text: I only say this because you seem to be truly interested, so please disregard if I seem to happy with my soapbox.
  
  It's a matter of scale.  The Orient essentially means everything East of the known world for Europeans. It encompass everything from Turks (the end of the Orient Express was Istanbul) all the way to the Koreans and has the effect of assuming that they are all kind of the same.  The Arabian Nights has Aladdin as a Chinese man, but you would never know it from most of the depictions of him since his being Oriental is close enough.
  
  In the case of your Norwegian heritage, if there was a word that encompassed the equivalent in land mass would be effectively saying that Norwegians, Germans, Slavs, Turks, and Persians are all the same.
  
  Christians self identify as followers of Christ.  No matter how many there are in our group, since we self identify, the label fits.  British or Italians share a cultural heritage, but Africans do not.  
  
  Hope this helps.