Bergen is a town and municipality in Western Norway and a former
county (until 1972) on Norway's west coast, surrounded by "The Seven
Mountains", and referred to as "Western Norway's capital". According
to tradition, Bergen was founded by Olav Kyrre in 1070 with the name
Bjørgvin, which means "the green meadow between the mountains".
Bergen has throughout its history been a leading international
trading and shipping city, and was Norway's capital in Norway's
heyday, later referred to as the Norwegian Empire. Bergen became the
seat of Gulatinget from the year 1300. From approx. In 1360, the
Hanseatic League had one of its head offices in Bergen, a trading
business that was continued on Bryggen until 1899. Bergen was the
seat of Bergenhus county and later the Bergen diocese. Bergen city
became its own county (county) in 1831 and was incorporated into
Hordaland county in 1972. Bergen was the largest city in the Nordic
countries until the 17th century and Norway's largest city until the
1830s, and has since been Norway's second largest city.
Bergen municipality had 284,208 inhabitants per. 25 May 2020. The
metropolitan region of Bergen and the surrounding area has about
420,000 inhabitants, which makes up 81 per cent of the inhabitants
of Hordaland and 31 per cent of the inhabitants of Western Norway.
Bergen is a city of residence for a number of major players and
institutions in culture, finance, health, research and education.
The city is the seat of Vestland County Municipality, Gulating
Diocese and Bjørgvin Diocese. Of the national state enterprises, the
Directorate of Fisheries, the Institute of Marine Research, the
Norwegian Competition Authority, the Ship Registers and the
Norwegian Navy's main base are located in Bergen.
Bergen is
the center of marine, maritime and petroleum-related research
environments and business clusters that are among the most complete
and advanced in the world. Bergen also has a strong and versatile
business community, especially in banking and insurance,
construction, trade and services, high technology, mass media, the
food industry, tourism and transport. Bergen has one of the Nordic
region's busiest airports and one of Europe's largest and busiest
ports, and is the starting point for Hurtigruten and the Bergen
line.
The pier in Bergen is listed on the UNESCO World
Heritage List and reminds of the city's historical connection to the
Hanseatic League. Bergen's city coat of arms with a three - towered
castle in silver standing on seven mountains in gold is based on the
city's old seal, which is considered Norway's oldest. Bergen's city
song is called "Views from Ulrikken".
Location
Bergen is located on the Bergen Peninsula in
Midthordland, which together with Nordhordland forms the region of
Bergen and the surrounding area in Vestland county. The municipality
has sea borders with Austevoll, Øygarden, Askøy, Alver and Osterøy,
and land borders with Vaksdal, Samnanger and Bjørnafjorden. The
municipality extends 34 km from Tellevik fort at Hordvik in the
north to Korsneset fort at Krokeide in the south, and 25 km from
Trengereid in the east to Drotningsvik in the west. The city center
is located approximately in the middle of the municipality, by
Byfjorden in the northern part of Bergensdalen.
Area and
landforms
The landscape is very hilly with little cohesive
lowlands, and both the city center and the districts are surrounded
by mountains and sea. 50% of the area is higher than 160 meters
above sea level. 40% of the area is covered by forest, 23.3% by
densely populated areas, 4.4% by fresh water and 3.5% by cultivated
land. The municipality's highest point is Gullfjelltoppen 987 meters
above sea level on the border with Samnanger in the east. The
bedrock consists mostly of Caledonian slides with Precambrian rocks
and some slides with Cambro Silurian greenstones.
The
municipal area can be roughly divided as follows: To the east is the
Gullfjellet mountain massif. West of this is Arnadalen, and west of
Arnadalen are the eastern Byfjellene, which stretches from the
peninsula Åsane in the north to Fana in the south. West of these is
Bergensdalen, and west of this again are the western city mountains.
All these formations are oriented in a northwesterly direction. In
the southern part of Bergensdalen is Nordåsvannet, which is
connected to Sælenvannet and to Grimstadfjorden in the west. North
of Grimstadfjorden are the areas Fyllingsdalen and Loddefjord,
bounded by the western city mountains in the east, by the Raunefjord
in the west, and by Byfjorden in the north. South of Grimstadfjorden
is Ytrebygda, which is bounded by Fanafjorden in the south, and east
of this is Kalandsvannet. Between Fanafjorden and Lysefjorden
further south is Fanafjellet, all in an east-west direction. The
city center is located at the northwestern end of Bergensdalen, by
the Byfjord and the fjord arms Vågen and Puddefjorden, north of
Store Lungegårdsvannet. The municipality has a coastline from
northeast to southwest, and borders only in the southeast.
Climate
Bergen has a mild and humid coastal climate characterized
by relatively small temperature changes throughout the year. The
annual average temperature of 7.7 ° C is one of the highest in
Norway. Due to its location between the coast and the city
mountains, Bergen has an average of 213 days of registered
precipitation annually, which qualifies for a 22nd place among 357
surveyed European cities. On January 21, 2007, a new rainfall record
was set; by then, precipitation had been recorded for 84 consecutive
days. The old record from 1975 was 59 days. The average annual
rainfall is 2,250 mm. In comparison, Brekke in Gulen municipality is
the wettest of the weather stations in Norway, with 3,575 mm of
precipitation per. years in the normal period 1961-90.