Kongsberg (lit. "The King's Mountain") is a municipality and town at the southern end of the Numedal valley, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. Including the surrounding rural districts, the administrative area is 792 km². 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—amounting to official township—in 1802. Today it is perhaps best known for being the home of Norway's major defence contractor, The Kongsberg Group.
The neighbouring municipalities of Kongsberg are Flesberg to the north, Øvre Eiker and Hof to the east, Lardal, Siljan and Skien to the south, and Sauherad and Notodden to the west. Of these, the two first lie in Buskerud county like Kongsberg, while Hof and Lardal lie in Vestfold, and the others lie in Telemark. The town is divided by the river Numedalslågen, which has three waterfalls in the town itself. Main highways are the E134, crossing Kongsberg east-west (and connected to the E18 to Oslo), and National Highway No. 40 (Riksvei 40), going north-south. Sørlandsbanen railway line stops at Kongsberg station, with connection to local and regional bus lines.
