Oslo Hotels

Oslo (formerly Christiania) is the capital and largest city in Norway. The city was founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway. In 1624 the town was largely destroyed by a fire. The Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV rebuilt and changed the city's name to Christiania. The diocese of Oslo is one of the five original dioceses in Norway, who originated around the year 1070. Oslo is the cultural, scientific, economic and governmental centre of Norway. The city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. Oslo is an important centre of maritime knowledge in Europe and is home to approximately 980 companies and 8,500 employees within the maritime sector, among which are some of the world's largest shipping companies, shipbrokers and insurance brokers. Oslo is considered a global city and ranked "Beta World City Plus" in studies performed by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network in 2008. Until recently, Oslo was also listed as the most expensive city in the world; however, partly due to a weakened Norwegian krone, it was surpassed by cities such as Tokyo, Copenhagen and Paris. It is estimated that 25 per cent – or around 145,000 – of Oslo's core population are immigrants, reflecting its cultural diversity. As of 2009, the metropolitan area of Oslo had a population of 1.4 million; of whom, 876,391 lived in the contiguous conurbation. Furthermore, the city's population currently increases at a record rate of over two per cent annually, making it one of the fastest growing cities in Europe