Vexillology of Norway

Vexillology of Norway

Proportion: 16:22
Adopted: 13 July 1821
First Flown: current version in 15 December 1899
Use:

Norwegian Coat-of-Arms
(FOTW)

Naval Jack

Norway

Long Form of Country Name: Kingdom of Norway (Kongeriket Norge)
Short Form of Country Name: Norway (Norge)
Form of State: Constitutional monarchy consisting of 19 counties or fylker and the islands of Bouvet, Jan Mayen and Svalbard. In addition Norway claims some territory in the Antarctic. The Head of State is a monarch from a line of the Danish royal family.
Form of Government: Paliamentary democracy with legislative authority vested in a unicameral Storting, the members of which are popularly elected to 4-year terms through a system of proportion representation. Executive authority is vested in a State Council headed by a Prime Minister who is the leader of the majority party or coalition in the Storting. The members of the State Council are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the Storting.
Independence: 7 June 1905 from Sweden
Capital: Oslo
Major National Groups: Norwegians with a small Sami minority.

1. Akershus
2. Aust-Agder
3. Buskerud
4. Finnmark
5. Hedmark
6. Hordaland
7. Møre og Romsdal
8. Nordland
9. Nord-Trøndelag
10. Oppland

11. Oslo
12. Østfold
13. Rogaland
14. Sogn og Fjordane
15. Sør-Trøndelag
16. Telemark
17. Troms
18. Vest-Agder
19. Vestfold

Norwegian State and War Flag and Ensign

Provincial Flags of Norway's Fylker

North Atlantic
Ocean

Sweden

Finland

Norway and its Flag

Norway - and its Scandinavian neighbors - was the home of the fieresome Vikings who raided the coastal regions of Europe from Russia all the way around to the Mediterranean coast. However, in the 10th century, the Vikings - also known as Norsemen (or North Men) - converted to Christianity and their reign of terror came to an end. The countries that their descendents created out of their homeland are still known today as the Nordic countries, or "Land of the North" and the Norwegians refer to themselves as Nordmenn meaning "North Men."

In the 13th century, Norway was unified with the Danish kingdom and remained so until 1814. Because the Danish-Norwegian kingdom had been invaded by the British, they had created a military alliance with Napoleon and suffered the consequences when Napoleon was defeated. Norway was taken away from Denmark and given instead to Sweden. Though the Norwegians were happy with their union with Denmark they were not so happy with their union to Sweden. The union with Sweden was a time of simmering tension. The Norwegians never openly rebelled against the Swedes, but their growing sense of nationalism kept them restless for a country of their own. They had attempted to declare their independence during the transition from Danish to Swedish sovereignty, but the terms of the treaty giving Norway to Sweden would not permit it. The Swedes were forced to occupy and subdue the Norwegians who quickly stood down before violence erupted. For their cooperation, the Swedes allowed the Norwegians a great amount of autonomy over their local affairs and granted them a parliament. This parliament, known as the Storting, debated and adopted a Norwegian national flag in 1844 designed by a member representing Bergen named Frederik Meltzer. His flag design incorporated the beloved Danneborg of Denmark and inserted the blue cross of Sweden. The union of the Danneborg and the Swedish Cross represented for the Norwegians the history of Norway as a part of both the Danish and Swedish kingdoms. The Swedish king, however, refused to approve the design and it never became official while Norway remained a part of Sweden.

By the 20th century, Norwegian naitonalism could no longer tolerate domination by a foreign monarch. Negotiations between the Storting and the Swedish government resulted in a peaceful treaty of independence and Norway became a sovereign country in 1905 for the first time in 600 years. A monarch was granted to Norway by the Danish royal family and Prince Carl of Denmark, the second son of the Crown Prince and future king of Denmark, ascended the Norwegian throne as King Haakon VII. Upon its independence, the Storting quickly adopted Meltzer's flag as the national flag of Norway. A three-tongued version of the flag was also adopted as the State and War flag of the new country and the ensign of its navy.

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© 2007 SouthBear

This page was created on 15 May 2007
Date of Last Revision: 21 May 2007

Animated flagpole: www.fg-a.com

A Note About Nordic Flags

Scandinavian tradition dictates that the proportions of Nordic (or Scandinavian) flags are measured by the width of their component colors. As a result, Nordic flags are measure along the fly first followed by the hoist. Taking the Norwegian flag as an example, the flag is divided into equal units along the top from the hoist to the fly. If the flag is correctly proportioned, the Norwegian flag will display 6 units of the red background, 1 unit of the white fimbriation, 2 units of the blue cross, 1 unit of the white fimbriation, and completed with 12 units of the red background. This gives a horizontal dimension of 6:1:2:1:12. Then, measuring along the hoist from the top, the flag will display 6 units of the red background (to form a square blue canton), 1 unit of the white fimbriation, 2 units of the blue cross, and completed with 6 units of the blue background for a dimension of 6:1:2:1:6. This results in an official dimension of 6:1:2:1:12 x 6:1:2:1:6. For purposes of this page, I have converted these measurements into the standard flag lenth:width ratio of 16:22 by adding the component measurements along the hoist and the fly. (example: 6+1+2+1+6=16 for the hoist and 6+1+2+1+12=22 for the fly or 16:22.)