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|region4 = {{flagcountry|Brazil}} |region4 = {{flagcountry|Brazil}}
|pop4 = 150,000{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} |pop4 = 150,000{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
|region5 = {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}{{smallsup|1}} |region5 = {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}{{smallsup|1}}{{smallsup|2}}
|pop5 =57,350<ref>2001 Census + 42,000 Orcadians and Shetlanders</ref> |pop5 =13,798<ref name="reg">Number of Norwegians registered at the Embassy for living in each of these countries.</ref><br />
<small>''also crica 42,000 ] and ]''</small>
|region6 = {{flagcountry|Sweden}}{{smallsup|1}} |region6 = {{flagcountry|Sweden}}{{smallsup|1}}
|pop6 = 48,385<ref></ref><ref></ref> |pop6 = 48,385<ref></ref><ref></ref>
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], ]<br> ], ]<br>
], ], ], ], ] <br>Other ] ethnic groups ], ], ], ], ] <br>Other ] ethnic groups
| footnotes = {{smallsup|1}} Include people of ], ], ] or ] ancestry. | footnotes = {{smallsup|1}} Does not include people of ], ], ] or ] ancestry, or any other paradoxes.
| footnotes = {{smallsup|2}} Note that there are millions of ] of ] ancestry and ethnicity, though mixed with others.
}} }}


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Revision as of 05:57, 24 January 2010

Template:Two other uses

Ethnic group
Norwegians
Nordmenn

St. Olaf  • P. Tordenskjold  • N. H. Abel  • F. Stang
H. Ibsen  • E. Grieg  • F. Nansen  • E. Munch
R. Amundsen  • E. Groven  • L. Ullmann  • O. G. Solskjær
Pr. Märtha  • Pr. Mette-Marit  • S. Jensen  • L-M. M. Jünge
Regions with significant populations
 Norway:4,145,218
 United States4,712,232
 Canada521,390
 Iceland295,672
(See Icelandic people)
 Brazil150,000
 United Kingdom13,798
also crica 42,000 Orcadians and Shetlanders
 Sweden48,385
 Faroe Islands45,000
(See Faroese people)
 Australia32,850
 Chile25,000
 Spain20,000
 Denmark18,829
 Italy15,000
 Uruguay15,000
 Ecuador13,000
 Germany6,251
 Netherlands3,081
 Finland2,000
 France2,000
 Belgium1,800
  Switzerland1,500
 Thailand1,000
 New Zealand828
 Greece600
 Japan452
 China380
 Israel260
 Cyprus134
 Russia124
Languages
Norwegian
Related languages include Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, and to a lesser extent, all Germanic languages.
Religion
83% of the population of Norway are members of the Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway. Norway is highly secularized, and only about 10% of the population attend religious services more than once a month. The Norwegians in Norway are more secular than the Norwegians in the United States. Only 7 % of the poplation in North Dakota is irreligous, which is a state were 30.4 % of the population is Norwegian.
Related ethnic groups
Faroese, Icelanders, Danes, Swedes

Shetlanders, Orcadians

Scots, Dutch, English, Normans, Germans
Other Germanic ethnic groups

Note that there are millions of Britons of Scandinavian ancestry and ethnicity, though mixed with others.

Norwegians (Template:Lang-no) are a Northern European ethnic group found mostly in Norway and other Scandinavian countries, as well as many other countries in diaspora. Norwegians mostly speak Norwegian as well as other languages in diaspora and mostly follow Christianity (particularly Lutheranism).

Viking Age

Main article: Viking Age

The Norwegians travelled to the north-west and west, founding vibrant communities in the Faroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland and northern England. Norwegian Vikings conducted extensive raids in Ireland and founded the cities of Cork, Dublin and Limerick. A new wave of Norwegian Vikings appeared in England in 947 when Erik Bloodaxe captured York. Apart from Britain and Ireland, Norwegians mostly found largely uninhabited land, and established settlements in those places. The first known permanent Norwegian settler in Iceland was Ingólfur Arnarson, who built his homestead in Reykjavík, traditionally in the year 874. According to the saga of Erik the Red, when Erik the Red was exiled from Iceland he went west. There he found a land that he named Greenland, hoping that the Icelanders would be eager to settle there if it had a promising name. The Viking Age settlements in Greenland were established in the sheltered fjords of the southern and western coast.

Norwegians in Norway

See also History of Norway and Demography of Norway.

According to recent genetic analysis, both mtDNA and Y chromosome polymorphisms showed a noticeable genetic affinity between Norwegians and central Europeans, especially Germans. (These conclusions are also valid for Swedes) For the global genetic make-up of the Norwegian people and other peoples, see also: and

Norwegian diaspora

Norwegian citizens abroad

As with many of the people from European countries, Norwegians are spread throughout the world. There are more than 100,000 Norwegian citizens living abroad permanently, mostly in the USA and in the other Scandinavian countries.

The Netherlands

During the 17th and 18th centuries, many Norwegians emigrated to the Netherlands and in particular Amsterdam. This emigration is regarded as the second of the waves of emigration from Norway (the first being the trek to the England, Atlantic islands, Normandy, etc. during the Viking age, and the third was to North America, not counting the Gothic emigrations to Continental Europe in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.) Loosely estimated some 10% of the population may have emigrated, in a period when the entire Norwegian population consisted of some 800,000 people. The Norwegians left with the Dutch trade ships that in Norway traded for timber, hides, herring and stockfish (dried codfish). Young women took employment as maids in Amsterdam. Young men took employment as sailors. Large parts of the Dutch merchant fleet and navy came to consist of Norwegians and Danes. They took Dutch names, so no trace of Norwegian names can be found in the Dutch population of today. One well known illustration is that of Admiral Kruys. He was hired in Amsterdam by Peter I to develop the Russian navy, but was originally from Stavanger in Norway (Kruys means 'cross', and the Russian maritime flag is today also a blue cross on white background). The emigration to the Netherlands was so devastating to the homelands that the Danish-Norwegian king issued penalties of death for emigration, but repeatedly had to issue amnesties for those willing to return, announced by posters in the streets of Amsterdam. Increasingly, Dutchmen who search their genealogical roots turn to Norway. Many Norwegians who emigrated to the Netherlands, and often were employed in the Dutch merchant fleet, emigrated further to the many Dutch colonies such as New Amsterdam (New York).

United States

Main articles: Norwegian American and Icelandic American
Northwood, North Dakota has the highest percentage of Norwegian American ancestry in the United States, 55.5%.
Kransekake cake decorated with small flags of Norway at the Olmsted County in Rochester, Minnesota.

Many Norwegians emigrated to the USA between the 1850s and the 1920s. Today, the descendants of these people are known as Norwegian-Americans. According to the 2000 US Census, 3 million Americans consider Norwegian to be their sole or primary ancestry. It is estimated that as many as a further 1.5 million more are of partial Norwegian ancestry.

Travelling to and through Canada and Canadian ports were of choice for Norwegian settlers immigrating to the United States. In 1850, the year after Great Britain repealed its restrictive Navigation Acts in Canada, more and more emigrating Norwegians sailed the shorter route to the Ville de Québec (Quebec City) in Canada, to make their way on to USA cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, and Green Bay by steamer. For example, in the 1850s, 28,640 arrived at Quebec, Canada, en route to the USA, and 8,351 at New York directly.

Norwegian-Americans represent between 2 and 3% of the White non-Hispanic population in the US. They mostly live in the Upper Midwest.

Canada

Main articles: Norwegian Canadian and Icelandic Canadian
7% of the population in Saskatoon in Canada is of Norwegian ancestry.

As early as 1814, a party of Norwegians was brought to Canada to build a winter road from York Factory on Hudson Bay in northern Canada to the infant Red River settlement at the site of present-day Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Norway House is one of the oldest trading posts and Native-Canadian missions in the Canadian West. Willard Ferdinand Wentzel served the North West Company of Canada in the Athabasca and Mackenzie regions and accompanied Sir John Franklin on his overland expedition in 1819–20 to the Canadian Arctic.

Norwegians immigrated to Canada in search of the Canadian Dream. This immigration lasted from the mid-1880s until 1930. It can be divided into three periods of roughly fifteen years each. In the first, to about 1900, thousands of Norwegians homesteaded on the Canadian prairies. In the second, from 1900 to 1914, there was a further heavy influx of Norwegians immigrating to Canada from the United States because of poor economic conditions in the USA, and 18,790 from Norway. In the third, from 1919 to 1930, 21,874 people came directly from Norway, with the peak year in 1927, when 5,103 Norwegians arrived, spurred by severe depression at home. They came with limited means, many leaving dole queues.

From 1825 to 1900 some 500,000 Norwegians landed at Quebec City, Quebec, (and other Canadian ports) for traveling through Canada was the shortest corridor to the Central American states. In spite of efforts by the Government of Canada to retain these immigrants for Canada, very few remained because of Canada's somewhat restrictive land policies at that time and negative stories being told about Canada from U.S. land agents deterring Norwegians from going to Canada. Not until the 1880s did Norwegians accept Canada as a land of opportunity. This was also true of the many Americans of Norwegian heritage who immigrated to Canada from the USA with "Canada Fever" seeking homesteads and new economic opportunities. By 1921 one-third of all Norwegians in Canada had been born in the USA.

These new Canadians became British subjects in Canada, and part of the British Empire. Canadian citizenship, as a status distinct from that of a British subject, was created on 1 January 1947, with Canada being the first Commonwealth country to create their own citizenship. Prior to that date, Canadians were British subjects and Canada's nationality law closely mirrored that of the United Kingdom. On 1 January 1947, Canadian citizenship was conferred on most British subjects connected with Canada. Unlike in the USA, Canada was part of the British Empire and most Norwegians would have become Canadians and British subjects at the same time.

According to the 2006 Canadian census, 432,515 Canadians reported Norwegian ancestry (Norwegian-Canadians). Norwegians make up 2% of the White Canadian population. However, the actual figure may be higher. It is important to note that because so many Norwegian women married men of other nationalities, and thus by census rules are not counted as having children of this ethnic origin, this tends to reduce the number in the statistics.

Australia

Main article: Norwegian Australian

An organized European immigration to Australia was initiated in 1788. And most of the early emigrants were deported from Britain to the "Penal Colony". Also some Norwegians got the doubt summer honor to be with, whether they had made themselves eligible. The most famous is probably Knud G. Bull, a painter and eventually fake coins from Bergen, exported to Hobart, Tasmania.

There were people from the British Isles as completely dominated when emigration to Australia changed character from being deported, to be virtually voluntary. In David Copperfield Charles Dickens allows Mr. Mickawber go to Australia as a result of economic problems, and it was a piece on the way representative. From the 1830s used by the British authorities planned export of surplus population, and over the years up to 1897 was 600,000 persons exported in whole or in part at public expense.

But when the gold rush began in Australia in 1851 flocked to the volunteers, and it has been said that as many as 5000 Norwegian-born was in the periods. Around 1860 there shall have been around 2500 Norwegians there. A good number of these had previously tried luck that gold miners in California, and many went also return to America. Gullgravere guess almost by definition, fortune seekers, and thus prepared to move around depending on your luck might smile, and there was little stability there.

Russia

Many Kola Norwegians from Finnmark settled on the Rybachy Peninsula.
Part of a series on
Norwegians
Culture
Diaspora
Other
Norwegian Portal

See article: Kola Norwegians

Some Norwegians who once lived in the Russian city of Murmansk have left. There are very few of them left there today. The Norwegians in Murmansk are Kola Norwegians.

Other

See also: Norwegian Swedes

The countries and territories with the highest percentage of Norwegians
Country Population Percent
 Iceland 319,756 93.1%
(See Icelandic people)
 Faroe Islands 49,006 92.3%
(See Faroese people)
 Norway 4,799,252 86.1%
 United States 307,966,000 1.7%
 Canada 33,848,000 1.6%
 Sweden 9,325,429 0.4%
 Denmark 5,532,531 0.2%
World 6,790,062,216 0.29
Footnotes Does not include people of
Faroese, Icelandic, Orcadian or Shetlandic ancestry, or any other paradoxes.
The states, regions, counties and cities with the highest numbers of Norwegians.
State Norwegians
Midwestern United States 2,298,361
Eastern Norway 2,067,080
Western United States 1,530,376
Western Norway 1,142,962
 Minnesota 878,744
Southern United States 559,553
File:Akershus vapen.svg Akershus 462,835
 Wisconsin 462,694
Northern Norway 438,607
Hordaland 431,858
Oslo 423,326
 California 411,571
 Washington 399,460
Trøndelag 391,510
Rogaland 376,302
Western Canada 361,055
Sør-Trøndelag 266,164
Northeastern United States 255,069
Southern Norway 250,893
Østfold 240,114
Bergen 225,562
Buskerud 224,883
Møre og Romsdal 234,321
Nordland 224,686
Vestfold 208,655
 North Dakota 194,886
Hedmark 179,269
 Illinois 177,448
Oppland 173,678
 Iowa 168,362
 Oregon 157,601
Telemark 154,320
Trondheim 152,778
Vest-Agder 151,842
File:Coat of Arms of Troms.svg Troms 146,598
 Alberta 144,585
 British Columbia 129,425
Nord-Trøndelag 125,346
 South Dakota 121,671
 Arizona 119,225
 Texas 118,968
 Florida 114,762
 Colorado 113,764
Stavanger 103,176
Sogn og Fjordane 100,481
Aust-Agder 99,041
 Montana 92,676
 Michigan 89,372
 New York 87,332
File:Kristiansand komm.png Kristiansand 70,042
Eastern Canada 69,390
 Saskatchewan 68,650
Finnmark 67,323
 Utah 62,953
 Ontario 53,840
 Virginia 51,338
 Idaho 49,729
 Missouri 46,787
 Ohio 46,632
 New Jersey 43,192
 Nevada 43,052
 North Carolina 42,173
File:Minneapolis flag.svg Minneapolis 41,917
 Indiana 39,565
 Pennsylvania 38,431
 Georgia (U.S. state) 38,261
 Nebraska 36,642
 Kansas 35,558
 Massachusetts 33,948
Seattle 32,018
 Alaska 31,732
 Maryland 30,868
 Tennessee 28,167
New York City 23,849
 Oklahoma 22,592
 Wyoming 21,392
Los Angeles 21,111
 Manitoba 18,395
 Connecticut 16,550
 New Mexico 16,154
 South Carolina 16,121
 Alabama 16,014
Chicago 14,890
World 20,000,000

Other terms used

The Norwegians are and have been referred to by other terms as well. Some of them include:

  • Nordmenn: A term used by Scandinavians to denote ethnic Norwegians and Norwegian citizens. It translates as "Northmen". (Singular: Nordmann)
  • Northmen: Old term used by other European peoples to denote the peoples originating in the northern regions of Europe.
  • Norsemen or Norse: Viking Age peoples of Nordic origin.
  • Vikings: Used in the Nordic countries to denote people who went raiding, pillaging or slave catching during the Viking Age. Used in a similar way by other peoples but can also mean Scandinavians in general.
  • Minnewegian: Colloquial term for a Norwegian-Minnesotan.
  • Norrbagge: A Swedish derogatory term for Norwegians (first attested use in 1257), based on the root bagge meaning sheep's testicles.
  • Norski: Common name for Northern American Norwegians.

See also

References

  1. "Without immigrant background" : Population 1.1.2007 (4 016 385 )
  2. The 2000 American census reports that the United States, in the 2000 census, has 4,477,725 inhabitants of Norwegian ancestry.
  3. Shows a list over Canadas different ethnic groups, reports that there is 363,760 Norwegians in Canada.
  4. Icelanders are almost exclusively descended from Scandinavians (Chiefly from Western Norway) (genetically 60-80%) and Celts (Irish, Scottish - genetically 20-40%)
  5. ^ Number of Norwegians registered at the Embassy for living in each of these countries. Cite error: The named reference "reg" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. Swedish Statistics from 2005. Shows the official number of Norwegians in Sweden at page 20.
  7. Sweden: Stock of foreign-born population by country of birth, by year
  8. Faroe Islanders are almost exclusively descended from Scandinavians (Chiefly from Western Norway) (genetically 50-80%) and Celts (Irish, Scottish - genetically 20-50%)
  9. Australian population: ethnic origins
  10. Spanish National Statistics Institute from 2005. Now at over 20,000
  11. Danish Statistics from October 2005.
  12. Denmark: Stock of foreign-born population by country of birth, 1996 to 2003
  13. ^ Number of registered at the embassy. Actual numbers are likely higher.
  14. Foreign population of Germany counted 31 December 2003 till 1 January 2004.
  15. Netherlands: Stock of foreign-born population by country of birth, 1996 to 2003
  16. The statistics say that there are about 600 Norwegians living in Finland. But the number is probably actually higher. Persons with dual citizenship will only be counted as they are registered with the "first" in the population registry, so the majority of both the Finnish and Norwegian citizenship is certain only considered the find.
  17. According to the website of the Norwegian Embassy in Thailand.
  18. 828 people have informed that they have a Norwegian ethnic background.
  19. Japan-Norway relations, counting only Norwegian citizens registered with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  20. Template:No icon Welcome to the Church of Norway
  21. Religion in Norway (Norway - the official site in the United States)
  22. http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/EJHG_2002_v10_521-529.pdf
  23. Icelanders are almost exclusively descended from Scandinavians (Chiefly from Western Norway) (genetically 60-80%) and Celts (Irish, Scottish - genetically 20-40%)
  24. Faroe Islanders are almost exclusively descended from Scandinavians (Chiefly from Western Norway) (genetically 50-80%) and Celts (Irish, Scottish - genetically 20-50%)

External links

Norway Norwegians abroad and their descendants
Europe Flag of Norway
Africa
Americas
Asia & Oceania
See also: Nordic diaspora and Norwegians
Norway articles
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