Abstract

The paper deals with the mass migration of Swedes to the towns of south-eastern Norway, probably some 100,000 migrants in the last half of the period alone. The paper argues that Norway acted to a degree as a substitute for overseas migration, a "poor man's America". The most fruitful perspective, however, is to view the migration as a process of urbanisation, since the fast-growing towns around the Oslo fjord were the nearest to the migrants in question, and since much of the period was one with extensive freedom of movement. The immigrant Swedes, it is argued, settled in Norwegian society with relatively little friction, if we are to judge from organisational activities, marriage and settlement patterns and occupational careers. Norwegians and Swedes were, after all, ethnically, culturally and linguistically quite close. The immigrants never organised politically as Swedes. At times, however, the two nationalities came at odds with each other. This happened especially when there where political tensions between the two states, when there was competition for labour, and when the Norwegian authorities wanted to keep social costs down by regulating access to the country. Being the only large immigrant group in southern Norway, the Swedes sometimes acted as scapegoats.