The History of Norway
The Early Years (12,000 BC - 0AD)
The First Settlers
Norway begins around 12,000 BC, when the coastline rose from glaciation.
The first people began to come to Norway from Southern Europe – they followed the migration reindeer north as the ice retreated and lush vegetation grew. The Norwegian coast offered good conditions for sealing, fishing, and hunting.
The oldest skeleton ever found in Norway dates to 6,000 BC. It’s believed the first peoples settled around the coast of Southern Norway. Some say the oldest settlement in Norway is around present-day Kristiansund.
Farming Begins
Farming came to Norway around 4,000BC and the oldest farms are believed to be around the Oslofjord. This is about 5,000 years after agriculture started in the Middle East. Around 2,500BC, oats, barley, pigs, cattle, sheep and goats became common and spread as far north as Alta. This period also saw an Indo-European dialect, from which the Norwegian language developed.
The Bronze Age
The Bronze Age involved innovations such as ploughing the fields, permanent farms with houses (especially around the Oslofjord, Trondheimsfjord, Mjøsa and Jaeren). The knowledge of bronze came here around 2,000BC. In Norway only 800 metal objects from the Bronze Age, which has led historians to think that Norway didn’t have much of a Bronze Age but rather continued to live in the Stone Age.
Sami People
Around the Uralic languages arrived in the north and assimilated with the indigenous population, becoming the Sami people. The formation of 1,000BC, speakers of the Sami language was completed in its southernmost area of usage by 500AD.
Climate Change
Around 500BC, the climate begins to change. Goodbye, warm Mediterranean weather. The forests, which previously consisted of elm, lime, ash, and oak, are replaced with birch, pine, and spruce. The climate means that farmers begin to settle permanently and built proper structures.