Norway

The first recorded political integration of Norway happened at the beginning of the 10th century under King Harald Fairhair. This was during the Viking period (9-11th century) of Norwegian, Danish and Swedish expeditions and expansion in all directions with the creation of Kingdoms and settlements in present day Russia and Ukraine, Ireland, Normandy, Great Britain, Iceland, Greenland and North America. Christianity was introduced into Norway in the year 1000.

Due to the King's marriages and inheritances, Norway became linked to Sweden in 1319 for twenty years and after a last period of independence under King Haakon VI, with Denmark in 1380. A few years later Sweden also was included in the union, which took the name of Kalmar from the town where Erik III was crowned King of the three united countries in 1397. Shortly after Sweden had left the union in 1523, Lutheranism was imposed to Norway in 1536.

In 1814, as a consequence of the Napoleonic wars, Norway was given from Denmark to Sweden. On May 17 (National Day) the Constitution was signed, which entered into force under the new union with Sweden.

Finally, on 7 June 1905, following a dispute with the Swedish King on the right of establishment of a Norwegian consular service, independence was proclaimed and in November Prince Carl of Denmark became the first king of modern Norway under the name of Haakon VII.

At the same time an intense period of explorations in the high North was initiated by Fridtjof Nansen in 1888 and continued in the South, culminating with Roald Amundsen's arrival at the South Pole in 1911.

During World War I, Norway remained neutral, together with Denmark and Sweden, while its merchant navy was put at the allies' service. As a result, the Svalbard islands were placed under Norwegian sovereignty by the Paris Treaty in 1920, followed by the Jan Mayen Island, also in the Arctic. The dependencies in the Antarctic of Pierre I and Bouvet islands and Queen Maud Land on the Antarctic continent came soon later.

Again neutral at the beginning of World War II, Norway has been nevertheless occupied by Germany from 1940 to 1945. In 1949, it entered into the NATO alliance. Despite two failed attempts by referendum to enter in the European Community in 1972 and in the European Union in 1994, Norway is solidly attached to the European construction through the EEA Agreement. It is member of all relevant multilateral organizations including the Nordic, Barents and Baltic Councils, EFTA, OECD, WTO, Council of Europe and OSCE. It has acquired a solid reputation for peaceful settlement of conflict since the establishment of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, Fridtjof Nansen's humanitarian activities in the Society of Nations after World War I, support of UN, substantial development aid and the Oslo Middle East Peace Accords of 1994.

(Source: The European Commission External Affairs Directorate-General)