Northumbria Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Britain. Located between the River Humber and the Firth of Forth, it extended from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. Its religious, artistic, and intellectual achievements in the 7th-8th centuries were epitomized by such centres as Lindisfame and the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. Jarrow, with its fine library, was
the home of the Venerable St. Bede. After Northumbria’s expansion in the 7th century, it became the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms before being destroyed by the Danes, who captured York in 866. In 944 the last Scandinavian ruler of York was expelled, and Northumbria became an earldom within the kingdom of England.
Northwest Coast Indian Any member of the North American Indian peoples inhabiting a narrow but rich belt of coastland and offshore islands from southeast Alaska to northwestern California. A signal feature of Northwest Coast society was the emphasis on each individual’s heredi¬ tary social rank. A person’s position within a local group depended on his genealogical closeness to the legendary group ancestor. For food the peoples of the area depended primarily on five species of salmon; her¬ ring; oil-rich “candlefish,” or eulachon; smelt; cod; halibut; and mollusks—all of which were abundant. Water transport was highly impor¬ tant, and all groups made efficient dugout canoes. Northwest Coast wood¬ working was facilitated by the natural abundance of easily worked timbers, especially red cedar and redwood. Groups of the Northwest Coast include, from north to south, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, northern Kwakiutl (Heiltsuq), Bella Coola, southern Kwakiutl, Nootka, Coast Salish, Chi¬ nook, and a series of lesser divisions.
Northwest Ordinances (1784, 1785,1787) Measures enacted by the U.S. Congress for the division and settlement of the Northwest Territory, the frontier region extending north of the Ohio River to the Great Lakes and west of Pennsylvania to the Mississippi River. The original ordinance, written by Thomas Jefferson, divided the territory into self-governing dis¬ tricts and set population requirements for statehood. The final ordinance, written partly by Rufus King, set land-grant sizes and prices, provided public land for schools, outlawed slavery, and guaranteed civil liberties. It established the principle of admitting new states on equal terms with the original 13 states.
Northwest Passage Sea passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans along the northern coast of North America. The search for a com¬ mercial sea route around the American land barrier dates from the end of the 15th century and attracted explorers such as Jacques Cartier, Francis Drake, Martin Frobisher, and Capt. James Cook. The passage was finally navigated successfully in 1903-05 by Roald Amundsen. As a modern trade route it has been only marginally useful, because of the difficulties in navigating around the polar ice cap and the giant icebergs in the Atlantic between Greenland and Baffin Island and in the Pacific in the Bering Strait. The U.S. and Canadian governments have tried to encourage inter¬ national commerce in the passage, noting how much it would shorten many international shipping distances. However, the cost of strengthen¬ ing ships against ice and potentially high insurance rates for vessels used in Arctic service have been factors inhibiting the development of the Northwest Passage as a trade route.
Northwest Territories Territory (pop., 2001 est.: 40,900), northern Canada. Bounded by the Yukon Territory, Hudson Bay, and Nunavut, it stretches across the roof of the North American continent, reaching into the Arctic Circle. The capital is Yellowknife. It includes many islands, including Victoria Island; the Mackenzie River; and Great Bear and Great Slave lakes. More than half the people are Inuit (Eskimos) and American Indians. In the 18th century the mainland was explored by Samuel Hearne for the Hudson's Bay Company and by Alexander Mackenzie. European set¬ tlers were mainly whalers, fur traders, and missionaries until the 1920s, when oil was discovered and the territorial administration was formed. Mining is the principal industry and centres on the petroleum and natural gas fields in the western Arctic coastal regions.
Northwestern University Private university in Evanston, Illinois, U.S., founded in 1851. It is a comprehensive research institution that includes a college of arts and sciences and schools of music, education, social policy, graduate studies, law, medicine, and dentistry. It also includes the Medill School of Journalism, the McCormick School of Engi¬ neering and Applied Science, and the Kellogg Graduate School of Man¬ agement. Research facilities include centres for the study of learning, urban affairs and policy, and superconductivity.
Norway officially Kingdom of Norway Country, western Scandi¬ navian Peninsula, northern Europe. Area: 125,004 sq mi (323,758 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 4,617,000. Capitaclass="underline" Oslo. Most of the people are Norwegian, though there are several ethnic minorities, including some 30,000 to 40,000 Sami (Lapps). Language: Norwegian (official). Religion: Christianity (predominantly Evangelical Lutheran [official]). Currency:
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© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
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Norwegian krone. Norway is among Europe’s largest countries. It is a mountain¬ ous land with extensive plateau regions in its southwestern and central parts. Tradi¬ tionally a fishing and lumbering country, it
greatly increased its mining and manufacturing activities since World War II. It has a developed economy largely based on services, petroleum and natural gas production, and light and heavy industries. Literacy is virtu¬ ally 100%. Norway is a constitutional monarchy with one legislative house; its chief of state is the king, and the head of government is the prime minister. Several principalities were united into the kingdom of Norway in the 11th century. It had the same king as Denmark from 1380 to 1814, when it was ceded to Sweden. The union with Sweden was dis¬ solved in 1905, and Norway’s economy grew rapidly. It remained neu¬ tral during World War I, although its shipping industry played a vital role in the conflict. It declared its neutrality in World War II but was invaded and occupied by German troops. Norway maintains a comprehensive wel¬ fare system and is a member of NATO. Its citizens rejected membership in the European Union in 1994.