Norway and the Vikings!
Reason
Posted by:
user no longer registered
"Nords" redirects here. For other uses, see Nord.
For other uses, see Norway (disambiguation).
Kingdom of Norway
Kongeriket Norge / Kongeriket Noreg
Flag Coat of arms 
Motto: Royal: Alt for Norge / Alt for Noreg
("Everything for Norway")
1814 Eidsvoll oath: Enig og tro til Dovre faller
("United and loyal until the mountains of Dovre crumble")
Anthem: Ja, vi elsker dette landet
("Yes, we love this country")
Royal anthem: Kongesangen
("Song of the King")
Location of Norway (green)
on the European continent (dark grey) — [Legend]
Capital
(and largest city) Oslo
[show location on an interactive map] 59°56′N 10°41′E? / ?59.933°N 10.683°E? / 59.933; 10.683
Official languages Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk)1
Ethnic groups 89.4% Norwegian and Sami
10.6% other (2009)[1]
Demonym Norwegian
Government Parliamentary democracy under constitutional monarchy
- Monarch Harald V
- Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg (Ap)
- Storting President Thorbjørn Jagland (Ap)
- Chief Justice Tore Schei
- Current coalition Red-Green Coalition
Legislature The Storting
Establishment 
- Unification 872
- Constitution 17 May 1814
- Dissolution of union with Sweden
declared 7 June 1905
Area
- Total 385,252 km2 (61st2)
148,746 sq mi
- Water (%) 7.0
Population
- 2009 estimate 4,830,086 (as of 2 August 2009)[2] (115th)
- Density 12.3/km2 (211th)
31/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2008 estimate
- Total $256.523 billion[3]
- Per capita $53,796[3]
GDP (nominal) 2008 estimate
- Total $456.226 billion[3]
- Per capita $70,643[3]
Gini (2000) 25.8 (low) (6th)
HDI (2006) ? 0.968 (high) (2nd)
Currency Norwegian krone (NOK)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Date formats dd-mm-yyyy
Drives on the right
Internet TLD .no, .sj and .bv
Calling code 47
1 Northern Sami is used in the municipal administration of six municipalities, Lule Sami in one, Finnish/Kven in one, and Southern Sami in one.
2 Includes Svalbard and Jan Mayen.
3 This percentage is for the mainland and also includes glaciers[4]
4 Statistics Norway estimation (5 September 2006) using variant MMMM from Table
5 Two more TLDs have been assigned, but to date not used: .sj for Svalbard and Jan Mayen; .bv for Bouvet Island.
Norway (pronounced en-us-Norway.ogg /'n??we?/ (help·info); Norwegian: Norge (Bokmål), Noreg (Nynorsk) or Norga (North Sami)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian.
Viking Age
The Viking Age, 8-11th centuries AD, was characterized by expansion and emigration by Viking seafarers. Many Norwegians left the country to live in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and parts of Britain and Ireland. The modern-day Irish cities of Limerick, Dublin, and Waterford were founded by Norwegian settlers. Norse traditions were slowly replaced by Christianity in the 10th and 11th centuries. This is largely attributed to the missionary kings Olav Tryggvasson and St. Olav. Haakon the Good was Norway's first Christian king, in the mid tenth century, though his attempt to introduce the religion was rejected.
Mithology
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie (Old Norse valkyrja "chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who choose who will die in battle. The valkyries bring their chosen who have died bravely in battle to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin, where the deceased warriors become einherjar. There, when the einherjar are not preparing for the events of Ragnarök, the valkyries bear them mead. Valkyries also appear as lovers of heroes and other mortals, where they are sometimes described as the daughters of royalty, sometimes accompanied by ravens, and sometimes connected to swans.
Valkyries are attested in the Poetic Edda, a book of poems compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda and Heimskringla, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and Njáls saga, a Saga of Icelanders also written in the 13th century. They appear throughout the poetry of skalds, in a 14th century charm, and in various runic inscriptions.
The Old English cognate terms wælcyrge and wælcyrie appear in several Old English manuscripts, and scholars have explored whether the terms are derived through Norse influence, or an indigenous tradition from Anglo-Saxon paganism. Scholarly theories have been proposed .gif) about the relation between the valkyries, the norns, the dísir, Germanic seeresses, and shieldmaidens. Archaeological excavations throughout Scandinavia have uncovered amulets depicting valkyries. In modern culture, valkyries have been the subject of works of art, musical works, video games, and poetry.
Tags: Norway, Vikings, Travel. Mithology, Valkyries, No...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|