By the 1100s, Bergen was developing into one of northern Europe’s important port cities. Its waterfront wharves (later called Bryggen) supported long-distance exchange linking northern Norway’s fisheries with European markets. This set the stage for Bergen to become a central place where dried cod (stockfish) could be collected, stored, and shipped onward.
By the 1200s, dried cod from northern Norway had become a cornerstone of Bergen’s export economy. Because stockfish kept well without refrigeration, it could travel long distances and meet demand in Europe. Bergen’s position as a collecting point for fish and a receiving port for imported grain made the city strategically important for both coastal communities and foreign merchants.
In 1349, the Black Death reached Bergen, causing severe loss of life and economic disruption. The shock weakened local capacity and changed bargaining power in trade, including who could finance ships, manage warehouses, and control credit. These conditions helped foreign merchant groups expand their influence in Bergen’s commerce in the decades that followed.
Around 1350, Hanseatic League merchants established a permanent trading office (kontor) at Bryggen in Bergen. The kontor was a structured overseas base that helped merchants coordinate shipping, storage, and rules for conduct and trade. Over time, Hanseatic merchants gained strong influence over exports of stockfish from northern Norway and imports such as grain.
From the late 1300s onward, the Bergen kontor functioned as a distinct merchant colony on Bryggen, socially and legally separate from much of the Norwegian town community. Its internal rules and discipline supported reliable trade by standardizing practices such as storage, weighing, and settlement of disputes. This organizational strength helped the kontor maintain a long-running position in the stockfish trade.
For centuries, the kontor’s core business linked exports of Norwegian stockfish with imports of grain and other goods from Europe. This exchange mattered because Norway often relied on imported grain, while European markets valued durable fish protein for urban diets and fasting periods. Bergen’s warehouses and wharves made the city a practical meeting point for northern fishers and foreign buyers.
From the 1400s, parts of the wider fish trade increasingly changed as some buyers sought fish directly from producers outside the Bergen system. Research on medieval North Atlantic trade notes that, over time, English and Hanseatic merchants also operated more directly in places like Iceland, reducing some earlier dependence on Bergen as a middle point. Even so, Bergen remained a major center for Norwegian stockfish and regional exchange.
By the 1500s and 1600s, the Hanseatic League weakened across Europe as states and national trading interests grew stronger. In Bergen, however, the kontor continued as a long-lived institution even while its influence gradually narrowed. This persistence shows how deeply the stockfish trade and Bryggen’s merchant infrastructure were embedded in regional commerce.
On 19 May 1702, the largest city fire in Bergen’s history burned much of the city, affecting Bryggen as well. The Hanseatic waterfront was rebuilt after the disaster, and Bryggen’s present-day appearance is strongly shaped by the reconstruction after 1702. Recovery required major investment and reorganized property and building work around the trading district.
After the 1702 fire, Bryggen was rebuilt along its earlier property lines and waterfront plan, maintaining the dense rows of wooden buildings and narrow passages. This continuity mattered for trade because the district’s design supported storage, counting rooms, and controlled access to goods. The rebuilt environment kept the kontor’s commercial routines functioning into the 1700s.
In 1754, a new trading organization was formed on Bryggen and approved by the Danish-Norwegian king Frederick V. This organization is later known as Det Norske Kontor and is tied to the transition away from the older Hanseatic “German Kontor.” The change reflects how German merchant dominance had weakened over time and how local control increased in the mid-1700s.
In 1754, the Hanseatic League’s kontor at Bryggen closed after roughly four centuries of operation. The end of the kontor marked a major shift in who controlled Bergen’s stockfish export system and the rules that governed trade on the waterfront. Although stockfish remained important, the institutional framework of the Hanseatic merchant colony in Bergen had come to a close.
Bergen Kontor and the Norwegian stockfish trade (c. 1350–1754)