Norwegian Americans

Norwegian Americans

Overview

Occupying the western part of the Scandinavian peninsula in northwestern Europe, and sharing borders with Sweden, Finland, and Russia, Norway is slightly larger than the state of New Mexico, measuring 125,181 square miles (323,878 square kilo-meters). The country measures 1,095 miles from south to north, and one-third of its land mass lies north of the Arctic Circle, extending farther north than any other European country.

Norway's population is 4,300,000. Save for an indigenous minority of Samis (estimated at no more than 40,000) confined mainly to the northern half of the country, Norway's population is ethnically and culturally homogeneous. Almost 90 percent of the inhabitants belong to the Evangelical Lutheran state church, five percent are members of other denominations and faiths, and only five percent have no religious affiliation. Norway's form of government is a hereditary constitutional monarchy. The capital city is Oslo. The national flag displays a central blue cross with a white border on a red field. Norwegian is the official language, rendered in two different literary forms, the predominant bokma'l (Dano-Norwegian) and the rural dialect-based nynorsk (New Norse).

History

Norway (Old Norse: Norvegr or Noregr) designates the sea-lane—the north way—along the country'sextensive coastline as viewed from the south.

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