Built in the 1000s on the foundations of an earlier church, listed as a Historic Landmark on Prosper Mérimée’s very first list in 1840, the abbey church of Saint Theudère stands in the village of Saint-Chef in the French département of Isère, east of Lyon, towards the Alps.

 

When I say “earlier church”, I mean the one built in the 500s (of which nothing visible remains) when Theudère of Dauphiné, a local Benedictine monk who had been a trained disciple of Saint Césaire in Arles, returned to bis birthplace to found an abbey. The village of Saint-Chef grew around it during the Middle Ages, while the abbey itself reached its apogee around 1200, at the end of the Romanesque age, when it ruled over a dozen priories and about 80 churches in the environs. Decline came shortly after 1300, when the monks, profoundly divided in two factions, could not elect a new abbot. Pope John XII, then residing in Avignon, issued a bull in 1320 whereby the archbishop of Vienne would become the abbot of Saint-Chef, which forever lost its independence as of that fateful day.

 

The last remnants of the Benedictine communal life were washed away in the 1530s when the remaining “monks” (but could they still be called that?) were authorized by King Francis Ist and Pope Paul III to abandon their religious status and their vows (including that of poverty!), thus turning them into secular canons. The canons then went on living what was probably a much more comfortable (in all material respects!) life, until that wasn’t even good enough: in 1774, they requested and obtained (claiming isolation and the insalubrious nature of the area, poor dears) to abandon the village of Saint-Chef and be transferred to the abbey of Saint-André-le-Bas in the city of Vienne.

 

It should come as no surprise that, when the French Revolution erupted a few years later, not many voices were raised to defend and protect the abbey’s buildings, which were sold, destroyed and their stones used for construction works in the village and surrounding area.

 

The church itself, turned into a parish church, remained as the only legacy of what the powerful abbey had once been.

 

This rather sad story of downfall, lack of resolve and backbone, and probably outright lack of faith, outweighed by an appetite for creature comforts and personal wealth by those who had vowed to forsake them, has fortunately not contaminated the church itself, which remains as it ever was, one of the most striking examples of Romanesque architecture in the Dauphiné province. Even more importantly, the Saint Theudère former abbey church houses one of the finest (in all of France!) sets of Romanesque alfresco paintings from the 1100s, located in places not normally open to the public, but to which I managed to secure access. I hope you will enjoy them.

 

Back down at nave level, this shows the chancel and apse. The capitals around the chancel are the only sculpted ones in the church, and the leafy motifs remain very simple, almost at the level of a rough outline, a preliminary study. The stained glass is 19th century, as are the ugly paintings on the cul-de-four vault of the apse —or at least, what’s still visible of them, as they have been deteriorated by humidity seeping through.

Shimano 11sp bar ends and rear dangler

Orden:Trogoniformes

Familia:Trogonidae

Género:Priotelus

Nombre común: Trogon, papagayo, cotorrita de Sierra, Piragua hembra

Nombre científico: Priotelus roseigaster hembra

Nombre en Ingles: Hispaniolan Trogon female

Status: ENDEMICA AMENAZADA

Lugar de captura: Cordillera Central, RCEV, República Dominicana.

Por: Cimarron mayor Panta.

 

FANTASTICOS LOS RESULTADOS DEL PROYECTO QUETZAL DE LA HISPANIOLA DIRIGIDO POR SIMON GUERRERO Y NUESTRO AMIGO CUBANO MAIKEL CAÑIZARES!!

 

Hoy despues de que Simón Guerrero publicara su artículo en el Diario Libre, y personas amigas ver las fotos publicadas he recibido varias llamadas, me han enviado el link, otros me dan la noticia,otros me preguntan si son mis fotos?? otros que porque no me han dado los créditos y en fin como hemos respetado la investigación, no hemos mostrado el nido y ya los protagonistas han contado la versión científica del asunto, ahora ya puedo contar la versión cimarronica y mostrar algo más sobre nuestro Quetzal de la Hispaniola.

 

Recuerdo como ahora cuando Dax Román me invitó a la Reserva científica Ebano verde,lugar donde Dax Román sabe donde se encuentra cada hierba y cada grillo jejejee!! Recuerdo que me dijo…. Mira hacia allá, hacia aquel tronco y enfoca con tu lente. Enfoco y veo que hay un pleito y una haladera de moños entre Trogones y carpinteros. Rapidamente me di cuenta que la riña territorial era para ver quien se quedaba con aquella oquedad en un viejo árbol de canelilla!!! Recuerdo que me reí y le dije… Anja ratamala, así que tenemos trogones anidando en la vecindad?? Para ese momento varios machos se disputaban la cueva para esta hermosa hembra que lleva este saltamonte en su pico y que resultó ser la dama y señora dueña de ese nido natural descubierto por DAX ROMAN y su ubicación entregada al proyecto QUETZAL DE LA HISPANIOLA.

 

Así que yo tambien me siento co- partícipe de la investigación pues tengo 8 años justamente llamando a esta especie como QUETZAL DE LA HISPANIOLA en mi galería y de paso no es el primer anidamiento que presencio! Bueno no era extraño que Dax tuviese el privilegio de participar en el seguimiento si el había descubierto el nido. Así que yo participé al inicio en una ocasión,hice unas cuantas fofos y dejé la guerra activa entre trogones y carpinteros para ver finalmente quien se quedaba con el nido. En eso y con dolor de mi alma tuve que salir para Argentina y Chile casi por un mes. A mi regreso lo primero que hice fue preguntarle a Dax por el anidamiento???. Me contó el ratamala que le había hecho algo , cuando el dice así que los tenías acribillados y reventados como decimos nosotros jajaja.

Así que no me costó más remedio que darme rápido pues despues de un mes de ausencia los pichones estaban encendiendo el turbo para salir volando y si Tony Parra y yo no vamos rápido nos dejan oliendo donde guisan jajajajajaja.Para colmo las lluvias provocaron derrumbes en la carretera de Constanza y tuvimos que dar la vuelta por Jarabacoa.

 

Resulta que Maikel Cañizares el Biólogo Cubano que trabajó con Simón Guerrero como co- investigador resultó ser socio de nuestro gran amigo y guía cimarrónico en Cuba el cimarrón Ernesto Reyes quien también es Biólogo y quien organizó nuestra travesía en Cuba.

 

Bueno fuimos respetuosos de las peticiones de Maikel, Ramón Elías y Dax sobre el cuidado del nido y aunque yo llegué de último se cumplieron las profecías de que los últimos serán los primeros, pues disfruté y me quedé con la foto del último viaje que dió la madre ese sábado a las 5:49 de tarde con ese gran saltamonte en el pico pues al otro día era DOMINGO DÍA DE LAS MADRES y lo más posible es que volaran según los cálculos de Maikel. Yo logré unas cuantas fotos de las crías sacando la cabeza de la oquedad y se las envié a Dax por Wapsap dejando casi de noche los pichones en el nido. Al otro día domingo y DÍA DELAS MADRES Dax vino por mi a las 4 de la madrugada y yo le dije que nuestras madres nos iban a desheredar por querer atrapar justamente ese primer vuelo de las crías.

QUE OCURRIO JAJAJAJA ?? Llegamos tan temprano que todos los guardaparques dormían y Maikel Cañizares arrancó con nosotros para el nido. De camino y oscuro vimo al padre con una manácla en el pico y eso nos llamó la antencion?? Habrán volado los marditos??? Llegamos al nido y nos pusimos los tres bajo una malla de camuflaje que habíamos utilizado. La espera se hizo larga y salió el sol jajajajaj. Ni las crías sacaban la cabeza ni los padres venían….Entonces Mikael introdujo dentro del nido una cámara especial montada sobre una larga lata de bambú y al ver que no había nada dijo una expresión muy Cubana y que yo me morí de la risa… NANANINA NI PA COJONES! DEJARON EL LIMPIO!!!!

FUERON MAS MADRUGADORES QUE NOSOTROS JAJAJAJA, LOS PICHONES HABÍAN VOLADO EXITOSAMENTE Y QUE ALEGRÍA?? DAX LOS VIO NACER Y YO LOS VI PARTIR COMO QUIEN DICE pues el día anterior sacaron los dos hermanitos sus cabezas y me miraron como diciendo… Miranos bién y sacanos bonitos pues mañana ya no estaremos. VOLARON JUSTO EL DOMINGO DIA DE LAS MADRES Y LO HICIERON DE MADRUGADA!

 

Como pueden ver todo esfuerzo que se ejecute por preservar esta especie ENDEMICA Y Y AMENAZADA como lo es nuestro Quetzal de la hispaniola merece apláusos y todo el apoyo de cada ser humano que se sienta dominicano!! Una especie que bien debiera ser NUESTRA AVE NACIONAL y sin embargo lo es de nuestro vecino país HAITI.

 

Felicitaciones a Simón Guerrero y Máike Cañizares , UNIBE,Foncyt ( Mecyt) a la FUNDACION PROGRESSIO por el éxito de lo que se venía venir. Pocas oquedales naturales en los arboles lo que representaba una necesidad de nidos y los nidos artificiales han sido bien acogidos por los trogones.

Dejo aquí el link del articulo publicado por Simón Guerrero en el día de hoy en Diario libre

 

www.diariolibre.com/buenas-noticias/2014/07/28/i720671_pr...

Ha+OIII+RGB combination

The brightest part of the Milky Way, with the Lagoon Nebula and the Trifid Nebula, as seen through a 135 mm telephoto lens. This wide-angle photo shows the size and location of the the image above in the night sky.

Rey Congo, Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

Status : Residente no comen (Rnc)

Non-common Resident

 

El martinete común (Nycticorax nycticorax) es una especie de ave pelecaniforme de la familia Ardeidae2 3 ampliamente distribuida por Eurasia, África y América.

Además de martinete común que es el nombre dado en España, también es llamado en su distribución americana como garza nocturna coroninegra, guaco, wacana, huaco, garza bruja, huairavo (Chile) y (argentina), gauda (Chiloé), chocuaco (Costa Rica), cuaco, pedrete corona negra, y pedrete gris,

 

De tamaño medio (entre 60 y 65 cm), destacan rápidamente los ojos de color rojo intenso. Garganta, pecho y partes inferiores de un blanco puro. La parte superior de la cabeza y el dorso son de un gris oscuro, pero de una tonalidad cambiante. De la nuca le salen tres largas plumas blancas, algo más largas en el macho que en la hembra.

Las patas y pies son de color amarillo pálido (algo más intenso en época de cría), y el pico, fuerte aunque no excesivamente largo, es verdoso en la base y negro en la parte superior. Es notable la escasa longitud de su cuello, si lo comparamos con el de otras garzas como la garza real o la garceta común.

Los juveniles muestran un plumaje marrón, veteado de blanco, así como ojos pardos. No presentan las plumas de la nuca hasta el primer año de vida.

Es un ave de costumbres eminentemente crepusculares y nocturnas, aunque en época de cría es posible verlo en actividad a la luz del día.

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The black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), commonly abbreviated to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world

Adults are approximately 64 cm (25 in) long and weigh 800 g (28 oz). They have a black crown and back with the remainder of the body white or grey, red eyes, and short yellow legs. They have pale grey wings and white under parts. Two or three long white plumes, erected in greeting and courtship displays, extend from the back of the head. The sexes are similar in appearance although the males are slightly larger. Black-crowned night herons do not fit the typical body form of the heron family. They are relatively stocky with shorter bills, legs, and necks than their more familiar cousins, the egrets and "day" herons. Their resting posture is normally somewhat hunched but when hunting they extend their necks and look more like other wading birds.

Immature birds have dull grey-brown plumage on their heads, wings, and backs, with numerous pale spots. Their underparts are paler and streaked with brown. The young birds have orange eyes and duller yellowish-green legs.

  

Scientific classification

Kingdom:Animalia

Phylum:Chordata

Class:Aves

Order:Pelecaniformes

Family:Ardeidae

Genus:Nycticorax

Species:N. nycticorax

Binomial name

Nycticorax nycticorax

 

BCNHeron_IMG_8634

Bergen, historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. As of 2022, its population was roughly 289,330. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway after national capital Oslo. The municipality covers 465 square kilometres (180 sq mi) and is located on the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are on Byfjorden, 'the city fjord'. The city is surrounded by mountains, causing Bergen to be called 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. Until 1789, Bergen enjoyed exclusive rights to mediate trade between Northern Norway and abroad, and it was the largest city in Norway until the 1830s when it was overtaken by the capital, Christiania (now known as Oslo). What remains of the quays, Bryggen, is a World Heritage Site. The city was hit by numerous fires over the years. The Bergen School of Meteorology was developed at the Geophysical Institute starting in 1917, the Norwegian School of Economics was founded in 1936, and the University of Bergen in 1946. From 1831 to 1972, Bergen was its own county. In 1972 the municipality absorbed four surrounding municipalities and became a part of Hordaland county.

 

The city is an international centre for aquaculture, shipping, the offshore petroleum industry and subsea technology, and a national centre for higher education, media, tourism and finance. Bergen Port is Norway's busiest in terms of both freight and passengers, with over 300 cruise ship calls a year bringing nearly a half a million passengers to Bergen, a number that has doubled in 10 years. Almost half of the passengers are German or British. The city's main football team is SK Brann and a unique tradition of the city is the buekorps, which are traditional marching neighbourhood youth organisations. Natives speak a distinct dialect, known as Bergensk. The city features Bergen Airport, Flesland and Bergen Light Rail, and is the terminus of the Bergen Line. Four large bridges connect Bergen to its suburban municipalities.

 

Bergen has a mild winter climate, though with significant precipitation. From December to March, Bergen can, in rare cases, be up to 20 °C warmer than Oslo, even though both cities are at about 60° North. In summer however, Bergen is several degrees cooler than Oslo due to the same maritime effects. The Gulf Stream keeps the sea relatively warm, considering the latitude, and the mountains protect the city from cold winds from the north, north-east and east.

 

History

Hieronymus Scholeus's impression of Bergen. The drawing was made in about 1580 and was published in an atlas with drawings of many different cities (Civitaes orbis terrarum).

The city of Bergen was traditionally thought to have been founded by king Olav Kyrre, son of Harald Hardråde in 1070 AD, four years after the Viking Age in England ended with the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Modern research has, however, discovered that a trading settlement had already been established in the 1020s or 1030s.

 

Bergen gradually assumed the function of capital of Norway in the early 13th century, as the first city where a rudimentary central administration was established. The city's cathedral was the site of the first royal coronation in Norway in the 1150s, and continued to host royal coronations throughout the 13th century. Bergenhus fortress dates from the 1240s and guards the entrance to the harbour in Bergen. The functions of the capital city were lost to Oslo during the reign of King Haakon V (1299–1319).

 

In the middle of the 14th century, North German merchants, who had already been present in substantial numbers since the 13th century, founded one of the four Kontore of the Hanseatic League at Bryggen in Bergen. The principal export traded from Bergen was dried cod from the northern Norwegian coast, which started around 1100. The city was granted a monopoly for trade from the north of Norway by King Håkon Håkonsson (1217–1263). Stockfish was the main reason that the city became one of North Europe's largest centres for trade.[11] By the late 14th century, Bergen had established itself as the centre of the trade in Norway. The Hanseatic merchants lived in their own separate quarter of the town, where Middle Low German was used, enjoying exclusive rights to trade with the northern fishermen who each summer sailed to Bergen. The Hansa community resented Scottish merchants who settled in Bergen, and on 9 November 1523 several Scottish households were targeted by German residents. Today, Bergen's old quayside, Bryggen, is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

 

In 1349, the Black Death was brought to Norway by an English ship arriving in Bergen. Later outbreaks occurred in 1618, 1629 and 1637, on each occasion taking about 3,000 lives. In the 15th century, the city was attacked several times by the Victual Brothers, and in 1429 they succeeded in burning the royal castle and much of the city. In 1665, the city's harbour was the site of the Battle of Vågen, when an English naval flotilla attacked a Dutch merchant and treasure fleet supported by the city's garrison. Accidental fires sometimes got out of control, and one in 1702 reduced most of the town to ashes.

 

Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, Bergen remained one of the largest cities in Scandinavia, and it was Norway's biggest city until the 1830s, being overtaken by the capital city of Oslo. From around 1600, the Hanseatic dominance of the city's trade gradually declined in favour of Norwegian merchants (often of Hanseatic ancestry), and in the 1750s, the Kontor, or major trading post of the Hanseatic League, finally closed. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Bergen was involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Bergen-based slave trader Jørgen Thormøhlen, the largest shipowner in Norway, was the main owner of the slave ship Cornelia, which made two slave-trading voyages in 1673 and 1674 respectively; he also developed the city's industrial sector, particularly in the neighbourhood of Møhlenpris, which is named after him. Bergen retained its monopoly of trade with northern Norway until 1789. The Bergen stock exchange, the Bergen børs, was established in 1813.

 

Modern history

Bergen was separated from Hordaland as a county of its own in 1831. It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality of Bergen landdistrikt was merged with Bergen on 1 January 1877. The rural municipality of Årstad was merged with Bergen on 1 July 1915.

 

During World War II, Bergen was occupied on the first day of the German invasion on 9 April 1940, after a brief fight between German ships and the Norwegian coastal artillery. The Norwegian resistance movement groups in Bergen were Saborg, Milorg, "Theta-gruppen", Sivorg, Stein-organisasjonen and the Communist Party. On 20 April 1944, during the German occupation, the Dutch cargo ship Voorbode anchored off the Bergenhus Fortress, loaded with over 120 tons of explosives, and blew up, killing at least 150 people and damaging historic buildings. The city was subject to some Allied bombing raids, aimed at German naval installations in the harbour. Some of these caused Norwegian civilian casualties numbering about 100.

 

Bergen is also well known in Norway for the Isdal Woman (Norwegian: Isdalskvinnen), an unidentified person who was found dead at Isdalen ("Ice Valley") on 29 November 1970. The unsolved case encouraged international speculation over the years and it remains one of the most profound mysteries in recent Norwegian history.

 

The rural municipalities of Arna, Fana, Laksevåg, and Åsane were merged with Bergen on 1 January 1972. The city lost its status as a separate county on the same date, and Bergen is now a municipality, in the county of Vestland.

 

Fires

The city's history is marked by numerous great fires. In 1198, the Bagler faction set fire to the city in connection with a battle against the Birkebeiner faction during the civil war. In 1248, Holmen and Sverresborg burned, and 11 churches were destroyed. In 1413 another fire struck the city, and 14 churches were destroyed. In 1428 the city was plundered by the Victual Brothers, and in 1455, Hanseatic merchants were responsible for burning down Munkeliv Abbey. In 1476, Bryggen burned down in a fire started by a drunk trader. In 1582, another fire hit the city centre and Strandsiden. In 1675, 105 buildings burned down in Øvregaten. In 1686 another great fire hit Strandsiden, destroying 231 city blocks and 218 boathouses. The greatest fire in history was in 1702, when 90% of the city was burned to ashes. In 1751, there was a great fire at Vågsbunnen. In 1756, yet another fire at Strandsiden burned down 1,500 buildings, and further great fires hit Strandsiden in 1771 and 1901. In 1916, 300 buildings burned down in the city centre including the Swan pharmacy, the oldest pharmacy in Norway, and in 1955 parts of Bryggen burned down.

 

Toponymy

Bergen is pronounced in English /ˈbɜːrɡən/ or /ˈbɛərɡən/ and in Norwegian [ˈbæ̀rɡn̩] (in the local dialect [ˈbæ̂ʁɡɛn]). The Old Norse forms of the name were Bergvin [ˈberɡˌwin] and Bjǫrgvin [ˈbjɔrɡˌwin] (and in Icelandic and Faroese the city is still called Björgvin). The first element is berg (n.) or bjǫrg (n.), which translates as 'mountain(s)'. The last element is vin (f.), which means a new settlement where there used to be a pasture or meadow. The full meaning is then "the meadow among the mountains". This is a suitable name: Bergen is often called "the city among the seven mountains". It was the playwright Ludvig Holberg who felt so inspired by the seven hills of Rome, that he decided that his home town must be blessed with a corresponding seven mountains – and locals still argue which seven they are.

 

In 1918, there was a campaign to reintroduce the Norse form Bjørgvin as the name of the city. This was turned down – but as a compromise, the name of the diocese was changed to Bjørgvin bispedømme.

 

Bergen occupies most of the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen in the district of Midthordland in mid-western Hordaland. The municipality covers an area of 465 square kilometres (180 square miles). Most of the urban area is on or close to a fjord or bay, although the urban area has several mountains. The city centre is surrounded by the Seven Mountains, although there is disagreement as to which of the nine mountains constitute these. Ulriken, Fløyen, Løvstakken and Damsgårdsfjellet are always included as well as three of Lyderhorn, Sandviksfjellet, Blåmanen, Rundemanen and Kolbeinsvarden. Gullfjellet is Bergen's highest mountain, at 987 metres (3,238 ft) above mean sea level. Bergen is far enough north that during clear nights at the solstice, there is borderline civil daylight in spite of the sun having set.

 

Bergen is sheltered from the North Sea by the islands Askøy, Holsnøy (the municipality of Meland) and Sotra (the municipalities of Fjell and Sund). Bergen borders the municipalities Alver and Osterøy to the north, Vaksdal and Samnanger to the east, Os (Bjørnafjorden) and Austevoll to the south, and Øygarden and Askøy to the west.

 

The city centre of Bergen lies in the west of the municipality, facing the fjord of Byfjorden. It is among a group of mountains known as the Seven Mountains, although the number is a matter of definition. From here, the urban area of Bergen extends to the north, west and south, and to its east is a large mountain massif. Outside the city centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods (i.e. Årstad, inner Laksevåg and Sandviken), the majority of the population lives in relatively sparsely populated residential areas built after 1950. While some are dominated by apartment buildings and modern terraced houses (e.g. Fyllingsdalen), others are dominated by single-family homes.

 

The oldest part of Bergen is the area around the bay of Vågen in the city centre. Originally centred on the bay's eastern side, Bergen eventually expanded west and southwards. Few buildings from the oldest period remain, the most significant being St Mary's Church from the 12th century. For several hundred years, the extent of the city remained almost constant. The population was stagnant, and the city limits were narrow. In 1702, seven-eighths of the city burned. Most of the old buildings of Bergen, including Bryggen (which was rebuilt in a mediaeval style), were built after the fire. The fire marked a transition from tar covered houses, as well as the remaining log houses, to painted and some brick-covered wooden buildings.

 

The last half of the 19th century saw a period of rapid expansion and modernisation. The fire of 1855 west of Torgallmenningen led to the development of regularly sized city blocks in this area of the city centre. The city limits were expanded in 1876, and Nygård, Møhlenpris and Sandviken were urbanized with large-scale construction of city blocks housing both the poor and the wealthy. Their architecture is influenced by a variety of styles; historicism, classicism and Art Nouveau. The wealthy built villas between Møhlenpris and Nygård, and on the side of Mount Fløyen; these areas were also added to Bergen in 1876. Simultaneously, an urbanization process was taking place in Solheimsviken in Årstad, at that time outside the Bergen municipality, centred on the large industrial activity in the area. The workers' homes in this area were poorly built, and little remains after large-scale redevelopment in the 1960s–1980s.

 

After Årstad became a part of Bergen in 1916, a development plan was applied to the new area. Few city blocks akin to those in Nygård and Møhlenpris were planned. Many of the worker class built their own homes, and many small, detached apartment buildings were built. After World War II, Bergen had again run short of land to build on, and, contrary to the original plans, many large apartment buildings were built in Landås in the 1950s and 1960s. Bergen acquired Fyllingsdalen from Fana municipality in 1955. Like similar areas in Oslo (e.g. Lambertseter), Fyllingsdalen was developed into a modern suburb with large apartment buildings, mid-rises, and some single-family homes, in the 1960s and 1970s. Similar developments took place beyond Bergen's city limits, for example in Loddefjord.

 

At the same time as planned city expansion took place inside Bergen, its extra-municipal suburbs also grew rapidly. Wealthy citizens of Bergen had been living in Fana since the 19th century, but as the city expanded it became more convenient to settle in the municipality. Similar processes took place in Åsane and Laksevåg. Most of the homes in these areas are detached row houses,[clarification needed] single family homes or small apartment buildings. After the surrounding municipalities were merged with Bergen in 1972, expansion has continued in largely the same manner, although the municipality encourages condensing near commercial centres, future Bergen Light Rail stations, and elsewhere.

 

As part of the modernisation wave of the 1950s and 1960s, and due to damage caused by World War II, the city government ambitiously planned redevelopment of many areas in central Bergen. The plans involved demolition of several neighbourhoods of wooden houses, namely Nordnes, Marken, and Stølen. None of the plans was carried out in its original form; the Marken and Stølen redevelopment plans were discarded and that of Nordnes only carried out in the area that had been most damaged by war. The city council of Bergen had in 1964 voted to demolish the entirety of Marken, however, the decision proved to be highly controversial and the decision was reversed in 1974. Bryggen was under threat of being wholly or partly demolished after the fire of 1955, when a large number of the buildings burned to the ground. Instead of being demolished, the remaining buildings were restored and accompanied by reconstructions of some of the burned buildings.

 

Demolition of old buildings and occasionally whole city blocks is still taking place, the most recent major example being the 2007 razing of Jonsvollskvartalet at Nøstet.

 

Billboards are banned in the city.

 

Culture and sports

Bergens Tidende (BT) and Bergensavisen (BA) are the largest newspapers, with circulations of 87,076 and 30,719 in 2006, BT is a regional newspaper covering all of Vestland, while BA focuses on metropolitan Bergen. Other newspapers published in Bergen include the Christian national Dagen, with a circulation of 8.936, and TradeWinds, an international shipping newspaper. Local newspapers are Fanaposten for Fana, Sydvesten for Laksevåg and Fyllingsdalen and Bygdanytt for Arna and the neighbouring municipality Osterøy. TV 2, Norway's largest private television company, is based in Bergen.

 

The 1,500-seat Grieg Hall is the city's main cultural venue, and home of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1765, and the Bergen Woodwind Quintet. The city also features Carte Blanche, the Norwegian national company of contemporary dance. The annual Bergen International Festival is the main cultural festival, which is supplemented by the Bergen International Film Festival. Two internationally renowned composers from Bergen are Edvard Grieg and Ole Bull. Grieg's home, Troldhaugen, has been converted to a museum. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Bergen produced a series of successful pop, rock and black metal artists, collectively known as the Bergen Wave.

 

Den Nationale Scene is Bergen's main theatre. Founded in 1850, it had Henrik Ibsen as one of its first in-house playwrights and art directors. Bergen's contemporary art scene is centred on BIT Teatergarasjen, Bergen Kunsthall, United Sardines Factory (USF) and Bergen Center for Electronic Arts (BEK). Bergen was a European Capital of Culture in 2000. Buekorps is a unique feature of Bergen culture, consisting of boys aged from 7 to 21 parading with imitation weapons and snare drums. The city's Hanseatic heritage is documented in the Hanseatic Museum located at Bryggen.

 

SK Brann is Bergen's premier football team; founded in 1908, they have played in the (men's) Norwegian Premier League for all but seven years since 1963 and consecutively, except one season after relegation in 2014, since 1987. The team were the football champions in 1961–1962, 1963, and 2007,[155] and reached the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1996–1997. Brann play their home games at the 17,824-seat Brann Stadion. FK Fyllingsdalen is the city's second-best team, playing in the Second Division at Varden Amfi. Its predecessor, Fyllingen, played in the Norwegian Premier League in 1990, 1991 and 1993. Arna-Bjørnar and Sandviken play in the Women's Premier League.

 

Bergen IK is the premier men's ice hockey team, playing at Bergenshallen in the First Division. Tertnes play in the Women's Premier Handball League, and Fyllingen in the Men's Premier Handball League. In athletics, the city is dominated by IL Norna-Salhus, IL Gular and FIK BFG Fana, formerly also Norrøna IL and TIF Viking. The Bergen Storm are an American football team that plays matches at Varden Kunstgress and plays in the second division of the Norwegian league.

 

Bergensk is the native dialect of Bergen. It was strongly influenced by Low German-speaking merchants from the mid-14th to mid-18th centuries. During the Dano-Norwegian period from 1536 to 1814, Bergen was more influenced by Danish than other areas of Norway. The Danish influence removed the female grammatical gender in the 16th century, making Bergensk one of very few Norwegian dialects with only two instead of three grammatical genders. The Rs are uvular trills, as in French, which probably spread to Bergen some time in the 18th century, overtaking the alveolar trill in the time span of two to three generations. Owing to an improved literacy rate, Bergensk was influenced by riksmål and bokmål in the 19th and 20th centuries. This led to large parts of the German-inspired vocabulary disappearing and pronunciations shifting slightly towards East Norwegian.

 

The 1986 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest took place in Bergen. Bergen was the host city for the 2017 UCI Road World Championships. The city is also a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the category of gastronomy since 2015.

 

Street art

Bergen is considered to be the street art capital of Norway. Famed artist Banksy visited the city in 2000 and inspired many to start creating street art. Soon after, the city brought up the most famous street artist in Norway: Dolk. His art can still be seen in several places in the city, and in 2009 the city council choose to preserve Dolk's work "Spray" with protective glass. In 2011, Bergen council launched a plan of action for street art in Bergen from 2011 to 2015 to ensure that "Bergen will lead the fashion for street art as an expression both in Norway and Scandinavia".

 

The Madam Felle (1831–1908) monument in Sandviken, is in honour of a Norwegian woman of German origin, who in the mid-19th century managed, against the will of the council, to maintain a counter of beer. A well-known restaurant of the same name is now situated at another location in Bergen. The monument was erected in 1990 by sculptor Kari Rolfsen, supported by an anonymous donor. Madam Felle, civil name Oline Fell, was remembered after her death in a popular song, possibly originally a folksong, "Kjenner Dokker Madam Felle?" by Lothar Lindtner and Rolf Berntzen on an album in 1977.

 

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic , European country and an independent state in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula . Geographically speaking, the country is long and narrow, and on the elongated coast towards the North Atlantic are Norway's well-known fjords . The Kingdom of Norway includes the main country (the mainland with adjacent islands within the baseline ), Jan Mayen and Svalbard . With these two Arctic areas, Norway covers a land area of ​​385,000 km² and has a population of approximately 5.5 million (2023). Mainland Norway borders Sweden in the east , Finland and Russia in the northeast .

 

Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , where Harald V has been king and head of state since 1991 , and Jonas Gahr Støre ( Ap ) has been prime minister since 2021 . Norway is a unitary state , with two administrative levels below the state: counties and municipalities . The Sami part of the population has, through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act , to a certain extent self-government and influence over traditionally Sami areas. Although Norway has rejected membership of the European Union through two referendums , through the EEA Agreement Norway has close ties with the Union, and through NATO with the United States . Norway is a significant contributor to the United Nations (UN), and has participated with soldiers in several foreign operations mandated by the UN. Norway is among the states that have participated from the founding of the UN , NATO , the Council of Europe , the OSCE and the Nordic Council , and in addition to these is a member of the EEA , the World Trade Organization , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is part of the Schengen area .

 

Norway is rich in many natural resources such as oil , gas , minerals , timber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . Since the beginning of the 20th century, these natural conditions have given the country the opportunity for an increase in wealth that few other countries can now enjoy, and Norwegians have the second highest average income in the world, measured in GDP per capita, as of 2022. The petroleum industry accounts for around 14% of Norway's gross domestic product as of 2018. Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and gas per capita outside the Middle East. However, the number of employees linked to this industry fell from approx. 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015.

 

In Norway, these natural resources have been managed for socially beneficial purposes. The country maintains a welfare model in line with the other Nordic countries. Important service areas such as health and higher education are state-funded, and the country has an extensive welfare system for its citizens. Public expenditure in 2018 is approx. 50% of GDP, and the majority of these expenses are related to education, healthcare, social security and welfare. Since 2001 and until 2021, when the country took second place, the UN has ranked Norway as the world's best country to live in . From 2010, Norway is also ranked at the top of the EIU's democracy index . Norway ranks third on the UN's World Happiness Report for the years 2016–2018, behind Finland and Denmark , a report published in March 2019.

 

The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles , Lithuanians , Norwegian-Swedes , Norwegian-Syrians including Syrian Kurds and Norwegian-Pakistani .

 

Norway's national day is 17 May, on this day in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution was dated and signed by the presidency of the National Assembly at Eidsvoll . It is stipulated in the law of 26 April 1947 that 17 May are national public holidays. The Sami national day is 6 February. "Yes, we love this country" is Norway's national anthem, the song was written in 1859 by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910).

 

Norway's history of human settlement goes back at least 10,000 years, to the Late Paleolithic , the first period of the Stone Age . Archaeological finds of settlements along the entire Norwegian coast have so far been dated back to 10,400 before present (BP), the oldest find is today considered to be a settlement at Pauler in Brunlanes , Vestfold .

For a period these settlements were considered to be the remains of settlers from Doggerland , an area which today lies beneath the North Sea , but which was once a land bridge connecting today's British Isles with Danish Jutland . But the archaeologists who study the initial phase of the settlement in what is today Norway reckon that the first people who came here followed the coast along what is today Bohuslân. That they arrived in some form of boat is absolutely certain, and there is much evidence that they could easily move over large distances.

 

Since the last Ice Age, there has been continuous settlement in Norway. It cannot be ruled out that people lived in Norway during the interglacial period , but no trace of such a population or settlement has been found.

 

The Stone Age lasted a long time; half of the time that our country has been populated. There are no written accounts of what life was like back then. The knowledge we have has been painstakingly collected through investigations of places where people have stayed and left behind objects that we can understand have been processed by human hands. This field of knowledge is called archaeology . The archaeologists interpret their findings and the history of the surrounding landscape. In our country, the uplift after the Ice Age is fundamental. The history of the settlements at Pauler is no more than fifteen years old.

 

The Fosna culture settled parts of Norway sometime between 10,000–8,000 BC. (see Stone Age in Norway ). The dating of rock carvings is set to Neolithic times (in Norway between 4000 BC to 1700 BC) and show activities typical of hunters and gatherers .

 

Agriculture with livestock and arable farming was introduced in the Neolithic. Swad farming where the farmers move when the field does not produce the expected yield.

 

More permanent and persistent farm settlements developed in the Bronze Age (1700 BC to 500 BC) and the Iron Age . The earliest runes have been found on an arrowhead dated to around 200 BC. Many more inscriptions are dated to around 800, and a number of petty kingdoms developed during these centuries. In prehistoric times, there were no fixed national borders in the Nordic countries and Norway did not exist as a state. The population in Norway probably fell to year 0.

 

Events in this time period, the centuries before the year 1000, are glimpsed in written sources. Although the sagas were written down in the 13th century, many hundreds of years later, they provide a glimpse into what was already a distant past. The story of the fimbul winter gives us a historical picture of something that happened and which in our time, with the help of dendrochronology , can be interpreted as a natural disaster in the year 536, created by a volcanic eruption in El Salvador .

 

In the period between 800 and 1066 there was a significant expansion and it is referred to as the Viking Age . During this period, Norwegians, as Swedes and Danes also did, traveled abroad in longships with sails as explorers, traders, settlers and as Vikings (raiders and pirates ). By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingship had been firmly established, building its right as descendants of Harald Hårfagre and then as heirs of Olav the Holy . The Norwegian kings, and their subjects, now professed Christianity . In the time around Håkon Håkonsson , in the time after the civil war , there was a small renaissance in Norway with extensive literary activity and diplomatic activity with Europe. The black dew came to Norway in 1349 and killed around half of the population. The entire state apparatus and Norway then entered a period of decline.

 

Between 1396 and 1536, Norway was part of the Kalmar Union , and from 1536 until 1814 Norway had been reduced to a tributary part of Denmark , named as the Personal Union of Denmark-Norway . This staff union entered into an alliance with Napoléon Bonaparte with a war that brought bad times and famine in 1812 . In 1814, Denmark-Norway lost the Anglophone Wars , part of the Napoleonic Wars , and the Danish king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January of that year. After a Norwegian attempt at independence, Norway was forced into a loose union with Sweden, but where Norway was allowed to create its own constitution, the Constitution of 1814 . In this period, Norwegian, romantic national feeling flourished, and the Norwegians tried to develop and establish their own national self-worth. The union with Sweden was broken in 1905 after it had been threatened with war, and Norway became an independent kingdom with its own monarch, Haakon VII .

 

Norway remained neutral during the First World War , and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Norway again declared itself neutral, but was invaded by National Socialist Germany on 9 April 1940 .

 

Norway became a member of the Western defense alliance NATO in 1949 . Two attempts to join the EU were voted down in referendums by small margins in 1972 and 1994 . Norway has been a close ally of the United States in the post-war period. Large discoveries of oil and natural gas in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s led to tremendous economic growth in the country, which is still ongoing. Traditional industries such as fishing are also part of Norway's economy.

 

Stone Age (before 1700 BC)

When most of the ice disappeared, vegetation spread over the landscape and due to a warm climate around 2000-3000 BC. the forest grew much taller than in modern times. Land uplift after the ice age led to a number of fjords becoming lakes and dry land. The first people probably came from the south along the coast of the Kattegat and overland into Finnmark from the east. The first people probably lived by gathering, hunting and trapping. A good number of Stone Age settlements have been found which show that such hunting and trapping people stayed for a long time in the same place or returned to the same place regularly. Large amounts of gnawed bones show that they lived on, among other things, reindeer, elk, small game and fish.

 

Flintstone was imported from Denmark and apart from small natural deposits along the southern coast, all flintstone in Norway is transported by people. At Espevær, greenstone was quarried for tools in the Stone Age, and greenstone tools from Espevær have been found over large parts of Western Norway. Around 2000-3000 BC the usual farm animals such as cows and sheep were introduced to Norway. Livestock probably meant a fundamental change in society in that part of the people had to be permanent residents or live a semi-nomadic life. Livestock farming may also have led to conflict with hunters.

 

The oldest traces of people in what is today Norway have been found at Pauler , a farm in Brunlanes in Larvik municipality in Vestfold . In 2007 and 2008, the farm has given its name to a number of Stone Age settlements that have been excavated and examined by archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum at UiO. The investigations have been carried out in connection with the new route for the E18 motorway west of Farris. The oldest settlement, located more than 127 m above sea level, is dated to be about 10,400 years old (uncalibrated, more than 11,000 years in real calendar years). From here, the ice sheet was perhaps visible when people settled here. This locality has been named Pauler I, and is today considered to be the oldest confirmed human traces in Norway to date. The place is in the mountains above the Pauler tunnel on the E18 between Larvik and Porsgrunn . The pioneer settlement is a term archaeologists have adopted for the oldest settlement. The archaeologists have speculated about where they came from, the first people in what is today Norway. It has been suggested that they could come by boat or perhaps across the ice from Doggerland or the North Sea, but there is now a large consensus that they came north along what is today the Bohuslän coast. The Fosna culture , the Komsa culture and the Nøstvet culture are the traditional terms for hunting cultures from the Stone Age. One thing is certain - getting to the water was something they mastered, the first people in our country. Therefore, within a short time they were able to use our entire long coast.

 

In the New Stone Age (4000 BC–1700 BC) there is a theory that a new people immigrated to the country, the so-called Stone Ax People . Rock carvings from this period show motifs from hunting and fishing , which were still important industries. From this period, a megalithic tomb has been found in Østfold .

It is uncertain whether there were organized societies or state-like associations in the Stone Age in Norway. Findings from settlements indicate that many lived together and that this was probably more than one family so that it was a slightly larger, organized herd.

 

Finnmark

In prehistoric times, animal husbandry and agriculture were of little economic importance in Finnmark. Livelihoods in Finnmark were mainly based on fish, gathering, hunting and trapping, and eventually domestic reindeer herding became widespread in the Middle Ages. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age have been referred to as the Komsa culture and comprise around 5,000 years of settlement. Finnmark probably got its first settlement around 8000 BC. It is believed that the coastal areas became ice-free 11,000 years BC and the fjord areas around 9,000 years BC. after which willows, grass, heather, birch and pine came into being. Finnmarksvidda was covered by pine forest around 6000 BC. After the Ice Age, the land rose around 80 meters in the inner fjord areas (Alta, Tana, Varanger). Due to ice melting in the polar region, the sea rose in the period 6400–3800 BC. and in areas with little land elevation, some settlements from the first part of the Stone Age were flooded. On Sørøya, the net sea level rise was 12 to 14 meters and many residential areas were flooded.

 

According to Bjørnar Olsen , there are many indications of a connection between the oldest settlement in Western Norway (the " Fosnakulturen ") and that in Finnmark, but it is uncertain in which direction the settlement took place. In the earliest part of the Stone Age, settlement in Finnmark was probably concentrated in the coastal areas, and these only reflected a lifestyle with great mobility and no permanent dwellings. The inner regions, such as Pasvik, were probably used seasonally. The archaeologically proven settlements from the Stone Age in inner Finnmark and Troms are linked to lakes and large watercourses. The oldest petroglyphs in Alta are usually dated to 4200 BC, that is, the Neolithic . Bjørnar Olsen believes that the oldest can be up to 2,000 years older than this.

 

From around 4000 BC a slow deforestation of Finnmark began and around 1800 BC the vegetation distribution was roughly the same as in modern times. The change in vegetation may have increased the distance between the reindeer's summer and winter grazing. The uplift continued slowly from around 4000 BC. at the same time as sea level rise stopped.

 

According to Gutorm Gjessing, the settlement in Finnmark and large parts of northern Norway in the Neolithic was semi-nomadic with movement between four seasonal settlements (following the pattern of life in Sami siida in historical times): On the outer coast in summer (fishing and seal catching) and inland in winter (hunting for reindeer, elk and bear). Povl Simonsen believed instead that the winter residence was in the inner fjord area in a village-like sod house settlement. Bjørnar Olsen believes that at the end of the Stone Age there was a relatively settled population along the coast, while inland there was less settlement and a more mobile lifestyle.

 

Bronze Age (1700 BC–500 BC)

Bronze was used for tools in Norway from around 1500 BC. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper , and these metals were introduced because they were not mined in the country at the time. Bronze is believed to have been a relatively expensive material. The Bronze Age in Norway can be divided into two phases:

 

Early Bronze Age (1700–1100 BC)

Younger Bronze Age (1100–500 BC)

For the prehistoric (unwritten) era, there is limited knowledge about social conditions and possible state formations. From the Bronze Age, there are large burial mounds of stone piles along the coast of Vestfold and Agder, among others. It is likely that only chieftains or other great men could erect such grave monuments and there was probably some form of organized society linked to these. In the Bronze Age, society was more organized and stratified than in the Stone Age. Then a rich class of chieftains emerged who had close connections with southern Scandinavia. The settlements became more permanent and people adopted horses and ard . They acquired bronze status symbols, lived in longhouses and people were buried in large burial mounds . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age indicate that humans practiced solar cultivation.

 

Finnmark

In the last millennium BC the climate became cooler and the pine forest disappears from the coast; pine forests, for example, were only found in the innermost part of the Altafjord, while the outer coast was almost treeless. Around the year 0, the limit for birch forest was south of Kirkenes. Animals with forest habitats (elk, bear and beaver) disappeared and the reindeer probably established their annual migration routes sometime at that time. In the period 1800–900 BC there were significantly more settlements in and utilization of the hinterland was particularly noticeable on Finnmarksvidda. From around 1800 BC until year 0 there was a significant increase in contact between Finnmark and areas in the east including Karelia (where metals were produced including copper) and central and eastern Russia. The youngest petroglyphs in Alta show far more boats than the earlier phases and the boats are reminiscent of types depicted in petroglyphs in southern Scandinavia. It is unclear what influence southern Scandinavian societies had as far north as Alta before the year 0. Many of the cultural features that are considered typical Sami in modern times were created or consolidated in the last millennium BC, this applies, among other things, to the custom of burying in brick chambers in stone urns. The Mortensnes burial ground may have been used for 2000 years until around 1600 AD.

 

Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 1050 AD)

 

The Einangsteinen is one of the oldest Norwegian runestones; it is from the 4th century

 

Simultaneous production of Vikings

Around 500 years BC the researchers reckon that the Bronze Age will be replaced by the Iron Age as iron takes over as the most important material for weapons and tools. Bronze, wood and stone were still used. Iron was cheaper than bronze, easier to work than flint , and could be used for many purposes; iron probably became common property. Iron could, among other things, be used to make solid and sharp axes which made it much easier to fell trees. In the Iron Age, gold and silver were also used partly for decoration and partly as means of payment. It is unknown which language was used in Norway before our era. From around the year 0 until around the year 800, everyone in Scandinavia (except the Sami) spoke Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Subsequently, several different languages ​​developed in this area that were only partially mutually intelligible. The Iron Age is divided into several periods:

 

Early Iron Age

Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 0)

Roman Iron Age (c. 0–c. AD 400)

Migration period (approx. 400–600). In the migration period (approx. 400–600), new peoples came to Norway, and ruins of fortress buildings etc. are interpreted as signs that there has been talk of a violent invasion.

Younger Iron Age

Merovingian period (500–800)

 

The Viking Age (793–1066)

Norwegian Vikings go on plundering expeditions and trade voyages around the coastal countries of Western Europe . Large groups of Norwegians emigrate to the British Isles , Iceland and Greenland . Harald Hårfagre starts a unification process of Norway late in the 8th century , which was completed by Harald Hardråde in the 1060s . The country was Christianized under the kings Olav Tryggvason , fell in the battle of Svolder ( 1000 ) and Olav Haraldsson (the saint), fell in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 .

 

Sources of prehistoric times

Shrinking glaciers in the high mountains, including in Jotunheimen and Breheimen , have from around the year 2000 uncovered objects from the Viking Age and earlier. These are objects of organic material that have been preserved by the ice and that elsewhere in nature are broken down in a few months. The finds are getting older as the melting makes the archaeologists go deeper into the ice. About half of all archaeological discoveries on glaciers in the world are made in Oppland . In 2013, a 3,400-year-old shoe and a robe from the year 300 were found. Finds at Lomseggen in Lom published in 2020 revealed, among other things, well-preserved horseshoes used on a mountain pass. Many hundreds of items include preserved clothing, knives, whisks, mittens, leather shoes, wooden chests and horse equipment. A piece of cloth dated to the year 1000 has preserved its original colour. In 2014, a wooden ski from around the year 700 was found in Reinheimen . The ski is 172 cm long and 14 cm wide, with preserved binding of leather and wicker.

 

Pytheas from Massalia is the oldest known account of what was probably the coast of Norway, perhaps somewhere on the coast of Møre. Pytheas visited Britannia around 325 BC. and traveled further north to a country by the "Ice Sea". Pytheas described the short summer night and the midnight sun farther north. He wrote, among other things, that people there made a drink from grain and honey. Caesar wrote in his work about the Gallic campaign about the Germanic tribe Haruders. Other Roman sources around the year 0 mention the land of the Cimbri (Jutland) and the Cimbri headlands ( Skagen ) and that the sources stated that Cimbri and Charyds lived in this area. Some of these peoples may have immigrated to Norway and there become known as hordes (as in Hordaland). Sources from the Mediterranean area referred to the islands of Scandia, Scandinavia and Thule ("the outermost of all islands"). The Roman historian Tacitus wrote around the year 100 a work about Germania and mentioned the people of Scandia, the Sviones. Ptolemy wrote around the year 150 that the Kharudes (Hordes) lived further north than all the Cimbri, in the north lived the Finnoi (Finns or Sami) and in the south the Gutai (Goths). The Nordic countries and Norway were outside the Roman Empire , which dominated Europe at the time. The Gothic-born historian Jordanes wrote in the 5th century about 13 tribes or people groups in Norway, including raumaricii (probably Romerike ), ragnaricii ( Ranrike ) and finni or skretefinni (skrid finner or ski finner, i.e. Sami) as well as a number of unclear groups. Prokopios wrote at the same time about Thule north of the land of the Danes and Slavs, Thule was ten times as big as Britannia and the largest of all the islands. In Thule, the sun was up 40 days straight in the summer. After the migration period , southern Europeans' accounts of northern Europe became fuller and more reliable.

 

Settlement in prehistoric times

Norway has around 50,000 farms with their own names. Farm names have persisted for a long time, over 1000 years, perhaps as much as 2000 years. The name researchers have arranged different types of farm names chronologically, which provides a basis for determining when the place was used by people or received a permanent settlement. Uncompounded landscape names such as Haug, Eid, Vik and Berg are believed to be the oldest. Archaeological traces indicate that some areas have been inhabited earlier than assumed from the farm name. Burial mounds also indicate permanent settlement. For example, the burial ground at Svartelva in Løten was used from around the year 0 to the year 1000 when Christianity took over. The first farmers probably used large areas for inland and outland, and new farms were probably established based on some "mother farms". Names such as By (or Bø) show that it is an old place of residence. From the older Iron Age, names with -heim (a common Germanic word meaning place of residence) and -stad tell of settlement, while -vin and -land tell of the use of the place. Farm names in -heim are often found as -um , -eim or -em as in Lerum and Seim, there are often large farms in the center of the village. New farm names with -city and -country were also established in the Viking Age . The first farmers probably used the best areas. The largest burial grounds, the oldest archaeological finds and the oldest farm names are found where the arable land is richest and most spacious.

 

It is unclear whether the settlement expansion in Roman times, migrations and the Iron Age is due to immigration or internal development and population growth. Among other things, it is difficult to demonstrate where in Europe the immigrants have come from. The permanent residents had both fields (where grain was grown) and livestock that grazed in the open fields, but it is uncertain which of these was more important. Population growth from around the year 200 led to more utilization of open land, for example in the form of settlements in the mountains. During the migration period, it also seems that in parts of the country it became common to have cluster gardens or a form of village settlement.

 

Norwegian expansion northwards

From around the year 200, there was a certain migration by sea from Rogaland and Hordaland to Nordland and Sør-Troms. Those who moved settled down as a settled Iron Age population and became dominant over the original population which may have been Sami . The immigrant Norwegians, Bumen , farmed with livestock that were fed inside in the winter as well as some grain cultivation and fishing. The northern border of the Norwegians' settlement was originally at the Toppsundet near Harstad and around the year 500 there was a Norwegian settlement to Malangsgapet. That was as far north as it was possible to grow grain at the time. Malangen was considered the border between Hålogaland and Finnmork until around 1400 . Further into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, there was immigration and settlement of Norwegian speakers along the coast north of Malangen. Around the year 800, Norwegians lived along the entire outer coast to Vannøy . The Norwegians partly copied Sami livelihoods such as whaling, fur hunting and reindeer husbandry. It was probably this area between Malangen and Vannøy that was Ottar from the Hålogaland area. In the Viking Age, there were also some Norwegian settlements further north and east. East of the North Cape are the scattered archaeological finds of Norwegian settlement in the Viking Age. There are Norwegian names for fjords and islands from the Viking Age, including fjord names with "-anger". Around the year 1050, there were Norwegian settlements on the outer coast of Western Finnmark. Traders and tax collectors traveled even further.

 

North of Malangen there were Norse farming settlements in the Iron Age. Malangen was considered Finnmark's western border until 1300. There are some archaeological traces of Norse activity around the coast from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the Viking Age. Around Tromsø, the research indicates a Norse/Sami mixed culture on the coast.

 

From the year 1100 and the next 200–300 years, there are no traces of Norwegian settlement north and east of Tromsø. It is uncertain whether this is due to depopulation, whether it is because the Norwegians further north were not Christianized or because there were no churches north of Lenvik or Tromsø . Norwegian settlement in the far north appears from sources from the 14th century. In the Hanseatic period , the settlement was developed into large areas specialized in commercial fishing, while earlier (in the Viking Age) there had been farms with a combination of fishing and agriculture. In 1307 , a fortress and the first church east of Tromsø were built in Vardø . Vardø became a small Norwegian town, while Vadsø remained Sami. Norwegian settlements and churches appeared along the outermost coast in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, perhaps as a result of a decline in fish stocks or fish prices, there were Norwegian settlements in the inner fjord areas such as Lebesby in Laksefjord. Some fishing villages at the far end of the coast were abandoned for good. In the interior of Finnmark, there was no national border for a long time and Kautokeino and Karasjok were joint Norwegian-Swedish areas with strong Swedish influence. The border with Finland was established in 1751 and with Russia in 1826.

 

On a Swedish map from 1626, Norway's border is indicated at Malangen, while Sweden with this map showed a desire to control the Sami area which had been a common area.

 

The term Northern Norway only came into use at the end of the 19th century and administratively the area was referred to as Tromsø Diocese when Tromsø became a bishopric in 1840. There had been different designations previously: Hålogaland originally included only Helgeland and when Norse settlement spread north in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Hålogaland was used for the area north approximately to Malangen , while Finnmark or "Finnmarken", "the land of the Sami", lay outside. The term Northern Norway was coined at a cafe table in Kristiania in 1884 by members of the Nordlændingernes Forening and was first commonly used in the interwar period as it eventually supplanted "Hålogaland".

 

State formation

The battle in Hafrsfjord in the year 872 has long been regarded as the day when Norway became a kingdom. The year of the battle is uncertain (may have been 10-20 years later). The whole of Norway was not united in that battle: the process had begun earlier and continued a couple of hundred years later. This means that the geographical area became subject to a political authority and became a political unit. The geographical area was perceived as an area as it is known, among other things, from Ottar from Hålogaland's account for King Alfred of Wessex around the year 880. Ottar described "the land of the Norwegians" as very long and narrow, and it was narrowest in the far north. East of the wasteland in the south lay Sveoland and in the north lay Kvenaland in the east. When Ottar sailed south along the land from his home ( Malangen ) to Skiringssal, he always had Norway ("Nordveg") on his port side and the British Isles on his starboard side. The journey took a good month. Ottar perceived "Nordveg" as a geographical unit, but did not imply that it was a political unit. Ottar separated Norwegians from Swedes and Danes. It is unclear why Ottar perceived the population spread over such a large area as a whole. It is unclear whether Norway as a geographical term or Norwegians as the name of a ethnic group is the oldest. The Norwegians had a common language which in the centuries before Ottar did not differ much from the language of Denmark and Sweden.

 

According to Sverre Steen, it is unlikely that Harald Hårfagre was able to control this entire area as one kingdom. The saga of Harald was written 300 years later and at his death Norway was several smaller kingdoms. Harald probably controlled a larger area than anyone before him and at most Harald's kingdom probably included the coast from Trøndelag to Agder and Vestfold as well as parts of Viken . There were probably several smaller kingdoms of varying extent before Harald and some of these are reflected in traditional landscape names such as Ranrike and Ringerike . Landscape names of "-land" (Rogaland) and "-mark" (Hedmark) as well as names such as Agder and Sogn may have been political units before Harald.

 

According to Sverre Steen, the national assembly was completed at the earliest at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 and the introduction of Christianity was probably a significant factor in the establishment of Norway as a state. Håkon I the good Adalsteinsfostre introduced the leasehold system where the "coastal land" (as far as the salmon went up the rivers) was divided into ship raiders who were to provide a longship with soldiers and supplies. The leidange was probably introduced as a defense against the Danes. The border with the Danes was traditionally at the Göta älv and several times before and after Harald Hårfagre the Danes had control over central parts of Norway.

 

Christianity was known and existed in Norway before Olav Haraldson's time. The spread occurred both from the south (today's Denmark and northern Germany) and from the west (England and Ireland). Ansgar of Bremen , called the "Apostle of the North", worked in Sweden, but he was never in Norway and probably had little influence in the country. Viking expeditions brought the Norwegians of that time into contact with Christian countries and some were baptized in England, Ireland and northern France. Olav Tryggvason and Olav Haraldson were Vikings who returned home. The first Christians in Norway were also linked to pre-Christian local religion, among other things, by mixing Christian symbols with symbols of Odin and other figures from Norse religion.

 

According to Sverre Steen, the introduction of Christianity in Norway should not be perceived as a nationwide revival. At Mostratinget, Christian law was introduced as law in the country and later incorporated into the laws of the individual jurisdictions. Christianity primarily involved new forms in social life, among other things exposure and images of gods were prohibited, it was forbidden to "put out" unwanted infants (to let them die), and it was forbidden to have multiple wives. The church became a nationwide institution with a special group of officials tasked with protecting the church and consolidating the new religion. According to Sverre Steen, Christianity and the church in the Middle Ages should therefore be considered together, and these became a new unifying factor in the country. The church and Christianity linked Norway to Roman Catholic Europe with Church Latin as the common language, the same time reckoning as the rest of Europe and the church in Norway was arranged much like the churches in Denmark, Sweden and England. Norway received papal approval in 1070 and became its own church province in 1152 with Archbishop Nidaros .

 

With Christianity, the country got three social powers: the peasants (organized through the things), the king with his officials and the church with the clergy. The things are the oldest institution: At allthings all armed men had the right to attend (in part an obligation to attend) and at lagthings met emissaries from an area (that is, the lagthings were representative assemblies). The Thing both ruled in conflicts and established laws. The laws were memorized by the participants and written down around the year 1000 or later in the Gulationsloven , Frostatingsloven , Eidsivatingsloven and Borgartingsloven . The person who had been successful at the hearing had to see to the implementation of the judgment themselves.

 

Early Middle Ages (1050s–1184)

The early Middle Ages is considered in Norwegian history to be the period between the end of the Viking Age around 1050 and the coronation of King Sverre in 1184 . The beginning of the period can be dated differently, from around the year 1000 when the Christianization of the country took place and up to 1100 when the Viking Age was over from an archaeological point of view. From 1035 to 1130 it was a time of (relative) internal peace in Norway, even several of the kings attempted campaigns abroad, including in 1066 and 1103 .

 

During this period, the church's organization was built up. This led to a gradual change in religious customs. Religion went from being a domestic matter to being regulated by common European Christian law and the royal power gained increased power and influence. Slavery (" servitude ") was gradually abolished. The population grew rapidly during this period, as the thousands of farm names ending in -rud show.

 

The urbanization of Norway is a historical process that has slowly but surely changed Norway from the early Viking Age to today, from a country based on agriculture and sea salvage, to increasingly trade and industry. As early as the ninth century, the country got its first urban community, and in the eleventh century we got the first permanent cities.

 

In the 1130s, civil war broke out . This was due to a power struggle and that anyone who claimed to be the king's son could claim the right to the throne. The disputes escalated into extensive year-round warfare when Sverre Sigurdsson started a rebellion against the church's and the landmen's candidate for the throne , Magnus Erlingsson .

 

Emergence of cities

The oldest Norwegian cities probably emerged from the end of the 9th century. Oslo, Bergen and Nidaros became episcopal seats, which stimulated urban development there, and the king built churches in Borg , Konghelle and Tønsberg. Hamar and Stavanger became new episcopal seats and are referred to in the late 12th century as towns together with the trading places Veøy in Romsdal and Kaupanger in Sogn. In the late Middle Ages, Borgund (on Sunnmøre), Veøy (in Romsdalsfjorden) and Vågan (in Lofoten) were referred to as small trading places. Urbanization in Norway occurred in few places compared to the neighboring countries, only 14 places appear as cities before 1350. Stavanger became a bishopric around 1120–1130, but it is unclear whether the place was already a city then. The fertile Jæren and outer Ryfylke were probably relatively densely populated at that time. A particularly large concentration of Irish artefacts from the Viking Age has been found in Stavanger and Nord-Jæren.

 

It has been difficult to estimate the population in the Norwegian medieval cities, but it is considered certain that the cities grew rapidly in the Middle Ages. Oscar Albert Johnsen estimated the city's population before the Black Death at 20,000, of which 7,000 in Bergen, 3,000 in Nidaros, 2,000 in Oslo and 1,500 in Tunsberg. Based on archaeological research, Lunden estimates that Oslo had around 1,500 inhabitants in 250 households in the year 1300. Bergen was built up more densely and, with the concentration of exports there, became Norway's largest city in a special position for several hundred years. Knut Helle suggests a city population of 20,000 at most in the High Middle Ages, of which almost half in Bergen.

 

The Bjarkøyretten regulated the conditions in cities (especially Bergen and Nidaros) and in trading places, and for Nidaros had many of the same provisions as the Frostating Act . Magnus Lagabøte's city law replaced the bjarkøretten and from 1276 regulated the settlement in Bergen and with corresponding laws also drawn up for Oslo, Nidaros and Tunsberg. The city law applied within the city's roof area . The City Act determined that the city's public streets consisted of wide commons (perpendicular to the shoreline) and ran parallel to the shoreline, similarly in Nidaros and Oslo. The roads were small streets of up to 3 cubits (1.4 metres) and linked to the individual property. From the Middle Ages, the Norwegian cities were usually surrounded by wooden fences. The urban development largely consisted of low wooden houses which stood in contrast to the relatively numerous and dominant churches and monasteries built in stone.

 

The City Act and supplementary provisions often determined where in the city different goods could be traded, in Bergen, for example, cattle and sheep could only be traded on the Square, and fish only on the Square or directly from the boats at the quayside. In Nidaros, the blacksmiths were required to stay away from the densely populated areas due to the risk of fire, while the tanners had to stay away from the settlements due to the strong smell. The City Act also attempted to regulate the influx of people into the city (among other things to prevent begging in the streets) and had provisions on fire protection. In Oslo, from the 13th century or earlier, it was common to have apartment buildings consisting of single buildings on a couple of floors around a courtyard with access from the street through a gate room. Oslo's medieval apartment buildings were home to one to four households. In the urban farms, livestock could be kept, including pigs and cows, while pastures and fields were found in the city's rooftops . In the apartment buildings there could be several outbuildings such as warehouses, barns and stables. Archaeological excavations show that much of the buildings in medieval Oslo, Trondheim and Tønsberg resembled the oblong farms that have been preserved at Bryggen in Bergen . The land boundaries in Oslo appear to have persisted for many hundreds of years, in Bergen right from the Middle Ages to modern times.

 

High Middle Ages (1184–1319)

After civil wars in the 12th century, the country had a relative heyday in the 13th century. Iceland and Greenland came under the royal authority in 1262 , and the Norwegian Empire reached its greatest extent under Håkon IV Håkonsson . The last king of Haraldsätten, Håkon V Magnusson , died sonless in 1319 . Until the 17th century, Norway stretched all the way down to the mouth of Göta älv , which was then Norway's border with Sweden and Denmark.

 

Just before the Black Death around 1350, there were between 65,000 and 85,000 farms in the country, and there had been a strong growth in the number of farms from 1050, especially in Eastern Norway. In the High Middle Ages, the church or ecclesiastical institutions controlled 40% of the land in Norway, while the aristocracy owned around 20% and the king owned 7%. The church and monasteries received land through gifts from the king and nobles, or through inheritance and gifts from ordinary farmers.

 

Settlement and demography in the Middle Ages

Before the Black Death, there were more and more farms in Norway due to farm division and clearing. The settlement spread to more marginal agricultural areas higher inland and further north. Eastern Norway had the largest areas to take off and had the most population growth towards the High Middle Ages. Along the coast north of Stad, settlement probably increased in line with the extent of fishing. The Icelandic Rimbegla tells around the year 1200 that the border between Finnmark (the land of the Sami) and resident Norwegians in the interior was at Malangen , while the border all the way out on the

MACA. Marc Jacket

January 27 at Manhood

 

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Manhood/33/129/800

STATUS ~ Forever Valentine 💌

(Giftbox Prop & Phone Shown In AD Included)

____________________________________

 

• Available at FWRD Event 01/14/2025 ‼️

____________________________________

 

Taxi 🚕 ~ maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FWRD/228/88/44

 

____________________________________

 

#SecondLife #secondlifeavi #secondlifestyle #secondlifeworld #secondlifefashion #secondlifer #secondlifeworld #secondlifeavi #edit #family #slfam #slfamily #secondlifeedit #spamemojis #spam #like #like4like #spam4spam #Event #FWRDEvent #FWRD #secondlifeavatar #secondlifemodels

Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand 2009

 

The Karen-Padaung women display their beauty, and their status as married women, by wearing carved elephant tusk in their ears. When a woman is married, her ears are pierced and an elephant tusk of one to four centimetres in length is inserted.

 

During the early stages the ear pieces are quite small, especially for younger women. The weight of the tusks gradually weighs down on the ear lobe and the ear gets larger and larger, and longer and longer. Then larger tusks are inserted and the process repeats itself until the woman’s ears become extremely elongated and floppy. The married woman wears these ear pieces for life.

 

Unmarried girls in these tribes do not wear the ear pieces, but they do wear white dresses, in contrast to the red and black dresses worn by the married women, and on the backs of their hands a few magical words are written in spiritual languages. These words carry meaning to bless these girls to have a happy life.

 

The tradition of these Karen - Padaung who are sometimes referred to as the “Long- Ears” is one of the oldest of peoples in this part of the world. Long before any of the present day territories were formed by boundaries into nations or countries, the peoples of Southeast Asia, particularly mountain dwellers, practised a custom known as “Loaded Ears”. According to this custom, the ears, being one of the most sacred parts of the body, were an important object of adornment. For beauty in the women and for strength in the men, the ears of both sexes were loaded. Today, among the Karen-Padaung of Phrae and of Burma, this tradition is continued for the female gender only, once married.

style.angeltzara.com/2012/05/13/angel-changed-relationshi...

espagne

A plane just happened to cross my lens on the same angle as the Milky Way. This was shot with my 50mm f/1.8 lens so I guess I struck it lucky aiming in the exact spot!

Large view on black

twitter.com/keltruck/status/1182261657818533888

 

New @MACSurfacing #ScaniaXT P500 rear steer with @TfL #DirectVisionStandard 2 star rating for London #SuppliedByKeltruck

 

#MACSurfacing #Tipton #BlackCountry #WestMidlands #WestMids #DY4 macsurfacing.com #ScaniaTough

 

👏 Tony Biddlestone: "Great example of fully utilising the truck with a 1,900 gallon water tank and a red diesel tank both with pumps."

 

Spec & order your new #Scania at keltruckscania.com/sales

stolen

Originally opened on 8/29/1994 as a Super Kmart. The Terre Haute store lost its Super status in 2013. On January 13, 2016 Kmart announced that the Terre Haute store would be closing by mid April 2016.

This is a Crop version of the Bubble Nebula in Ha-RGB using my one shot colour ccd and a Astronomik H Alpha 12nm Filter. 17 x 600 secs subs in RGB and 14 x 600 secs subs in Ha darks,bias,flats.

 

Camera: QHY8L CCD cooled to -20C

 

Guiding: PHD,9x50 Finder Scope,QHY5 Mono with IR filter ( Finder Guider )

 

Optics: Skywatcher ED80,Skywatcher 0.85x focal reducer

 

Filter: Astronomik CLS Filter,Astronomik H Alpha Filter 12nm

 

Mount: Skywatcher AZ EQ6-GT GEQ & Alt-Az Mount connected to the Sky X and Eqmod via HitecAstro EQDIR adapter

 

Image Acquisition: Maxim DL 5 Pro

 

Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight 1.8

 

Processing: Pixinsight 1.8

Here things are starting to come together. An ultrawide angle lens is perfect for the Milky Way, and this one is fairly wide aperture - f/2.8. Tracking mount, intervalometer, extended bulb exposures, and a light pollution filter. The Milky Way was not visible to the naked eye, but the stars were shining brightly. No darks or flats, so I did a lot of work correcting the green-magenta cast caused by the lens/filter combination.

 

Canon EOS 50D, Samyang 14mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC, iOptron Skytracker v2, Astronomik EOS UHC clip filter (Magic Lantern intervalometer).

14mm, f/2.8, 7x10mins, ISO 1600.

63x180s iso 800

nexstar 8se

starizona corrector 2

canon 70d

sky-watcher az eq 6 pro

I' m a little afraid to walk 10 more miles in theses Keds.

But I will try :-)

See the result soon.

Losing the sole and the toe will poke out ??

Concert in Biberach 14.11.2008

Under some unfortunate circumstances, my husband and I are forced to look for work... it's not too bad though, we've enjoyed the time out like mini-dates as we turn in applications and set up interviews.

 

* Jacket: Forever21

* High-waist pencil skirt: Forever21

* Polka dot blouse: vintage 50's

* T-straps: Payless

* Vintage purse: gift

 

Blogged.

twitter.com/KeltruckLtd/status/996388956089483264

 

Used #Scania R450 for Kris Clarke #ScaniaUsedTrucks #YouCanHaveTheBest #PeaceOfMind facebook.com/kris.clarke.125/posts/10155721788281491

 

For the widest choice of #UsedScaniaTrucks in the UK visit used.keltruckscania.com

 

#SuppliedbyKeltruck keltruckscania.com/suppliedbykeltruck

© All rights reserved

 

long tailed tit ~ aegithalos caudatus

 

The long tailed tits are on the RSPB Green status list.

IC1795 in Bicolor

Narrowband image (shot through Oxygen, Sulfur, and Hydrogen-alpha spectrum filters) with Apogee U16M camera and Takahashi FSQ-106ED telescope.

 

Exposure: 4 hours [SII:Ha:OIII 82:72:84 min]

Filters: Astrodon 5nm Ha + SII + OIII

 

This object was in the same image as the Soul Nebula (see next photo), but I cropped it down to make the star birthing region more prominent.

Counterfeit Quo rockin' all over Alvaston Hall, Nantwich

Date: 6th December 2008

Location: Cambridge, UK

OTA: Skywatcher 190mm F/5.3 Maksutov-Newtonian Astrograph

Guiding: Skywatcher ED80 + DSI-C + PHD

Imaging: QHY8 + Nebulosity, 42×300s, IDAS LPR

Stacked: DeepSkyStacker

Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools

Status Quo @ The Silverstone Classic - 25/07/15

Belfast (/ˈbɛl.fɑːst/ or /ˈbɛl.fæst/; from Irish: Béal Feirste, meaning "mouth of the sandbanks") is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, on the River Lagan. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 286,000. Belfast was granted city status in 1888.

 

Belfast was a centre of the Irish linen, tobacco processing, rope-making and shipbuilding industries: in the early 20th century, Harland and Wolff, which built the RMS Titanic, was the biggest and most productive shipyard in the world. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was a global industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. Industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast the biggest city in Ireland at the beginning of the 20th century, and industrial and economic success was cited by unionist opponents of Home Rule as a reason why Ulster should fight to resist it.

 

Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, and is the economic engine of Northern Ireland. The city suffered greatly during the period of conflict called "the Troubles", but latterly has undergone a sustained period of calm, free from the intense political violence of former years, and substantial economic and commercial growth. Additionally, Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square.

 

Belfast is served by two airports: George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles (24 km) west of the city. Belfast is a major port, with commercial and industrial docks dominating the Belfast Lough shoreline, including the Harland and Wolff shipyard, and is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city.

 

Name

 

The name Belfast is derived from the Irish Béal Feirsde, which was later spelled Béal Feirste. The word béal means "mouth" or "rivermouth" while feirsde/feirste is the genitive singular of fearsaid and refers to a sandbar or tidal fordacross a river's mouth. The name would thus translate literally as "(river) mouth of the sandbar" or "(river) mouth of the ford". This sandbar was formed at the confluence of two rivers at what is now Donegall Quay: the Lagan, which flows into Belfast Lough, and its tributary the Farset. This area was the hub around which the original settlement developed. The Irish name Béal Feirste is shared by a townland in County Mayo, whose name has been anglicised as Belfarsad.

 

An alternative interpretation of the name is "mouth of [the river] of the sandbar", an allusion to the River Farset, which flows into the Lagan where the sandbar was located. This interpretation was favoured by Edmund Hoganand John O'Donovan. It seems clear, however, that the river itself was named after the tidal crossing.

 

In Ulster Scots the name of the city is Bilfawst or Bilfaust, although "Belfast" is also used.

  

History

 

The site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giant's Ring, a 5,000-year-old henge, is located near the city, and the remains of Iron Age hill forts can still be seen in the surrounding hills. Belfast remained a small settlement of little importance during the Middle Ages. John de Courcy built a castle on what is now Castle Street in the city centre in the 12th century, but this was on a lesser scale and not as strategically important as Carrickfergus Castle to the north, which was built by de Courcy in 1177. The O'Neill clan had a presence in the area.

 

In the 14th century, Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, descendants of Aodh Buidhe O'Neill built Grey Castle at Castlereagh, now in the east of the city. Conn O'Neill of the Clannaboy O'Neills owned vast lands in the area and was the last inhabitant of Grey Castle, one remaining link being the Conn's Water river flowing through east Belfast.

 

Belfast became a substantial settlement in the 17th century after being established as a town by Sir Arthur Chichester, which was initially settled by Protestant English and Scottish migrants at the time of the Plantation of Ulster. (Belfast and County Antrim, however, did not form part of this particular Plantation scheme as they were privately colonised.) In 1791, the Society of United Irishmen was founded in Belfast, after Henry Joy McCracken and other prominent Presbyterians from the city invited Theobald Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell to a meeting, after having read Tone's "Argument on Behalf of the Catholics of Ireland". Evidence of this period of Belfast's growth can still be seen in the oldest areas of the city, known as the Entries.

 

Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries and became Ireland's pre-eminent industrial city. Industries thrived, including linen, rope-making, tobacco, heavy engineering and shipbuilding, and at the end of the 19th century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest city in Ireland. The Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, employing up to 35,000 workers. In 1886 the city suffered intense riots over the issue of home rule, which had divided the city.

 

In 1920–22, Belfast became the capital of the new entity of Northern Ireland as the island of Ireland was partitioned. The accompanying conflict (the Irish War of Independence) cost up to 500 lives in Belfast, the bloodiest sectarian strife in the city until the Troubles of the late 1960s onwards.

 

The Troubles

 

Belfast has been the capital of Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1921 following the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It had been the scene of various episodes of sectarian conflict between its Catholic and Protestant populations. These opposing groups in this conflict are now often termed republican and loyalist respectively, although they are also referred to as 'nationalist' and 'unionist'. The most recent example of this conflict was known as the Troubles – a civil conflict that raged from around 1969 to 1998.

 

Belfast saw some of the worst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, particularly in the 1970s, with rival paramilitary groups formed on both sides. Bombing, assassination and street violence formed a backdrop to life throughout the Troubles. The Provisional IRA detonated 22 bombs within the confines of Belfast city centre in 1972, on what is known as "Bloody Friday", killing eleven people. Loyalist paramilitaries including the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) claimed that the killings they carried out were in retaliation for the IRA campaign. Most of their victims were Catholics with no links to the Provisional IRA. A particularly notorious group, based on the Shankill Road in the mid-1970s, became known as the Shankill Butchers.

 

In all, over 1,600 people were killed in political violence in the city between 1969 and 2001. Sporadic violent events continue as of 2015, although not supported by the previous antagonists who had reached political agreement in 1998.

  

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfast

   

Dash 8 - MSN 186

Status : Active

Registration : C-GETA

Airline Jazz Air

Jazz Air

Country : Canada

Date : 2006 -

Codes QK JZA

Callsign : Jazz

Web site : www.flyjazz.ca

 

Serial number186

TypeDHC-8 301

First flight dateUnknown

Test registration

Plane age30.3 years

Seat configurationY50 Seat

Engines 2 x PWC PW123

 

C-GETA15/12/1989Time Air

C-GETA01/04/1993Canadian Regional Airlines

C-GETA13/11/2001Air Canada Regional

C-GETA01/04/2002Jazz Air

After terminating in Denville, Montclair-Boonton Line train 1003 heads back east on the Morristown Line as deadhead train X60. The train can be seen here deadheading passed Tabor Lake at Mount Tabor, NJ.

 

NJT X60 @ Tabor Lake, Mount Tabor, NJ

NJTR GP40PH-2B 4203

Portret van Johan van Raye in harnas met zwaard op het Rijksmuseum. Publiek domein. Hij is de derde echtgenoot van Charlotte Elisabeth van der Lith. Hij was van 1735 tot 1737 gouverneur-generaal van Suriname. Dit portret is in 1740 gemaakt drie jaar na zijn dood door Jan van Vilsteren. Dat staat links onderaan in kleine letters. Het is gemaakt in de noordelijke Nederlanden. Het is een "mezzotint en gravure" op papier, afmetingen 205x260mm. Mezzotint in ene gravure is te herkennen aan het verloop van een tint van lichter naar donkerder op ronde vormen als hierboven de boomstam, het harnas of zelfs zijn wang. Zoals het lichte vlak rechts achter zijn hoofd langzaam verloopt van licht naar donker. Normaal werd dat verloop in een gravure bereikt met meer en minder lijntjes arcering, in mezzo wordt dat bereikt met grote aantallen kleine puntjes.

 

In zijn hand houdt hij een envelop vast waarop staat:

"W. Ed. Gest. Heer Joan Raje, Heer van Breukelerwaart enz., enz. Te Suriname". Op het schilderij is hij dus in Suriname, maar de voorstelling heeft erg weinig weg van een Surinaamse omgeving. Door de warmte is het in zo'n harnas in Suriname geen uur vol te houden. Het dragen van een dergelijk harnas kwam in Suriname ook niet voor. De afbeelding lijkt meer op een gedachtenisprent die het hoogtepunt weergeeft van zijn status voorafgaand aan zijn overlijden. Linksachter staat een schild met drie pijlen met daarop een hoofd in wanhoop. Daarboven een schim van het hoofd van een wolf. Terwijl hij dus wel in Suriname is, is de voorstelling in het geheel niet Surinaams. Het is ook bijzonder dat dit schilderij is overgebleven want zijn zoon Joan bleef kinderloos en er wordt aangenomen dat in de gewoontes van die tijd als de familietak uitsterft de zoon toen alle familieportretten heeft laten vernietigen. Daar zit dan mogelijk ook een portret bij van zijn moeder Charlotte Elisabeth van der Lith, want daar is geen portret meer van bekend.

 

URL: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.47110

 

Johan van Raye kwam uit een koopmansfamilie

 

Johan van Raye was geboren in Amsterdam op 10 juni 1699 en heet ook Joan van Raye sr. want zijn zoon heet ook Joan van Raye. Zijn voorvader was een koopman die in 1585 uit Antwerpen wegging naar Amterdam. In 1660 kocht zijn grootvader de ambachtsheerlijkheid Breukelerwaard bij Maarssen. Zijn vader was Jan van Raye, Heer van Breukelerwaard en zijn moeder Alida Catharina Bicker. Terwijl zijn vader raffinadeur van suiker was in Amsterdam was Johan de afslager op de Oude Vismarkt in Amsterdam van 1718-1736. Dit werk werd ook wel gedaan door een plaatsvervanger waardoor Johan in 1726 voor een half jaar op zee kon. Daarna was hij ook buitengewoon kapitein ter zee bij de Admiraliteit van Amsterdam.

 

Gouverneur-generaal van Suriname

 

Op 8 juni 1735 werd Johan van Raye door de Directeuren van de Sociëteit aangesteld tot gouverneur-generaal van Suriname. De baan van afslager draagt hij over aan zijn jongere broer Jacob Bicker Raye. Uit diens dagboek zijn de nodige zakelijke gegevens oven Johan van Raye overgeleverd, want de zoon zou immers zijn eigen familiebescheiden hebben vernietigd. Op 20 september 1735 komt hij aan in Suriname. Hij ergerde zich aan de rommelige toestand op bestuurlijk niveau zoals de ruim 400 onafgedane processen voor het Hof van Justitie. Hij was geschokt door de behandeling van de negerslaven in de kolonie. Hij raakt in twee processen verwikkeld die hij niet kon winnen omdat slaven niet mochten getuigen.

 

Plantage Breukelerwaard

 

Johan van Raye begon aan de Boven-Commewijne rivier een plantage Breukelerwaard van 1400 akkers. Best gunstig gelegen direct achter het Fort Sommelsdijk net voorbij de splitsing van de Commewijne en Cottica rivier en dan met de voor- en achterzijde grenzend aan beide rivieren.

 

Trouwen met de weduwe Charlotte Elisabeth van der Lith

 

Op 2 maart 1737 trouwt Johan van Raye met de weduwe Charlotte Elisabeth van der Lith ongeveer 1,5 jaar na zijn aankomst in Suriname. Charlotte was eerder al met twee vorige gouverneurs van Suriname getrouwd. Van allebei had zij een kind en mocht om die reden van de directeuren van de Sociëteit op het gouvernementshuis blijven wonen. De voorlaatste gouverneur vòòr Johan van Raye was met haar stiefdochter getrouwd, maar die overleed al zes weken na zijn aanstelling. De stiefdochter is toen met haar kind voorgoed naar Nederland vertrokken. Charlotte bezat al de helft van plantage Berg en Dal, haar stiefdochter verkoopt dan de tweede helft aan Charlotte waardoor die enig eigenaar wordt van plantage Berg en Dal. Tijdens haar vorige huwelijk werd het houten gouverneurshuis verbouwd tot een stenen huis waardoor Charlotte merendeels op haar plantage diep in het binnenland verbleef, of waarschijnlijk in haar huis aan de (toen) Gravenstraat 16.

 

Een toekomst in de plantagelandbouw?

 

Misschien wilden Charlotte en Johan zich toeleggen op de plantagelandbouw en afstand doen van alle perikelenen en processen die het gouverneurschap met zich meebracht. Charlotte had plantage Berg en Dal toen al zelf opgewerkt tot een houtplantage. En plantage Breukelerwaard moest nog helemaal worden aangelegd. Van andere plantages is bekend dat zoiets wel 16 jaar kon duren. Met de productie van suiker zou Johan de suikerraffinaderij van zijn vader in Amsterdam ruim kunnen voorzien.

 

Ontslagaanvraag

 

Want twee maanden en een week na zijn trouwen doet Johan al op op 8 mei 1737 zijn tweede ontslagaanvraag bij de Sociëteit. Die wordt hem dan verleend. Een dergelijke aanvraag is ruim 44 dagen onderweg op zee, en een antwoord duurt net zo lang. Hij moet die dus net een paar weken in zijn bezit hebben gehad als hij op 11 augustus 1737 in Paramaribo overlijdt.

 

Op 21 november 1737, drieeneenhalve maand na zijn overlijden bevalt Charlotte van hun zoon Joan van Raye. De broer Jacob Bicker Raye noteert in zijn dagboek dat het haar derde kind is die "geen de minste kennis had aan zijn vader". Charlotte trouwt 4,5 jaar later op 7 februari 1742 met Antoine Audra, de predikant van de Lutherse kerk, en heet zij vervolgens in de papieren van de latere gouverneur Mauricius vrouw Audra. Het huwelijk met de predikant blijft kinderloos, en de predikant overlijdt echter nog hetzelfde jaar op plantage Breukelerwaard. In 1745 komt haar eerste dochter Johanna Baldina Temming uit Nederland terug naar Suriname met haar echtgenoot Etienne Couderc die lid van de Raad van Politie en Crimineele Justitie wordt. In 1747 stuurt Charlotte haar dan 10-jarige zoon Joan van Raye naar Nederland voor zijn verdere opvoeding. Hij zal nooit meer terugkeren naar Suriname. Vier jaar later op 10 mei 1748 trouwt Charlotte tenslotte voor de vijfde keer, nu met een Waalse predikant Bartholomeus Louis Duvoisin uit Zwitserland. Ook dit huwelijk blijft kinderloos en die predikant overlijdt in 1751.

 

Gouverneur Gerard de Schepper

 

Na Johan van Raye sr. wordt Gerard de Schepper op 1 april 1738 ingehuldigd tot gouverneur-generaal van Surimane. Hij was eerst commandeur en had een geheime lastbrief bij zich van de directeuren van de Sociëteit, dat als gouverneur Johan van Raye zou komen te overlijden hij de opvolger zou worden. Hij trad krachtig op als gouverneur maar kreeg meerdere vijanden. Op 15 oktober 1742 komt Johan Jacob Maricius aan in Suriname en neemt twee dagen later het gouverneurschap van hem over.

 

Gouverneur Mauricius

 

Over gouverneur Maricius in Suriname is een apart verhaal in dit album opgenomen. Hij krijgt het ernstig aan de stok met een groep republikeinse planters onder aanvoering van Salomon du Plessis en Charlotte Elisabeth van de Lith. Zo ernstig zelfs dat Mauricius in 1751 naar Nederland moet gaan omdat hij eigenlijk weggepest is. Hij moet zich dan verantwoorden tegenover de Hoge Raad maar weet zich goed te verdedigen en wint het proces. Hij gaat daarna echter niet meer terug naar Suriname. Charlotte Elisabeth van der Lith overlijdt drie maanden later op 6 augustus 1753. Zij wordt op het Fort Zeelandia begraven.

 

Joan van Raye jr.

 

In 1747 stuurt Charlotte Elisabeth van der Lith haar dan 10-jarige zoon Joan van Raye jr. dus naar Nederland voor izjn verdere opvoeding. Hij reist samen met zijn knecht Champagne. Hij gaat wonen bij zijn vaders moeder Aletta Catherina Bicker in Amsterdam. Hij studeert af in twee rechten. Als hij 27 jaar is maakt hij in 1764 een grote reis naar Constantinopel om als diplomaat te worden opgeleid. Na het bezoeken van enkele bijzondere paleizen komt hij in 1766 aan in de Bosporus. Via Griekenland en Napels komt hij enkele jaren later aan in Amsterdam. Van zijn belevenissen maakt hij een uitgebreid verslag dat in handschrift nog aanwezig is in de Koninklijke Bibliotheek in Den Haag.

 

Hij was ook een verzamelaar van vlinders en leende zijn collectie uit. De vlinders werden ook nagetekend. In 1783 erft hij het huis van zijn in 1777 overleden oom Jacob Bicker Raye aan de Keizersgracht in Amsterdam. Rond 1800 woont Joan in de Gouden Bocht. Hij overleed in 1823 op 85-jarige leeftijd.

A secretive bird which likes nothing better than hiding in the middle of an impenetrable bush or thicket. In the UK they breed mostly south of the Severn-Wash line and east from Dorset to Kent. The highest densities are found in the south east: Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Kent and Sussex.

Paxton Pits. 20th April 2016

Orden: Charadriiformes.

Familia:Burhinidae.

Nombre comun: Búcaro

Nombre cientifico:Burhinus bistriatus.

Nombres comunes: Búcaro ( R.D)Alcaraán Americano, Alcaraván, Alcaraván Americano, Alcaraván Dara, Alcaraván Venezolano, Búcaro en Rep. Dom.

Nombre en Ingles:Double-striped Thick-knee

Status: Residente reproductor-AMENAZADA(REP.DOM)

Lugar de captura: Platanales de Rio verde, Cutupú , La Vega, Rep. Dom

Por : Cimarron mayor Panta.

 

I'm being spoilt with all these clear nights :) Yet to sort my timings out so I get it fading from the other side but I hope to practice more :)

Comet C/2013 R1 Lovejoy imaged on 4th December 2013.

80mm ED refractor, Canon 5D MK III, 80 seconds, ISO 3200.

 

A beautiful comet that has been somewhat ignored due to the flurry of interest over comet ISON.

 

Taken from County Down, Northern Ireland.

Adios #racklife. Hello Rando Bag and WTB Horizon tires.

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"Hello, I'm a photography student at Dalian Medical University. I'm making a short documentary about people who work in Dalian's shipyard and harbour. I want to ask you, if you could own your own boat, what would you call it ? Please write the name on the card, and hold it up while I take your portrait. Thank you !"

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