Norway-United States relations
Encyclopedia
The American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
of 1776 had a profound impact on Norway, and the democratic ideals of the U.S. Constitution served as a model for the authors of Norway's own Constitution of 1814. The close relationship between the two nations was reinforced by massive Norwegian emigration to the U.S. during the period 1825–1940, when more than 850,000 Norwegians
Norwegians
Norwegians constitute both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegian people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in United States, Canada and Brazil.-History:Towards the end of the 3rd...
made new homes in the United States and helped build the nation. During the post-war era, both the Marshall aid and the strong common commitment to NATO have contributed to the powerful bond between the two countries. The friendly state of the bilateral relationship was reinforced when King Harald V of Norway
Harald V of Norway
Harald V is the king of Norway. He succeeded to the throne of Norway upon the death of his father Olav V on 17 January 1991...
hosted the visit of U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in November 1999, the first visit to Norway by a U.S. President in Office.
The excellent relations between Norway and the United States, and the Mission in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
can focus its efforts on projects that serve mutual interests. Among them are expanding on the success of NATO in securing transatlantic security, promoting new business opportunities between the two nations, working with Russia to preserve the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
environment and the Barents Sea
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of Norway and Russia. Known in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the sea takes its current name from the Dutch navigator Willem Barents...
, helping the Baltic
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
nations to find their place in the new Europe, and capitalizing on information technology to promote human rights and a sense of world community.
Embassies
Principal U.S. officials:- AmbassadorAmbassadorAn ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
– Barry B. WhiteBarry B. WhiteBarry B. White is the current United States Ambassador to Norway. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 22, 2009 and was sworn in as Ambassador on October 21, 2009. In a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 15, 2009, Ambassador White... - Deputy Chief of Mission – Kevin M. Johnson
- Counselor for Political-Economic Affairs – Kristen F. Bauer
- Counselor for Public Affairs – Hillary Olsin Windecker
- Management Officer—Nathan Bluhm
- Chief, Consular Section—Rodger Deuerlein
- Defense Attaché--Capt. Russell H. Smith, USN
- Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation—Col. Robert Simm, USAF
- Labor Attaché--Edward T. Canuel
- Regional Security Officer—Eric Carlson
see also United States Ambassador to Norway
United States Ambassador to Norway
Prior to 1905, Sweden and Norway were politically united. The United States Ambassador to Sweden thus was the US representative for Norway as well as Sweden. In 1905 Sweden and Norway peacefully separated and Norway became an independent constitutional monarchy. On November 14, 1905, the US State...
, Embassy of the United States in Oslo
Embassy of the United States in Oslo
The Embassy of the United States in Oslo is the diplomatic representation of the United States Government to the Kingdom of Norway. The Embassy is located at Henrik Ibsens gate 48.- Norwegian-American diplomatic history :...
The U.S. maintains an embassy in Oslo. Norway maintains an embassy in Washington DC, United States, and four consulates in New York City, Houston, San Francisco and Minneapolis.
Norwegian Americans
Kinship
Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....
in the United States today. Of these, approximately three million claim "Norwegian" as their sole or primary ancestry.
- A little more than 2% of whitesWhite peopleWhite people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
in the United States are of Norwegian descent. In the Upper MidwestUpper MidwestThe Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the midwest. Although there are no uniformly agreed-upon boundaries, the region is most commonly used to refer to the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and...
, especially MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, western WisconsinWisconsinWisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, northern IowaIowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, and the DakotasThe DakotasThe Dakotas is a collective term that refers to the U.S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota together. The term has been used historically to describe the Dakota Territory, and is continued to be used to describe the collective heritage, culture, geography, fauna, sociology, the economy, and...
, more than 15% of whites are of Norwegian descent. Nearly one-third of all North Dakotans claim Norwegian as their ancestry. - 55% of Norwegian Americans live in the MidwestMidwestern United StatesThe Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
, although a large number (21%) live in the Pacific StatesPacific StatesThe Pacific States form one of the nine geographic divisions within the United States that are officially recognized by that country's census bureau. There are five states in this division — Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington — and, as its name suggests, they all have...
of Washington, OregonOregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, and CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. - Norwegian Americans actively celebrate and maintain their heritage in many ways. Much of it centers on the Lutheran-EvangelicalLutheranismLutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
churches they were born into, but also culinary customs (e.g., lutefiskLutefiskLutefisk or Lutfisk is a traditional dish of the Nordic countries and parts of the Midwest United States. It is made from aged stockfish or dried/salted whitefish and lye . It is gelatinous in texture, and has an extremely strong, pungent odor...
and lefseLefseLefse is a traditional soft, Norwegian flatbread. Lefse is made out of potato, milk or cream and flour, and cooked on a griddle. Special tools are available for lefse baking, including long wooden turning sticks and special rolling pins with deep grooves.-Flavoring:There are many ways of...
), costumes (bunadBunadBunad is an umbrella term encompassing, in its broadest sense, a range of both traditional rural garments as well modern 20th century folk costumes. In its narrow sense the word Bunad does only refer to garments constructed in the early 20th century very loosely based on tradition...
), and Norwegian holidays (Syttende MaiNorwegian Constitution DayNorwegian Constitution Day is the National Day of Norway and is an official national holiday observed on May 17 each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to simply as syttende mai or syttande mai , Nasjonaldagen or Grunnlovsdagen , although the latter is less frequent.- Historical...
, May 17) are popular. A number of towns in the United States, particularly in the Upper Midwest, display very strong Norwegian influences. - Although the Norwegians were the most numerous of all the Scandinavian immigrant groups, other Scandinavians also emigrated to America during the same time period. Today, there are 11–12 million Americans of Scandinavian ancestry. Scandinavian descendants represent about 6% of the white population in the United States as a whole, and more than 25% of the white population of the Upper Midwest.
- Norwegian Americans tend to be Lutheran, although substantial minorities are Roman Catholic or belong to other Protestant denominations. See The Norwegian Lutheran Church in the United StatesThe Norwegian Lutheran Church in the United StatesThe Norwegian Lutheran Church in the United States is a general term to describe the Lutheran church tradition developed within the United States by immigrants from Norway.-Background:...
. - There are more people of Norwegian ancestry in America than in Norway. Historically high birth rates over the past hundred years among Norwegian-Americans resulted in their roughly quadrupling in population over the original ~850,000 immigrants.
Country comparison
 Norway |
 United States |
|
|---|---|---|
| Population | 4,842,915 | |
| Area | 385,252 km2 (148,746 sq mi) | 9,629,091 km2 (3,717,813sq mi) |
| Population Density | 12.5/km22 (31/sq mi) | 31/km2 (80/sq mi) |
| Capital | Oslo Oslo Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King... |
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution.... |
| Largest City | Oslo Oslo Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King... – 580,229 (1,422,442 Metro) |
New York City – 8,363,710 (19,006,798 Metro) |
| Government | Unitary Unitary state A unitary state is a state governed as one single unit in which the central government is supreme and any administrative divisions exercise only powers that their central government chooses to delegate... parliamentary Parliamentary system A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined.... constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution... |
Federal Federalism Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and... presidential Presidential system A presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides separately from the legislature, to which it is not responsible and which cannot, in normal circumstances, dismiss it.... constitutional republic Constitutional republic A constitutional republic is a state in which the head of state and other officials are representatives of the people and must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the government's power over all of its citizens... |
| Official languages | Norwegian | English (de facto) |
| Main religions | 85% Protestant, 10% other, 2% Muslim Muslim A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable... , 1% Pentecostalism Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek... , 1% Roman Catholic |
75% Christianity, 20% non-Religious, 2% Judaism, 1% Buddhism Buddhism Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th... , 1% Islam |
| Ethnic groups | 89.4% Norwegian and Sami, 10.6% other | 74% White American White American White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa... , 14.8% Hispanic and Latino Americans Hispanic and Latino Americans Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins... (of any race), 13.4% African American African American African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States... , 6.5% Some other race Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a diverse country, racially and ethnically. Six races are recognized: White, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and people of two or more races; a race called "Some other race" is also used in the... , 4.4% Asian American Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,... , 2.0% Two or more races Multiracial The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with... , 0.68% American Indian or Alaska Native Native Americans in the United States Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as... , 0.14% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Pacific Islander American Pacific Islander Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, are residents of the United States with original ancestry from Oceania. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population... |
| GDP (nominal) | 2008 IMF estimates: US$451.830 billion ($94,386 per capita Per capita Per capita is a Latin prepositional phrase: per and capita . The phrase thus means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e. per individual or per person... ) |
2008 IMF estimates: US$14.441 trillion ($47,440 per capita) |