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Did you know that Oslo hasn't always been Norway's capital?

Avaldsnes Historians disagree about exactly when Norway was first unified as a kingdom, and the existence and true significance of some of the early kings is disputed. But according to the Icelandic sagas, anyway, it was King Harald Fairhair who first unified Norway after winning the Battle of Hafrsfjord in 872. He then went on to rule from his royal estate in Avaldsnes, now a village north of Stavanger, giving the town a claim to being Norway's first capital. The country split again after his death in 932 and it wasn't until 997 that a new national capital, Trondheim, was established. The construction of Nidaros Cathedral cemented Trondheim's place as Norway's religious capital. Photo: CH/VisitNorway Trondheim The new king, Olaf Tryggvason, founded Trondheim - then called Nidaros - in 997 after returning from decades of marauding in the British Isles. Trondheim then largely remained Norway's capital until it was supplanted by Bergen in 1217. Olaf II, "Olaf the Stout", or Saint Olaf, moved the capital to Sarpsborg, southeast of Oslo, for the duration of his 12-year reign. But on his death in 1028, the capital reverted to Nidaros where Olaf himself was buried, with the tomb later becoming the site of the magnificent Nidaros Cathedral. Advertisement Bergen Bergen, then called Bjørgvin, was founded in 1067 by Olaf III, and grew rapidly in importance, competing with Nidaros/Trondheim for dominance. When King Håkon Håkonsson was crowned in Bergen in 1247, Bergen arguably became Norway's capital, with Håkon's son Magnus VI ruling from the city between 1261 and 1265. Oslo Oslo didn't take on the mantle of capital until 1299, when Håkon V moved the royal residence to the city, after which it gradually became the central administrative capital, remaining dominant for another 100 years. Advertisement Copenhagen Oslo remained the administrative capital of Norway, but after the formation of the Kalmar Union in 1397, real power over Norway shifted to Copenhagen. After Sweden left the union in 1523, Copenhagen's dominance was to continue until Norway was passed to Sweden in 1814. Oslo continued to develop, however. After the city was destroyed by fire in 1624, the then king of Denmark-Norway, Christian IV rebuilt the city next to the Akershus Fortress, renaming it Christiania. Christiania/Oslo as capital After Norway was ceded to Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel in 1814, Christiania became the capital of a new, semi-autonomous Norway, which was then given its own constitution and a high degree of independence from Sweden. It wouldn't be until 1905, however, that Oslo, then still named Christiania, would become the capital of a fully independent nation for the first time over 700 years.