BERGEN, a seaport t. of Norway, in the province of the same name. situated on a promontory at the head of a deep bay, called Yaagen. Lat. 60 24' n., long. 5 18' c. With the exception of the n.c. side, where lofty mountains inclose it, B. is surrounded It is walled, and additionally protected by several forts, mounting iu all upwards of 100 guns. The entrance to the harbor is dangerous without a pilot; but within, it is safe and commodious. B. is built in a semicular form round the harbor. and has a picturesque appearance from the sea. A elose inspection discovers it to be generally well and substantially built, but many of the streets are crooked'and narrow. It has a cathedral, various churches, hospitals, refuges for the poor, public libraries, etc.; is the seat of a secondary judicial tribunal, of oue of the three national treasuries, the diocese of a bishop, and the station of a naval squadron. Its chief manufactures are tobacco, porcelain, and cordage. It has numerous distilleries, and some ship-building yards. The principal trade of B., however, is its export of stock-fish (dried fish of the cod family) and cod-liver oil, which it obtains from the northern provinces. Twice a year. the Norlandmen conic to B. with their fish, receiving in exchange for them such articles of necessity or luxury as they require. In 3Iarch and April, as many as 600 or 700 vessels are to be seen in the. harbor of B. at once, laden with the produce of the winter-fishing, and with skins and feathers. The summer-fishing is not quite so pro ductive. The annual value of the stock-fish exported from B. is about 2.000,000 specie
dollars (C450,000). In addition, it exports about half a million barrels of herrings, and 20,000 barrels of cod-liver oil, the finest Of which is used for medicinal purposes and for lamps, the coarsest for dressing leather. The chief imports are brandy, wine, corn, rot ton, woolens, hemp, sugar, coffee, etc. The climate of B. is exceedingly humid, but not unhealthy. B. was fouhded in 1069 or 1070, by Olaf Kyrre, who made it the second city in his kingdom, and it was soon raised to the first rank. In 1135,. king Magnus had his oyes put out here by his rival, Harald Gille, who was himself murdered in B. a year after. In 1164, the legate of the pope crowned king Magnus Ellingson here; and here, a century afterwards, king Hakou was crowned. The black pestilence, which ravaged Norway, first made its appearance in B. in 1348, and the city has since been several times devastated by it. The first treaty entered into with any foreign nation by England was made with B. in 1217. But the English and Scottish traders were soon displaced by the merchants of the Hanse towns, who continued to exercise and abuse their monopoly until their supremacy was broken by nn act issued by Frederick II. of Denmark, in 1560; and in 1763, their last warehouse fell into the hands of a citizen of Bergen. B. was long the most important trading town of Norm ay, but has been recently surpassed by Chris tiania. Pop. '75, 34,384.