‘Discover countries: Norway’
‘Discover countries: Norway’ by Elaine Jackson (published in 2014)
1. Norway is the most northern country in Europe. It is long, narrow and mountainous, with nearly one-third of the country lying north of the Arctic Circle. Norway’s rugged coastline is broken by huge fjords and thousands of islands.
2. Norway has a royal family and a parliament. The king and his family have no real political power, their role being mainly ceremonial. Norway’s elected parliament, the Storting, passes laws and decides how the national income should be spent.
3. In south-east Norway there are large areas of forest, gentle valleys and rich arable land. The landscape in the south-west is very dramatic, with high plateaux, steep valleys and deep fjords. The Sognefjord, Norway’s longest and deepest fjord, and Galdhopiggen, Norway’s highest mountain, are located here.
4. The Norwegian Sami are indigenous people who live far above the Arctic Circle. Sami have traditionally survived by hunting and fishing, and by herding reindeer. Reindeer are kept for their meat and skins, and also milk. Nowadays, reindeer sledges have largely been replaced by snowmobiles and four-wheel-drive vehicles. Fewer than 10% of Sami are involved in reindeer herding.
5. Oslo, with fewer than 1 million inhabitants, is Norway’s capital and the country’s main commercial, industrial and cultural centre. Bergen, a major seaport on the west coast known for shipping and fishing, is Norway’s second-largest city. Trondheim is the coldest city in Norway, while Stavanger is known as the ‘oil capital of Norway’.
6. In elementary and lower secondary schools, all textbooks and notebooks are provided free of charge. School cafeterias are rare, so most children bring packed lunches to school. Norwegian schools are very informal. School uniforms are completely unknown and teachers are addressed by their first names.
7. Oil and gas make up nearly half of exports and over 30% of state revenue. Besides oil, the other major industries in Norway are fishing, pulp and paper, forestry, mining, manufacturing such as chemical and metal products and shipping. Norway is the second-largest exporter of seafood and fish products after China.
8. Forests cover around 30% of the Norwegian mainland. All forests are managed. Some trees are harvested for the wood processing, pulp and paper industries. Other forests are managed for recreational use and some are protected.
9. Norway is well-known for its picturesque mountains, fjord-indented coastline, waterfalls, lakes and woods. Cruising is a popular tourist activity in Norway.
10. Svalbard, a group of islands located at the edge of the polar ice cap, nearly 1000km north of mainland Norway, is the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Norway.
This environment is extremely vulnerable to human activities, so tourism is restricted. Nearly 60% of Svalbard is protected wilderness area, with six national parks, where polar bears and reindeer roam freely and walruses flourish off the coast.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was built to protect the world’s plant diversity. Seeds from 526,000 different crops are stored here.
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