Portal:Norway/Archive

Archive of selected articles from the Norway Portal

• July-December 2007

  

  Norwegian soldiers in 1905, armed with the Krag-Jørgensen

The Krag-Jørgensen is a repeating bolt action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen in the late 19th century. It was adopted as a standard arm by Denmark, the United States and Norway.

A distinctive feature of the Krag-Jørgensen action was its magazine. While many other rifles of its era used an integral box magazine, the magazine of the Krag-Jørgensen was integral with the receiver (the part of the rifle that houses the operating parts), featuring an opening on the right hand side with a hinged cover. The cartridges were inserted through the side opening, and were pushed up, around, and into the action by a spring follower.

• January-July 2007

  

  Source: Norwegian Central Bureau of Statistics

Norway possesses the second highest GDP per capita in the world, and the highest position in the World on the Human Development Index (HDI) for the fifth consecutive year. The Norwegian economy is an example of mixed economy, featuring a combination of free market activity and government intervention. The government controls key areas, such as the vital petroleum sector and the electricity production. The control mechanisms over the petroleum resources is a combination of state ownership in major operators in the Norwegian fields (Statoil ca 70% in 2005, Norsk Hydro 43% in 2004) while specific taxes on oil-profits for all operators are set to 78%, finally the government controls licensing of exploration and production of fields. The country is richly endowed with natural resources: petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals. Norway has obtained one of the highest standards of living in the world, partly from petroleum production. Norway also has a very high employment ratio.

• December 2006 —

  

  King Harald receives Norway (source 14th century Flateyjarbók).

  The Norwegian monarch is the head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and been in continuous existence since the unification of Norway in 872. It was created by uniting the previous petty kingdoms to form Norway. It has been united with both Sweden and Denmark for extended periods, but was restored as a fully independent state in 1905. Under the 1814 constitution the king has important executive powers. These are exercised by the Council of State in the name of the King except when necessary for national security, such as World War II when the monarchy played a key role.

• November 2006 —Jonas Lauritz Idemil Lie (November 6, 1833 – July 5, 1908) was a Norwegian novelist, considered to be one of the Four Greats of 19th century Norwegian literature. His two collections of short stories called Trold (Trolls actually), are thrilling examples of the superstitions of the fishermen and coast commoners of northern Norway. One of these Trolls were selected by Roald Dahl to his book of the 14 finest ghost stories of the world.
• Jens Bjørneboe (October 9, 1920–May 9, 1976) was a Norwegian painter, dramatist, essayist and novelist. His first published work was Poems (Dikt) in 1951. He is widely considered to be one of Norway's most important post-war authors. Bjørneboe identified himself as an anarcho-nihilist.