Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/882

BERGAMA. times, the citr was the capital of the kingdom of Pergamus (q.v. ). Many ruins still exist to attest the former magnificence of Bergama. The present population is estimated at 6000.

BERGAMASCO, ber'ga-mas'kd, II. See Cas- TELLO, GlOVAX>a Battista.

BERGAMO, ber'ga-mo (the tovra on the hill, from Celt, hrig, Ger. Berg, hill). A city, capital of the Province of Bergamo, in north Italy, 33 miles northeast of Milan (Map: Italy, D 2). It consists of two distinct sections, the upper city and the lower city, connected by the Via Vittorio Emanuele and by cable-cars. In the lower city are other street railways. The appearance of the upper city, with its hilly streets, its ancient buildings, and its girdle of lofty, bastioned walls, now turned into prome- nades, is picturesquely mediaeval ; that of the city on the plain, with its factories and shops, en- tirely modern. In the old city, grouped around the Garibaldi Place, which contains a bronze statue of Garibaldi, are the mediieval Broletto, which now holds the library of 70,000 volumes, and the first storv' of which is an open colonnade, containing a statue of Torquato Tasso: the Pa- lazzo Nuovo, which has now been converted into a technical school: the cathedral, the interior of which was restored in the Seventeenth Century; the beautiful Twelfth-Century Church of Santa !Maria Maggiore, which contains the monuments of the musicians. Donizetti and Mayr: the Col- leoni Chapel, with its art treasures, and the city Tiall. In the Accademia Carrara, in the new city, is an important collection of paintings. In industry and commerce Bergamo is one of the busiest cities in Italy, and was the first to intro- duce the culture and the manufacture of silk. Other manufactures are those of clothing, hats, iron implements, majolica-ware, confectionery, and organs. The railway put an end to the im- portance of the once famous fair of San Alessan- dro. The ancient Bergomum was a Gallic settle- ment, which received civic rights from Ca?sar. The town became part of the Venetian dominion in 1428, Population, in 1881, 40,000; in 1901, 40,000.

BER'GAMOT (from the Italian city Ber- gamo). Citrus medica. A variety of lime or lemon with a very aromatic rind, yielding, either by expression or distillation, the volatile Oil of Bergamot (known in trade as essence of berga- mot). The oil is a product chiefly of southern Italy, and is much used in perfumery. It is a thin, greenish liquid with a bitter taste. Its peculiar aromatic odor is due probably to lina- lyl acetate, CnXOOC.oHi;, of which it contains about 20 per cent.

Tile name "bergamot' (evidently a corruption of Turk, leg armfidi, a lord's pear) is also ap- plied, in Gr^at Britain and upon the Con- tinent of Europe, to various kinds of pears, to which, however, no common distinctive character can be assigned. The proper bergamot-pear is a flatfish, rough-skinned pear with a long stalk. It has a very soft and juicy pulp of an ex- tremely pleasant flavor, and is esteemed as one of the best dessert pears. Metzger, in his work on the pomaceous fruits of the south of Ger- many (Frankfort, 1847), described no less than fortj--seven kinds of pears that bear the name of 'bergamot,' although some of them are very different from one another.

Finally, T)ergamof is also the popular name of several labiate plants, as in England of Mentha citrata. and in the United States of Mondrda fistuJosa and Monarda didyma.

BERGAMOT, On. or. See Bebgamot,

BERGEDORF, berK'e-dorf. A town of north- ern Germany, situated on the Bille, 10 miles southeast of Hamburg, and connected with the Elbe bj- a navigable canal (Map: Germany, D 2). It gives its name to the surrounding agricultural territory, and has important manufactures of glass and enameled ware. It is the birthplace of the composer. Johann Adolf Hasse. Population, in 1890, 6957; in 1900, 10,243, Bergedorf was held jointly by Liibeck and Hamburg until 1867, hen Liibeck resigned its rights to Hamburg on payment of 200,000 thalers,

BERGEN, ber'gen (Ger. Berg, hill, referring to its position). A Xorway seaport in the prov- ince of the same name, situated on a promontory at the head of a deep bay, called Vaagen, on the -Ulantic coast, in latitude 60° 24' X. longitude 5° 18' E. (Map: Norway, A 6). With the ex- ception of the northeast side, where lofty moim- tains inclose it, Bergen is surrounded by water. It is walled, and additionally protected by sev- eral forts,- now used merely as barracks and depots for supplies. The entrance to the har- bor is dangerous without a pilot, but within it is safe and commodious. Though it lies farther north than Saint Petersburg, its climate is very mild and moist, winter being of short duration. The thermometer seldom drops below 18° Fahr., but the rainfall is hea'y, averaging seventy-two inches, Bergen is built in a semi- circular form round the harbor, and has a pictur- esque appearance from the sea. It is generally well and substantially built, the older houses being of wood, and the streets being intersected by open spaces as a precaution against fires. A portion of the city burned in 185.5 has been rebuilt very regularly. An electric street rail- road nins through the city. Its chief buildings are the cathedral and nautical school, the public library with 80,000 volumes, the observatory, and the general museum, Bergen's principal indus- tries are ship-building and barrel-making. The city's chief importance is derived from the cod- fishing trade on the nortli coast, the place being the great fish market of Norway, Twice a year the Norlandinen come to Bergen with their fish. In llarch and April several hundred vessels are to be seen in the harbor of Bergen at once, laden with the produce of the winter fishing and with skins and feathers. The sum- mer fi.shing is not quite so productive. Codfish for salting, fish-roe, blubber, skins, herrings, and cod-liver oil are the chief exports, amotmting to two-fifths that of the entire country. A fair, attended by fishermen of all nations, is annually held. A fishery museum was established here in 1881. The chief imports are brandy, wine, com, cotton, woolens, hemp, sugar, coffee, etc, Bergen is second only to Christiania in the export and shipping-trade of Norway, and her citizens own one-third of the shipping of the country. The United States is represented by a consul. There is a marine biological station here. Bergen was founded in 1069 or 1070, by Olaf Kyrre, who made it the second city in his kingdom, and it was soon raised to the first rank. The black pestilence which ravaged Norway first made its