LYCOS RETRIEVER
Norway: Countries
built 124 days ago
In Europe, Norway is a very young country as far as theatre traditions are concerned. During the last 25 years... there has been an explosive growth. It started in the 60s when the permanent theatres of the big cities - The National Theatre, The Norwegian Theatre and Oslo New Theatre in Oslo, The National Stage in Bergen, Rogaland Theatre in Stavanger and Trøndelag Theatre in Trondheim - extended and started several subsiduary theatres. The production of plays was doubled.
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Norway is a sparsely populated country, roughly the same land size as Great Britain or Germany. It has a population of only 4.5 million people but a land area of 385,155 square kilometers. Thus, for each inhabitant there is 70,000 square meters of land, but the vast majority of this land is a rocky wilderness which is completely unusable for agricultural purposes. As a result, Norway has a large number of completely unpopulated areas, many of which have been converted to national parks. Even outside the national parks, much of the land is unspoiled nature, which Norwegians strive to keep unspoiled.
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Since World War II, Norway has experienced rapid economic growth, and is now amongst the wealthiest countries in the world,[6][7][8] with a fully developed welfare system. This economic progress is caused in part by the development of oil and gas reserves off its coast. Norway was ranked highest of all countries in human development from 2001 to 2006.[9] It ... rated the most peaceful country in the world in a 2007 survey by Global Peace Index.[10] It is a founding member of NATO.
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Today, as in the past, most of Norway’s people live along the shores of the fjords in the south. For many centuries, as fishers and traders, they lived off the sea. It was from Norway’s coast that the Vikings—skilled sailors who built a vast maritime trading network—ventured across the Atlantic Ocean to Iceland, later becoming the first Europeans to reach Greenland and North America in the late 10th century. The lure of the sea has remained strong into modern times. Norway retains a vigorous fishing industry and its merchant marine fleet is one of the world’s largest. During the late 20th century, the discovery of vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas in Norway’s portion of the North Sea brought an important new source of prosperity to the country.
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Opening hours in Norway are better than they used to be, but many smaller stores still close early on Saturday (1 PM or 3 PM is typical) and nearly everything is closed on Sundays. You'll often see opening hours written as "9-21 (9-18)" on doors, meaning 9 AM to 9 PM weekdays, 9 AM to 6 PM Saturday. The major exception is convenience stores, notably the big chains Narvesen and Mix (all over the country), Deli de Luca (Oslo and Bergen only) and 7-Eleven (bigger cities only), which are open from early morning until late at night every day, with 24 hour service in the biggest cities. All over the country you will find gas-stations, Statoil, Shell, fresh/selected, YX (HydroTexaco) (these days turning into 7-eleven with gas) and Esso, On the Run. Every gas-station will serve fast-food, especially sausages and cheese. Also hamburgers, pizza, and so on. The gas-stations have long opening periods, and the bigger stations in cities and near bigger crossroads are open 24 hours.
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Norway is situated in the western part of the Scandinavian peninsula. It extends about 1,100 mi (1,770 km) from the North Sea along the Norwegian Sea to more than 300 mi (483 km) above the Arctic Circle, the farthest north of any European country. It is slightly larger than New Mexico. Nearly 70% of Norway is uninhabitable and covered by mountains, glaciers, moors, and rivers. The hundreds of deep fjords that cut into the coastline give Norway an overall oceanfront of more than 12,000 mi (19,312 km). Galdhø Peak, at 8,100 ft (2,469 m), is Norway's highest point and the Glåma (Glomma) is the principal river, at 372 mi (598 km) long.
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