Norway
Norway names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Norway a kingdom of the Scandinavian peninsula
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a kingdom of the Scandinavian peninsula . It is the most northwesterly country in Europe. It is 1,080 miles in extreme length and about 275 miles in extreme width. Norway is a more mountainous country than Switzerland. A vast billow rolling westward from the plains of Europe seems to have stopped suddenly and petrified at full height, presenting a precipitous crest along the Atlantic. There are numerous ridges and peaks 8,000 feet in height. The coast is indented deeply by channels or fjords extending far inward. They are the pathways of prehistoric glaciers that scoured their way to the sea. Sogne Fjord, the waters of which are 3,000 feet deep at its entrance, extends 100 miles inland. Hardanger Fjord, nearly 1,000 feet deep, is flanked by cliffs 6,000 feet high. Numerous mountain torrents tumble over the cliffs into the fjords. Some of these cascades fall from 2,000 to 6,000 feet. When the brinks are covered with mist, as they frequently are, these waterfalls, seen from ships in the fjords, have the appearance of falling from the sky. CLIMATE, FORESTS, ETC. About one-fourth of the country lies in the Arctic zone. Owing to the influence of the Gulf Stream , the line of perpetual snow is beaten upward, however, to a height of from 3,000 feet in the north to 5,000 feet in the south. Were it not for oceanic influences Norway would be covered, no doubt, with a perpetual glacier like that which buries Greenland; but, under present influences, the isotherms run parallel to the coast. The coast line has warmer winters and cooler summers than the interior. Hammerfest, on the northern coast, several degrees above the Arctic Circle , has a warmer winter than Christiania, Stockholm, or St. Petersburg farther inland. The harbors of the western coast are always open. Seventy inches of rain and snowfall may be expected on the western coast and from ten to twelve inches on the eastern border. The mountain slopes are clothed well up with oak, beech, and magnificent pine forests. Willows and birches extend nearly to the snow line. Wild cranberries, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries abound. There are a few wild quadrupeds. The bear, fox, wolf, lynx, hare, and lemming still find shelter in the forests. Numerous song birds nest in Norway. Owls and grouse are permanent residents. Waterfowl and snipe are abundant in season. Seafowl breed by the million in the cliffs. POPULATION. Norway is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. The total area is 124,130 square miles. The population in 1906 was 2,321,688, about eighteen per square mile. Nine-tenths of the population live along the coast or near the fjords. An almost continuous chain of small islands, known as skerries, forms a natural breakwater, rendering navigation along the coast and in the fjords comparatively safe and delightful. Twelve hundred of them are occupied. They form about one-fourteenth of the entire area of Norway and are inhabited by about one-eighth of the population. INDUSTRIES. The leading occupations are fishing, lumbering, and commerce. One person out of twelve of the entire population is engaged in fishing. One hundred and twenty thousand men and 30,000 boats are engaged in catching cod, herring, mackerel, salmon, and sea trout. As high as 67,000,000 pounds of cod are taken off the Lofoden Islands in a single year. The annual Norwegian fish catch is valued at about $12,000,000. COMMERCE. In proportion to population Norway has the largest commercial fleet in the world. About $30,000,000 are earned annually carrying goods for French, Spanish, American, and even English merchants. Ships are gone from home for years. The principal Norwegian exports are lumber and fish; the principal imports are cloth, clothing, sugar, tobacco, and coffee. Instead of depositing their money in savings banks , many wage earners invest their savings in shares in industries. About one-fourth of the country is devoted to forestry. The chief manufactures of the country are lumber and timber products. Ships are built largely at Christiania. Much ship timber is exported to the Clyde. There is lack of coal, but water power is abundant. There are important manufactures of paper, as well as breweries, tanneries, and large factories. Norway is not without mineral wealth. There are mines of iron, copper, silver, cobalt, and nickel, but they are not worked extensively. The supply of building stone is unlimited, but it is too far from market to be a source of profit. AGRICULTURE. About three per cent of the surface is under cultivation. Farming is carried on with care. The Norwegian farmers are an industrious, thrifty, comfortable, self-respecting people. At the Christmas season, they never fail to put up a sheaf of grain on a pole for the birds. Small farms managed by the owner are the rule. Barley, potatoes, and hay are the principal field crops. Under the influence of short, warm summers, and the long period of daylight, barley matures even beyond the Arctic Circle in the same length of time, it is said, required in Egypt. Hemp and flax are produced abundantly. Tobacco grows in the south. Dairying is carried on extensively. Most farms include a tract of land extending far up on the mountain ranges where stock may be sent to pasture for the summer. Cattle, horses, sheep, and goats are raised. There are a few swine. Reindeer are herded in the extreme northwest, where wild reindeer are still found. HISTORICAL. In early times Norway was the home of numerous petty jarls or chieftains and was notorious for piracy. Each fjord had its jarl, its war galleys, its crews of determined sea rovers. The kingdom of Norway is one of the most ancient in western Europe. Harold Fair Hair, Hako I, and Magnus the Good were noted rulers. The crown of Norway has been at times united with that of Denmark and that of Sweden. In 1814 Napoleon forced Norway into a union with Sweden. The partnership was dissolved in 1905, when Prince Karl, the second son of the present king of Denmark, was invited to ascend the Norwegian throne. He assumed the name of Haakon VII. The government is, of course, a constitutional monarchy. There is no Norwegian nobility. The Parliament is known as the Storthing. The capital is Christiania. Bergen, a former capital, is one of the world's great fish markets. Trondhjem was a still earlier capital. It is yet the center of church affairs. Norwegian kings are crowned in its old cathedral. EDUCATION. Education is compulsory. In sparsely settled districts teachers are employed at public expense to go from hamlet to hamlet to instruct even the children of a single family for a few weeks. The larger towns have preparatory schools. The national university is located at Christiania. The people are largely Lutheran. Although stone abounds, the churches are almost without exception built of wood. Many contain artistic wood carvings. SCENERY. Norway is a favorite region for the summer tourist. The scenery of the fjords is sublimely beautiful. The greatest waterfalls in Europe are there. The uplands attract hunters for grouse and anglers for trout. Tidy inns furnish comfortable accommodations. The great attraction of the traveler, however, is the phenomenon which has caused Norway to be called "Land of the Midnight Sun ." In midsummer, from the Arctic Circle northward, the sun circles about without setting for days and even weeks. The farther north from the Arctic Circle, the longer this mid-summer day. At midnight the sun descends toward the northern horizon, hangs there like a great red ball, and begins to ascend toward the east without setting. To one accustomed to live in a more southern country the effect is almost supernatural. People and animals go to rest at regular hours; poultry goes to roost while the sun still hangs high in the northwestern heavens. In midwinter the nights are of corresponding length. At the Arctic Circle the sun fails to rise. Still farther north the only indication of day is a short twilight at the noon hour. The mildness of the climate and the safety of steamer navigation must always make the coast of northern Norway a favorite region in which to observe this phenomenon. A telegraph line extends as far northward as Hammerfest. Statistics. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources: Land area, square miles 124,130 Population 2,330,364 Christiania 227,628 Bergen 80,000 Trondhjem 40,000 Stavanger 31,000 Births 61,316 Deaths 31,214 Emigrants 21,967 Number of districts 20 Members of senate 30 Members of lower house 93 Salary of King Haakon $190,000 Army active soldiers 75,000 Bonded indebtedness $80,000,000 National revenue $32,000,000 Unproductive area, per cent 75 Forest area, per cent 22 Improved area, per cent 3 Agricultural Productions-- Wheat, bushels 30,000 Oats, bushels 9,000,000 Rye, bushels 800,000 Potatoes, bushels 20,000,000 Mineral products, value $2,500,000 Fishermen 110,000 Catch value $10,250,000 Exports $90,000,000 Imports $55,000,000 Merchant ships 7,862 Miles of railway 1,605 Letters and postcards 75,000,000 Teachers 8,715 Pupils 358,540 See Hammerfest ; Trondhjem ; Christiania ; Cod ; Ibsen ; Bjornsen; Gulf Stream; Bergen I do confess I love Old Norway's bleak, tremendous hills, Where winter sits, and sees the summer burn In valleys deeper than yon cloud is high: I love the ocean-arms that gleam and foam So far within the bosom of the land: It is not that. I do confess to thee I love the frank, brave habit of the folk, The hearts unspoiled, though fed from ruder times And filled with angry blood: I love the tales That taught, the ancient songs that cradled me, The tongue my mother spake, unto the Lord As sweet as thine upon the lips of prayer. --Bayard Taylor. Norwegian mountain house. Norway Swedish bridal pair and married couple. Norwegian and Swedish civilization Modern cottage near Christiania. Norwegian civilization Trinde Falls, Norway. Children Playing Near Farm House
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a country in the N. of Europe, bounded on the N. E. by Russian Lapland, and E. by Sweden, and washed on all other sides by the sea; by the Arctic Ocean on the N., the Atlantic and the North Sea on the N. W. and W., and the Skager-rack on the S. It is about 1,080 miles in length, and its greatest breadth is about 275 miles, but toward the N. narrows so much as to be in some places not more than 20 miles; area, 124,130 square miles; pop. (1910) 2,391,782; (1918, est.) 2,632,010. coast consists Topography. - The chiefly of bold precipitous cliffs, and is remarkable both for the innumerable islands by which it is lined, and the bays or fiords which cut deeply into it in all directions. The surface is very smountainous, particularly in the W. and N. Very commonly the mountain masses assume the form of great plateaux or table-lands, called fjelds or fields, as the Dovre Fjeld, Hardanger Fjeld, etc. The highest summits belong to the Sogne Fjeld, a congeries of elevated masses, glaciers, and snow fields in the center of the S. division of the kingdom, where rise Galdhoepig (8,400 feet), the Glitretind (8,384), and Skagastölstind (7,879). The few important rivers that Norway can claim as exclusively her own have a S. direction, and discharge themselves into the Skager-rack; of these the chief are the Glommen (400 miles), and its affluent the Lougen. The most important river in the N. is the Tana, which forms part of the boundary between Russia and Norway, and falls into the Arctic Ocean. The prevailing rocks of Norway are gneiss and mica-slate, of which all the loftier mountains are composed. The most important metals are iron, copper, silver, and cobalt, all of which are worked to a limited extent. Climate. The climate of Norway is on the whole severe. The harbors on the W., however, are never blocked up with ice; but in places more inland, though much farther S., as at Christiania, Chr this regularly happens. Industries. The farms are generally the property of those who cultivate them, and commonly include a large stretch of mountain pasture, often 40 or 50 miles from the main farm, to which the cattle are sent for several months in summer. The rearing of cattle is an extensive and profitable branch of rural economy. There were in Norway in 1917 246,634 farms. Live stock is an important industry. The chief sources of wealth are forests and fisheries. There are nearly 100,000 persons engaged in cod fisheries, and about 30,000 in other fisheries. The total value of fisheries in 1918 amounted to 85,292,024 kroner. There are valuable deposits of iron ore, but the lack of coal prevents smelting. Silver, copper ore, and nickel also exist. Power for manufacturing is furnished chiefly by water. In 1917 there were 6,886 manufacturing establishments, employing 161,772 persons. In 1916 the total value of imports was 1,353,664,900 kroner, and of the exports 988,333,000 kroner. The chief imports were carriages and machinery, unworked metals and bread stuffs. The chief exports were animal products, timber, and wooden goods. Manufactures include cotton, woolen, flax, and silk tissues. Distilleries, brick works, saw and flour mills, are numerous; and there are foundries, machine works, lucifer-match works, tobacco factories, and sugar refineries. Norway is one of the leading shipping nations and during the war it became one of the chief carrying countries. A number of vessels belonging to Norwegian citizens were destroyed during the war by submarines. In 1919 the merchant marine consisted of 1,759 steamers with a tonnage of 1,504,432. There were also nearly 600 sailing vessels and nearly 1,200 motor vessels, a total of 3,500 vessels of all kinds. Finance. The revenue for 1918-1919 was 624,891,900 kroner, and the expenditures 624,891,900 kroner. The national debt in 1917 was 455,504,598 kroner. History. In the earliest times Norway was divided among petty kings or chiefs (jarls), and its people were notorious for their piratical habits (see NORTHMEN). Harold Fair Hair (who ruled from 863 to 933) succeeded in bringing the whole country under his sway, and was succeeded by his son Erick. He was ultimately driven from the throne, which was seized in 938 by his brother, Hako I., who had embraced Christianity in England. Magnus the Good, the son of St. Olaf and Alfhild, an English lady of noble birth, was called to the throne in 1036; and having in 1042 succeeded also to the throne of Denmark, united both under one monarchy (see DENMARK). After_his death the crowns of Norway and Denmark again passed to different individuals. In 1319 the crowns of Norway and Sweden became for a short time united in the person of Magnus II. Erick of Pomerania succeeded, by separate titles, to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; and in 1397 was crowned king of the three kingdoms. Sweden then for a time became a separate kingdom; but the union between Denmark and Norway was drawn closer and closer, and very much to the disadvantage of the latter, which was ultimately degraded into a mere dependency of the former. The subsequent history of Norway becomes for a long period merely a part of that of Denmark. After the defeat of Napoleon by the allies in 1813 it was arranged by the treaty of Vienna in 1814 that Denmark must cede Norway to Sweden, and the result was the union of the two countries under the Swedish crown. A grave constitutional struggle at length arose between the two countries, from the demand for greater independence for Norway in her foreign policy, which was energetically backed by the Liberals. On the plea that King Oscar refused to permit the establish ment of a separate Norwegian consulate system, which was a fact, the Storthing on June 7, 1905, passed a resolution dissolving the union with Sweden. The Swedish political party in power then required that this resolution be referred to the Norwegian people as a plebiscite matter or a referendum, seeing it had been before only determined by the Storthing or parliament. This was done and on Aug. 13, 1905, the vote proved to be 368,200 in favor of dissolution, and 184 against that movement, being one of the most remarkable popular expressions ever formulated. Prince Charles of Denmark was proffered the now vacant Norwegian throne and was crowned Nov. 18, 1905, as Haakon VII., the first exclusively Norwegian king since 1380. King Haakon VII. is second son of the king of Denmark, and grandson of Christian IX., who died in 1906. He was born in 1872 and married the British princess Maud. Members of the Storthing are elected every three years by voters who have themselves been elected by the citizens. It has two chambers, the Odelsthing, containing three-fourths of the members, and the Lagthing, one-fourth. The great body of the people are Protestants of the Lutheran confession, which is the state religion. Other sects are tolerated, though government offices are open only to members of the Established Church. Elementary education is free and compulsory. Besides primary schools there . There are numerous secondary schools is but one university, that of Christiania. The people are almost entirely of Scandinavian origin. A small number of Lapps (called in Norway Finns) and Qvaens, reckoned at 20,000 in all, live in the N. The chief ports are Bergen, Christiania, and Trondhjem; the capital is Christiania. Norway suffered probably as little as any of the neutral nations during the World War. The sentiment from the beginning was strongly against Germany and this continued to the end. The heavy losses suffered as a result of the submarine war were probably greatly offset by the increased commercial activity. The United States during the war chartered or requisitioned a large number of Norwegian ships. There was some friction in regard to delay in payment for these, but in 1919 an agreement was reached by which the United States was to pay $11,000,000, representing the actual value of the of the ships, with additional compensation later. For six years following 1913, the government of Norway was in the hands of the so-called Knudsen Cabinet, which was somewhat radical in its policies. This Cabinet finally resigned on Feb. 5, 1919, and another Cabinet was formed by the prime minister Knudsen.
Norway a city of Michigan in Dickinson co.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of Michigan in Dickinson co., 9 miles S. E. of Iron Mountain. It is on the Chicago and Northwestern and Wisconsin and Michigan railroads. It has important iron mines.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 account has Norway as "the most sparsely populated country in Europe," living by cod, timber and freight, with "lack of coal, but water power is abundant." The water power was indeed harnessed, but the transformation came from beneath the sea: oil was struck at the Ekofisk field in 1969, and the state fund built from the proceeds is now among the largest investment funds in the world. The Christiania of the entry was renamed Oslo in 1925, the country was occupied by Germany from 1940 to 1945, and Norwegian voters twice declined to join the European Union, in 1972 and 1994. Population has risen from the 2,321,688 counted in 1906 to roughly 5.5 million, and farmed salmon has long since overtaken the Lofoten cod fishery in value.
Written for this edition, 2026.