Wednesday, April 15

Norwegians and the sea now and then

Norwegians have always used the sea and oceans to conquer new territories and make profit. Thousand years ago the Vikings made many voyages, and the map below show some of the routes our ancestors used on their visits around Europe:Around 1001 ac Leiv Erikson made visits to Markland and Vinland and thus "found" America almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus. I have never been an active sailor, and never experienced the once in a life time like the painting above (by the Norwegian painter Chr. Krogh) when Leiv discovers America, but I have been some hours in sailing-boats not only in smooth weather. If you think I look familiar, maybe you just have read Snorre´s Heimskringla, the history of the Norwegian kings that begins with legendary material in Ynglinga saga and moves through to early medieval Scandinavian history.
I received a facsimile from a friend some days ago, remembering our management and employee development program "Motivation for Change" that took place in 1990 - 1991. In presenting me in that context our internal news magazine found a certain similarities.

5 comments:

Rune Eide said...

Det var jo unektelig en viss likhet - skriver du like bra skal jeg ta av meg hatten!

Anne said...

Denne bare MÅ være å finne langt bak i stamtavla di, hi hi...

Ivar Østtun said...

Interessant, Arne. Så egentlig burde "Noreg" være en stormakt. Men i stede er vi en bitteliten ubetydelig stat som "kun" produserer råvarer. Ja ja. Er nå ganske godt å bo her allikevel da :-)

pictureeachday said...

hehehe.. you do look very like that picture!

ANNA-LYS said...

hej Snorre ;-)
vad lika ni är,
som två blåbär