Inital unification

The Viking Age was characterized by expansion and emigration by Viking seafarers. According to tradition, Harald Fairhair (Harald HÃ¥rfagre) unified them into one in 872 AD after the Battle of Hafrsfjord in Stavanger, thus becoming the first king of a united Norway. (The date of 872 may be somewhat arbitrary. In fact, the actual date may be just prior to 900 AD).

The Kalmar Union (Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish: Kalmarunionen) is a historiographical term meaning a series of personal unions (1397-1523) that united the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway (with Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Shetland, and Orkney), and Sweden (including a part of modern day Finland) under a single monarch, though intermittently and with a population less than 3,000,000.

Denmark-Norway (Danish and Norwegian: Danmark-Norge, German: DÃ¤nemark-Norwegen) is the historiographical name for a former political entity consisting of the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, including the originally Norwegian dependencies of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Following the strife surrounding the break-up of its predecessor, the Kalmar Union, the two kingdoms entered into another personal union in 1536 which lasted until 1814. The corresponding adjective and demonym is Dano-Norwegian.

Union with Sweden (19th century)

After Denmark-Norway was attacked by the United Kingdom, at the Battle of Copenhagen it entered into an alliance with Napoleon, with the war leading to dire conditions and mass starvation in 1812. As the Danish kingdom found itself on the losing side in 1814, it was forced, under terms of the Treaty of Kiel, to cede Norway to the king of Sweden, while the old Danish-Norwegian provinces of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands remained with the Danish crown.

Norway took this opportunity to declare independence, adopted a constitution based on American and French models, and elected the crown prince of Denmark-Norway Christian Frederik as king on 17 May 1814. This is the famous Syttende Mai (Seventeenth of May) holiday celebrated by Norwegians and Norwegian-Americans alike. Syttende Mai is also called Norwegian Constitution Day.

However, the decision to link Norway with Sweden caused the Norwegian-Swedish War to break out between Sweden and Norway, but as Sweden's military was not strong enough to defeat the Norwegian forces outright and Norway's treasury was not large enough to support a protracted war, and as British and Russian navies blockaded the Norwegian coast, both Norway and Sweden were forced to negotiate a settlement. Accordingly, on November 4, 1814, Norway was forced into entering the union with Sweden.

Independence

Christian Michelsen, a shipping magnate and statesman, Prime Minister of Norway from 1905 to 1907, played a central role in the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden on 7 June 1905. After a national referendum confirmed the people's preference for a monarchy over a republic, the Norwegian government offered the throne of Norway to the Danish Prince Carl, and Parliament unanimously elected him king, the first king of a fully independent Norway in 586 years.

Source: Wikipedia

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