page_title: Bergen
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Bergen / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Strandgaten i Bergen.
context_page_description: Bergen, historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. At the end of 2019, the municipality's population was 283,929. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers 465 square kilometres and is on the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are on Byfjorden, 'the city fjord', and the city is surrounded by mountains; Bergen is known as the 'city of seven mountains'. Many of the extra-municipal suburbs are on islands. Bergen is the administrative centre of Vestland county. The city consists of eight boroughs: Arna, Bergenhus, Fana, Fyllingsdalen, Laksevåg, Ytrebygda, Årstad, and 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, and from the end of the 13th century became a bureau city of the Hanseatic League.
context_section_description: In August 2004, Time magazine named the city one of Europe's 14 "secret capitals" where Bergen's capital reign is acknowledged within maritime businesses and activities such as aquaculture and marine research, with the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) (the second-largest oceanography research centre in Europe) as the leading institution. Bergen is the main base for the Royal Norwegian Navy (at Haakonsvern) and its international airport Flesland is the main heliport for the Norwegian North Sea oil and gas industry, from where thousands of offshore workers commute to their work places onboard oil and gas rigs and platforms.
  One of Norway's largest shopping centres, Lagunen Storsenter, is located in Fana in Bergen, with retail sales of 2,8 billion Norwegian kroner, and around 4.6 million visitors in 2018.
  Tourism is an important income source for the city. The hotels in the city may be full at times, due to the increasing number of tourists and conferences. Prior to the Rolling Stones concert in September 2006, many hotels were already fully booked several months in advance. Bergen is recognized as the unofficial capital of the region known as Western Norway, and recognized and marketed as the gateway city to the world-famous fjords of Norway, and for that reason, it has become Norway's largest - and one of Europe's largest - cruise ship ports of call.
caption: Strandgaten is a shopping street in Bergen.
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