This article is about the Germanic ethnic group native to Norway. For a specific norwegian christmas cake of the population of Norway, see Demographics of Norway. Map of the Norwegian Diaspora in the World.

Based on table of given countries above. Includes those of partial Norwegian ancestry but does not include people of Faroese, Icelandic, Orcadian or Shetland ancestry. Note that there are millions of Britons of Scandinavian ancestry and ethnicity, though mixed with others. 23,000 claim Norwegian ancestry or partial Norwegian ancestry. North Germanic ethnic group and nation native to Norway, where they form the vast majority of the population. In 1814, following Denmark-Norway’s defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, Norway entered a union with Sweden and adopted a new constitution.

As with many of the people from European countries, Norwegians are spread throughout the world. There are more than 100,000 Norwegian citizens living abroad permanently, mostly in the U. Norwegian or Norse Vikings travelled north and west and founded vibrant communities in the Faroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, and northern England. Apart from Britain and Ireland, Norwegian Vikings established settlements in largely uninhabited regions.

The first known permanent Norwegian settler in Iceland was Ingólfur Arnarson. In the year 874 he settled in Reykjavík. After his expulsion from Iceland Erik the Red discovered Greenland, a name he chose in hope of attracting Icelandic settlers. Viking settlements were established in the sheltered fjords of the southern and western coast. During the 17th and 18th centuries, many Norwegians emigrated to the Netherlands, particularly Amsterdam.

The Netherlands was the second most popular destination for Norwegian emigrants after Denmark. Norwegian population consisted of some 800,000 people. Young women took employment as maids in Amsterdam. Young men took employment as sailors. Large parts of the Dutch merchant fleet and navy came to consist of Norwegians and Danes. Most took Dutch names, leaving no trace of Norwegian names in the Dutch population of today.

The emigration to the Netherlands was so devastating to the homelands that the Danish-Norwegian king issued penalties of death for emigration, but repeatedly had to issue amnesties for those willing to return, announced by posters in the streets of Amsterdam. Increasingly, Dutchmen who search their genealogical roots turn to Norway. A map of North America, with the percentage of Canadians and Americans of Norwegian descent in each province, territory and state in Canada and the U. Many Norwegians emigrated to the U. Today, the descendants of these people are known as Norwegian Americans. Census, three million Americans consider Norwegian to be their sole or primary ancestry.

It is estimated that as many as a further 1. 5 million more are of partial Norwegian ancestry. Travelling to and through Canada and Canadian ports were of choice for Norwegian settlers immigrating to the United States. Hispanic Euro-American population in the U. They mostly live in both the Upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest. As early as 1814, a party of Norwegians was brought to Canada to build a winter road from York Factory on Hudson Bay to the infant Red River settlement at the site of present-day Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.