History

Norway has a long history from the early stone age with settlements that can be traced many places in the country, the Viking age and unions with both Denmark and Sweden before the independancy in 1905. The Norwegian constitution dates from 1814. Apart from being occupied during the second World War, Norway has been an independant democratic state since 1905

A brief survey (from: http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/00/minifakta_en/en/ ):

9000 BC - 8000 BC Earliest signs of human settlement.

8000 - 4000 BC Old Stone Age, hunters and fishermen, rock carvings.

4000 BC - 1500 BC New Stone Age, early agriculture, livestock.

1500 BC - 500 BC Bronze Age, agricultural tools, jewellery, glass,
weapons.

500 BC - 800 AD Iron Age, iron ploughs and scythes.
800 AD - 1050 AD Viking Age, longships, trade and conquest, runic
inscriptions, voyages of discovery, Leif Eiriksson
discovers America.

900 AD Norway united into one kingdom.

1030 Christianity adopted in Norway.

1130 Start of High Middle Ages, population growth, and
consolidation of power both of church and crown.

1100 - 1200 Monarchy controls the church, slavery abolished.

1350 The Black Death reduces the population by almost
two-thirds.

1380 - 1536 Union with Denmark through royal intermarriage.

1536 Norway ceases to be an independent kingdom.

1814 The Norwegian Constitution adopted, based on the
American Declaration of Independence.

1814 - 1905 Union with Sweden.

1905 End of Union. Haakon VII crowned king.

1913 Universal right to vote for women: Norway is among
the first in the world to grant suffrage.

1940 - 1945 World War II, Norway occupied by Germany.

1957 Death of Haakon VII - Olav V crowned king.

1970 Oil and gas deposits discovered off the Norwegian coast.

1981 Norway's first female Prime Minister.
1991 Death of Olav V, Harald V becomes king.