Top 10 Norway facts

Nobody. Popular culture picture of a Viking wearing horned helmet developed in 19th century inspired by archaeological findings that originated from Bronze Age much earlier to Vikings' times.

Scandinavian Mountains. The whole Scandinavia experiences uplift as a result of post-glacial rebound. In northern Europe, this is clearly shown by the GPS data obtained by the BIFROST GPS network. The average uplift is less than 1cm/year, but it may accumulate to 400m during next 10,000 years.

Sweyn Forkbeard the King of Denmark and Norway in 1013 after many tries finally has conquered British soil and announced himself as the King of England. Another Vikings that became the King of England were his son Cnut and William the Conqueror.

Norwegian queen. Queen Maud Land was the first part of Antarctica to be sighted. The name was initially applied in January 1930 to the land discovered by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen and Finn Lützow-Holm during Norvegia expedition of 1929–30. It was named after the Norwegian Queen Maud of Wales, wife of the then-reigning King Haakon VII.

Telemark is a form of downhill skiing using bindings where the boot is attached only at the toe (similar to those of Cross-country skiing). It came to the attention of the Norwegian public in 1868, when Sondre Norheim took part in a ski jumping competition. Norheim's technique of fluid turns soon dominated skiing. Starting in the 1910s, newer techniques based on the stem gradually replaced Telemark in the Alpine countries, as easier to master and more suitable for steep slopes.

To disrupt German nuclear project. In 1934, at Vemork, Norsk Hydro built the first commercial plant capable of producing heavy water as a byproduct of fertilizer production. In 1943, a team of British-trained Norwegian commandos succeeded in destroying the production facility with a second attempt, Operation Gunnerside. Operation Gunnerside was later evaluated as the most successful act of sabotage in all of World War II.

Spitsbergen permafrost. The Svalbrad Global Seed Vault (norw. Svalbrad globale frøhvelv) is located Svalbrad archipelago, at the Sptisbergen Island in Norway. It has been built to safely store seeds of edible plants from all over the world in case of any cataclism. Vault located is in the tunnel digged in the permafrost. Currently over 1.5 mln specimens are stored

Oslo. In 1624, during the reign of King Christian IV the city was destroyed by a fire. It was rebuilt and renamed Christiania in the king's honor. Following a spelling reform, it was known as Kristiania from 1877 to 1925, when its original name was restored.

In Norway. Those three are: Vinnufossen (860 m), Balåifossen (850 m) and Strupenfossen (820 m). They are world's 6th, 7th and 11th tallest waterfalls respectively.

Norway is a kingdom in Northwestern Europe. Harald V is the current king of Norway (at photo). There are presidents in other countries. The President of the Vatican City is called Giuseppe Bertello, of the Germany - Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the Turkish President is Tayyip Erdoğan.