Culture and Education in Norway: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Abstract

Norway is not one of the best known nations of Western Europe. To a large extent, this may be due to the fact that for several centuries it was under the domination of Denmark, not emerging until 1814, when the union with Denmark was dissolved. Until then, the language of the country was Dano-Norwegian and the literature, including that produced by the Norwegian-born playwright-philosopher Ludvig Holberg, was generally identified as Danish. With independence and a constitution, the Norwegians chose to associate themselves with the kingdom of Sweden and did not join the family of fully independent nations until 1905.