KONGERIKET NORGE
Norway is officially called Kongeriket Norge, according to the regulations written in the Norwegian bokmål , " the language of the book " while Kongeriket Noreg is called in the grammar of Nynorsk , the other of the two official Norwegian spellings . In other languages spoken in the country have the following names:
Northern Sami: Norga or Norgga gonagasriika .
Lule SAMICO: Vuodna or Vuona gånågisrijkka .
Southern Sami: Nøørje or Nøørjen gånkarijhke .
Finnish Language: Norja or Norjan kuningaskunta .
Many etymologists believe the country's name comes from the Norse and Germanic languages which means “northern route” or the " way north " that would ancient Norse or Nord Nord Vegri veg . In Old Norse, the name of Norway was Nóreegr in Old Saxon was North weg and mediaeval Latin was Nhorvegia .
The Old Norse and nynorsk have many similarities with ancient Sami word meaning " along the coast " or " along the sea " , which is written in the current nuorrek Lule Sami. The presence of this archaism is used by other scholars to establish that the Sami word is indigenous and was not taken from the north- Germanic languages .
The earliest written evidence of the use of the word " Norway " IX century an Anglo-Saxon translation of a book by Paul Orosius , " Seven Books of History against the pagans." The translation was made by King Alfred the Great of Wessex to include an account of his travels Hålogaland Ohthere of a Viking adventure.
Government
The Palace of the Storting , the Norwegian parliament building .
Norway is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. The duty of the king is mainly ceremonial, but has an influence as the symbol of national unity. Although the constitution of 1814 guarantees important executive powers to the king , these are in almost all cases executed by the state council in the name of the King ( King's Council ) . The State Council, or Cabinet consists of the Prime Minister and his council , appointed by the king . Since 1884, the parliamentary system has ensured that the Board has approved the parliament, so appointments made by the king are a mere formality .
The 165 members of the Norwegian parliament , or Storting are elected from the 19 provinces for terms of four years according to proportional representation . Although a unicameral legislature , to consider or amend legislation , the Norwegian parliament elects a quarter of its members to form an upper house or Lagting , while the other members are a lower house or Odelsting .
Titles of Sovereigns of Norway :
King ( 872 - ) Head of State
Prime Minister ( 1814 - ) Head of Government
Subdivisions
Norway is divided into 19 administrative provinces called fylke (fylker in plural) and 434 municipalities (kommuner).
Akershus, Aust-Agder, Buskerud, Finnmark, Hedmark, Hordaland, Møre og Romsdal
Nordland, Nord-Trøndelag, Oppland, Oslo (capital), Østfold, Rogaland, Sogn og Fjordane, Sør-Trøndelag, Telemark, Troms, Vest-Agder, Vestfold
Geography
Relief
Most of Norway is mountainous, but the mountains are not a mountain but a series of plateaus which have a height between 600-900 meters. The origin of the massif is due to the Caledonian folding.
In short, Norway has three orographic factors from north to south: the Finnmark plateau, mountains and plateaus Kjolen southwestern and southeastern Norway depressions. Galdhopiggen Mount (2469 m) is the highest mountain in Norway and Scandinavia. The ranges of Dovre Kjolen and form the main mountain system of the country, which form a series of plateaus.
Hydrography
Due to the orographic configuration of Norway, the rivers are short, but have a high flow because of the large icy surfaces of the mountains in summer thaw. In Norway the lakes occupy about 7600 km2, amounting to approximately 2% of the total area. In Norway also dominated by fjords and troughs.
Climate
Given that a third of Norway lies in glacial areas and most of it is over 300 meters, it is understood that the Norwegian climate is very cold. But at the same time, Norway is climatologically favored, since in the western region, feels influenced by the Gulf Stream and air currents flowing from the southwest and south, which protect the cold currents of the North Pole.
Economy
Norway has a rich and prosperous economy , combining free market activity and state intervention giving rise to its population living in a welfare state , with low levels of inequality and corruption. The government controls key areas , such as the vital petroleum sector (through large-scale state enterprises ) . The country is widely provided with natural resources - petroleum , hydropower , fish , forests and minerals - and is highly dependent on its oil production and international prices for it, and in 1999 , oil and gas accounted for 35 % of the exports. Only Saudi Arabia and Russia export more oil than Norway, which is outside of OPEC.
Norway opted to stay out of the EU during a referendum in 1972 and again in 1994 . However, Norway , together with Iceland and Liechtenstein , participate in the EU's single market via the European Economic Area agreement . The main reasons that the Norwegian people rejected joining the EU is the great standard of living they enjoy, because of the large production of oil revenues , the Scandinavian country in the EU would grant a role of economic resources to the weaker countries. Moreover, massive whale hunting is something that is frowned upon by the European Union .
The improved economic growth in 2000 to 2.7% , compared with much poorer 0.8 % in 1999 , but fell back to 1.3 % in 2001 . The government moved towards privatization in 2000 , selling a third of the oil company Statoil , until then 100 % state-owned .
Although possibly with the highest quality of life in the world, the Norwegians begin to worry , as it is estimated that within the next two decades, the oil begins to dwindle. Thus Norway has been saving its surplus oil-fueled budget in state oil fund , which is invested abroad and evaluated ( by 2011 ) in about 500 U.S. $ 000 million , this fund invests in sovereign debt from other countries and companies around the world except those engaged in the production of war material .
tourism
From Oslo stands the Royal Palace, Vigeland Park , City Hall, the Viking ship museum , markets port areas , and of course the breathtaking paintings of Edvard Munch, and the nearby Holmenkollen ski jumps , where hosted the Winter Olympic Games 1952 .
The Bryggen in Bergen city is a World Heritage Site . Another important tourist city is Trondheim , where the impressive Cathedral of Nidaros and the houses along the river Nidelva . But surely , if anything the country is famous worldwide are the Norwegian fjords , stunning natural formations sculpted over hundreds of thousands of years by glaciers in the last ice ages and offering visitors a spectacular landscape of mountains, glaciers, lakes, rivers , trees, waterfalls ... , creating one of the world's most breathtaking scenery . They are especially known fjords of Flam , Alesund , Stavanger, Hellesylt , Geiranger , Vik , Trondheim , Andalsnes and Molde ( Romsdalsfjord ) and Oslo ( Vikenfjord ) . You can explore the Norwegian fjords aboard one of the cruise ships that transported every year thousands of travelers from around the world who come to Norway to admire the beauty of these natural monuments.
Demography
At the beginning of 2012 , Norway had a population of 5,033,675 inhabitants. Life expectancy is 79.6 years . The average number of children per woman is 1.78 .
The Norwegian language has two written forms , Bokmål and Nynorsk calls . Bokmål is very close to the Danish, while Nynorsk ( " New Norwegian " ) is an artificial language that attempts to bring together most of the dialectal forms from different parts of the country. Most write bokmål , but used to speak the regional dialect . Several languages are spoken and written Saami in northern regions by the Sami people . The Germanic Norwegian language and Sami languages do not have any relationship to each other .
Most Norwegians ( 86 % ) belong to the Lutheran Church of Norway. About 7 % belong to other religious communities, while about 1.5% belongs to the secular human ethics union . The remaining percentage belongs to no group.
The current ethnic composition is: 54
European : 95.3 % ( 91.7 % + Norwegians other Europeans 3.6 % )
Asians : 3.2 %
African : 0.8 %
Other : 0.7 %
language
The Germanic Norwegian language has two official written forms : Bokmål and Nynorsk . Both are recognized as official languages , used in public administration , schools , churches, and media, but Bokmål is used by a large majority ( 85-90 % ) . Norwegian is the native language of approximately 95 % of the population , although there are many dialects that may differ significantly in their written versions . In general , most of these dialects can understand each other , although some may require significant efforts on the part of the listener.
Several Finno-Ugric Sami languages are spoken and written throughout the country , especially in the north by the Sami people . The inhabitants of the country have the right to receive education in Sami language no matter where they live, and receive communication from the government in various Sami languages . The Kven minority speak the Finno-Ugric language Kven or Finnish. Currently , Norway does not have an own sign language official .
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries , the Norwegian was the subject of much political and cultural controversy , which led to the creation of Nynorsk in the nineteenth century , and the establishment of alternative spelling standards in the twentieth century . Stresses the standard riksmål more conservative (ie , more similar to Danish ) than Bokmål.
Norwegian is similar to the other Scandinavian languages , such as Swedish and Danish. The three languages are mutually intelligible and can be and are employed in communication between inhabitants of Scandinavia . As a result of the cooperation within the Nordic Council , inhabitants of all Nordic countries , including Iceland and Finland, have the right to communicate with the Norwegian authorities in their respective languages .
Religion
About 77 % of the population belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway , although many are not members practicantes.56 The State supports the Church and the king appoints the clergy . However, religious freedom is guaranteed complete and there are Protestant and Catholic groups representing 4% of the population.
The Norwegians are registered as members of the Church of Norway to be baptized, and make use of the services of baptism , confirmation, marriage and funerals , which are deeply rooted in the culture of this country .
A little over 10 % of the population was not affiliated with the official church January 1, 2009 . Other Christian denominations gather for 4.2 % of the population, including the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church , the Roman Catholic Church , the Baptist Church, the Adventist Church, Methodist Church , and Pentecostal congregations , among others. Among non-Christian religions, Islam is the largest, and the second greatest growth. A 1.5 % of the population are Muslims . This is practiced by Somali immigrants , Arabs, Albanians and Turks , as well as Norwegians of Pakistani descent .
Other religions that have less than 1% are Judaism , Mormonism ( Church of Christ ( Latter Day Saints ) ) and Jehovah's Witnesses . Indian immigrants introduced Hinduism, which has fewer than 5,000 followers. Buddhism has 11 associations and is home to 0.42 % of the population. Some Sami minority retained their shamanistic religion although they were converted to Christianity in the late eighteenth century by Norwegian and Danish missionaries .
transport
Due to the low population density, narrow and long coastlines, public transport in Norway is less developed than in many European countries, especially outside the cities. Therefore, in Norway there are old water transport traditions, but the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications has in recent years helped to transport by rail, road and air transport through numerous subsidiaries in order to develop the country's infrastructure
