Sogn og Fjordane
Sogn og Fjordane is a county in western Norway, bordering Møre og Romsdal, Oppland and Hordaland. The county administration is in the village of Hermansverk in Leikanger municipality; the largest town in the county is Førde. Although Sogn og Fjordane has some industry, predominantly hydroelectricity and aluminium, it is predominantly an agricultural area. Sogn og Fjordane is home to the Urnes Stave Church and the Nærøyfjord, which are both listed by UNESCO as world heritage sites; the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences has campuses in Førde. The name Sogn og Fjordane was created in 1919; the first element is the name of the region of Sogn, located in the southern part of the county. The last element is the plural definite form of fjord, which refers to the two regions in the county called Nordfjord and Sunnfjord in the northern and central parts of the county. Prior to 1919, the name of the county was Nordre Bergenhus amt which meant " northern Bergenhus amt"; the coat of arms of Sogn og Fjordane was granted on 23 September 1983.
The arms show the geographical layout of the county: three large blue fjords protruding into the white colored land. The three fjords represent the three regions of the county: Nordfjord and Sogn. Nearly all villages and towns are situated along one of these fjords and the name of the county is based on the fjords; the county is conventionally divided into three traditional districts. These are Sogn and Nordfjord. Sogn surrounds Sognefjorden from Solund on the offshore island of Sula in the North Sea to the village of Skjolden in Luster along Lustrafjorden, a branch of the Sognefjord; the total length is 204 kilometres. The middle district of Sunnfjord has two main fjords: Førdefjorden and Dalsfjorden; the northern district surrounds Nordfjorden. Sogn og Fjordane is the only county in Norway in which all municipalities have declared Nynorsk to be their official written form of the Norwegian language; the county consists of the two historic counties: Firdafylke and Sygnafylke. These both were formed in the Middle Ages under the Gulating government.
They were merged with Hordafylke and Sunnmørafylke to form the Bergenhus len in the late Middle Ages. The Bergenhus len was one of four len in Norway, it was administered from the Bergenhus Fortress in the city of Bergen. On 19 February 1662, a royal decree changed the name to Bergenhus amt; the Sunnmøre region was moved to Romsdalen amt in 1689. In 1763, the amt was divided in half creating: Nordre Bergenhus and Søndre Bergenhus. On 1 January 1919, Nordre Bergenhus amt was renamed Sogn og Fjordane fylke during a period of time when many location names in Norway were changed. A county is the chief local administrative area in Norway; the country is divided into 19 counties. A county is an election area, with popular votes taking place every 4 years; the Sogn og Fjordane County Municipality is the government. It is a group of 39 members. Heading the Fylkesting is the county mayor. Since 2011, the Sogn og Fjordane County Municipality has been led by Åshild Kjelsnes, the county mayor, she replaced Nils R. Sandal, county mayor from 2003 until 2011.
The county has a County Governor, the representative of the King and Government of Norway. Anne Karin Hamre has been the County Governor of Sogn og Fjordane since 2011. Oddvar Flæte was county governor from 1994 until 2011; the municipalities of Sogn og Fjordane are divided among three district courts: Sogn and Nordhordland. Sogn og Fjordane is part of the Gulating Court of Appeal district based in Bergen. Sogn District Court: Aurland, Leikanger, Luster, Lærdal, Vik, Årdal Fjordane District Court: Askvoll, Eid, Flora, Førde, Gloppen, Hyllestad, Høyanger, Jølster, Selje, Stryn, Vågsøy Nordhordland District Court: Gulen All of the municipalities of Sogn og Fjordane except Gulen and Solund are part of the Sogn og Fjordane police district. Gulen and Solund are part of the Hordaland police district. In 1837, the counties were divided into local administrative units, each with their own governments; the number and borders of these municipalities have changed over time, at present there are 26 municipalities in Sogn og Fjordane.
The municipalities were the same as the old Church of Norway parishes. It is a rural area with a scattered population. Sogn og Fjordane includes the largest glacier in mainland Norway, Jostedalsbreen, in the Breheimen mountain range, the deepest lake, Hornindalsvatnet. There are many famous waterfalls located in the area. Ramnefjellsfossen is the tallest in Norway and third tallest in the world and Vettisfossen is one of Norway's highest waterfalls with a vertical drop of 275 metres. Both are located in the Jotunheim mountains. Cruise ships visit Sogn og Fjordane all summer because of the unique vistas of high mountains and deep blue fjords; the famous Nærøyfjord is located in the south of the county. This is a UNESCO listed fjord area. There are several archipelagos
Norway
Norway the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe whose territory comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the kingdom. Norway lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land. Norway has a total area of 385,207 square kilometres and a population of 5,312,300; the country shares a long eastern border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, the Skagerrak strait to the south, with Denmark on the other side. Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the Barents Sea. Harald V of the House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway. Erna Solberg has been prime minister since 2013. A unitary sovereign state with a constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the parliament, the cabinet and the supreme court, as determined by the 1814 constitution; the kingdom was established in 872 as a merger of a large number of petty kingdoms and has existed continuously for 1,147 years.
From 1537 to 1814, Norway was a part of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, from 1814 to 1905, it was in a personal union with the Kingdom of Sweden. Norway was neutral during the First World War. Norway remained neutral until April 1940 when the country was invaded and occupied by Germany until the end of Second World War. Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels: counties and municipalities; the Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act. Norway maintains close ties with both the United States. Norway is a founding member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Free Trade Association, the Council of Europe, the Antarctic Treaty, the Nordic Council. Norway maintains the Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system, its values are rooted in egalitarian ideals; the Norwegian state has large ownership positions in key industrial sectors, having extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, lumber and fresh water.
The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country's gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside of the Middle East; the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World IMF lists. On the CIA's GDP per capita list which includes autonomous territories and regions, Norway ranks as number eleven, it has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, with a value of US$1 trillion. Norway has had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world since 2009, a position held between 2001 and 2006, it had the highest inequality-adjusted ranking until 2018 when Iceland moved to the top of the list. Norway ranked first on the World Happiness Report for 2017 and ranks first on the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity, the Democracy Index. Norway has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. Norway has two official names: Norge in Noreg in Nynorsk; the English name Norway comes from the Old English word Norþweg mentioned in 880, meaning "northern way" or "way leading to the north", how the Anglo-Saxons referred to the coastline of Atlantic Norway similar to scientific consensus about the origin of the Norwegian language name.
The Anglo-Saxons of Britain referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. There is some disagreement about whether the native name of Norway had the same etymology as the English form. According to the traditional dominant view, the first component was norðr, a cognate of English north, so the full name was Norðr vegr, "the way northwards", referring to the sailing route along the Norwegian coast, contrasting with suðrvegar "southern way" for, austrvegr "eastern way" for the Baltic. In the translation of Orosius for Alfred, the name is Norðweg, while in younger Old English sources the ð is gone. In the 10th century many Norsemen settled in Northern France, according to the sagas, in the area, called Normandy from norðmann, although not a Norwegian possession. In France normanni or northmanni referred to people of Sweden or Denmark; until around 1800 inhabitants of Western Norway where referred to as nordmenn while inhabitants of Eastern Norway where referred to as austmenn. According to another theory, the first component was a word nór, meaning "narrow" or "northern", referring to the inner-archipelago sailing route through the land.
The interpretation as "northern", as reflected in the English and Latin forms of the name, would have been due to folk etymology. This latter view originated with philologist Niels Halvorsen Trønnes in 1847; the form Nore is still used in placenames such as the village of Nore and lake Norefjorden in Buskerud county, still has the same meaning. Among other arguments in favour of the theor
Lars Sponheim
Lars Sponheim is a Norwegian politician. He was leader of the Liberal Party from 1996 to 2010, he was a member of the Storting from 1993 to 2009, a government minister from 1997 to 2000 and from 2001 to 2005. He is the current County Governor of Vestland, having served as the County Governor of Hordaland from 2010 until the office was merged with that of neighboring Sogn og Fjordane in 2019. Sponheim was born in Østfold. In 1981 he achieved a degree in agricultural science at the Agricultural University of Norway. From 1988 to 1991, he was mayor of Ulvik in Hordaland, he is a farmer, with his family he runs the ancestral farm, Sponheim, in Ulvik. He was elected to parliament as the Liberal Party's only representative in the 1993 election. During his campaign he pledged that he would walk from his home in Ulvik to Oslo if elected, which he did. During his first term in parliament he tried to carve a place in Norwegian politics for the Liberal Party, out of parliament since the 1985 election, to make the party a potential partner in a new non-socialist government.
In this he succeeded in the 1997 elections when the Liberal Party gained 5 new seats in parliament and became junior partner in the centrist first cabinet of Kjell Magne Bondevik. Sponheim became party leader in 1996, succeeding Odd Einar Dørum, before stepping down in 2010, he is the longest serving leader in the party's history. In the first cabinet of Bondevik, from October 1997 to March 2000, Sponheim was Minister of Trade and Industry, his main project in this position was to reduce the number of laws and regulations restricting business small business. In the second Bondevik cabinet, from October 2001 to October 2005, he was Minister of Agriculture and Food, he used this position to promote Norwegian food in general and local agricultural specialties in particular, to implement reforms aimed at making Norwegian agriculture more competitive. He gained a lot of publicity for criticizing Norwegians traveling to Sweden in order to buy cheaper food, calling it "Harry". Sponheim was elected to a fourth consecutive term in the Storting in the 2005 election.
In the 2009 election, the Liberal Party suffered a major defeat and lost eight out of their ten seats in parliament, including Sponheim's seat in Hordaland. Following this defeat, Sponheim announced on the election night that he would resign as party leader when the Liberal Party convenes in the spring 2010. On 19 March 2010, it was announced that Sponheim would become the new County Governor of Hordaland, replacing the retiring Svein Alsaker; as county governor, Sponheim came into a dispute with the Bergen city government when he agreed with the opposition that the 2011 budget for Bergen illegally considered extraordinary dividend from BKK as regular income, not as income which must be used for investments
Rogaland
Rogaland is a county in Western Norway, bordering Hordaland, Aust-Agder, Vest-Agder counties. Rogaland is the center of the Norwegian petroleum industry. In 2016, Rogaland had an unemployment rate of one of the highest in Norway. In 2015, Rogaland had a fertility rate of 1.78 children per woman, the highest in the country. The Diocese of Stavanger for the Church of Norway includes all of Rogaland county. Rogaland is the region's Old Norse name, revived in modern times. During Denmark's rule of Norway until the year 1814, the county was named Stavanger amt, after the large city of Stavanger; the first element is the plural genitive case of rygir, referring to the name of an old Germanic tribe. The last element is land which means "land" or "region". In Old Norse times, the region was called Rygjafylki; the coat-of-arms is modern. The arms are blue with a silver pointed cross in the centre; the cross is based on the old stone cross in the oldest national monument in Norway. It was erected in memory of Erling Skjalgsson after his death in 1028.
This type of cross was common in medieval Norway. Rogaland is a coastal region with fjords and islands, the principal island being Karmøy; the vast Boknafjorden is the largest bay, with many fjords branching off from it. Stavanger/Sandnes, the third-largest urban area of Norway, is in central Rogaland and it includes the large city of Stavanger and the neighboring municipalities of Sandnes and Sola. Together, this conurbation is ranked above the city Trondheim in population rankings in Norway. There are many cities/towns in Rogaland other than Sandnes, they include Haugesund, Sauda, Kopervik, Åkrehamn, Skudeneshavn. Karmøy has large deposits of copper. Sokndal has large deposits of ilmenite. Rogaland is the most important region for oil and gas exploration in Norway, the Jæren district in Rogaland is one of the country's most important agricultural districts. There are remains in Rogaland from the earliest times, such as the excavations in a cave at Viste in Randaberg; these include. Various archeological finds stem from the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
Many crosses in Irish style have been found. Rogaland was called Rygjafylke in the Viking Age. Before Harald Fairhair and the Battle of Hafrsfjord, it was a petty kingdom; the Rugians were a tribe connected with Rogaland. A series of festivals and congresses of international fame and profile are arranged, such as The Chamber Music Festival, The Maijazz Festival, The Gladmat Festival, The ONS event, held in Stavanger every second year since 1974; the ONS is a major international conference and exhibition with focus on oil and gas, other topics from the petroleum industry. The Concert Hall and Music Complex at Bjergsted and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra provide important inspiration in the Norwegian musical environment. Another annual event in Stavanger is The World Tour Beach Volleyball. During this tournament, the downtown is converted into a beach volleyball arena. Rogaland is home to many natural wonders, like Prekestolen and Gloppedalsura. In Stavanger, there is an archeological museum with many artifacts from early history in Rogaland.
An Iron Age farm at Ullandhaug in Stavanger is reconstructed on the original farm site dating back to 350–500 AD. The Viking Farm is a museum at Karmøy; the county is conventionally divided into traditional districts. These are Haugalandet north of the Boknafjorden, Ryfylke in the mountainous east, Jæren to the southwest, Dalane in the far south, the Stavanger region. Rogaland has a total of 26 municipalities: Total population: Anders Andersen Bjelland, politician Bendix Ebbell, amateur Egyptologist, Rogaland county physician from 1917 to 1935. Official county website Region Stavanger Official tourism site for the Stavanger region
Norwegian krone
The krone, plural kroner, is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. It is subdivided into 100 øre, which have existed only electronically since 2012; the name translates into English as crown. The krone was the thirteenth most traded currency in the world by value in April 2010, down three positions from 2007; the krone was introduced in 1875, replacing the Norwegian speciedaler/spesidaler at a rate of 4 kroner = 1 speciedaler. In doing so, Norway joined the Scandinavian Monetary Union, established in 1873; the Union persisted until 1914. After its dissolution, Denmark and Sweden all decided to keep the names of their respective and since separate currencies. Within the Scandinavian Monetary Union, the krone was on a gold standard of 2,480 kroner = 1 kilogram of pure gold; this gold standard was restored between 1916 and 1920 and again in 1928. It was suspended permanently in 1931, when a peg to the British pound of 19.9 kroner = 1 pound was established.. In 1939, Norway pegged the krone temporarily to the U.
S. dollar at a rate of 4.4 kroner = 1 dollar. Nonetheless, Norway would continue to hold the Kingdom's gold reserves. During the German occupation in the Second World War, the krone was pegged to the Reichsmark at a rate of 1 krone = 0.6 Reichsmark reduced to 0.57. After the war, a rate of 20 kroner = 1 pound was established; the rate to the pound was maintained in 1949, when the pound devalued relative to the U. S. dollar, leading to a rate of 7.142 kroner = 1 U. S. dollar. In December 1992, the Central Bank of Norway abandoned the fixed exchange rate in favor of a floating exchange rate due to the heavy speculation against the Norwegian currency in the early 1990s, which lost the central bank around two billion kroner in defensive purchases of the NOK through usage of foreign currency reserves for a short period of time. In 1875, coins were introduced in denominations of 1 and 10 kroner; these coins bore the denomination in the previous currency, as 3, 15, 30 skillings and 2½ specidaler. Between 1875 and 1878, the new coinage was introduced in full, in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50 øre and 1, 2, 10 kroner.
The 1, 2, 5 øre were struck in bronze. The last gold coins were issued in 1910. Between 1917 and 1921, iron temporarily replaced bronze. 1917 saw the last issuance of 2 kroner coins. During the German occupation of Norway in the Second World War, zinc was used in place of cupro-nickel in 10, 25, 50 øre coins, production of the 1 krone piece was suspended. In 1963, 5 kroner coins were introduced. Production of 1 and 2 øre coins ceased in 1972; the following year, the size of the 5 øre coin was reduced. Ten-kroner coins were introduced in 1983. In 1992, the last 10 øre coins were minted. Between 1994 and 1998, a new coinage was introduced, consisting of 50 øre, 1, 5, 10, 20 kroner; these are the only coins which are legal tender, with the exception of the 50-øre coin, withdrawn on 1 May 2012. It was withdrawn. However, banks in Norway will still exchange 50 øre coins for higher values until 2022; the 10- and 20-kroner coins carry the effigy of the current monarch. The 1- and 5-kroner coins carried the royal effigy, but now these denominations are decorated only with stylistic royal or national symbols.
The royal motto of the monarch is inscribed on the 10-kroner coin. Coins and banknotes of the Norwegian krone are distributed by the Central Bank of Norway. Up to 25 coins of any single denomination is considered tvungent betalingsmiddel—a recognized method of payment, in which the intended recipient can not refuse payment, according to Norwegian law; the characteristics of the 10 Syrian pound coin have been found to so resemble the 20 Norwegian kroner coin that it can fool vending machines, coins-to-cash machines, arcade machines, any other coin-operated, automated service machine in the country. Whilst they are hardly similar to the naked eye, machines are unable to tell the coins apart, owing to their identical weight and size; as of mid February 2017, 10 Syrian pounds were worth 39 øre, making the 20-kroner coin 51.5 times more valuable than the 10-pound coin. While not easy to find in Norway, the Syrian coins are still used in automated machines there with such frequency that Posten Norge, the Norwegian postal service, decided to close many of their coins-to-cash machines on 18 February 2006, with plans to develop a system able to differentiate between the two coins.
In the summer of 2005, a Norwegian man was sentenced to 30 days, for having used Syrian coins in arcade machines in the municipality of Bærum. In 1877, Norges Bank introduced notes for 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 kroner. In 1917, 1-krone notes were issued, 2-kroner notes were issued between 1918 and 1922; because of metal shortages, 1- and 2-kroner notes were again issued between 1940 and 1950. In 1963, 5-kroner notes were replaced by coins, with the same happening to the 10-kroner notes in 1984. 200-kroner notes were introduced in 1994. Sources: The value of Norwegian krone compared to other currencies varies from one year to another based on changes in oil prices and interest rates. In 2002 the Norwegian kro
Haakon V of Norway
Haakon V Magnusson was king of Norway from 1299 until 1319. Haakon was the younger surviving son of Magnus the Lawmender, King of Norway, his wife Ingeborg of Denmark. Through his mother, he was a descendant of king of Denmark. In 1273, his elder brother, was named junior king under the reign of their father, King Magnus. At the same time, Haakon was given the title "Duke of Norway", from his father's death in 1280, ruled a large area around Oslo in Eastern Norway and Stavanger in the southwest, subordinate to King Eirik. Haakon succeeded to the royal throne. In 1295, Haakon married firstly with Isabelle, daughter of Jean I, Count of Joigny, but she died in 1297 without issue. In early 1299 he married secondly with Euphemia, daughter of Vitslav II, Prince of Rügen, who in 1301 bore him his only legitimate daughter, Ingeborg Håkonsdotter, since 1312 wife of duke Eric Magnusson of Sweden, a younger brother of King Birger of Sweden, their son, Magnus Eriksson would succeed Haakon V as king of Norway.
He had an illegitimate daughter named Agnes Hákonardottir. During Haakon's reign, Oslo took over the functions of capital of Norway from Bergen, though there was no official pronouncement of this at any time. Haakon is associated with the construction of Akershus Fortress and Bohus Fortress. During his reign he revived his brother's war policy against Denmark, but in 1309 he concluded a peace that in general was the end of a period of Dano-Norwegian wars. In domestic matters he energetically and tried to limit the power of the magnates and to strengthen the king's power. In 1319, Haakon was succeeded by his daughter's son, Magnus VII, an infant. Haakon's daughter Ingeborg was recognized as formal regent of her son. Havtore Jonsson was put in the guardianship government until he himself died the following year. Haakon was buried in St. Mary's church in Oslo. Remains of two people, deemed to be Haakon and Eufemia, were discovered during excavations of the ruins of that church and reinterred in the royal mausoleum at Akershus Castle.
Helle, Knut Norge blir en stat, 1130 -- 1319 Andreas Norges historie. Fra de eldste tider til 1660 Gjerset, Knut History of the Norwegian People
Bergen
Bergen Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Hordaland on the west coast of Norway. At the end of the first quarter of 2018, the municipality's population was 280,216, the Bergen metropolitan region has about 420,000 inhabitants. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway; the municipality is on the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are on Byfjorden,'the city fjord', the city is surrounded by mountains. Many of the extra-municipal suburbs are on islands. Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland, consists of eight boroughs: Arna, Fana, Laksevåg, Ytrebygda, Årstad, Åsane. Trading in Bergen may have started as early as the 1020s. According to tradition, the city was founded in 1070 by king Olav Kyrre and was named Bjørgvin,'the green meadow among the mountains', it served as Norway's capital in the 13th century, from the end of the 13th century became a bureau city of the Hanseatic League. Until 1789, Bergen enjoyed exclusive rights to mediate trade between Northern Norway and abroad and it was the largest city in Norway until the 1830s when it was overtaken by the capital, Christiania.
What remains of the quays, Bryggen, is a World Heritage Site. The city was hit by numerous fires over the years; the Bergen School of Meteorology was developed at the Geophysical Institute starting in 1917, the Norwegian School of Economics was founded in 1936, the University of Bergen in 1946. From 1831 to 1972, Bergen was its own county. In 1972 the municipality absorbed four surrounding municipalities and became a part of Hordaland county; the city is an international center for aquaculture, the offshore petroleum industry and subsea technology, a national centre for higher education, media and finance. Bergen Port is Norway's busiest in terms of both freight and passengers, with over 300 cruise ship calls a year bringing nearly a half a million passengers to Bergen, a number that has doubled in 10 years. Half of the passengers are German or British; the city's main football team is SK Brann and a unique tradition of the city is the buekorps. Natives speak a distinct dialect, known as'Bergensk'.
The city features Bergen Airport and Bergen Light Rail, is the terminus of the Bergen Line. Four large bridges connect Bergen to its suburban municipalities. Bergen has a mild winter climate, though with a lot of precipitation. From December to March, Bergen can be, in rare cases, up to 30°C warmer than Oslo though both cities are at about 60° North; the Gulf Stream keeps the sea warm, considering the latitude, the mountains protect the city from cold winds from the north, north-east and east. The city of Bergen was traditionally thought to have been founded by king Olav Kyrre, son of Harald Hardråde in 1070 AD, four years after the Viking Age in England ended with the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Modern research has, discovered that a trading settlement had been established in the 1020s or 1030s. Bergen 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, continued to host royal coronations throughout the 13th century.
Bergenhus 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. In the middle of the 14th century, North German merchants, present in substantial numbers since the 13th century, founded one of the four Kontore of the Hanseatic League at Bryggen in Bergen; the principal export traded from Bergen was dried cod from the northern Norwegian coast, which started around 1100. The city was granted a monopoly for trade from the north of Norway by King Håkon Håkonsson. Stockfish was the main reason. 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. Today, Bryggen, is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. In 1349, the Black Death was brought to Norway by an English ship arriving in Bergen.
Outbreaks occurred in 1618, 1629 and 1637, on each occasion taking about 3,000 lives. In the 15th century, the city was attacked several times by the Victual Brothers, in 1429 they succeeded in burning the royal castle and much of the city. In 1665, the city's harbour was the site of the Battle of Vågen, when an English naval flotilla attacked a Dutch merchant and treasure fleet supported by the city's garrison. Accidental fires sometimes got out of control, one in 1702 reduced most of the town to ashes. Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, Bergen remained one of the largest cities in Scandinavia, it was Norway's biggest city until the 1830s, when the capital city of Oslo became the largest. From around 1600, the Hanseatic dominance of the city's trade declined in favour of Norwegian merchants, in the 1750s, the Hanseatic Kontor closed. Bergen retained its monopoly of trade with northern Norway until 1789; the Bergen stock exchange, the Bergen børs, was established in 1813. Bergen was separated from Hordaland as a county of its own in 1831.
It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdis
listen)) is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population; the county government is the Hordaland County Municipality which is located in Bergen. Before 1972, the city of Bergen was its own separate county apart from Hordaland.
