MAPS OF HISTORY · HISTORY OF · Norway

ONE LAND · 5 ATLASES

Norway, on the map of history

What was Norway before it was Norway? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History collection — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.

Norway · The Age of Revolutions, 1775–1848

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Norway · The Russian Revolution, 1905–1924

Neutral Norway’s revolution was humanitarian, and it has a name: Fridtjof Nansen. The polar explorer became the League of Nations’ High Commissioner for the crisis Russia exported — repatriating half a million prisoners of war, organizing famine relief in 1921–22, and inventing the “Nansen passport” that gave legal identity to hundreds of thousands of stateless White émigrés. His 1922 Nobel Peace Prize was, in effect, awarded for cleaning up after this atlas.

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Norway · The Great War, 1914–1918

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Norway · The War Room — WW2, 1936–1945

Invaded April 1940 for its ports and the iron-ore route. The puppet ruler Vidkun Quisling gave the world a new word for traitor. Its merchant fleet — the world’s fourth largest — escaped and served the Allies decisively.

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Norway · The Cold War, 1945–1991

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