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modern times, it provides great opportunities for shipping. Norway is the fifth-largest shipping nation in the world.
Below sea level, the Norwegian mainland rests on a base called the continental shelf. In the 1960s, oil and gas were found under the sea bed of this continental shelf. Today, many oil-drilling platforms and production platforms operate far out in the North Sea. Oil and gas products are transported in pipelines to West Germany and England. The oil industry has created many new jobs and improved the Norwegian economy.
Norwegians in America
In 1825, fifty-two Norwegians sailed across the Atlantic to New York on the sloop Restaurationen. They left Norway for economic and religious reasons. "The Father of the Norwegian Immigration", Cleng Peerson, met them in New York and helped them start a new life. This first group was followed by more than 900,000 people. Most of them came in the years from 1865 to 1930. But why did they come? A few left Norway simply because they were adventurous. They wanted to take advantage of the opportunities in the New World in the west. But most of them had more serious reasons. The society changed. The population grew very fast. There was not enough farmland for everybody. There were few other jobs because there was not much industry. The result was economic problems. People worried about the future. So they left Norway to take charge of their own future and make better lives for themselves.
Today there are people of Norwegian descent all over the United States and Canada. The largest group lives in the Midwest. Sons of Norway is the largest Norwegian-American organization in America, with more than 75,000 members.
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