Ringerike
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| County | Buskerud | |
| Landscape | Ringerike | |
| Municipality | NO-0605 | |
| Administrative centre | Hønefoss | |
| Mayor (2003) | Kolbjørn Kværum (Ap) | |
| Official language form | Bokmål | |
| Area - Total - Land - Percentage | Ranked 47 1,552 km² 1,423 km² 0.48 % | |
| Population - Total (2004) - Percentage - Change (10 years) - Density | Ranked 26 28,060 0.61 % 2.4 % 20/km² | |
| Coordinates | Template:Coor dm | |
| www.ringerike.kommune.no Data from Statistics Norway (http://www.ssb.no/english/municipalities/0605) | ||
Ringerike is a municipality in the county of Buskerud, Norway. The town of Hønefoss is the administrative center.
The landscape of Ringerike
The name Ringerike is also used to mean the whole landscape of Ringerike: a wider area than that covered by the municipality itself — todays municipality of Hole, and sometimes Jevnaker, also being included in the landscape.
There are many archaeological remains in the area, dating from the earliest times as well as from the medieval period. Ringerike has been mentioned in Norwegian history since the earliest times.
In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, the landscape was a petty kingdom, the Norwegian word rike meaning "kingdom".
History
Ringerike was, according to Norse tradition, named for the Hringari tribe. It was located to the north of modern Oslo. Sigurd Hjort Helgasson, a king of Ringerike, was the father of Ragnhild, the mother of Harald Harfargr, unifier of Norway. Following Harald's consolodation of Norway in the late 800's CE, the kingdom appears to have been ruled by a series of local jarls and client kings. One, Harald's son Halfdan Haleg, met his end in Orkney at the hands of Jarl Turf-Einar, who reputedly performed the blood-eagle on him. A later subking of Ringerike, Sigurd Syr, was the father of Harald Hardrada.
| Municipalities of Buskerud | Missing image Buskerud_vapen.png Buskerud coat of arms |
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Drammen | Flesberg | Flå | Gol | Hemsedal | Hol | Hole | Hurum | Kongsberg | Krødsherad | Lier | Modum | Nedre Eiker | Nes | Nore og Uvdal | Ringerike | Rollag | Røyken | Sigdal | Øvre Eiker | Ål | |