the building has come under the protection of the Fortidsminneforeningen (The Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments).
The interior structure of the church is characterized by the twelve free-standing columns that support the nave's elevated central space. On the long side of the church there is a double interval between the second and third pillars, but with a half pillar resting on the lower bracing beam (the pier) which runs in between. The double interval provides free access from the south portal to the church's central compartment, which would otherwise have been obstructed by the middle bar. The tops of the poles are finished with grotesque, carved human and animal masks. The tie-bars are secured with braces in the form of St. Andrew's crosses with a sun - shaped center and carved leaf shapes along the arms. The crosses reappear in less ornate form as braces along the church walls. On the north and south sides of the nave, a total of eight windows let in small amounts of light, and at the top of the nave's west gable is a window of more recent date - probably from pre-Reformation times. On the south wall of the nave, the inauguration crosses are still on the inside of the wall. The interior choir walls and west portal have engraved figures and runes, some of which date to the Middle Ages. One, among the commonest of runic graffiti, reads "Ave Maria". An inscription by Þórir (Thor), written "in the evening at St. Olav's Mass" blames the pagan Norns for his problems; perhaps a residue of ancient beliefs, as these female beings were thought to rule the personal destinies of all in Norse mythology and the Poetic Edda.
The medieval interior of the stave church is almost untouched, save for its restorations and repairs, though the medieval crucifix was removed after the Reformation. The original wooden floor and the benches that run along the walls of the nave are largely intact, together with a medieval stone altar and a box-shaped baptismal font in soapstone. The pulpit is from the period 1550–1570 and the altarpiece dates from 1654, while the frame around the tablet is dated to 1620. The painting on the altarpiece shows the crucifixion in the centre, flanked by the Virgin Mary on the left and John the Baptist on the right. In the tympanum field, a white dove hovers on a blue background. Below the painting is an inscription with golden letters on a black background. A sacrament from the period 1550–1570 in the same style as the pulpit is also preserved. A restoration of the building was carried out in the early 1870s, led by the architect Christian Christie, who removed benches, a second-floor gallery with seating, a ceiling over the chancel, and various windows including two large windows on the north and south sides. As the goal was to return the church to pre-Reformation condition, all post-Reformation interior paintwork was also removed.
Images from the 1990s show deer antlers hung on the lower, east-facing pillars. A local story claims that this is all that remains of a whole stuffed reindeer, shot when it tried to enter during a Mass. A travelogue from 1668 claims that a reindeer was shot during a sermon "when it marched like a wizard in front of the other animal carcasses"
To the south of the church is a free-standing stave-work bell tower that covers remnants of the mediaeval foundry used to cast the church bell. It was probably built in the mid-13th century. It is Norway's only remaining free-standing stave-work bell tower.It was given a new door around the year 1700 but this was removed and not replaced at some time between the 1920s and 1940s, leaving the foundry pit was exposed. To preserve the interior, new walls were built as cladding on the outside of the stave walls in the 1990s. One of the medieval bells is on display in the new Borgund church.
Management
In 1868 the building was abandoned as a church but was turned into a museum; this saved it from the commonplace demolition of stave churches in that period. A new Borgund Church was built in 1868 a short distance south of the old church. The old church has not been formally used for religious purposes since that year. Borgund Stave Church was bought by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments in 1877. The first guidebook in English for the stave church was published in 1898. From 2001, the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage has funded a program to research, restore, conserve and maintain stave churches.
Legacy
The church served as an example for the reconstruction of the Fantoft Stave Church in Fana, Bergen, in 1883 and for its rebuilding in 1997. The Gustav Adolf Stave Church in Hahnenklee, Germany, built in 1908, is modeled on the Borgund church. Four replicas exist in the United States, one at Chapel in the Hills, Rapid City, South Dakota, another in Lyme, Connecticut, the third on Washington Island, Wisconsin, and the fourth in Minot, North Dakota at the Scandinavian Heritage Park.
Borgund is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the southeastern part of the traditional district of Sogn. The 635-square-kilometre (245 sq mi) municipality existed from 1864 until its dissolution in 1964. It encompassed an area in the eastern part of the present-day Lærdal Municipality. The administrative center of Borgund was the village of Steinklepp, just northeast of the village of Borgund. Steinklepp was the site of a store, a bank, and a school. The historical Filefjell Kongevegen road passes through the Borgund area.
Location
The former municipality of Borgund was situated near the southeastern end of the Sognefjorden, along the Lærdalselvi river. The lower parts of the municipality were farms such as Sjurhaugen and Nedrehegg. They were at an elevation of about 270 m (890 ft) above sea level. Høgeloft, on the border with the neighboring municipality of Hemsedal, is a mountain in the Filefjell range and it was the highest point in Borgund at 1,920 m (6,300 ft) above sea level. The lakes Eldrevatnet, Juklevatnet, and Øljusjøen were also located near the border with Hemsedal.
History
Borgund was established as a municipality in 1864 when it was separated from the municipality of Lærdal. Initially it had a population of 963. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Borgund (population: 492) was merged with the Muggeteigen area (population: 11) of the neighboring Årdal Municipality and all of Lærdal Municipality (population: 1,755) were all merged to form a new, larger municipality of Lærdal
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic , European country and an independent state in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula . Geographically speaking, the country is long and narrow, and on the elongated coast towards the North Atlantic are Norway's well-known fjords . The Kingdom of Norway includes the main country (the mainland with adjacent islands within the baseline ), Jan Mayen and Svalbard . With these two Arctic areas, Norway covers a land area of 385,000 km² and has a population of approximately 5.5 million (2023). Mainland Norway borders Sweden in the east , Finland and Russia in the northeast .
Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , where Harald V has been king and head of state since 1991 , and Jonas Gahr Støre ( Ap ) has been prime minister since 2021 . Norway is a unitary state , with two administrative levels below the state: counties and municipalities . The Sami part of the population has, through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act , to a certain extent self-government and influence over traditionally Sami areas. Although Norway has rejected membership of the European Union through two referendums , through the EEA Agreement Norway has close ties with the Union, and through NATO with the United States . Norway is a significant contributor to the United Nations (UN), and has participated with soldiers in several foreign operations mandated by the UN. Norway is among the states that have participated from the founding of the UN , NATO , the Council of Europe , the OSCE and the Nordic Council , and in addition to these is a member of the EEA , the World Trade Organization , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is part of the Schengen area .
Norway is rich in many natural resources such as oil , gas , minerals , timber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . Since the beginning of the 20th century, these natural conditions have given the country the opportunity for an increase in wealth that few other countries can now enjoy, and Norwegians have the second highest average income in the world, measured in GDP per capita, as of 2022. The petroleum industry accounts for around 14% of Norway's gross domestic product as of 2018. Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and gas per capita outside the Middle East. However, the number of employees linked to this industry fell from approx. 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015.
In Norway, these natural resources have been managed for socially beneficial purposes. The country maintains a welfare model in line with the other Nordic countries. Important service areas such as health and higher education are state-funded, and the country has an extensive welfare system for its citizens. Public expenditure in 2018 is approx. 50% of GDP, and the majority of these expenses are related to education, healthcare, social security and welfare. Since 2001 and until 2021, when the country took second place, the UN has ranked Norway as the world's best country to live in . From 2010, Norway is also ranked at the top of the EIU's democracy index . Norway ranks third on the UN's World Happiness Report for the years 2016–2018, behind Finland and Denmark , a report published in March 2019.
The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles , Lithuanians , Norwegian-Swedes , Norwegian-Syrians including Syrian Kurds and Norwegian-Pakistani .
Norway's national day is 17 May, on this day in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution was dated and signed by the presidency of the National Assembly at Eidsvoll . It is stipulated in the law of 26 April 1947 that 17 May are national public holidays. The Sami national day is 6 February. "Yes, we love this country" is Norway's national anthem, the song was written in 1859 by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910).
Norway's history of human settlement goes back at least 10,000 years, to the Late Paleolithic , the first period of the Stone Age . Archaeological finds of settlements along the entire Norwegian coast have so far been dated back to 10,400 before present (BP), the oldest find is today considered to be a settlement at Pauler in Brunlanes , Vestfold .
For a period these settlements were considered to be the remains of settlers from Doggerland , an area which today lies beneath the North Sea , but which was once a land bridge connecting today's British Isles with Danish Jutland . But the archaeologists who study the initial phase of the settlement in what is today Norway reckon that the first people who came here followed the coast along what is today Bohuslân. That they arrived in some form of boat is absolutely certain, and there is much evidence that they could easily move over large distances.
Since the last Ice Age, there has been continuous settlement in Norway. It cannot be ruled out that people lived in Norway during the interglacial period , but no trace of such a population or settlement has been found.
The Stone Age lasted a long time; half of the time that our country has been populated. There are no written accounts of what life was like back then. The knowledge we have has been painstakingly collected through investigations of places where people have stayed and left behind objects that we can understand have been processed by human hands. This field of knowledge is called archaeology . The archaeologists interpret their findings and the history of the surrounding landscape. In our country, the uplift after the Ice Age is fundamental. The history of the settlements at Pauler is no more than fifteen years old.
The Fosna culture settled parts of Norway sometime between 10,000–8,000 BC. (see Stone Age in Norway ). The dating of rock carvings is set to Neolithic times (in Norway between 4000 BC to 1700 BC) and show activities typical of hunters and gatherers .
Agriculture with livestock and arable farming was introduced in the Neolithic. Swad farming where the farmers move when the field does not produce the expected yield.
More permanent and persistent farm settlements developed in the Bronze Age (1700 BC to 500 BC) and the Iron Age . The earliest runes have been found on an arrowhead dated to around 200 BC. Many more inscriptions are dated to around 800, and a number of petty kingdoms developed during these centuries. In prehistoric times, there were no fixed national borders in the Nordic countries and Norway did not exist as a state. The population in Norway probably fell to year 0.
Events in this time period, the centuries before the year 1000, are glimpsed in written sources. Although the sagas were written down in the 13th century, many hundreds of years later, they provide a glimpse into what was already a distant past. The story of the fimbul winter gives us a historical picture of something that happened and which in our time, with the help of dendrochronology , can be interpreted as a natural disaster in the year 536, created by a volcanic eruption in El Salvador .
In the period between 800 and 1066 there was a significant expansion and it is referred to as the Viking Age . During this period, Norwegians, as Swedes and Danes also did, traveled abroad in longships with sails as explorers, traders, settlers and as Vikings (raiders and pirates ). By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingship had been firmly established, building its right as descendants of Harald Hårfagre and then as heirs of Olav the Holy . The Norwegian kings, and their subjects, now professed Christianity . In the time around Håkon Håkonsson , in the time after the civil war , there was a small renaissance in Norway with extensive literary activity and diplomatic activity with Europe. The black dew came to Norway in 1349 and killed around half of the population. The entire state apparatus and Norway then entered a period of decline.
Between 1396 and 1536, Norway was part of the Kalmar Union , and from 1536 until 1814 Norway had been reduced to a tributary part of Denmark , named as the Personal Union of Denmark-Norway . This staff union entered into an alliance with Napoléon Bonaparte with a war that brought bad times and famine in 1812 . In 1814, Denmark-Norway lost the Anglophone Wars , part of the Napoleonic Wars , and the Danish king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January of that year. After a Norwegian attempt at independence, Norway was forced into a loose union with Sweden, but where Norway was allowed to create its own constitution, the Constitution of 1814 . In this period, Norwegian, romantic national feeling flourished, and the Norwegians tried to develop and establish their own national self-worth. The union with Sweden was broken in 1905 after it had been threatened with war, and Norway became an independent kingdom with its own monarch, Haakon VII .
Norway remained neutral during the First World War , and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Norway again declared itself neutral, but was invaded by National Socialist Germany on 9 April 1940 .
Norway became a member of the Western defense alliance NATO in 1949 . Two attempts to join the EU were voted down in referendums by small margins in 1972 and 1994 . Norway has been a close ally of the United States in the post-war period. Large discoveries of oil and natural gas in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s led to tremendous economic growth in the country, which is still ongoing. Traditional industries such as fishing are also part of Norway's economy.
Stone Age (before 1700 BC)
When most of the ice disappeared, vegetation spread over the landscape and due to a warm climate around 2000-3000 BC. the forest grew much taller than in modern times. Land uplift after the ice age led to a number of fjords becoming lakes and dry land. The first people probably came from the south along the coast of the Kattegat and overland into Finnmark from the east. The first people probably lived by gathering, hunting and trapping. A good number of Stone Age settlements have been found which show that such hunting and trapping people stayed for a long time in the same place or returned to the same place regularly. Large amounts of gnawed bones show that they lived on, among other things, reindeer, elk, small game and fish.
Flintstone was imported from Denmark and apart from small natural deposits along the southern coast, all flintstone in Norway is transported by people. At Espevær, greenstone was quarried for tools in the Stone Age, and greenstone tools from Espevær have been found over large parts of Western Norway. Around 2000-3000 BC the usual farm animals such as cows and sheep were introduced to Norway. Livestock probably meant a fundamental change in society in that part of the people had to be permanent residents or live a semi-nomadic life. Livestock farming may also have led to conflict with hunters.
The oldest traces of people in what is today Norway have been found at Pauler , a farm in Brunlanes in Larvik municipality in Vestfold . In 2007 and 2008, the farm has given its name to a number of Stone Age settlements that have been excavated and examined by archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum at UiO. The investigations have been carried out in connection with the new route for the E18 motorway west of Farris. The oldest settlement, located more than 127 m above sea level, is dated to be about 10,400 years old (uncalibrated, more than 11,000 years in real calendar years). From here, the ice sheet was perhaps visible when people settled here. This locality has been named Pauler I, and is today considered to be the oldest confirmed human traces in Norway to date. The place is in the mountains above the Pauler tunnel on the E18 between Larvik and Porsgrunn . The pioneer settlement is a term archaeologists have adopted for the oldest settlement. The archaeologists have speculated about where they came from, the first people in what is today Norway. It has been suggested that they could come by boat or perhaps across the ice from Doggerland or the North Sea, but there is now a large consensus that they came north along what is today the Bohuslän coast. The Fosna culture , the Komsa culture and the Nøstvet culture are the traditional terms for hunting cultures from the Stone Age. One thing is certain - getting to the water was something they mastered, the first people in our country. Therefore, within a short time they were able to use our entire long coast.
In the New Stone Age (4000 BC–1700 BC) there is a theory that a new people immigrated to the country, the so-called Stone Ax People . Rock carvings from this period show motifs from hunting and fishing , which were still important industries. From this period, a megalithic tomb has been found in Østfold .
It is uncertain whether there were organized societies or state-like associations in the Stone Age in Norway. Findings from settlements indicate that many lived together and that this was probably more than one family so that it was a slightly larger, organized herd.
Finnmark
In prehistoric times, animal husbandry and agriculture were of little economic importance in Finnmark. Livelihoods in Finnmark were mainly based on fish, gathering, hunting and trapping, and eventually domestic reindeer herding became widespread in the Middle Ages. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age have been referred to as the Komsa culture and comprise around 5,000 years of settlement. Finnmark probably got its first settlement around 8000 BC. It is believed that the coastal areas became ice-free 11,000 years BC and the fjord areas around 9,000 years BC. after which willows, grass, heather, birch and pine came into being. Finnmarksvidda was covered by pine forest around 6000 BC. After the Ice Age, the land rose around 80 meters in the inner fjord areas (Alta, Tana, Varanger). Due to ice melting in the polar region, the sea rose in the period 6400–3800 BC. and in areas with little land elevation, some settlements from the first part of the Stone Age were flooded. On Sørøya, the net sea level rise was 12 to 14 meters and many residential areas were flooded.
According to Bjørnar Olsen , there are many indications of a connection between the oldest settlement in Western Norway (the " Fosnakulturen ") and that in Finnmark, but it is uncertain in which direction the settlement took place. In the earliest part of the Stone Age, settlement in Finnmark was probably concentrated in the coastal areas, and these only reflected a lifestyle with great mobility and no permanent dwellings. The inner regions, such as Pasvik, were probably used seasonally. The archaeologically proven settlements from the Stone Age in inner Finnmark and Troms are linked to lakes and large watercourses. The oldest petroglyphs in Alta are usually dated to 4200 BC, that is, the Neolithic . Bjørnar Olsen believes that the oldest can be up to 2,000 years older than this.
From around 4000 BC a slow deforestation of Finnmark began and around 1800 BC the vegetation distribution was roughly the same as in modern times. The change in vegetation may have increased the distance between the reindeer's summer and winter grazing. The uplift continued slowly from around 4000 BC. at the same time as sea level rise stopped.
According to Gutorm Gjessing, the settlement in Finnmark and large parts of northern Norway in the Neolithic was semi-nomadic with movement between four seasonal settlements (following the pattern of life in Sami siida in historical times): On the outer coast in summer (fishing and seal catching) and inland in winter (hunting for reindeer, elk and bear). Povl Simonsen believed instead that the winter residence was in the inner fjord area in a village-like sod house settlement. Bjørnar Olsen believes that at the end of the Stone Age there was a relatively settled population along the coast, while inland there was less settlement and a more mobile lifestyle.
Bronze Age (1700 BC–500 BC)
Bronze was used for tools in Norway from around 1500 BC. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper , and these metals were introduced because they were not mined in the country at the time. Bronze is believed to have been a relatively expensive material. The Bronze Age in Norway can be divided into two phases:
Early Bronze Age (1700–1100 BC)
Younger Bronze Age (1100–500 BC)
For the prehistoric (unwritten) era, there is limited knowledge about social conditions and possible state formations. From the Bronze Age, there are large burial mounds of stone piles along the coast of Vestfold and Agder, among others. It is likely that only chieftains or other great men could erect such grave monuments and there was probably some form of organized society linked to these. In the Bronze Age, society was more organized and stratified than in the Stone Age. Then a rich class of chieftains emerged who had close connections with southern Scandinavia. The settlements became more permanent and people adopted horses and ard . They acquired bronze status symbols, lived in longhouses and people were buried in large burial mounds . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age indicate that humans practiced solar cultivation.
Finnmark
In the last millennium BC the climate became cooler and the pine forest disappears from the coast; pine forests, for example, were only found in the innermost part of the Altafjord, while the outer coast was almost treeless. Around the year 0, the limit for birch forest was south of Kirkenes. Animals with forest habitats (elk, bear and beaver) disappeared and the reindeer probably established their annual migration routes sometime at that time. In the period 1800–900 BC there were significantly more settlements in and utilization of the hinterland was particularly noticeable on Finnmarksvidda. From around 1800 BC until year 0 there was a significant increase in contact between Finnmark and areas in the east including Karelia (where metals were produced including copper) and central and eastern Russia. The youngest petroglyphs in Alta show far more boats than the earlier phases and the boats are reminiscent of types depicted in petroglyphs in southern Scandinavia. It is unclear what influence southern Scandinavian societies had as far north as Alta before the year 0. Many of the cultural features that are considered typical Sami in modern times were created or consolidated in the last millennium BC, this applies, among other things, to the custom of burying in brick chambers in stone urns. The Mortensnes burial ground may have been used for 2000 years until around 1600 AD.
Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 1050 AD)
The Einangsteinen is one of the oldest Norwegian runestones; it is from the 4th century
Simultaneous production of Vikings
Around 500 years BC the researchers reckon that the Bronze Age will be replaced by the Iron Age as iron takes over as the most important material for weapons and tools. Bronze, wood and stone were still used. Iron was cheaper than bronze, easier to work than flint , and could be used for many purposes; iron probably became common property. Iron could, among other things, be used to make solid and sharp axes which made it much easier to fell trees. In the Iron Age, gold and silver were also used partly for decoration and partly as means of payment. It is unknown which language was used in Norway before our era. From around the year 0 until around the year 800, everyone in Scandinavia (except the Sami) spoke Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Subsequently, several different languages developed in this area that were only partially mutually intelligible. The Iron Age is divided into several periods:
Early Iron Age
Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 0)
Roman Iron Age (c. 0–c. AD 400)
Migration period (approx. 400–600). In the migration period (approx. 400–600), new peoples came to Norway, and ruins of fortress buildings etc. are interpreted as signs that there has been talk of a violent invasion.
Younger Iron Age
Merovingian period (500–800)
The Viking Age (793–1066)
Norwegian Vikings go on plundering expeditions and trade voyages around the coastal countries of Western Europe . Large groups of Norwegians emigrate to the British Isles , Iceland and Greenland . Harald Hårfagre starts a unification process of Norway late in the 8th century , which was completed by Harald Hardråde in the 1060s . The country was Christianized under the kings Olav Tryggvason , fell in the battle of Svolder ( 1000 ) and Olav Haraldsson (the saint), fell in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 .
Sources of prehistoric times
Shrinking glaciers in the high mountains, including in Jotunheimen and Breheimen , have from around the year 2000 uncovered objects from the Viking Age and earlier. These are objects of organic material that have been preserved by the ice and that elsewhere in nature are broken down in a few months. The finds are getting older as the melting makes the archaeologists go deeper into the ice. About half of all archaeological discoveries on glaciers in the world are made in Oppland . In 2013, a 3,400-year-old shoe and a robe from the year 300 were found. Finds at Lomseggen in Lom published in 2020 revealed, among other things, well-preserved horseshoes used on a mountain pass. Many hundreds of items include preserved clothing, knives, whisks, mittens, leather shoes, wooden chests and horse equipment. A piece of cloth dated to the year 1000 has preserved its original colour. In 2014, a wooden ski from around the year 700 was found in Reinheimen . The ski is 172 cm long and 14 cm wide, with preserved binding of leather and wicker.
Pytheas from Massalia is the oldest known account of what was probably the coast of Norway, perhaps somewhere on the coast of Møre. Pytheas visited Britannia around 325 BC. and traveled further north to a country by the "Ice Sea". Pytheas described the short summer night and the midnight sun farther north. He wrote, among other things, that people there made a drink from grain and honey. Caesar wrote in his work about the Gallic campaign about the Germanic tribe Haruders. Other Roman sources around the year 0 mention the land of the Cimbri (Jutland) and the Cimbri headlands ( Skagen ) and that the sources stated that Cimbri and Charyds lived in this area. Some of these peoples may have immigrated to Norway and there become known as hordes (as in Hordaland). Sources from the Mediterranean area referred to the islands of Scandia, Scandinavia and Thule ("the outermost of all islands"). The Roman historian Tacitus wrote around the year 100 a work about Germania and mentioned the people of Scandia, the Sviones. Ptolemy wrote around the year 150 that the Kharudes (Hordes) lived further north than all the Cimbri, in the north lived the Finnoi (Finns or Sami) and in the south the Gutai (Goths). The Nordic countries and Norway were outside the Roman Empire , which dominated Europe at the time. The Gothic-born historian Jordanes wrote in the 5th century about 13 tribes or people groups in Norway, including raumaricii (probably Romerike ), ragnaricii ( Ranrike ) and finni or skretefinni (skrid finner or ski finner, i.e. Sami) as well as a number of unclear groups. Prokopios wrote at the same time about Thule north of the land of the Danes and Slavs, Thule was ten times as big as Britannia and the largest of all the islands. In Thule, the sun was up 40 days straight in the summer. After the migration period , southern Europeans' accounts of northern Europe became fuller and more reliable.
Settlement in prehistoric times
Norway has around 50,000 farms with their own names. Farm names have persisted for a long time, over 1000 years, perhaps as much as 2000 years. The name researchers have arranged different types of farm names chronologically, which provides a basis for determining when the place was used by people or received a permanent settlement. Uncompounded landscape names such as Haug, Eid, Vik and Berg are believed to be the oldest. Archaeological traces indicate that some areas have been inhabited earlier than assumed from the farm name. Burial mounds also indicate permanent settlement. For example, the burial ground at Svartelva in Løten was used from around the year 0 to the year 1000 when Christianity took over. The first farmers probably used large areas for inland and outland, and new farms were probably established based on some "mother farms". Names such as By (or Bø) show that it is an old place of residence. From the older Iron Age, names with -heim (a common Germanic word meaning place of residence) and -stad tell of settlement, while -vin and -land tell of the use of the place. Farm names in -heim are often found as -um , -eim or -em as in Lerum and Seim, there are often large farms in the center of the village. New farm names with -city and -country were also established in the Viking Age . The first farmers probably used the best areas. The largest burial grounds, the oldest archaeological finds and the oldest farm names are found where the arable land is richest and most spacious.
It is unclear whether the settlement expansion in Roman times, migrations and the Iron Age is due to immigration or internal development and population growth. Among other things, it is difficult to demonstrate where in Europe the immigrants have come from. The permanent residents had both fields (where grain was grown) and livestock that grazed in the open fields, but it is uncertain which of these was more important. Population growth from around the year 200 led to more utilization of open land, for example in the form of settlements in the mountains. During the migration period, it also seems that in parts of the country it became common to have cluster gardens or a form of village settlement.
Norwegian expansion northwards
From around the year 200, there was a certain migration by sea from Rogaland and Hordaland to Nordland and Sør-Troms. Those who moved settled down as a settled Iron Age population and became dominant over the original population which may have been Sami . The immigrant Norwegians, Bumen , farmed with livestock that were fed inside in the winter as well as some grain cultivation and fishing. The northern border of the Norwegians' settlement was originally at the Toppsundet near Harstad and around the year 500 there was a Norwegian settlement to Malangsgapet. That was as far north as it was possible to grow grain at the time. Malangen was considered the border between Hålogaland and Finnmork until around 1400 . Further into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, there was immigration and settlement of Norwegian speakers along the coast north of Malangen. Around the year 800, Norwegians lived along the entire outer coast to Vannøy . The Norwegians partly copied Sami livelihoods such as whaling, fur hunting and reindeer husbandry. It was probably this area between Malangen and Vannøy that was Ottar from the Hålogaland area. In the Viking Age, there were also some Norwegian settlements further north and east. East of the North Cape are the scattered archaeological finds of Norwegian settlement in the Viking Age. There are Norwegian names for fjords and islands from the Viking Age, including fjord names with "-anger". Around the year 1050, there were Norwegian settlements on the outer coast of Western Finnmark. Traders and tax collectors traveled even further.
North of Malangen there were Norse farming settlements in the Iron Age. Malangen was considered Finnmark's western border until 1300. There are some archaeological traces of Norse activity around the coast from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the Viking Age. Around Tromsø, the research indicates a Norse/Sami mixed culture on the coast.
From the year 1100 and the next 200–300 years, there are no traces of Norwegian settlement north and east of Tromsø. It is uncertain whether this is due to depopulation, whether it is because the Norwegians further north were not Christianized or because there were no churches north of Lenvik or Tromsø . Norwegian settlement in the far north appears from sources from the 14th century. In the Hanseatic period , the settlement was developed into large areas specialized in commercial fishing, while earlier (in the Viking Age) there had been farms with a combination of fishing and agriculture. In 1307 , a fortress and the first church east of Tromsø were built in Vardø . Vardø became a small Norwegian town, while Vadsø remained Sami. Norwegian settlements and churches appeared along the outermost coast in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, perhaps as a result of a decline in fish stocks or fish prices, there were Norwegian settlements in the inner fjord areas such as Lebesby in Laksefjord. Some fishing villages at the far end of the coast were abandoned for good. In the interior of Finnmark, there was no national border for a long time and Kautokeino and Karasjok were joint Norwegian-Swedish areas with strong Swedish influence. The border with Finland was established in 1751 and with Russia in 1826.
On a Swedish map from 1626, Norway's border is indicated at Malangen, while Sweden with this map showed a desire to control the Sami area which had been a common area.
The term Northern Norway only came into use at the end of the 19th century and administratively the area was referred to as Tromsø Diocese when Tromsø became a bishopric in 1840. There had been different designations previously: Hålogaland originally included only Helgeland and when Norse settlement spread north in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Hålogaland was used for the area north approximately to Malangen , while Finnmark or "Finnmarken", "the land of the Sami", lay outside. The term Northern Norway was coined at a cafe table in Kristiania in 1884 by members of the Nordlændingernes Forening and was first commonly used in the interwar period as it eventually supplanted "Hålogaland".
State formation
The battle in Hafrsfjord in the year 872 has long been regarded as the day when Norway became a kingdom. The year of the battle is uncertain (may have been 10-20 years later). The whole of Norway was not united in that battle: the process had begun earlier and continued a couple of hundred years later. This means that the geographical area became subject to a political authority and became a political unit. The geographical area was perceived as an area as it is known, among other things, from Ottar from Hålogaland's account for King Alfred of Wessex around the year 880. Ottar described "the land of the Norwegians" as very long and narrow, and it was narrowest in the far north. East of the wasteland in the south lay Sveoland and in the north lay Kvenaland in the east. When Ottar sailed south along the land from his home ( Malangen ) to Skiringssal, he always had Norway ("Nordveg") on his port side and the British Isles on his starboard side. The journey took a good month. Ottar perceived "Nordveg" as a geographical unit, but did not imply that it was a political unit. Ottar separated Norwegians from Swedes and Danes. It is unclear why Ottar perceived the population spread over such a large area as a whole. It is unclear whether Norway as a geographical term or Norwegians as the name of a ethnic group is the oldest. The Norwegians had a common language which in the centuries before Ottar did not differ much from the language of Denmark and Sweden.
According to Sverre Steen, it is unlikely that Harald Hårfagre was able to control this entire area as one kingdom. The saga of Harald was written 300 years later and at his death Norway was several smaller kingdoms. Harald probably controlled a larger area than anyone before him and at most Harald's kingdom probably included the coast from Trøndelag to Agder and Vestfold as well as parts of Viken . There were probably several smaller kingdoms of varying extent before Harald and some of these are reflected in traditional landscape names such as Ranrike and Ringerike . Landscape names of "-land" (Rogaland) and "-mark" (Hedmark) as well as names such as Agder and Sogn may have been political units before Harald.
According to Sverre Steen, the national assembly was completed at the earliest at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 and the introduction of Christianity was probably a significant factor in the establishment of Norway as a state. Håkon I the good Adalsteinsfostre introduced the leasehold system where the "coastal land" (as far as the salmon went up the rivers) was divided into ship raiders who were to provide a longship with soldiers and supplies. The leidange was probably introduced as a defense against the Danes. The border with the Danes was traditionally at the Göta älv and several times before and after Harald Hårfagre the Danes had control over central parts of Norway.
Christianity was known and existed in Norway before Olav Haraldson's time. The spread occurred both from the south (today's Denmark and northern Germany) and from the west (England and Ireland). Ansgar of Bremen , called the "Apostle of the North", worked in Sweden, but he was never in Norway and probably had little influence in the country. Viking expeditions brought the Norwegians of that time into contact with Christian countries and some were baptized in England, Ireland and northern France. Olav Tryggvason and Olav Haraldson were Vikings who returned home. The first Christians in Norway were also linked to pre-Christian local religion, among other things, by mixing Christian symbols with symbols of Odin and other figures from Norse religion.
According to Sverre Steen, the introduction of Christianity in Norway should not be perceived as a nationwide revival. At Mostratinget, Christian law was introduced as law in the country and later incorporated into the laws of the individual jurisdictions. Christianity primarily involved new forms in social life, among other things exposure and images of gods were prohibited, it was forbidden to "put out" unwanted infants (to let them die), and it was forbidden to have multiple wives. The church became a nationwide institution with a special group of officials tasked with protecting the church and consolidating the new religion. According to Sverre Steen, Christianity and the church in the Middle Ages should therefore be considered together, and these became a new unifying factor in the country. The church and Christianity linked Norway to Roman Catholic Europe with Church Latin as the common language, the same time reckoning as the rest of Europe and the church in Norway was arranged much like the churches in Denmark, Sweden and England. Norway received papal approval in 1070 and became its own church province in 1152 with Archbishop Nidaros .
With Christianity, the country got three social powers: the peasants (organized through the things), the king with his officials and the church with the clergy. The things are the oldest institution: At allthings all armed men had the right to attend (in part an obligation to attend) and at lagthings met emissaries from an area (that is, the lagthings were representative assemblies). The Thing both ruled in conflicts and established laws. The laws were memorized by the participants and written down around the year 1000 or later in the Gulationsloven , Frostatingsloven , Eidsivatingsloven and Borgartingsloven . The person who had been successful at the hearing had to see to the implementation of the judgment themselves.
Early Middle Ages (1050s–1184)
The early Middle Ages is considered in Norwegian history to be the period between the end of the Viking Age around 1050 and the coronation of King Sverre in 1184 . The beginning of the period can be dated differently, from around the year 1000 when the Christianization of the country took place and up to 1100 when the Viking Age was over from an archaeological point of view. From 1035 to 1130 it was a time of (relative) internal peace in Norway, even several of the kings attempted campaigns abroad, including in 1066 and 1103 .
During this period, the church's organization was built up. This led to a gradual change in religious customs. Religion went from being a domestic matter to being regulated by common European Christian law and the royal power gained increased power and influence. Slavery (" servitude ") was gradually abolished. The population grew rapidly during this period, as the thousands of farm names ending in -rud show.
The urbanization of Norway is a historical process that has slowly but surely changed Norway from the early Viking Age to today, from a country based on agriculture and sea salvage, to increasingly trade and industry. As early as the ninth century, the country got its first urban community, and in the eleventh century we got the first permanent cities.
In the 1130s, civil war broke out . This was due to a power struggle and that anyone who claimed to be the king's son could claim the right to the throne. The disputes escalated into extensive year-round warfare when Sverre Sigurdsson started a rebellion against the church's and the landmen's candidate for the throne , Magnus Erlingsson .
Emergence of cities
The oldest Norwegian cities probably emerged from the end of the 9th century. Oslo, Bergen and Nidaros became episcopal seats, which stimulated urban development there, and the king built churches in Borg , Konghelle and Tønsberg. Hamar and Stavanger became new episcopal seats and are referred to in the late 12th century as towns together with the trading places Veøy in Romsdal and Kaupanger in Sogn. In the late Middle Ages, Borgund (on Sunnmøre), Veøy (in Romsdalsfjorden) and Vågan (in Lofoten) were referred to as small trading places. Urbanization in Norway occurred in few places compared to the neighboring countries, only 14 places appear as cities before 1350. Stavanger became a bishopric around 1120–1130, but it is unclear whether the place was already a city then. The fertile Jæren and outer Ryfylke were probably relatively densely populated at that time. A particularly large concentration of Irish artefacts from the Viking Age has been found in Stavanger and Nord-Jæren.
It has been difficult to estimate the population in the Norwegian medieval cities, but it is considered certain that the cities grew rapidly in the Middle Ages. Oscar Albert Johnsen estimated the city's population before the Black Death at 20,000, of which 7,000 in Bergen, 3,000 in Nidaros, 2,000 in Oslo and 1,500 in Tunsberg. Based on archaeological research, Lunden estimates that Oslo had around 1,500 inhabitants in 250 households in the year 1300. Bergen was built up more densely and, with the concentration of exports there, became Norway's largest city in a special position for several hundred years. Knut Helle suggests a city population of 20,000 at most in the High Middle Ages, of which almost half in Bergen.
The Bjarkøyretten regulated the conditions in cities (especially Bergen and Nidaros) and in trading places, and for Nidaros had many of the same provisions as the Frostating Act . Magnus Lagabøte's city law replaced the bjarkøretten and from 1276 regulated the settlement in Bergen and with corresponding laws also drawn up for Oslo, Nidaros and Tunsberg. The city law applied within the city's roof area . The City Act determined that the city's public streets consisted of wide commons (perpendicular to the shoreline) and ran parallel to the shoreline, similarly in Nidaros and Oslo. The roads were small streets of up to 3 cubits (1.4 metres) and linked to the individual property. From the Middle Ages, the Norwegian cities were usually surrounded by wooden fences. The urban development largely consisted of low wooden houses which stood in contrast to the relatively numerous and dominant churches and monasteries built in stone.
The City Act and supplementary provisions often determined where in the city different goods could be traded, in Bergen, for example, cattle and sheep could only be traded on the Square, and fish only on the Square or directly from the boats at the quayside. In Nidaros, the blacksmiths were required to stay away from the densely populated areas due to the risk of fire, while the tanners had to stay away from the settlements due to the strong smell. The City Act also attempted to regulate the influx of people into the city (among other things to prevent begging in the streets) and had provisions on fire protection. In Oslo, from the 13th century or earlier, it was common to have apartment buildings consisting of single buildings on a couple of floors around a courtyard with access from the street through a gate room. Oslo's medieval apartment buildings were home to one to four households. In the urban farms, livestock could be kept, including pigs and cows, while pastures and fields were found in the city's rooftops . In the apartment buildings there could be several outbuildings such as warehouses, barns and stables. Archaeological excavations show that much of the buildings in medieval Oslo, Trondheim and Tønsberg resembled the oblong farms that have been preserved at Bryggen in Bergen . The land boundaries in Oslo appear to have persisted for many hundreds of years, in Bergen right from the Middle Ages to modern times.
High Middle Ages (1184–1319)
After civil wars in the 12th century, the country had a relative heyday in the 13th century. Iceland and Greenland came under the royal authority in 1262 , and the Norwegian Empire reached its greatest extent under Håkon IV Håkonsson . The last king of Haraldsätten, Håkon V Magnusson , died sonless in 1319 . Until the 17th century, Norway stretched all the way down to the mouth of Göta älv , which was then Norway's border with Sweden and Denmark.
Just before the Black Death around 1350, there were between 65,000 and 85,000 farms in the country, and there had been a strong growth in the number of farms from 1050, especially in Eastern Norway. In the High Middle Ages, the church or ecclesiastical institutions controlled 40% of the land in Norway, while the aristocracy owned around 20% and the king owned 7%. The church and monasteries received land through gifts from the king and nobles, or through inheritance and gifts from ordinary farmers.
Settlement and demography in the Middle Ages
Before the Black Death, there were more and more farms in Norway due to farm division and clearing. The settlement spread to more marginal agricultural areas higher inland and further north. Eastern Norway had the largest areas to take off and had the most population growth towards the High Middle Ages. Along the coast north of Stad, settlement probably increased in line with the extent of fishing. The Icelandic Rimbegla tells around the year 1200 that the border between Finnmark (the land of the Sami) and resident Norwegians in the interior was at Malangen , while the border all the way out on the coast was at Kvaløya . From the end of the High Middle Ages, there were more Norwegians along the coast of Finnmark and Nord-Troms. In the inner forest and mountain tracts along the current border between Norway and Sweden, the Sami exploited the resources all the way down to Hedmark.
There are no censuses or other records of population and settlement in the Middle Ages. At the time of the Reformation, the population was below 200,000 and only in 1650 was the population at the same level as before the Black Death. When Christianity was introduced after the year 1000, the population was around 200,000. After the Black Death, many farms and settlements were abandoned and deserted, in the most marginal agricultural areas up to 80% of the farms were abandoned. Places such as Skien, Veøy and Borgund (Ålesund) went out of use as trading towns. By the year 1300, the population was somewhere between 300,000 and 560,000 depending on the calculation method. Common methods start from detailed information about farms in each village and compare this with the situation in 1660 when there are good headcounts. From 1300 to 1660, there was a change in the economic base so that the coastal villages received a larger share of the population. The inland areas of Eastern Norway had a relatively larger population in the High Middle Ages than after the Reformation. Kåre Lunden concludes that the population in the year 1300 was close to 500,000, of which 15,000 lived in cities. Lunden believes that the population in 1660 was still slightly lower than the peak before the Black Death and points out that farm settlement in 1660 did not reach the same extent as in the High Middle Ages. In 1660, the population in Troms and Finnmark was 6,000 and 3,000 respectively (2% of the total population), in 1300 these areas had an even smaller share of the country's population and in Finnmark there were hardly any Norwegian-speaking inhabitants. In the High Middle Ages, the climate was more favorable for grain cultivation in the north. Based on the number of farms, the population increased 162% from 1000 to 1300, in Northern and Western Europe as a whole the growth was 200% in the same period.
Late Middle Ages (1319–1537)
Due to repeated plague epidemics, the population was roughly halved and the least productive of the country's farms were laid waste. It took several hundred years before the population again reached the level before 1349 . However, those who survived the epidemics gained more financial resources by sharing. Tax revenues for the state almost collapsed, and a large part of the noble families died out or sank into peasant status due to the fall in national debt . The Hanseatic League took over trade and shipping and dominated fish exports. The Archbishop of Nidaros was the country's most powerful man economically and politically, as the royal dynasty married into the Swedish in 1319 and died out in 1387 . Eventually, Copenhagen became the political center of the kingdom and Bergen the commercial center, while Trondheim remained the religious center.
From Reformation to Autocracy (1537–1660)
In 1537 , the Reformation was carried out in Norway. With that, almost half of the country's property was confiscated by the royal power at the stroke of a pen. The large seizure increased the king's income and was able, among other things, to expand his military power and consolidated his power in the kingdom. From roughly the time of the Reformation and in the following centuries, the state increased its power and importance in people's lives. Until around 1620, the state administration was fairly simple and unspecialised: in Copenhagen, the central administration mainly consisted of a chancellery and an interest chamber ; and sheriffs ruled the civil (including bailiffs and sheriffs) and the military in their district, the sheriffs collected taxes and oversaw business. The accounts were not clear and without summaries. The clergy, which had great power as a separate organization, was appointed by the state church after the Reformation, administered from Copenhagen. In this period, Norway was ruled by (mainly) Danish noble sheriffs, who acted as intermediaries between the peasants and the Oldenborg king in the field of justice, tax and customs collection.
From 1620, the state apparatus went through major changes where specialization of functions was a main issue. The sheriff's tasks were divided between several, more specialized officials - the sheriffs retained the formal authority over these, who in practice were under the national administration in Copenhagen. Among other things, a separate military officer corps was established, a separate customs office was established and separate treasurers for taxes and fees were appointed. The Overbergamtet, the central governing body for overseeing mining operations in Norway, was established in 1654 with an office in Christiania and this agency was to oversee the mining chiefs in the Nordenfjeld and Sønnenfjeld areas (the mines at Kongsberg and Røros were established in the previous decades). The formal transition from county government to official government with fixed-paid county officials took place after 1660, but the real changes had taken place from around 1620. The increased specialization and transition to official government meant that experts, not amateurs, were in charge of each area, and this civil service meant, according to Sverre Steen that the dictatorship was not a personal dictatorship.
From 1570 until 1721, the Oldenborg dynasty was in repeated wars with the Vasa dynasty in Sweden. The financing of these wars led to a severe increase in taxation which caused great distress.
Politically-geographically, the Oldenborg kings had to cede to Sweden the Norwegian provinces of Jemtland , Herjedalen , Idre and Särna , as well as Båhuslen . As part of the financing of the wars, the state apparatus was expanded. Royal power began to assert itself to a greater extent in the administration of justice. Until this period, cases of violence and defamation had been treated as civil cases between citizens. The level of punishment was greatly increased. During this period, at least 307 people were also executed for witchcraft in Norway. Culturally, the country was marked by the fact that the written language became Danish because of the Bible translation and the University of Copenhagen's educational monopoly.
From the 16th century, business became more marked by production for sale and not just own consumption. In the past, it was particularly the fisheries that had produced such a large surplus of goods that it was sold to markets far away, the dried fish trade via Bergen is known from around the year 1100. In the 16th century, the yield from the fisheries multiplied, especially due to the introduction of herring in Western Norway and in Trøndelag and because new tools made fishing for herring and skre more efficient. Line fishing and cod nets that were introduced in the 17th century were controversial because the small fishermen believed it favored citizens in the cities.
Forestry and the timber trade became an important business, particularly because of the boom saw which made it possible to saw all kinds of tables and planks for sale abroad. The demand for timber increased at the same time in Europe, Norway had plenty of forests and in the 17th century timber became the country's most important export product. There were hundreds of sawmills in the country and the largest had the feel of factories . In 1680, the king regulated the timber trade by allowing exports only from privileged sawmills and in a certain quantity.
From the 1520s, some silver was mined in Telemark. When the peasants chased the German miners whereupon the king executed five peasants and demanded compensation from the other rebellious peasants. The background for the harsh treatment was that the king wanted to assert his authority over the extraction of precious metals. The search for metals led to the silver works at Kongsberg after 1624, copper in the mountain villages between Trøndelag and Eastern Norway, and iron, among other things, in Agder and lower Telemark. The financial gain of the quarries at that time is unclear because there are no reliable accounts. Kongsberg ma
Aesculus rubicunda (Aesculus × carnea)
Man beachte die farblich passende Straßenlaterne neben dem Baum :)
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Odda is a town and administrative center in Ullensvang municipality in Vestland county in Norway. The town is located deep in the Sørfjorden in Hardanger , and has 4,764 inhabitants as of 1 January 2023 . Odda was the administrative center of Odda municipality , which on 1 January 2020 was merged with Jondal and Ullensvang to form the new Ullensvang municipality.
In 2009 , the industrial heritage in Odda-Tyssedal was listed on Norway's tentative list for UNESCO's World Heritage List , together with the Rjukan–Notodden industrial heritage .
Public services
Odda hospital is a local hospital for the municipalities of Eidfjord, Jondal, Odda and Ullensvang.
Odda secondary school offers both vocational and study specialist educations.
Business
Odda is known as an industrial location, with companies such as Odda Smelteverk , Boliden Odda (formerly Norzink ) and Tinfos Titan & Iron (TTI).
History
Tourism and hotel management
Before industrial activity in Odda began around 1910, Odda was a popular tourist destination which, among other things, attracted many foreigners who wanted to experience the scenic area with glaciers, fjords and waterfalls. This laid the foundation for several people to start hotel operations on the site.
Some of the most popular destinations for tourists visiting Odda were Låtefossen and Espelandsfossen .
Shuttle station, steamship wharf and steamship expedition
Baard Jakobsen Aga (1812–1895) received a merchant license in Odda in 1861, and in 1864 took over the shuttle station that was in operation in Odda. Then he secured a new plot of land where he built a hotel which was called alternately Prestegårds Hotel and Agas Hotel. In 1868 he became a post opener and steamship dispatcher, and he then had a steamship wharf and dispatch house built at Almerket. He had previously expanded the hotel business, but in 1888 he inaugurated a new hotel building, the "new Agas Hotel". In the 20th century, the large hotel building was used for other purposes, including Rita's bakery, which led to the building being called "Ritagården" colloquially. Agas Hotel/Ritagården was demolished in 1978.
From guest house to Hotel Hardanger
The start of hotel operations at Odda occurred around 1845, when a man named Monsen started an inn on the site. Monsen went bankrupt in the 1860s, and the inn was bought by a man named Wetshus. He continued to run the hotel business. After Wetshus had died, the two brothers Sven and Mikal Tollefsen became his successors in the early 1880s, with financial support from a rich Englishman. The Tollefsen brothers carried out a major renovation of the former guest house. When Sven Tollefsen died, Mikal Tollefsen became the hotel's sole owner.
Tollefsen also bought Agas Hotel, which Baard Jakobsen Aga had started.
On 9 August 1895, the then Hotel Hardanger was completely damaged in a fire. The fire started in Hotel Hardanger, but 7–8 neighboring buildings also caught fire. It was said that the fire was caused by the maid of an English hotel guest having left a candle or a kerosene lamp by an open window, and that the curtain had caught fire - as it was very hot most of the windows in the hotel were open, and this caused the fire to spread with great speed. The fire started at 12 o'clock in the morning.
The commander and crew of the steamship "Vega" - which happened to be docked in Odda when the fire started - managed to put out the fire(s) within three hours using fire-fighting equipment from the ship. Among other things, they managed to save the post office, while the telegraph building was lost. The competing Jordals Hotel, which was run by Jacob Jordal, was also saved.
Hotel Hardanger was insured, and Bergens Tidende wrote that the insurance sum was NOK 90,000, but also published an anonymous source's assessment that the hotel complex was worth NOK 200,000–250,000, and that the owner - Mikal Tollefsen - had probably suffered a significant financial loss due to underinsurance. No people were injured in the fire.
Shortly after the fire in 1895, Tollefsen started building a new and larger hotel on the site of the fire. The new hotel was completed on 24 June 1896, and had 170 hotel beds in 110 guest rooms. Architecturally, it was a mixture of Swiss style and dragon style, with towers and projections.
Hardanger Hotel is mentioned, among other things, in a French travelogue published in 1897.
In 1913, the owner of Hotel Hardanger filed a claim for damages against the two factories - a cyanamide factory and a carbide factory - which had started up in Odda a few years earlier, because the factory operation caused such great pollution and bad odors that it affected the hotel operation. The provisions of the Neighborhood Act were the legal basis for the lawsuit. The court agreed with the plaintiff that the two factories were obliged to pay compensation for inconvenience and losses that the hotel had suffered after 2 August 1911, but not because Odda had become less idyllic and thus attractive to tourists. The compensation sum was to be determined after an appraisal had been carried out , and the result of the appraisal was not available until 1922. By then both factories had gone bankrupt, and hotel owner Mikal Tollefsen had died.
Hotel Hardanger becomes a town hall
In 1917, the municipality bought the Hotel Hardanger, to convert the building into a town hall . The hotel had then been almost empty all year round, because the industrial activity on the site had meant that the tourists did not show up. [9]
The hotel's so-called "Kongerom" was converted into a chairman's office and lord's boardroom. Eventually, the new town hall also accommodated a number of other businesses, such as a cinema, police station, doctor's office and bank. The old hotel was in use as Odda Town Hall until a new building was inaugurated in 1957; from then on, the former Hotel Hardanger was referred to as Odda old town hall . This building was demolished in 1976.
Jordals Hotel becomes Hardanger Hotel
In 1917, Jordals Hotel was bought by the Melkeraaen family, who continued to run the hotel for 68 years. Along the way, they changed the name of the hotel to Hardanger Hotel.
The Hardanger Hotel, which was a wooden Swiss-style building, was demolished in 1962, and a new five-story hotel building was inaugurated on 1 July 1963.
From tourism to industrial site
Factories and smelters
At the beginning of the 20th century, two factories were started in Odda. On one, cyanamide was produced, and on the other, carbide was produced .
In 1908, the operation of the first factory that was to be part of Odda Smelteverk , a carbide factory owned by a British company, began. In 1909, another British company started production of calcium cyanamide in the same area as the first factory. The reason why Odda was interesting for the foreign companies was the access to large amounts of hydropower and ice-free ports.
Both factories went bankrupt in 1921 , in connection with the worldwide economic crisis that occurred in the early 1920s. The bankruptcies led to thousands of people becoming unemployed. Both factories started up again in 1924, with Odda Smelteverk A/S as the new owner. This operating company was established by the power company Tyssefaldene and the Hafslund/Meraker group.
The cyanamide factory was built on in the 1930s.
At the smelter, the so-called Odda process was developed by chief chemist Erling Johnson in 1927–1928; it is a chemical process based on nitric acid for the industrial production of three-sided artificial fertilizer with the sub-components nitrogen , phosphorus and potassium .
Preservation decision and dispute over conservation value
In 2011 , the National Archives decided to protect several of the smelter's buildings and facilities, and to include the smelter in the Norwegian application to UNESCO for world heritage status for Norwegian industrial monuments. In 2013, however, the Ministry of the Environment decided that the series nomination should be split into two phases, 1. application for Rjukan/Notodden to be submitted to UNESCO in January 2014, and phase 2, that work be continued on expanding the nomination to include Odda/ Tyssedal with eventual submission to UNESCO in January 2016.
The owners of the smelter site objected to the conservation decision made in 2011, but the decision was upheld in 2012. The conservation included the cyanamide factory, the cable car, the Linde house (named after the German inventor Carl von Linde ) and the limestone silo on the import quay. Over the years, there has been much controversy in Odda about whether the smelter's buildings and facilities should be preserved or removed.
Cultural life
Music and theater
Tyssedalkoret and Odda Songlag are two choirs that come from Odda municipality. The water power and industrial history of the area here was documented in the performance and the DVD ``Arven'', performed by Tyssedalkoret with band and soloists in autumn 2004 and released on DVD in Christmas 2005. In addition these two choirs have the bands Odda Musikklag , Odda Skolekorps and Røldal Skolemusiklag. The blues team Lokst Utøve has 272 members. The Blueslaget received the culture award for 2009 for their great work as concert/festival organisers, volunteer workers and inspirers for bands and soloists. In 2011, Erlend Garatun Huus published the book Rock og Røyk , which is about the history of rock in Odda.
At the closed smelter (2001), the old "Lindehuset" has been used for theater and concert activities. The theater play Bikebubesong , based on the Oddingen Frode Grytten's novel Bikubesong , was performed in this venue in 2003 with great success. The play's performance in Oslo has been the most watched contemporary drama in Norwegian history.
A key cultural player in Odda is the company Oddakonsertene, led by Gunn Gravdal Elton. In April 2019, the Odda concerts staged the musical Albert og Leonie , a story about how Odda arose as an industrial community. The musical was a huge success with sold-out houses. 2,600 people queued to see and hear the story. The director was Martine Bakken Lundberg. The main roles were played by André Søfteland and Lene Kokai Flage. Over 60 amateurs were on stage. Albert and Leonie was planned to be staged again in 2020 and 2021, but had to be canceled due to the corona pandemic .
The odd concerts started in 2005 and as of 2019 have staged more than 60 concerts. All have been sold out. The most popular concerts are the annual Christmas concerts, which gather over 1,000 listeners. The traditional Christmas concert in Odda church with a large ensemble and two to three concerts in a row officially ended in 2019, but a simplified version was arranged in 2020, with concerts in Skare and Odda churches.
The Literature Symposium
From 2005, a festival called the Literature Symposium in Odda has been organized every autumn . The Linden house at the defunct Smelteverket, Odda cinema, Sentralbadet, Odda church are some of the venues at the symposium. Previously, there was every year "Bikubegang" with Frode Grytten , where he told about the story behind the book "Bikubesong", while he wandered around Odda. The literary symposium also has concerts, often in connection with an author/musician or individual artists. During the Literary Symposium 2011, the Sentralbadet Litteraturhus opened in the old bathroom at the closed Smelteverket, and this has become headquarters for the symposium, as well as a permanent house for literary events all year round.
As of 2010, a major rehabilitation/remodeling of Lindehuset was planned, so that the building would be better suited for events such as concerts and theater performances.
The National Antiquities' "Value creation project"
Odda is one of the pilot projects in the Value Creation Project for the National Archives.
TV shows
The actions in the TV series RIP Henry and Ragnarok have been added to Odda, and are recorded there. In Ragnarok, on the other hand, the city goes by the name Edda .
Known oddities
Samson Isberg (1795–1873), sharpshooter
Knud Knudsen (photographer) (1832–1915)
Gro Holm , born Prestgarden (1878–1949), writer
Alfred Hagn (1882–1958), painter, writer and spy.
Claes Gill (1910–1973), writer, actor and theater manager
Torbjørn Mork (1928–1992), doctor, politician ( Ap ), director of health 1972–1992
Walther Aas (1928–1990), artist
Roger Albertsen , (1957–2003), footballer
Anne B. Ragde (born 1957), writer, (raised in Trondheim)
Arne Borgstrøm (born 1959), elite long-distance swimmer
Frode Grytten (born 1960), author
Lars Ove Seljestad (born 1961), author
Bjørn Ingvaldsen (born 1962), author, leader of Norwegian Children's and Young People's Book Writers
Hallgeir Opedal (born 1965), writer and journalist
Børge Brende (born 1965), politician ( H ), former secretary general of the Norwegian Red Cross , minister of foreign affairs
Ida Melbo Øystese (born 1968), chief of police in Oslo from 2023.
Knut Olav Åmås (born 1968), author, editor, director of the foundation Fritt Ord
Leif Einar Lothe (born 1969), entrepreneur, singer, TV profile
Marit Eikemo (born 1971), writer
Tore Aurstad (born 1972), author
Ingvill Måkestad Bovim (born 1981), athlete
Håkon Opdal (born 1982), footballer
Ingvild Skare Thygesen (born 1993), TV profile
The Sognefjord is Norway's longest and deepest fjord with its 205 km and 1303 m at its deepest (SNL states 1308), including Sognesjøen which is at the far end towards the North Sea. The Sognefjord has the deepest point on Norway's coast. The fjord is 176–180 km from the innermost Lusterfjorden ( Skjolden ) to Sognefest , and 206 km to the outermost reef (then Lake Sognesjøen is also included). The width varies from around 1 to 2 km in Lusterfjorden to 4–5 km from Leikanger and beyond. Measured from the threshold to Skjolden, the fjord is 174 km. The middle part of the fjord is surrounded by mountains of around 1000 meters and in the inner part the height difference between the bottom of the fjord and the mountain tops is 3500 metres. The highest peak right by the fjord is Bleia at 1,721 metres, which gives a 2,850 meter height difference. Around the inner part of the fjord, the landscape is alpine with pointed mountain peaks, steep mountain sides and glaciers. As an extension of the fjord arms, long and deep valleys extend in all directions, including Jostedalen , Lærdalen and Årdal with Utladalen . The Sognefjord is the world's longest open (ice-free) fjord. The Sognefjord is the world's third longest fjord.
It is located in the middle of Vestland county (formerly Sogn og Fjordane county to which it helped give its name) and stretches from Solund on the coast in the west to Skjolden at the foot of Jotunheimen in the east (northeast), where the fjord arm is called Lustrafjorden . The fjord and the land around it make up the Sogn region, often divided into Outer, Midtre and Indre Sogn. The length from Rutletangen to Skjolden is 186 km . Sogn makes up almost 60% of the area in Sogn and Fjordane, or around 11,000 km 2 . The twelve municipalities in Sogn have a total area of 10,671.55 km² and 37,063 inhabitants (1 January 2014). The land around the inner part of the fjord is called Indre Sogn and includes the long fjord arms. From Leikanger onwards, the country is called Ytre Sogn . The outer part of the fjord has few and small fjord arms. The fjord arms are like hanging valleys under water in that the bottom in the side fjords is often much shallower than the main fjord with a height difference of over 1,000 meters in some cases. The main fjord has a threshold at its mouth to the sea, while several of the side fjords have thresholds at the mouth of the main fjord.
The Sognefjord cuts so deeply into the country that it is only 15 km from the innermost arm at Skjolden to mountain peaks such as Store Skagastølstind in Jotunheimen. The water flow usually exits the fjord. The rivers create sandbanks where they run into the fjord, for example at Gudvangen, in Lærdal and in Gaupne. These sandbars are constantly expanding and changing shape.
The Sognefjord, especially the inner part, is surrounded by mountain massifs which are alpine in the inner part and more rounded in the outer part. The innermost arms of the fjord continue as deep and sometimes long valleys, including Lærdal , Årdal with Utladalen , Nærøydalen , Sogndalsdalen , Fjærland , Fortunsdalen , Aurlandsdalen and Jostedalen . The transition between the fjord and these valleys is determined by sea level, and the boundary has moved outwards at the uplift. Some of the side valleys, such as Vik and Fresvik, would have been hanging valleys in the same way as the Feigedalen if the Sognefjord was drained.
Name
Amund Helland writes " The Sognefjord's real name is Sogn , while Sogn is now used only for the surrounding landscape, and was thus already used in the Middle Ages. As a landscape name, the name is a masculine word and has undoubtedly been so as a fjord name as well." The name is connected to the word "suction", which probably refers to the suction or the difficult current conditions that are created when the water flows through the fjord mouth and over the threshold.
Geography
Large parts of the fjord are surrounded by steep mountains. Kvamsøy at Balestrand is a small island separated from the mainland by a short, shallow strait. Outside Balestrand there are small fjord arms and at Veganes ( Dragsvik ferry quay ) there is a significant branching with the Fjærlandsfjorden .
Municipalities
Municipalities with shoreline to the fjord, counted from west to east:
Solund
Hyllestad (north side)
Gulen (south side)
Høyanger (on both sides of the main fjord)
Vik (south side)
Sogndal (north side)
Aurland (south side, around the Aurlandsfjord)
Lærdal (south side)
Luster (north side, around Lustrafjorden)
Årdal (around the Årdalsfjord)
Depths
The Sognefjord has only one threshold which is at the mouth and the threshold is around 165 meters deep. The area beyond the threshold is called Sognesjøen , which is sheltered by islands to the north and south; there is no threshold outside Sognesjøen that has free circulation towards the ocean.
From the inner parts at Årdal or Skjolden, the fjord gradually deepens outwards (westwards). Between Fodnes-Mannheller and Rutledal-Rysjedalsvika, the bottom is at least 800 metres. The deepest part is approximately at Åkrestrand and Vadheim. The outer part of the fjord (at Losna and Sula ) has a marked threshold with depths of 100 to 200 metres, where the fjord bed rises abruptly from a depth of 1,200 meters to around 100 meters over a stretch of 5 km at Rutledal. In Lake Sognesjøen there are several small troughs (with depths down to 400-500 metres) with thresholds between them. Across the fjord, the bottom is partly completely flat with less than 1 meter variation in depth over a 2 km cross-section. The bottom is covered by fine material (clay) which at Vangsnes is up to 300 meters thick. Seismic shows that the greatest depth to the bedrock is approximately 1,600 m, but loose masses with a thickness of 200–400 m mean that the fjord bottom is nevertheless flat. Seismic surveys at Vangsnes have revealed a 300 meter thick layer of clay at the bottom.
Between 50 and 180 km from the mouth, the fjord bed is relatively flat. Almost all side fjords form hanging valleys to the main fjord. For example, the mouth of the Fjærlandsfjord is well over 400 meters deep, while the main fjord is close to 1,200 meters deep just outside the mouth. Vadheimfjord's mouth is 400 meters deep, here the greatest depth is over 1300 m. Ikjefjord's mouth is only 50 meters deep close to where the main fjord is at its deepest. In large parts of the fjord, it is "abruptly deep" in that the steep mountain sides continue just as steeply underwater.
In contrast to a number of other fjords, not every single part of the Sognefjord has its own name. Only the outermost part has its own name - Sognesjøen . However, there are many fjord arms. From west to east these are:
Sognesjøen
Straumsfjorden
Bjørnefjorden
Nessefjord
The Sognefjord
Lifjorden
Bøfjorden
The Risnefjord
The Ikjefjord
Vadheimsfjorden
Fuglsetfjorden
Høyangsfjorden
Lånefjorden
The Finnafjord
The Arnafjord
The Inner Fjord
Framfjorden
Vikbukti
The Esefjord
Fjærlandsfjorden
The Vetlefjord
Sværefjorden
The Norafjord
Sogndalsfjorden
Barsnes Fjord
The Eidsfjord
Aurlandsfjorden
The Nærøyfjord
Amla Bay
Lærdalsfjorden
Årdalsfjorden
The Lustrafjord
The Gaupnefjord
Climate and fresh water
The fjord colored by meltwater from the glacier.
Terrain formations and distance to the sea lead to great variations in climate along the fjord. The outer part has a mild and humid coastal climate, while the innermost part has an inland climate with cold and dry winters.
The amount of precipitation decreases strongly inwards into the fjord. Lærdal lies in the rain shadow and has very little rainfall, while west-facing slopes further out have a lot of rainfall and there the rainfall often increases with altitude. Brekke and Takle in Ytre Parish are among the places in Norway with the most rainfall. North of the Sognefjord lies the Jostedalsbreen, Norway's largest glacier, and parts of the meltwater drain into the Sognefjord. Wind conditions are strongly influenced by terrain formations. In winter, the dominant wind direction is out the fjord or out the side valleys in the form of so-called downwinds . Fall winds can be very strong and have a major impact on cooling and icing. The slopes and valleys along the inner parts of the fjord have a partially mild climate and are fertile, which makes the area suitable for growing fruit and berries, among other things. The slopes along the fjord partly have large conifer forests, including in the roadless area of Frønningen .
The fjord receives fresh water mainly from the rivers and very little precipitation directly on the fjord's water surface. In the inner part of the Sognefjord, the total supply of fresh water during one year corresponds to a depth of 33 meters if it were distributed over the entire area of the fjord. In spring and partly in autumn, the top 2-3 meters of the fjord are brackish water , especially in the side fjords. The salt content in the surface is lowest in summer and autumn. In June 1954, for example, 5 ‰ salt was measured in the uppermost meters of the Lustrafjord, while at great depths it was 34.5 ‰. Regulation of the waterways for power production has led to a larger proportion of fresh water flowing into the fjord in the winter. The most extensive regulation is in Aurland, Lærdal, Årdal and Jostedal. Regulations affect temperature in the surface layer and icing. In the inner part of the fjord, the rivers are fed by high mountains and glaciers.
The rivers Lærdalselvi , Aurlandselvi , Flåmselvi , Mørkridselvi , Henjaelvi , Grindselvi , Hamreelvi , Njøsaelvi , Kvinnafossen , Sogndalselvi and Jostedøla flow into the Sognefjord and normally have spring floods in June. [3] Lærdalselva has the largest catchment, followed by Jostedøla and Aurlandselva, and these three have roughly the same water flow (around 40 m 3 /second). The Årdalsvatnet drains to the Sognefjord through the short Åreidselva or Hæreidselvi through the Årdalstangen . The Eidsvatnet in Luster drains into the Sognefjord just by Mørkridselvi in Skjolden . Regulation of the waterways for hydropower has resulted in a more steady supply of fresh water throughout the year. Without regulation, 92% of the fresh water would have been supplied in the summer half-year from May to October. Several of the large rivers flow into fjord arms.
Geology
The bedrock along the outer and middle part of the fjord consists mostly of Precambrian gneiss with orientation east-west and northeast-southwest. The islands of Solund consist mostly of Devonian sandstone and conglomerates , while the interior (eastern part) consists mostly of Caledonian gabbro , anorthosite , granite and phyllite .
Jostedøla's material transport (in the form of sludge) involves sedimentation in the Gaupnefjord of 10 to 20 cm/year near the river basin, and 1 cm/year 2 km from the river basin. The river transports 50,000 to 100,000 tonnes of silt annually. The sludge concentration from Jostedøla is at most 1 g/litre. It is particularly at Gaupne that the meltwater from the glaciers is marked by the color of the water.
Icing
According to Helland, it was common for the ice to settle on several of the fjord arms every winter, including on Aurlandsfjorden, Nærøyfjorden and Årdalsfjorden. In the winter of 1888–1889, Lusterfjorden was iced over for six months straight. In the deepest parts of the Sognefjord, there is a year-round temperature of around 6.5 °C, according to Helland. Outer parts are almost never iced over, not even the side fjords. The inner parts can be frozen for several weeks at a stretch. Among other things, inner parts of the Aurlandsfjorden and the Nærøyfjorden freeze easily. Lærdalsfjorden is usually ice-free except for the very innermost part, while it has happened that Årdalsfjorden has been iced up to Ofredal and has been an obstacle to ship traffic. Historically, Lustrafjorden has often been iced over as far as Urnes. The Barsnesfjorden has often been covered with ice. In the Nærøyfjord it happened (among other things in the 1920s and in 1962) that the liner was unable to enter the fjord due to ice and had to dispatch at the ice edge.
Streams
In the Sognefjord, incoming current is hardly noticeable and is most noticeable in strong westerly winds. Outgoing current dominates and is particularly strong in spring and summer. At strong tides, the tidal flow can reach over 1 m/s (2 knots ) around the pier and headland. The Sognefjord is covered by a layer or stream of brackish water of up to 10 meters (varying with the seasons and supply from the rivers). Beneath the brackish water, a current or intermediate layer at a depth of 150 meters goes in and out of the fjord and below this lies the main basin, which has some connection with the ocean beyond the threshold. Together, these three currents contribute to the fact that the water in the fjord is replaced on average within 8-10 years, so that the fjord has life right down to the bottom. The brackish water layer has less density and therefore does not mix easily with the deeper layers. The brackish water that flows out of the fjord slowly mixes with the layer below so that the salt content increases at the same time as the brackish water layer increases up to 10 times the amount of fresh water supplied. The brackish water that flows towards the mouth must be replaced and sets up an incoming current in a slightly deeper layer.
Fish
The Sognefjord has herring and good sprat fishing . In the outer parts of the fjord, salmon has traditionally been fished with wedge nets . Salmon warp or "sitjenet" is a traditional method of salmon fishing and skilled players could catch a lot of fish with this method. Hook nets and drift nets have dominated in modern times and do not require the same active fishing as warp . The salmon's migration in the fjord is controlled by currents on the surface and the warps are placed where there are favorable current conditions where, due to the current, the salmon are driven close to land on their way into the fjord. In Leikanger and Balestrand there are many good places for sitejnot with Suppham being by far the best. Good salmon rivers such as Lærdalselva, Aurlandselva and Årøyelva flow into the Sognefjorden.
In the outer part of the fjord (Gulen and Solund) there is some fish farming. Several of the waterways are known for good salmon and sea trout fishing , and five of the rivers have been designated as national salmon rivers. Lærdalselva has a salmon-carrying stretch and has had by far the largest population. Aurlandselva has historically had a good catch of sea trout. The Sognefjord is among the most important in Norway for anadromous fish species. Norwegian spring-spawning herring are fished in the fjord, especially in the outer parts, as well as some coastal sprat.
In the Sognefjord there are plankton algae which in other Norwegian waters and the occurrence follows the seasons. In general, there is little occurrence in winter due to low light, diatoms bloom in March-April and are dependent on the supply of nutrient salts, in May-June diatoms and flagellates bloom in connection with the spring flood, in summer there is a varying population, new blooms in the autumn in connection with, among other things, floods, and married species can occur all year round.
Tourism
The Sognefjord was established as a tourist destination in the 19th century, among other things, with the establishment of Fylkesbåtane. One of the targets was Gudvangen, which in 1889 received 79 large tourist ships with a total of over 10,000 passengers. In 1889, 4,500 travelers came with the county boats. The German Emperor Wilhelm visited the Sognefjord and Balestrand for the first time in 1890. The emperor subsequently visited the Sognefjord 25 times. The fjord itself and the surrounding area with Jotunheimen, Jostedalsbreen and several stave churches have made the Sognefjord one of Norway's most prominent tourist destinations. Balestrand, Vangsnes, Aurland and Fjærland were among the early destinations for English tourists in the 19th century.
History
It has been the Guest of Death
It has sailed on a Torden
It is christened in Rædsler vorden
that has plowed the Sognefjord
from Forthun to Sognefæst.
If you have forgotten your Lord's Prayer,
do you remember a prayer to pray:
learn it from the wrath of God!
imagine, Sinder, then present
in a Bath on Sognefjord!
Henrik Wergeland
The Sognefjord has been an important transport artery since ancient times. The gulation was probably held near the mouth of the Sognefjord and probably because it was practical to hold the meeting where the ship lay along the coast met the great fjord. From the innermost arms of the fjord it is a relatively short distance to the inland villages of Eastern Norway, particularly through Lærdal to Valdres over the moderate mountain pass Filefjell . Lærdalsøyri was from the 17th century an important market and meeting place. There, farmers from Valdres, Hallingdal and Gudbrandsdalen sold slaughter, tar and other products from the interior and bought fish, salt, hemp and iron from the fjords and from Bergen. Around 1300, the authorities established a shuttle station at Maristova at the entrance to Filefjell. The first drivable road between east and west was built over Filefjell in 1792. From 1843 the paddle steamer "Constitutionen" plyed the route between Bergen and Lærdal, the county boats took over the route in 1857. The road over the Sognefjellet was built as a carriageway in 1938. The Flåmsbana connected the Sognefjord to the railway network in 1940. Stalheimskleivi , between Voss and Sogn, was built in 1850 and turned into a road in 1937. It has made it possible to transport agricultural products , fruit , berries and fish between the villages in Sogn and Bergen .
From 1785, the Trondhjem postal route crossed the Sognefjord by boat between Rutledal and Leirvik in Hyllestad . In 1647, a postal route was established between Bergen and Christiania. The post then took 7-8 days via Gudvangen, Lærdal and Valdres.
It was difficult to get to the Sognefjord by sailboat and the yachts could lie for many days or several weeks at the mouth waiting for favorable wind conditions. East wind was favorable out of the fjord, while south to Bergen, wind from the north or north-west was needed. To enter the fjord, a wind from the west was necessary. The steam and motor boats revolutionized transport on the fjord and these had completely taken over in the early 20th century The county boats were established in 1858 with boat routes on the Sognefjord and to Bergen as an important activity.
In 1934, a ferry route was established along the fjord from Vadheim to Lærdal. From 1939 until the Lærdal tunnel opened, there was a car ferry between Gudvangen and Lærdal - first the ferry went to Lærdalsøyri itself, from 1966 to Revsnes when a road was built there to shorten the ferry route. In the 1990s, the ferry connection Revsnes-Kaupanger was replaced by Mannheller-Fodnes , and after this Kaupanger has only been used by the tourist route Gudvangen-Kaupanger-Lærdal. The road system between Sogndal and Jølster on national highway 5 , including the Fjærlands tunnel , created a ferry-free road connection on the north side of the fjord.
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic , European country and an independent state in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula . Geographically speaking, the country is long and narrow, and on the elongated coast towards the North Atlantic are Norway's well-known fjords . The Kingdom of Norway includes the main country (the mainland with adjacent islands within the baseline ), Jan Mayen and Svalbard . With these two Arctic areas, Norway covers a land area of 385,000 km² and has a population of approximately 5.5 million (2023). Mainland Norway borders Sweden in the east , Finland and Russia in the northeast .
Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , where Harald V has been king and head of state since 1991 , and Jonas Gahr Støre ( Ap ) has been prime minister since 2021 . Norway is a unitary state , with two administrative levels below the state: counties and municipalities . The Sami part of the population has, through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act , to a certain extent self-government and influence over traditionally Sami areas. Although Norway has rejected membership of the European Union through two referendums , through the EEA Agreement Norway has close ties with the Union, and through NATO with the United States . Norway is a significant contributor to the United Nations (UN), and has participated with soldiers in several foreign operations mandated by the UN. Norway is among the states that have participated from the founding of the UN , NATO , the Council of Europe , the OSCE and the Nordic Council , and in addition to these is a member of the EEA , the World Trade Organization , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is part of the Schengen area .
Norway is rich in many natural resources such as oil , gas , minerals , timber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . Since the beginning of the 20th century, these natural conditions have given the country the opportunity for an increase in wealth that few other countries can now enjoy, and Norwegians have the second highest average income in the world, measured in GDP per capita, as of 2022. The petroleum industry accounts for around 14% of Norway's gross domestic product as of 2018. Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and gas per capita outside the Middle East. However, the number of employees linked to this industry fell from approx. 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015.
In Norway, these natural resources have been managed for socially beneficial purposes. The country maintains a welfare model in line with the other Nordic countries. Important service areas such as health and higher education are state-funded, and the country has an extensive welfare system for its citizens. Public expenditure in 2018 is approx. 50% of GDP, and the majority of these expenses are related to education, healthcare, social security and welfare. Since 2001 and until 2021, when the country took second place, the UN has ranked Norway as the world's best country to live in . From 2010, Norway is also ranked at the top of the EIU's democracy index . Norway ranks third on the UN's World Happiness Report for the years 2016–2018, behind Finland and Denmark , a report published in March 2019.
The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles , Lithuanians , Norwegian-Swedes , Norwegian-Syrians including Syrian Kurds and Norwegian-Pakistani .
Norway's national day is 17 May, on this day in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution was dated and signed by the presidency of the National Assembly at Eidsvoll . It is stipulated in the law of 26 April 1947 that 17 May are national public holidays. The Sami national day is 6 February. "Yes, we love this country" is Norway's national anthem, the song was written in 1859 by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910).
Norway's history of human settlement goes back at least 10,000 years, to the Late Paleolithic , the first period of the Stone Age . Archaeological finds of settlements along the entire Norwegian coast have so far been dated back to 10,400 before present (BP), the oldest find is today considered to be a settlement at Pauler in Brunlanes , Vestfold .
For a period these settlements were considered to be the remains of settlers from Doggerland , an area which today lies beneath the North Sea , but which was once a land bridge connecting today's British Isles with Danish Jutland . But the archaeologists who study the initial phase of the settlement in what is today Norway reckon that the first people who came here followed the coast along what is today Bohuslân. That they arrived in some form of boat is absolutely certain, and there is much evidence that they could easily move over large distances.
Since the last Ice Age, there has been continuous settlement in Norway. It cannot be ruled out that people lived in Norway during the interglacial period , but no trace of such a population or settlement has been found.
The Stone Age lasted a long time; half of the time that our country has been populated. There are no written accounts of what life was like back then. The knowledge we have has been painstakingly collected through investigations of places where people have stayed and left behind objects that we can understand have been processed by human hands. This field of knowledge is called archaeology . The archaeologists interpret their findings and the history of the surrounding landscape. In our country, the uplift after the Ice Age is fundamental. The history of the settlements at Pauler is no more than fifteen years old.
The Fosna culture settled parts of Norway sometime between 10,000–8,000 BC. (see Stone Age in Norway ). The dating of rock carvings is set to Neolithic times (in Norway between 4000 BC to 1700 BC) and show activities typical of hunters and gatherers .
Agriculture with livestock and arable farming was introduced in the Neolithic. Swad farming where the farmers move when the field does not produce the expected yield.
More permanent and persistent farm settlements developed in the Bronze Age (1700 BC to 500 BC) and the Iron Age . The earliest runes have been found on an arrowhead dated to around 200 BC. Many more inscriptions are dated to around 800, and a number of petty kingdoms developed during these centuries. In prehistoric times, there were no fixed national borders in the Nordic countries and Norway did not exist as a state. The population in Norway probably fell to year 0.
Events in this time period, the centuries before the year 1000, are glimpsed in written sources. Although the sagas were written down in the 13th century, many hundreds of years later, they provide a glimpse into what was already a distant past. The story of the fimbul winter gives us a historical picture of something that happened and which in our time, with the help of dendrochronology , can be interpreted as a natural disaster in the year 536, created by a volcanic eruption in El Salvador .
In the period between 800 and 1066 there was a significant expansion and it is referred to as the Viking Age . During this period, Norwegians, as Swedes and Danes also did, traveled abroad in longships with sails as explorers, traders, settlers and as Vikings (raiders and pirates ). By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingship had been firmly established, building its right as descendants of Harald Hårfagre and then as heirs of Olav the Holy . The Norwegian kings, and their subjects, now professed Christianity . In the time around Håkon Håkonsson , in the time after the civil war , there was a small renaissance in Norway with extensive literary activity and diplomatic activity with Europe. The black dew came to Norway in 1349 and killed around half of the population. The entire state apparatus and Norway then entered a period of decline.
Between 1396 and 1536, Norway was part of the Kalmar Union , and from 1536 until 1814 Norway had been reduced to a tributary part of Denmark , named as the Personal Union of Denmark-Norway . This staff union entered into an alliance with Napoléon Bonaparte with a war that brought bad times and famine in 1812 . In 1814, Denmark-Norway lost the Anglophone Wars , part of the Napoleonic Wars , and the Danish king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January of that year. After a Norwegian attempt at independence, Norway was forced into a loose union with Sweden, but where Norway was allowed to create its own constitution, the Constitution of 1814 . In this period, Norwegian, romantic national feeling flourished, and the Norwegians tried to develop and establish their own national self-worth. The union with Sweden was broken in 1905 after it had been threatened with war, and Norway became an independent kingdom with its own monarch, Haakon VII .
Norway remained neutral during the First World War , and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Norway again declared itself neutral, but was invaded by National Socialist Germany on 9 April 1940 .
Norway became a member of the Western defense alliance NATO in 1949 . Two attempts to join the EU were voted down in referendums by small margins in 1972 and 1994 . Norway has been a close ally of the United States in the post-war period. Large discoveries of oil and natural gas in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s led to tremendous economic growth in the country, which is still ongoing. Traditional industries such as fishing are also part of Norway's economy.
Stone Age (before 1700 BC)
When most of the ice disappeared, vegetation spread over the landscape and due to a warm climate around 2000-3000 BC. the forest grew much taller than in modern times. Land uplift after the ice age led to a number of fjords becoming lakes and dry land. The first people probably came from the south along the coast of the Kattegat and overland into Finnmark from the east. The first people probably lived by gathering, hunting and trapping. A good number of Stone Age settlements have been found which show that such hunting and trapping people stayed for a long time in the same place or returned to the same place regularly. Large amounts of gnawed bones show that they lived on, among other things, reindeer, elk, small game and fish.
Flintstone was imported from Denmark and apart from small natural deposits along the southern coast, all flintstone in Norway is transported by people. At Espevær, greenstone was quarried for tools in the Stone Age, and greenstone tools from Espevær have been found over large parts of Western Norway. Around 2000-3000 BC the usual farm animals such as cows and sheep were introduced to Norway. Livestock probably meant a fundamental change in society in that part of the people had to be permanent residents or live a semi-nomadic life. Livestock farming may also have led to conflict with hunters.
The oldest traces of people in what is today Norway have been found at Pauler , a farm in Brunlanes in Larvik municipality in Vestfold . In 2007 and 2008, the farm has given its name to a number of Stone Age settlements that have been excavated and examined by archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum at UiO. The investigations have been carried out in connection with the new route for the E18 motorway west of Farris. The oldest settlement, located more than 127 m above sea level, is dated to be about 10,400 years old (uncalibrated, more than 11,000 years in real calendar years). From here, the ice sheet was perhaps visible when people settled here. This locality has been named Pauler I, and is today considered to be the oldest confirmed human traces in Norway to date. The place is in the mountains above the Pauler tunnel on the E18 between Larvik and Porsgrunn . The pioneer settlement is a term archaeologists have adopted for the oldest settlement. The archaeologists have speculated about where they came from, the first people in what is today Norway. It has been suggested that they could come by boat or perhaps across the ice from Doggerland or the North Sea, but there is now a large consensus that they came north along what is today the Bohuslän coast. The Fosna culture , the Komsa culture and the Nøstvet culture are the traditional terms for hunting cultures from the Stone Age. One thing is certain - getting to the water was something they mastered, the first people in our country. Therefore, within a short time they were able to use our entire long coast.
In the New Stone Age (4000 BC–1700 BC) there is a theory that a new people immigrated to the country, the so-called Stone Ax People . Rock carvings from this period show motifs from hunting and fishing , which were still important industries. From this period, a megalithic tomb has been found in Østfold .
It is uncertain whether there were organized societies or state-like associations in the Stone Age in Norway. Findings from settlements indicate that many lived together and that this was probably more than one family so that it was a slightly larger, organized herd.
Finnmark
In prehistoric times, animal husbandry and agriculture were of little economic importance in Finnmark. Livelihoods in Finnmark were mainly based on fish, gathering, hunting and trapping, and eventually domestic reindeer herding became widespread in the Middle Ages. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age have been referred to as the Komsa culture and comprise around 5,000 years of settlement. Finnmark probably got its first settlement around 8000 BC. It is believed that the coastal areas became ice-free 11,000 years BC and the fjord areas around 9,000 years BC. after which willows, grass, heather, birch and pine came into being. Finnmarksvidda was covered by pine forest around 6000 BC. After the Ice Age, the land rose around 80 meters in the inner fjord areas (Alta, Tana, Varanger). Due to ice melting in the polar region, the sea rose in the period 6400–3800 BC. and in areas with little land elevation, some settlements from the first part of the Stone Age were flooded. On Sørøya, the net sea level rise was 12 to 14 meters and many residential areas were flooded.
According to Bjørnar Olsen , there are many indications of a connection between the oldest settlement in Western Norway (the " Fosnakulturen ") and that in Finnmark, but it is uncertain in which direction the settlement took place. In the earliest part of the Stone Age, settlement in Finnmark was probably concentrated in the coastal areas, and these only reflected a lifestyle with great mobility and no permanent dwellings. The inner regions, such as Pasvik, were probably used seasonally. The archaeologically proven settlements from the Stone Age in inner Finnmark and Troms are linked to lakes and large watercourses. The oldest petroglyphs in Alta are usually dated to 4200 BC, that is, the Neolithic . Bjørnar Olsen believes that the oldest can be up to 2,000 years older than this.
From around 4000 BC a slow deforestation of Finnmark began and around 1800 BC the vegetation distribution was roughly the same as in modern times. The change in vegetation may have increased the distance between the reindeer's summer and winter grazing. The uplift continued slowly from around 4000 BC. at the same time as sea level rise stopped.
According to Gutorm Gjessing, the settlement in Finnmark and large parts of northern Norway in the Neolithic was semi-nomadic with movement between four seasonal settlements (following the pattern of life in Sami siida in historical times): On the outer coast in summer (fishing and seal catching) and inland in winter (hunting for reindeer, elk and bear). Povl Simonsen believed instead that the winter residence was in the inner fjord area in a village-like sod house settlement. Bjørnar Olsen believes that at the end of the Stone Age there was a relatively settled population along the coast, while inland there was less settlement and a more mobile lifestyle.
Bronze Age (1700 BC–500 BC)
Bronze was used for tools in Norway from around 1500 BC. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper , and these metals were introduced because they were not mined in the country at the time. Bronze is believed to have been a relatively expensive material. The Bronze Age in Norway can be divided into two phases:
Early Bronze Age (1700–1100 BC)
Younger Bronze Age (1100–500 BC)
For the prehistoric (unwritten) era, there is limited knowledge about social conditions and possible state formations. From the Bronze Age, there are large burial mounds of stone piles along the coast of Vestfold and Agder, among others. It is likely that only chieftains or other great men could erect such grave monuments and there was probably some form of organized society linked to these. In the Bronze Age, society was more organized and stratified than in the Stone Age. Then a rich class of chieftains emerged who had close connections with southern Scandinavia. The settlements became more permanent and people adopted horses and ard . They acquired bronze status symbols, lived in longhouses and people were buried in large burial mounds . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age indicate that humans practiced solar cultivation.
Finnmark
In the last millennium BC the climate became cooler and the pine forest disappears from the coast; pine forests, for example, were only found in the innermost part of the Altafjord, while the outer coast was almost treeless. Around the year 0, the limit for birch forest was south of Kirkenes. Animals with forest habitats (elk, bear and beaver) disappeared and the reindeer probably established their annual migration routes sometime at that time. In the period 1800–900 BC there were significantly more settlements in and utilization of the hinterland was particularly noticeable on Finnmarksvidda. From around 1800 BC until year 0 there was a significant increase in contact between Finnmark and areas in the east including Karelia (where metals were produced including copper) and central and eastern Russia. The youngest petroglyphs in Alta show far more boats than the earlier phases and the boats are reminiscent of types depicted in petroglyphs in southern Scandinavia. It is unclear what influence southern Scandinavian societies had as far north as Alta before the year 0. Many of the cultural features that are considered typical Sami in modern times were created or consolidated in the last millennium BC, this applies, among other things, to the custom of burying in brick chambers in stone urns. The Mortensnes burial ground may have been used for 2000 years until around 1600 AD.
Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 1050 AD)
The Einangsteinen is one of the oldest Norwegian runestones; it is from the 4th century
Simultaneous production of Vikings
Around 500 years BC the researchers reckon that the Bronze Age will be replaced by the Iron Age as iron takes over as the most important material for weapons and tools. Bronze, wood and stone were still used. Iron was cheaper than bronze, easier to work than flint , and could be used for many purposes; iron probably became common property. Iron could, among other things, be used to make solid and sharp axes which made it much easier to fell trees. In the Iron Age, gold and silver were also used partly for decoration and partly as means of payment. It is unknown which language was used in Norway before our era. From around the year 0 until around the year 800, everyone in Scandinavia (except the Sami) spoke Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Subsequently, several different languages developed in this area that were only partially mutually intelligible. The Iron Age is divided into several periods:
Early Iron Age
Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 0)
Roman Iron Age (c. 0–c. AD 400)
Migration period (approx. 400–600). In the migration period (approx. 400–600), new peoples came to Norway, and ruins of fortress buildings etc. are interpreted as signs that there has been talk of a violent invasion.
Younger Iron Age
Merovingian period (500–800)
The Viking Age (793–1066)
Norwegian Vikings go on plundering expeditions and trade voyages around the coastal countries of Western Europe . Large groups of Norwegians emigrate to the British Isles , Iceland and Greenland . Harald Hårfagre starts a unification process of Norway late in the 8th century , which was completed by Harald Hardråde in the 1060s . The country was Christianized under the kings Olav Tryggvason , fell in the battle of Svolder ( 1000 ) and Olav Haraldsson (the saint), fell in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 .
Sources of prehistoric times
Shrinking glaciers in the high mountains, including in Jotunheimen and Breheimen , have from around the year 2000 uncovered objects from the Viking Age and earlier. These are objects of organic material that have been preserved by the ice and that elsewhere in nature are broken down in a few months. The finds are getting older as the melting makes the archaeologists go deeper into the ice. About half of all archaeological discoveries on glaciers in the world are made in Oppland . In 2013, a 3,400-year-old shoe and a robe from the year 300 were found. Finds at Lomseggen in Lom published in 2020 revealed, among other things, well-preserved horseshoes used on a mountain pass. Many hundreds of items include preserved clothing, knives, whisks, mittens, leather shoes, wooden chests and horse equipment. A piece of cloth dated to the year 1000 has preserved its original colour. In 2014, a wooden ski from around the year 700 was found in Reinheimen . The ski is 172 cm long and 14 cm wide, with preserved binding of leather and wicker.
Pytheas from Massalia is the oldest known account of what was probably the coast of Norway, perhaps somewhere on the coast of Møre. Pytheas visited Britannia around 325 BC. and traveled further north to a country by the "Ice Sea". Pytheas described the short summer night and the midnight sun farther north. He wrote, among other things, that people there made a drink from grain and honey. Caesar wrote in his work about the Gallic campaign about the Germanic tribe Haruders. Other Roman sources around the year 0 mention the land of the Cimbri (Jutland) and the Cimbri headlands ( Skagen ) and that the sources stated that Cimbri and Charyds lived in this area. Some of these peoples may have immigrated to Norway and there become known as hordes (as in Hordaland). Sources from the Mediterranean area referred to the islands of Scandia, Scandinavia and Thule ("the outermost of all islands"). The Roman historian Tacitus wrote around the year 100 a work about Germania and mentioned the people of Scandia, the Sviones. Ptolemy wrote around the year 150 that the Kharudes (Hordes) lived further north than all the Cimbri, in the north lived the Finnoi (Finns or Sami) and in the south the Gutai (Goths). The Nordic countries and Norway were outside the Roman Empire , which dominated Europe at the time. The Gothic-born historian Jordanes wrote in the 5th century about 13 tribes or people groups in Norway, including raumaricii (probably Romerike ), ragnaricii ( Ranrike ) and finni or skretefinni (skrid finner or ski finner, i.e. Sami) as well as a number of unclear groups. Prokopios wrote at the same time about Thule north of the land of the Danes and Slavs, Thule was ten times as big as Britannia and the largest of all the islands. In Thule, the sun was up 40 days straight in the summer. After the migration period , southern Europeans' accounts of northern Europe became fuller and more reliable.
Settlement in prehistoric times
Norway has around 50,000 farms with their own names. Farm names have persisted for a long time, over 1000 years, perhaps as much as 2000 years. The name researchers have arranged different types of farm names chronologically, which provides a basis for determining when the place was used by people or received a permanent settlement. Uncompounded landscape names such as Haug, Eid, Vik and Berg are believed to be the oldest. Archaeological traces indicate that some areas have been inhabited earlier than assumed from the farm name. Burial mounds also indicate permanent settlement. For example, the burial ground at Svartelva in Løten was used from around the year 0 to the year 1000 when Christianity took over. The first farmers probably used large areas for inland and outland, and new farms were probably established based on some "mother farms". Names such as By (or Bø) show that it is an old place of residence. From the older Iron Age, names with -heim (a common Germanic word meaning place of residence) and -stad tell of settlement, while -vin and -land tell of the use of the place. Farm names in -heim are often found as -um , -eim or -em as in Lerum and Seim, there are often large farms in the center of the village. New farm names with -city and -country were also established in the Viking Age . The first farmers probably used the best areas. The largest burial grounds, the oldest archaeological finds and the oldest farm names are found where the arable land is richest and most spacious.
It is unclear whether the settlement expansion in Roman times, migrations and the Iron Age is due to immigration or internal development and population growth. Among other things, it is difficult to demonstrate where in Europe the immigrants have come from. The permanent residents had both fields (where grain was grown) and livestock that grazed in the open fields, but it is uncertain which of these was more important. Population growth from around the year 200 led to more utilization of open land, for example in the form of settlements in the mountains. During the migration period, it also seems that in parts of the country it became common to have cluster gardens or a form of village settlement.
Norwegian expansion northwards
From around the year 200, there was a certain migration by sea from Rogaland and Hordaland to Nordland and Sør-Troms. Those who moved settled down as a settled Iron Age population and became dominant over the original population which may have been Sami . The immigrant Norwegians, Bumen , farmed with livestock that were fed inside in the winter as well as some grain cultivation and fishing. The northern border of the Norwegians' settlement was originally at the Toppsundet near Harstad and around the year 500 there was a Norwegian settlement to Malangsgapet. That was as far north as it was possible to grow grain at the time. Malangen was considered the border between Hålogaland and Finnmork until around 1400 . Further into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, there was immigration and settlement of Norwegian speakers along the coast north of Malangen. Around the year 800, Norwegians lived along the entire outer coast to Vannøy . The Norwegians partly copied Sami livelihoods such as whaling, fur hunting and reindeer husbandry. It was probably this area between Malangen and Vannøy that was Ottar from the Hålogaland area. In the Viking Age, there were also some Norwegian settlements further north and east. East of the North Cape are the scattered archaeological finds of Norwegian settlement in the Viking Age. There are Norwegian names for fjords and islands from the Viking Age, including fjord names with "-anger". Around the year 1050, there were Norwegian settlements on the outer coast of Western Finnmark. Traders and tax collectors traveled even further.
North of Malangen there were Norse farming settlements in the Iron Age. Malangen was considered Finnmark's western border until 1300. There are some archaeological traces of Norse activity around the coast from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the Viking Age. Around Tromsø, the research indicates a Norse/Sami mixed culture on the coast.
From the year 1100 and the next 200–300 years, there are no traces of Norwegian settlement north and east of Tromsø. It is uncertain whether this is due to depopulation, whether it is because the Norwegians further north were not Christianized or because there were no churches north of Lenvik or Tromsø . Norwegian settlement in the far north appears from sources from the 14th century. In the Hanseatic period , the settlement was developed into large areas specialized in commercial fishing, while earlier (in the Viking Age) there had been farms with a combination of fishing and agriculture. In 1307 , a fortress and the first church east of Tromsø were built in Vardø . Vardø became a small Norwegian town, while Vadsø remained Sami. Norwegian settlements and churches appeared along the outermost coast in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, perhaps as a result of a decline in fish stocks or fish prices, there were Norwegian settlements in the inner fjord areas such as Lebesby in Laksefjord. Some fishing villages at the far end of the coast were abandoned for good. In the interior of Finnmark, there was no national border for a long time and Kautokeino and Karasjok were joint Norwegian-Swedish areas with strong Swedish influence. The border with Finland was established in 1751 and with Russia in 1826.
On a Swedish map from 1626, Norway's border is indicated at Malangen, while Sweden with this map showed a desire to control the Sami area which had been a common area.
The term Northern Norway only came into use at the end of the 19th century and administratively the area was referred to as Tromsø Diocese when Tromsø became a bishopric in 1840. There had been different designations previously: Hålogaland originally included only Helgeland and when Norse settlement spread north in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Hålogaland was used for the area north approximately to Malangen , while Finnmark or "Finnmarken", "the land of the Sami", lay outside. The term Northern Norway was coined at a cafe table in Kristiania in 1884 by members of the Nordlændingernes Forening and was first commonly used in the interwar period as it eventually supplanted "Hålogaland".
State formation
The battle in Hafrsfjord in the year 872 has long been regarded as the day when Norway became a kingdom. The year of the battle is uncertain (may have been 10-20 years later). The whole of Norway was not united in that battle: the process had begun earlier and continued a couple of hundred years later. This means that the geographical area became subject to a political authority and became a political unit. The geographical area was perceived as an area as it is known, among other things, from Ottar from Hålogaland's account for King Alfred of Wessex around the year 880. Ottar described "the land of the Norwegians" as very long and narrow, and it was narrowest in the far north. East of the wasteland in the south lay Sveoland and in the north lay Kvenaland in the east. When Ottar sailed south along the land from his home ( Malangen ) to Skiringssal, he always had Norway ("Nordveg") on his port side and the British Isles on his starboard side. The journey took a good month. Ottar perceived "Nordveg" as a geographical unit, but did not imply that it was a political unit. Ottar separated Norwegians from Swedes and Danes. It is unclear why Ottar perceived the population spread over such a large area as a whole. It is unclear whether Norway as a geographical term or Norwegians as the name of a ethnic group is the oldest. The Norwegians had a common language which in the centuries before Ottar did not differ much from the language of Denmark and Sweden.
According to Sverre Steen, it is unlikely that Harald Hårfagre was able to control this entire area as one kingdom. The saga of Harald was written 300 years later and at his death Norway was several smaller kingdoms. Harald probably controlled a larger area than anyone before him and at most Harald's kingdom probably included the coast from Trøndelag to Agder and Vestfold as well as parts of Viken . There were probably several smaller kingdoms of varying extent before Harald and some of these are reflected in traditional landscape names such as Ranrike and Ringerike . Landscape names of "-land" (Rogaland) and "-mark" (Hedmark) as well as names such as Agder and Sogn may have been political units before Harald.
According to Sverre Steen
Odda is a town and administrative center in Ullensvang municipality in Vestland county in Norway. The town is located deep in the Sørfjorden in Hardanger , and has 4,764 inhabitants as of 1 January 2023 . Odda was the administrative center of Odda municipality , which on 1 January 2020 was merged with Jondal and Ullensvang to form the new Ullensvang municipality.
In 2009 , the industrial heritage in Odda-Tyssedal was listed on Norway's tentative list for UNESCO's World Heritage List , together with the Rjukan–Notodden industrial heritage .
Public services
Odda hospital is a local hospital for the municipalities of Eidfjord, Jondal, Odda and Ullensvang.
Odda secondary school offers both vocational and study specialist educations.
Business
Odda is known as an industrial location, with companies such as Odda Smelteverk , Boliden Odda (formerly Norzink ) and Tinfos Titan & Iron (TTI).
History
Tourism and hotel management
Before industrial activity in Odda began around 1910, Odda was a popular tourist destination which, among other things, attracted many foreigners who wanted to experience the scenic area with glaciers, fjords and waterfalls. This laid the foundation for several people to start hotel operations on the site.
Some of the most popular destinations for tourists visiting Odda were Låtefossen and Espelandsfossen .
Shuttle station, steamship wharf and steamship expedition
Baard Jakobsen Aga (1812–1895) received a merchant license in Odda in 1861, and in 1864 took over the shuttle station that was in operation in Odda. Then he secured a new plot of land where he built a hotel which was called alternately Prestegårds Hotel and Agas Hotel. In 1868 he became a post opener and steamship dispatcher, and he then had a steamship wharf and dispatch house built at Almerket. He had previously expanded the hotel business, but in 1888 he inaugurated a new hotel building, the "new Agas Hotel". In the 20th century, the large hotel building was used for other purposes, including Rita's bakery, which led to the building being called "Ritagården" colloquially. Agas Hotel/Ritagården was demolished in 1978.
From guest house to Hotel Hardanger
The start of hotel operations at Odda occurred around 1845, when a man named Monsen started an inn on the site. Monsen went bankrupt in the 1860s, and the inn was bought by a man named Wetshus. He continued to run the hotel business. After Wetshus had died, the two brothers Sven and Mikal Tollefsen became his successors in the early 1880s, with financial support from a rich Englishman. The Tollefsen brothers carried out a major renovation of the former guest house. When Sven Tollefsen died, Mikal Tollefsen became the hotel's sole owner.
Tollefsen also bought Agas Hotel, which Baard Jakobsen Aga had started.
On 9 August 1895, the then Hotel Hardanger was completely damaged in a fire. The fire started in Hotel Hardanger, but 7–8 neighboring buildings also caught fire. It was said that the fire was caused by the maid of an English hotel guest having left a candle or a kerosene lamp by an open window, and that the curtain had caught fire - as it was very hot most of the windows in the hotel were open, and this caused the fire to spread with great speed. The fire started at 12 o'clock in the morning.
The commander and crew of the steamship "Vega" - which happened to be docked in Odda when the fire started - managed to put out the fire(s) within three hours using fire-fighting equipment from the ship. Among other things, they managed to save the post office, while the telegraph building was lost. The competing Jordals Hotel, which was run by Jacob Jordal, was also saved.
Hotel Hardanger was insured, and Bergens Tidende wrote that the insurance sum was NOK 90,000, but also published an anonymous source's assessment that the hotel complex was worth NOK 200,000–250,000, and that the owner - Mikal Tollefsen - had probably suffered a significant financial loss due to underinsurance. No people were injured in the fire.
Shortly after the fire in 1895, Tollefsen started building a new and larger hotel on the site of the fire. The new hotel was completed on 24 June 1896, and had 170 hotel beds in 110 guest rooms. Architecturally, it was a mixture of Swiss style and dragon style, with towers and projections.
Hardanger Hotel is mentioned, among other things, in a French travelogue published in 1897.
In 1913, the owner of Hotel Hardanger filed a claim for damages against the two factories - a cyanamide factory and a carbide factory - which had started up in Odda a few years earlier, because the factory operation caused such great pollution and bad odors that it affected the hotel operation. The provisions of the Neighborhood Act were the legal basis for the lawsuit. The court agreed with the plaintiff that the two factories were obliged to pay compensation for inconvenience and losses that the hotel had suffered after 2 August 1911, but not because Odda had become less idyllic and thus attractive to tourists. The compensation sum was to be determined after an appraisal had been carried out , and the result of the appraisal was not available until 1922. By then both factories had gone bankrupt, and hotel owner Mikal Tollefsen had died.
Hotel Hardanger becomes a town hall
In 1917, the municipality bought the Hotel Hardanger, to convert the building into a town hall . The hotel had then been almost empty all year round, because the industrial activity on the site had meant that the tourists did not show up. [9]
The hotel's so-called "Kongerom" was converted into a chairman's office and lord's boardroom. Eventually, the new town hall also accommodated a number of other businesses, such as a cinema, police station, doctor's office and bank. The old hotel was in use as Odda Town Hall until a new building was inaugurated in 1957; from then on, the former Hotel Hardanger was referred to as Odda old town hall . This building was demolished in 1976.
Jordals Hotel becomes Hardanger Hotel
In 1917, Jordals Hotel was bought by the Melkeraaen family, who continued to run the hotel for 68 years. Along the way, they changed the name of the hotel to Hardanger Hotel.
The Hardanger Hotel, which was a wooden Swiss-style building, was demolished in 1962, and a new five-story hotel building was inaugurated on 1 July 1963.
From tourism to industrial site
Factories and smelters
At the beginning of the 20th century, two factories were started in Odda. On one, cyanamide was produced, and on the other, carbide was produced .
In 1908, the operation of the first factory that was to be part of Odda Smelteverk , a carbide factory owned by a British company, began. In 1909, another British company started production of calcium cyanamide in the same area as the first factory. The reason why Odda was interesting for the foreign companies was the access to large amounts of hydropower and ice-free ports.
Both factories went bankrupt in 1921 , in connection with the worldwide economic crisis that occurred in the early 1920s. The bankruptcies led to thousands of people becoming unemployed. Both factories started up again in 1924, with Odda Smelteverk A/S as the new owner. This operating company was established by the power company Tyssefaldene and the Hafslund/Meraker group.
The cyanamide factory was built on in the 1930s.
At the smelter, the so-called Odda process was developed by chief chemist Erling Johnson in 1927–1928; it is a chemical process based on nitric acid for the industrial production of three-sided artificial fertilizer with the sub-components nitrogen , phosphorus and potassium .
Preservation decision and dispute over conservation value
In 2011 , the National Archives decided to protect several of the smelter's buildings and facilities, and to include the smelter in the Norwegian application to UNESCO for world heritage status for Norwegian industrial monuments. In 2013, however, the Ministry of the Environment decided that the series nomination should be split into two phases, 1. application for Rjukan/Notodden to be submitted to UNESCO in January 2014, and phase 2, that work be continued on expanding the nomination to include Odda/ Tyssedal with eventual submission to UNESCO in January 2016.
The owners of the smelter site objected to the conservation decision made in 2011, but the decision was upheld in 2012. The conservation included the cyanamide factory, the cable car, the Linde house (named after the German inventor Carl von Linde ) and the limestone silo on the import quay. Over the years, there has been much controversy in Odda about whether the smelter's buildings and facilities should be preserved or removed.
Cultural life
Music and theater
Tyssedalkoret and Odda Songlag are two choirs that come from Odda municipality. The water power and industrial history of the area here was documented in the performance and the DVD ``Arven'', performed by Tyssedalkoret with band and soloists in autumn 2004 and released on DVD in Christmas 2005. In addition these two choirs have the bands Odda Musikklag , Odda Skolekorps and Røldal Skolemusiklag. The blues team Lokst Utøve has 272 members. The Blueslaget received the culture award for 2009 for their great work as concert/festival organisers, volunteer workers and inspirers for bands and soloists. In 2011, Erlend Garatun Huus published the book Rock og Røyk , which is about the history of rock in Odda.
At the closed smelter (2001), the old "Lindehuset" has been used for theater and concert activities. The theater play Bikebubesong , based on the Oddingen Frode Grytten's novel Bikubesong , was performed in this venue in 2003 with great success. The play's performance in Oslo has been the most watched contemporary drama in Norwegian history.
A key cultural player in Odda is the company Oddakonsertene, led by Gunn Gravdal Elton. In April 2019, the Odda concerts staged the musical Albert og Leonie , a story about how Odda arose as an industrial community. The musical was a huge success with sold-out houses. 2,600 people queued to see and hear the story. The director was Martine Bakken Lundberg. The main roles were played by André Søfteland and Lene Kokai Flage. Over 60 amateurs were on stage. Albert and Leonie was planned to be staged again in 2020 and 2021, but had to be canceled due to the corona pandemic .
The odd concerts started in 2005 and as of 2019 have staged more than 60 concerts. All have been sold out. The most popular concerts are the annual Christmas concerts, which gather over 1,000 listeners. The traditional Christmas concert in Odda church with a large ensemble and two to three concerts in a row officially ended in 2019, but a simplified version was arranged in 2020, with concerts in Skare and Odda churches.
The Literature Symposium
From 2005, a festival called the Literature Symposium in Odda has been organized every autumn . The Linden house at the defunct Smelteverket, Odda cinema, Sentralbadet, Odda church are some of the venues at the symposium. Previously, there was every year "Bikubegang" with Frode Grytten , where he told about the story behind the book "Bikubesong", while he wandered around Odda. The literary symposium also has concerts, often in connection with an author/musician or individual artists. During the Literary Symposium 2011, the Sentralbadet Litteraturhus opened in the old bathroom at the closed Smelteverket, and this has become headquarters for the symposium, as well as a permanent house for literary events all year round.
As of 2010, a major rehabilitation/remodeling of Lindehuset was planned, so that the building would be better suited for events such as concerts and theater performances.
The National Antiquities' "Value creation project"
Odda is one of the pilot projects in the Value Creation Project for the National Archives.
TV shows
The actions in the TV series RIP Henry and Ragnarok have been added to Odda, and are recorded there. In Ragnarok, on the other hand, the city goes by the name Edda .
Known oddities
Samson Isberg (1795–1873), sharpshooter
Knud Knudsen (photographer) (1832–1915)
Gro Holm , born Prestgarden (1878–1949), writer
Alfred Hagn (1882–1958), painter, writer and spy.
Claes Gill (1910–1973), writer, actor and theater manager
Torbjørn Mork (1928–1992), doctor, politician ( Ap ), director of health 1972–1992
Walther Aas (1928–1990), artist
Roger Albertsen , (1957–2003), footballer
Anne B. Ragde (born 1957), writer, (raised in Trondheim)
Arne Borgstrøm (born 1959), elite long-distance swimmer
Frode Grytten (born 1960), author
Lars Ove Seljestad (born 1961), author
Bjørn Ingvaldsen (born 1962), author, leader of Norwegian Children's and Young People's Book Writers
Hallgeir Opedal (born 1965), writer and journalist
Børge Brende (born 1965), politician ( H ), former secretary general of the Norwegian Red Cross , minister of foreign affairs
Ida Melbo Øystese (born 1968), chief of police in Oslo from 2023.
Knut Olav Åmås (born 1968), author, editor, director of the foundation Fritt Ord
Leif Einar Lothe (born 1969), entrepreneur, singer, TV profile
Marit Eikemo (born 1971), writer
Tore Aurstad (born 1972), author
Ingvill Måkestad Bovim (born 1981), athlete
Håkon Opdal (born 1982), footballer
Ingvild Skare Thygesen (born 1993), TV profile
The Sognefjord is Norway's longest and deepest fjord with its 205 km and 1303 m at its deepest (SNL states 1308), including Sognesjøen which is at the far end towards the North Sea. The Sognefjord has the deepest point on Norway's coast. The fjord is 176–180 km from the innermost Lusterfjorden ( Skjolden ) to Sognefest , and 206 km to the outermost reef (then Lake Sognesjøen is also included). The width varies from around 1 to 2 km in Lusterfjorden to 4–5 km from Leikanger and beyond. Measured from the threshold to Skjolden, the fjord is 174 km. The middle part of the fjord is surrounded by mountains of around 1000 meters and in the inner part the height difference between the bottom of the fjord and the mountain tops is 3500 metres. The highest peak right by the fjord is Bleia at 1,721 metres, which gives a 2,850 meter height difference. Around the inner part of the fjord, the landscape is alpine with pointed mountain peaks, steep mountain sides and glaciers. As an extension of the fjord arms, long and deep valleys extend in all directions, including Jostedalen , Lærdalen and Årdal with Utladalen . The Sognefjord is the world's longest open (ice-free) fjord. The Sognefjord is the world's third longest fjord.
It is located in the middle of Vestland county (formerly Sogn og Fjordane county to which it helped give its name) and stretches from Solund on the coast in the west to Skjolden at the foot of Jotunheimen in the east (northeast), where the fjord arm is called Lustrafjorden . The fjord and the land around it make up the Sogn region, often divided into Outer, Midtre and Indre Sogn. The length from Rutletangen to Skjolden is 186 km . Sogn makes up almost 60% of the area in Sogn and Fjordane, or around 11,000 km 2 . The twelve municipalities in Sogn have a total area of 10,671.55 km² and 37,063 inhabitants (1 January 2014). The land around the inner part of the fjord is called Indre Sogn and includes the long fjord arms. From Leikanger onwards, the country is called Ytre Sogn . The outer part of the fjord has few and small fjord arms. The fjord arms are like hanging valleys under water in that the bottom in the side fjords is often much shallower than the main fjord with a height difference of over 1,000 meters in some cases. The main fjord has a threshold at its mouth to the sea, while several of the side fjords have thresholds at the mouth of the main fjord.
The Sognefjord cuts so deeply into the country that it is only 15 km from the innermost arm at Skjolden to mountain peaks such as Store Skagastølstind in Jotunheimen. The water flow usually exits the fjord. The rivers create sandbanks where they run into the fjord, for example at Gudvangen, in Lærdal and in Gaupne. These sandbars are constantly expanding and changing shape.
The Sognefjord, especially the inner part, is surrounded by mountain massifs which are alpine in the inner part and more rounded in the outer part. The innermost arms of the fjord continue as deep and sometimes long valleys, including Lærdal , Årdal with Utladalen , Nærøydalen , Sogndalsdalen , Fjærland , Fortunsdalen , Aurlandsdalen and Jostedalen . The transition between the fjord and these valleys is determined by sea level, and the boundary has moved outwards at the uplift. Some of the side valleys, such as Vik and Fresvik, would have been hanging valleys in the same way as the Feigedalen if the Sognefjord was drained.
Name
Amund Helland writes " The Sognefjord's real name is Sogn , while Sogn is now used only for the surrounding landscape, and was thus already used in the Middle Ages. As a landscape name, the name is a masculine word and has undoubtedly been so as a fjord name as well." The name is connected to the word "suction", which probably refers to the suction or the difficult current conditions that are created when the water flows through the fjord mouth and over the threshold.
Geography
Large parts of the fjord are surrounded by steep mountains. Kvamsøy at Balestrand is a small island separated from the mainland by a short, shallow strait. Outside Balestrand there are small fjord arms and at Veganes ( Dragsvik ferry quay ) there is a significant branching with the Fjærlandsfjorden .
Municipalities
Municipalities with shoreline to the fjord, counted from west to east:
Solund
Hyllestad (north side)
Gulen (south side)
Høyanger (on both sides of the main fjord)
Vik (south side)
Sogndal (north side)
Aurland (south side, around the Aurlandsfjord)
Lærdal (south side)
Luster (north side, around Lustrafjorden)
Årdal (around the Årdalsfjord)
Depths
The Sognefjord has only one threshold which is at the mouth and the threshold is around 165 meters deep. The area beyond the threshold is called Sognesjøen , which is sheltered by islands to the north and south; there is no threshold outside Sognesjøen that has free circulation towards the ocean.
From the inner parts at Årdal or Skjolden, the fjord gradually deepens outwards (westwards). Between Fodnes-Mannheller and Rutledal-Rysjedalsvika, the bottom is at least 800 metres. The deepest part is approximately at Åkrestrand and Vadheim. The outer part of the fjord (at Losna and Sula ) has a marked threshold with depths of 100 to 200 metres, where the fjord bed rises abruptly from a depth of 1,200 meters to around 100 meters over a stretch of 5 km at Rutledal. In Lake Sognesjøen there are several small troughs (with depths down to 400-500 metres) with thresholds between them. Across the fjord, the bottom is partly completely flat with less than 1 meter variation in depth over a 2 km cross-section. The bottom is covered by fine material (clay) which at Vangsnes is up to 300 meters thick. Seismic shows that the greatest depth to the bedrock is approximately 1,600 m, but loose masses with a thickness of 200–400 m mean that the fjord bottom is nevertheless flat. Seismic surveys at Vangsnes have revealed a 300 meter thick layer of clay at the bottom.
Between 50 and 180 km from the mouth, the fjord bed is relatively flat. Almost all side fjords form hanging valleys to the main fjord. For example, the mouth of the Fjærlandsfjord is well over 400 meters deep, while the main fjord is close to 1,200 meters deep just outside the mouth. Vadheimfjord's mouth is 400 meters deep, here the greatest depth is over 1300 m. Ikjefjord's mouth is only 50 meters deep close to where the main fjord is at its deepest. In large parts of the fjord, it is "abruptly deep" in that the steep mountain sides continue just as steeply underwater.
In contrast to a number of other fjords, not every single part of the Sognefjord has its own name. Only the outermost part has its own name - Sognesjøen . However, there are many fjord arms. From west to east these are:
Sognesjøen
Straumsfjorden
Bjørnefjorden
Nessefjord
The Sognefjord
Lifjorden
Bøfjorden
The Risnefjord
The Ikjefjord
Vadheimsfjorden
Fuglsetfjorden
Høyangsfjorden
Lånefjorden
The Finnafjord
The Arnafjord
The Inner Fjord
Framfjorden
Vikbukti
The Esefjord
Fjærlandsfjorden
The Vetlefjord
Sværefjorden
The Norafjord
Sogndalsfjorden
Barsnes Fjord
The Eidsfjord
Aurlandsfjorden
The Nærøyfjord
Amla Bay
Lærdalsfjorden
Årdalsfjorden
The Lustrafjord
The Gaupnefjord
Climate and fresh water
The fjord colored by meltwater from the glacier.
Terrain formations and distance to the sea lead to great variations in climate along the fjord. The outer part has a mild and humid coastal climate, while the innermost part has an inland climate with cold and dry winters.
The amount of precipitation decreases strongly inwards into the fjord. Lærdal lies in the rain shadow and has very little rainfall, while west-facing slopes further out have a lot of rainfall and there the rainfall often increases with altitude. Brekke and Takle in Ytre Parish are among the places in Norway with the most rainfall. North of the Sognefjord lies the Jostedalsbreen, Norway's largest glacier, and parts of the meltwater drain into the Sognefjord. Wind conditions are strongly influenced by terrain formations. In winter, the dominant wind direction is out the fjord or out the side valleys in the form of so-called downwinds . Fall winds can be very strong and have a major impact on cooling and icing. The slopes and valleys along the inner parts of the fjord have a partially mild climate and are fertile, which makes the area suitable for growing fruit and berries, among other things. The slopes along the fjord partly have large conifer forests, including in the roadless area of Frønningen .
The fjord receives fresh water mainly from the rivers and very little precipitation directly on the fjord's water surface. In the inner part of the Sognefjord, the total supply of fresh water during one year corresponds to a depth of 33 meters if it were distributed over the entire area of the fjord. In spring and partly in autumn, the top 2-3 meters of the fjord are brackish water , especially in the side fjords. The salt content in the surface is lowest in summer and autumn. In June 1954, for example, 5 ‰ salt was measured in the uppermost meters of the Lustrafjord, while at great depths it was 34.5 ‰. Regulation of the waterways for power production has led to a larger proportion of fresh water flowing into the fjord in the winter. The most extensive regulation is in Aurland, Lærdal, Årdal and Jostedal. Regulations affect temperature in the surface layer and icing. In the inner part of the fjord, the rivers are fed by high mountains and glaciers.
The rivers Lærdalselvi , Aurlandselvi , Flåmselvi , Mørkridselvi , Henjaelvi , Grindselvi , Hamreelvi , Njøsaelvi , Kvinnafossen , Sogndalselvi and Jostedøla flow into the Sognefjord and normally have spring floods in June. [3] Lærdalselva has the largest catchment, followed by Jostedøla and Aurlandselva, and these three have roughly the same water flow (around 40 m 3 /second). The Årdalsvatnet drains to the Sognefjord through the short Åreidselva or Hæreidselvi through the Årdalstangen . The Eidsvatnet in Luster drains into the Sognefjord just by Mørkridselvi in Skjolden . Regulation of the waterways for hydropower has resulted in a more steady supply of fresh water throughout the year. Without regulation, 92% of the fresh water would have been supplied in the summer half-year from May to October. Several of the large rivers flow into fjord arms.
Geology
The bedrock along the outer and middle part of the fjord consists mostly of Precambrian gneiss with orientation east-west and northeast-southwest. The islands of Solund consist mostly of Devonian sandstone and conglomerates , while the interior (eastern part) consists mostly of Caledonian gabbro , anorthosite , granite and phyllite .
Jostedøla's material transport (in the form of sludge) involves sedimentation in the Gaupnefjord of 10 to 20 cm/year near the river basin, and 1 cm/year 2 km from the river basin. The river transports 50,000 to 100,000 tonnes of silt annually. The sludge concentration from Jostedøla is at most 1 g/litre. It is particularly at Gaupne that the meltwater from the glaciers is marked by the color of the water.
Icing
According to Helland, it was common for the ice to settle on several of the fjord arms every winter, including on Aurlandsfjorden, Nærøyfjorden and Årdalsfjorden. In the winter of 1888–1889, Lusterfjorden was iced over for six months straight. In the deepest parts of the Sognefjord, there is a year-round temperature of around 6.5 °C, according to Helland. Outer parts are almost never iced over, not even the side fjords. The inner parts can be frozen for several weeks at a stretch. Among other things, inner parts of the Aurlandsfjorden and the Nærøyfjorden freeze easily. Lærdalsfjorden is usually ice-free except for the very innermost part, while it has happened that Årdalsfjorden has been iced up to Ofredal and has been an obstacle to ship traffic. Historically, Lustrafjorden has often been iced over as far as Urnes. The Barsnesfjorden has often been covered with ice. In the Nærøyfjord it happened (among other things in the 1920s and in 1962) that the liner was unable to enter the fjord due to ice and had to dispatch at the ice edge.
Streams
In the Sognefjord, incoming current is hardly noticeable and is most noticeable in strong westerly winds. Outgoing current dominates and is particularly strong in spring and summer. At strong tides, the tidal flow can reach over 1 m/s (2 knots ) around the pier and headland. The Sognefjord is covered by a layer or stream of brackish water of up to 10 meters (varying with the seasons and supply from the rivers). Beneath the brackish water, a current or intermediate layer at a depth of 150 meters goes in and out of the fjord and below this lies the main basin, which has some connection with the ocean beyond the threshold. Together, these three currents contribute to the fact that the water in the fjord is replaced on average within 8-10 years, so that the fjord has life right down to the bottom. The brackish water layer has less density and therefore does not mix easily with the deeper layers. The brackish water that flows out of the fjord slowly mixes with the layer below so that the salt content increases at the same time as the brackish water layer increases up to 10 times the amount of fresh water supplied. The brackish water that flows towards the mouth must be replaced and sets up an incoming current in a slightly deeper layer.
Fish
The Sognefjord has herring and good sprat fishing . In the outer parts of the fjord, salmon has traditionally been fished with wedge nets . Salmon warp or "sitjenet" is a traditional method of salmon fishing and skilled players could catch a lot of fish with this method. Hook nets and drift nets have dominated in modern times and do not require the same active fishing as warp . The salmon's migration in the fjord is controlled by currents on the surface and the warps are placed where there are favorable current conditions where, due to the current, the salmon are driven close to land on their way into the fjord. In Leikanger and Balestrand there are many good places for sitejnot with Suppham being by far the best. Good salmon rivers such as Lærdalselva, Aurlandselva and Årøyelva flow into the Sognefjorden.
In the outer part of the fjord (Gulen and Solund) there is some fish farming. Several of the waterways are known for good salmon and sea trout fishing , and five of the rivers have been designated as national salmon rivers. Lærdalselva has a salmon-carrying stretch and has had by far the largest population. Aurlandselva has historically had a good catch of sea trout. The Sognefjord is among the most important in Norway for anadromous fish species. Norwegian spring-spawning herring are fished in the fjord, especially in the outer parts, as well as some coastal sprat.
In the Sognefjord there are plankton algae which in other Norwegian waters and the occurrence follows the seasons. In general, there is little occurrence in winter due to low light, diatoms bloom in March-April and are dependent on the supply of nutrient salts, in May-June diatoms and flagellates bloom in connection with the spring flood, in summer there is a varying population, new blooms in the autumn in connection with, among other things, floods, and married species can occur all year round.
Tourism
The Sognefjord was established as a tourist destination in the 19th century, among other things, with the establishment of Fylkesbåtane. One of the targets was Gudvangen, which in 1889 received 79 large tourist ships with a total of over 10,000 passengers. In 1889, 4,500 travelers came with the county boats. The German Emperor Wilhelm visited the Sognefjord and Balestrand for the first time in 1890. The emperor subsequently visited the Sognefjord 25 times. The fjord itself and the surrounding area with Jotunheimen, Jostedalsbreen and several stave churches have made the Sognefjord one of Norway's most prominent tourist destinations. Balestrand, Vangsnes, Aurland and Fjærland were among the early destinations for English tourists in the 19th century.
History
It has been the Guest of Death
It has sailed on a Torden
It is christened in Rædsler vorden
that has plowed the Sognefjord
from Forthun to Sognefæst.
If you have forgotten your Lord's Prayer,
do you remember a prayer to pray:
learn it from the wrath of God!
imagine, Sinder, then present
in a Bath on Sognefjord!
Henrik Wergeland
The Sognefjord has been an important transport artery since ancient times. The gulation was probably held near the mouth of the Sognefjord and probably because it was practical to hold the meeting where the ship lay along the coast met the great fjord. From the innermost arms of the fjord it is a relatively short distance to the inland villages of Eastern Norway, particularly through Lærdal to Valdres over the moderate mountain pass Filefjell . Lærdalsøyri was from the 17th century an important market and meeting place. There, farmers from Valdres, Hallingdal and Gudbrandsdalen sold slaughter, tar and other products from the interior and bought fish, salt, hemp and iron from the fjords and from Bergen. Around 1300, the authorities established a shuttle station at Maristova at the entrance to Filefjell. The first drivable road between east and west was built over Filefjell in 1792. From 1843 the paddle steamer "Constitutionen" plyed the route between Bergen and Lærdal, the county boats took over the route in 1857. The road over the Sognefjellet was built as a carriageway in 1938. The Flåmsbana connected the Sognefjord to the railway network in 1940. Stalheimskleivi , between Voss and Sogn, was built in 1850 and turned into a road in 1937. It has made it possible to transport agricultural products , fruit , berries and fish between the villages in Sogn and Bergen .
From 1785, the Trondhjem postal route crossed the Sognefjord by boat between Rutledal and Leirvik in Hyllestad . In 1647, a postal route was established between Bergen and Christiania. The post then took 7-8 days via Gudvangen, Lærdal and Valdres.
It was difficult to get to the Sognefjord by sailboat and the yachts could lie for many days or several weeks at the mouth waiting for favorable wind conditions. East wind was favorable out of the fjord, while south to Bergen, wind from the north or north-west was needed. To enter the fjord, a wind from the west was necessary. The steam and motor boats revolutionized transport on the fjord and these had completely taken over in the early 20th century The county boats were established in 1858 with boat routes on the Sognefjord and to Bergen as an important activity.
In 1934, a ferry route was established along the fjord from Vadheim to Lærdal. From 1939 until the Lærdal tunnel opened, there was a car ferry between Gudvangen and Lærdal - first the ferry went to Lærdalsøyri itself, from 1966 to Revsnes when a road was built there to shorten the ferry route. In the 1990s, the ferry connection Revsnes-Kaupanger was replaced by Mannheller-Fodnes , and after this Kaupanger has only been used by the tourist route Gudvangen-Kaupanger-Lærdal. The road system between Sogndal and Jølster on national highway 5 , including the Fjærlands tunnel , created a ferry-free road connection on the north side of the fjord.
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic , European country and an independent state in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula . Geographically speaking, the country is long and narrow, and on the elongated coast towards the North Atlantic are Norway's well-known fjords . The Kingdom of Norway includes the main country (the mainland with adjacent islands within the baseline ), Jan Mayen and Svalbard . With these two Arctic areas, Norway covers a land area of 385,000 km² and has a population of approximately 5.5 million (2023). Mainland Norway borders Sweden in the east , Finland and Russia in the northeast .
Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , where Harald V has been king and head of state since 1991 , and Jonas Gahr Støre ( Ap ) has been prime minister since 2021 . Norway is a unitary state , with two administrative levels below the state: counties and municipalities . The Sami part of the population has, through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act , to a certain extent self-government and influence over traditionally Sami areas. Although Norway has rejected membership of the European Union through two referendums , through the EEA Agreement Norway has close ties with the Union, and through NATO with the United States . Norway is a significant contributor to the United Nations (UN), and has participated with soldiers in several foreign operations mandated by the UN. Norway is among the states that have participated from the founding of the UN , NATO , the Council of Europe , the OSCE and the Nordic Council , and in addition to these is a member of the EEA , the World Trade Organization , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is part of the Schengen area .
Norway is rich in many natural resources such as oil , gas , minerals , timber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . Since the beginning of the 20th century, these natural conditions have given the country the opportunity for an increase in wealth that few other countries can now enjoy, and Norwegians have the second highest average income in the world, measured in GDP per capita, as of 2022. The petroleum industry accounts for around 14% of Norway's gross domestic product as of 2018. Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and gas per capita outside the Middle East. However, the number of employees linked to this industry fell from approx. 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015.
In Norway, these natural resources have been managed for socially beneficial purposes. The country maintains a welfare model in line with the other Nordic countries. Important service areas such as health and higher education are state-funded, and the country has an extensive welfare system for its citizens. Public expenditure in 2018 is approx. 50% of GDP, and the majority of these expenses are related to education, healthcare, social security and welfare. Since 2001 and until 2021, when the country took second place, the UN has ranked Norway as the world's best country to live in . From 2010, Norway is also ranked at the top of the EIU's democracy index . Norway ranks third on the UN's World Happiness Report for the years 2016–2018, behind Finland and Denmark , a report published in March 2019.
The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles , Lithuanians , Norwegian-Swedes , Norwegian-Syrians including Syrian Kurds and Norwegian-Pakistani .
Norway's national day is 17 May, on this day in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution was dated and signed by the presidency of the National Assembly at Eidsvoll . It is stipulated in the law of 26 April 1947 that 17 May are national public holidays. The Sami national day is 6 February. "Yes, we love this country" is Norway's national anthem, the song was written in 1859 by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910).
Norway's history of human settlement goes back at least 10,000 years, to the Late Paleolithic , the first period of the Stone Age . Archaeological finds of settlements along the entire Norwegian coast have so far been dated back to 10,400 before present (BP), the oldest find is today considered to be a settlement at Pauler in Brunlanes , Vestfold .
For a period these settlements were considered to be the remains of settlers from Doggerland , an area which today lies beneath the North Sea , but which was once a land bridge connecting today's British Isles with Danish Jutland . But the archaeologists who study the initial phase of the settlement in what is today Norway reckon that the first people who came here followed the coast along what is today Bohuslân. That they arrived in some form of boat is absolutely certain, and there is much evidence that they could easily move over large distances.
Since the last Ice Age, there has been continuous settlement in Norway. It cannot be ruled out that people lived in Norway during the interglacial period , but no trace of such a population or settlement has been found.
The Stone Age lasted a long time; half of the time that our country has been populated. There are no written accounts of what life was like back then. The knowledge we have has been painstakingly collected through investigations of places where people have stayed and left behind objects that we can understand have been processed by human hands. This field of knowledge is called archaeology . The archaeologists interpret their findings and the history of the surrounding landscape. In our country, the uplift after the Ice Age is fundamental. The history of the settlements at Pauler is no more than fifteen years old.
The Fosna culture settled parts of Norway sometime between 10,000–8,000 BC. (see Stone Age in Norway ). The dating of rock carvings is set to Neolithic times (in Norway between 4000 BC to 1700 BC) and show activities typical of hunters and gatherers .
Agriculture with livestock and arable farming was introduced in the Neolithic. Swad farming where the farmers move when the field does not produce the expected yield.
More permanent and persistent farm settlements developed in the Bronze Age (1700 BC to 500 BC) and the Iron Age . The earliest runes have been found on an arrowhead dated to around 200 BC. Many more inscriptions are dated to around 800, and a number of petty kingdoms developed during these centuries. In prehistoric times, there were no fixed national borders in the Nordic countries and Norway did not exist as a state. The population in Norway probably fell to year 0.
Events in this time period, the centuries before the year 1000, are glimpsed in written sources. Although the sagas were written down in the 13th century, many hundreds of years later, they provide a glimpse into what was already a distant past. The story of the fimbul winter gives us a historical picture of something that happened and which in our time, with the help of dendrochronology , can be interpreted as a natural disaster in the year 536, created by a volcanic eruption in El Salvador .
In the period between 800 and 1066 there was a significant expansion and it is referred to as the Viking Age . During this period, Norwegians, as Swedes and Danes also did, traveled abroad in longships with sails as explorers, traders, settlers and as Vikings (raiders and pirates ). By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingship had been firmly established, building its right as descendants of Harald Hårfagre and then as heirs of Olav the Holy . The Norwegian kings, and their subjects, now professed Christianity . In the time around Håkon Håkonsson , in the time after the civil war , there was a small renaissance in Norway with extensive literary activity and diplomatic activity with Europe. The black dew came to Norway in 1349 and killed around half of the population. The entire state apparatus and Norway then entered a period of decline.
Between 1396 and 1536, Norway was part of the Kalmar Union , and from 1536 until 1814 Norway had been reduced to a tributary part of Denmark , named as the Personal Union of Denmark-Norway . This staff union entered into an alliance with Napoléon Bonaparte with a war that brought bad times and famine in 1812 . In 1814, Denmark-Norway lost the Anglophone Wars , part of the Napoleonic Wars , and the Danish king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January of that year. After a Norwegian attempt at independence, Norway was forced into a loose union with Sweden, but where Norway was allowed to create its own constitution, the Constitution of 1814 . In this period, Norwegian, romantic national feeling flourished, and the Norwegians tried to develop and establish their own national self-worth. The union with Sweden was broken in 1905 after it had been threatened with war, and Norway became an independent kingdom with its own monarch, Haakon VII .
Norway remained neutral during the First World War , and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Norway again declared itself neutral, but was invaded by National Socialist Germany on 9 April 1940 .
Norway became a member of the Western defense alliance NATO in 1949 . Two attempts to join the EU were voted down in referendums by small margins in 1972 and 1994 . Norway has been a close ally of the United States in the post-war period. Large discoveries of oil and natural gas in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s led to tremendous economic growth in the country, which is still ongoing. Traditional industries such as fishing are also part of Norway's economy.
Stone Age (before 1700 BC)
When most of the ice disappeared, vegetation spread over the landscape and due to a warm climate around 2000-3000 BC. the forest grew much taller than in modern times. Land uplift after the ice age led to a number of fjords becoming lakes and dry land. The first people probably came from the south along the coast of the Kattegat and overland into Finnmark from the east. The first people probably lived by gathering, hunting and trapping. A good number of Stone Age settlements have been found which show that such hunting and trapping people stayed for a long time in the same place or returned to the same place regularly. Large amounts of gnawed bones show that they lived on, among other things, reindeer, elk, small game and fish.
Flintstone was imported from Denmark and apart from small natural deposits along the southern coast, all flintstone in Norway is transported by people. At Espevær, greenstone was quarried for tools in the Stone Age, and greenstone tools from Espevær have been found over large parts of Western Norway. Around 2000-3000 BC the usual farm animals such as cows and sheep were introduced to Norway. Livestock probably meant a fundamental change in society in that part of the people had to be permanent residents or live a semi-nomadic life. Livestock farming may also have led to conflict with hunters.
The oldest traces of people in what is today Norway have been found at Pauler , a farm in Brunlanes in Larvik municipality in Vestfold . In 2007 and 2008, the farm has given its name to a number of Stone Age settlements that have been excavated and examined by archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum at UiO. The investigations have been carried out in connection with the new route for the E18 motorway west of Farris. The oldest settlement, located more than 127 m above sea level, is dated to be about 10,400 years old (uncalibrated, more than 11,000 years in real calendar years). From here, the ice sheet was perhaps visible when people settled here. This locality has been named Pauler I, and is today considered to be the oldest confirmed human traces in Norway to date. The place is in the mountains above the Pauler tunnel on the E18 between Larvik and Porsgrunn . The pioneer settlement is a term archaeologists have adopted for the oldest settlement. The archaeologists have speculated about where they came from, the first people in what is today Norway. It has been suggested that they could come by boat or perhaps across the ice from Doggerland or the North Sea, but there is now a large consensus that they came north along what is today the Bohuslän coast. The Fosna culture , the Komsa culture and the Nøstvet culture are the traditional terms for hunting cultures from the Stone Age. One thing is certain - getting to the water was something they mastered, the first people in our country. Therefore, within a short time they were able to use our entire long coast.
In the New Stone Age (4000 BC–1700 BC) there is a theory that a new people immigrated to the country, the so-called Stone Ax People . Rock carvings from this period show motifs from hunting and fishing , which were still important industries. From this period, a megalithic tomb has been found in Østfold .
It is uncertain whether there were organized societies or state-like associations in the Stone Age in Norway. Findings from settlements indicate that many lived together and that this was probably more than one family so that it was a slightly larger, organized herd.
Finnmark
In prehistoric times, animal husbandry and agriculture were of little economic importance in Finnmark. Livelihoods in Finnmark were mainly based on fish, gathering, hunting and trapping, and eventually domestic reindeer herding became widespread in the Middle Ages. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age have been referred to as the Komsa culture and comprise around 5,000 years of settlement. Finnmark probably got its first settlement around 8000 BC. It is believed that the coastal areas became ice-free 11,000 years BC and the fjord areas around 9,000 years BC. after which willows, grass, heather, birch and pine came into being. Finnmarksvidda was covered by pine forest around 6000 BC. After the Ice Age, the land rose around 80 meters in the inner fjord areas (Alta, Tana, Varanger). Due to ice melting in the polar region, the sea rose in the period 6400–3800 BC. and in areas with little land elevation, some settlements from the first part of the Stone Age were flooded. On Sørøya, the net sea level rise was 12 to 14 meters and many residential areas were flooded.
According to Bjørnar Olsen , there are many indications of a connection between the oldest settlement in Western Norway (the " Fosnakulturen ") and that in Finnmark, but it is uncertain in which direction the settlement took place. In the earliest part of the Stone Age, settlement in Finnmark was probably concentrated in the coastal areas, and these only reflected a lifestyle with great mobility and no permanent dwellings. The inner regions, such as Pasvik, were probably used seasonally. The archaeologically proven settlements from the Stone Age in inner Finnmark and Troms are linked to lakes and large watercourses. The oldest petroglyphs in Alta are usually dated to 4200 BC, that is, the Neolithic . Bjørnar Olsen believes that the oldest can be up to 2,000 years older than this.
From around 4000 BC a slow deforestation of Finnmark began and around 1800 BC the vegetation distribution was roughly the same as in modern times. The change in vegetation may have increased the distance between the reindeer's summer and winter grazing. The uplift continued slowly from around 4000 BC. at the same time as sea level rise stopped.
According to Gutorm Gjessing, the settlement in Finnmark and large parts of northern Norway in the Neolithic was semi-nomadic with movement between four seasonal settlements (following the pattern of life in Sami siida in historical times): On the outer coast in summer (fishing and seal catching) and inland in winter (hunting for reindeer, elk and bear). Povl Simonsen believed instead that the winter residence was in the inner fjord area in a village-like sod house settlement. Bjørnar Olsen believes that at the end of the Stone Age there was a relatively settled population along the coast, while inland there was less settlement and a more mobile lifestyle.
Bronze Age (1700 BC–500 BC)
Bronze was used for tools in Norway from around 1500 BC. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper , and these metals were introduced because they were not mined in the country at the time. Bronze is believed to have been a relatively expensive material. The Bronze Age in Norway can be divided into two phases:
Early Bronze Age (1700–1100 BC)
Younger Bronze Age (1100–500 BC)
For the prehistoric (unwritten) era, there is limited knowledge about social conditions and possible state formations. From the Bronze Age, there are large burial mounds of stone piles along the coast of Vestfold and Agder, among others. It is likely that only chieftains or other great men could erect such grave monuments and there was probably some form of organized society linked to these. In the Bronze Age, society was more organized and stratified than in the Stone Age. Then a rich class of chieftains emerged who had close connections with southern Scandinavia. The settlements became more permanent and people adopted horses and ard . They acquired bronze status symbols, lived in longhouses and people were buried in large burial mounds . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age indicate that humans practiced solar cultivation.
Finnmark
In the last millennium BC the climate became cooler and the pine forest disappears from the coast; pine forests, for example, were only found in the innermost part of the Altafjord, while the outer coast was almost treeless. Around the year 0, the limit for birch forest was south of Kirkenes. Animals with forest habitats (elk, bear and beaver) disappeared and the reindeer probably established their annual migration routes sometime at that time. In the period 1800–900 BC there were significantly more settlements in and utilization of the hinterland was particularly noticeable on Finnmarksvidda. From around 1800 BC until year 0 there was a significant increase in contact between Finnmark and areas in the east including Karelia (where metals were produced including copper) and central and eastern Russia. The youngest petroglyphs in Alta show far more boats than the earlier phases and the boats are reminiscent of types depicted in petroglyphs in southern Scandinavia. It is unclear what influence southern Scandinavian societies had as far north as Alta before the year 0. Many of the cultural features that are considered typical Sami in modern times were created or consolidated in the last millennium BC, this applies, among other things, to the custom of burying in brick chambers in stone urns. The Mortensnes burial ground may have been used for 2000 years until around 1600 AD.
Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 1050 AD)
The Einangsteinen is one of the oldest Norwegian runestones; it is from the 4th century
Simultaneous production of Vikings
Around 500 years BC the researchers reckon that the Bronze Age will be replaced by the Iron Age as iron takes over as the most important material for weapons and tools. Bronze, wood and stone were still used. Iron was cheaper than bronze, easier to work than flint , and could be used for many purposes; iron probably became common property. Iron could, among other things, be used to make solid and sharp axes which made it much easier to fell trees. In the Iron Age, gold and silver were also used partly for decoration and partly as means of payment. It is unknown which language was used in Norway before our era. From around the year 0 until around the year 800, everyone in Scandinavia (except the Sami) spoke Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Subsequently, several different languages developed in this area that were only partially mutually intelligible. The Iron Age is divided into several periods:
Early Iron Age
Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 0)
Roman Iron Age (c. 0–c. AD 400)
Migration period (approx. 400–600). In the migration period (approx. 400–600), new peoples came to Norway, and ruins of fortress buildings etc. are interpreted as signs that there has been talk of a violent invasion.
Younger Iron Age
Merovingian period (500–800)
The Viking Age (793–1066)
Norwegian Vikings go on plundering expeditions and trade voyages around the coastal countries of Western Europe . Large groups of Norwegians emigrate to the British Isles , Iceland and Greenland . Harald Hårfagre starts a unification process of Norway late in the 8th century , which was completed by Harald Hardråde in the 1060s . The country was Christianized under the kings Olav Tryggvason , fell in the battle of Svolder ( 1000 ) and Olav Haraldsson (the saint), fell in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 .
Sources of prehistoric times
Shrinking glaciers in the high mountains, including in Jotunheimen and Breheimen , have from around the year 2000 uncovered objects from the Viking Age and earlier. These are objects of organic material that have been preserved by the ice and that elsewhere in nature are broken down in a few months. The finds are getting older as the melting makes the archaeologists go deeper into the ice. About half of all archaeological discoveries on glaciers in the world are made in Oppland . In 2013, a 3,400-year-old shoe and a robe from the year 300 were found. Finds at Lomseggen in Lom published in 2020 revealed, among other things, well-preserved horseshoes used on a mountain pass. Many hundreds of items include preserved clothing, knives, whisks, mittens, leather shoes, wooden chests and horse equipment. A piece of cloth dated to the year 1000 has preserved its original colour. In 2014, a wooden ski from around the year 700 was found in Reinheimen . The ski is 172 cm long and 14 cm wide, with preserved binding of leather and wicker.
Pytheas from Massalia is the oldest known account of what was probably the coast of Norway, perhaps somewhere on the coast of Møre. Pytheas visited Britannia around 325 BC. and traveled further north to a country by the "Ice Sea". Pytheas described the short summer night and the midnight sun farther north. He wrote, among other things, that people there made a drink from grain and honey. Caesar wrote in his work about the Gallic campaign about the Germanic tribe Haruders. Other Roman sources around the year 0 mention the land of the Cimbri (Jutland) and the Cimbri headlands ( Skagen ) and that the sources stated that Cimbri and Charyds lived in this area. Some of these peoples may have immigrated to Norway and there become known as hordes (as in Hordaland). Sources from the Mediterranean area referred to the islands of Scandia, Scandinavia and Thule ("the outermost of all islands"). The Roman historian Tacitus wrote around the year 100 a work about Germania and mentioned the people of Scandia, the Sviones. Ptolemy wrote around the year 150 that the Kharudes (Hordes) lived further north than all the Cimbri, in the north lived the Finnoi (Finns or Sami) and in the south the Gutai (Goths). The Nordic countries and Norway were outside the Roman Empire , which dominated Europe at the time. The Gothic-born historian Jordanes wrote in the 5th century about 13 tribes or people groups in Norway, including raumaricii (probably Romerike ), ragnaricii ( Ranrike ) and finni or skretefinni (skrid finner or ski finner, i.e. Sami) as well as a number of unclear groups. Prokopios wrote at the same time about Thule north of the land of the Danes and Slavs, Thule was ten times as big as Britannia and the largest of all the islands. In Thule, the sun was up 40 days straight in the summer. After the migration period , southern Europeans' accounts of northern Europe became fuller and more reliable.
Settlement in prehistoric times
Norway has around 50,000 farms with their own names. Farm names have persisted for a long time, over 1000 years, perhaps as much as 2000 years. The name researchers have arranged different types of farm names chronologically, which provides a basis for determining when the place was used by people or received a permanent settlement. Uncompounded landscape names such as Haug, Eid, Vik and Berg are believed to be the oldest. Archaeological traces indicate that some areas have been inhabited earlier than assumed from the farm name. Burial mounds also indicate permanent settlement. For example, the burial ground at Svartelva in Løten was used from around the year 0 to the year 1000 when Christianity took over. The first farmers probably used large areas for inland and outland, and new farms were probably established based on some "mother farms". Names such as By (or Bø) show that it is an old place of residence. From the older Iron Age, names with -heim (a common Germanic word meaning place of residence) and -stad tell of settlement, while -vin and -land tell of the use of the place. Farm names in -heim are often found as -um , -eim or -em as in Lerum and Seim, there are often large farms in the center of the village. New farm names with -city and -country were also established in the Viking Age . The first farmers probably used the best areas. The largest burial grounds, the oldest archaeological finds and the oldest farm names are found where the arable land is richest and most spacious.
It is unclear whether the settlement expansion in Roman times, migrations and the Iron Age is due to immigration or internal development and population growth. Among other things, it is difficult to demonstrate where in Europe the immigrants have come from. The permanent residents had both fields (where grain was grown) and livestock that grazed in the open fields, but it is uncertain which of these was more important. Population growth from around the year 200 led to more utilization of open land, for example in the form of settlements in the mountains. During the migration period, it also seems that in parts of the country it became common to have cluster gardens or a form of village settlement.
Norwegian expansion northwards
From around the year 200, there was a certain migration by sea from Rogaland and Hordaland to Nordland and Sør-Troms. Those who moved settled down as a settled Iron Age population and became dominant over the original population which may have been Sami . The immigrant Norwegians, Bumen , farmed with livestock that were fed inside in the winter as well as some grain cultivation and fishing. The northern border of the Norwegians' settlement was originally at the Toppsundet near Harstad and around the year 500 there was a Norwegian settlement to Malangsgapet. That was as far north as it was possible to grow grain at the time. Malangen was considered the border between Hålogaland and Finnmork until around 1400 . Further into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, there was immigration and settlement of Norwegian speakers along the coast north of Malangen. Around the year 800, Norwegians lived along the entire outer coast to Vannøy . The Norwegians partly copied Sami livelihoods such as whaling, fur hunting and reindeer husbandry. It was probably this area between Malangen and Vannøy that was Ottar from the Hålogaland area. In the Viking Age, there were also some Norwegian settlements further north and east. East of the North Cape are the scattered archaeological finds of Norwegian settlement in the Viking Age. There are Norwegian names for fjords and islands from the Viking Age, including fjord names with "-anger". Around the year 1050, there were Norwegian settlements on the outer coast of Western Finnmark. Traders and tax collectors traveled even further.
North of Malangen there were Norse farming settlements in the Iron Age. Malangen was considered Finnmark's western border until 1300. There are some archaeological traces of Norse activity around the coast from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the Viking Age. Around Tromsø, the research indicates a Norse/Sami mixed culture on the coast.
From the year 1100 and the next 200–300 years, there are no traces of Norwegian settlement north and east of Tromsø. It is uncertain whether this is due to depopulation, whether it is because the Norwegians further north were not Christianized or because there were no churches north of Lenvik or Tromsø . Norwegian settlement in the far north appears from sources from the 14th century. In the Hanseatic period , the settlement was developed into large areas specialized in commercial fishing, while earlier (in the Viking Age) there had been farms with a combination of fishing and agriculture. In 1307 , a fortress and the first church east of Tromsø were built in Vardø . Vardø became a small Norwegian town, while Vadsø remained Sami. Norwegian settlements and churches appeared along the outermost coast in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, perhaps as a result of a decline in fish stocks or fish prices, there were Norwegian settlements in the inner fjord areas such as Lebesby in Laksefjord. Some fishing villages at the far end of the coast were abandoned for good. In the interior of Finnmark, there was no national border for a long time and Kautokeino and Karasjok were joint Norwegian-Swedish areas with strong Swedish influence. The border with Finland was established in 1751 and with Russia in 1826.
On a Swedish map from 1626, Norway's border is indicated at Malangen, while Sweden with this map showed a desire to control the Sami area which had been a common area.
The term Northern Norway only came into use at the end of the 19th century and administratively the area was referred to as Tromsø Diocese when Tromsø became a bishopric in 1840. There had been different designations previously: Hålogaland originally included only Helgeland and when Norse settlement spread north in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Hålogaland was used for the area north approximately to Malangen , while Finnmark or "Finnmarken", "the land of the Sami", lay outside. The term Northern Norway was coined at a cafe table in Kristiania in 1884 by members of the Nordlændingernes Forening and was first commonly used in the interwar period as it eventually supplanted "Hålogaland".
State formation
The battle in Hafrsfjord in the year 872 has long been regarded as the day when Norway became a kingdom. The year of the battle is uncertain (may have been 10-20 years later). The whole of Norway was not united in that battle: the process had begun earlier and continued a couple of hundred years later. This means that the geographical area became subject to a political authority and became a political unit. The geographical area was perceived as an area as it is known, among other things, from Ottar from Hålogaland's account for King Alfred of Wessex around the year 880. Ottar described "the land of the Norwegians" as very long and narrow, and it was narrowest in the far north. East of the wasteland in the south lay Sveoland and in the north lay Kvenaland in the east. When Ottar sailed south along the land from his home ( Malangen ) to Skiringssal, he always had Norway ("Nordveg") on his port side and the British Isles on his starboard side. The journey took a good month. Ottar perceived "Nordveg" as a geographical unit, but did not imply that it was a political unit. Ottar separated Norwegians from Swedes and Danes. It is unclear why Ottar perceived the population spread over such a large area as a whole. It is unclear whether Norway as a geographical term or Norwegians as the name of a ethnic group is the oldest. The Norwegians had a common language which in the centuries before Ottar did not differ much from the language of Denmark and Sweden.
According to Sverre Steen, it is unlikely that Harald Hårfagre was able to control this entire area as one kingdom. The saga of Harald was written 300 years later and at his death Norway was several smaller kingdoms. Harald probably controlled a larger area than anyone before him and at most Harald's kingdom probably included the coast from Trøndelag to Agder and Vestfold as well as parts of Viken . There were probably several smaller kingdoms of varying extent before Harald and some of these are reflected in traditional landscape names such as Ranrike and Ringerike . Landscape names of "-land" (Rogaland) and "-mark" (Hedmark) as well as names such as Agder and Sogn may have been political units before Harald.
According to Sverre Steen
Historic Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the mid-1960s: These shots are taken from illuminated panels which were for many years on display in the bowels of the commuter bus gate D6 at Schiphol. They have now been relocated to the upper D Schengen pier near D68, but only three of the five have been re-displayed. They give a fascinating insight into the early operations of the then-new terminal at Amsterdam Schiphol.
Odda is a town and administrative center in Ullensvang municipality in Vestland county in Norway. The town is located deep in the Sørfjorden in Hardanger , and has 4,764 inhabitants as of 1 January 2023 . Odda was the administrative center of Odda municipality , which on 1 January 2020 was merged with Jondal and Ullensvang to form the new Ullensvang municipality.
In 2009 , the industrial heritage in Odda-Tyssedal was listed on Norway's tentative list for UNESCO's World Heritage List , together with the Rjukan–Notodden industrial heritage .
Public services
Odda hospital is a local hospital for the municipalities of Eidfjord, Jondal, Odda and Ullensvang.
Odda secondary school offers both vocational and study specialist educations.
Business
Odda is known as an industrial location, with companies such as Odda Smelteverk , Boliden Odda (formerly Norzink ) and Tinfos Titan & Iron (TTI).
History
Tourism and hotel management
Before industrial activity in Odda began around 1910, Odda was a popular tourist destination which, among other things, attracted many foreigners who wanted to experience the scenic area with glaciers, fjords and waterfalls. This laid the foundation for several people to start hotel operations on the site.
Some of the most popular destinations for tourists visiting Odda were Låtefossen and Espelandsfossen .
Shuttle station, steamship wharf and steamship expedition
Baard Jakobsen Aga (1812–1895) received a merchant license in Odda in 1861, and in 1864 took over the shuttle station that was in operation in Odda. Then he secured a new plot of land where he built a hotel which was called alternately Prestegårds Hotel and Agas Hotel. In 1868 he became a post opener and steamship dispatcher, and he then had a steamship wharf and dispatch house built at Almerket. He had previously expanded the hotel business, but in 1888 he inaugurated a new hotel building, the "new Agas Hotel". In the 20th century, the large hotel building was used for other purposes, including Rita's bakery, which led to the building being called "Ritagården" colloquially. Agas Hotel/Ritagården was demolished in 1978.
From guest house to Hotel Hardanger
The start of hotel operations at Odda occurred around 1845, when a man named Monsen started an inn on the site. Monsen went bankrupt in the 1860s, and the inn was bought by a man named Wetshus. He continued to run the hotel business. After Wetshus had died, the two brothers Sven and Mikal Tollefsen became his successors in the early 1880s, with financial support from a rich Englishman. The Tollefsen brothers carried out a major renovation of the former guest house. When Sven Tollefsen died, Mikal Tollefsen became the hotel's sole owner.
Tollefsen also bought Agas Hotel, which Baard Jakobsen Aga had started.
On 9 August 1895, the then Hotel Hardanger was completely damaged in a fire. The fire started in Hotel Hardanger, but 7–8 neighboring buildings also caught fire. It was said that the fire was caused by the maid of an English hotel guest having left a candle or a kerosene lamp by an open window, and that the curtain had caught fire - as it was very hot most of the windows in the hotel were open, and this caused the fire to spread with great speed. The fire started at 12 o'clock in the morning.
The commander and crew of the steamship "Vega" - which happened to be docked in Odda when the fire started - managed to put out the fire(s) within three hours using fire-fighting equipment from the ship. Among other things, they managed to save the post office, while the telegraph building was lost. The competing Jordals Hotel, which was run by Jacob Jordal, was also saved.
Hotel Hardanger was insured, and Bergens Tidende wrote that the insurance sum was NOK 90,000, but also published an anonymous source's assessment that the hotel complex was worth NOK 200,000–250,000, and that the owner - Mikal Tollefsen - had probably suffered a significant financial loss due to underinsurance. No people were injured in the fire.
Shortly after the fire in 1895, Tollefsen started building a new and larger hotel on the site of the fire. The new hotel was completed on 24 June 1896, and had 170 hotel beds in 110 guest rooms. Architecturally, it was a mixture of Swiss style and dragon style, with towers and projections.
Hardanger Hotel is mentioned, among other things, in a French travelogue published in 1897.
In 1913, the owner of Hotel Hardanger filed a claim for damages against the two factories - a cyanamide factory and a carbide factory - which had started up in Odda a few years earlier, because the factory operation caused such great pollution and bad odors that it affected the hotel operation. The provisions of the Neighborhood Act were the legal basis for the lawsuit. The court agreed with the plaintiff that the two factories were obliged to pay compensation for inconvenience and losses that the hotel had suffered after 2 August 1911, but not because Odda had become less idyllic and thus attractive to tourists. The compensation sum was to be determined after an appraisal had been carried out , and the result of the appraisal was not available until 1922. By then both factories had gone bankrupt, and hotel owner Mikal Tollefsen had died.
Hotel Hardanger becomes a town hall
In 1917, the municipality bought the Hotel Hardanger, to convert the building into a town hall . The hotel had then been almost empty all year round, because the industrial activity on the site had meant that the tourists did not show up. [9]
The hotel's so-called "Kongerom" was converted into a chairman's office and lord's boardroom. Eventually, the new town hall also accommodated a number of other businesses, such as a cinema, police station, doctor's office and bank. The old hotel was in use as Odda Town Hall until a new building was inaugurated in 1957; from then on, the former Hotel Hardanger was referred to as Odda old town hall . This building was demolished in 1976.
Jordals Hotel becomes Hardanger Hotel
In 1917, Jordals Hotel was bought by the Melkeraaen family, who continued to run the hotel for 68 years. Along the way, they changed the name of the hotel to Hardanger Hotel.
The Hardanger Hotel, which was a wooden Swiss-style building, was demolished in 1962, and a new five-story hotel building was inaugurated on 1 July 1963.
From tourism to industrial site
Factories and smelters
At the beginning of the 20th century, two factories were started in Odda. On one, cyanamide was produced, and on the other, carbide was produced .
In 1908, the operation of the first factory that was to be part of Odda Smelteverk , a carbide factory owned by a British company, began. In 1909, another British company started production of calcium cyanamide in the same area as the first factory. The reason why Odda was interesting for the foreign companies was the access to large amounts of hydropower and ice-free ports.
Both factories went bankrupt in 1921 , in connection with the worldwide economic crisis that occurred in the early 1920s. The bankruptcies led to thousands of people becoming unemployed. Both factories started up again in 1924, with Odda Smelteverk A/S as the new owner. This operating company was established by the power company Tyssefaldene and the Hafslund/Meraker group.
The cyanamide factory was built on in the 1930s.
At the smelter, the so-called Odda process was developed by chief chemist Erling Johnson in 1927–1928; it is a chemical process based on nitric acid for the industrial production of three-sided artificial fertilizer with the sub-components nitrogen , phosphorus and potassium .
Preservation decision and dispute over conservation value
In 2011 , the National Archives decided to protect several of the smelter's buildings and facilities, and to include the smelter in the Norwegian application to UNESCO for world heritage status for Norwegian industrial monuments. In 2013, however, the Ministry of the Environment decided that the series nomination should be split into two phases, 1. application for Rjukan/Notodden to be submitted to UNESCO in January 2014, and phase 2, that work be continued on expanding the nomination to include Odda/ Tyssedal with eventual submission to UNESCO in January 2016.
The owners of the smelter site objected to the conservation decision made in 2011, but the decision was upheld in 2012. The conservation included the cyanamide factory, the cable car, the Linde house (named after the German inventor Carl von Linde ) and the limestone silo on the import quay. Over the years, there has been much controversy in Odda about whether the smelter's buildings and facilities should be preserved or removed.
Cultural life
Music and theater
Tyssedalkoret and Odda Songlag are two choirs that come from Odda municipality. The water power and industrial history of the area here was documented in the performance and the DVD ``Arven'', performed by Tyssedalkoret with band and soloists in autumn 2004 and released on DVD in Christmas 2005. In addition these two choirs have the bands Odda Musikklag , Odda Skolekorps and Røldal Skolemusiklag. The blues team Lokst Utøve has 272 members. The Blueslaget received the culture award for 2009 for their great work as concert/festival organisers, volunteer workers and inspirers for bands and soloists. In 2011, Erlend Garatun Huus published the book Rock og Røyk , which is about the history of rock in Odda.
At the closed smelter (2001), the old "Lindehuset" has been used for theater and concert activities. The theater play Bikebubesong , based on the Oddingen Frode Grytten's novel Bikubesong , was performed in this venue in 2003 with great success. The play's performance in Oslo has been the most watched contemporary drama in Norwegian history.
A key cultural player in Odda is the company Oddakonsertene, led by Gunn Gravdal Elton. In April 2019, the Odda concerts staged the musical Albert og Leonie , a story about how Odda arose as an industrial community. The musical was a huge success with sold-out houses. 2,600 people queued to see and hear the story. The director was Martine Bakken Lundberg. The main roles were played by André Søfteland and Lene Kokai Flage. Over 60 amateurs were on stage. Albert and Leonie was planned to be staged again in 2020 and 2021, but had to be canceled due to the corona pandemic .
The odd concerts started in 2005 and as of 2019 have staged more than 60 concerts. All have been sold out. The most popular concerts are the annual Christmas concerts, which gather over 1,000 listeners. The traditional Christmas concert in Odda church with a large ensemble and two to three concerts in a row officially ended in 2019, but a simplified version was arranged in 2020, with concerts in Skare and Odda churches.
The Literature Symposium
From 2005, a festival called the Literature Symposium in Odda has been organized every autumn . The Linden house at the defunct Smelteverket, Odda cinema, Sentralbadet, Odda church are some of the venues at the symposium. Previously, there was every year "Bikubegang" with Frode Grytten , where he told about the story behind the book "Bikubesong", while he wandered around Odda. The literary symposium also has concerts, often in connection with an author/musician or individual artists. During the Literary Symposium 2011, the Sentralbadet Litteraturhus opened in the old bathroom at the closed Smelteverket, and this has become headquarters for the symposium, as well as a permanent house for literary events all year round.
As of 2010, a major rehabilitation/remodeling of Lindehuset was planned, so that the building would be better suited for events such as concerts and theater performances.
The National Antiquities' "Value creation project"
Odda is one of the pilot projects in the Value Creation Project for the National Archives.
TV shows
The actions in the TV series RIP Henry and Ragnarok have been added to Odda, and are recorded there. In Ragnarok, on the other hand, the city goes by the name Edda .
Known oddities
Samson Isberg (1795–1873), sharpshooter
Knud Knudsen (photographer) (1832–1915)
Gro Holm , born Prestgarden (1878–1949), writer
Alfred Hagn (1882–1958), painter, writer and spy.
Claes Gill (1910–1973), writer, actor and theater manager
Torbjørn Mork (1928–1992), doctor, politician ( Ap ), director of health 1972–1992
Walther Aas (1928–1990), artist
Roger Albertsen , (1957–2003), footballer
Anne B. Ragde (born 1957), writer, (raised in Trondheim)
Arne Borgstrøm (born 1959), elite long-distance swimmer
Frode Grytten (born 1960), author
Lars Ove Seljestad (born 1961), author
Bjørn Ingvaldsen (born 1962), author, leader of Norwegian Children's and Young People's Book Writers
Hallgeir Opedal (born 1965), writer and journalist
Børge Brende (born 1965), politician ( H ), former secretary general of the Norwegian Red Cross , minister of foreign affairs
Ida Melbo Øystese (born 1968), chief of police in Oslo from 2023.
Knut Olav Åmås (born 1968), author, editor, director of the foundation Fritt Ord
Leif Einar Lothe (born 1969), entrepreneur, singer, TV profile
Marit Eikemo (born 1971), writer
Tore Aurstad (born 1972), author
Ingvill Måkestad Bovim (born 1981), athlete
Håkon Opdal (born 1982), footballer
Ingvild Skare Thygesen (born 1993), TV profile
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic , European country and an independent state in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula . Geographically speaking, the country is long and narrow, and on the elongated coast towards the North Atlantic are Norway's well-known fjords . The Kingdom of Norway includes the main country (the mainland with adjacent islands within the baseline ), Jan Mayen and Svalbard . With these two Arctic areas, Norway covers a land area of 385,000 km² and has a population of approximately 5.5 million (2023). Mainland Norway borders Sweden in the east , Finland and Russia in the northeast .
Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , where Harald V has been king and head of state since 1991 , and Jonas Gahr Støre ( Ap ) has been prime minister since 2021 . Norway is a unitary state , with two administrative levels below the state: counties and municipalities . The Sami part of the population has, through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act , to a certain extent self-government and influence over traditionally Sami areas. Although Norway has rejected membership of the European Union through two referendums , through the EEA Agreement Norway has close ties with the Union, and through NATO with the United States . Norway is a significant contributor to the United Nations (UN), and has participated with soldiers in several foreign operations mandated by the UN. Norway is among the states that have participated from the founding of the UN , NATO , the Council of Europe , the OSCE and the Nordic Council , and in addition to these is a member of the EEA , the World Trade Organization , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is part of the Schengen area .
Norway is rich in many natural resources such as oil , gas , minerals , timber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . Since the beginning of the 20th century, these natural conditions have given the country the opportunity for an increase in wealth that few other countries can now enjoy, and Norwegians have the second highest average income in the world, measured in GDP per capita, as of 2022. The petroleum industry accounts for around 14% of Norway's gross domestic product as of 2018. Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and gas per capita outside the Middle East. However, the number of employees linked to this industry fell from approx. 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015.
In Norway, these natural resources have been managed for socially beneficial purposes. The country maintains a welfare model in line with the other Nordic countries. Important service areas such as health and higher education are state-funded, and the country has an extensive welfare system for its citizens. Public expenditure in 2018 is approx. 50% of GDP, and the majority of these expenses are related to education, healthcare, social security and welfare. Since 2001 and until 2021, when the country took second place, the UN has ranked Norway as the world's best country to live in . From 2010, Norway is also ranked at the top of the EIU's democracy index . Norway ranks third on the UN's World Happiness Report for the years 2016–2018, behind Finland and Denmark , a report published in March 2019.
The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles , Lithuanians , Norwegian-Swedes , Norwegian-Syrians including Syrian Kurds and Norwegian-Pakistani .
Norway's national day is 17 May, on this day in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution was dated and signed by the presidency of the National Assembly at Eidsvoll . It is stipulated in the law of 26 April 1947 that 17 May are national public holidays. The Sami national day is 6 February. "Yes, we love this country" is Norway's national anthem, the song was written in 1859 by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910).
Norway's history of human settlement goes back at least 10,000 years, to the Late Paleolithic , the first period of the Stone Age . Archaeological finds of settlements along the entire Norwegian coast have so far been dated back to 10,400 before present (BP), the oldest find is today considered to be a settlement at Pauler in Brunlanes , Vestfold .
For a period these settlements were considered to be the remains of settlers from Doggerland , an area which today lies beneath the North Sea , but which was once a land bridge connecting today's British Isles with Danish Jutland . But the archaeologists who study the initial phase of the settlement in what is today Norway reckon that the first people who came here followed the coast along what is today Bohuslân. That they arrived in some form of boat is absolutely certain, and there is much evidence that they could easily move over large distances.
Since the last Ice Age, there has been continuous settlement in Norway. It cannot be ruled out that people lived in Norway during the interglacial period , but no trace of such a population or settlement has been found.
The Stone Age lasted a long time; half of the time that our country has been populated. There are no written accounts of what life was like back then. The knowledge we have has been painstakingly collected through investigations of places where people have stayed and left behind objects that we can understand have been processed by human hands. This field of knowledge is called archaeology . The archaeologists interpret their findings and the history of the surrounding landscape. In our country, the uplift after the Ice Age is fundamental. The history of the settlements at Pauler is no more than fifteen years old.
The Fosna culture settled parts of Norway sometime between 10,000–8,000 BC. (see Stone Age in Norway ). The dating of rock carvings is set to Neolithic times (in Norway between 4000 BC to 1700 BC) and show activities typical of hunters and gatherers .
Agriculture with livestock and arable farming was introduced in the Neolithic. Swad farming where the farmers move when the field does not produce the expected yield.
More permanent and persistent farm settlements developed in the Bronze Age (1700 BC to 500 BC) and the Iron Age . The earliest runes have been found on an arrowhead dated to around 200 BC. Many more inscriptions are dated to around 800, and a number of petty kingdoms developed during these centuries. In prehistoric times, there were no fixed national borders in the Nordic countries and Norway did not exist as a state. The population in Norway probably fell to year 0.
Events in this time period, the centuries before the year 1000, are glimpsed in written sources. Although the sagas were written down in the 13th century, many hundreds of years later, they provide a glimpse into what was already a distant past. The story of the fimbul winter gives us a historical picture of something that happened and which in our time, with the help of dendrochronology , can be interpreted as a natural disaster in the year 536, created by a volcanic eruption in El Salvador .
In the period between 800 and 1066 there was a significant expansion and it is referred to as the Viking Age . During this period, Norwegians, as Swedes and Danes also did, traveled abroad in longships with sails as explorers, traders, settlers and as Vikings (raiders and pirates ). By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingship had been firmly established, building its right as descendants of Harald Hårfagre and then as heirs of Olav the Holy . The Norwegian kings, and their subjects, now professed Christianity . In the time around Håkon Håkonsson , in the time after the civil war , there was a small renaissance in Norway with extensive literary activity and diplomatic activity with Europe. The black dew came to Norway in 1349 and killed around half of the population. The entire state apparatus and Norway then entered a period of decline.
Between 1396 and 1536, Norway was part of the Kalmar Union , and from 1536 until 1814 Norway had been reduced to a tributary part of Denmark , named as the Personal Union of Denmark-Norway . This staff union entered into an alliance with Napoléon Bonaparte with a war that brought bad times and famine in 1812 . In 1814, Denmark-Norway lost the Anglophone Wars , part of the Napoleonic Wars , and the Danish king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January of that year. After a Norwegian attempt at independence, Norway was forced into a loose union with Sweden, but where Norway was allowed to create its own constitution, the Constitution of 1814 . In this period, Norwegian, romantic national feeling flourished, and the Norwegians tried to develop and establish their own national self-worth. The union with Sweden was broken in 1905 after it had been threatened with war, and Norway became an independent kingdom with its own monarch, Haakon VII .
Norway remained neutral during the First World War , and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Norway again declared itself neutral, but was invaded by National Socialist Germany on 9 April 1940 .
Norway became a member of the Western defense alliance NATO in 1949 . Two attempts to join the EU were voted down in referendums by small margins in 1972 and 1994 . Norway has been a close ally of the United States in the post-war period. Large discoveries of oil and natural gas in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s led to tremendous economic growth in the country, which is still ongoing. Traditional industries such as fishing are also part of Norway's economy.
Stone Age (before 1700 BC)
When most of the ice disappeared, vegetation spread over the landscape and due to a warm climate around 2000-3000 BC. the forest grew much taller than in modern times. Land uplift after the ice age led to a number of fjords becoming lakes and dry land. The first people probably came from the south along the coast of the Kattegat and overland into Finnmark from the east. The first people probably lived by gathering, hunting and trapping. A good number of Stone Age settlements have been found which show that such hunting and trapping people stayed for a long time in the same place or returned to the same place regularly. Large amounts of gnawed bones show that they lived on, among other things, reindeer, elk, small game and fish.
Flintstone was imported from Denmark and apart from small natural deposits along the southern coast, all flintstone in Norway is transported by people. At Espevær, greenstone was quarried for tools in the Stone Age, and greenstone tools from Espevær have been found over large parts of Western Norway. Around 2000-3000 BC the usual farm animals such as cows and sheep were introduced to Norway. Livestock probably meant a fundamental change in society in that part of the people had to be permanent residents or live a semi-nomadic life. Livestock farming may also have led to conflict with hunters.
The oldest traces of people in what is today Norway have been found at Pauler , a farm in Brunlanes in Larvik municipality in Vestfold . In 2007 and 2008, the farm has given its name to a number of Stone Age settlements that have been excavated and examined by archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum at UiO. The investigations have been carried out in connection with the new route for the E18 motorway west of Farris. The oldest settlement, located more than 127 m above sea level, is dated to be about 10,400 years old (uncalibrated, more than 11,000 years in real calendar years). From here, the ice sheet was perhaps visible when people settled here. This locality has been named Pauler I, and is today considered to be the oldest confirmed human traces in Norway to date. The place is in the mountains above the Pauler tunnel on the E18 between Larvik and Porsgrunn . The pioneer settlement is a term archaeologists have adopted for the oldest settlement. The archaeologists have speculated about where they came from, the first people in what is today Norway. It has been suggested that they could come by boat or perhaps across the ice from Doggerland or the North Sea, but there is now a large consensus that they came north along what is today the Bohuslän coast. The Fosna culture , the Komsa culture and the Nøstvet culture are the traditional terms for hunting cultures from the Stone Age. One thing is certain - getting to the water was something they mastered, the first people in our country. Therefore, within a short time they were able to use our entire long coast.
In the New Stone Age (4000 BC–1700 BC) there is a theory that a new people immigrated to the country, the so-called Stone Ax People . Rock carvings from this period show motifs from hunting and fishing , which were still important industries. From this period, a megalithic tomb has been found in Østfold .
It is uncertain whether there were organized societies or state-like associations in the Stone Age in Norway. Findings from settlements indicate that many lived together and that this was probably more than one family so that it was a slightly larger, organized herd.
Finnmark
In prehistoric times, animal husbandry and agriculture were of little economic importance in Finnmark. Livelihoods in Finnmark were mainly based on fish, gathering, hunting and trapping, and eventually domestic reindeer herding became widespread in the Middle Ages. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age have been referred to as the Komsa culture and comprise around 5,000 years of settlement. Finnmark probably got its first settlement around 8000 BC. It is believed that the coastal areas became ice-free 11,000 years BC and the fjord areas around 9,000 years BC. after which willows, grass, heather, birch and pine came into being. Finnmarksvidda was covered by pine forest around 6000 BC. After the Ice Age, the land rose around 80 meters in the inner fjord areas (Alta, Tana, Varanger). Due to ice melting in the polar region, the sea rose in the period 6400–3800 BC. and in areas with little land elevation, some settlements from the first part of the Stone Age were flooded. On Sørøya, the net sea level rise was 12 to 14 meters and many residential areas were flooded.
According to Bjørnar Olsen , there are many indications of a connection between the oldest settlement in Western Norway (the " Fosnakulturen ") and that in Finnmark, but it is uncertain in which direction the settlement took place. In the earliest part of the Stone Age, settlement in Finnmark was probably concentrated in the coastal areas, and these only reflected a lifestyle with great mobility and no permanent dwellings. The inner regions, such as Pasvik, were probably used seasonally. The archaeologically proven settlements from the Stone Age in inner Finnmark and Troms are linked to lakes and large watercourses. The oldest petroglyphs in Alta are usually dated to 4200 BC, that is, the Neolithic . Bjørnar Olsen believes that the oldest can be up to 2,000 years older than this.
From around 4000 BC a slow deforestation of Finnmark began and around 1800 BC the vegetation distribution was roughly the same as in modern times. The change in vegetation may have increased the distance between the reindeer's summer and winter grazing. The uplift continued slowly from around 4000 BC. at the same time as sea level rise stopped.
According to Gutorm Gjessing, the settlement in Finnmark and large parts of northern Norway in the Neolithic was semi-nomadic with movement between four seasonal settlements (following the pattern of life in Sami siida in historical times): On the outer coast in summer (fishing and seal catching) and inland in winter (hunting for reindeer, elk and bear). Povl Simonsen believed instead that the winter residence was in the inner fjord area in a village-like sod house settlement. Bjørnar Olsen believes that at the end of the Stone Age there was a relatively settled population along the coast, while inland there was less settlement and a more mobile lifestyle.
Bronze Age (1700 BC–500 BC)
Bronze was used for tools in Norway from around 1500 BC. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper , and these metals were introduced because they were not mined in the country at the time. Bronze is believed to have been a relatively expensive material. The Bronze Age in Norway can be divided into two phases:
Early Bronze Age (1700–1100 BC)
Younger Bronze Age (1100–500 BC)
For the prehistoric (unwritten) era, there is limited knowledge about social conditions and possible state formations. From the Bronze Age, there are large burial mounds of stone piles along the coast of Vestfold and Agder, among others. It is likely that only chieftains or other great men could erect such grave monuments and there was probably some form of organized society linked to these. In the Bronze Age, society was more organized and stratified than in the Stone Age. Then a rich class of chieftains emerged who had close connections with southern Scandinavia. The settlements became more permanent and people adopted horses and ard . They acquired bronze status symbols, lived in longhouses and people were buried in large burial mounds . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age indicate that humans practiced solar cultivation.
Finnmark
In the last millennium BC the climate became cooler and the pine forest disappears from the coast; pine forests, for example, were only found in the innermost part of the Altafjord, while the outer coast was almost treeless. Around the year 0, the limit for birch forest was south of Kirkenes. Animals with forest habitats (elk, bear and beaver) disappeared and the reindeer probably established their annual migration routes sometime at that time. In the period 1800–900 BC there were significantly more settlements in and utilization of the hinterland was particularly noticeable on Finnmarksvidda. From around 1800 BC until year 0 there was a significant increase in contact between Finnmark and areas in the east including Karelia (where metals were produced including copper) and central and eastern Russia. The youngest petroglyphs in Alta show far more boats than the earlier phases and the boats are reminiscent of types depicted in petroglyphs in southern Scandinavia. It is unclear what influence southern Scandinavian societies had as far north as Alta before the year 0. Many of the cultural features that are considered typical Sami in modern times were created or consolidated in the last millennium BC, this applies, among other things, to the custom of burying in brick chambers in stone urns. The Mortensnes burial ground may have been used for 2000 years until around 1600 AD.
Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 1050 AD)
The Einangsteinen is one of the oldest Norwegian runestones; it is from the 4th century
Simultaneous production of Vikings
Around 500 years BC the researchers reckon that the Bronze Age will be replaced by the Iron Age as iron takes over as the most important material for weapons and tools. Bronze, wood and stone were still used. Iron was cheaper than bronze, easier to work than flint , and could be used for many purposes; iron probably became common property. Iron could, among other things, be used to make solid and sharp axes which made it much easier to fell trees. In the Iron Age, gold and silver were also used partly for decoration and partly as means of payment. It is unknown which language was used in Norway before our era. From around the year 0 until around the year 800, everyone in Scandinavia (except the Sami) spoke Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Subsequently, several different languages developed in this area that were only partially mutually intelligible. The Iron Age is divided into several periods:
Early Iron Age
Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 0)
Roman Iron Age (c. 0–c. AD 400)
Migration period (approx. 400–600). In the migration period (approx. 400–600), new peoples came to Norway, and ruins of fortress buildings etc. are interpreted as signs that there has been talk of a violent invasion.
Younger Iron Age
Merovingian period (500–800)
The Viking Age (793–1066)
Norwegian Vikings go on plundering expeditions and trade voyages around the coastal countries of Western Europe . Large groups of Norwegians emigrate to the British Isles , Iceland and Greenland . Harald Hårfagre starts a unification process of Norway late in the 8th century , which was completed by Harald Hardråde in the 1060s . The country was Christianized under the kings Olav Tryggvason , fell in the battle of Svolder ( 1000 ) and Olav Haraldsson (the saint), fell in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 .
Sources of prehistoric times
Shrinking glaciers in the high mountains, including in Jotunheimen and Breheimen , have from around the year 2000 uncovered objects from the Viking Age and earlier. These are objects of organic material that have been preserved by the ice and that elsewhere in nature are broken down in a few months. The finds are getting older as the melting makes the archaeologists go deeper into the ice. About half of all archaeological discoveries on glaciers in the world are made in Oppland . In 2013, a 3,400-year-old shoe and a robe from the year 300 were found. Finds at Lomseggen in Lom published in 2020 revealed, among other things, well-preserved horseshoes used on a mountain pass. Many hundreds of items include preserved clothing, knives, whisks, mittens, leather shoes, wooden chests and horse equipment. A piece of cloth dated to the year 1000 has preserved its original colour. In 2014, a wooden ski from around the year 700 was found in Reinheimen . The ski is 172 cm long and 14 cm wide, with preserved binding of leather and wicker.
Pytheas from Massalia is the oldest known account of what was probably the coast of Norway, perhaps somewhere on the coast of Møre. Pytheas visited Britannia around 325 BC. and traveled further north to a country by the "Ice Sea". Pytheas described the short summer night and the midnight sun farther north. He wrote, among other things, that people there made a drink from grain and honey. Caesar wrote in his work about the Gallic campaign about the Germanic tribe Haruders. Other Roman sources around the year 0 mention the land of the Cimbri (Jutland) and the Cimbri headlands ( Skagen ) and that the sources stated that Cimbri and Charyds lived in this area. Some of these peoples may have immigrated to Norway and there become known as hordes (as in Hordaland). Sources from the Mediterranean area referred to the islands of Scandia, Scandinavia and Thule ("the outermost of all islands"). The Roman historian Tacitus wrote around the year 100 a work about Germania and mentioned the people of Scandia, the Sviones. Ptolemy wrote around the year 150 that the Kharudes (Hordes) lived further north than all the Cimbri, in the north lived the Finnoi (Finns or Sami) and in the south the Gutai (Goths). The Nordic countries and Norway were outside the Roman Empire , which dominated Europe at the time. The Gothic-born historian Jordanes wrote in the 5th century about 13 tribes or people groups in Norway, including raumaricii (probably Romerike ), ragnaricii ( Ranrike ) and finni or skretefinni (skrid finner or ski finner, i.e. Sami) as well as a number of unclear groups. Prokopios wrote at the same time about Thule north of the land of the Danes and Slavs, Thule was ten times as big as Britannia and the largest of all the islands. In Thule, the sun was up 40 days straight in the summer. After the migration period , southern Europeans' accounts of northern Europe became fuller and more reliable.
Settlement in prehistoric times
Norway has around 50,000 farms with their own names. Farm names have persisted for a long time, over 1000 years, perhaps as much as 2000 years. The name researchers have arranged different types of farm names chronologically, which provides a basis for determining when the place was used by people or received a permanent settlement. Uncompounded landscape names such as Haug, Eid, Vik and Berg are believed to be the oldest. Archaeological traces indicate that some areas have been inhabited earlier than assumed from the farm name. Burial mounds also indicate permanent settlement. For example, the burial ground at Svartelva in Løten was used from around the year 0 to the year 1000 when Christianity took over. The first farmers probably used large areas for inland and outland, and new farms were probably established based on some "mother farms". Names such as By (or Bø) show that it is an old place of residence. From the older Iron Age, names with -heim (a common Germanic word meaning place of residence) and -stad tell of settlement, while -vin and -land tell of the use of the place. Farm names in -heim are often found as -um , -eim or -em as in Lerum and Seim, there are often large farms in the center of the village. New farm names with -city and -country were also established in the Viking Age . The first farmers probably used the best areas. The largest burial grounds, the oldest archaeological finds and the oldest farm names are found where the arable land is richest and most spacious.
It is unclear whether the settlement expansion in Roman times, migrations and the Iron Age is due to immigration or internal development and population growth. Among other things, it is difficult to demonstrate where in Europe the immigrants have come from. The permanent residents had both fields (where grain was grown) and livestock that grazed in the open fields, but it is uncertain which of these was more important. Population growth from around the year 200 led to more utilization of open land, for example in the form of settlements in the mountains. During the migration period, it also seems that in parts of the country it became common to have cluster gardens or a form of village settlement.
Norwegian expansion northwards
From around the year 200, there was a certain migration by sea from Rogaland and Hordaland to Nordland and Sør-Troms. Those who moved settled down as a settled Iron Age population and became dominant over the original population which may have been Sami . The immigrant Norwegians, Bumen , farmed with livestock that were fed inside in the winter as well as some grain cultivation and fishing. The northern border of the Norwegians' settlement was originally at the Toppsundet near Harstad and around the year 500 there was a Norwegian settlement to Malangsgapet. That was as far north as it was possible to grow grain at the time. Malangen was considered the border between Hålogaland and Finnmork until around 1400 . Further into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, there was immigration and settlement of Norwegian speakers along the coast north of Malangen. Around the year 800, Norwegians lived along the entire outer coast to Vannøy . The Norwegians partly copied Sami livelihoods such as whaling, fur hunting and reindeer husbandry. It was probably this area between Malangen and Vannøy that was Ottar from the Hålogaland area. In the Viking Age, there were also some Norwegian settlements further north and east. East of the North Cape are the scattered archaeological finds of Norwegian settlement in the Viking Age. There are Norwegian names for fjords and islands from the Viking Age, including fjord names with "-anger". Around the year 1050, there were Norwegian settlements on the outer coast of Western Finnmark. Traders and tax collectors traveled even further.
North of Malangen there were Norse farming settlements in the Iron Age. Malangen was considered Finnmark's western border until 1300. There are some archaeological traces of Norse activity around the coast from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the Viking Age. Around Tromsø, the research indicates a Norse/Sami mixed culture on the coast.
From the year 1100 and the next 200–300 years, there are no traces of Norwegian settlement north and east of Tromsø. It is uncertain whether this is due to depopulation, whether it is because the Norwegians further north were not Christianized or because there were no churches north of Lenvik or Tromsø . Norwegian settlement in the far north appears from sources from the 14th century. In the Hanseatic period , the settlement was developed into large areas specialized in commercial fishing, while earlier (in the Viking Age) there had been farms with a combination of fishing and agriculture. In 1307 , a fortress and the first church east of Tromsø were built in Vardø . Vardø became a small Norwegian town, while Vadsø remained Sami. Norwegian settlements and churches appeared along the outermost coast in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, perhaps as a result of a decline in fish stocks or fish prices, there were Norwegian settlements in the inner fjord areas such as Lebesby in Laksefjord. Some fishing villages at the far end of the coast were abandoned for good. In the interior of Finnmark, there was no national border for a long time and Kautokeino and Karasjok were joint Norwegian-Swedish areas with strong Swedish influence. The border with Finland was established in 1751 and with Russia in 1826.
On a Swedish map from 1626, Norway's border is indicated at Malangen, while Sweden with this map showed a desire to control the Sami area which had been a common area.
The term Northern Norway only came into use at the end of the 19th century and administratively the area was referred to as Tromsø Diocese when Tromsø became a bishopric in 1840. There had been different designations previously: Hålogaland originally included only Helgeland and when Norse settlement spread north in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Hålogaland was used for the area north approximately to Malangen , while Finnmark or "Finnmarken", "the land of the Sami", lay outside. The term Northern Norway was coined at a cafe table in Kristiania in 1884 by members of the Nordlændingernes Forening and was first commonly used in the interwar period as it eventually supplanted "Hålogaland".
State formation
The battle in Hafrsfjord in the year 872 has long been regarded as the day when Norway became a kingdom. The year of the battle is uncertain (may have been 10-20 years later). The whole of Norway was not united in that battle: the process had begun earlier and continued a couple of hundred years later. This means that the geographical area became subject to a political authority and became a political unit. The geographical area was perceived as an area as it is known, among other things, from Ottar from Hålogaland's account for King Alfred of Wessex around the year 880. Ottar described "the land of the Norwegians" as very long and narrow, and it was narrowest in the far north. East of the wasteland in the south lay Sveoland and in the north lay Kvenaland in the east. When Ottar sailed south along the land from his home ( Malangen ) to Skiringssal, he always had Norway ("Nordveg") on his port side and the British Isles on his starboard side. The journey took a good month. Ottar perceived "Nordveg" as a geographical unit, but did not imply that it was a political unit. Ottar separated Norwegians from Swedes and Danes. It is unclear why Ottar perceived the population spread over such a large area as a whole. It is unclear whether Norway as a geographical term or Norwegians as the name of a ethnic group is the oldest. The Norwegians had a common language which in the centuries before Ottar did not differ much from the language of Denmark and Sweden.
According to Sverre Steen, it is unlikely that Harald Hårfagre was able to control this entire area as one kingdom. The saga of Harald was written 300 years later and at his death Norway was several smaller kingdoms. Harald probably controlled a larger area than anyone before him and at most Harald's kingdom probably included the coast from Trøndelag to Agder and Vestfold as well as parts of Viken . There were probably several smaller kingdoms of varying extent before Harald and some of these are reflected in traditional landscape names such as Ranrike and Ringerike . Landscape names of "-land" (Rogaland) and "-mark" (Hedmark) as well as names such as Agder and Sogn may have been political units before Harald.
According to Sverre Steen, the national assembly was completed at the earliest at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 and the introduction of Christianity was probably a significant factor in the establishment of Norway as a state. Håkon I the good Adalsteinsfostre introduced the leasehold system where the "coastal land" (as far as the salmon went up the rivers) was divided into ship raiders who were to provide a longship with soldiers and supplies. The leidange was probably introduced as a defense against the Danes. The border with the Danes was traditionally at the Göta älv and several times before and after Harald Hårfagre the Danes had control over central parts of Norway.
Christianity was known and existed in Norway before Olav Haraldson's time. The spread occurred both from the south (today's Denmark and northern Germany) and from the west (England and Ireland). Ansgar of Bremen , called the "Apostle of the North", worked in Sweden, but he was never in Norway and probably had little influence in the country. Viking expeditions brought the Norwegians of that time into contact with Christian countries and some were baptized in England, Ireland and northern France. Olav Tryggvason and Olav Haraldson were Vikings who returned home. The first Christians in Norway were also linked to pre-Christian local religion, among other things, by mixing Christian symbols with symbols of Odin and other figures from Norse religion.
According to Sverre Steen, the introduction of Christianity in Norway should not be perceived as a nationwide revival. At Mostratinget, Christian law was introduced as law in the country and later incorporated into the laws of the individual jurisdictions. Christianity primarily involved new forms in social life, among other things exposure and images of gods were prohibited, it was forbidden to "put out" unwanted infants (to let them die), and it was forbidden to have multiple wives. The church became a nationwide institution with a special group of officials tasked with protecting the church and consolidating the new religion. According to Sverre Steen, Christianity and the church in the Middle Ages should therefore be considered together, and these became a new unifying factor in the country. The church and Christianity linked Norway to Roman Catholic Europe with Church Latin as the common language, the same time reckoning as the rest of Europe and the church in Norway was arranged much like the churches in Denmark, Sweden and England. Norway received papal approval in 1070 and became its own church province in 1152 with Archbishop Nidaros .
With Christianity, the country got three social powers: the peasants (organized through the things), the king with his officials and the church with the clergy. The things are the oldest institution: At allthings all armed men had the right to attend (in part an obligation to attend) and at lagthings met emissaries from an area (that is, the lagthings were representative assemblies). The Thing both ruled in conflicts and established laws. The laws were memorized by the participants and written down around the year 1000 or later in the Gulationsloven , Frostatingsloven , Eidsivatingsloven and Borgartingsloven . The person who had been successful at the hearing had to see to the implementation of the judgment themselves.
Early Middle Ages (1050s–1184)
The early Middle Ages is considered in Norwegian history to be the period between the end of the Viking Age around 1050 and the coronation of King Sverre in 1184 . The beginning of the period can be dated differently, from around the year 1000 when the Christianization of the country took place and up to 1100 when the Viking Age was over from an archaeological point of view. From 1035 to 1130 it was a time of (relative) internal peace in Norway, even several of the kings attempted campaigns abroad, including in 1066 and 1103 .
During this period, the church's organization was built up. This led to a gradual change in religious customs. Religion went from being a domestic matter to being regulated by common European Christian law and the royal power gained increased power and influence. Slavery (" servitude ") was gradually abolished. The population grew rapidly during this period, as the thousands of farm names ending in -rud show.
The urbanization of Norway is a historical process that has slowly but surely changed Norway from the early Viking Age to today, from a country based on agriculture and sea salvage, to increasingly trade and industry. As early as the ninth century, the country got its first urban community, and in the eleventh century we got the first permanent cities.
In the 1130s, civil war broke out . This was due to a power struggle and that anyone who claimed to be the king's son could claim the right to the throne. The disputes escalated into extensive year-round warfare when Sverre Sigurdsson started a rebellion against the church's and the landmen's candidate for the throne , Magnus Erlingsson .
Emergence of cities
The oldest Norwegian cities probably emerged from the end of the 9th century. Oslo, Bergen and Nidaros became episcopal seats, which stimulated urban development there, and the king built churches in Borg , Konghelle and Tønsberg. Hamar and Stavanger became new episcopal seats and are referred to in the late 12th century as towns together with the trading places Veøy in Romsdal and Kaupanger in Sogn. In the late Middle Ages, Borgund (on Sunnmøre), Veøy (in Romsdalsfjorden) and Vågan (in Lofoten) were referred to as small trading places. Urbanization in Norway occurred in few places compared to the neighboring countries, only 14 places appear as cities before 1350. Stavanger became a bishopric around 1120–1130, but it is unclear whether the place was already a city then. The fertile Jæren and outer Ryfylke were probably relatively densely populated at that time. A particularly large concentration of Irish artefacts from the Viking Age has been found in Stavanger and Nord-Jæren.
It has been difficult to estimate the population in the Norwegian medieval cities, but it is considered certain that the cities grew rapidly in the Middle Ages. Oscar Albert Johnsen estimated the city's population before the Black Death at 20,000, of which 7,000 in Bergen, 3,000 in Nidaros, 2,000 in Oslo and 1,500 in Tunsberg. Based on archaeological research, Lunden estimates that Oslo had around 1,500 inhabitants in 250 households in the year 1300. Bergen was built up more densely and, with the concentration of exports there, became Norway's largest city in a special position for several hundred years. Knut Helle suggests a city population of 20,000 at most in the High Middle Ages, of which almost half in Bergen.
The Bjarkøyretten regulated the conditions in cities (especially Bergen and Nidaros) and in trading places, and for Nidaros had many of the same provisions as the Frostating Act . Magnus Lagabøte's city law replaced the bjarkøretten and from 1276 regulated the settlement in Bergen and with corresponding laws also drawn up for Oslo, Nidaros and Tunsberg. The city law applied within the city's roof area . The City Act determined that the city's public streets consisted of wide commons (perpendicular to the shoreline) and ran parallel to the shoreline, similarly in Nidaros and Oslo. The roads were small streets of up to 3 cubits (1.4 metres) and linked to the individual property. From the Middle Ages, the Norwegian cities were usually surrounded by wooden fences. The urban development largely consisted of low wooden houses which stood in contrast to the relatively numerous and dominant churches and monasteries built in stone.
The City Act and supplementary provisions often determined where in the city different goods could be traded, in Bergen, for example, cattle and sheep could only be traded on the Square, and fish only on the Square or directly from the boats at the quayside. In Nidaros, the blacksmiths were required to stay away from the densely populated areas due to the risk of fire, while the tanners had to stay away from the settlements due to the strong smell. The City Act also attempted to regulate the influx of people into the city (among other things to prevent begging in the streets) and had provisions on fire protection. In Oslo, from the 13th century or earlier, it was common to have apartment buildings consisting of single buildings on a couple of floors around a courtyard with access from the street through a gate room. Oslo's medieval apartment buildings were home to one to four households. In the urban farms, livestock could be kept, including pigs and cows, while pastures and fields were found in the city's rooftops . In the apartment buildings there could be several outbuildings such as warehouses, barns and stables. Archaeological excavations show that much of the buildings in medieval Oslo, Trondheim and Tønsberg resembled the oblong farms that have been preserved at Bryggen in Bergen . The land boundaries in Oslo appear to have persisted for many hundreds of years, in Bergen right from the Middle Ages to modern times.
High Middle Ages (1184–1319)
After civil wars in the 12th century, the country had a relative heyday in the 13th century. Iceland and Greenland came under the royal authority in 1262 , and the Norwegian Empire reached its greatest extent under Håkon IV Håkonsson . The last king of Haraldsätten, Håkon V Magnusson , died sonless in 1319 . Until the 17th century, Norway stretched all the way down to the mouth of Göta älv , which was then Norway's border with Sweden and Denmark.
Just before the Black Death around 1350, there were between 65,000 and 85,000 farms in the country, and there had been a strong growth in the number of farms from 1050, especially in Eastern Norway. In the High Middle Ages, the church or ecclesiastical institutions controlled 40% of the land in Norway, while the aristocracy owned around 20% and the king owned 7%. The church and monasteries received land through gifts from the king and nobles, or through inheritance and gifts from ordinary farmers.
Settlement and demography in the Middle Ages
Before the Black Death, there were more and more farms in Norway due to farm division and clearing. The settlement spread to more marginal agricultural areas higher inland and further north. Eastern Norway had the largest areas to take off and had the most population growth towards the High Middle Ages. Along the coast north of Stad, settlement probably increased in line with the extent of fishing. The Icelandic Rimbegla tells around the year 1200 that the border between Finnmark (the land of the Sami) and resident Norwegians in the interior was at Malangen , while the border all the way out on the coast was at Kvaløya . From the end of the High Middle Ages, there were more Norwegians along the coast of Finnmark and Nord-Troms. In the inner forest and mountain tracts along the current border between Norway and Sweden, the Sami exploited the resources all the way down to Hedmark.
There are no censuses or other records of population and settlement in the Middle Ages. At the time of the Reformation, the population was below 200,000 and only in 1650 was the population at the same level as before the Black Death. When Christianity was introduced after the year 1000, the population was around 200,000. After the Black Death, many farms and settlements were abandoned and deserted, in the most marginal agricultural areas up to 80% of the farms were abandoned. Places such as Skien, Veøy and Borgund (Ålesund) went out of use as trading towns. By the year 1300, the population was somewhere between 300,000 and 560,000 depending on the calculation method. Common methods start from detailed information about farms in each village and compare this with the situation in 1660 when there are good headcounts. From 1300 to 1660, there was a change in the economic base so that the coastal villages received a larger share of the population. The inland areas of Eastern Norway had a relatively larger population in the High Middle Ages than after the Reformation. Kåre Lunden concludes that the population in the year 1300 was close to 500,000, of which 15,000 lived in cities. Lunden believes that the population in 1660 was still slightly lower than the peak before the Black Death and points out that farm settlement in 1660 did not reach the same extent as in the High Middle Ages. In 1660, the population in Troms and Finnmark was 6,000 and 3,000 respectively (2% of the total population), in 1300 these areas had an even smaller share of the country's population and in Finnmark there were hardly any Norwegian-speaking inhabitants. In the High Middle Ages, the climate was more favorable for grain cultivation in the north. Based on the number of farms, the population increased 162% from 1000 to 1300, in Northern and Western Europe as a whole the growth was 200% in the same period.
Late Middle Ages (1319–1537)
Due to repeated plague epidemics, the population was roughly halved and the least productive of the country's farms were laid waste. It took several hundred years before the population again reached the level before 1349 . However, those who survived the epidemics gained more financial resources by sharing. Tax revenues for the state almost collapsed, and a large part of the noble families died out or sank into peasant status due to the fall in national debt . The Hanseatic League took over trade and shipping and dominated fish exports. The Archbishop of Nidaros was the country's most powerful man economically and politically, as the royal dynasty married into the Swedish in 1319 and died out in 1387 . Eventually, Copenhagen became the political center of the kingdom and Bergen the commercial center, while Trondheim remained the religious center.
From Reformation to Autocracy (1537–1660)
In 1537 , the Reformation was carried out in Norway. With that, almost half of the country's property was confiscated by the royal power at the stroke of a pen. The large seizure increased the king's income and was able, among other things, to expand his military power and consolidated his power in the kingdom. From roughly the time of the Reformation and in the following centuries, the state increased its power and importance in people's lives. Until around 1620, the state administration was fairly simple and unspecialised: in Copenhagen, the central administration mainly consisted of a chancellery and an interest chamber ; and sheriffs ruled the civil (including bailiffs and sheriffs) and the military in their district, the sheriffs collected taxes and oversaw business. The accounts were not clear and without summaries. The clergy, which had great power as a separate organization, was appointed by the state church after the Reformation, administered from Copenhagen. In this period, Norway was ruled by (mainly) Danish noble sheriffs, who acted as intermediaries between the peasants and the Oldenborg king in the field of justice, tax and customs collection.
From 1620, the state apparatus went through major changes where specialization of functions was a main issue. The sheriff's tasks were divided between several, more specialized officials - the sheriffs retained the formal authority over these, who in practice were under the national administration in Copenhagen. Among other things, a separate military officer corps was established, a separate customs office was established and separate treasurers for taxes and fees were appointed. The Overbergamtet, the central governing body for overseeing mining operations in Norway, was established in 1654 with an office in Christiania and this agency was to oversee the mining chiefs in the Nordenfjeld and Sønnenfjeld areas (the mines at Kongsberg and Røros were established in the previous decades). The formal transition from county government to official government with fixed-paid county officials took place after 1660, but the real changes had taken place from around 1620. The increased specialization and transition to official government meant that experts, not amateurs, were in charge of each area, and this civil service meant, according to Sverre Steen that the dictatorship was not a personal dictatorship.
From 1570 until 1721, the Oldenborg dynasty was in repeated wars with the Vasa dynasty in Sweden. The financing of these wars led to a severe increase in taxation which caused great distress.
Politically-geographically, the Oldenborg kings had to cede to Sweden the Norwegian provinces of Jemtland , Herjedalen , Idre and Särna , as well as Båhuslen . As part of the financing of the wars, the state apparatus was expanded. Royal power began to assert itself to a greater extent in the administration of justice. Until this period, cases of violence and defamation had been treated as civil cases between citizens. The level of punishment was greatly increased. During this period, at least 307 people were also executed for witchcraft in Norway. Culturally, the country was marked by the fact that the written language became Danish because of the Bible translation and the University of Copenhagen's educational monopoly.
From the 16th century, business became more marked by production for sale and not just own consumption. In the past, it was particularly the fisheries that had produced such a large surplus of goods that it was sold to markets far away, the dried fish trade via Bergen is known from around the year 1100. In the 16th century, the yield from the fisheries multiplied, especially due to the introduction of herring in Western Norway and in Trøndelag and because new tools made fishing for herring and skre more efficient. Line fishing and cod nets that were introduced in the 17th century were controversial because the small fishermen believed it favored citizens in the cities.
Forestry and the timber trade became an important business, particularly because of the boom saw which made it possible to saw all kinds of tables and planks for sale abroad. The demand for timber increased at the same time in Europe, Norway had plenty of forests and in the 17th century timber became the country's most important export product. There were hundreds of sawmills in the country and the largest had the feel of factories . In 1680, the king regulated the timber trade by allowing exports only from privileged sawmills and in a certain quantity.
From the 1520s, some silver was mined in Telemark. When the peasants chased the German miners whereupon the king executed five peasants and demanded compensation from the other rebellious peasants. The background for the harsh treatment was that the king wanted to assert his authority over the extraction of precious metals. The search for metals led to the silver works at Kongsberg after 1624, copper in the mountain villages between Trøndelag and Eastern Norway, and iron, among other things, in Agder and lower Telemark. The financial gain of the quarries at that time is unclear because there are no reliable accounts. Kongsberg made Denmark-Norway self-sufficient in silver and the copper works produced a good deal more than the domestic demand and became an important export commodity. Kongsberg and Røros were the only Norwegian towns established because of the quarries.
In addition to the sawmills, in the 17th century, industrial production ( manuf
The Sognefjord is Norway's longest and deepest fjord with its 205 km and 1303 m at its deepest (SNL states 1308), including Sognesjøen which is at the far end towards the North Sea. The Sognefjord has the deepest point on Norway's coast. The fjord is 176–180 km from the innermost Lusterfjorden ( Skjolden ) to Sognefest , and 206 km to the outermost reef (then Lake Sognesjøen is also included). The width varies from around 1 to 2 km in Lusterfjorden to 4–5 km from Leikanger and beyond. Measured from the threshold to Skjolden, the fjord is 174 km. The middle part of the fjord is surrounded by mountains of around 1000 meters and in the inner part the height difference between the bottom of the fjord and the mountain tops is 3500 metres. The highest peak right by the fjord is Bleia at 1,721 metres, which gives a 2,850 meter height difference. Around the inner part of the fjord, the landscape is alpine with pointed mountain peaks, steep mountain sides and glaciers. As an extension of the fjord arms, long and deep valleys extend in all directions, including Jostedalen , Lærdalen and Årdal with Utladalen . The Sognefjord is the world's longest open (ice-free) fjord. The Sognefjord is the world's third longest fjord.
It is located in the middle of Vestland county (formerly Sogn og Fjordane county to which it helped give its name) and stretches from Solund on the coast in the west to Skjolden at the foot of Jotunheimen in the east (northeast), where the fjord arm is called Lustrafjorden . The fjord and the land around it make up the Sogn region, often divided into Outer, Midtre and Indre Sogn. The length from Rutletangen to Skjolden is 186 km . Sogn makes up almost 60% of the area in Sogn and Fjordane, or around 11,000 km 2 . The twelve municipalities in Sogn have a total area of 10,671.55 km² and 37,063 inhabitants (1 January 2014). The land around the inner part of the fjord is called Indre Sogn and includes the long fjord arms. From Leikanger onwards, the country is called Ytre Sogn . The outer part of the fjord has few and small fjord arms. The fjord arms are like hanging valleys under water in that the bottom in the side fjords is often much shallower than the main fjord with a height difference of over 1,000 meters in some cases. The main fjord has a threshold at its mouth to the sea, while several of the side fjords have thresholds at the mouth of the main fjord.
The Sognefjord cuts so deeply into the country that it is only 15 km from the innermost arm at Skjolden to mountain peaks such as Store Skagastølstind in Jotunheimen. The water flow usually exits the fjord. The rivers create sandbanks where they run into the fjord, for example at Gudvangen, in Lærdal and in Gaupne. These sandbars are constantly expanding and changing shape.
The Sognefjord, especially the inner part, is surrounded by mountain massifs which are alpine in the inner part and more rounded in the outer part. The innermost arms of the fjord continue as deep and sometimes long valleys, including Lærdal , Årdal with Utladalen , Nærøydalen , Sogndalsdalen , Fjærland , Fortunsdalen , Aurlandsdalen and Jostedalen . The transition between the fjord and these valleys is determined by sea level, and the boundary has moved outwards at the uplift. Some of the side valleys, such as Vik and Fresvik, would have been hanging valleys in the same way as the Feigedalen if the Sognefjord was drained.
Name
Amund Helland writes " The Sognefjord's real name is Sogn , while Sogn is now used only for the surrounding landscape, and was thus already used in the Middle Ages. As a landscape name, the name is a masculine word and has undoubtedly been so as a fjord name as well." The name is connected to the word "suction", which probably refers to the suction or the difficult current conditions that are created when the water flows through the fjord mouth and over the threshold.
Geography
Large parts of the fjord are surrounded by steep mountains. Kvamsøy at Balestrand is a small island separated from the mainland by a short, shallow strait. Outside Balestrand there are small fjord arms and at Veganes ( Dragsvik ferry quay ) there is a significant branching with the Fjærlandsfjorden .
Municipalities
Municipalities with shoreline to the fjord, counted from west to east:
Solund
Hyllestad (north side)
Gulen (south side)
Høyanger (on both sides of the main fjord)
Vik (south side)
Sogndal (north side)
Aurland (south side, around the Aurlandsfjord)
Lærdal (south side)
Luster (north side, around Lustrafjorden)
Årdal (around the Årdalsfjord)
Depths
The Sognefjord has only one threshold which is at the mouth and the threshold is around 165 meters deep. The area beyond the threshold is called Sognesjøen , which is sheltered by islands to the north and south; there is no threshold outside Sognesjøen that has free circulation towards the ocean.
From the inner parts at Årdal or Skjolden, the fjord gradually deepens outwards (westwards). Between Fodnes-Mannheller and Rutledal-Rysjedalsvika, the bottom is at least 800 metres. The deepest part is approximately at Åkrestrand and Vadheim. The outer part of the fjord (at Losna and Sula ) has a marked threshold with depths of 100 to 200 metres, where the fjord bed rises abruptly from a depth of 1,200 meters to around 100 meters over a stretch of 5 km at Rutledal. In Lake Sognesjøen there are several small troughs (with depths down to 400-500 metres) with thresholds between them. Across the fjord, the bottom is partly completely flat with less than 1 meter variation in depth over a 2 km cross-section. The bottom is covered by fine material (clay) which at Vangsnes is up to 300 meters thick. Seismic shows that the greatest depth to the bedrock is approximately 1,600 m, but loose masses with a thickness of 200–400 m mean that the fjord bottom is nevertheless flat. Seismic surveys at Vangsnes have revealed a 300 meter thick layer of clay at the bottom.
Between 50 and 180 km from the mouth, the fjord bed is relatively flat. Almost all side fjords form hanging valleys to the main fjord. For example, the mouth of the Fjærlandsfjord is well over 400 meters deep, while the main fjord is close to 1,200 meters deep just outside the mouth. Vadheimfjord's mouth is 400 meters deep, here the greatest depth is over 1300 m. Ikjefjord's mouth is only 50 meters deep close to where the main fjord is at its deepest. In large parts of the fjord, it is "abruptly deep" in that the steep mountain sides continue just as steeply underwater.
In contrast to a number of other fjords, not every single part of the Sognefjord has its own name. Only the outermost part has its own name - Sognesjøen . However, there are many fjord arms. From west to east these are:
Sognesjøen
Straumsfjorden
Bjørnefjorden
Nessefjord
The Sognefjord
Lifjorden
Bøfjorden
The Risnefjord
The Ikjefjord
Vadheimsfjorden
Fuglsetfjorden
Høyangsfjorden
Lånefjorden
The Finnafjord
The Arnafjord
The Inner Fjord
Framfjorden
Vikbukti
The Esefjord
Fjærlandsfjorden
The Vetlefjord
Sværefjorden
The Norafjord
Sogndalsfjorden
Barsnes Fjord
The Eidsfjord
Aurlandsfjorden
The Nærøyfjord
Amla Bay
Lærdalsfjorden
Årdalsfjorden
The Lustrafjord
The Gaupnefjord
Climate and fresh water
The fjord colored by meltwater from the glacier.
Terrain formations and distance to the sea lead to great variations in climate along the fjord. The outer part has a mild and humid coastal climate, while the innermost part has an inland climate with cold and dry winters.
The amount of precipitation decreases strongly inwards into the fjord. Lærdal lies in the rain shadow and has very little rainfall, while west-facing slopes further out have a lot of rainfall and there the rainfall often increases with altitude. Brekke and Takle in Ytre Parish are among the places in Norway with the most rainfall. North of the Sognefjord lies the Jostedalsbreen, Norway's largest glacier, and parts of the meltwater drain into the Sognefjord. Wind conditions are strongly influenced by terrain formations. In winter, the dominant wind direction is out the fjord or out the side valleys in the form of so-called downwinds . Fall winds can be very strong and have a major impact on cooling and icing. The slopes and valleys along the inner parts of the fjord have a partially mild climate and are fertile, which makes the area suitable for growing fruit and berries, among other things. The slopes along the fjord partly have large conifer forests, including in the roadless area of Frønningen .
The fjord receives fresh water mainly from the rivers and very little precipitation directly on the fjord's water surface. In the inner part of the Sognefjord, the total supply of fresh water during one year corresponds to a depth of 33 meters if it were distributed over the entire area of the fjord. In spring and partly in autumn, the top 2-3 meters of the fjord are brackish water , especially in the side fjords. The salt content in the surface is lowest in summer and autumn. In June 1954, for example, 5 ‰ salt was measured in the uppermost meters of the Lustrafjord, while at great depths it was 34.5 ‰. Regulation of the waterways for power production has led to a larger proportion of fresh water flowing into the fjord in the winter. The most extensive regulation is in Aurland, Lærdal, Årdal and Jostedal. Regulations affect temperature in the surface layer and icing. In the inner part of the fjord, the rivers are fed by high mountains and glaciers.
The rivers Lærdalselvi , Aurlandselvi , Flåmselvi , Mørkridselvi , Henjaelvi , Grindselvi , Hamreelvi , Njøsaelvi , Kvinnafossen , Sogndalselvi and Jostedøla flow into the Sognefjord and normally have spring floods in June. [3] Lærdalselva has the largest catchment, followed by Jostedøla and Aurlandselva, and these three have roughly the same water flow (around 40 m 3 /second). The Årdalsvatnet drains to the Sognefjord through the short Åreidselva or Hæreidselvi through the Årdalstangen . The Eidsvatnet in Luster drains into the Sognefjord just by Mørkridselvi in Skjolden . Regulation of the waterways for hydropower has resulted in a more steady supply of fresh water throughout the year. Without regulation, 92% of the fresh water would have been supplied in the summer half-year from May to October. Several of the large rivers flow into fjord arms.
Geology
The bedrock along the outer and middle part of the fjord consists mostly of Precambrian gneiss with orientation east-west and northeast-southwest. The islands of Solund consist mostly of Devonian sandstone and conglomerates , while the interior (eastern part) consists mostly of Caledonian gabbro , anorthosite , granite and phyllite .
Jostedøla's material transport (in the form of sludge) involves sedimentation in the Gaupnefjord of 10 to 20 cm/year near the river basin, and 1 cm/year 2 km from the river basin. The river transports 50,000 to 100,000 tonnes of silt annually. The sludge concentration from Jostedøla is at most 1 g/litre. It is particularly at Gaupne that the meltwater from the glaciers is marked by the color of the water.
Icing
According to Helland, it was common for the ice to settle on several of the fjord arms every winter, including on Aurlandsfjorden, Nærøyfjorden and Årdalsfjorden. In the winter of 1888–1889, Lusterfjorden was iced over for six months straight. In the deepest parts of the Sognefjord, there is a year-round temperature of around 6.5 °C, according to Helland. Outer parts are almost never iced over, not even the side fjords. The inner parts can be frozen for several weeks at a stretch. Among other things, inner parts of the Aurlandsfjorden and the Nærøyfjorden freeze easily. Lærdalsfjorden is usually ice-free except for the very innermost part, while it has happened that Årdalsfjorden has been iced up to Ofredal and has been an obstacle to ship traffic. Historically, Lustrafjorden has often been iced over as far as Urnes. The Barsnesfjorden has often been covered with ice. In the Nærøyfjord it happened (among other things in the 1920s and in 1962) that the liner was unable to enter the fjord due to ice and had to dispatch at the ice edge.
Streams
In the Sognefjord, incoming current is hardly noticeable and is most noticeable in strong westerly winds. Outgoing current dominates and is particularly strong in spring and summer. At strong tides, the tidal flow can reach over 1 m/s (2 knots ) around the pier and headland. The Sognefjord is covered by a layer or stream of brackish water of up to 10 meters (varying with the seasons and supply from the rivers). Beneath the brackish water, a current or intermediate layer at a depth of 150 meters goes in and out of the fjord and below this lies the main basin, which has some connection with the ocean beyond the threshold. Together, these three currents contribute to the fact that the water in the fjord is replaced on average within 8-10 years, so that the fjord has life right down to the bottom. The brackish water layer has less density and therefore does not mix easily with the deeper layers. The brackish water that flows out of the fjord slowly mixes with the layer below so that the salt content increases at the same time as the brackish water layer increases up to 10 times the amount of fresh water supplied. The brackish water that flows towards the mouth must be replaced and sets up an incoming current in a slightly deeper layer.
Fish
The Sognefjord has herring and good sprat fishing . In the outer parts of the fjord, salmon has traditionally been fished with wedge nets . Salmon warp or "sitjenet" is a traditional method of salmon fishing and skilled players could catch a lot of fish with this method. Hook nets and drift nets have dominated in modern times and do not require the same active fishing as warp . The salmon's migration in the fjord is controlled by currents on the surface and the warps are placed where there are favorable current conditions where, due to the current, the salmon are driven close to land on their way into the fjord. In Leikanger and Balestrand there are many good places for sitejnot with Suppham being by far the best. Good salmon rivers such as Lærdalselva, Aurlandselva and Årøyelva flow into the Sognefjorden.
In the outer part of the fjord (Gulen and Solund) there is some fish farming. Several of the waterways are known for good salmon and sea trout fishing , and five of the rivers have been designated as national salmon rivers. Lærdalselva has a salmon-carrying stretch and has had by far the largest population. Aurlandselva has historically had a good catch of sea trout. The Sognefjord is among the most important in Norway for anadromous fish species. Norwegian spring-spawning herring are fished in the fjord, especially in the outer parts, as well as some coastal sprat.
In the Sognefjord there are plankton algae which in other Norwegian waters and the occurrence follows the seasons. In general, there is little occurrence in winter due to low light, diatoms bloom in March-April and are dependent on the supply of nutrient salts, in May-June diatoms and flagellates bloom in connection with the spring flood, in summer there is a varying population, new blooms in the autumn in connection with, among other things, floods, and married species can occur all year round.
Tourism
The Sognefjord was established as a tourist destination in the 19th century, among other things, with the establishment of Fylkesbåtane. One of the targets was Gudvangen, which in 1889 received 79 large tourist ships with a total of over 10,000 passengers. In 1889, 4,500 travelers came with the county boats. The German Emperor Wilhelm visited the Sognefjord and Balestrand for the first time in 1890. The emperor subsequently visited the Sognefjord 25 times. The fjord itself and the surrounding area with Jotunheimen, Jostedalsbreen and several stave churches have made the Sognefjord one of Norway's most prominent tourist destinations. Balestrand, Vangsnes, Aurland and Fjærland were among the early destinations for English tourists in the 19th century.
History
It has been the Guest of Death
It has sailed on a Torden
It is christened in Rædsler vorden
that has plowed the Sognefjord
from Forthun to Sognefæst.
If you have forgotten your Lord's Prayer,
do you remember a prayer to pray:
learn it from the wrath of God!
imagine, Sinder, then present
in a Bath on Sognefjord!
Henrik Wergeland
The Sognefjord has been an important transport artery since ancient times. The gulation was probably held near the mouth of the Sognefjord and probably because it was practical to hold the meeting where the ship lay along the coast met the great fjord. From the innermost arms of the fjord it is a relatively short distance to the inland villages of Eastern Norway, particularly through Lærdal to Valdres over the moderate mountain pass Filefjell . Lærdalsøyri was from the 17th century an important market and meeting place. There, farmers from Valdres, Hallingdal and Gudbrandsdalen sold slaughter, tar and other products from the interior and bought fish, salt, hemp and iron from the fjords and from Bergen. Around 1300, the authorities established a shuttle station at Maristova at the entrance to Filefjell. The first drivable road between east and west was built over Filefjell in 1792. From 1843 the paddle steamer "Constitutionen" plyed the route between Bergen and Lærdal, the county boats took over the route in 1857. The road over the Sognefjellet was built as a carriageway in 1938. The Flåmsbana connected the Sognefjord to the railway network in 1940. Stalheimskleivi , between Voss and Sogn, was built in 1850 and turned into a road in 1937. It has made it possible to transport agricultural products , fruit , berries and fish between the villages in Sogn and Bergen .
From 1785, the Trondhjem postal route crossed the Sognefjord by boat between Rutledal and Leirvik in Hyllestad . In 1647, a postal route was established between Bergen and Christiania. The post then took 7-8 days via Gudvangen, Lærdal and Valdres.
It was difficult to get to the Sognefjord by sailboat and the yachts could lie for many days or several weeks at the mouth waiting for favorable wind conditions. East wind was favorable out of the fjord, while south to Bergen, wind from the north or north-west was needed. To enter the fjord, a wind from the west was necessary. The steam and motor boats revolutionized transport on the fjord and these had completely taken over in the early 20th century The county boats were established in 1858 with boat routes on the Sognefjord and to Bergen as an important activity.
In 1934, a ferry route was established along the fjord from Vadheim to Lærdal. From 1939 until the Lærdal tunnel opened, there was a car ferry between Gudvangen and Lærdal - first the ferry went to Lærdalsøyri itself, from 1966 to Revsnes when a road was built there to shorten the ferry route. In the 1990s, the ferry connection Revsnes-Kaupanger was replaced by Mannheller-Fodnes , and after this Kaupanger has only been used by the tourist route Gudvangen-Kaupanger-Lærdal. The road system between Sogndal and Jølster on national highway 5 , including the Fjærlands tunnel , created a ferry-free road connection on the north side of the fjord.
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic , European country and an independent state in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula . Geographically speaking, the country is long and narrow, and on the elongated coast towards the North Atlantic are Norway's well-known fjords . The Kingdom of Norway includes the main country (the mainland with adjacent islands within the baseline ), Jan Mayen and Svalbard . With these two Arctic areas, Norway covers a land area of 385,000 km² and has a population of approximately 5.5 million (2023). Mainland Norway borders Sweden in the east , Finland and Russia in the northeast .
Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , where Harald V has been king and head of state since 1991 , and Jonas Gahr Støre ( Ap ) has been prime minister since 2021 . Norway is a unitary state , with two administrative levels below the state: counties and municipalities . The Sami part of the population has, through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act , to a certain extent self-government and influence over traditionally Sami areas. Although Norway has rejected membership of the European Union through two referendums , through the EEA Agreement Norway has close ties with the Union, and through NATO with the United States . Norway is a significant contributor to the United Nations (UN), and has participated with soldiers in several foreign operations mandated by the UN. Norway is among the states that have participated from the founding of the UN , NATO , the Council of Europe , the OSCE and the Nordic Council , and in addition to these is a member of the EEA , the World Trade Organization , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is part of the Schengen area .
Norway is rich in many natural resources such as oil , gas , minerals , timber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . Since the beginning of the 20th century, these natural conditions have given the country the opportunity for an increase in wealth that few other countries can now enjoy, and Norwegians have the second highest average income in the world, measured in GDP per capita, as of 2022. The petroleum industry accounts for around 14% of Norway's gross domestic product as of 2018. Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and gas per capita outside the Middle East. However, the number of employees linked to this industry fell from approx. 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015.
In Norway, these natural resources have been managed for socially beneficial purposes. The country maintains a welfare model in line with the other Nordic countries. Important service areas such as health and higher education are state-funded, and the country has an extensive welfare system for its citizens. Public expenditure in 2018 is approx. 50% of GDP, and the majority of these expenses are related to education, healthcare, social security and welfare. Since 2001 and until 2021, when the country took second place, the UN has ranked Norway as the world's best country to live in . From 2010, Norway is also ranked at the top of the EIU's democracy index . Norway ranks third on the UN's World Happiness Report for the years 2016–2018, behind Finland and Denmark , a report published in March 2019.
The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles , Lithuanians , Norwegian-Swedes , Norwegian-Syrians including Syrian Kurds and Norwegian-Pakistani .
Norway's national day is 17 May, on this day in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution was dated and signed by the presidency of the National Assembly at Eidsvoll . It is stipulated in the law of 26 April 1947 that 17 May are national public holidays. The Sami national day is 6 February. "Yes, we love this country" is Norway's national anthem, the song was written in 1859 by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910).
Norway's history of human settlement goes back at least 10,000 years, to the Late Paleolithic , the first period of the Stone Age . Archaeological finds of settlements along the entire Norwegian coast have so far been dated back to 10,400 before present (BP), the oldest find is today considered to be a settlement at Pauler in Brunlanes , Vestfold .
For a period these settlements were considered to be the remains of settlers from Doggerland , an area which today lies beneath the North Sea , but which was once a land bridge connecting today's British Isles with Danish Jutland . But the archaeologists who study the initial phase of the settlement in what is today Norway reckon that the first people who came here followed the coast along what is today Bohuslân. That they arrived in some form of boat is absolutely certain, and there is much evidence that they could easily move over large distances.
Since the last Ice Age, there has been continuous settlement in Norway. It cannot be ruled out that people lived in Norway during the interglacial period , but no trace of such a population or settlement has been found.
The Stone Age lasted a long time; half of the time that our country has been populated. There are no written accounts of what life was like back then. The knowledge we have has been painstakingly collected through investigations of places where people have stayed and left behind objects that we can understand have been processed by human hands. This field of knowledge is called archaeology . The archaeologists interpret their findings and the history of the surrounding landscape. In our country, the uplift after the Ice Age is fundamental. The history of the settlements at Pauler is no more than fifteen years old.
The Fosna culture settled parts of Norway sometime between 10,000–8,000 BC. (see Stone Age in Norway ). The dating of rock carvings is set to Neolithic times (in Norway between 4000 BC to 1700 BC) and show activities typical of hunters and gatherers .
Agriculture with livestock and arable farming was introduced in the Neolithic. Swad farming where the farmers move when the field does not produce the expected yield.
More permanent and persistent farm settlements developed in the Bronze Age (1700 BC to 500 BC) and the Iron Age . The earliest runes have been found on an arrowhead dated to around 200 BC. Many more inscriptions are dated to around 800, and a number of petty kingdoms developed during these centuries. In prehistoric times, there were no fixed national borders in the Nordic countries and Norway did not exist as a state. The population in Norway probably fell to year 0.
Events in this time period, the centuries before the year 1000, are glimpsed in written sources. Although the sagas were written down in the 13th century, many hundreds of years later, they provide a glimpse into what was already a distant past. The story of the fimbul winter gives us a historical picture of something that happened and which in our time, with the help of dendrochronology , can be interpreted as a natural disaster in the year 536, created by a volcanic eruption in El Salvador .
In the period between 800 and 1066 there was a significant expansion and it is referred to as the Viking Age . During this period, Norwegians, as Swedes and Danes also did, traveled abroad in longships with sails as explorers, traders, settlers and as Vikings (raiders and pirates ). By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingship had been firmly established, building its right as descendants of Harald Hårfagre and then as heirs of Olav the Holy . The Norwegian kings, and their subjects, now professed Christianity . In the time around Håkon Håkonsson , in the time after the civil war , there was a small renaissance in Norway with extensive literary activity and diplomatic activity with Europe. The black dew came to Norway in 1349 and killed around half of the population. The entire state apparatus and Norway then entered a period of decline.
Between 1396 and 1536, Norway was part of the Kalmar Union , and from 1536 until 1814 Norway had been reduced to a tributary part of Denmark , named as the Personal Union of Denmark-Norway . This staff union entered into an alliance with Napoléon Bonaparte with a war that brought bad times and famine in 1812 . In 1814, Denmark-Norway lost the Anglophone Wars , part of the Napoleonic Wars , and the Danish king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January of that year. After a Norwegian attempt at independence, Norway was forced into a loose union with Sweden, but where Norway was allowed to create its own constitution, the Constitution of 1814 . In this period, Norwegian, romantic national feeling flourished, and the Norwegians tried to develop and establish their own national self-worth. The union with Sweden was broken in 1905 after it had been threatened with war, and Norway became an independent kingdom with its own monarch, Haakon VII .
Norway remained neutral during the First World War , and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Norway again declared itself neutral, but was invaded by National Socialist Germany on 9 April 1940 .
Norway became a member of the Western defense alliance NATO in 1949 . Two attempts to join the EU were voted down in referendums by small margins in 1972 and 1994 . Norway has been a close ally of the United States in the post-war period. Large discoveries of oil and natural gas in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s led to tremendous economic growth in the country, which is still ongoing. Traditional industries such as fishing are also part of Norway's economy.
Stone Age (before 1700 BC)
When most of the ice disappeared, vegetation spread over the landscape and due to a warm climate around 2000-3000 BC. the forest grew much taller than in modern times. Land uplift after the ice age led to a number of fjords becoming lakes and dry land. The first people probably came from the south along the coast of the Kattegat and overland into Finnmark from the east. The first people probably lived by gathering, hunting and trapping. A good number of Stone Age settlements have been found which show that such hunting and trapping people stayed for a long time in the same place or returned to the same place regularly. Large amounts of gnawed bones show that they lived on, among other things, reindeer, elk, small game and fish.
Flintstone was imported from Denmark and apart from small natural deposits along the southern coast, all flintstone in Norway is transported by people. At Espevær, greenstone was quarried for tools in the Stone Age, and greenstone tools from Espevær have been found over large parts of Western Norway. Around 2000-3000 BC the usual farm animals such as cows and sheep were introduced to Norway. Livestock probably meant a fundamental change in society in that part of the people had to be permanent residents or live a semi-nomadic life. Livestock farming may also have led to conflict with hunters.
The oldest traces of people in what is today Norway have been found at Pauler , a farm in Brunlanes in Larvik municipality in Vestfold . In 2007 and 2008, the farm has given its name to a number of Stone Age settlements that have been excavated and examined by archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum at UiO. The investigations have been carried out in connection with the new route for the E18 motorway west of Farris. The oldest settlement, located more than 127 m above sea level, is dated to be about 10,400 years old (uncalibrated, more than 11,000 years in real calendar years). From here, the ice sheet was perhaps visible when people settled here. This locality has been named Pauler I, and is today considered to be the oldest confirmed human traces in Norway to date. The place is in the mountains above the Pauler tunnel on the E18 between Larvik and Porsgrunn . The pioneer settlement is a term archaeologists have adopted for the oldest settlement. The archaeologists have speculated about where they came from, the first people in what is today Norway. It has been suggested that they could come by boat or perhaps across the ice from Doggerland or the North Sea, but there is now a large consensus that they came north along what is today the Bohuslän coast. The Fosna culture , the Komsa culture and the Nøstvet culture are the traditional terms for hunting cultures from the Stone Age. One thing is certain - getting to the water was something they mastered, the first people in our country. Therefore, within a short time they were able to use our entire long coast.
In the New Stone Age (4000 BC–1700 BC) there is a theory that a new people immigrated to the country, the so-called Stone Ax People . Rock carvings from this period show motifs from hunting and fishing , which were still important industries. From this period, a megalithic tomb has been found in Østfold .
It is uncertain whether there were organized societies or state-like associations in the Stone Age in Norway. Findings from settlements indicate that many lived together and that this was probably more than one family so that it was a slightly larger, organized herd.
Finnmark
In prehistoric times, animal husbandry and agriculture were of little economic importance in Finnmark. Livelihoods in Finnmark were mainly based on fish, gathering, hunting and trapping, and eventually domestic reindeer herding became widespread in the Middle Ages. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age have been referred to as the Komsa culture and comprise around 5,000 years of settlement. Finnmark probably got its first settlement around 8000 BC. It is believed that the coastal areas became ice-free 11,000 years BC and the fjord areas around 9,000 years BC. after which willows, grass, heather, birch and pine came into being. Finnmarksvidda was covered by pine forest around 6000 BC. After the Ice Age, the land rose around 80 meters in the inner fjord areas (Alta, Tana, Varanger). Due to ice melting in the polar region, the sea rose in the period 6400–3800 BC. and in areas with little land elevation, some settlements from the first part of the Stone Age were flooded. On Sørøya, the net sea level rise was 12 to 14 meters and many residential areas were flooded.
According to Bjørnar Olsen , there are many indications of a connection between the oldest settlement in Western Norway (the " Fosnakulturen ") and that in Finnmark, but it is uncertain in which direction the settlement took place. In the earliest part of the Stone Age, settlement in Finnmark was probably concentrated in the coastal areas, and these only reflected a lifestyle with great mobility and no permanent dwellings. The inner regions, such as Pasvik, were probably used seasonally. The archaeologically proven settlements from the Stone Age in inner Finnmark and Troms are linked to lakes and large watercourses. The oldest petroglyphs in Alta are usually dated to 4200 BC, that is, the Neolithic . Bjørnar Olsen believes that the oldest can be up to 2,000 years older than this.
From around 4000 BC a slow deforestation of Finnmark began and around 1800 BC the vegetation distribution was roughly the same as in modern times. The change in vegetation may have increased the distance between the reindeer's summer and winter grazing. The uplift continued slowly from around 4000 BC. at the same time as sea level rise stopped.
According to Gutorm Gjessing, the settlement in Finnmark and large parts of northern Norway in the Neolithic was semi-nomadic with movement between four seasonal settlements (following the pattern of life in Sami siida in historical times): On the outer coast in summer (fishing and seal catching) and inland in winter (hunting for reindeer, elk and bear). Povl Simonsen believed instead that the winter residence was in the inner fjord area in a village-like sod house settlement. Bjørnar Olsen believes that at the end of the Stone Age there was a relatively settled population along the coast, while inland there was less settlement and a more mobile lifestyle.
Bronze Age (1700 BC–500 BC)
Bronze was used for tools in Norway from around 1500 BC. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper , and these metals were introduced because they were not mined in the country at the time. Bronze is believed to have been a relatively expensive material. The Bronze Age in Norway can be divided into two phases:
Early Bronze Age (1700–1100 BC)
Younger Bronze Age (1100–500 BC)
For the prehistoric (unwritten) era, there is limited knowledge about social conditions and possible state formations. From the Bronze Age, there are large burial mounds of stone piles along the coast of Vestfold and Agder, among others. It is likely that only chieftains or other great men could erect such grave monuments and there was probably some form of organized society linked to these. In the Bronze Age, society was more organized and stratified than in the Stone Age. Then a rich class of chieftains emerged who had close connections with southern Scandinavia. The settlements became more permanent and people adopted horses and ard . They acquired bronze status symbols, lived in longhouses and people were buried in large burial mounds . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age indicate that humans practiced solar cultivation.
Finnmark
In the last millennium BC the climate became cooler and the pine forest disappears from the coast; pine forests, for example, were only found in the innermost part of the Altafjord, while the outer coast was almost treeless. Around the year 0, the limit for birch forest was south of Kirkenes. Animals with forest habitats (elk, bear and beaver) disappeared and the reindeer probably established their annual migration routes sometime at that time. In the period 1800–900 BC there were significantly more settlements in and utilization of the hinterland was particularly noticeable on Finnmarksvidda. From around 1800 BC until year 0 there was a significant increase in contact between Finnmark and areas in the east including Karelia (where metals were produced including copper) and central and eastern Russia. The youngest petroglyphs in Alta show far more boats than the earlier phases and the boats are reminiscent of types depicted in petroglyphs in southern Scandinavia. It is unclear what influence southern Scandinavian societies had as far north as Alta before the year 0. Many of the cultural features that are considered typical Sami in modern times were created or consolidated in the last millennium BC, this applies, among other things, to the custom of burying in brick chambers in stone urns. The Mortensnes burial ground may have been used for 2000 years until around 1600 AD.
Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 1050 AD)
The Einangsteinen is one of the oldest Norwegian runestones; it is from the 4th century
Simultaneous production of Vikings
Around 500 years BC the researchers reckon that the Bronze Age will be replaced by the Iron Age as iron takes over as the most important material for weapons and tools. Bronze, wood and stone were still used. Iron was cheaper than bronze, easier to work than flint , and could be used for many purposes; iron probably became common property. Iron could, among other things, be used to make solid and sharp axes which made it much easier to fell trees. In the Iron Age, gold and silver were also used partly for decoration and partly as means of payment. It is unknown which language was used in Norway before our era. From around the year 0 until around the year 800, everyone in Scandinavia (except the Sami) spoke Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Subsequently, several different languages developed in this area that were only partially mutually intelligible. The Iron Age is divided into several periods:
Early Iron Age
Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 0)
Roman Iron Age (c. 0–c. AD 400)
Migration period (approx. 400–600). In the migration period (approx. 400–600), new peoples came to Norway, and ruins of fortress buildings etc. are interpreted as signs that there has been talk of a violent invasion.
Younger Iron Age
Merovingian period (500–800)
The Viking Age (793–1066)
Norwegian Vikings go on plundering expeditions and trade voyages around the coastal countries of Western Europe . Large groups of Norwegians emigrate to the British Isles , Iceland and Greenland . Harald Hårfagre starts a unification process of Norway late in the 8th century , which was completed by Harald Hardråde in the 1060s . The country was Christianized under the kings Olav Tryggvason , fell in the battle of Svolder ( 1000 ) and Olav Haraldsson (the saint), fell in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 .
Sources of prehistoric times
Shrinking glaciers in the high mountains, including in Jotunheimen and Breheimen , have from around the year 2000 uncovered objects from the Viking Age and earlier. These are objects of organic material that have been preserved by the ice and that elsewhere in nature are broken down in a few months. The finds are getting older as the melting makes the archaeologists go deeper into the ice. About half of all archaeological discoveries on glaciers in the world are made in Oppland . In 2013, a 3,400-year-old shoe and a robe from the year 300 were found. Finds at Lomseggen in Lom published in 2020 revealed, among other things, well-preserved horseshoes used on a mountain pass. Many hundreds of items include preserved clothing, knives, whisks, mittens, leather shoes, wooden chests and horse equipment. A piece of cloth dated to the year 1000 has preserved its original colour. In 2014, a wooden ski from around the year 700 was found in Reinheimen . The ski is 172 cm long and 14 cm wide, with preserved binding of leather and wicker.
Pytheas from Massalia is the oldest known account of what was probably the coast of Norway, perhaps somewhere on the coast of Møre. Pytheas visited Britannia around 325 BC. and traveled further north to a country by the "Ice Sea". Pytheas described the short summer night and the midnight sun farther north. He wrote, among other things, that people there made a drink from grain and honey. Caesar wrote in his work about the Gallic campaign about the Germanic tribe Haruders. Other Roman sources around the year 0 mention the land of the Cimbri (Jutland) and the Cimbri headlands ( Skagen ) and that the sources stated that Cimbri and Charyds lived in this area. Some of these peoples may have immigrated to Norway and there become known as hordes (as in Hordaland). Sources from the Mediterranean area referred to the islands of Scandia, Scandinavia and Thule ("the outermost of all islands"). The Roman historian Tacitus wrote around the year 100 a work about Germania and mentioned the people of Scandia, the Sviones. Ptolemy wrote around the year 150 that the Kharudes (Hordes) lived further north than all the Cimbri, in the north lived the Finnoi (Finns or Sami) and in the south the Gutai (Goths). The Nordic countries and Norway were outside the Roman Empire , which dominated Europe at the time. The Gothic-born historian Jordanes wrote in the 5th century about 13 tribes or people groups in Norway, including raumaricii (probably Romerike ), ragnaricii ( Ranrike ) and finni or skretefinni (skrid finner or ski finner, i.e. Sami) as well as a number of unclear groups. Prokopios wrote at the same time about Thule north of the land of the Danes and Slavs, Thule was ten times as big as Britannia and the largest of all the islands. In Thule, the sun was up 40 days straight in the summer. After the migration period , southern Europeans' accounts of northern Europe became fuller and more reliable.
Settlement in prehistoric times
Norway has around 50,000 farms with their own names. Farm names have persisted for a long time, over 1000 years, perhaps as much as 2000 years. The name researchers have arranged different types of farm names chronologically, which provides a basis for determining when the place was used by people or received a permanent settlement. Uncompounded landscape names such as Haug, Eid, Vik and Berg are believed to be the oldest. Archaeological traces indicate that some areas have been inhabited earlier than assumed from the farm name. Burial mounds also indicate permanent settlement. For example, the burial ground at Svartelva in Løten was used from around the year 0 to the year 1000 when Christianity took over. The first farmers probably used large areas for inland and outland, and new farms were probably established based on some "mother farms". Names such as By (or Bø) show that it is an old place of residence. From the older Iron Age, names with -heim (a common Germanic word meaning place of residence) and -stad tell of settlement, while -vin and -land tell of the use of the place. Farm names in -heim are often found as -um , -eim or -em as in Lerum and Seim, there are often large farms in the center of the village. New farm names with -city and -country were also established in the Viking Age . The first farmers probably used the best areas. The largest burial grounds, the oldest archaeological finds and the oldest farm names are found where the arable land is richest and most spacious.
It is unclear whether the settlement expansion in Roman times, migrations and the Iron Age is due to immigration or internal development and population growth. Among other things, it is difficult to demonstrate where in Europe the immigrants have come from. The permanent residents had both fields (where grain was grown) and livestock that grazed in the open fields, but it is uncertain which of these was more important. Population growth from around the year 200 led to more utilization of open land, for example in the form of settlements in the mountains. During the migration period, it also seems that in parts of the country it became common to have cluster gardens or a form of village settlement.
Norwegian expansion northwards
From around the year 200, there was a certain migration by sea from Rogaland and Hordaland to Nordland and Sør-Troms. Those who moved settled down as a settled Iron Age population and became dominant over the original population which may have been Sami . The immigrant Norwegians, Bumen , farmed with livestock that were fed inside in the winter as well as some grain cultivation and fishing. The northern border of the Norwegians' settlement was originally at the Toppsundet near Harstad and around the year 500 there was a Norwegian settlement to Malangsgapet. That was as far north as it was possible to grow grain at the time. Malangen was considered the border between Hålogaland and Finnmork until around 1400 . Further into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, there was immigration and settlement of Norwegian speakers along the coast north of Malangen. Around the year 800, Norwegians lived along the entire outer coast to Vannøy . The Norwegians partly copied Sami livelihoods such as whaling, fur hunting and reindeer husbandry. It was probably this area between Malangen and Vannøy that was Ottar from the Hålogaland area. In the Viking Age, there were also some Norwegian settlements further north and east. East of the North Cape are the scattered archaeological finds of Norwegian settlement in the Viking Age. There are Norwegian names for fjords and islands from the Viking Age, including fjord names with "-anger". Around the year 1050, there were Norwegian settlements on the outer coast of Western Finnmark. Traders and tax collectors traveled even further.
North of Malangen there were Norse farming settlements in the Iron Age. Malangen was considered Finnmark's western border until 1300. There are some archaeological traces of Norse activity around the coast from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the Viking Age. Around Tromsø, the research indicates a Norse/Sami mixed culture on the coast.
From the year 1100 and the next 200–300 years, there are no traces of Norwegian settlement north and east of Tromsø. It is uncertain whether this is due to depopulation, whether it is because the Norwegians further north were not Christianized or because there were no churches north of Lenvik or Tromsø . Norwegian settlement in the far north appears from sources from the 14th century. In the Hanseatic period , the settlement was developed into large areas specialized in commercial fishing, while earlier (in the Viking Age) there had been farms with a combination of fishing and agriculture. In 1307 , a fortress and the first church east of Tromsø were built in Vardø . Vardø became a small Norwegian town, while Vadsø remained Sami. Norwegian settlements and churches appeared along the outermost coast in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, perhaps as a result of a decline in fish stocks or fish prices, there were Norwegian settlements in the inner fjord areas such as Lebesby in Laksefjord. Some fishing villages at the far end of the coast were abandoned for good. In the interior of Finnmark, there was no national border for a long time and Kautokeino and Karasjok were joint Norwegian-Swedish areas with strong Swedish influence. The border with Finland was established in 1751 and with Russia in 1826.
On a Swedish map from 1626, Norway's border is indicated at Malangen, while Sweden with this map showed a desire to control the Sami area which had been a common area.
The term Northern Norway only came into use at the end of the 19th century and administratively the area was referred to as Tromsø Diocese when Tromsø became a bishopric in 1840. There had been different designations previously: Hålogaland originally included only Helgeland and when Norse settlement spread north in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Hålogaland was used for the area north approximately to Malangen , while Finnmark or "Finnmarken", "the land of the Sami", lay outside. The term Northern Norway was coined at a cafe table in Kristiania in 1884 by members of the Nordlændingernes Forening and was first commonly used in the interwar period as it eventually supplanted "Hålogaland".
State formation
The battle in Hafrsfjord in the year 872 has long been regarded as the day when Norway became a kingdom. The year of the battle is uncertain (may have been 10-20 years later). The whole of Norway was not united in that battle: the process had begun earlier and continued a couple of hundred years later. This means that the geographical area became subject to a political authority and became a political unit. The geographical area was perceived as an area as it is known, among other things, from Ottar from Hålogaland's account for King Alfred of Wessex around the year 880. Ottar described "the land of the Norwegians" as very long and narrow, and it was narrowest in the far north. East of the wasteland in the south lay Sveoland and in the north lay Kvenaland in the east. When Ottar sailed south along the land from his home ( Malangen ) to Skiringssal, he always had Norway ("Nordveg") on his port side and the British Isles on his starboard side. The journey took a good month. Ottar perceived "Nordveg" as a geographical unit, but did not imply that it was a political unit. Ottar separated Norwegians from Swedes and Danes. It is unclear why Ottar perceived the population spread over such a large area as a whole. It is unclear whether Norway as a geographical term or Norwegians as the name of a ethnic group is the oldest. The Norwegians had a common language which in the centuries before Ottar did not differ much from the language of Denmark and Sweden.
According to Sverre Steen, it is unlikely that Harald Hårfagre was able to control this entire area as one kingdom. The saga of Harald was written 300 years later and at his death Norway was several smaller kingdoms. Harald probably controlled a larger area than anyone before him and at most Harald's kingdom probably included the coast from Trøndelag to Agder and Vestfold as well as parts of Viken . There were probably several smaller kingdoms of varying extent before Harald and some of these are reflected in traditional landscape names such as Ranrike and Ringerike . Landscape names of "-land" (Rogaland) and "-mark" (Hedmark) as well as names such as Agder and Sogn may have been political units before Harald.
According to Sverre Steen, the national assembly was completed at the earliest at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 and the introduction of Christianity was probably a significant factor in the establishment of Norway as a state. Håkon I the good Adalsteinsfostre introduced the leasehold system where the "coastal land" (as far as the salmon went up the rivers) was divided into ship raiders who were to provide a longship with soldiers and supplies. The leidange was probably introduced as a defense against the Danes. The border with the Danes was traditionally at the Göta älv and several times before and after Harald Hårfagre the Danes had control over central parts of Norway.
Christianity was known and existed in Norway before Olav Haraldson's time. The spread occurred both from the south (today's Denmark and northern Germany) and from the west (England and Ireland). Ansgar of Bremen , called the "Apostle of the North", worked in Sweden, but he was never in Norway and probably had little influence in the country. Viking expeditions brought the Norwegians of that time into contact with Christian countries and some were baptized in England, Ireland and northern France. Olav Tryggvason and Olav Haraldson were Vikings who returned home. The first Christians in Norway were also linked to pre-Christian local religion, among other things, by mixing Christian symbols with symbols of Odin and other figures from Norse religion.
According to Sverre Steen, the introduction of Christianity in Norway should not be perceived as a nationwide revival. At Mostratinget, Christian law was introduced as law in the country and later incorporated into the laws of the individual jurisdictions. Christianity primarily involved new forms in social life, among other things exposure and images of gods were prohibited, it was forbidden to "put out" unwanted infants (to let them die), and it was forbidden to have multiple wives. The church became a nationwide institution with a special group of officials tasked with protecting the church and consolidating the new religion. According to Sverre Steen, Christianity and the church in the Middle Ages should therefore be considered together, and these became a new unifying factor in the country. The church and Christianity linked Norway to Roman Catholic Europe with Church Latin as the common language, the same time reckoning as the rest of Europe and the church in Norway was arranged much like the churches in Denmark, Sweden and England. Norway received papal approval in 1070 and became its own church province in 1152 with Archbishop Nidaros .
With Christianity, the country got three social powers: the peasants (organized through the things), the king with his officials and the church with the clergy. The things are the oldest institution: At allthings all armed men had the right to attend (in part an obligation to attend) and at lagthings met emissaries from an area (that is, the lagthings were representative assemblies). The Thing both ruled in conflicts and established laws. The laws were memorized by the participants and written down around the year 1000 or later in the Gulationsloven , Frostatingsloven , Eidsivatingsloven and Borgartingsloven . The person who had been successful at the hearing had to see to the implementation of the judgment themselves.
Early Middle Ages (1050s–1184)
The early Middle Ages is considered in Norwegian history to be the period between the end of the Viking Age around 1050 and the coronation of King Sverre in 1184 . The beginning of the period can be dated differently, from around the year 1000 when the Christianization of the country took place and up to 1100 when the Viking Age was over from an archaeological point of view. From 1035 to 1130 it was a time of (relative) internal peace in Norway, even several of the kings attempted campaigns abroad, including in 1066 and 1103 .
During this period, the church's organization was built up. This led to a gradual change in religious customs. Religion went from being a domestic matter to being regulated by common European Christian law and the royal power gained increased power and influence. Slavery (" servitude ") was gradually abolished. The population grew rapidly during this period, as the thousands of farm names ending in -rud show.
The urbanization of Norway is a historical process that has slowly but surely changed Norway from the early Viking Age to today, from a country based on agriculture and sea salvage, to increasingly trade and industry. As early as the ninth century, the country got its first urban community, and in the eleventh century we got the first permanent cities.
In the 1130s, civil war broke out . This was due to a power struggle and that anyone who claimed to be the king's son could claim the right to the throne. The disputes escalated into extensive year-round warfare when Sverre Sigurdsson started a rebellion against the church's and the landmen's candidate for the throne , Magnus Erlingsson .
Emergence of cities
The oldest Norwegian cities probably emerged from the end of the 9th century. Oslo, Bergen and Nidaros became episcopal seats, which stimulated urban development there, and the king built churches in Borg , Konghelle and Tønsberg. Hamar and Stavanger became new episcopal seats and are referred to in the late 12th century as towns together with the trading places Veøy in Romsdal and Kaupanger in Sogn. In the late Middle Ages, Borgund (on Sunnmøre), Veøy (in Romsdalsfjorden) and Vågan (in Lofoten) were referred to as small trading places. Urbanization in Norway occurred in few places compared to the neighboring countries, only 14 places appear as cities before 1350. Stavanger became a bishopric around 1120–1130, but it is unclear whether the place was already a city then. The fertile Jæren and outer Ryfylke were probably relatively densely populated at that time. A particularly large concentration of Irish artefacts from the Viking Age has been found in Stavanger and Nord-Jæren.
It has been difficult to estimate the population in the Norwegian medieval cities, but it is considered certain that the cities grew rapidly in the Middle Ages. Oscar Albert Johnsen estimated the city's population before the Black Death at 20,000, of which 7,000 in Bergen, 3,000 in Nidaros, 2,000 in Oslo and 1,500 in Tunsberg. Based on archaeological research, Lunden estimates that Oslo had around 1,500 inhabitants in 250 households in the year 1300. Bergen was built up more densely and, with the concentration of exports there, became Norway's largest city in a special position for several hundred years. Knut Helle suggests a city population of 20,000 at most in the High Middle Ages, of which almost half in Bergen.
The Bjarkøyretten regulated the conditions in cities (especially Bergen and Nidaros) and in trading places, and for Nidaros had many of the same provisions as the Frostating Act . Magnus Lagabøte's city law replaced the bjarkøretten and from 1276 regulated the settlement in Bergen and with corresponding laws also drawn up for Oslo, Nidaros and Tunsberg. The city law applied within the city's roof area . The City Act determined that the city's public streets consisted of wide commons (perpendicular to the shoreline) and ran parallel to the shoreline, similarly in Nidaros and Oslo. The roads were small streets of up to 3 cubits (1.4 metres) and linked to the individual property. From the Middle Ages, the Norwegian cities were usually surrounded by wooden fences. The urban development largely consisted of low wooden houses which stood in contrast to the relatively numerous and dominant churches and monasteries built in stone.
The City Act and supplementary provisions often determined where in the city different goods could be traded, in Bergen, for example, cattle and sheep could only be traded on the Square, and fish only on the Square or directly from the boats at the quayside. In Nidaros, the blacksmiths were required to stay away from the densely populated areas due to the risk of fire, while the tanners had to stay away from the settlements due to the strong smell. The City Act also attempted to regulate the influx of people into the city (among other things to prevent begging in the streets) and had provisions on fire protection. In Oslo, from the 13th century or earlier, it was common to have apartment buildings consisting of single buildings on a couple of floors around a courtyard with access from the street through a gate room. Oslo's medieval apartment buildings were home to one to four households. In the urban farms, livestock could be kept, including pigs and cows, while pastures and fields were found in the city's rooftops . In the apartment buildings there could be several outbuildings such as warehouses, barns and stables. Archaeological excavations show that much of the buildings in medieval Oslo, Trondheim and Tønsberg resembled the oblong farms that have been preserved at Bryggen in Bergen . The land boundaries in Oslo appear to have persisted for many hundreds of years, in Bergen right from the Middle Ages to modern times.
High Middle Ages (1184–1319)
After civil wars in the 12th century, the country had a relative heyday in the 13th century. Iceland and Greenland came under the royal authority in 1262 , and the Norwegian Empire reached its greatest extent under Håkon IV Håkonsson . The last king of Haraldsätten, Håkon V Magnusson , died sonless in 1319 . Until the 17th century, Norway stretched all the way down to the mouth of Göta älv , which was then Norway's border with Sweden and Denmark.
Just before the Black Death around 1350, there were between 65,000 and 85,000 farms in the country, and there had been a strong growth in the number of farms from 1050, especially in Eastern Norway. In the High Middle Ages, the church or ecclesiastical institutions controlled 40% of the land in Norway, while the aristocracy owned around 20% and the king owned 7%. The church and monasteries received land through gifts from the king and nobles, or through inheritance and gifts from ordinary farmers.
Settlement and demography in the Middle Ages
Before the Black Death, there were more and more farms in Norway due to farm division and clearing. The settlement spread to more marginal agricultural areas higher inland and further north. Eastern Norway had the largest areas to take off and had the most population growth towards the High Middle Ages. Along the coast north of Stad, settlement probably increased in line with the extent of fishing. The Icelandic Rimbegla tells around the year 1200 that the border between Finnmark (the land of the Sami) and resident Norwegians in the interior was at Malangen , while the border all the way out on the coast was at Kvaløya . From the end of the High Middle Ages, there were more Norwegians along the coast of Finnmark and Nord-Troms. In the inner forest and mountain tracts along the current border between Norway and Sweden, the Sami exploited the resources all the way down to Hedmark.
There are no censuses or other records of population and settlement in the Middle Ages. At the time of the Reformation, the population was below 200,000 and only in 1650 was the population at the same level as before the Black Death. When Christianity was introduced after the year 1000, the population was around 200,000. After the Black Death, many farms and settlements were abandoned and deserted, in the most marginal agricultural areas up to 80% of the farms were abandoned. Places such as Skien, Veøy and Borgund (Ålesund) went out of use as trading towns. By the year 1300, the population was somewhere between 300,000 and 560,000 depending on the calculation method. Common methods start from detailed information about farms in each village and compare this with the situation in 1660 when there are good headcounts. From 1300 to 1660, there was a change in the economic base so that the coastal villages received a larger share of the population. The inland areas of Eastern Norway had a relatively larger population in the High Middle Ages than after the Reformation. Kåre Lunden concludes that the population in the year 1300 was close to 500,000, of which 15,000 lived in cities. Lunden believes that the population in 1660 was still slightly lower than the peak before the Black Death and points out that farm settlement in 1660 did not reach the same extent as in the High Middle Ages. In 1660, the population in Troms and Finnmark was 6,000 and 3,000 respectively (2% of the total population), in 1300 these areas had an even smaller share of the country's population and in Finnmark there were hardly any Norwegian-speaking inhabitants. In the High Middle Ages, the climate was more favorable for grain cultivation in the north. Based on the number of farms, the population increased 162% from 1000 to 1300, in Northern and Western Europe as a whole the growth was 200% in the same period.
Late Middle Ages (1319–1537)
Due to repeated plague epidemics, the population was roughly halved and the least productive of the country's farms were laid waste. It took several hundred years before the population again reached the level before 1349 . However, those who survived the epidemics gained more financial resources by sharing. Tax revenues for the state almost collapsed, and a large part of the noble families died out or sank into peasan
Odda is a town and administrative center in Ullensvang municipality in Vestland county in Norway. The town is located deep in the Sørfjorden in Hardanger , and has 4,764 inhabitants as of 1 January 2023 . Odda was the administrative center of Odda municipality , which on 1 January 2020 was merged with Jondal and Ullensvang to form the new Ullensvang municipality.
In 2009 , the industrial heritage in Odda-Tyssedal was listed on Norway's tentative list for UNESCO's World Heritage List , together with the Rjukan–Notodden industrial heritage .
Public services
Odda hospital is a local hospital for the municipalities of Eidfjord, Jondal, Odda and Ullensvang.
Odda secondary school offers both vocational and study specialist educations.
Business
Odda is known as an industrial location, with companies such as Odda Smelteverk , Boliden Odda (formerly Norzink ) and Tinfos Titan & Iron (TTI).
History
Tourism and hotel management
Before industrial activity in Odda began around 1910, Odda was a popular tourist destination which, among other things, attracted many foreigners who wanted to experience the scenic area with glaciers, fjords and waterfalls. This laid the foundation for several people to start hotel operations on the site.
Some of the most popular destinations for tourists visiting Odda were Låtefossen and Espelandsfossen .
Shuttle station, steamship wharf and steamship expedition
Baard Jakobsen Aga (1812–1895) received a merchant license in Odda in 1861, and in 1864 took over the shuttle station that was in operation in Odda. Then he secured a new plot of land where he built a hotel which was called alternately Prestegårds Hotel and Agas Hotel. In 1868 he became a post opener and steamship dispatcher, and he then had a steamship wharf and dispatch house built at Almerket. He had previously expanded the hotel business, but in 1888 he inaugurated a new hotel building, the "new Agas Hotel". In the 20th century, the large hotel building was used for other purposes, including Rita's bakery, which led to the building being called "Ritagården" colloquially. Agas Hotel/Ritagården was demolished in 1978.
From guest house to Hotel Hardanger
The start of hotel operations at Odda occurred around 1845, when a man named Monsen started an inn on the site. Monsen went bankrupt in the 1860s, and the inn was bought by a man named Wetshus. He continued to run the hotel business. After Wetshus had died, the two brothers Sven and Mikal Tollefsen became his successors in the early 1880s, with financial support from a rich Englishman. The Tollefsen brothers carried out a major renovation of the former guest house. When Sven Tollefsen died, Mikal Tollefsen became the hotel's sole owner.
Tollefsen also bought Agas Hotel, which Baard Jakobsen Aga had started.
On 9 August 1895, the then Hotel Hardanger was completely damaged in a fire. The fire started in Hotel Hardanger, but 7–8 neighboring buildings also caught fire. It was said that the fire was caused by the maid of an English hotel guest having left a candle or a kerosene lamp by an open window, and that the curtain had caught fire - as it was very hot most of the windows in the hotel were open, and this caused the fire to spread with great speed. The fire started at 12 o'clock in the morning.
The commander and crew of the steamship "Vega" - which happened to be docked in Odda when the fire started - managed to put out the fire(s) within three hours using fire-fighting equipment from the ship. Among other things, they managed to save the post office, while the telegraph building was lost. The competing Jordals Hotel, which was run by Jacob Jordal, was also saved.
Hotel Hardanger was insured, and Bergens Tidende wrote that the insurance sum was NOK 90,000, but also published an anonymous source's assessment that the hotel complex was worth NOK 200,000–250,000, and that the owner - Mikal Tollefsen - had probably suffered a significant financial loss due to underinsurance. No people were injured in the fire.
Shortly after the fire in 1895, Tollefsen started building a new and larger hotel on the site of the fire. The new hotel was completed on 24 June 1896, and had 170 hotel beds in 110 guest rooms. Architecturally, it was a mixture of Swiss style and dragon style, with towers and projections.
Hardanger Hotel is mentioned, among other things, in a French travelogue published in 1897.
In 1913, the owner of Hotel Hardanger filed a claim for damages against the two factories - a cyanamide factory and a carbide factory - which had started up in Odda a few years earlier, because the factory operation caused such great pollution and bad odors that it affected the hotel operation. The provisions of the Neighborhood Act were the legal basis for the lawsuit. The court agreed with the plaintiff that the two factories were obliged to pay compensation for inconvenience and losses that the hotel had suffered after 2 August 1911, but not because Odda had become less idyllic and thus attractive to tourists. The compensation sum was to be determined after an appraisal had been carried out , and the result of the appraisal was not available until 1922. By then both factories had gone bankrupt, and hotel owner Mikal Tollefsen had died.
Hotel Hardanger becomes a town hall
In 1917, the municipality bought the Hotel Hardanger, to convert the building into a town hall . The hotel had then been almost empty all year round, because the industrial activity on the site had meant that the tourists did not show up. [9]
The hotel's so-called "Kongerom" was converted into a chairman's office and lord's boardroom. Eventually, the new town hall also accommodated a number of other businesses, such as a cinema, police station, doctor's office and bank. The old hotel was in use as Odda Town Hall until a new building was inaugurated in 1957; from then on, the former Hotel Hardanger was referred to as Odda old town hall . This building was demolished in 1976.
Jordals Hotel becomes Hardanger Hotel
In 1917, Jordals Hotel was bought by the Melkeraaen family, who continued to run the hotel for 68 years. Along the way, they changed the name of the hotel to Hardanger Hotel.
The Hardanger Hotel, which was a wooden Swiss-style building, was demolished in 1962, and a new five-story hotel building was inaugurated on 1 July 1963.
From tourism to industrial site
Factories and smelters
At the beginning of the 20th century, two factories were started in Odda. On one, cyanamide was produced, and on the other, carbide was produced .
In 1908, the operation of the first factory that was to be part of Odda Smelteverk , a carbide factory owned by a British company, began. In 1909, another British company started production of calcium cyanamide in the same area as the first factory. The reason why Odda was interesting for the foreign companies was the access to large amounts of hydropower and ice-free ports.
Both factories went bankrupt in 1921 , in connection with the worldwide economic crisis that occurred in the early 1920s. The bankruptcies led to thousands of people becoming unemployed. Both factories started up again in 1924, with Odda Smelteverk A/S as the new owner. This operating company was established by the power company Tyssefaldene and the Hafslund/Meraker group.
The cyanamide factory was built on in the 1930s.
At the smelter, the so-called Odda process was developed by chief chemist Erling Johnson in 1927–1928; it is a chemical process based on nitric acid for the industrial production of three-sided artificial fertilizer with the sub-components nitrogen , phosphorus and potassium .
Preservation decision and dispute over conservation value
In 2011 , the National Archives decided to protect several of the smelter's buildings and facilities, and to include the smelter in the Norwegian application to UNESCO for world heritage status for Norwegian industrial monuments. In 2013, however, the Ministry of the Environment decided that the series nomination should be split into two phases, 1. application for Rjukan/Notodden to be submitted to UNESCO in January 2014, and phase 2, that work be continued on expanding the nomination to include Odda/ Tyssedal with eventual submission to UNESCO in January 2016.
The owners of the smelter site objected to the conservation decision made in 2011, but the decision was upheld in 2012. The conservation included the cyanamide factory, the cable car, the Linde house (named after the German inventor Carl von Linde ) and the limestone silo on the import quay. Over the years, there has been much controversy in Odda about whether the smelter's buildings and facilities should be preserved or removed.
Cultural life
Music and theater
Tyssedalkoret and Odda Songlag are two choirs that come from Odda municipality. The water power and industrial history of the area here was documented in the performance and the DVD ``Arven'', performed by Tyssedalkoret with band and soloists in autumn 2004 and released on DVD in Christmas 2005. In addition these two choirs have the bands Odda Musikklag , Odda Skolekorps and Røldal Skolemusiklag. The blues team Lokst Utøve has 272 members. The Blueslaget received the culture award for 2009 for their great work as concert/festival organisers, volunteer workers and inspirers for bands and soloists. In 2011, Erlend Garatun Huus published the book Rock og Røyk , which is about the history of rock in Odda.
At the closed smelter (2001), the old "Lindehuset" has been used for theater and concert activities. The theater play Bikebubesong , based on the Oddingen Frode Grytten's novel Bikubesong , was performed in this venue in 2003 with great success. The play's performance in Oslo has been the most watched contemporary drama in Norwegian history.
A key cultural player in Odda is the company Oddakonsertene, led by Gunn Gravdal Elton. In April 2019, the Odda concerts staged the musical Albert og Leonie , a story about how Odda arose as an industrial community. The musical was a huge success with sold-out houses. 2,600 people queued to see and hear the story. The director was Martine Bakken Lundberg. The main roles were played by André Søfteland and Lene Kokai Flage. Over 60 amateurs were on stage. Albert and Leonie was planned to be staged again in 2020 and 2021, but had to be canceled due to the corona pandemic .
The odd concerts started in 2005 and as of 2019 have staged more than 60 concerts. All have been sold out. The most popular concerts are the annual Christmas concerts, which gather over 1,000 listeners. The traditional Christmas concert in Odda church with a large ensemble and two to three concerts in a row officially ended in 2019, but a simplified version was arranged in 2020, with concerts in Skare and Odda churches.
The Literature Symposium
From 2005, a festival called the Literature Symposium in Odda has been organized every autumn . The Linden house at the defunct Smelteverket, Odda cinema, Sentralbadet, Odda church are some of the venues at the symposium. Previously, there was every year "Bikubegang" with Frode Grytten , where he told about the story behind the book "Bikubesong", while he wandered around Odda. The literary symposium also has concerts, often in connection with an author/musician or individual artists. During the Literary Symposium 2011, the Sentralbadet Litteraturhus opened in the old bathroom at the closed Smelteverket, and this has become headquarters for the symposium, as well as a permanent house for literary events all year round.
As of 2010, a major rehabilitation/remodeling of Lindehuset was planned, so that the building would be better suited for events such as concerts and theater performances.
The National Antiquities' "Value creation project"
Odda is one of the pilot projects in the Value Creation Project for the National Archives.
TV shows
The actions in the TV series RIP Henry and Ragnarok have been added to Odda, and are recorded there. In Ragnarok, on the other hand, the city goes by the name Edda .
Known oddities
Samson Isberg (1795–1873), sharpshooter
Knud Knudsen (photographer) (1832–1915)
Gro Holm , born Prestgarden (1878–1949), writer
Alfred Hagn (1882–1958), painter, writer and spy.
Claes Gill (1910–1973), writer, actor and theater manager
Torbjørn Mork (1928–1992), doctor, politician ( Ap ), director of health 1972–1992
Walther Aas (1928–1990), artist
Roger Albertsen , (1957–2003), footballer
Anne B. Ragde (born 1957), writer, (raised in Trondheim)
Arne Borgstrøm (born 1959), elite long-distance swimmer
Frode Grytten (born 1960), author
Lars Ove Seljestad (born 1961), author
Bjørn Ingvaldsen (born 1962), author, leader of Norwegian Children's and Young People's Book Writers
Hallgeir Opedal (born 1965), writer and journalist
Børge Brende (born 1965), politician ( H ), former secretary general of the Norwegian Red Cross , minister of foreign affairs
Ida Melbo Øystese (born 1968), chief of police in Oslo from 2023.
Knut Olav Åmås (born 1968), author, editor, director of the foundation Fritt Ord
Leif Einar Lothe (born 1969), entrepreneur, singer, TV profile
Marit Eikemo (born 1971), writer
Tore Aurstad (born 1972), author
Ingvill Måkestad Bovim (born 1981), athlete
Håkon Opdal (born 1982), footballer
Ingvild Skare Thygesen (born 1993), TV profile
The Sognefjord is Norway's longest and deepest fjord with its 205 km and 1303 m at its deepest (SNL states 1308), including Sognesjøen which is at the far end towards the North Sea. The Sognefjord has the deepest point on Norway's coast. The fjord is 176–180 km from the innermost Lusterfjorden ( Skjolden ) to Sognefest , and 206 km to the outermost reef (then Lake Sognesjøen is also included). The width varies from around 1 to 2 km in Lusterfjorden to 4–5 km from Leikanger and beyond. Measured from the threshold to Skjolden, the fjord is 174 km. The middle part of the fjord is surrounded by mountains of around 1000 meters and in the inner part the height difference between the bottom of the fjord and the mountain tops is 3500 metres. The highest peak right by the fjord is Bleia at 1,721 metres, which gives a 2,850 meter height difference. Around the inner part of the fjord, the landscape is alpine with pointed mountain peaks, steep mountain sides and glaciers. As an extension of the fjord arms, long and deep valleys extend in all directions, including Jostedalen , Lærdalen and Årdal with Utladalen . The Sognefjord is the world's longest open (ice-free) fjord. The Sognefjord is the world's third longest fjord.
It is located in the middle of Vestland county (formerly Sogn og Fjordane county to which it helped give its name) and stretches from Solund on the coast in the west to Skjolden at the foot of Jotunheimen in the east (northeast), where the fjord arm is called Lustrafjorden . The fjord and the land around it make up the Sogn region, often divided into Outer, Midtre and Indre Sogn. The length from Rutletangen to Skjolden is 186 km . Sogn makes up almost 60% of the area in Sogn and Fjordane, or around 11,000 km 2 . The twelve municipalities in Sogn have a total area of 10,671.55 km² and 37,063 inhabitants (1 January 2014). The land around the inner part of the fjord is called Indre Sogn and includes the long fjord arms. From Leikanger onwards, the country is called Ytre Sogn . The outer part of the fjord has few and small fjord arms. The fjord arms are like hanging valleys under water in that the bottom in the side fjords is often much shallower than the main fjord with a height difference of over 1,000 meters in some cases. The main fjord has a threshold at its mouth to the sea, while several of the side fjords have thresholds at the mouth of the main fjord.
The Sognefjord cuts so deeply into the country that it is only 15 km from the innermost arm at Skjolden to mountain peaks such as Store Skagastølstind in Jotunheimen. The water flow usually exits the fjord. The rivers create sandbanks where they run into the fjord, for example at Gudvangen, in Lærdal and in Gaupne. These sandbars are constantly expanding and changing shape.
The Sognefjord, especially the inner part, is surrounded by mountain massifs which are alpine in the inner part and more rounded in the outer part. The innermost arms of the fjord continue as deep and sometimes long valleys, including Lærdal , Årdal with Utladalen , Nærøydalen , Sogndalsdalen , Fjærland , Fortunsdalen , Aurlandsdalen and Jostedalen . The transition between the fjord and these valleys is determined by sea level, and the boundary has moved outwards at the uplift. Some of the side valleys, such as Vik and Fresvik, would have been hanging valleys in the same way as the Feigedalen if the Sognefjord was drained.
Name
Amund Helland writes " The Sognefjord's real name is Sogn , while Sogn is now used only for the surrounding landscape, and was thus already used in the Middle Ages. As a landscape name, the name is a masculine word and has undoubtedly been so as a fjord name as well." The name is connected to the word "suction", which probably refers to the suction or the difficult current conditions that are created when the water flows through the fjord mouth and over the threshold.
Geography
Large parts of the fjord are surrounded by steep mountains. Kvamsøy at Balestrand is a small island separated from the mainland by a short, shallow strait. Outside Balestrand there are small fjord arms and at Veganes ( Dragsvik ferry quay ) there is a significant branching with the Fjærlandsfjorden .
Municipalities
Municipalities with shoreline to the fjord, counted from west to east:
Solund
Hyllestad (north side)
Gulen (south side)
Høyanger (on both sides of the main fjord)
Vik (south side)
Sogndal (north side)
Aurland (south side, around the Aurlandsfjord)
Lærdal (south side)
Luster (north side, around Lustrafjorden)
Årdal (around the Årdalsfjord)
Depths
The Sognefjord has only one threshold which is at the mouth and the threshold is around 165 meters deep. The area beyond the threshold is called Sognesjøen , which is sheltered by islands to the north and south; there is no threshold outside Sognesjøen that has free circulation towards the ocean.
From the inner parts at Årdal or Skjolden, the fjord gradually deepens outwards (westwards). Between Fodnes-Mannheller and Rutledal-Rysjedalsvika, the bottom is at least 800 metres. The deepest part is approximately at Åkrestrand and Vadheim. The outer part of the fjord (at Losna and Sula ) has a marked threshold with depths of 100 to 200 metres, where the fjord bed rises abruptly from a depth of 1,200 meters to around 100 meters over a stretch of 5 km at Rutledal. In Lake Sognesjøen there are several small troughs (with depths down to 400-500 metres) with thresholds between them. Across the fjord, the bottom is partly completely flat with less than 1 meter variation in depth over a 2 km cross-section. The bottom is covered by fine material (clay) which at Vangsnes is up to 300 meters thick. Seismic shows that the greatest depth to the bedrock is approximately 1,600 m, but loose masses with a thickness of 200–400 m mean that the fjord bottom is nevertheless flat. Seismic surveys at Vangsnes have revealed a 300 meter thick layer of clay at the bottom.
Between 50 and 180 km from the mouth, the fjord bed is relatively flat. Almost all side fjords form hanging valleys to the main fjord. For example, the mouth of the Fjærlandsfjord is well over 400 meters deep, while the main fjord is close to 1,200 meters deep just outside the mouth. Vadheimfjord's mouth is 400 meters deep, here the greatest depth is over 1300 m. Ikjefjord's mouth is only 50 meters deep close to where the main fjord is at its deepest. In large parts of the fjord, it is "abruptly deep" in that the steep mountain sides continue just as steeply underwater.
In contrast to a number of other fjords, not every single part of the Sognefjord has its own name. Only the outermost part has its own name - Sognesjøen . However, there are many fjord arms. From west to east these are:
Sognesjøen
Straumsfjorden
Bjørnefjorden
Nessefjord
The Sognefjord
Lifjorden
Bøfjorden
The Risnefjord
The Ikjefjord
Vadheimsfjorden
Fuglsetfjorden
Høyangsfjorden
Lånefjorden
The Finnafjord
The Arnafjord
The Inner Fjord
Framfjorden
Vikbukti
The Esefjord
Fjærlandsfjorden
The Vetlefjord
Sværefjorden
The Norafjord
Sogndalsfjorden
Barsnes Fjord
The Eidsfjord
Aurlandsfjorden
The Nærøyfjord
Amla Bay
Lærdalsfjorden
Årdalsfjorden
The Lustrafjord
The Gaupnefjord
Climate and fresh water
The fjord colored by meltwater from the glacier.
Terrain formations and distance to the sea lead to great variations in climate along the fjord. The outer part has a mild and humid coastal climate, while the innermost part has an inland climate with cold and dry winters.
The amount of precipitation decreases strongly inwards into the fjord. Lærdal lies in the rain shadow and has very little rainfall, while west-facing slopes further out have a lot of rainfall and there the rainfall often increases with altitude. Brekke and Takle in Ytre Parish are among the places in Norway with the most rainfall. North of the Sognefjord lies the Jostedalsbreen, Norway's largest glacier, and parts of the meltwater drain into the Sognefjord. Wind conditions are strongly influenced by terrain formations. In winter, the dominant wind direction is out the fjord or out the side valleys in the form of so-called downwinds . Fall winds can be very strong and have a major impact on cooling and icing. The slopes and valleys along the inner parts of the fjord have a partially mild climate and are fertile, which makes the area suitable for growing fruit and berries, among other things. The slopes along the fjord partly have large conifer forests, including in the roadless area of Frønningen .
The fjord receives fresh water mainly from the rivers and very little precipitation directly on the fjord's water surface. In the inner part of the Sognefjord, the total supply of fresh water during one year corresponds to a depth of 33 meters if it were distributed over the entire area of the fjord. In spring and partly in autumn, the top 2-3 meters of the fjord are brackish water , especially in the side fjords. The salt content in the surface is lowest in summer and autumn. In June 1954, for example, 5 ‰ salt was measured in the uppermost meters of the Lustrafjord, while at great depths it was 34.5 ‰. Regulation of the waterways for power production has led to a larger proportion of fresh water flowing into the fjord in the winter. The most extensive regulation is in Aurland, Lærdal, Årdal and Jostedal. Regulations affect temperature in the surface layer and icing. In the inner part of the fjord, the rivers are fed by high mountains and glaciers.
The rivers Lærdalselvi , Aurlandselvi , Flåmselvi , Mørkridselvi , Henjaelvi , Grindselvi , Hamreelvi , Njøsaelvi , Kvinnafossen , Sogndalselvi and Jostedøla flow into the Sognefjord and normally have spring floods in June. [3] Lærdalselva has the largest catchment, followed by Jostedøla and Aurlandselva, and these three have roughly the same water flow (around 40 m 3 /second). The Årdalsvatnet drains to the Sognefjord through the short Åreidselva or Hæreidselvi through the Årdalstangen . The Eidsvatnet in Luster drains into the Sognefjord just by Mørkridselvi in Skjolden . Regulation of the waterways for hydropower has resulted in a more steady supply of fresh water throughout the year. Without regulation, 92% of the fresh water would have been supplied in the summer half-year from May to October. Several of the large rivers flow into fjord arms.
Geology
The bedrock along the outer and middle part of the fjord consists mostly of Precambrian gneiss with orientation east-west and northeast-southwest. The islands of Solund consist mostly of Devonian sandstone and conglomerates , while the interior (eastern part) consists mostly of Caledonian gabbro , anorthosite , granite and phyllite .
Jostedøla's material transport (in the form of sludge) involves sedimentation in the Gaupnefjord of 10 to 20 cm/year near the river basin, and 1 cm/year 2 km from the river basin. The river transports 50,000 to 100,000 tonnes of silt annually. The sludge concentration from Jostedøla is at most 1 g/litre. It is particularly at Gaupne that the meltwater from the glaciers is marked by the color of the water.
Icing
According to Helland, it was common for the ice to settle on several of the fjord arms every winter, including on Aurlandsfjorden, Nærøyfjorden and Årdalsfjorden. In the winter of 1888–1889, Lusterfjorden was iced over for six months straight. In the deepest parts of the Sognefjord, there is a year-round temperature of around 6.5 °C, according to Helland. Outer parts are almost never iced over, not even the side fjords. The inner parts can be frozen for several weeks at a stretch. Among other things, inner parts of the Aurlandsfjorden and the Nærøyfjorden freeze easily. Lærdalsfjorden is usually ice-free except for the very innermost part, while it has happened that Årdalsfjorden has been iced up to Ofredal and has been an obstacle to ship traffic. Historically, Lustrafjorden has often been iced over as far as Urnes. The Barsnesfjorden has often been covered with ice. In the Nærøyfjord it happened (among other things in the 1920s and in 1962) that the liner was unable to enter the fjord due to ice and had to dispatch at the ice edge.
Streams
In the Sognefjord, incoming current is hardly noticeable and is most noticeable in strong westerly winds. Outgoing current dominates and is particularly strong in spring and summer. At strong tides, the tidal flow can reach over 1 m/s (2 knots ) around the pier and headland. The Sognefjord is covered by a layer or stream of brackish water of up to 10 meters (varying with the seasons and supply from the rivers). Beneath the brackish water, a current or intermediate layer at a depth of 150 meters goes in and out of the fjord and below this lies the main basin, which has some connection with the ocean beyond the threshold. Together, these three currents contribute to the fact that the water in the fjord is replaced on average within 8-10 years, so that the fjord has life right down to the bottom. The brackish water layer has less density and therefore does not mix easily with the deeper layers. The brackish water that flows out of the fjord slowly mixes with the layer below so that the salt content increases at the same time as the brackish water layer increases up to 10 times the amount of fresh water supplied. The brackish water that flows towards the mouth must be replaced and sets up an incoming current in a slightly deeper layer.
Fish
The Sognefjord has herring and good sprat fishing . In the outer parts of the fjord, salmon has traditionally been fished with wedge nets . Salmon warp or "sitjenet" is a traditional method of salmon fishing and skilled players could catch a lot of fish with this method. Hook nets and drift nets have dominated in modern times and do not require the same active fishing as warp . The salmon's migration in the fjord is controlled by currents on the surface and the warps are placed where there are favorable current conditions where, due to the current, the salmon are driven close to land on their way into the fjord. In Leikanger and Balestrand there are many good places for sitejnot with Suppham being by far the best. Good salmon rivers such as Lærdalselva, Aurlandselva and Årøyelva flow into the Sognefjorden.
In the outer part of the fjord (Gulen and Solund) there is some fish farming. Several of the waterways are known for good salmon and sea trout fishing , and five of the rivers have been designated as national salmon rivers. Lærdalselva has a salmon-carrying stretch and has had by far the largest population. Aurlandselva has historically had a good catch of sea trout. The Sognefjord is among the most important in Norway for anadromous fish species. Norwegian spring-spawning herring are fished in the fjord, especially in the outer parts, as well as some coastal sprat.
In the Sognefjord there are plankton algae which in other Norwegian waters and the occurrence follows the seasons. In general, there is little occurrence in winter due to low light, diatoms bloom in March-April and are dependent on the supply of nutrient salts, in May-June diatoms and flagellates bloom in connection with the spring flood, in summer there is a varying population, new blooms in the autumn in connection with, among other things, floods, and married species can occur all year round.
Tourism
The Sognefjord was established as a tourist destination in the 19th century, among other things, with the establishment of Fylkesbåtane. One of the targets was Gudvangen, which in 1889 received 79 large tourist ships with a total of over 10,000 passengers. In 1889, 4,500 travelers came with the county boats. The German Emperor Wilhelm visited the Sognefjord and Balestrand for the first time in 1890. The emperor subsequently visited the Sognefjord 25 times. The fjord itself and the surrounding area with Jotunheimen, Jostedalsbreen and several stave churches have made the Sognefjord one of Norway's most prominent tourist destinations. Balestrand, Vangsnes, Aurland and Fjærland were among the early destinations for English tourists in the 19th century.
History
It has been the Guest of Death
It has sailed on a Torden
It is christened in Rædsler vorden
that has plowed the Sognefjord
from Forthun to Sognefæst.
If you have forgotten your Lord's Prayer,
do you remember a prayer to pray:
learn it from the wrath of God!
imagine, Sinder, then present
in a Bath on Sognefjord!
Henrik Wergeland
The Sognefjord has been an important transport artery since ancient times. The gulation was probably held near the mouth of the Sognefjord and probably because it was practical to hold the meeting where the ship lay along the coast met the great fjord. From the innermost arms of the fjord it is a relatively short distance to the inland villages of Eastern Norway, particularly through Lærdal to Valdres over the moderate mountain pass Filefjell . Lærdalsøyri was from the 17th century an important market and meeting place. There, farmers from Valdres, Hallingdal and Gudbrandsdalen sold slaughter, tar and other products from the interior and bought fish, salt, hemp and iron from the fjords and from Bergen. Around 1300, the authorities established a shuttle station at Maristova at the entrance to Filefjell. The first drivable road between east and west was built over Filefjell in 1792. From 1843 the paddle steamer "Constitutionen" plyed the route between Bergen and Lærdal, the county boats took over the route in 1857. The road over the Sognefjellet was built as a carriageway in 1938. The Flåmsbana connected the Sognefjord to the railway network in 1940. Stalheimskleivi , between Voss and Sogn, was built in 1850 and turned into a road in 1937. It has made it possible to transport agricultural products , fruit , berries and fish between the villages in Sogn and Bergen .
From 1785, the Trondhjem postal route crossed the Sognefjord by boat between Rutledal and Leirvik in Hyllestad . In 1647, a postal route was established between Bergen and Christiania. The post then took 7-8 days via Gudvangen, Lærdal and Valdres.
It was difficult to get to the Sognefjord by sailboat and the yachts could lie for many days or several weeks at the mouth waiting for favorable wind conditions. East wind was favorable out of the fjord, while south to Bergen, wind from the north or north-west was needed. To enter the fjord, a wind from the west was necessary. The steam and motor boats revolutionized transport on the fjord and these had completely taken over in the early 20th century The county boats were established in 1858 with boat routes on the Sognefjord and to Bergen as an important activity.
In 1934, a ferry route was established along the fjord from Vadheim to Lærdal. From 1939 until the Lærdal tunnel opened, there was a car ferry between Gudvangen and Lærdal - first the ferry went to Lærdalsøyri itself, from 1966 to Revsnes when a road was built there to shorten the ferry route. In the 1990s, the ferry connection Revsnes-Kaupanger was replaced by Mannheller-Fodnes , and after this Kaupanger has only been used by the tourist route Gudvangen-Kaupanger-Lærdal. The road system between Sogndal and Jølster on national highway 5 , including the Fjærlands tunnel , created a ferry-free road connection on the north side of the fjord.
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic , European country and an independent state in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula . Geographically speaking, the country is long and narrow, and on the elongated coast towards the North Atlantic are Norway's well-known fjords . The Kingdom of Norway includes the main country (the mainland with adjacent islands within the baseline ), Jan Mayen and Svalbard . With these two Arctic areas, Norway covers a land area of 385,000 km² and has a population of approximately 5.5 million (2023). Mainland Norway borders Sweden in the east , Finland and Russia in the northeast .
Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , where Harald V has been king and head of state since 1991 , and Jonas Gahr Støre ( Ap ) has been prime minister since 2021 . Norway is a unitary state , with two administrative levels below the state: counties and municipalities . The Sami part of the population has, through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act , to a certain extent self-government and influence over traditionally Sami areas. Although Norway has rejected membership of the European Union through two referendums , through the EEA Agreement Norway has close ties with the Union, and through NATO with the United States . Norway is a significant contributor to the United Nations (UN), and has participated with soldiers in several foreign operations mandated by the UN. Norway is among the states that have participated from the founding of the UN , NATO , the Council of Europe , the OSCE and the Nordic Council , and in addition to these is a member of the EEA , the World Trade Organization , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is part of the Schengen area .
Norway is rich in many natural resources such as oil , gas , minerals , timber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . Since the beginning of the 20th century, these natural conditions have given the country the opportunity for an increase in wealth that few other countries can now enjoy, and Norwegians have the second highest average income in the world, measured in GDP per capita, as of 2022. The petroleum industry accounts for around 14% of Norway's gross domestic product as of 2018. Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and gas per capita outside the Middle East. However, the number of employees linked to this industry fell from approx. 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015.
In Norway, these natural resources have been managed for socially beneficial purposes. The country maintains a welfare model in line with the other Nordic countries. Important service areas such as health and higher education are state-funded, and the country has an extensive welfare system for its citizens. Public expenditure in 2018 is approx. 50% of GDP, and the majority of these expenses are related to education, healthcare, social security and welfare. Since 2001 and until 2021, when the country took second place, the UN has ranked Norway as the world's best country to live in . From 2010, Norway is also ranked at the top of the EIU's democracy index . Norway ranks third on the UN's World Happiness Report for the years 2016–2018, behind Finland and Denmark , a report published in March 2019.
The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles , Lithuanians , Norwegian-Swedes , Norwegian-Syrians including Syrian Kurds and Norwegian-Pakistani .
Norway's national day is 17 May, on this day in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution was dated and signed by the presidency of the National Assembly at Eidsvoll . It is stipulated in the law of 26 April 1947 that 17 May are national public holidays. The Sami national day is 6 February. "Yes, we love this country" is Norway's national anthem, the song was written in 1859 by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910).
Norway's history of human settlement goes back at least 10,000 years, to the Late Paleolithic , the first period of the Stone Age . Archaeological finds of settlements along the entire Norwegian coast have so far been dated back to 10,400 before present (BP), the oldest find is today considered to be a settlement at Pauler in Brunlanes , Vestfold .
For a period these settlements were considered to be the remains of settlers from Doggerland , an area which today lies beneath the North Sea , but which was once a land bridge connecting today's British Isles with Danish Jutland . But the archaeologists who study the initial phase of the settlement in what is today Norway reckon that the first people who came here followed the coast along what is today Bohuslân. That they arrived in some form of boat is absolutely certain, and there is much evidence that they could easily move over large distances.
Since the last Ice Age, there has been continuous settlement in Norway. It cannot be ruled out that people lived in Norway during the interglacial period , but no trace of such a population or settlement has been found.
The Stone Age lasted a long time; half of the time that our country has been populated. There are no written accounts of what life was like back then. The knowledge we have has been painstakingly collected through investigations of places where people have stayed and left behind objects that we can understand have been processed by human hands. This field of knowledge is called archaeology . The archaeologists interpret their findings and the history of the surrounding landscape. In our country, the uplift after the Ice Age is fundamental. The history of the settlements at Pauler is no more than fifteen years old.
The Fosna culture settled parts of Norway sometime between 10,000–8,000 BC. (see Stone Age in Norway ). The dating of rock carvings is set to Neolithic times (in Norway between 4000 BC to 1700 BC) and show activities typical of hunters and gatherers .
Agriculture with livestock and arable farming was introduced in the Neolithic. Swad farming where the farmers move when the field does not produce the expected yield.
More permanent and persistent farm settlements developed in the Bronze Age (1700 BC to 500 BC) and the Iron Age . The earliest runes have been found on an arrowhead dated to around 200 BC. Many more inscriptions are dated to around 800, and a number of petty kingdoms developed during these centuries. In prehistoric times, there were no fixed national borders in the Nordic countries and Norway did not exist as a state. The population in Norway probably fell to year 0.
Events in this time period, the centuries before the year 1000, are glimpsed in written sources. Although the sagas were written down in the 13th century, many hundreds of years later, they provide a glimpse into what was already a distant past. The story of the fimbul winter gives us a historical picture of something that happened and which in our time, with the help of dendrochronology , can be interpreted as a natural disaster in the year 536, created by a volcanic eruption in El Salvador .
In the period between 800 and 1066 there was a significant expansion and it is referred to as the Viking Age . During this period, Norwegians, as Swedes and Danes also did, traveled abroad in longships with sails as explorers, traders, settlers and as Vikings (raiders and pirates ). By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingship had been firmly established, building its right as descendants of Harald Hårfagre and then as heirs of Olav the Holy . The Norwegian kings, and their subjects, now professed Christianity . In the time around Håkon Håkonsson , in the time after the civil war , there was a small renaissance in Norway with extensive literary activity and diplomatic activity with Europe. The black dew came to Norway in 1349 and killed around half of the population. The entire state apparatus and Norway then entered a period of decline.
Between 1396 and 1536, Norway was part of the Kalmar Union , and from 1536 until 1814 Norway had been reduced to a tributary part of Denmark , named as the Personal Union of Denmark-Norway . This staff union entered into an alliance with Napoléon Bonaparte with a war that brought bad times and famine in 1812 . In 1814, Denmark-Norway lost the Anglophone Wars , part of the Napoleonic Wars , and the Danish king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January of that year. After a Norwegian attempt at independence, Norway was forced into a loose union with Sweden, but where Norway was allowed to create its own constitution, the Constitution of 1814 . In this period, Norwegian, romantic national feeling flourished, and the Norwegians tried to develop and establish their own national self-worth. The union with Sweden was broken in 1905 after it had been threatened with war, and Norway became an independent kingdom with its own monarch, Haakon VII .
Norway remained neutral during the First World War , and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Norway again declared itself neutral, but was invaded by National Socialist Germany on 9 April 1940 .
Norway became a member of the Western defense alliance NATO in 1949 . Two attempts to join the EU were voted down in referendums by small margins in 1972 and 1994 . Norway has been a close ally of the United States in the post-war period. Large discoveries of oil and natural gas in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s led to tremendous economic growth in the country, which is still ongoing. Traditional industries such as fishing are also part of Norway's economy.
Stone Age (before 1700 BC)
When most of the ice disappeared, vegetation spread over the landscape and due to a warm climate around 2000-3000 BC. the forest grew much taller than in modern times. Land uplift after the ice age led to a number of fjords becoming lakes and dry land. The first people probably came from the south along the coast of the Kattegat and overland into Finnmark from the east. The first people probably lived by gathering, hunting and trapping. A good number of Stone Age settlements have been found which show that such hunting and trapping people stayed for a long time in the same place or returned to the same place regularly. Large amounts of gnawed bones show that they lived on, among other things, reindeer, elk, small game and fish.
Flintstone was imported from Denmark and apart from small natural deposits along the southern coast, all flintstone in Norway is transported by people. At Espevær, greenstone was quarried for tools in the Stone Age, and greenstone tools from Espevær have been found over large parts of Western Norway. Around 2000-3000 BC the usual farm animals such as cows and sheep were introduced to Norway. Livestock probably meant a fundamental change in society in that part of the people had to be permanent residents or live a semi-nomadic life. Livestock farming may also have led to conflict with hunters.
The oldest traces of people in what is today Norway have been found at Pauler , a farm in Brunlanes in Larvik municipality in Vestfold . In 2007 and 2008, the farm has given its name to a number of Stone Age settlements that have been excavated and examined by archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum at UiO. The investigations have been carried out in connection with the new route for the E18 motorway west of Farris. The oldest settlement, located more than 127 m above sea level, is dated to be about 10,400 years old (uncalibrated, more than 11,000 years in real calendar years). From here, the ice sheet was perhaps visible when people settled here. This locality has been named Pauler I, and is today considered to be the oldest confirmed human traces in Norway to date. The place is in the mountains above the Pauler tunnel on the E18 between Larvik and Porsgrunn . The pioneer settlement is a term archaeologists have adopted for the oldest settlement. The archaeologists have speculated about where they came from, the first people in what is today Norway. It has been suggested that they could come by boat or perhaps across the ice from Doggerland or the North Sea, but there is now a large consensus that they came north along what is today the Bohuslän coast. The Fosna culture , the Komsa culture and the Nøstvet culture are the traditional terms for hunting cultures from the Stone Age. One thing is certain - getting to the water was something they mastered, the first people in our country. Therefore, within a short time they were able to use our entire long coast.
In the New Stone Age (4000 BC–1700 BC) there is a theory that a new people immigrated to the country, the so-called Stone Ax People . Rock carvings from this period show motifs from hunting and fishing , which were still important industries. From this period, a megalithic tomb has been found in Østfold .
It is uncertain whether there were organized societies or state-like associations in the Stone Age in Norway. Findings from settlements indicate that many lived together and that this was probably more than one family so that it was a slightly larger, organized herd.
Finnmark
In prehistoric times, animal husbandry and agriculture were of little economic importance in Finnmark. Livelihoods in Finnmark were mainly based on fish, gathering, hunting and trapping, and eventually domestic reindeer herding became widespread in the Middle Ages. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age have been referred to as the Komsa culture and comprise around 5,000 years of settlement. Finnmark probably got its first settlement around 8000 BC. It is believed that the coastal areas became ice-free 11,000 years BC and the fjord areas around 9,000 years BC. after which willows, grass, heather, birch and pine came into being. Finnmarksvidda was covered by pine forest around 6000 BC. After the Ice Age, the land rose around 80 meters in the inner fjord areas (Alta, Tana, Varanger). Due to ice melting in the polar region, the sea rose in the period 6400–3800 BC. and in areas with little land elevation, some settlements from the first part of the Stone Age were flooded. On Sørøya, the net sea level rise was 12 to 14 meters and many residential areas were flooded.
According to Bjørnar Olsen , there are many indications of a connection between the oldest settlement in Western Norway (the " Fosnakulturen ") and that in Finnmark, but it is uncertain in which direction the settlement took place. In the earliest part of the Stone Age, settlement in Finnmark was probably concentrated in the coastal areas, and these only reflected a lifestyle with great mobility and no permanent dwellings. The inner regions, such as Pasvik, were probably used seasonally. The archaeologically proven settlements from the Stone Age in inner Finnmark and Troms are linked to lakes and large watercourses. The oldest petroglyphs in Alta are usually dated to 4200 BC, that is, the Neolithic . Bjørnar Olsen believes that the oldest can be up to 2,000 years older than this.
From around 4000 BC a slow deforestation of Finnmark began and around 1800 BC the vegetation distribution was roughly the same as in modern times. The change in vegetation may have increased the distance between the reindeer's summer and winter grazing. The uplift continued slowly from around 4000 BC. at the same time as sea level rise stopped.
According to Gutorm Gjessing, the settlement in Finnmark and large parts of northern Norway in the Neolithic was semi-nomadic with movement between four seasonal settlements (following the pattern of life in Sami siida in historical times): On the outer coast in summer (fishing and seal catching) and inland in winter (hunting for reindeer, elk and bear). Povl Simonsen believed instead that the winter residence was in the inner fjord area in a village-like sod house settlement. Bjørnar Olsen believes that at the end of the Stone Age there was a relatively settled population along the coast, while inland there was less settlement and a more mobile lifestyle.
Bronze Age (1700 BC–500 BC)
Bronze was used for tools in Norway from around 1500 BC. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper , and these metals were introduced because they were not mined in the country at the time. Bronze is believed to have been a relatively expensive material. The Bronze Age in Norway can be divided into two phases:
Early Bronze Age (1700–1100 BC)
Younger Bronze Age (1100–500 BC)
For the prehistoric (unwritten) era, there is limited knowledge about social conditions and possible state formations. From the Bronze Age, there are large burial mounds of stone piles along the coast of Vestfold and Agder, among others. It is likely that only chieftains or other great men could erect such grave monuments and there was probably some form of organized society linked to these. In the Bronze Age, society was more organized and stratified than in the Stone Age. Then a rich class of chieftains emerged who had close connections with southern Scandinavia. The settlements became more permanent and people adopted horses and ard . They acquired bronze status symbols, lived in longhouses and people were buried in large burial mounds . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age indicate that humans practiced solar cultivation.
Finnmark
In the last millennium BC the climate became cooler and the pine forest disappears from the coast; pine forests, for example, were only found in the innermost part of the Altafjord, while the outer coast was almost treeless. Around the year 0, the limit for birch forest was south of Kirkenes. Animals with forest habitats (elk, bear and beaver) disappeared and the reindeer probably established their annual migration routes sometime at that time. In the period 1800–900 BC there were significantly more settlements in and utilization of the hinterland was particularly noticeable on Finnmarksvidda. From around 1800 BC until year 0 there was a significant increase in contact between Finnmark and areas in the east including Karelia (where metals were produced including copper) and central and eastern Russia. The youngest petroglyphs in Alta show far more boats than the earlier phases and the boats are reminiscent of types depicted in petroglyphs in southern Scandinavia. It is unclear what influence southern Scandinavian societies had as far north as Alta before the year 0. Many of the cultural features that are considered typical Sami in modern times were created or consolidated in the last millennium BC, this applies, among other things, to the custom of burying in brick chambers in stone urns. The Mortensnes burial ground may have been used for 2000 years until around 1600 AD.
Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 1050 AD)
The Einangsteinen is one of the oldest Norwegian runestones; it is from the 4th century
Simultaneous production of Vikings
Around 500 years BC the researchers reckon that the Bronze Age will be replaced by the Iron Age as iron takes over as the most important material for weapons and tools. Bronze, wood and stone were still used. Iron was cheaper than bronze, easier to work than flint , and could be used for many purposes; iron probably became common property. Iron could, among other things, be used to make solid and sharp axes which made it much easier to fell trees. In the Iron Age, gold and silver were also used partly for decoration and partly as means of payment. It is unknown which language was used in Norway before our era. From around the year 0 until around the year 800, everyone in Scandinavia (except the Sami) spoke Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Subsequently, several different languages developed in this area that were only partially mutually intelligible. The Iron Age is divided into several periods:
Early Iron Age
Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 0)
Roman Iron Age (c. 0–c. AD 400)
Migration period (approx. 400–600). In the migration period (approx. 400–600), new peoples came to Norway, and ruins of fortress buildings etc. are interpreted as signs that there has been talk of a violent invasion.
Younger Iron Age
Merovingian period (500–800)
The Viking Age (793–1066)
Norwegian Vikings go on plundering expeditions and trade voyages around the coastal countries of Western Europe . Large groups of Norwegians emigrate to the British Isles , Iceland and Greenland . Harald Hårfagre starts a unification process of Norway late in the 8th century , which was completed by Harald Hardråde in the 1060s . The country was Christianized under the kings Olav Tryggvason , fell in the battle of Svolder ( 1000 ) and Olav Haraldsson (the saint), fell in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 .
Sources of prehistoric times
Shrinking glaciers in the high mountains, including in Jotunheimen and Breheimen , have from around the year 2000 uncovered objects from the Viking Age and earlier. These are objects of organic material that have been preserved by the ice and that elsewhere in nature are broken down in a few months. The finds are getting older as the melting makes the archaeologists go deeper into the ice. About half of all archaeological discoveries on glaciers in the world are made in Oppland . In 2013, a 3,400-year-old shoe and a robe from the year 300 were found. Finds at Lomseggen in Lom published in 2020 revealed, among other things, well-preserved horseshoes used on a mountain pass. Many hundreds of items include preserved clothing, knives, whisks, mittens, leather shoes, wooden chests and horse equipment. A piece of cloth dated to the year 1000 has preserved its original colour. In 2014, a wooden ski from around the year 700 was found in Reinheimen . The ski is 172 cm long and 14 cm wide, with preserved binding of leather and wicker.
Pytheas from Massalia is the oldest known account of what was probably the coast of Norway, perhaps somewhere on the coast of Møre. Pytheas visited Britannia around 325 BC. and traveled further north to a country by the "Ice Sea". Pytheas described the short summer night and the midnight sun farther north. He wrote, among other things, that people there made a drink from grain and honey. Caesar wrote in his work about the Gallic campaign about the Germanic tribe Haruders. Other Roman sources around the year 0 mention the land of the Cimbri (Jutland) and the Cimbri headlands ( Skagen ) and that the sources stated that Cimbri and Charyds lived in this area. Some of these peoples may have immigrated to Norway and there become known as hordes (as in Hordaland). Sources from the Mediterranean area referred to the islands of Scandia, Scandinavia and Thule ("the outermost of all islands"). The Roman historian Tacitus wrote around the year 100 a work about Germania and mentioned the people of Scandia, the Sviones. Ptolemy wrote around the year 150 that the Kharudes (Hordes) lived further north than all the Cimbri, in the north lived the Finnoi (Finns or Sami) and in the south the Gutai (Goths). The Nordic countries and Norway were outside the Roman Empire , which dominated Europe at the time. The Gothic-born historian Jordanes wrote in the 5th century about 13 tribes or people groups in Norway, including raumaricii (probably Romerike ), ragnaricii ( Ranrike ) and finni or skretefinni (skrid finner or ski finner, i.e. Sami) as well as a number of unclear groups. Prokopios wrote at the same time about Thule north of the land of the Danes and Slavs, Thule was ten times as big as Britannia and the largest of all the islands. In Thule, the sun was up 40 days straight in the summer. After the migration period , southern Europeans' accounts of northern Europe became fuller and more reliable.
Settlement in prehistoric times
Norway has around 50,000 farms with their own names. Farm names have persisted for a long time, over 1000 years, perhaps as much as 2000 years. The name researchers have arranged different types of farm names chronologically, which provides a basis for determining when the place was used by people or received a permanent settlement. Uncompounded landscape names such as Haug, Eid, Vik and Berg are believed to be the oldest. Archaeological traces indicate that some areas have been inhabited earlier than assumed from the farm name. Burial mounds also indicate permanent settlement. For example, the burial ground at Svartelva in Løten was used from around the year 0 to the year 1000 when Christianity took over. The first farmers probably used large areas for inland and outland, and new farms were probably established based on some "mother farms". Names such as By (or Bø) show that it is an old place of residence. From the older Iron Age, names with -heim (a common Germanic word meaning place of residence) and -stad tell of settlement, while -vin and -land tell of the use of the place. Farm names in -heim are often found as -um , -eim or -em as in Lerum and Seim, there are often large farms in the center of the village. New farm names with -city and -country were also established in the Viking Age . The first farmers probably used the best areas. The largest burial grounds, the oldest archaeological finds and the oldest farm names are found where the arable land is richest and most spacious.
It is unclear whether the settlement expansion in Roman times, migrations and the Iron Age is due to immigration or internal development and population growth. Among other things, it is difficult to demonstrate where in Europe the immigrants have come from. The permanent residents had both fields (where grain was grown) and livestock that grazed in the open fields, but it is uncertain which of these was more important. Population growth from around the year 200 led to more utilization of open land, for example in the form of settlements in the mountains. During the migration period, it also seems that in parts of the country it became common to have cluster gardens or a form of village settlement.
Norwegian expansion northwards
From around the year 200, there was a certain migration by sea from Rogaland and Hordaland to Nordland and Sør-Troms. Those who moved settled down as a settled Iron Age population and became dominant over the original population which may have been Sami . The immigrant Norwegians, Bumen , farmed with livestock that were fed inside in the winter as well as some grain cultivation and fishing. The northern border of the Norwegians' settlement was originally at the Toppsundet near Harstad and around the year 500 there was a Norwegian settlement to Malangsgapet. That was as far north as it was possible to grow grain at the time. Malangen was considered the border between Hålogaland and Finnmork until around 1400 . Further into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, there was immigration and settlement of Norwegian speakers along the coast north of Malangen. Around the year 800, Norwegians lived along the entire outer coast to Vannøy . The Norwegians partly copied Sami livelihoods such as whaling, fur hunting and reindeer husbandry. It was probably this area between Malangen and Vannøy that was Ottar from the Hålogaland area. In the Viking Age, there were also some Norwegian settlements further north and east. East of the North Cape are the scattered archaeological finds of Norwegian settlement in the Viking Age. There are Norwegian names for fjords and islands from the Viking Age, including fjord names with "-anger". Around the year 1050, there were Norwegian settlements on the outer coast of Western Finnmark. Traders and tax collectors traveled even further.
North of Malangen there were Norse farming settlements in the Iron Age. Malangen was considered Finnmark's western border until 1300. There are some archaeological traces of Norse activity around the coast from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the Viking Age. Around Tromsø, the research indicates a Norse/Sami mixed culture on the coast.
From the year 1100 and the next 200–300 years, there are no traces of Norwegian settlement north and east of Tromsø. It is uncertain whether this is due to depopulation, whether it is because the Norwegians further north were not Christianized or because there were no churches north of Lenvik or Tromsø . Norwegian settlement in the far north appears from sources from the 14th century. In the Hanseatic period , the settlement was developed into large areas specialized in commercial fishing, while earlier (in the Viking Age) there had been farms with a combination of fishing and agriculture. In 1307 , a fortress and the first church east of Tromsø were built in Vardø . Vardø became a small Norwegian town, while Vadsø remained Sami. Norwegian settlements and churches appeared along the outermost coast in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, perhaps as a result of a decline in fish stocks or fish prices, there were Norwegian settlements in the inner fjord areas such as Lebesby in Laksefjord. Some fishing villages at the far end of the coast were abandoned for good. In the interior of Finnmark, there was no national border for a long time and Kautokeino and Karasjok were joint Norwegian-Swedish areas with strong Swedish influence. The border with Finland was established in 1751 and with Russia in 1826.
On a Swedish map from 1626, Norway's border is indicated at Malangen, while Sweden with this map showed a desire to control the Sami area which had been a common area.
The term Northern Norway only came into use at the end of the 19th century and administratively the area was referred to as Tromsø Diocese when Tromsø became a bishopric in 1840. There had been different designations previously: Hålogaland originally included only Helgeland and when Norse settlement spread north in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Hålogaland was used for the area north approximately to Malangen , while Finnmark or "Finnmarken", "the land of the Sami", lay outside. The term Northern Norway was coined at a cafe table in Kristiania in 1884 by members of the Nordlændingernes Forening and was first commonly used in the interwar period as it eventually supplanted "Hålogaland".
State formation
The battle in Hafrsfjord in the year 872 has long been regarded as the day when Norway became a kingdom. The year of the battle is uncertain (may have been 10-20 years later). The whole of Norway was not united in that battle: the process had begun earlier and continued a couple of hundred years later. This means that the geographical area became subject to a political authority and became a political unit. The geographical area was perceived as an area as it is known, among other things, from Ottar from Hålogaland's account for King Alfred of Wessex around the year 880. Ottar described "the land of the Norwegians" as very long and narrow, and it was narrowest in the far north. East of the wasteland in the south lay Sveoland and in the north lay Kvenaland in the east. When Ottar sailed south along the land from his home ( Malangen ) to Skiringssal, he always had Norway ("Nordveg") on his port side and the British Isles on his starboard side. The journey took a good month. Ottar perceived "Nordveg" as a geographical unit, but did not imply that it was a political unit. Ottar separated Norwegians from Swedes and Danes. It is unclear why Ottar perceived the population spread over such a large area as a whole. It is unclear whether Norway as a geographical term or Norwegians as the name of a ethnic group is the oldest. The Norwegians had a common language which in the centuries before Ottar did not differ much from the language of Denmark and Sweden.
According to Sverre Steen, it is unlikely that Harald Hårfagre was able to control this entire area as one kingdom. The saga of Harald was written 300 years later and at his death Norway was several smaller kingdoms. Harald probably controlled a larger area than anyone before him and at most Harald's kingdom probably included the coast from Trøndelag to Agder and Vestfold as well as parts of Viken . There were probably several smaller kingdoms of varying extent before Harald and some of these are reflected in traditional landscape names such as Ranrike and Ringerike . Landscape names of "-land" (Rogaland) and "-mark" (Hedmark) as well as names such as Agder and Sogn may have been political units before Harald.
According to Sverre Steen