Kongsberg

Sister cities

• Espoo
• Chitose
• Kristianstad Municipality
• Gouda

History

Kongsberg was founded by Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV as a mining community in 1624 after the discovery of silver. In its second year, the town of Kongsberg and the Kongsberg Silver Mines began. According to official records, silver was first discovered by the shepherds children Helga Verp and Jacob Grosvold in the summer of 1623. However, the existence of deposits of precious metals was known previously, as evidenced by indications of earlier silver mining. With the rise of silver mining, Kongsberg became the largest industrial center in Norway before the industrial revolution. At the peak of silver mining in the early eighteenth century, Kongsberg's silver mines and related industries contributed 10% of the Denmark–Norway gross national product. To develop the Kongsberg Silver Mines, Christian IV hired Germans from the silver mines of Saxony and Harz and brought in Germans from other mines in Norway. The Germans brought their knowledge of mining technology, especially important during the start-up phase. Before 1623, the city was located in the royal territory of Sandsvær. Four years after the establishment of the Kongsberg Silver Mines, most of the 1,500 workers and officials were still German. Gradually, Norwegians entered the workforce and were hired as supervisors. In 1636, 1,370 Germans and 1,600 Norwegians were employed there. In 1648, there were 1,500 Germans and 2,400 Norwegians working in Kongsberg. Gunpowder was officially introduced in mining in 1681. Mining in the particularly hard rock of Kongsberg Mountain was energy intensive, so the silver mine continued to develop new technology to reduce production costs. A large artificial dam powered the mine's hoists before electricity was introduced. In 1624, a road from Hokksund to Kongsberg was built…

Geography

Kongsberg is located at the mouth of the valley Numedal; farther to the South the valley is called Lågendalen. Flesberg Municipality is located to the north; Øvre Eiker Municipality and Holmestrand Municipality are to the east; Larvik Municipality, Siljan Municipality, and Skien Municipality are to the south; and Midt-Telemark Municipality and Notodden Municipality are to the west. Of these, the two first lie in Buskerud county like Kongsberg, while Holmestrand and Larvik lie in Vestfold county, and the others lie in Telemark county. The town is divided by the river Numedalslågen, which has three waterfalls in the town itself.

Most-observed species

• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,117
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,764
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,313
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,252
• Graylag Goose

  Anser anser (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,240
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,199
• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,178
• Common Goldeneye

  Bucephala clangula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,176

Most recent

• M 3.9 — 2026-04-26
  1 km SSE of Sørumsand, Norway
• M 2.9 — 2008-05-25
  4 km WSW of Åneby, Norway
• M 2.6 — 2005-01-29
  7 km NNE of Hvittingfoss, Norway
• M 2.6 — 2004-12-29
  10 km WNW of Flateby, Norway