COUNTRY: NORWAY CITY: BERGEN
Photo by Florentine Viot-Rabineau
Norway is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe, and it occupies the western part of Scandinavian Peninsula. The majority of the country has a border at the east with Sweden. Furthermore Northern region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east. To the west and south, Norway is bordered by Norwegian Sea, North Sea and Skagerak. Barents Sea is on Norway’s Northern coats. Norway’s length is 1750km and width is 6 to 430km. Thus if we imagine that we can turn upside down Norway around Oslo, the North of Norway would be exactly on Rome, in Italy. Over an area of 386, 958km2 (including overseas territories Jan Mayen and Svalbard) Norway is dominated by mountainous ground, with a lot of natural breaks provides from prehistoric glaciers and geography. The most remarkable breaks are fjords and islands.
In addition Norway has different temperatures and precipitation, especially over coasts. On the Northern the most part has principally maritime subarctic climate, but generally it’s a temperate climate. The southern and western parts of Norway have more precipitation and have sweetly winters than the south-eastern part. The lowlands around the capital have the warmest and sunniest summers in the country, but also cold weather and snow in winter. Cause to Norway’s high latitude, there are large seasonal variations. In area north of the Arctic Circle, from may to july, sun never descends completely beneath horizon. It’s the “land of the midnight sun”. In the North, from November to January, the sun never rises above horizon and daylight hours are short in the rest of the country. In Bergen temperature is on medium-sized 1,5°C in winter and 14,5°C in summer. Then there is no time difference with France.
Ethnically residents of Norway are above all ethnic Norwegians, who come from North Germanic. Moreover there is a famous group recognized as national minority of Scandinavian native people called
“Sami”, who settled in Norway 8000 years ago. This community inhabits centre and Northern parts of the country. Then others national minorities of Norway are Scandinavian Romani people, Roma,
Jews, Kvener and a small Finnish community. There are two official languages in Norway, the bokmal and the nynorsk ; and there are also many dialects. The main foreign language taught is English,
then the majority of the population is fluent in English ; moreover Norwegian have to study English since they have 9 years. Besides the currency is the Norwegian koroner or NOK (1€ = 8,
18460 NOK).
In 2009 Norway’s population is 4, 59 million and the population growth rate is 0,88%. Life expectancy at birth is 83, 0 years for women and 78, 3 years for men. Since several years more and more Norway has become place where come immigrants and foreign workers. Norway has a steady influx of immigrants who come from east Asia (examples Chinese and the Philippines), eastern Europe (examples Russia, Poland), southern Europe (examples Albania, Kosovo, Yugoslavia) and middle east countries (examples Iraq and Palestine).
Since World War II Norway has experienced
a rapid economic growth and now is the wealthiest country in the world. Norway has rich resources of petroleum, natural gas, hydropower, fish, minerals and forests. In 2006 Norway was the second
exporter of seafood on the world. Norway is ranked on the third highest GDP per capital on the world. Moreover the PIB of Norway is 264, 6 billion US$. Norway corresponds to a Scandinavian
welfare model. Norwegian economy is a mixing with a combination of free market and a government interventionist (on industrial sectors for example). On Human Development Index from 2001 to 2006
Norway was ranked high; from 2007 to 2008 Norway shared the first place with Iceland. Besides the Global Peace Index in 2007 ranked Norway like the most peaceful country in the world. In 2008
Environmental Performance Index ranked Norway on second place after Switzerland. Norway is a place to live, cause to it natural resources.
This link shows a fun presentation of economy and culture in Norway. Enjoy it !
Oslo is the capital of the country. The first city of the country is a city very quiet, with 500 000
inhabitants and an area of 454km2. Norway is divided into 19 first level administrative regions called fylker (or countries) and 435 second level called kommuner (or municipalities). The fylke is
the intermediate between the state and municipalities. Moreover one populous municipality is Bergen. In 2008 Bergen was a city with 250 000 inhabitants, an area of 465km2. Bergen is situated
on the mountainous west coast of Norway. Norway is a constitutional monarchy with parliamentary system of government. The Norwegian parliament is the Storting (or Stortinget). It has 165 members,
and members are elected for four years, according to a universal suffrage.
Norway has embassies in 86 countries on the world, and 60 countries have embassies in Norway, particular in Oslo. Norway is a founding member of OTAN (missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Sudan…), United Nations, and the Council of Europe. Besides Norway is a member of OECD. However in 1972 and 1994 Norwegians had rejected treaty of access to the European Union, even if Norway is a membership in the European Economic Area and in the Schengen area.
On top of all the major attraction is the fjord coastline. Moreover I choose Bergen as city to visit, because is one of the main tourist city in Norway. Norway is attracted cause to this unspoiled nature. As concerning music, the Bergen International Music Festival is a very famous Festival. Norway is famous for is music, in particular heavy metal. In this link you have a Norwegian singer :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTSvZ_VlF5s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Norw
http://images.google.fr/images?hl=fr&lr=&um=1&sa=1&q=carte+NORV7GE&aq=f&oq=
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Norway#Attractions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Norway#International_rankings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_norway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Norway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_Norway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Norway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway#Geography.2C_climate_and_environment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway#Politics_and_government
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway#Foreign_relations_and_military
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway#Subdivisions_and_cities
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway#Economy
http://www.salaun-holidays.com/public/destinations/carnet-de-voyages-norvege-20.html
http://www.ssb.no/vis/english/subjects/02/02/10/dode_en/art-2009-04-16-01-en.html
http://www.continentsdumonde.com/CDM_InfosPays.aspx?infopays=7
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