BERGEN, ber'gen (Ger. Berg, hill, referring to its position). A Norway seaport in the prov ince of the same name, situated on a promontory at the head of a deep bay, called Vaagen, on the Atlantic coast. in latitude GO° 24' N., longitude 5° ls' E. (Slap: Norway, A 6). With the ex ception of the northeast side, where lofty moun tains inclose it, Bergen is surrounded by water. It is walled, and additionally protected by sev eral forts, now used merely as barracks and depots for supplies. The entrance to the har bor is dangerous without a pilot, but within it is safe and commodious. Though it lies farther north than Saint Petersburg, its climate is very mild and moist, winter being of short duration. The thermometer seldom drops below 1S° Fahr.. but the rainfall is heavy, averaging seventy-two inches. Bergen is built in a semi circular form round the harbor, and has a pictur esque appearance from the sea. It is generally well and substantially built, the older houses being of wood, and the streets being intersected by open spaces as a precaution against fires. A portion of the city burned in 1855 has been rebuilt very regularly. An electric street rail road nuts through the city. Its chief buildings are the cathedral and nautical school. the public library with 80.000 volumes, the observatory, and the general museum. Bergen's principal indus tries are ship-building and barrel-making. The city's chief importance is derived from the cod fishing trade on the north coast, the place being the great fish market of Norway. Twice a year the come to Bergen with their fish. In March and April several hundred vessels are to he seen in the harbor of Bergen at once. laden with the produce of the winter
fishing and with skins and feathers. The sum mer fishing is not quite so productive. Codfish for salting. fish-roe, blubber. skills. herring:, and cod-liver oil are the chief exports. amounting to two-fifths that of the entire country. A fair, attended by fishermen of all nations. is annually held. A fishery museum was established here in 1881. The chief imports are brandy, wine. corn, cotton, woolens, hemp. sugar, coffee. etc. Bergen is second only to Christiania in the export and shipping-trade of Norway, and her citizens own one-third of the shipping of the country. The United States is represented by a consul. There is a marine biological station Bergen was founded in 10(39 or 1070, by Olaf Kyrre, who made it the second city in his kingdom, and it was soon raised to the first rank. The black pestilence which ravaged Norway first made its appearance in Bergen in 1348, and the city was afterwards several times devastated by it. The first treaty entered into by England with any for eign nation was made with Bergen in 1217. But the English and Scottish traders were soon dis placed by the merchants of the Hanse towns, who made Bergen one of their four depots, compelled the fishermen to trade here exclusively, and con tinued to exercise and abuse their monopoly until their supremacy was broken by an act issued by Frederick II. of Denmark, in 1560. In 1763 their last warehouse fell into the hands of a citizen of Bergen. Population, in 1891, 53,86'4; in 1901. 72,179.