Christian Michelsen

Born Mar. 15, 1857, in Bergen; died June 29, 1925, in Fjosanger, near Bergen. Norwegian political figure.

Educated in the legal profession, Michelsen practiced law in Bergen from 1879 to 1884. He founded a shipping firm in 1884 and was mayor of Bergen from 1892 to 1898. From 1892 to 1894 he was a member of the Storting, chairman of the constitutional committee, and a leader of the right wing of the Liberal (Venstre) Party. From 1903 to 1905 he was a minister in the coalition government, and from 1905 to 1907 he was prime minister in the government that dissolved the unequal union between Norway and Sweden. In 1908 he became one of the founders of a right-wing liberal party, the Moderate Liberals (Frisinnede Venstre). In 1910 he organized the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association.