Bergen

Sister cities

• Gothenburg Municipality
• Turku
• Aarhus
• Seattle
• Rostock
• Lübeck
• Newcastle upon Tyne
• Mombasa
• Callao

History

The city of Bergen was traditionally thought to have been founded by king Olav Kyrre, son of Harald Hardråde in 1070AD, four years after the Viking Age in England ended with the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Modern research has, however, discovered that a trading settlement had already been established in the 1020s or 1030s. Bergen gradually assumed the function of capital of Norway in the early 13th century, as the first city where a rudimentary central administration was established. The city's cathedral was the site of the first royal coronation in Norway in the 1150s, and continued to host royal coronations throughout the 13th century. Bergenhus fortress dates from the 1240s and guards the entrance to the harbour in Bergen. The functions of the capital city were lost to Oslo during the reign of King Haakon V (1299–1319). During the 14th century, North German merchants, who had already been present in substantial numbers since the 13th century, founded one of the four of the Hanseatic League at Bryggen in Bergen. The principal export traded from Bergen was dried cod from the northern Norwegian coast, which started . The city was granted a monopoly for trade from the north of Norway by King Håkon Håkonsson (1217–1263). Stockfish was the main reason that the city became one of North Europe's largest centres for trade. By the late 14th century, Bergen had established itself as the centre of the trade in Norway. The Hanseatic merchants lived in their own separate quarter of the town, where Middle Low German was used, enjoying exclusive rights to trade with the northern fishermen who each summer sailed to Bergen. The Hansa community resented Scottish merchants who settled in Bergen, and on 9 November 1523 several Scottish households were targeted by German residents.…

Geography

Bergen occupies most of the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen in the district of Midthordland in mid-western Hordaland. The municipality covers an area of . Most of the urban area is on or close to a fjord or bay, although the urban area has several mountains. The city centre is surrounded by the Seven Mountains, although there is disagreement as to which of the nine mountains constitute these. Ulriken, Fløyen, Løvstakken and Damsgårdsfjellet are always included as well as three of Lyderhorn, Sandviksfjellet, Blåmanen, Rundemanen and Kolbeinsvarden. Gullfjellet is Bergen's highest mountain, at above mean sea level. Bergen is far enough north that during clear nights at the solstice, there is borderline civil daylight in spite of the sun having set. Bergen is sheltered from the North Sea by the islands Askøy, Holsnøy (the municipality of Meland) and Sotra (the municipalities of Fjell and Sund). Bergen borders the municipalities Alver and Osterøy to the north, Vaksdal and Samnanger to the east, Os (Bjørnafjorden) and Austevoll to the south, and Øygarden and Askøy to the west.

Most-observed species

• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  948
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  925
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  838
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  791
• Eurasian Coot

  Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  768
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  757
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  746
• Great Crested Grebe

  Podiceps cristatus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  643

Most recent

• M 3.7 — 2021-08-16
  1 km S of Niederau, Austria
• M 3.8 — 2019-10-22
  4 km SE of Ebbs, Austria
• M 4 — 2010-10-19
  Austria
• M 3.8 — 2008-08-12
  6 km SE of Maria Schmolln, Austria
• M 2.8 — 2008-08-06
  2 km SE of Schalchen, Austria
• M 4.1 — 2008-07-18
  Austria