BODO AFFAIR

(181821), a diplomatic scandal involving Sweden-Norway (then a dual monarchy) and Great Britain, which served to rally Norwegian separatists. The affair arose over the supposed illegal trading activities of an English company in the Norwegian port of Bod, where Norwegian officials in 1818 seized a large cargo of the company and arrested one of its owners, who later escaped. The Stockholm foreign ministry, which handled the foreign affairs of Norway, seemed to the Norwegians to be unreasonably favourable to British claims over the Bod incident, arousing Norwegian nationalism. In 1821 compensation was paid to the British company over Norwegian objections. While of minor importance in itself, the Bod incident inflamed Norwegian separatists until the dissolution of the union in 1905.