This is a list of diplomatic missions in the United States. At present, 178nations maintain diplomatic missions to the United States in the capital, Washington, D.C. Eight nations also attribute their missions at the United Nations in New York as their official embassies to the United States. However, only those offices in New York that serve as an official diplomatic mission to the United States are listed here. For a complete list of diplomatic missions to the United Nations, see List of current Permanent Representatives to the United Nations.
Only diplomatic missions operated by a foreign country are listed here. Honorary consulates, typically private offices designated to provide limited services on behalf of a foreign country, are not listed. The United States Department of State maintains the official consular list.[1]
Embassies in Washington, D.C.

The following 178 countries maintain chanceries (embassy buildings) in Washington, D.C. as their primary diplomatic missions to the United States. Entries marked with an asterisk (*) have chanceries located on or near a portion of Massachusetts Avenue known as Embassy Row.

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia*
Australia*
Austria
Azerbaijan*
Bahamas*
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize*
Benin
Bolivia*
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil*
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria*
Burkina Faso*
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon*
Canada
Cape Verde*
Central African Republic*
Chad
Chile*
China
Colombia
Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire*
Croatia*
Cuba
Cyprus*
Czech Republic
Denmark*
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
East Timor (Timor-Leste)*
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia*
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland*
France
Gabon

Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece*
Grenada
Guatemala*
Guinea
Guyana
Haiti*
Holy See (Vatican City)*
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland*
India*
Indonesia*
Iraq*
Ireland*
Israel
Italy*
Jamaica
Japan*
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan*
Laos
Latvia*
Lebanon
Lesotho*
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg*
Macedonia
Madagascar*
Malawi*
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands*
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Federated States of Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand*

Nicaragua
Niger*
Nigeria
Norway*
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea*
Paraguay*
Peru*
Philippines*
Poland
Portugal*
Qatar
Romania*
Russia
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
San Marino
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Somalia
South Africa*
South Korea*
South Sudan
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan*
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo*
Trinidad and Tobago*
Tunisia*
Turkey*
Turkmenistan*
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom*
Uruguay
Uzbekistan*
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia*
Zimbabwe

Other missions/delegations to the United States in Washington, D.C.
The following countries or entities have missions in Washington, D.C., though they may not have full diplomatic relations with the United States government.

States with no relations
Interests sections are provided by protecting powers.
Iran - Iranian Interests Section, Embassy of Pakistan
Governments with limited recognition
The United States does not recognize the following states.
Nagorno-Karabakh - Representative Office
Northern Cyprus - Northern Cyprus Representative Office
Republic of China (Taiwan) - Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic - Representative Office
Somaliland - Representative Office

Territories
Bermuda (United Kingdom) - Representative Office
Gibraltar (United Kingdom) - Representative Office
Greenland (Kingdom of Denmark) - Representative Office[2]
Hong Kong (China) - Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office
Iraqi Kurdistan (Iraq) - Representative Office
Quebec (Canada) - Representative Office
Organizations
African Union - General Delegation
European Union - General Delegation
Other Posts in Washington, D.C.
 National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces - Foreign Mission
 Central Tibetan Administration - Office of Tibet

Missions to the United States in New York

New York is home to the General Assembly of the United Nations, and all 195 member and observer states send permanent delegations. Nine diplomatic missions in New York listed below are also formally accredited as each country's official embassy to the United States. There are 117 diplomatic missions in the city. All are consulates-general unless otherwise noted.

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra (Embassy)
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Bolivia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Republic of China (Taiwan) (Economic/Cultural Office)
Colombia
Comoros (Embassy)
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Estonia
Finland
France
Gabon (Consulate)
Georgia

Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong, China (Economic and Trade Office)
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan (Consular Post)
Lebanon
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Maldives (Embassy)
Mexico
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco
Nauru (Embassy)
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Norway

Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa (Embassy)
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles (Embassy)
Singapore (Consulate)
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands (Embassy)
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Tonga (Embassy)
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam

Cities with ten or more consulates
Los Angeles

Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the United States, is home to 66 diplomatic missions, more than any other city on the West Coast and any U.S. city except New York and Washington. Many of these consulates are located along Wilshire Boulevard.

Afghanistan (Office in Beverly Hills)
Armenia (Office in Glendale)
Angola
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Belgium
Belize
Bolivia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Republic of China (Taiwan) (Economic/Cultural Office)
Colombia (Office in Beverly Hills)
Costa Rica
Croatia
Czech Republic
Dominican Republic
Ecuador (Office in Beverly Hills)

Egypt
El Salvador
Ethiopia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Honduras
Hungary
Indonesia
Iraq
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Lithuania
Malaysia
Mexico
Myanmar
New Zealand (Office in Santa Monica)

Nicaragua
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Qatar (Office in Beverly Hills)
Romania
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saudi Arabia
Slovakia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Switzerland
Thailand
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Uruguay

Chicago

Chicago, the third largest city in the United States and the largest in the midwestern region of the country, is home to 51 missions, the fourth-most after Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles.

Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Republic of China (Taiwan) (Economic/Cultural Office)
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Ecuador

Egypt
El Salvador
France
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Lithuania
Macedonia
Mexico

Netherlands
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Romania
Serbia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Switzerland
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Venezuela

Houston

Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States and is home to 42 missions.

Angola
Argentina
Australia
Bolivia
Brazil
Canada (Consulate)
Chile
China
Republic of China (Taiwan) (Economic/Cultural Office)
Colombia
Costa Rica
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea (Consulate-General)
France
Germany
Greece (Consulate)
Guatemala
Honduras
India
Indonesia (Consulate-General)
Israel
Italy
Japan (Consulate-General)
Mexico
Nicaragua
Norway

Pakistan
Panama
Peru
Philippines
Qatar
Russia (Consulate-General)
Saudi Arabia
South Korea
Spain
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Venezuela
Vietnam

San Francisco

San Francisco is home to 40 missions.

Australia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
Republic of China (Taiwan) (Economic/Cultural office)
Colombia
El Salvador
France
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Honduras
Hong Kong, China (Economic and Trade Office)

India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
South Korea
Luxembourg
Mexico
Mongolia
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Norway
Peru

Philippines
Portugal
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Tonga
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Venezuela
Vietnam

Miami
Miami is home to 35 diplomatic missions.  Due to its location, many Latin American and Caribbean countries maintain consulates there.

Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Bahamas
Barbados
Bolivia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
Republic of China (Taiwan) (Economic/Cultural Office)
Colombia
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic

Ecuador
El Salvador (in Coral Gables)
France
Germany
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Mexico

Netherlands
Nicaragua
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Spain
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
United Kingdom
Uruguay

Atlanta

Atlanta is home to 26 missions.

Argentina
Bahamas
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Republic of China (Taiwan) (Economic/Cultural Office)
Colombia
Costa Rica
Ecuador

El Salvador
France
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
India
Ireland

Israel
Japan (Consulate-General)
Mexico
Nigeria
Peru
South Korea
Switzerland
United Kingdom

Boston

The Boston area of New England is home to 27 foreign missions.

Brazil
Canada
Cape Verde
Republic of China (Taiwan) (Economic/Cultural Office)
Colombia
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
France
Germany

Greece
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Peru

Portugal
South Korea (located in Newton)
Spain
Switzerland (located in Cambridge)
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom (located in Cambridge)
Venezuela

Other cities with diplomatic missions
Many cities have only one or two consulates; these are often with Mexico (which has 50 offices in the United States), or Canada (which has 17).

Aurora, Colorado (1)
El Salvador (Consulate-General)
Anchorage, Alaska (2)
Japan (Consular Office)
South Korea (Consulate Office)
Austin, Texas (2)
Ireland (Consulate)
Mexico (Consulate)
Brentwood, New York (1)
El Salvador
Charlotte, North Carolina (1)
Honduras
Cleveland (1)
Slovenia[3]
Dallas (5)
Canada
El Salvador
Mexico (Consulate-General)
Peru
South Korea (Consular Office)[4]
Del Rio, Texas (2)
Guatemala (Consulate)
Mexico (Consulate)
Des Moines (1)
Kosovo (Consulate)
Denver (7)
Canada
Guatemala
Japan
Mexico
Peru
Republic of China (Taiwan) (Economic/Cultural Office)
United Kingdom (UK government office)
Detroit (7)
Canada
Iraq
Italy
Japan (Consulate-General)
Lebanon
Macedonia
Mexico (Consulate)
Elizabeth, New Jersey (1)
El Salvador
Hartford, Connecticut (2)
Brazil
Peru
Honolulu (8)
Honolulu is home to eight missions, all of which are Asian or Pacific countries
Australia
Federated States of Micronesia
Japan (Consulate-General)
Marshall Islands
New Zealand
Philippines
South Korea
Republic of China (Taiwan) (Economic/Cultural Office)
Lake Worth, Florida (1)
Guatemala
Las Vegas (2)
El Salvador
Mexico (Consulate)
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico (1)
Dominican Republic
McAllen, Texas (4)
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Mexico
Minneapolis–Saint Paul (3)
Canada
Ecuador
Mexico
Nashville, Tennessee (1)
Japan (Consulate-General)
Newark, New Jersey (3)

Colombia
Ecuador
Portugal
New Bedford, Massachusetts (1)
Portugal
New Haven, Connecticut (1)
Ecuador
New Orleans (6)
Dominican Republic
France
Honduras
Mexico
Panama
Venezuela

Oklahoma City (1)
Guatemala
Orlando (3)
Colombia (Consulate)
Haiti (Consulate)
Mexico (Consulate)
Pago Pago, American Samoa (1)
Samoa
Palo Alto, California (1)
Canada
Paterson, New Jersey (1)
Peru
Philadelphia (4)
Chile
Italy
Mexico (Consulate)
Panama
Phoenix (4)
Ecuador
Guatemala
Honduras
Mexico
Portland, Oregon (3)
Japan
Micronesia
Mexico (Consulate)
Providence, Rhode Island (2)
Guatemala
Portugal (Consulate, Slated for closure)
Raleigh, North Carolina (2)
Guatemala
Mexico (Consulate General)
Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands (2)
Japan (Consular Office)
Palau
San Bernardino (2)
Guatemala (Consulate)
Mexico (Consulate)
San Diego (3)
Canada (Consulate)
Mexico
Panama
San Juan, Puerto Rico (8)
San Juan, Puerto Rico has eight consulates, seven of which are with Latin American countries.  It has the largest number of consulates outside of the Continental United States.
Colombia
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
Haiti
Mexico
Panama
Spain
Venezuela
Seattle (8)
Seattle has eight consulates, the third-most of any city on the West Coast
Canada
El Salvador
Guatemala
Japan
Mexico
South Korea
Republic of China (Taiwan) (Economic/Cultural Office)
United Kingdom (UK government office)
Silver Spring, Maryland (2)
El Salvador[5]
Guatemala[6]
Springdale, Arkansas (1)
Marshall Islands[7]
Tampa (3)
Greece
Panama
Peru
Tamuning, Guam (5)
Guam is home to five missions, all of which are Asian or Pacific countries.
Federated States of Micronesia
Japan
Palau
Philippines
South Korea (Consular Agency)
Tucson, Arizona (3)
El Salvador (Consulate General)
Guatemala (Consulate)
Mexico (Consulate General)
Woodbridge, Virginia (1)
El Salvador

Cities with Mexican consulates only (24)
Due to the large number of Mexican immigrants in the United States, Mexico has 50 diplomatic missions in the United States, more than any country has with any other country.  Many of these are smaller cities in the southwestern United States, including a number of border towns.

 Albuquerque, New Mexico
 Boise, Idaho
 Brownsville, Texas
 Calexico, California
 Douglas, Arizona
 Eagle Pass, Texas
 El Paso, Texas
 Fresno, California
 Indianapolis, Indiana
 Kansas City, Missouri
 Laredo, Texas
 Little Rock, Arkansas

 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
 Nogales, Arizona
 Omaha, Nebraska
 Oxnard, California
 Presidio, Texas
 Sacramento, California
 Salt Lake City, Utah
 San Antonio, Texas
 San Jose, California
 Santa Ana, California
 Yuma, Arizona

Countries without formal diplomatic missions to the United States
Several countries do not have formal diplomatic missions accredited to the United States. Consular duties for each country, except Kiribati and non-UN members, are instead managed by their respective diplomatic missions to the United Nations in New York.

States with relations
Guinea-Bissau
Kiribati
São Tomé and Príncipe
Tuvalu
Vanuatu

States with no relations
Bhutan
Iran
North Korea
Palestine (UN observer)
Syria
States with limited recognition
The United States does not recognize the following states.
Abkhazia
South Ossetia
Transnistria
Nagorno-Karabakh

See also

Foreign policy of the United States
Diplomatic missions of the United States
Ambassadors of the United States
List of ambassadors to the United States
Visa requirements for United States citizens

List of diplomatic missions in the United States


Kingdom of Norway
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Norway
Constitution
Monarchy
King Harald V
Crown Prince Haakon
Government
Council of State (current cabinet)
Prime Minister (list)
Erna Solberg
List of governments
Parliament
Storting
President: O. Thommessen
Norwegian Parliamentary Ombudsman
Political parties
 Politicians
Recent elections
Parliamentary: 201320092005
Local: 201520112007
Local government
Administrative divisions
Counties (Fylker)
Municipalities (Kommuner)
Sámi Parliament
Foreign relations
European Union relations

Other countries
Atlas
vt
The Norwegian monarch is the monarchical head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and the previous petty kingdoms which were united to form Norway; it has been in unions with both Sweden and Denmark for long periods.
The present monarch is King Harald V, who has reigned since 17 January 1991, succeeding his father, Olav V. The heir apparent is his only son, Crown Prince Haakon. The crown prince undertakes various public ceremonial functions, as does the king's wife, Queen Sonja. The crown prince also acts as regent in the king's absence. There are several other members of the Royal Family, including the king's daughter, grandchildren and sister. Since the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden and the subsequent election of a Danish prince as King Haakon VII in 1905, the reigning royal house of Norway has been a branch of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg branch of the House of Oldenburg; originally from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany,[1] the same royal house as the Danish and former Greek royal families.
Whilst the Constitution of Norway grants important executive powers to the King, these are almost always exercised by the Council of State in the name of the King (King's Council, or cabinet). Formally the King appoints the government according to his own judgement, but parliamentary practice has been in place since 1884. Constitutional practice has replaced the meaning of the word King in most articles of the constitution from the king personally to the elected government. The powers vested in the monarch are significant, but are treated only as reserve powers and as an important security part of the role of the monarchy.
The King does not, by convention, have direct participation in government. He ratifies laws and royal resolutions, receives and sends envoys from and to foreign countries and hosts state visits. He has a more tangible influence as the symbol of national unity. The annual New Year's Eve speech is one occasion when the King traditionally raises negative issues. The King is also Supreme Commander of the Norwegian Armed Forces and Grand Master of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit.[2]
The King has no official role in the Church of Norway, but is required by the Constitution to be a member.
History

The position of King of Norway has been in continuous existence since the unification of Norway in 872. Although Norway has officially been a hereditary kingdom throughout that time, there have been several instances of elective succession: most recently, in 1905 Haakon VII was elected by the people of Norway to the position of king through a plebiscite. In recent years members of the Socialist Left party have proposed the abolition of the monarchy during each new session of parliament, though without any likelihood of success.[3] This gives the Norwegian monarchy the unique status of being a popularly elected royal family and receiving regular formal confirmations of support from the Storting.

Germanic kingdom
Prior to and in the early phase of the Viking Age Norway was divided into several smaller kingdoms. These are thought to have followed the same tradition as other Germanic monarchies of the time: the king was usually elected by the high-ranking farmers of the area and served mainly as judge at popular assemblies, as a priest on the occasion of sacrifices and as a military leader in time of war.
Harald Fairhair was the first king of Norway. The date of the first formation of a unified Norwegian kingdom is set as 872, when he defeated the last petty kings who resisted him at the Battle of Hafrsfjord; however the consolidation of his power took many years. The boundaries of Fairhair's kingdom were not identical to those of present-day Norway, and upon his death the kingship was shared among his sons. Some historians emphasise the actual monarchial control over the country and assert that Olaf II, alias Saint Olaf, who reigned from 1015 to 1028, was the first king to control the entire country. Olaf is generally held to have been the driving force behind Norway's final conversion to Christianity. Furthermore, he was in 1031 revered as Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae ("Eternal King of Norway"), and subsequently the 1163 Succession Law stated that all kings after Olaf II's son, Magnus I, were not independent monarchs, but vassals holding Norway as a fief from Saint Olaf.[4]
Middle Ages

In the 12th and 13th centuries the Norwegian kingdom was at its geographical and cultural peak. The kingdom included Norway (including the now Swedish provinces of Jemtland, Herjedalen, Særna, Idre and Båhuslen), Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Shetland, Orkney and other smaller areas in the British Isles. The king had diplomatic relations with most of the European kingdoms and formed alliances with Scotland and Castile, among others. Large castles such as Haakon's Hall and cathedrals, the foremost being Nidaros Cathedral, were built.
In the tradition of Germanic monarchy the king had to be elected by a representative assembly of noblemen. Men eligible for election had to be of royal blood; but the eldest son of the previous king was not automatically chosen. During the civil war era the unclear succession laws and the practice of power-sharing between several kings simultaneously gave personal conflicts the potential to become full-blown wars. Over the centuries kings consolidated their power, and eventually a strict succession law made Norway a principally hereditary kingdom. In practice the king was elected by the Riksråd in a similar way to Denmark. He adhered to a håndfæstning and governed in the council of Norwegian noblemen according to existing laws.
After the death of Haakon VI of Norway in 1380, his son Olav IV of Norway succeeded to the thrones of both Norway and Denmark and was also elected King of Sweden. After his death at the age of 17 his mother Margrethe united the three Scandinavian kingdoms in personal union under one crown, in the Kalmar Union. Olav's death extinguished the Norwegian male royal line; he was also the last Norwegian king to be born on Norwegian soil for the next 567 years.[4]
The Black Death of 1349–51 contributed to the decline of the Norwegian monarchy, as the noble families and the population in general were gravely affected. But the most devastating factor for the nobility and the monarchy in Norway was the steep decline in income from their holdings. Many farms were deserted and rents and taxes suffered. This left the Norwegian monarchy weakened in manpower, noble support, defensibility and economic power.[4]
Surviving the unions
The Kalmar Union was not only made possible by the complex history of the royal dynasties of Scandinavia but was also, among other things, a direct reaction to the expansive and aggressive policies of the Hanseatic League.[4]
On 6 June 1523 Sweden left the union permanently, leaving Norway in an unequal union with a Danish king already embarked on centralising the government of the union.
In the following centuries the Norwegian monarchs mostly resided abroad. This weakened the monarchical governing structures of Norway: the Riksråd, for example, was gradually undermined as the Norwegian nobles did not have the King's confidence to the same extent as their Danish counterparts. The King was also less able to govern according to Norwegian needs, as the distance meant he and his advisors had less knowledge of conditions in Norway.[5]
Norway was one of few countries where the archdiocese was coterminous with the national territory. The church was an important factor in trying to maintain the separate Norwegian monarchy. In the 16th century the power struggle between the Norwegian nobles and the king culminated at the same time as the Protestant Reformation. This prompted a set of events in which the struggle against Danish dominance in Norway was coupled with the struggle against the Reformation. When both failed the effects were harsh. The Norwegian Catholic bishops were replaced with Danes and the Norwegian church was subdued and made wholly Danish. The Norwegian Riksråd was abolished in 1536, and more and more foreigners were appointed to important positions in Norway.[5]

The Danish nobles pushed the king to reduce Norway to a Danish province in order for them to gain more control in the election of future kings. However, the hereditary nature of the Norwegian monarchy meant that the King had to maintain the basic principle of Norway being a separate and extant kingdom. If the Danish nobles were to elect as king someone other than the next in line to the throne the Union would be dissolved. This gave the king the upper hand in the negotiations for the håndfesting. Potential heirs to Norway were present in both the royal dynasties of Sweden and Schleswig-Holstein, so if the King of Denmark did not assert his position as King of Norway they would.[5]
During this time the Danish kings were more preoccupied with securing the traditionally Danish fringe territories, and therefore paid little attention to and made few attempts at maintaining Norwegian interests. As a result, Jemtland, Herjedalen, Båhuslen, Shetland and Orkney were lost to Sweden and Scotland. In addition all contact with Greenland ceased.
In 1661 Frederick III introduced absolute monarchy in Denmark and Norway and introduced new laws in both countries to that effect. Until then the law of Magnus the law-mender given in 1274 and 1276 had been the law of Norway. Christian IV's Norwegian law was in effect a translation into Danish of that older law. 1661 also marks the point when the last remnants of representational local government were removed and had to be rebuilt. However, that process started almost immediately when local men of means started putting pressure on local governors in order to gain or regain influence on local matters.[5]
Emerging independence

During the Napoleonic Wars the King aligned Denmark–Norway with France. When Napoleon lost the war, the king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden under the Treaty of Kiel in 1814. It was initially proposed that the Norwegian dependencies of Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes would remain with Norway, but that point was dropped during the negotiations, so they became Danish.[6]
On hearing news of the treaty, the Prince of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, Christian Frederick, the resident viceroy in Norway, participated in founding a Norwegian independence movement. The independence movement was successful, partly due to clandestine support from the Danish Crown, but also because of the strong desire for independence in Norway. On 10 April, a national assembly met at Eidsvoll to decide on a constitution. Norway declared independence on 17 May 1814, electing Christian Frederick as King. A short war with Sweden later that year ended with the Convention of Moss. This led to the ousting of Christian Frederick, and the Norwegian Storting electing Charles XIII of Sweden as King of Norway, creating the union between Sweden and Norway.[6] In turn the king recognised the Norwegian constitution, which was only changed to facilitate the union.
The end result was that the Norwegian monarchy became a constitutional monarchy. In this new union the King was much more a King of Norway than under the previous Danish system. The only area of policy not in the hands of the Norwegians was foreign policy.
Norway had been brought along into the new developments of the world as they arrived in Denmark. However, with the break the Norwegians were able to forge a more progressive political development than was the case in Denmark. Denmark introduced a constitutional monarchy 35 years after Norway. Parliamentarism was introduced in Norway 17 years before Denmark and 33 years before Sweden.[7] The union with Denmark also had its adverse effects on the monarchy: among other things it resulted in the Crown of Norway losing territory which today amounts to 2 322 755km² (although most of this was uninhabited areas of Greenland).[8] Very little royal activity had been relocated to Norway; the country thus lacks the monumental palaces of the period which can be seen in Copenhagen and other parts of Denmark.
Union with Sweden

The Treaty of Kiel stipulated that Norway was to be ceded by the king of  Denmark–Norway to the king of Sweden. This was however rejected in Norway, where calls for self-determination were already mounting. A Norwegian constituent assembly was called, and a liberal constitution was adopted on 17 May 1814. A short war ensued, ending in a new agreement between the Norwegian parliament and the Swedish king.

The Convention of Moss was from a Norwegian point of view a significant improvement over the terms dictated to Denmark-Norway at the treaty of Kiel. Notably, Norway was no longer to be treated as a Swedish conquest but rather as an equal party in a personal union of two independent states. Both the principle and substance of the Norwegian Constitution were preserved, with only such amendments as were required to allow for the union with Sweden. Norway retained its own parliament and separate institutions, except for the common king and foreign service.
The Norwegian Storting would propose Norwegian laws without interference from Sweden, to be approved by the common King in his capacity as King of Norway. The King would occasionally enact laws unfavourable to Sweden. As the Norwegian movement towards full independence gained momentum, the King approved the building of forts and naval vessels intended to defend Norway against a Swedish invasion.
The union was nevertheless marked by the Norwegians' constant and growing discontent with being in a union of any kind. The Storting would propose laws to reduce the king's power or to assert Norwegian independence. These would most often be vetoed by the king, but as he only had the power to veto the same law twice, it would eventually be passed. The constitution of 1814 already specified that Norway would have a separate flag, and the present design was introduced in 1821. The flags of both kingdoms were defaced with the union mark in 1844 to denote their equal status within the union. Despite royal objections, this was removed from the Norwegian flag in 1898. In 1837 local self-government in certain areas of policy was introduced in rural areas as well as towns [9]. A Parliamentary system was introduced in 1884 [10].
The Royal House of Bernadotte tried hard to be a Norwegian royal house as well as a Swedish one. The Royal Palace in Oslo was built during this period. There were separate coronations in Trondheim, as stipulated in the Constitution. The royal princes even had a hunting lodge built in Norway so that they could spend more private time there.[11] King Oscar II spoke and wrote Norwegian fluently.
Full independence

In 1905 a series of disputes between parliament and the King culminated with the matter of separate Norwegian consuls to foreign countries. Norway had grown into one of the world's leading shipping nations, but Sweden retained control of both the diplomatic and consulate corps. Although businessmen needed assistance abroad, the Swedes had little insight into Norwegian shipping, and consulates were not even established in several important shipping cities. The demand for separate Norwegian consuls was seen as very important by the Norwegian parliament and society. The Storting proposed a law establishing a separate Norwegian consulate corps. King Oscar II refused to ratify the law and subsequently the Norwegian cabinet resigned. The king was unable to form any other government that had the support of parliament, and so it was deemed on 7 June that he had failed to function as King of Norway.[6][12]
In a plebiscite of the Norwegian people on 13 August, there were an overwhelming 368,208 votes (99.95%) in favor of dissolution of the Union, against 184 (0.05%) opposed, with 85% of Norwegian men voting. No women voted, as universal suffrage was not granted until 1913; however Norwegian feminists collected more than 200,000 signatures in favor of dissolution.[6][12]
During the summer a Norwegian delegation had already approached the 33-year-old Prince Carl of Denmark, the second son of the Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark. The Norwegian parliament had considered other candidates but ultimately chose Prince Carl, partly because he already had a son to continue the line of succession, but more significantly because Carl was married to Maud of Wales, the daughter of King Edward VII. By bringing in a king with British royal ties, it was hoped that Norway could court Britain's support.[12]
Prince Carl impressed the delegation in many ways, not least because of his sensitivity to the liberal and democratic movements that had led to Norway's independence. Though the Norwegian constitution stipulated that the Storting could choose a new king if the throne were vacant, Carl was aware that many Norwegians — including leading politicians and high-ranking military officers — favored a republican form of government. Attempts to persuade the prince to accept the throne on the basis of Parliament's choice failed; Carl insisted that he would accept the crown only if the Norwegian people expressed their will for monarchy by referendum and if the parliament then elected him king.
On 12 and 13 November, in the second constitutional plebiscite in three months, Norwegian voters decided by a nearly 79% majority (259,563 to 69,264) to keep the monarchy rather than establish a republic.[12] The parliament, by an overwhelming majority, then offered Carl a clear mandate to the Norwegian throne on 18 November. The prince accepted the same evening, choosing the name Haakon, a traditional name used by Norwegian kings. The last king with that name had been Haakon VI, who died in the year 1380.
Thus the new king became Haakon VII, King of Norway. His two-year-old son Alexander, the heir apparent, was renamed Olav and became Crown Prince Olav. The new royal family arrived in the capital Kristiania (later Oslo) on 25 November. Haakon VII was sworn in as king of Norway on 27 November.[12]
A new monarchy

The early years of the new Norwegian monarchy were marked by a shortage of funds. The Norwegian state was poor and funds were needed elsewhere than in the upkeep of a large court. In that sense it was a stroke of good fortune that Prince Carl had set as a condition for accepting the throne that he would not be forced to keep a large court. However, the royal travels and the upkeep of the royal residences, after the initial refurbishment in 1905, were to some extent neglected. One example of the negative financial situation is that Prince Carl had been promised a Royal Yacht when he accepted the throne, but this was not fulfilled until 1947.[13]
One important incident in the early years of the new monarchy was in 1928 when the King appointed the first Labour government. The Norwegian Labour Party was at that time quite radical and even had the abolition of monarchy as part of their programme. It was the custom for the King to rely on the advice of the previous Prime Minister in deciding whom to give the assignment as new Prime Minister. In this case the previous conservative Prime Minister was opposed to giving power to the radicals and advised the appointment of someone else. But the King adhered to the established practice of parliamentarism and decided to appoint Christopher Hornsrud the first Labour Prime Minister. The Labour party later dropped the abolition of monarchy from their programme.
During the German occupation of World War II the King was an important symbol of national unity and resistance. His steadfast opposition to the German demands of surrender was important for the fighting spirit of the Norwegian population. The constitutional powers granted to the King in the Norwegian monarchial system made his position very important and enabled the government in exile to continue its work with the utmost legitimacy.
After the war the Norwegian royal house succeeded in maintaining a balance between regality and approachability. King Olav V was deemed the people's king and the spontaneous show of mourning from the population upon his death in 1991 demonstrated the high standing he had among the Norwegian people. Even republicans were among the masses lighting candles in front of the Palace.[14]
In later years the marriages of the then Crown Prince Harald in 1968 and of Crown Prince Haakon in 2001 sparked considerable controversy, but the lasting effect on the popularity of the monarchy has been minimal. Although decreased from its level of above 90 percent after the war, support for the monarchy seems to remain stable around and mostly above the 70 percent mark.[15] In an opinion poll in 2012 93% of the people agreed the current Monarch does a good job for the country.[16]
Constitutional and official role
Although the 1814 constitution grants important executive powers to the King, these are almost always exercised by the Council of State in the name of the King.
Contemporary Norwegian constitutional practice has replaced the meaning of the word "king" in most articles from the meaning the King-in-person; apart from those dealing with the monarchy specifically, as opposed to those dealing with the apparatus of government and affairs of state at large; to the cabinet of the Prime Minister (also known as the King-in-Council when chaired by the King), which is accountable to the Storting, and thus ultimately to the electorate.
Immunity
Article 5 stated: The King's person is sacred; he cannot be censured or accused. The responsibility rests with his Council.[17]
This article applies to the king personally. The king has legal sovereign immunity, though his status as sacred was dissolved on 8 May 2018.[18]
Article 37 states: The Royal Princes and Princesses shall not personally be answerable to anyone other than the King, or whomever he decrees to sit in judgment on them.[17]
This means that the Princes and Princesses also have immunity on the discretion of the king. He could decide to let them be judged by the regular courts or he could decide to judge them himself. This has never been tested in practice.
Council of State
The Council of State consists of a Prime Minister and his council, all formally appointed by the King. The Council of State is the Government of Norway and is chaired by the King. Parliamentarism has been in place since 1884 and entails that the cabinet must not have the parliament against it, and that the appointment by the King is a formality. In practice, the monarch will ask the leader of a parliamentary block that has a majority in the Storting to form a government. The King relies on the advice of the previous prime minister and the President of the Storting in this question. The last time the King appointed a new prime minister contrary to the advice of the previous was in 1928 when he appointed the first Labour government.
Article 12 states:
The King himself chooses a Council from among Norwegian citizens who are entitled to vote.
[...]
The King apportions the business among the Members of the Council of State, as he deems appropriate.
Article 30 states: [...] Everyone who has a seat in the Council of State has the duty frankly to express his opinion, to which the King is bound to listen. But it rests with the King to make a decision according to his own judgment. [...][17]
Veto of laws
The King has to sign all laws in order for them to become valid. He can veto any law. However, if two separate Stortings approve the law, it becomes valid even without the King's consent. The Crown has not vetoed any law since the dissolution of the union with Sweden.
Article 78 states: If the King assents to the Bill, he appends his signature, whereby it becomes law.[17]
If he does not assent to it, he returns it to the Odelsting with a statement that he does not for the time being find it expedient to sanction it. In that case the Bill must not again be submitted to the King by the Storting then assembled. [...][17]
Church of Norway
The Church of Norway, also known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway, is the former state church of Norway, to which 86% of Norwegians are members. The Church of Norway professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion.
Until a constitutional amendment in 2012, the King was the supreme governor and protector of the Church of Norway. He formally decided who were to become bishops and oversaw that the church conducted its business according to "the norms prescribed" for them. In practice this authority had been delegated to the Ministry of Church Affairs. Since 2012 the Church has been self-governing, although it remains the established state church.
Pardoning criminals
Article 20 states: The King shall have the right in the Council of State to pardon criminals after sentence has been passed.[17]
A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the penalty associated with it. It may be given if new information on the crime or criminal has come to light after sentencing has begun. A pardon may entail a complete or partial withdrawal of punishment.
The practical execution of this right has been delegated to the Ministry of Justice which may dismiss an application for a pardon.[19] The formal approval of a pardon has to be done by the King in Council. In 2004 a total of 51 applications for pardon were approved and 274 were denied.[20]
In impeachment proceedings, the King cannot pardon a defendant without the consent of the Storting.
Appointing senior officials
Article 21 states: The King shall choose and appoint, after consultation with his Council of State, all senior civil, ecclesiastical and military officials.[17]
The appointment is formally made by the king, but is in practice up to the elected government.
Dismissing the government
Article 22 states: The Prime Minister and the other Members of the Council of State, together with the State Secretaries, may be dismissed by the King without any prior court judgment, after he has heard the opinion of the Council of State on the subject.[17]
Chivalric orders
Article 23 states: The King may bestow orders upon whomever he pleases, as a reward for distinguished services[...][17]
Norway has two chivalric orders: the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit. In addition the King awards several other distinguished medals for a wide range of accomplishments.
War
Article 25 states: The King is Commander-in-Chief of the land and naval forces of the Realm.[17]
The King is also Commander-in-Chief of the Norwegian Air Force: but it is not explicitly mentioned because there was no Air Force in 1814.
Article 26 states: The King has the right to call up troops, to engage in hostilities in defence of the Realm and to make peace, to conclude and denounce conventions, to send and to receive diplomatic envoys.[17]
The King is treated by the armed forces as their highest commander, but there is, beyond legal fiction, no doubt that the complete control of the armed forces is actually held by the elected government of the day. The Kings of Norway have traditionally received an extensive military training and to some extent pursued a career within the armed forces before acceding to the throne. During World War II the King took a more active role in the decision-making and while the government still had the last word the King's advice was given much weight. On one occasion during the invasion the King was given an ultimatum by the Germans demanding Norway's surrender. King Haakon VII told the government he would abdicate if they decided to accept. In 1944 Crown Prince Olav was appointed Chief of Defence based on his military leadership abilities.
Coronation

From before recorded Norwegian history the monarch would be installed by acclamation, a ceremony held on the ting where the king swore to uphold the laws of the land and the assembled chieftains swore allegiance to him. The first coronation in Norway and in all Scandinavia took place in Bergen in 1163 or 1164. For a long time both ceremonies were used in Norway. That way the king was invested with powers both from the noblemen and from the church. The coronations also symbolised that the king would hold the kingdom in fief to St. Olav the eternal king of Norway. The last acclamation took place on Akershus Castle in 1648. The last medieval coronation in Norway took place 29 July 1514. During the age of absolute monarchy (1660–1814), Norway's kings were crowned in Copenhagen, using the Throne Chair. Today the king still goes through a ceremony similar to the acclamation when he takes the oath of allegiance to the Constitution in the Storting. The Norwegian Constitution of 1814 determined that any Norwegian coronations from that time onward were to take place in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. This re-established the relationship to the sacred king's burial church. The constitutional article about the coronation was annulled in 1908. When king Olav V ascended the throne in 1957 he still wanted to receive the blessing of the church for his reign and the Benediction of the king was introduced. The benediction is a much simpler ceremony, but it still takes place in Nidaros Cathedral and with the Royal Regalia at the high altar. The regalia is currently located in the old Archbishop's Palace in Trondheim. King Harald V and Queen Sonja also received the benediction in 1991.[21]
The Constitution requires the new King to immediately take an oath before the Storting (or, if the Storting is not in session, before the Council of State and again before the Storting once it is in session). The oath is as follows: "I  promise  and swear that  I  will govern the Kingdom  of  Norway  in  accordance  with  its Constitution and Laws; so  help  me God, the Almighty and Omniscient."
Succession

The order of succession to the Norwegian throne has followed absolute primogeniture since 1990, as is described in article 6 in the Constitution of Norway. Only people descended from the reigning monarch and the reigning monarch's siblings and their descendants are entitled to succeed to the throne. If the line of succession comes to an end then the Storting may elect a new king or queen.
Finances
The King, Queen, Crown Prince and Crown Princess are exempt from paying any taxes and their personal finances are not revealed to the public. Other members of the royal family have lost that privilege upon marriage. It is believed that only the King has a personal fortune of a notable size.
The royal farms generate some revenue, but this is always re-invested in the farms themselves.
In the Norwegian state budget of 2010 the sum of 142.5 million Norwegian kroner was allocated to the Royal Household.[22] 16.5 million was also given to the monarchs as appanage.[23] 20.9 million was in addition allocated to rehabilitazion of royal property.[22] In 2010, the Royal Household of Norway claimed that King Harald V's fortune was close to a 100 million Norwegian kroner.[24] 500 million Norwegian kroner was in the late 1990s allocated to the extensive refurbishments of the royal residences that have been taking place and are still under way. The restoration of the Royal Palace in Oslo went far beyond budget because the structural state of the palace was much worse than expected. However, the large expense was criticised in the media.[14]
Residences

The royal family and the monarch have several residences at their disposal throughout the country. All of the official residences are partially open to the public.[25]

Current residences
Royal Palace

The Royal Palace in Oslo functions as the main official residence of the monarch. Built in the first half of the 19th century as the Norwegian residence of Norwegian and Swedish king Charles III (Carl Johan, Charles XIV of Sweden, reigned 1818-1844), it serves as the official residence of the present Norwegian Monarch.[26]
Gamlehaugen

Gamlehaugen is a mansion and estate which functions as the monarchs residences in Bergen. Originally the home of Prime Minister Christian Michelsen, the estate became the royal family's residence in 1927.

Stiftsgården

Stiftsgården in Trondheim is a large wooden townhouse which has been used by the royal family since the early eighteen-hundreds. The building has been the setting for the main festivities during coronations, benedictions and weddings which traditionally have taken place in the Nidaros Cathedral.
Ledaal

Ledaal  is a large manor house in Stavanger. The manor originally belonged to the influential  Kielland family but has been the property of Stavanger Museum since 1936 and a became royal residence in 1949.
Other residences

Bygdøy Royal Estate, the official summer residence, is situated in Oslo. Bygdøy has been under extensive restoration and has therefore not been used regularly since the accession of King Harald V in 1991. The restoration was finalized in 2007 and has been frequently used by the royal family ever since.[27] The Royal Lodge or Kongsseteren is located in Holmenkollen, and used by the Royal Family as a residence for Christmas and Holmenkollen Ski Festival each year. Oscarshall palace, a maison de plaisance, also situated in Oslo, but seldom used.
The crown princely couple resides at Skaugum Manor in Asker municipality outside of Oslo, while the three princesses of Norway live on estates in Oslo, Fredrikstad and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Both Skaugum and Bygdøy Royal Estate are working farms producing grain, milk and meat; the profits are re-invested in the farms themselves.[28] In 2004 the King transferred management of the farming activities on Bygdøy to the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History.[29]
The King owns a royal yacht bearing the name HNoMY Norge. Manned and maintained by the Royal Norwegian Navy, it is used both for official and private travels in Norway and abroad.[30] The Norwegian State Railways maintains a set of royal train carriages.[31]
The royal family also possess several other holiday homes of a private nature.[32]
Former and historic residences
Paléet. A magnificent townhouse which was as a royal residence between 1801 and 1849 prior to the construction of the Royal Palace.
Akershus Fortress. The castle in Oslo was converted into a palace by King Christian IV during the union between Denmark and Norway
Bergenhus Fortress. Originally, the medieval castle was a residential palace while Sverresborg provided defence for the city.
Tønsberg Fortress. The castle in Tønsberg was used as a residence by several kings, including Håkon V Magnusson who was the last king of Norway prior to the establishment of the Kalmar Union.
Various Kongsgård estates were used by the Norwegian kings during the Viking age and early Middle Ages. This includes significant estates like Alrekstad, Avaldsnes Kongsgård estate and the Oslo Kongsgård estate.
Royal coat of arms

The Coat of arms of Norway is one of the oldest in Europe and serves both as the coat of arms of the nation and of the Royal House. This is in keeping with its origin as the coat of arms of the kings of Norway during the Middle Ages.[33]
Håkon the Old (1217–1263) used a shield with a lion. The earliest preserved reference to the colour of the arms is the King's Saga written down in 1220.[33]
In 1280 King Eirik Magnusson added the crown and silver axe to the lion.[33] The axe is the martyr axe of St. Olav, the weapon used to kill him in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030.
The specific rendering of the Norwegian arms has changed through the years, following changing heraldic fashions. In the late Middle Ages, the axe handle gradually grew longer and came to resemble a halberd. The handle was usually curved in order to fit the shape of shield preferred at the time, and also to match the shape of coins. The halberd was officially discarded and the shorter axe reintroduced by royal decree in 1844, when an authorized rendering was instituted for the first time. In 1905 the official design for royal and government arms was again changed, this time reverting to the medieval pattern, with a triangular shield and a more upright lion.[33]
The coat of arms of the royal house as well as the Royal Standard uses the lion design from 1905. The earliest preserved depiction of the Royal Standard is on the seal of Duchess Ingebjørg from 1318.[34] The rendering used as the official coat of arms of Norway is slightly different and was last approved by the king 20 May 1992.[35]
When used as the Royal coat of arms the shield features the insignias of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav around it and is framed by a royal ermine robe, surmounted by the crown of Norway.
The Royal coat of arms is not used frequently. Instead, the king's monogram is extensively used, for instance in military insignia and on coins.

Today
The Royal Family of Norway is a branch of the princely family of House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, originally from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. Since 1991 the king has been Harald V, the 66th since unification, but the first king in many hundred years to actually have been born in Norway.
Following the introduction of a parliamentary system of government in 1884, the duties of the monarch have become largely representative and non-partisan. He or she:
Is Head of State
Opens the Storting
Formally dissolves and installs governments
Presides over meetings in the Council of State (i.e. the Cabinet)
Is Commander-in-Chief of the Norwegian Defence Force
Receives credentials from ambassadors-in-waiting
Represents Norway during state visits both abroad and in Norway
Serves as fount of honour
Holds audiences with prominent Norwegian figures within politics, industry, commerce and culture
Until a constitutional amendment in 2012, functioned as the formal head or High Protector of the Church of Norway.
However, the monarch does retain some royal prerogatives. He may issue pardons for prisoners (Article 20) and engage in war (Article 26), although it is unlikely that any of these two prerogatives would be put into use today. However, during the German occupation, Haakon VII said he would abdicate rather than appoint a collaborationist government led by Vidkun Quisling.
The monarch acts a symbol of unity, and a majority of Norwegians are still in favour of retaining the monarchy[36][37][38]. There is also broad political consensus on this issue.
See also
List of Norwegian monarchs
Norwegian Royal Family
Royal coronations in Norway
House of Glücksburg
Politics of Norway
Lèse majesté in Norway
Abel Prize


The kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus: the red kangaroo, antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, and western grey kangaroo.[1] Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia. The Australian government estimates that 34.3 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2011, up from 25.1 million one year earlier.[2]
As with the terms "wallaroo" and "wallaby", "kangaroo" refers to a paraphyletic grouping of species.  All three refer to members of the same taxonomic family, Macropodidae, and are distinguished according to size. The largest species in the family are called "kangaroos" and the smallest are generally called "wallabies".  The term "wallaroos" refers to species of an intermediate size.[3] There is also the tree-kangaroo, another genus of macropod, which inhabits the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, far northeastern Queensland and some of the islands in the region. A general idea of the relative size of these informal terms could be:
wallabies: head and body length of 45–105cm and tail length of 33–75cm; The dwarf wallaby (the smallest member) is 46cm long and weighs 1.6kg;
tree-kangaroos: from Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo body and head length of 48–65cm, tail of 60–74cm, weight of 7.2kg (16lb) for males and 5.9kg (13lb) for females; to the grizzled tree-kangaroo length of 75–90cm (30 to 35 in) and weight of 8–15kg (18–33lb);
wallaroos: the black wallaroo, the smallest by far, with a tail length of 60–70cm and weight of 19–22kg for males and 13kg for females;
kangaroos: a large male can be 2 m (6ft 7 in) tall and weighs 90kg (200lb).
Kangaroos have large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance, and a small head. Like most marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch called a marsupium in which joeys complete postnatal development.
The large kangaroos have adapted much better than the smaller macropods to land clearing for pastoral agriculture and habitat changes brought to the Australian landscape by humans. Many of the smaller species are rare and endangered, while kangaroos are relatively plentiful.
The kangaroo is a symbol of Australia and appears on the Australian coat of arms[4] and on some of its currency[5] and is used by some of Australia's well known organisations, including Qantas[6] and the Royal Australian Air Force.[7]  The kangaroo is important to both Australian culture and the national image, and consequently there are numerous popular culture references.
Wild kangaroos are shot for meat, leather hides, and to protect grazing land.[8] Although controversial, kangaroo meat has perceived health benefits for human consumption compared with traditional meats due to the low level of fat on kangaroos.[9]
Terminology

The word "kangaroo" derives from the Guugu Yimithirr word gangurru, referring to grey kangaroos.[10][11] The name was first recorded as "kanguru" on 12 July 1770 in an entry in the diary of Sir Joseph Banks; this occurred at the site of modern Cooktown, on the banks of the Endeavour River, where HMS Endeavour under the command of Lieutenant James Cook was beached for almost seven weeks to repair damage sustained on the Great Barrier Reef.[12] Cook first referred to kangaroos in his diary entry of 4 August. Guugu Yimithirr is the language of the people of the area.
A common myth about the kangaroo's English name is that "kangaroo" was a Guugu Yimithirr phrase for "I don't understand you."[13] According to this legend, Cook and Banks were exploring the area when they happened upon the animal. They asked a nearby local what the creatures were called. The local responded "Kangaroo", meaning "I don't understand you", which Cook took to be the name of the creature. This myth was debunked in the 1970s by linguist John B. Haviland in his research with the Guugu Yimithirr people.[14]
Kangaroos are often colloquially referred to as "roos".[15] Male kangaroos are called bucks, boomers, jacks, or old men; females are does, flyers, or jills; and the young ones are joeys.[16] The collective noun for kangaroos is a mob, troop, or court.[17]
Taxonomy and description

There are four extant species that are commonly referred to as kangaroos:
The red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) is the largest surviving marsupial anywhere in the world. It occupies the arid and semi-arid centre of the country. The highest population densities of the red kangaroo occur in the rangelands of western New South Wales. Red kangaroos are commonly mistaken as the most abundant species of kangaroo, but eastern greys actually have a larger population.[18] A large male can be 2 metres (6ft 7 in) tall and weighs 90kg (200lb).[19]
The eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) is less well-known than the red (outside Australia), but the most often seen, as its range covers the fertile eastern part of the country. The range of the eastern grey kangaroo extends from the top of the Cape York Peninsula in north Queensland down to Victoria, as well as areas of south-eastern Australia and Tasmania. Population densities of eastern grey kangaroos usually peak near 100 per km2 in suitable habitats of open woodlands. Populations are more limited in areas of land clearance, such as farmland, where forest and woodland habitats are limited in size or abundance.[18]
The western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) is slightly smaller again at about 54kg (119lb) for a large male. It is found in the southern part of Western Australia, South Australia near the coast, and the Darling River basin. The highest population densities occur in the western Riverina district of New South Wales and in western areas of the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. Populations may have declined, particularly in agricultural areas. The species has a high tolerance to the plant toxin sodium fluoroacetate, which indicates a possible origin from the south-west region of Australia.[18]
The antilopine kangaroo (Macropus antilopinus) is, essentially, the far-northern equivalent of the eastern and western grey kangaroos. It is sometimes referred to as the antilopine wallaroo, but in behaviour and habitat it is more similar to red and grey kangaroos. Like them, it is a creature of the grassy plains and woodlands, and gregarious. Its name comes from its fur, which is similar in colour and texture to that of antelopes. Characteristically, the noses of males swell behind the nostrils. This enlarges nasal passages and allows them to release more heat in hot and humid climates.[18]

In addition, there are about 50 smaller macropods closely related to the kangaroo in the family Macropodidae. Kangaroos and other macropods share a common ancestor with Phalangeridae from the mid-Miocene.[20] This ancestor was likely arboreal and lived in the canopies of the extensive forests that covered most of Australia at that time, when the climate was much wetter, and fed on leaves and stems.[21] From the late Miocene through the Pliocene and into the Pleistocene the climate got drier which led to a decline of forests and expansion of grasslands. At this time there was a radiation of macropodids characterised by enlarged body size and adaptation to the low quality grass diet with the development of foregut fermentation.[21]  The most numerous early macropods, the Balbaridae and Bulungmayinae, became extinct in the late Miocene around 5–10 mya.[22] There is dispute over the relationships of the two groups to modern kangaroos and rat kangaroos. Some argue that the balbarines were the ancestors of rat kangaroos and the bulungmayines were the ancestors of kangaroos.[23] while others hold the contrary view.[24]
The middle to late bulungmayines, Gungaroo and Wanburoo lacked digit 1 of the hind foot and digits 2 and 3 were reduced and partly under the large digit 4, much like the modern kangaroo foot. This would indicate that they were bipedal. In addition their ankle bones had an articulation that would have prohibited much lateral movements, an adaptation for bipedal hopping.[22] Species related to the modern grey kangaroos and wallaroos begin to appear in the Pliocene. The red kangaroo appears to be the most recently evolved kangaroo with its fossil record not going back beyond the Pleistocene period, 1–2 mya.[25]
Europeans have long regarded kangaroos as strange animals. Early explorers described them as creatures that had heads like deer (without antlers), stood upright like men, and hopped like frogs. Combined with the two-headed appearance of a mother kangaroo, this led many back home to dismiss them as travellers' tales for quite some time. The first kangaroo to be exhibited in the western world was an example shot by John Gore, an officer on Captain Cook's Endeavour in 1770.[26][27] The animal was shot and its skin and skull transported back to England whereupon it was stuffed (by taxidermists who had never seen the animal before) and displayed to the general public as a curiosity.  The first glimpse of a kangaroo for many 18th-century Britons was a painting by George Stubbs.[28]
Comparison with wallabies
Kangaroos and wallabies belong to the same taxonomic family (Macropodidae) and often the same genera, but kangaroos are specifically categorised into the six largest species of the family. The term wallaby is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been designated otherwise.[3]
Biology and behaviour

Locomotion

Kangaroos are the only large animals to use hopping as a means of locomotion. The comfortable hopping speed for a red kangaroo is about 20–25km/h (12–16mph), but speeds of up to 70km/h (43mph) can be attained over short distances, while it can sustain a speed of 40km/h (25mph) for nearly 2km (1.2mi).[29] This fast and energy-efficient method of travel has evolved because of the need to regularly cover large distances in search of food and water, rather than the need to escape predators. At slow speeds, it employs pentapedal locomotion, using its tail to form a tripod with its two forelimbs while bringing its hind feet forward.[30] Kangaroos are adept swimmers, and often flee into waterways if threatened by a predator. If pursued into the water, a kangaroo may use its forepaws to hold the predator underwater so as to drown it.[31]
Diet

Kangaroos have single-chambered stomachs quite unlike those of cattle and sheep, which have four compartments.[32][33] They sometimes regurgitate the vegetation they have eaten, chew it as cud, and then swallow it again for final digestion. However, this is a different, more strenuous, activity than it is in ruminants, and does not take place as frequently.[34]
Different species of kangaroos have different diets, although all are strict herbivores. The eastern grey kangaroo is predominantly a grazer, and eats a wide variety of grasses, whereas some other species such as the red kangaroo include significant amounts of shrubs in their diets. Smaller species of kangaroos also consume hypogeal fungi. Many species are nocturnal,[35] and crepuscular,[36][37] usually spending the hot days resting in shade, and the cool evenings, nights and mornings moving about and feeding.
Because of its grazing habits, the kangaroo has developed specialised teeth that are rare amongst mammals. Its incisors are able to crop grass close to the ground and its molars chop and grind the grass. Since the two sides of the lower jaw are not joined or fused together, the lower incisors are farther apart, giving the kangaroo a wider bite. The silica in grass is abrasive, so kangaroo molars are ground down and they actually move forward in the mouth before they eventually fall out, and are replaced by new teeth that grow in the back.[38] This process is known as polyphyodonty and, amongst other mammals, only occurs in elephants and manatees.
Absence of digestive methane release
Despite having herbivorous diets similar to ruminants such as cattle, which release large quantities of digestive methane through exhaling and eructation (burping), kangaroos release virtually none. The hydrogen byproduct of fermentation is instead converted into acetate, which is then used to provide further energy. Scientists are interested in the possibility of transferring the bacteria responsible for this process from kangaroos to cattle, since the greenhouse gas effect of methane is 23 times greater than carbon dioxide per molecule.[39]
Social and sexual behaviour

Groups of kangaroos are called mobs, which usually have 10 or more kangaroos in them. Living in mobs can provide protection for some of the weaker members of the group.[17] The size and stability of the mobs vary between geographic regions,[21] with eastern Australia having larger and more stable aggregations than in arid areas farther west.[21] Larger aggregations display high amounts of interactions and complex social structures, comparable to that of ungulates.[21] One common behaviour is nose touching and sniffing, which mostly occurs when an individual joins a group.[25] The kangaroo performing the sniffing gains much information from smell cues. This behaviour enforces social cohesion without consequent aggression. During mutual sniffing, if one kangaroo is smaller, it will hold its body closer to the ground and its head will quiver, which serves as a possible form of submission.[25] Greetings between males and females are common, with larger males being the most involved in meeting females. Most other non-antagonistic behaviour occurs between mothers and their young. Mother and young reinforce their bond though grooming. A mother will groom her young during or after it is suckling.[25]  A joey will nuzzle its mother's pouch if it wants access to it.

Sexual activity of kangaroos consists of consort pairs.[40] Oestrous females roam widely and attract the attention of males with conspicuous signals.[40] A male will monitor a female and follow her every movement. He sniffs her urine to see if she is in oestrus, a process exhibiting the flehmen response. The male will then proceed to approach her slowly to avoid alarming her.[21]  If the female does not run away, the male will continue by licking, pawing, and scratching her, and copulation will follow.[21] After copulation is over, the male will move on to another female. Consort pairing may take several days and the copulation is also long. Thus, a consort pair is likely to attract the attention of a rival male.[40] As larger males are tending bonds with females near oestrus, smaller males will tend to females that are farther from oestrus.[21] Dominant males can avoid having to sort through females to determine their reproductive status by searching for tending bonds held by the largest male they can displace without a fight.[21]

Fighting has been described in all species of kangaroos. Fights between kangaroos can be brief or long and ritualised.[25] In highly competitive situations, such as males fighting for access to oestrous females or at limited drinking spots, the fights are brief.[25] Both sexes will fight for drinking spots, but long, ritualised fighting or "boxing" is largely done by males. Smaller males fight more often near females in oestrus, while the large males in consorts do not seem to get involved. Ritualised fights can arise suddenly when males are grazing together. However, most fights are preceded by two males scratching and grooming each other.[25] One or both of them will adopt a high standing posture, with one male issuing a challenge by grasping the other male's neck with its forepaw. Sometimes, the challenge will be declined. Large males often reject challenges by smaller males. During fighting, the combatants adopt a high standing posture and paw at each other's heads, shoulders and chests. They will also lock forearms and wrestle and push each other as well as balance on their tails to kick each other in the abdomen.[25]
Brief fights are similar except there is no forearm locking. The losing combatant seems to use kicking more often, perhaps to parry the thrusts of the eventual winner. A winner is decided when a kangaroo breaks off the fight and retreats. Winners are able to push their opponents backwards or down to the ground. They also seem to grasp their opponents when they break contact and push them away.[25] The initiators of the fights are usually the winners. These fights may serve to establish dominance hierarchies among males, as winners of fights have been seen to displace their opponent from resting sites later in the day.[25] Dominant males may also pull grass to intimidate subordinates.[21]
Predators
Kangaroos have few natural predators. The thylacine, considered by palaeontologists to have once been a major natural predator of the kangaroo, is now extinct. Other extinct predators included the marsupial lion, Megalania and the Wonambi. However, with the arrival of humans in Australia at least 50,000 years ago and the introduction of the dingo about 5,000 years ago, kangaroos have had to adapt.  Wedge-tailed eagles and other raptors usually eat kangaroo carrion. Goannas and other carnivorous reptiles also pose a danger to smaller kangaroo species when other food sources are lacking.
Along with dingos, introduced species such as foxes, feral cats, and both domestic and feral dogs, pose a threat to kangaroo populations. Kangaroos and wallabies are adept swimmers, and often flee into waterways if presented with the option. If pursued into the water, a large kangaroo may use its forepaws to hold the predator underwater so as to drown it.[31] Another defensive tactic described by witnesses is catching the attacking dog with the forepaws and disembowelling it with the hind legs.
Adaptations

Kangaroos have developed a number of adaptations to a dry, infertile country and highly variable climate. As with all marsupials, the young are born at a very early stage of development—after a gestation of 31–36 days. At this stage, only the forelimbs are somewhat developed, to allow the newborn to climb to the pouch and attach to a teat. In comparison, a human embryo at a similar stage of development would be about seven weeks old, and premature babies born at less than 23 weeks are usually not mature enough to survive. When the joey is born, it is about the size of a lima bean. The joey will usually stay in the pouch for about nine months (180–320 days for the Western Grey) before starting to leave the pouch for small periods of time. It is usually fed by its mother until reaching 18 months.
The female kangaroo is usually pregnant in permanence, except on the day she gives birth; however, she has the ability to freeze the development of an embryo until the previous joey is able to leave the pouch. This is known as diapause, and will occur in times of drought and in areas with poor food sources. The composition of the milk produced by the mother varies according to the needs of the joey. In addition, the mother is able to produce two different kinds of milk simultaneously for the newborn and the older joey still in the pouch.
Unusually, during a dry period, males will not produce sperm, and females will conceive only if enough rain has fallen to produce a large quantity of green vegetation.[41]
 Kangaroos and wallabies have large, elastic tendons in their hind legs. They store elastic strain energy in the tendons of their large hind legs, providing most of the energy required for each hop by the spring action of the tendons rather than by any muscular effort.[42]  This is true in all animal species which have muscles connected to their skeletons through elastic elements such as tendons, but the effect is more pronounced in kangaroos.
There is also a link between the hopping action and breathing: as the feet leave the ground, air is expelled from the lungs; bringing the feet forward ready for landing refills the lungs, providing further energy efficiency. Studies of kangaroos and wallabies have demonstrated, beyond the minimum energy expenditure required to hop at all, increased speed requires very little extra effort (much less than the same speed increase in, say, a horse, dog or human), and the extra energy is required to carry extra weight. For kangaroos, the key benefit of hopping is not speed to escape predators—the top speed of a kangaroo is no higher than that of a similarly sized quadruped, and the Australian native predators are in any case less fearsome than those of other countries—but economy: in an infertile country with highly variable weather patterns, the ability of a kangaroo to travel long distances at moderately high speed in search of food sources is crucial to survival.
New research has revealed that a kangaroo's tail acts as a third leg rather than just a balancing strut. Kangaroos have a unique three-stage walk where they plant their front legs and tail first, then push off their tail, followed lastly by the back legs. The propulsive force of the tail is equal to that of both the front and hind legs combined and performs as much work as what a human leg walking can at the same speed.
[43]
A DNA sequencing project of the genome of a member of the kangaroo family, the tammar wallaby, was started in 2004. It was a collaboration between Australia (mainly funded by the state of Victoria) and the National Institutes of Health in the US.[44] The tammar's genome was fully sequenced in 2011.[45] The genome of a marsupial such as the kangaroo is of great interest to scientists studying comparative genomics, because marsupials are at an ideal degree of evolutionary divergence from humans: mice are too close and have not developed many different functions, while birds are genetically too remote. The dairy industry could also benefit from this project.[46]
Blindness
Eye disease is rare but not new among kangaroos. The first official report of kangaroo blindness took place in 1994, in central New South Wales. The following year, reports of blind kangaroos appeared in Victoria and South Australia. By 1996, the disease had spread "across the desert to Western Australia". Australian authorities were concerned the disease could spread to other livestock and possibly humans. Researchers at the Australian Animal Health Laboratories in Geelong detected a virus called the Wallal virus in two species of midges, believed to have been the carriers.[47][48] Veterinarians also discovered fewer than 3% of kangaroos exposed to the virus developed blindness.[49]
Reproduction and life cycle

Kangaroo reproduction is similar to that of opossums. The egg (still contained in the shell membrane, a few micrometres thick, and with only a small quantity of yolk within it) descends from the ovary into the uterus. There it is fertilised and quickly develops into a neonate. Even in the largest kangaroo (the red kangaroo), the neonate emerges after only 33 days. Usually, only one young is born at a time. It is blind, hairless, and only a few centimetres long; its hindlegs are mere stumps; it instead uses its more developed forelegs to climb its way through the thick fur on its mother's abdomen into the pouch, which takes about three to five minutes. Once in the pouch, it fastens onto one of the four teats and starts to feed. Almost immediately, the mother's sexual cycle starts again. Another egg descends into the uterus and she becomes sexually receptive. Then, if she mates and a second egg is fertilised, its development is temporarily halted. Meanwhile, the neonate in the pouch grows rapidly. After about 190 days, the baby (joey) is sufficiently large and developed to make its full emergence out of the pouch, after sticking its head out for a few weeks until it eventually feels safe enough to fully emerge. From then on, it spends increasing time in the outside world and eventually, after about 235 days, it leaves the pouch for the last time.[50] The lifespan of kangaroos averages at six years in the wild[51] to in excess of 20 years in captivity, varying by species.[52] Most individuals, however, do not reach maturity in the wild.[53][54]
Interaction with humans

The kangaroo has always been a very important animal for Australian Aborigines, for its meat, hide, bone, and tendon. Kangaroo hides were also sometimes used for recreation; in particular there are accounts of some tribes (Kurnai) using stuffed kangaroo scrotum as a ball for the traditional football game of marngrook. In addition, there were important Dreaming stories and ceremonies involving the kangaroo. Aherrenge is a current kangaroo dreaming site in the Northern Territory.[55]
Unlike many of the smaller macropods, kangaroos have fared well since European settlement. European settlers cut down forests to create vast grasslands for sheep and cattle grazing, added stock watering points in arid areas, and have substantially reduced the number of dingoes.
Kangaroos are shy and retiring by nature, and in normal circumstances present no threat to humans.  In 2003, Lulu, an eastern grey which had been hand-reared, saved a farmer's life by alerting family members to his location when he was injured by a falling tree branch. She received the RSPCA Australia National Animal Valour Award on 19 May 2004.[56][57][58]
There are very few records of kangaroos attacking humans without provocation; however, several such unprovoked attacks in 2004 spurred fears of a rabies-like disease possibly affecting the marsupials. The only reliably documented case of a fatality from a kangaroo attack occurred in New South Wales, in 1936. A hunter was killed when he tried to rescue his two dogs from a heated fray. Other suggested causes for erratic and dangerous kangaroo behaviour include extreme thirst and hunger. In July 2011, a male red kangaroo attacked a 94-year-old woman in her own backyard as well as her son and two police officers responding to the situation. The kangaroo was capsicum sprayed (pepper sprayed) and later put down after the attack.[59][60]
Conflict with vehicles

A collision with a vehicle is capable of killing a kangaroo. Kangaroos dazzled by headlights or startled by engine noise often leap in front of cars. Since kangaroos in mid-bound can reach speeds of around 50km/h (31mph) and are relatively heavy, the force of impact can be severe. Small vehicles may be destroyed, while larger vehicles may suffer engine damage. The risk of harm or death to vehicle occupants is greatly increased if the windscreen is the point of impact. As a result, "kangaroo crossing" signs are commonplace in Australia.
Vehicles that frequent isolated roads, where roadside assistance may be scarce, are often fitted with "roo bars" to minimise damage caused by collision. Bonnet-mounted devices, designed to scare wildlife off the road with ultrasound and other methods, have been devised and marketed.
If a female is the victim of a collision, animal welfare groups ask that her pouch be checked for any surviving joey, in which case it may be removed to a wildlife sanctuary or veterinary surgeon for rehabilitation. Likewise, when an adult kangaroo is injured in a collision, a vet, the RSPCA Australia or the National Parks and Wildlife Service can be consulted for instructions on proper care. In New South Wales, rehabilitation of kangaroos is carried out by volunteers from WIRES.  Council road signs often list phone numbers for callers to report injured animals.
Emblems and popular culture

The kangaroo is a recognisable symbol of Australia. The kangaroo and emu feature on the Australian Coat of Arms.  Kangaroos have also been featured on coins, most notably the five kangaroos on the Australian one dollar coin.  The Australian Made logo consists of a golden kangaroo in a green triangle to show that a product is grown or made in Australia.
The kangaroo and wallaby feature predominantly in Australian sports teams names and mascots. Examples include the Australian national rugby league team (the Kangaroos) and the Australian national rugby union team (the Wallabies).  Australia's national airline, Qantas, uses a bounding kangaroo for its logo.
Kangaroos are well represented in films, television, books, toys and souvenirs around the world. Skippy the Bush Kangaroo was the star of the popular 1960s Australian children's television series of the same name. Kangaroos are featured in the Rolf Harris song Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport and several Christmas carols.
Meat

Historically, the kangaroo has been a source of food for indigenous Australians.
Kangaroo meat is high in protein and low in fat (about 2%). Kangaroo meat has a high concentration of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared with other foods, and is a rich source of vitamins and minerals.[61] Low fat diets rich in CLA have been studied for their potential in reducing obesity and atherosclerosis.[62][63]
Most kangaroo meat is currently sourced from wild animals as a byproduct of population control programs. Kangaroos are hunted by licensed shooters in accordance with a strict code of practice and are protected by state and federal legislation.
Kangaroo meat is exported to many countries around the world.
See also
BionicKangaroo – biomimetic robot
Boxing kangaroo (symbol)
Embryonic diapause
Kangaroo court (mock justice)
Kangaroo industry

Further reading