Norway (Norwegian: Norge (Bokmål) or Noreg (Nynorsk); Northern Sami: Norga; Lule Sami: Vuodna; Southern Sami: Nöörje),
officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe whose mainland territory comprises the western and northernmost
portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula;
Mainland Norway and the remote island of Jan Mayen as well as the archipelago of Svalbard form Metropolitan Norway. The subantarctic Bouvet Island is a dependent territory of the
Kingdom of Norway. Norway also lays claim to the Antarctic territories of Queen Maud Land and Peter I Island.
Norway has a total
area of 385,207 square kilometres and a population of
5,312,300 (as of August 2018). The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden (1,619 km). Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, and the Skagerrak strait to the south, with Denmark on the other side. Norway has an extensive coastline,
facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. The kingdom was established in 872 as a merger of many petty kingdoms and has
existed continuously for 1,148 years. From 1537 to 1814, Norway was a part of
the Kingdom of Denmark–Norway, and from
1814 to 1905, it was in a personal union with
the Kingdom of Sweden. the Norwegian languages share mutual intelligibility
with Danish and Swedish. Norway has two official names: Norge in Bokmål and Noreg in Nynorsk. The English name Norway comes from the Old English word Norþweg mentioned in 880, meaning
"northern way" or "way leading to the north", which is how
the Anglo-Saxons referred to the coastline of Atlantic Norway similar to scientific consensus about the
origin of the Norwegian language name. The Anglo-Saxons of Britain also
referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land.
The total number
of species include 16,000 species of insects (probably 4,000 more species yet
to be described), 20,000 species of algae,
1,800 species of lichen, 1,050 species of mosses,
2,800 species of vascular plants, up to
7,000 species of fungi, 450 species of birds (250 species nesting in Norway),
90 species of mammals, 45 fresh-water species of fish, 150 salt-water species
of fish, 1,000 species of fresh-water invertebrates, and 3,500 species of salt-water invertebrates.
About 40,000 of these species have been described by science. The red list of 2010 encompasses 4,599 species. Seventeen species
are listed mainly because they are endangered on a global scale, such as the European beaver, even if the population in Norway is not seen
as endangered. The number of threatened and near-threatened species equals to
3,682; it includes 418 fungi species, many of which are closely associated with
the small remaining areas of old-growth forests, 36 bird species, and 16
species of mammals. In 2010, 2,398 species were listed as endangered or
vulnerable among which
were the grey wolf, the Arctic fox (healthy population on Svalbard) and the pool frog.
Attractive and dramatic scenery and landscape are found throughout
Norway. The west coast of southern Norway and the coast of northern Norway
present some of the most visually impressive coastal sceneries in the world. National Geographic
has listed the Norwegian fjords as the world's top tourist attraction. The
country is also home to the natural phenomena of the Midnight sun (during summer),
as well as the Aurora borealis known also as the Northern lights.
The postal system of Norway dates from 1647, when Christian IV of Denmark-Norway granted a concession to a private company who
established the Postvesenet (now Posten Norge). The Postvesenet primarily provided a way for
various parts of the country to communicate with the central government in Christiania
(now Oslo). Although Norway came under rule of the Swedish king in 1815, the postal service remained independent
of the Swedish post, and continued to gradually established routes throughout
the country. The first postal marking was a cancellation introduced at
Oslo
in 1845. The first postage stamp was issued in 1855, and
depicted the Coat of arms of Norway. In 1871, Norway
introduced its first stamp with a posthorn design; stamps of this type, with
periodic redesigns, have been in use ever since. In 1888, there were fourteen
private local posts in operation in Norway.
Posten Norge or The Norwegian Post is the name of the Norwegian postal service. The company, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications has a monopoly on distribution of letters weighing less than 50g
throughout the country. There are 30 post offices in Norway, in addition to
1400 outlets in retail stores. In 1933, Postvesenet was renamed Postverket. In
1996, Posten Norge BA was established as a state-owned company in which the
Norwegian state had limited liability. In 2002
Posten changed its corporate structure to that of a stock company, to prepare the company for the expected deregulation of the Norwegian postal market. Posten Norge AS
is still fully owned by the Norwegian state and the liberalization process has
been postponed until 2011 by the government.
The covers posted on August 08, 2013 and I received on August 16, 2013.
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