Captain Mansana was originally printed in 1875 in Norwegian. Captain Mansana was almost immediately published in Danish and Swedish, and later in German. Björnstjerne Björnson (1832-1910) was a poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, editor, public speaker, theatre director, and one of the most prominent public figures in the Norway of his day. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1903 and is generally known, together with Henrik Ibsen, Alexander Kielland, and Jonas Lie, as one of "the four great ones" of 19th-century Norwegian literature. His poem "Ja, vi elsker dette landet" ("Yes, We Love This Land") is the Norwegian national anthem.