The Danish-Norwegian Union
While Sweden began to break away from the Union by force in the middle of the 15th century, the Norwegian Imperial Council elected Christian I of Denmark to be king in 1450 (Union Treaty of Bergen). Until 1814 Norway was ruled by Danish kings from the House of Oldenburg. Although Norway was guaranteed independence, it increasingly became a Danish vassal state without political powers, but with its own laws and courts. In 1536 the Reformation was introduced in Norway, in the same year the Norwegian self-government by Christian III. repealed (since 1572 office of governor).
In 1468/72 Norway lost the Orkney and Shetland Islands, as a result of the Swedish-Danish wars Jämtland and Härjedalen (1645) and Bohuslän (1658).
In the 18th century Norway experienced a very different socio-historical development from Denmark. The peasants, who were largely not dependent on the numerically weak nobility, became largely landowners through the purchase of crown, aristocratic and church land. In the dispute with the central Danish administration and with the rapidly growing stratum of peasants without landed property (Husmenn, “Häusler”), they developed a pronounced class consciousness. After the economic decline in the 14./15. In the 19th century, there was a significant improvement in the economic situation after 1500. The Hanseatic League no longer played a dominant role; Fish exports remained important, shipbuilding, timber industry (sawmills), and silver mining in the 16th and 17th centuries, Copper and iron as well as the steady expansion of the merchant fleet. This favorable development was reinforced by the introduction of absolutism in 1660. The trade was v. a. aligned to England and Holland. – Oslo burned down completely in 1624 and was rebuilt under the name Christiania (until 1924; later spelling Kristiania).
The Swedish-Norwegian Union
In the Treaty of Kiel (January 14, 1814), the Swedish Crown Prince Karl Johann (Karl XIV. Johann ) of Denmark obtained the cession of Norway with the exception of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. However, an elected assembly in Eidsvoll decided on May 17, 1814 a liberal imperial constitution and elected the Danish governor, Prince Christian Friedrich (later also Christian VIII. King of Denmark), as King of Norway. When Swedish troops marched in, Karl Johann forced the election of the King of Sweden, Karl XIII, in Moss on November 4, 1814 ., to the Norwegian king. The constitution of May 17, 1814 was retained with a few changes. However, Norway did not achieve equality in the Union; there was a Norwegian Council of State, but the king was represented in Norway by a viceroy or governor; Sweden determined foreign policy.
The reign of Charles XIV. Johann (1818–44) was marked by the struggle of the Storting against royal power. The Storting pushed through the abolition of the nobility (1821) and rejected the proposed introduction of an unlimited right of objection for the king (1824). The opposition weakened under Oskar I (1844–59), who granted the Norwegians their own coat of arms and flag. Oskar II. (1872–1905) rescinded the office of governor in 1873. In the 1870s, under the leadership of Storting President Johan Sverdrup (* 1816, † 1892) a liberal and peasant left in opposition to the conservative ruling party. After the election victory of the Liberals (Venstre) in 1882, the condemnation of the Conservative government of Selmer by the Reichsgericht led to a new crisis, the solution of which was the commissioning of Sverdrup to form the cabinet in 1884. This government, which emerged from the majority of the Storting, triumphed parliamentarianism in Norway.
In addition to the struggle for independence within the Union with the aim of complete sovereignty and the development of a liberal parliamentarism, in financially weak and infrastructurally underdeveloped Norway it was also about promoting the economic and technical areas: 1816 Foundation of the Bank of Norway; 1854 first railway line; 1909 Completion of the Oslo – Bergen railway line; before 1900 consistent use of water power to generate electricity as a prerequisite for industrialization; Creation of a merchant fleet (the third largest in the world at the beginning of the First World War). However, it could not be prevented that around 1 million Norwegians emigrated to North America from around 1850/60 to 1914 (high points of the wave of emigration: 1879, 1882, 1893). Men received universal suffrage in 1898 and women in 1913.
Oslo
According to Youremailverifier, Oslo, [ Norwegian uslu ] (1624-1924 Christiania, Kristiania from 1877), is the capital of Norway, with most (2021) 697 000 residents city in the country, at the northern end of the Oslo fjord.
Oslo is the economic, trade and cultural center of Norway with universities and museums (e.g. Kon-Tiki Museum, Viking Ship House). In addition to container terminals, the seaport also has moorings for cruise ships and has ferry connections with Copenhagen and Kiel.
Oslo was founded in the middle of the 11th century and rebuilt after a major fire by King Christian IV (1624). The oldest building is Akershus Fortress from the 13th century. In the north-west of Oslo is the Holmenkollen, the scene of international competitions in skiing.