Founded, according to tradition, in 1070 by King Olav Kyrre as Bjørgvin (the green meadow among the mountains), Bergen served as Norway's capital in the 13th century, and 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 surpassed by the capital city, Oslo, in the 1830s.
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