It is widely believed that people have been living in Norway for close to 10,000 years. Even though written records in Norway do not go back that far, archeological evidence shows that people have been living in Norway for about that long. Carbon dating has been used on a variety of very old items that have been left in the dirt, and it is clear that tribes resided in this part of the world back at least that far. They might not have been farming or forming large cities, but they did used to hunt and gather in that area. The climate in that part of the world might have been very different than it is today.
Norway was never controlled by the Roman Empire, which stopped when they got about halfway up the British peninsula. But, Norway was a major player in European affairs during the Middle Ages. For a short amount of time, Denmark and Norway were controlled by the same ruler. It was common for people living in Norway to conduct raids on the British peninsula between 600 and 1100 AD. This gave Norway a tremendous amount of power and influence over the affairs of the British coast. With the Danes, Norway used to conduct raids as far south as France as well. As time went on, Norway became more adventurous, and tried to move even farther south from time to time.
While Norway itself has existed as a country for many centuries, it was also occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. Unlike Sweden, which decided to remain neutral in World War II and was not occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II, Norway decided to ally itself with the Allies, including Britain. Very early in the war, the Nazis decided to venture further north and quickly occupied Norway, which was not able to stand up to the might of Nazi Germany for very long. Eventually, the allies would go on to win the war and defeat the Nazis in 1945. This gave Norway its sovereignty back after 5 years.
Today, Norway is a major power in European affairs. Norway is quite a long way away from Russia, so it did not have to worry about joining NATO and making the Russians upset. Norway, unlike the rest of the Scandinavian countries, has been a part of NATO for many years. Now, the position of Norway might begin to shift, as both Sweden and Finland have decided to apply to join NATO. Given that Norway works closely in concert with its other Scandinavian partners, its role in European and international affairs should start to grow. While Norway has always been a peaceful country, the balance of power in Europe has shown some signs of shifting, so it will be interesting to see what happens next in Norway.
The country of Norway is 1152 years old, founded in the year 872.