Kongsberg

Kongsberg ( listen ) is a town and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway.

The city was founded in 1624 under the name Konings Bierg by Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV as a mining community. It was granted its royal charter of trade—amounting to official township—in 1802. The municipality of Kongsberg was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipalities of Ytre Sandsvær and Øvre Sandsvær were merged into the municipality of Kongsberg on 1 January 1964.

Today, Kongsberg is perhaps best known for being the home of Norway's major defence contractor, Kongsberg Gruppen, formerly Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk. Two of its well known products were the Kongsberg Colt and the Krag–Jørgensen rifle. The latter was adopted in the late 19th century as the standard army rifle in Denmark, United States of America and Norway.

Name

The name Konings Bierg, a modern form Kongsberg, is based on the following two elements: the genitive case of konge which means "king" (referring to king Christian IV) and berg which means "mountain".