60 free Norway trivia questions with answers. Sixty questions on Norway, from the obvious to the obscure. The geography round covers the longest fjord, the highest peak, the deepest lake in Europe, Svalbard's treaty oddities and the road tunnel that holds a world record. History runs from Harald Fairhair and Leif Erikson through four centuries under Denmark, the 1814 constitution, the near-unanimous 1905 vote to leave Sweden, the 1940 invasion, Quisling and the heavy-water saboteurs. The rest is the Norway people actually talk about: the oil fund that owns 1.5% of the world's listed companies, electric cars, salmon, lutefisk and brunost, The Scream and its thefts, Ibsen, Grieg, Amundsen, Nansen, Kon-Tiki, a-ha, Magnus Carlsen, Erling Haaland, and the Winter Olympics medal table Norway refuses to give up. There is even a question for Hitchhiker's Guide fans. It works for a pub quiz, a classroom or anyone planning a trip. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the country, its regions, people and events, and the sentence that establishes it is shown under each explanation.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Norway?
Oslo
It spent three centuries as Christiania, named for a Danish king who rebuilt it after a 1624 fire, and only got its old name back in 1925.
Q 02Norway shares its longest land border, 1,619 km, with which country?
Sweden
The short 196 km stretch with Russia in the far northeast is the one that makes headlines.
Q 03Norway's population is roughly how large?
5.6 million
More Americans identified as Norwegian-American in the 2006 census than there were ethnic Norwegians in Norway.
Q 04What is Norway's highest mountain, at 2,469 metres?
Galdhøpiggen
It is also the highest point in Scandinavia and all of Northern Europe, and sits in the Jotunheimen range.
Q 05Which fjord is the world's longest at 204 km, and its second deepest?
Sognefjord
Urnes Stave Church, on its inner reaches, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Q 06Including its islands, Norway's coastline has been estimated at roughly how long?
100,000 km
The mainland alone, with fjords, runs about 29,000 km, which is why coastal shipping has always mattered so much.
Q 07Which Arctic archipelago is part of Norway yet outside the Schengen Area and any county?
Svalbard
A 1920 treaty gave Norway sovereignty but made it a free economic zone, which is why a Russian mining town operates there to this day.
Q 08What is the largest settlement on Norway's Arctic archipelago north of the mainland?
Longyearbyen
There the midnight sun lasts from 20 April to 23 August and polar night from 26 October to 15 February.
Q 09Norway's Arctic archipelago hosts a famous 'doomsday' vault. What is stored inside it?
Seeds
Its Arctic location and permafrost keep the deposits cold even if the power fails.
Q 10Which lake is the deepest in Europe?
Hornindalsvatnet
Ice-age glaciers carved it out, the same process that made Norway's fjords so deep.
Q 11The Lærdal Tunnel in western Norway holds which world record?
Longest for road traffic
At 24.51 km it has lit 'caves' every six kilometres so drivers stay alert.
Q 12Preikestolen, or Pulpit Rock, is a flat-topped cliff rising 604 metres above which fjord?
Lysefjord
The nearly square summit is about 25 metres on each side, with no railing.
Q 13The word 'maelstrom' derives from a system of tidal eddies off which Norwegian island group?
Lofoten
The same islands have been the centre of the winter cod fishery for over a thousand years.
Q 21From 1537 to 1814 Norway was ruled in union with which country?
Denmark
When Denmark ended up on the losing side of the Napoleonic Wars, it was forced to hand Norway to Sweden while keeping Iceland, Greenland and the Faroes.
Q 22Norway's national day, 17 May, marks the signing of what in 1814?
The Constitution
The document was modelled on the American and French examples, and the day is celebrated with children's parades rather than military ones.
Q 23What is the Norwegian name for the national costume worn in 17 May parades?
Bunad
Regional designs vary, and the parades are famous for their hot dogs, waffles and ice cream.
Q 14The old Hanseatic wharf in Norway's second city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is called what?
Bryggen
German merchants ran a state within a state there for generations, trading with fishermen who sailed south each summer.
Q 15Trondheim, founded in 997 by Olav Tryggvason, was originally known by which name?
Nidaros
It served as Norway's capital through the Viking Age until 1217 and its cathedral is still where kings are consecrated.
Q 16Which city in the far north earned the nickname 'Paris of the North' in the 19th century?
Tromsø
Its 1972 university was for years the only one serving the northern half of the country.
Q 17The Hurtigruten coastal route sails from Bergen to which town near the Russian border?
Kirkenes
The northbound trip makes 34 ports of call, and the service still carries local cargo as well as tourists.
Q 18Oslo was known by what name from 1624 until 1925?
Christiania
Christian IV rebuilt the fire-ravaged city closer to Akershus Fortress and named it after himself.
Q 19According to tradition, which king first unified Norway in 872 after the Battle of Hafrsfjord?
Harald Fairhair
Some historians now doubt he existed at all, but the battle site near Stavanger is marked by three giant bronze swords.
Q 20Which son of Erik the Red is thought to have reached North America around 1000 AD?
Leif Erikson
The settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland may be the Vinland of the sagas.
Q 24Roughly what share voted yes in the 1905 referendum on dissolving the union with its eastern neighbour?
99.95%
Only 184 people voted no, making it one of the most lopsided referendums in history.
Q 25The Danish prince who became Norway's king in 1905 took which traditional royal name?
Haakon
He insisted the Norwegian people confirm they wanted a monarchy at all before he accepted the crown.
Q 26On what date did Nazi Germany invade Norway in 1940?
9 April
The country had declared neutrality, as it had in the First World War, and Vidkun Quisling tried to seize power the same day.
Q 27Which Norwegian collaborator's surname became a synonym for 'traitor' in several languages?
Quisling
He was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress in October 1945.
Q 28Norwegian saboteurs attacked a German-run heavy-water plant at which site in Telemark?
Rjukan
Operation Gunnerside knocked the Vemork plant out of production in early 1943 without a shot being fired.
Q 29Who became King of Norway on 17 January 1991?
Harald V
He was the first Norwegian-born monarch to inherit the throne since 1380, a gap of 610 years.
Q 30Norwegians rejected joining the European Union in referendums held in which two years?
1972 and 1994
It still takes part in the single market through the European Economic Area, alongside Iceland and Liechtenstein.