In the 13th and 14th centuries German Hansa merchants dominated North
European maritime trade. They created trade settlements abroad and new
towns in the Baltic. The Kontor in Bergen was the largest of these
settlements and had ca. 1000 residents in winter, increasing to 2000 in
summer. Its counterpart was a Norwegian state whose authority declined
after 1319. The resulting military, administrative and judicial
relations are unique in Northern Europe. The great expansion in the
Bergen stockfish trade took place 1250-1320 and declined after the Black
Death. Norwegian merchants and state officials found the Kontor presence
problematic, but stockfish producing households between Bergen and the
Barents Sea saw the trade as a source of economic welfare and better
food security.