The history of Norway

The first men to appear in what is now Norway, emerged from dim pre-history when the great inland ice sheets were retreating over Scandinavia. 10,000 years ago the forefathers of today's Norwegians hunted reindeer and other prey on their long trek north. The land they came to had for centuries borne the weight of the icecap, so the coastline was about 200 metres higher than it is today. The oldest proofs of human activity were discovered on a hill in the southeast region of Østfold, not far from the southern frontier with Sweden. At that time the hill was probably an offshore island, just south of the glacier tip.

By TOR DAGRE

There is no general agreement on where the ancestors of today's Norwegians came from, or on the routes they took on their journey north, but one of these routes certainly passed through Østfold. Artefacts found at settlements there are of the same type that have been discovered in southern Sweden and in Denmark. A further possible route may have led from the so-called North Sea continent to southwest Norway.

These first Norwegians were hunters who, wherever nature permitted it, settled in small groups. They left proof of their existence in flint tools, clay vessels, and not least, rock carvings. In every part of Norway remain specimens of their art, hewn or ground into the rock. The carvings depict their prey: reindeer, moose, deer, bears and fish. People, or boats appear only seldom.

The transition to agriculture started in Norway approximately 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, initially in the area around the Oslofjord. By the Bronze Age (1500 - 500 B.C.) it is the farmers' cultural relics that dominate the archeological finds, particularly in south Norway. Finds from this same period in north Norway show that the people were hunters. At many locations in far north Finnmark there were sizeable settlements of hunters, clear proof of seasonable cooperation between many people.

From the Roman Age ( 0 -400 A.D.) grave finds show that there were links with the civilized countries to the south. Utensils of bronze, and glass were discovered, as well as weapons. The art of writing, in the form of runic letters also became known in the Nordic lands at this time.

The migrations of 400 to 550 A.D. were a restless period of continental Europe's history, and relics found in Norway indicate that the same conditions prevailed there too. The existence of farms in marginal areas indicates that settlement had reached saturation point. Pollen analyses reveal that at this time the coastal areas to the west were deforested. The troubled times led tribes to establish defence systems such as forts, and on the eastern banks of Norway's largest lake, Mjøsa, the remains of these are evident over a stretch of 50 km.

The age of the Vikings

(ca. 800 - 1050 A.D.)

The Viking era marks the termination of the prehistoric period in Norway. There were still no written sources of knowledge, and what is known about this period is largely based on archaeological remains. Nevertheless, the Sagas shed some light on this age. Although they were written down later, the Sagas were based on word of mouth tales passed down from one generation to the next. In synthesis they reveal that the Viking age must without comparison have been the richest of all the prehistoric periods in the north.

Many scholars regard the looting of the monastery of Lindisfarne, off England's northeast coast, in the year 793 as the beginning of the Viking Age. Over extensive parts of west and southwest Europe they are still regarded as cruel brigands, who wraught havoc on their victims with fire and the sword. This is only partially true. The Vikings also came on peaceful errand, to trade and to colonize. Norwegian Vikings settled in the Orkney Isles, the Shetlands, the Hebrides, and on the Isle of Man. The mainland of northern Scotland and Ireland also became their home, and Dublin, founded by the Vikings in the 840s, was under Nordic rule right up to 1171.

In Iceland and Greenland the Norwegian Vikings found uninhabited land. There they settled and built communities. Present-day Iceland is a direct consequence of the Viking colonization. On Greenland, however, the Norse communities, for reasons unknown, died out some few centuries later.

The Norwegian Vikings came mostly from the south and west of the country, where the land had been utilized to the maximum it could tolerate. In southeast and north Norway, on the other hand, settlement based on agriculture and other activities spread to previously uninhabited areas, particularly in the mountains and valleys.

For their many expeditions the Vikings needed fast and seaworthy ships, and men with the skill to navigate them over open seas. The fact that these hardy men repeatedly voyaged to America and back is evidence enough of their mastery of the longships. The Sagas relate that it was Leif Eriksson who discovered "Wineland the Good" in the year 1001, but present day scholars claim that other Vikings had reached America before him. The Viking Age finally culminated in 1066 when the Norwegian King Harald Hardruler and his men were defeated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in England.