common misconception. before swedish and danish occupation, we were rich. in the middle ages, we were rich. in the earliest traces of history, we were comparatively rich per capita. directly after occupation and even during it, we still had a pretty decent per capita prosperity. (on account of the wealth actually being spread among the people as opposed to being completely drained towards the leadership) if it hadn't been for oil, we would still have had fishing, shipping and mining. the latter would probably have developed into the same scale or bigger as swedens mining adventure. tldr; we were never actually poor, just oppressed and small.
Norway