  We present a detailed study of the brighter ($> 4\sigma$ detections) sources
in the 170$\mu$m FIRBACK northern N1 ISO survey, with the help of complementary
data in the optical, radio, and mid-IR domain. For 82% of them, an optical
galaxy counterpart is identified, either as the unique source of the IR
emission, or as part of a multiple identification. With less than 15% of AGNs,
these sources are essentially local, moderate starbursters with a dominating
cold dust component. and represent a population of cold galaxies rather
neglected up to now. Their colours do not match those of the far-IR Cosmic IR
Background (CIB), to which they contribute less than 5%. The bulk of the
sources contributing to the CIB is thus to be searched for in more distant
galaxies, possibly counterparts of the fainter FIRBACK sources still under
study. These bright, local, galaxies however play an important role in the
evolution of IR galaxies: they dominate the number counts at high 170 $\mu$m
fluxes, and represent half of the contribution at 250 mJy. Although not
particularly massive (typically M*), they form more stars than a typical spiral
galaxy and many are bulge dominated, that could represent the remnant of a
former merger. The fainter part of this population may represent the missing
link with the higher-z sources found in sub-mm observations.
