On the north the coast of Norway is 'washed hy the Arctic
Ocean. The nearest land is Bear Island, then Spitzbergen, 36
honrs’ steam north from Hammerfest. Every year the Norwegian
sealers cruise about the sea as far as it is open in the north, and
the name of Norway has been associated with the history of polar
exploration, from Othar, in king Alfred’s time, to Nansen.
On the west we have the North Atlantic Ocean. The nearest
land, which may be sighted after 24 hours’ fair sailing from the
coast near Bergen, is the Shetland Isles, where the people still
talked Norwegian in the last Century. About the same distance
farther towards the NW he the Faroe Isles, and yet farther, still
in the same direction, Iceland, both having been colonised from
Norway a thousand years ago, and still speaking the old Norwegian
language almost unaltered. A good deal farther west lies Greenland,
also an old Norwegian colony, which, together with .the
above-named islands, was lost at the dissolution of the union with
Denmark in 1814. The voyages of the old Norsemen were even
extended for a time to the continent of America, to Vinland. At
the present time Vi of the Norwegian-born population live in
America. If we sail south from the Shetland Isles, we have the
Orkneys, Sutherland, the Hebrides, and the Isle of Man, all stations
on the western route of the 'V ikings, and Norwegian possessions
for several centuries. Norwegian kings ruled in Dublin for more
than 300 years, and the number of Norsemen among the so-called
«Danes» who conquered England, was by no means small; the
conquerors of Normandy were chiefly Norwegian Vikings. Towards
the west, Norway has thus, of old, been closely connected with
countries round the sea. About Vs of her trade with foreign
countries is at present with Great Britain and Ireland. (Newcastle
to Bergen, 36 hours).
With the countries to the south of the North Sea, Norway
has also been long and closely connected, with the Netherlands
and North Germany. The Hanseatic towns ruled the trade' with
Norway for hundreds of years, and Hamburg, in particular, is still of
great importance, (Steamer from Hamburg to Kristiansand, 36 hours).
From Lindesnes, the coast turns gradually towards the NE
along the Skagerak, which, with a width of 70 miles, separates
Norway from Denmark (Jutland). The width is not greater
than will permit of the lighthouses of both countries being visible at
the same time (Ryvingen and Hanstholmen). There has so long
been a close connection by sea here, that it is even said that
evidences of it may be detected in the dialect on the south coast
of Norway. (Steamer Kristiansand—Fredrikshavn, 10 hours).
From the Kristiania Fjord, the Norwegian coast again turns
southwards towards the Kattegat, and ends at the Hvaler Islands
and Ide Fjord. Up to 1658, Norway met Denmark at the mouth
of the river Gota, and communication between the two countries
along the coast here was of considerable importance. Viken, i. e.
Bohuslen, and formerly also more northerly parts of Norway had even
partly had an early political connection with the Danish kingdom.
I t is thus a natural consequence of the country’s general
geographical situation that Denmark has been the country to which
Norway has stood in the closest and nationally deepest relations
in past ages, politically for more than 400 years (1380—1814) in
a connection, which to some extent became an amalgamation.
Towards the north, west and south, Norway has thus long
been closely connected with her neighbours across the sea. If we
include the whole of Germany and also France (Havre to Kristiania,
72 hours); jit may be said that 7/io of Norway’s intercourse with
the outside world is now with the countries bordering on the
North Sea towards the west and south.
Towards the east, Norway has her long land frontier, which
almost equals, the coast in length -||g 1500 miles as against 1700.
Farthest north the country is bounded by Russia for 100 miles,
then by Finland for 450 miles, and for the remaining 950 miles
by Sweden. The boundary line runs southwards, to some extent
following the watershed- of the Scandinavian peninsula. At 63°
N.Lat. this is quitted, and the line follows the eastern limit of
the Glommen district, and then of Tistedalen, the upper part of
the Klara, however, also falling within the confines of Norway
(Fsemunden and Tryssil). .
From a topographical point of view, Norway does not seem
to have any «natural boundaries» in a general sense, on her land-
side. It has even proved to be utterly impossible to draw a reasonable
boundary-line that really followed the" watershed; no marked
division exists, no chain of mountains, no separating «keel». I t
has not in reality been a definite natural line that has divided
Norway from her neighbours on the east; it has been a hand of
desert land, up to hundreds of miles in width. So utterly desolate
and apart from the area of continuous habitation has this.