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Norway

country in Northern Europe

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ20 ↗
Source-derived summary

Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country comprising the western and northernmost parts of the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe, the remote Arctic island Jan Mayen and the archipelago Svalbard. Bouvet Island, located in the Subantarctic, is a dependency, and not a part of the Kingdom; Norway also claims the Antarctic territories of Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land. Norway has a population of approximately 5.6 million, and a total area of 385,207 square kilometres (148,729 sq mi). Its capital and largest city is Oslo. The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden, and is bordered by Finland and Russia to the northeast. Norway has an extensive coastline facing the Skagerrak strait, the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea.

The unified kingdom of Norway was established in 872 as a merger of petty kingdoms and has existed continuously for over a millennium. From 1537 to 1814, Norway was part of Denmark–Norway, and from 1814 to 1905, it was in a personal union with Sweden. Norway was neutral during the First World War, and in the Second World War until April 1940 when it was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany until the end of the war.

Haakon VIII of the House of Glücksburg is the king of Norway.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Norway” as country in Northern Europe. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1537, 1814, 1905, 1940—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1905-10-26, 1814-05-17, 0900, 1905-06-07—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. The account is most persuasive where Norway, country and Northern can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as country in Northern Europe. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20. VIAF identifies the subject as 155855229. The Library of Congress control number is n79021528. Authority coordinates are 59.933, 10.683. 1 of 10 selected statements include explicit references; 7 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1537, 1814, 1905 and 1940.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Norway”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Norway primary sources, Norway archive and Norway research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Norway”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Norway” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.