norway country

9000 - 8000 B.C. Earliest signs of settlement.
8000 - 4000 B.C. Old Stone Age. Hunters and fishermen. Rock carvings. Milder climate.
4000 - 1500 B.C. New Stone Age. Livestock. Early agriculture.
1500 - 500 B.C. Bronze Age. Agricultural tools, jewellery, glass, weapons. Foreign trade.

500B.C.-
1000 A.D. Iron Age. Iron ploughs and scythes.
ca AD 770 The Viking Age begins. For the next 250 years, Scandinavians set sail on frequent expeditions from the Baltic to the Irish seas and even to the Mediterranean as far as Sicily, employing superior ships and weapons and efficient military organization.
ca 870 The first permanent settlers arrive in Iceland from western Norway.
ca 900 King Harald Fairhair unites Norway into one kingdom.
995 King Olav I Tryggvason introduces christianity into Norway.
1000 Leif Eirikson discovers America.
King Olav I sends a mission to christianize Iceland.
1016-1028 King Olav II Haraldsson tries to complete conversion of Norway to christianity. He is killed at the battle of Stiklestad and becomes patron saint of Norway.
1028-1035 Canute (Knud) the Great is king of England, Denmark (1018) and Norway (1028).
1045-1066 King Harald III Hårdråde fights long war with the Danes
1066 King Harald III participates in and is killed during the Norman invasion of England, at Stamford Bridge.
1217 Håkon IV becomes king of Norway, beginning its "Golden Age". His many reforms modernize the Norwegian administration. Under him, the empire reaches its greatest extent when Greenland and Iceland forms unions with Norway in 1261.
The sagas are written during this time.
1319-1335 Sweden and Norway form a union
1349 The Black Death strikes Norway and kills two-thirds of the population.
1370 The Treaty of Stralsund gives the north German trading centers of the Hanseatic League free passage through Danish waters. German power increases throughout Scandinavia.
1397 The Kalmar Union is formed as a result of the dynastic ties between Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, the geographical position of the Scandinavian states, and the growing influence of Germans in the Baltic. Erik of Pomerania is crowned king of the Kalmar Union.
1520 Christian II, ruler of the Kalmar Union, executes 82 people who oppose the Scandinavian union, an event known as the "Stockholm blood bath". Sweden ssecedes from the Union three years later. Norway remains tied to Denmark and becomes a Danish province in 1536.
1536 The Reformation enters Scandinavia in the form of Lutheranism through the Hanseatic port of Bergen.
1559-1648 Norwegian trade flourishes.
1660 Peace of Copenhagen establishes modern boundaries of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
1814 Sweden, after Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig, attacks Denmark and forces the Danish surrender Norway.
May 17: the Norwegian constitution is adopted at Eidsvold.
November 4: Norway is forced to accept Act of Union with Sweden.
1811 University of Oslo is established.
1884 A parliamentary system is established in Norway.
1903 Bjørnsterjen Bjørnson is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
1905 The union with Sweden is dissolved.
1914 At the outbreak of World War I, Norway declares neutrality but is effectively blockaded. The Norwegian merchant fleet has great losses.
1918 Norwegian women gain the right to vote.
1920 Norway joines the League of Nations.
Novelist Knut Hamsun receives the Nobel Prize.
1928 Sigrid Undset receives the Nobel Prize for literature.
1929-1937 Norway is ruled by a labor governemnt.
1939 Norway declares neutrality in the World War II.
1940 April 9: Germany occupies Norway.
1945 Norway joins the United Nations.
1946-1954 The Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie presides as first Secretary-General of the UN.
1949 Norway becomes a member of NATO.
1952 The Nordic Council, which promotes cooperation among the Nordic parliaments, is founded.
1968 Norway discovers oil in the North Sea.
1971 North Sea oil production begins, transforming the Norwegian economy.
1972 The first referendum in Norway concerning membership in the European Economic Community returns a majority of NO-votes.
1981 Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes Norway's first female prime minister. Labor party.
1991 King Olav V dies. King Harald V ascends the throne. I his wife, Queen Sonja, Norway gets its first queen since the death of Queen Maud in 1938.
1993 Norway applies for EC membership for the second time.
Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairss Thorvald Stoltenberg is appointed peace negotiator to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1994 Norway holds the second referendum concerning EC membership, and a slight majority still holds the NO-vote.
Norway hosts the XVII Olympic Winter Games at Lillehammer.Holidays and Observances: 1 jan 2001: Nyttårsdag (New Year's Day), 8 apr 2001: Palmesøndag (Palm Sunday), 12 apr 2001: Skjærtorsdag (Maundy Thursday), 13 apr 2001: Langfredag (Good Friday), 15 apr 2001: Påskedag (Easter Day), 16 apr 2001: 2. påskedag (Easter Monday), 1 mai 2001: Offentlig høytidsdag (Official holiday), 8 mai 2001: Frigjøringsdag 1945 (Day of liberation), 17 mai 2001: Grunnlovsdag (Constitution Day), 24 mai 2001: Kristi Himmelfartsdag (Ascension Day), 3 jun 2001: Pinsedag (Whit Sunday), 4 jun 2001: 2. pinsedag (Whit Monday), 24 des 2001: Julaften (Christmas Eve), 25 des 2001: 1. juledag (Christmas Day), 26 des 2001: 2. juledag (Boxing Day) (Beware: holidays may vary according to year and state/territories, and local holidays are not listed)

Norwegian national Anthem Ja, vi elsker
English Translation

Yes, we love with fond devotion
This our land that looms
Rugged, storm-scared o'er the ocean,
With her thousand homes.
Love her, in our love recalling
Those who gave us birth.
And old tales which night, in falling
Bring as dreams to earth.
And old tales which night, in falling
Bring as dreams, as dreams to earth.
Norse man, whatsoe'er thy station,
Thank thy God, Whose power
Willed and wrought the land's salvation
In her darkest hour.
All our mothers sought with weeping
And our sires in fight,
God has fashioned, in His keeping
Till we gained our right.
God has fashioned, in His keeping
Till we gained, we gained our right.
Yes, we love with fond devotion
This our land that looms
Rugged, storm-scared o'er the ocean,
With her thousand homes.
And, as warrior sires have made her
Wealth and fame increase,
At the call we too will aid her,
Armed to guard her peace.
At the call we too will aid her,
Armed to guard, to guard her peace.