NORWAY 



5782 



NORWAY 



to May. Most of the cod is dried 

 or salted for export as stock fish. 

 The herring and mackerel fisheries 

 are also of great value. Stavanger 

 is the headquarters of the brisling 

 or sprat fisheries which supply the 

 fish formerly known as Nor- 

 wegian sardines. Whaling was 

 forbidden in Norwegian waters in 

 1903, in response to the demand 

 of the fishermen, who complained 

 that it injured the cod fisheries. 

 For a few years it throve at Spits- 

 bergen, but is now transferred to 

 the Atlantic. Tonsberg and Sande 

 Fiord have made large fortunes 

 from the whaling off South Geor- 

 gia, the South Shetlands, and the 

 Falklands. Fur-hunting in the 

 Arctic, carried on from Tromso and 

 Hammerfest, is on the decline. 

 Minerals and Manufactures 



Norway has few minerals of 

 value. There is no coal. Low- 

 grade iron ores are plentiful and 

 several are worked. The best are 

 near Kragero and Arendal in the 

 S., and at Kirkenes on Varanger 

 Fiord. Copper ore is worked at 

 Roros, Sulitelma, Lokken, Grong, 

 and elsewhere. Nickel ores in- 

 creased in value during the Great 

 War ; they are mined at Evje and 

 Ringerike, and refined along with 

 imported ore at Christian sand. 

 Ores of zinc, chromium, titanium, 

 and molybdenum are worked in 

 small quantities. A little silver is 

 mined at Kongsberg. Various igne- 

 ous rocks are quarried for monu- 

 mental purposes. Natural ice is 

 exported. The timber industry is 

 important, especially around Chris- 

 tiania Fiord, but exports show a 

 steady decline. 



Manufactures are increasing with 

 the use of water-power, but are of 

 less importance than fishing, sea- 

 faring, and agriculture. They are 

 found principally hi the S. Ship- 

 building received a great impetus 

 during the Great War. Christiania, 

 Bergen, and other towns have 

 mechanical works. Railway rolling 

 stock is made at Hamar, the largest 

 inland town. Copper is refined at 

 Sulitelma. Tinfos and Stavanger 

 have electric iron-smelting and 

 briqueting works. Electro-chemi- 

 cal products include calcium car- 

 bide, nitrates, ferro-silicon, alu- 

 minium, etc. Their manufacture is 

 localised at waterfalls, including 

 Rjukan, Odde, Arendal, Tysse- 

 dal, etc. Paper-pulp and cellulose 

 works are numerous around Chris- 

 tiania Fiord. Other manufactures 

 include paper, matches,and pottery. 

 Textiles are unimportant. 



Exports are mainly fish products, 

 timber and timber products, tal- 

 lows, oils, and skins, but minerals 

 and metals are beginning to 

 assume some importance. The 



huge quantities of iron-ore px- 

 ported from Narvik are Swedish 

 ore in transit. Imports are chiefly 

 food products, machinery, coal, 

 ships, and textiles. Norway's trade 

 before the Great War was princi- 

 pally with the United Kingdom. 

 Norwegian shipping in 1914 stood 

 fourth on the world's list of tonnage. 

 War losses were considerable, but by 

 building and purchase the net loss 

 had been greatly reduced by 1919, 

 when the total tonnage exceeded 

 2,000,000. Norwegian lines run to 

 all parts of the world, but most 

 Norwegian vessels are employed in 

 the home coasting trade- 

 Roads are good and sufficient in 

 number for the scattered popula- 

 tion. An excellent service of coast- 

 ing steamers serves all ports. The 

 telegraph and telephone systems 

 link all settlements. Railways are 

 mainly in the S.E. Important'trunk 

 lines join Christiania with Bergen, 

 and with Trondhjem, and four lines 

 run into Sweden. The final link, 

 over the Dovrefjeld, of the broad- 

 gauge line from Christiania to Tron- 

 dhjem was opened in Sept. 1921. 

 The name Oslo was substituted for 

 Christiania in 1925. 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. The 

 original language of Norway was 

 Old Norse, which in course of time 

 was replaced by Danish, owing to 

 the political domination of Den- 

 mark. Modern Norwegian is thus 

 a variety of Danish, which gradu- 

 ally became modified in spelling 

 and pronunciation. The spoken 

 language is called rigsmaal in dis- 

 tinction from the literary form 

 landsmaal, which has been made 

 from the various dialects. Legally 

 the two forms of the language are 

 on the same footing. Landsmaal 

 is used in most schools, but at- 

 tempts to replace rigsmaal through- 

 out the country have met with 

 only modified success. It is op- 

 posed by nearly all Norwegian 

 writers of note. 



Norwegian and Danish Literature 

 Apart from Old Norse literature, 

 which flourished, though not so 

 vigorously as in Iceland, from the 

 9th to the 13th century, Norway 

 cannot be said to have had any 

 literature of its own until a century 

 ago. Until the separation of Nor- 

 way from Denmark, Norwegian 

 literature cannot be distinguished 

 from Danish, although the latter 

 contains much work by Norwegian 

 writers. Among the earliest writers 

 were the poets, H. A. Bjerregaard, 

 who sang of Norwegian independ- 

 ence, and H. A. Wergeland, with 

 an advanced revolutionary out- 

 look. The sonnets of J. Welhavn, 

 Norges Daemring, and the epic of 

 A. Munch, The Maid of Norway, 

 belong to the same age. 



At a later date Norwegian litera- 

 ture attracted world-wide atten- 

 tion through several writers. 

 Henrik Ibsen, after producing a 

 few historical dramas, found fame 

 as a dramatic reformer and as a 

 critic of modern society. Bjornst- 

 jerne Bjornson, after publishing 

 some novels of peasant life, turned 

 to drama, and his later work be- 

 came realistic and psychological. 

 Closely associated with Ibsen and 

 Bjornson were the poets, J. Lie 

 and O. Kjelland. Later Norwe- 

 gian writers include P. A. Munch 

 the historian, J. H. Friis, the au- 

 thority on Lapp folklore, J. O. 

 Lokke the grammarian, the novel- 

 ists A. Garborg, H. Jaeger, and 

 K. Hamsun, G. Heiberg the 

 dramatist, and H. Aanrud, one of 

 the few humorists Norway has 

 produced. C. Vogt and V. Krag 

 are modern poets, and E. Bjerke, 

 R. Schogen, and S. Rein are 

 novelists of note. 



HISTORY. The men of Norway 

 make their first appearance on the 

 historic stage towards the close 

 of the 8th century of our era, 

 when the Hrst raids of the North- 

 men upon the English coast are 

 recorded. Jt is probable that the 

 chiefs who established the so- 

 called Danish supremacy in Nortli- 

 umbria were Norsemen rather than 

 Danes, and it is nearly certain that 

 the great Viking Rolf or Rollo, who 

 won Normandj' from the French 

 king in 911, was a Norseman. The 

 establishment of a supreme king in 

 Norway was the work of Harald 

 Haarfager, the result of \\hose 

 policy was an extensive emigration 

 of Vikings to Ireland, the Hebrides, 

 Iceland, and elsewhere. 



Introduction of Christianity 



Long before his death, in 930, 

 the kingship was thoroughly estab- 

 lished, though there was a per- 

 petual strife between his sons and 

 grandsons for the possession of the 

 Norwegian crown. At the close of 

 the 10th century, one of his de- 

 scendants, the famous Olaf Trygg- 

 vesson, won the crown, and he 

 began the introduction of Chris- 

 tianity in Norway. Hardly less 

 famous and heroic was Olaf the 

 Thick, who became king in 1015, 

 fought stoutly against King Canute, 

 but was expelled by him from 

 Norway, and not long after his 

 death was canonised. On Canute's 

 death, his Scandinavian empire 

 was parted, and the Norwegians 

 elected as their king Magnus, the 

 son of Olaf. Magnus called in to 

 his support his uncle, Harald 

 Hardraada, who succeeded him as 

 sole king in 1047, and lost his life 

 at Stamford Bridge in battle 

 against King Harold of England, 

 in 1066. Of Harald's descendants 



