#ofc norway with red knitted hat is a must

[ifindus]

Since Norway was ruled by Denmark and Sweden for so many years, how did Norway maintain its cultural independence and not become assimilated as Danes or Swedes? Were there nationalistic movements to emphasize differences?

I understand Finland/Iceland being different, but Norway is a mystery to me. (I'm really unfamiliar with the Nordic 5 and their history, so bear with me)

You're good! I am here to answer questions like this, I love them 💖

In my opinion geography has a lot of impact on this. As Norway was in a union with Denmark, it was still separated by ocean, and again separated from Sweden by mountains. Mountains and valleys also hugely impacted the langauge in Norway, separating it into dialects. Language also played a large part in identifying as Norwegian - Danes and Norwegians spoke different languages, though mostly mutually intelligible, still different languages. Before the union, Norwegians and Danes and Swedes were also considered different groups of people, and people were aware of these differences - we see them written about in the saga litterature too.

I think it was not very difficult to see Norway as its own country during the unions either - mostly because Norwegians got less status and rights than Danes, and so this discrimmination also could have contributed to greater unity among Norwegians. We also have instances where Norwegian troops refused to fight the war of a King they felt no obligation to, and were severly punished for this.

It was also a fact that the Norwegian climate and nature was a lot rougher than that in either Denmark and Sweden, and that the Norwegians were in turn rougher and used to harsher living conditions. Norwegians were more in contact with their nature; fishing, seafaring, timber, mining etc. Norwegians also got more credit in wars, having a huge advantage in battles at sea, with no nation fostering as many admirals as Norway.

To sum up: Geography separating the peoples from each other, different rights and benefits depending on where you were born, different nature and climate impacting living, and a common identity found in the saga literature.

Though, most of the building of the nation Norway is today took place in the 1800s during the rise of nationalism in Europe and the imminent need to have a separate, recognisable identity to keep the rights to be its own country.