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Category: Ramblings | Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:12 am

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Around 1100 some 100 German towns made an alliance called the Hansa, to try and get trade monopoly and to protect their ships from pirates. Included in their alliance was Bergen, a town on the west coast of Norway. The Germans traded dried and salted fish, fish oil, feathers, fur and timber. Lots of German traders made their homes in Bergen, and skilled workers followed. The Hansa alliance died down around 1500, but the trade ways were still open. Many Germans never left Norway, but stayed and became Norwegians.

The North Sea was a main trade route for hundreds of years, and with the weather and all the ships, there was bound to be tragedies and ship wrecks. Stories and legends show that ships sailing in the Spanish armada of 1588 were blown all the way up to Norway. These were not all Spanish ships, but also Dutch and German ships commanded by the Spanish Navy. Some survivors never bothered to go home, but stayed where they landed.

In 1612, some Scottish soldiers hired to fight in Sweden tried to pass through Gudbrandsdalen. They were ambushed, many were killed and their Colonel Alexander Ramsey was sent on to Oslo. It is said that many of the Scots stayed in Gudbrandsdalen. The national costume from those parts has a tartan top, but it's not certain that it comes from the Scottish influence.

A well-documented ship wreck is the «Akerendam» that went down off the island of Runde on the Norwegian north west coast in March 1725. There were no survivors, but lots of salvage activity that was well documented at the time. In 1972 sports divers found the wreck and lots of treasure too! This ship was bound from Texel in Holland to Batavia (Djakarta) and was owned by Vereinigte Oostindische Compagnie. Stories are also told about Spanish sailors ending up in Røst, an island south of Lofoten, and similar stories are told up and down the coast.

This might explain why so many Norwegians have near-black hair and olive skin.


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SongofJoy57 wrote on Sun Nov 25, 2007 1:04 pm:

Oh Droopy!
I love your blog as I love history. I appreciate you sharing the history of Norway with us. Have you ever written a book? I think it would be a very valuable asset to the whole world. My 4th grade teacher had her honeymoon in Oslo,Norway, and brought back slides for us to share. It was so amazing to us, and I will never forget how beautiful it was. You have a blessed day . . .

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Frank wrote on Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:10 pm:

Imagine that, you go to do a spot of sport diving and you come back with a truckload of sunken treasure. There's a pun there somewhere :) Thanks for the history lesson Droopy.

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toni wrote on Sun Nov 25, 2007 3:16 pm:

Thanks for more Norwegian history Droopy. Always much more interesting coming from a native than from a history book written by who knows who.

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Biita wrote on Sun Nov 25, 2007 5:53 pm:

I have heard these stories before, mostly the Lofoten an area ones. You should hear Uncle tell of mermaid stories,,lol. I do know back in the early 1600's, a Portugese ship wrecked up this way in Lofoten, an the result was a marriage in Kolbjørns family line back then. Thanks again for the great history.

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Droopy wrote on Sun Nov 25, 2007 7:20 pm:

Thank you all for kind words. I'll never write a history book - lots of people have done a far better job than I would do. I only pick my favorite snippets and share, of course spiced with a shade of my own opinion.

And Biita - they were Portugese. Thank you.

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dooley wrote on Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:21 pm:

I always read all your blogs, Droopy. They are very interesting. dooley

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Palm Tree wrote on Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:05 am:

Droopy
You sure have a great blog. Always something for me to learn.
I suppose you are writing what one can call a People's History.

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Droopy wrote on Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:40 am:

Thank you both. I try to keep it brief. If anything piques anyone's interest, more facts are easily found on the net.

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