From the Ice Age to Modern times
People first settled in Norway about 10,000 years ago. They lived by hunting and fishing, before gradually starting to keep livestock and to cultivate the land. The first farms came into existence from about 500 B.C. This period is known as the Bronze Age since bronze was the metal used for weapons, jewellery and tools. The Iron Age which followed lasted until about 1000 A.D. and led to wider trade with other peoples and to better tools.

The period from about 800 to 1000 A.D. is known as the Viking Age, an exciting chapter in our history. Fast, ocean-going craft and lightning raids from the sea brought the Vikings great gains. Outside Norway the Vikings are best known for their ferocious plundering. Øyvind is not very proud of this aspect of Viking life but comforts himself with the fact that they were also skilled sailors, craftsmen, explorers and traders. The early form of writing known as runes dates from the Viking Age. Leiv Eiriksson, a Viking who lived in Greenland, was the first European to land in North America, 500 years before Columbus.

We regard Norway as a unified country from about the year 1030. In the 13th century Norway extended its rule to include Iceland, Greenland, the Faeroes and the Orkneys. Around 1350 the Black Death, a pestilent disease which swept across much of the world, struck Norway, wiping out more than half the population.

From 1380 until 1814 Norway was in a union with Denmark and although the country during this time came to be regarded as part of Denmark, our forefathers managed to retain their national identity. This enabled them to draw up a Norwegian constitution when the union finally came to an end in 1814. In the same year, however, Norway entered into a new union, this time with Sweden. This union was peacefully terminated in 1905 and the Norwegians chose Prince Carl of Denmark to be their king. He took the name of Haakon VII and became the first king of an independent Norway for 525 years.

On 9 April 1940 Norway was occupied by Germany and did not regain its freedom until 8 May 1945. Norway is a member of the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Norway is a peace-loving country and believes in negotiation as a means of settling conflicts between nations. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo on 10 December each year.

Towards the end of the 1960s large fields of oil and gas were discovered off the Norwegian coast. This has had an enormous effect on our economy and on the development of Norway as a modern welfare state and an industrial nation.

The coronation of King Haakon VII and Queen Maud in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim (1906).

A true replica of an original Viking ship, built on the basis of archaeological evidence.

The award of the Nobel Peace Price is made in Oslo 10 December every year.