Norway and Sweden have always shared an interesting history. In 1814, Norway was ceded to Sweden after losing the Napoleonic War. That union wasn’t dissolved until 1905 when Norway became independent.

During the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994, shops sold maps of the Nordics that left Sweden out. In addition, there is a fierce rivalry between the two countries skiing events – especially in cross country skiing and biathlon. (As a side note – did you know that the most decorated male biathlete, Ole Einar Bjørndalen, married the most decorated female biathlete, Darya Domracheva? Can you imagine how dominate their kids will be?)

Sweden prides itself on the success of their musical artists like ABBA, Avicii, Robyn, Roxette, Ace of Base, Tove Lo, Cardigans, Swedish House Mafia, among others while Norway has …… A-ha.

Norway and Sweden also share a 1000 mile long border.

Norway announced that everyone from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard, Faroe Islands, Ã…land and the Swedish island of Gotland are welcome to Norway but anyone from mainland Sweden is not without quarantine. This effectively will halt the majority of Norwegians crossing the border into Sweden for summer vacations and vice versa.

The island of Gotland has 60,000 inhabitants on it compared to over 10,000,000 on mainland Sweden.

This is due to Norway’s concerns with the enormous amount of Swedish infections from COVID-19 that are still happening. Last Friday, Sweden reported 1400 new cases compared to 13 in Norway.

The Norway government said they will continue to monitor the situation with Sweden.