Abstract

In contrast to the prevailing in the 70s, 80s and 90s concepts on nation-building and national consciousness, the author develops the idea of the Norwegian national identity being present in the Middle Ages, modified and strengthened in the period of the union with Denmark (16th–18th centuries), and during the union with Sweden in the 19th century. In this time, the national identity grew into a political programme of regaining independence and building a national culture.