[ooc] information on norway
I still find it hard to convince myself that Norway is a man jhdgfkjds
I wish Himaruya would hurry up and stuff Norway already s-so I don't have to come up with my own depiction of Norway-- just watch how my characterization is all going to fall off when the canon one is introduced. XD Anyway, for self-reference:
The following is compiled from Wikipedia. I'll update it as I go along, when I come across other sources--and when I've pored through Wiki's external links. If I have made any mistakes, or if there is anything you would like to contribute, do comment and I will love you. ♥
The Kingdom of Norway
facts
Capital: Oslo
Official Languages: Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk)
Ethnic groups: 94% Norwegian, Sami, 6.0% other
Establishment: Unification (872), Constitution (17 May 1814), Independence from Sweden (7 June 1905)
Area: 385,252 km2
Population: 4,796,700 (as of 7 December 2008)
Norway is the first country to declare independence in the 20th century. Since World War II, it has experienced rapid economic growth, and is now amongst the wealthiest countries in the world. It is the fourth largest oil exporter and the petroleum industry accounts for a quarter of its GDP. Norway has also rich resources of gas fields, hydropower, fish, forests and minerals, and was the second largest exporter of seafood in 2006 (after China). Other main industries include food processing, shipbuilding, metals, chemicals, mining, fishing and pulp and paper products. Norway has a Scandinavian welfare model and the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation. The hourly productivity levels, as well as average hourly wages in Norway are among the highest in the world.
The cost of living is about 30% higher in Norway than in the United States and 25% higher than the United Kingdom. The standard of living in Norway is high, and the continuing increase in oil prices ensure that Norway will remain one of the richest countries in the world over the foreseeable future.
Norway was ranked highest of all countries in human development from 2001 to 2007. It was also rated the most peaceful country in the world in a 2007 survey by Global Peace Index. It is a founding member of NATO.
history
The history of Norway can be broken up in this manner:
- Pre-historic age (10 000 BC - 800 CE)
- The Viking Age *flails* (800-1066)
- High Middle Ages (1066 - 1380)
- The Kalmar Union (1396 - 1537)
- The marriage with Denmark Union with Denmark (1537 - 1814)
- The Union with Sweden (1814 - 1905)
- Independent Monarchy (1905 - present)
The Viking age, 8-11th centuries AD, was characterized by expansion and emigration. 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.
In 1319, Sweden and Norway were united under King Magnus Eriksson. In 1349, the Black Death killed between 50% and 60% of the population, resulting in a period of decline, both socially and economically. Ostensibly, royal politics at the time resulted in several personal unions between the Nordic countries, eventually bringing the thrones of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden under the control of Queen Margrethe I of Denmark when the country entered into the Kalmar Union. Although Sweden broke out of the union in 1523, Norway remained until 1814, a total of 434 years. This period is known as the 400 year night.
After Denmark-Norway was attacked by Great Britain, it entered into an alliance with Napoleon, with the war leading to dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812. As the Danish kingdom found itself on the losing side in 1814 it was forced to cede Norway to the kingdom of Sweden, while the old Norwegian provinces of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands remained with the Danish crown. Norway took this opportunity to declare independence, adopted a constitution based on American and French models, and elected the Danish crown prince Christian Fredrik as king on 17 May 1814. This caused the Norwegian-Swedish War to break out between Sweden and Norway but as Sweden's military was not strong enough to defeat the Norwegian forces outright and Norway's treasury was not large enough to support a protracted war, Norway agreed to enter a personal union with Sweden. Under this arrangement, Norway kept its liberal constitution and independent institutions, except for the foreign service.
Christian Michelsen, a Norwegian shipping magnate and statesman, Prime Minister of Norway from 1905 to 1907 played a central role in the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden on 7 June 1905. After a national referendum confirmed the people's preference for a monarchy over a republic, the Norwegian government offered the throne of Norway to the Danish Prince Carl and Parliament unanimously elected him king. He took the name of Haakon VII, after the medieval kings of independent Norway. In 1898, all men were granted universal suffrage, followed by all women in 1913.
the norwegian stereotype
[ Say hi to my favourite part of my research! This is where I'm going to base Norway's personality from. Source from...places like http://folk.uio.no/geirthe/Scandinavian_images.html, cross-checked with others. ]
Norwegians have a kind of 'hobbit' (Tolkien) view of the outside world--they thrive in socialistdeocracy and are suspicious of anything not norwegian unless it is french wine or scottish whiskey. Norwegians are proud of their country in general, and they love to tell others of how great they are, how wonderful it is there. [ something I see in plenty of european countries? XD ] The Norwegians imagine that they have a healthy work ethic - there is the saying, "The Norwegians work to live - the Swedes live to work!" but in all reality, the Norwegian work attitude can be described as "if we don't do it today, we'll do it tomorrow".
The main strength of the Norwegians is that they are very kind people. The Global peace index rates Norway as most peaceful nation in the world. Also, Norway is ranked first in the world in life expectancy, literacy, education and standard of living. All while being arguably the most atheist nation on the planet. 85% of Norwegians are members of a church, yet most of them still describe themselves as atheists/agnostics. In Norway, being member of a church is more of a traditional thing, than religious.
Foreign stereotypes, on one hand, tend to depict the Norwegians as healthy, enlightened, effective people with strong welfare states, lax rules of sexual morality and an institutionalized yearning for nature and simplicity. On the other hand, for example, the Germans associate Scandinavians with too much alcohol.
On a lighter note: Very sensible, especially when it comes to knowing what to do with all that oil revenue, and newspapers that insist on having at least one elk-related story per day. [ XD! ]
For historical reasons, Norwegian national identity had to be constructed in contrast to the Danes and the Swedes. The dominant national identity which emerged during the latter half of the 19th century, and which still holds sway in official national symbolism (as witnessed, for example, during the state-funded propaganda campaign before and during the Winter Olympic Games in 1994), emphasises the rural, clean and unspoilt character of Norway. Denmark was associated with the urban bourgeoisie and snobbish mannerisms; Sweden with arrogance and state power.
It is not coincidental that Norwegian national identity should be associated with nature scenery and the rural way of life. Although the country had towns and cities, its scenery and folk traditions were eminently suitable as national symbols since they denoted that Norway had something which Sweden and Denmark lacked. Today, the standard Norwegian image of Sweden associates the eastern neighbour with a bureaucratic rationality, uncompromising Enlightenment ideology, a centralised, authoritarian State, and an air of arrogant overbearance. The omnipresent Norwegian image of the Danes, a more friendly one, depicts the southern neighbours as a lackadaisical and slightly hedonistic but immensely urbane and jovial people.
[ trying so hard not to flail ]
[ Interestingly-- copy-pasta'd from the link above as well. :D";; ]
The Swedish Viewpoint
The standard Swedish image of the Norwegian is that of a rustic and unsophisticated fish-eater with lamentable manners and muddy boots, lately supplied with grudging acknowledgement of the Norwegian petroleum wealth. Nothing is more humiliating to the average Swedish man than a Norwegian victory in an international football game between the two countries; just as Norwegian men, in a symmetrical fashion, never cheer more sincerely for their sportsmen than when they fight their big brother.
Standard Swedish images of Danes are more negative than those of the rustic, but harmless Norwegians. For centuries, the two nations competed for regional hegemony, and until the 17th century, Denmark was without question the more powerful. In Swedish discourse, Danes tend to be depicted as untrustworthy and imbued with the spirit of dolce far' niente, a beer-drinking, happy-go-lucky, vaguely unhygienic and profoundly disorganised people. In contrast with the Norwegians, thus, the Swedes appear as a modern and sophisticated people; in contrast with the Danes, they may see themselves as rational and well organised.
The Danish Viewpoint
A survey carried out among Danish schoolchildren in the mid-1980s suggested that they regarded the Norwegians as "all right, but a bit rural and very nationalistic", while they saw the Swedes as "an arrogant bunch, but good football players". Denmark has the most liberal drug laws and the least restrictions on alcohol consumption in Scandinavia, and Copenhagen -- the northernmost truly European metropole -- looms large in the Norwegian and Swedish imaginations as a city of sin and joy. Swedes and Norwegians alike are frequent visitors to Denmark, many of them solely to enjoy the liberal Danish practices.
Current Danish images of Norwegians are still contingent on the loss of Norway in 1814, which was not caused by Norwegian popular rebellion but by geopolitical events. Partly for this reason, the image of Norway is nearly unanimously that of a friend. Images of the friend, while much less studied than enemy images, can nonetheless also contribute to the definition of self. Norwegians are perceived as rustic and simple, but honest and straightforward people who live close to their beautiful and spectacular nature. The Swedes, by contrast, are seen as humourless bureaucrats who, like obedient dogs, do whatever the State tells them to, and who are obsessed with material status symbols. When they visit Denmark, therefore, the Swedes are assumed to lose control and behave disgracefully. A poster in a coastal Danish town near Sweden reads: "Keep your town clean, take a Swede to the ferry." Some Danes talk jokingly about "going in the direction of Russia" when crossing the narrow strait separating the countries. The Danish ethnologist Linde-Laursen notes, in a comparative study of Danish--Swedish stereotypes, that the word modern has positive connotations in Swedish but negative ones in Danish.
In contrast to both Swedes and Norwegians, then, the Danes tend to depict themselves as an easy-going, tolerant and urbane people, sociable and relaxed, who relish the Danish hygge -- an untranslatable word which can be represented roughly as "coziness". Danish cuisine is also represented as more elaborate than that of the barbaric Northeners.
I wish Himaruya would hurry up and stuff Norway already s-so I don't have to come up with my own depiction of Norway-- just watch how my characterization is all going to fall off when the canon one is introduced. XD Anyway, for self-reference:
The following is compiled from Wikipedia. I'll update it as I go along, when I come across other sources--and when I've pored through Wiki's external links. If I have made any mistakes, or if there is anything you would like to contribute, do comment and I will love you. ♥
The Kingdom of Norway
facts
Capital: Oslo
Official Languages: Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk)
Ethnic groups: 94% Norwegian, Sami, 6.0% other
Establishment: Unification (872), Constitution (17 May 1814), Independence from Sweden (7 June 1905)
Area: 385,252 km2
Population: 4,796,700 (as of 7 December 2008)
Norway is the first country to declare independence in the 20th century. Since World War II, it has experienced rapid economic growth, and is now amongst the wealthiest countries in the world. It is the fourth largest oil exporter and the petroleum industry accounts for a quarter of its GDP. Norway has also rich resources of gas fields, hydropower, fish, forests and minerals, and was the second largest exporter of seafood in 2006 (after China). Other main industries include food processing, shipbuilding, metals, chemicals, mining, fishing and pulp and paper products. Norway has a Scandinavian welfare model and the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation. The hourly productivity levels, as well as average hourly wages in Norway are among the highest in the world.
The cost of living is about 30% higher in Norway than in the United States and 25% higher than the United Kingdom. The standard of living in Norway is high, and the continuing increase in oil prices ensure that Norway will remain one of the richest countries in the world over the foreseeable future.
Norway was ranked highest of all countries in human development from 2001 to 2007. It was also rated the most peaceful country in the world in a 2007 survey by Global Peace Index. It is a founding member of NATO.
history
The history of Norway can be broken up in this manner:
- Pre-historic age (10 000 BC - 800 CE)
- The Viking Age *flails* (800-1066)
- High Middle Ages (1066 - 1380)
- The Kalmar Union (1396 - 1537)
- The marriage with Denmark Union with Denmark (1537 - 1814)
- The Union with Sweden (1814 - 1905)
- Independent Monarchy (1905 - present)
The Viking age, 8-11th centuries AD, was characterized by expansion and emigration. 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.
In 1319, Sweden and Norway were united under King Magnus Eriksson. In 1349, the Black Death killed between 50% and 60% of the population, resulting in a period of decline, both socially and economically. Ostensibly, royal politics at the time resulted in several personal unions between the Nordic countries, eventually bringing the thrones of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden under the control of Queen Margrethe I of Denmark when the country entered into the Kalmar Union. Although Sweden broke out of the union in 1523, Norway remained until 1814, a total of 434 years. This period is known as the 400 year night.
After Denmark-Norway was attacked by Great Britain, it entered into an alliance with Napoleon, with the war leading to dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812. As the Danish kingdom found itself on the losing side in 1814 it was forced to cede Norway to the kingdom of Sweden, while the old Norwegian provinces of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands remained with the Danish crown. Norway took this opportunity to declare independence, adopted a constitution based on American and French models, and elected the Danish crown prince Christian Fredrik as king on 17 May 1814. This caused the Norwegian-Swedish War to break out between Sweden and Norway but as Sweden's military was not strong enough to defeat the Norwegian forces outright and Norway's treasury was not large enough to support a protracted war, Norway agreed to enter a personal union with Sweden. Under this arrangement, Norway kept its liberal constitution and independent institutions, except for the foreign service.
Christian Michelsen, a Norwegian shipping magnate and statesman, Prime Minister of Norway from 1905 to 1907 played a central role in the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden on 7 June 1905. After a national referendum confirmed the people's preference for a monarchy over a republic, the Norwegian government offered the throne of Norway to the Danish Prince Carl and Parliament unanimously elected him king. He took the name of Haakon VII, after the medieval kings of independent Norway. In 1898, all men were granted universal suffrage, followed by all women in 1913.
the norwegian stereotype
[ Say hi to my favourite part of my research! This is where I'm going to base Norway's personality from. Source from...places like http://folk.uio.no/geirthe/Scandinavian_images.html, cross-checked with others. ]
Norwegians have a kind of 'hobbit' (Tolkien) view of the outside world--they thrive in socialistdeocracy and are suspicious of anything not norwegian unless it is french wine or scottish whiskey. Norwegians are proud of their country in general, and they love to tell others of how great they are, how wonderful it is there. [ something I see in plenty of european countries? XD ] The Norwegians imagine that they have a healthy work ethic - there is the saying, "The Norwegians work to live - the Swedes live to work!" but in all reality, the Norwegian work attitude can be described as "if we don't do it today, we'll do it tomorrow".
The main strength of the Norwegians is that they are very kind people. The Global peace index rates Norway as most peaceful nation in the world. Also, Norway is ranked first in the world in life expectancy, literacy, education and standard of living. All while being arguably the most atheist nation on the planet. 85% of Norwegians are members of a church, yet most of them still describe themselves as atheists/agnostics. In Norway, being member of a church is more of a traditional thing, than religious.
Foreign stereotypes, on one hand, tend to depict the Norwegians as healthy, enlightened, effective people with strong welfare states, lax rules of sexual morality and an institutionalized yearning for nature and simplicity. On the other hand, for example, the Germans associate Scandinavians with too much alcohol.
On a lighter note: Very sensible, especially when it comes to knowing what to do with all that oil revenue, and newspapers that insist on having at least one elk-related story per day. [ XD! ]
For historical reasons, Norwegian national identity had to be constructed in contrast to the Danes and the Swedes. The dominant national identity which emerged during the latter half of the 19th century, and which still holds sway in official national symbolism (as witnessed, for example, during the state-funded propaganda campaign before and during the Winter Olympic Games in 1994), emphasises the rural, clean and unspoilt character of Norway. Denmark was associated with the urban bourgeoisie and snobbish mannerisms; Sweden with arrogance and state power.
It is not coincidental that Norwegian national identity should be associated with nature scenery and the rural way of life. Although the country had towns and cities, its scenery and folk traditions were eminently suitable as national symbols since they denoted that Norway had something which Sweden and Denmark lacked. Today, the standard Norwegian image of Sweden associates the eastern neighbour with a bureaucratic rationality, uncompromising Enlightenment ideology, a centralised, authoritarian State, and an air of arrogant overbearance. The omnipresent Norwegian image of the Danes, a more friendly one, depicts the southern neighbours as a lackadaisical and slightly hedonistic but immensely urbane and jovial people.
[ trying so hard not to flail ]
[ Interestingly-- copy-pasta'd from the link above as well. :D";; ]
The Swedish Viewpoint
The standard Swedish image of the Norwegian is that of a rustic and unsophisticated fish-eater with lamentable manners and muddy boots, lately supplied with grudging acknowledgement of the Norwegian petroleum wealth. Nothing is more humiliating to the average Swedish man than a Norwegian victory in an international football game between the two countries; just as Norwegian men, in a symmetrical fashion, never cheer more sincerely for their sportsmen than when they fight their big brother.
Standard Swedish images of Danes are more negative than those of the rustic, but harmless Norwegians. For centuries, the two nations competed for regional hegemony, and until the 17th century, Denmark was without question the more powerful. In Swedish discourse, Danes tend to be depicted as untrustworthy and imbued with the spirit of dolce far' niente, a beer-drinking, happy-go-lucky, vaguely unhygienic and profoundly disorganised people. In contrast with the Norwegians, thus, the Swedes appear as a modern and sophisticated people; in contrast with the Danes, they may see themselves as rational and well organised.
The Danish Viewpoint
A survey carried out among Danish schoolchildren in the mid-1980s suggested that they regarded the Norwegians as "all right, but a bit rural and very nationalistic", while they saw the Swedes as "an arrogant bunch, but good football players". Denmark has the most liberal drug laws and the least restrictions on alcohol consumption in Scandinavia, and Copenhagen -- the northernmost truly European metropole -- looms large in the Norwegian and Swedish imaginations as a city of sin and joy. Swedes and Norwegians alike are frequent visitors to Denmark, many of them solely to enjoy the liberal Danish practices.
Current Danish images of Norwegians are still contingent on the loss of Norway in 1814, which was not caused by Norwegian popular rebellion but by geopolitical events. Partly for this reason, the image of Norway is nearly unanimously that of a friend. Images of the friend, while much less studied than enemy images, can nonetheless also contribute to the definition of self. Norwegians are perceived as rustic and simple, but honest and straightforward people who live close to their beautiful and spectacular nature. The Swedes, by contrast, are seen as humourless bureaucrats who, like obedient dogs, do whatever the State tells them to, and who are obsessed with material status symbols. When they visit Denmark, therefore, the Swedes are assumed to lose control and behave disgracefully. A poster in a coastal Danish town near Sweden reads: "Keep your town clean, take a Swede to the ferry." Some Danes talk jokingly about "going in the direction of Russia" when crossing the narrow strait separating the countries. The Danish ethnologist Linde-Laursen notes, in a comparative study of Danish--Swedish stereotypes, that the word modern has positive connotations in Swedish but negative ones in Danish.
In contrast to both Swedes and Norwegians, then, the Danes tend to depict themselves as an easy-going, tolerant and urbane people, sociable and relaxed, who relish the Danish hygge -- an untranslatable word which can be represented roughly as "coziness". Danish cuisine is also represented as more elaborate than that of the barbaric Northeners.