Kongsberg

The town Kongsberg (lit. The King's Mountain) in the county of Buskerud, Norway, has 22,657 inhabitants as of January 1, 2002, its bicentennial. The town was founded in 1624 under the name Konings Bierg by Danish/Norwegian king Christian IV as a mining community (see below), and was granted its royal charter of trade, thus making it a proper town, in 1802.

Kongsberg is particularily known for its old silver mines, from which roughly 1350 metric tons of silver was extracted between the discovery of silver ore in 1623, and 1957, when the last mine was closed. In 1814, following a year of famine, mining was complemented by defence industry, the latter gradually evolving to dominate the town's employment (see Kongsberg Gruppen).