Ringerike, Viken County, Eastern Norway Region, Norway

🇳🇴 Ringerike is a municipality in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Ringerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hønefoss.

The municipality of Ringerike was created on 1 January 1964 after the merger of the town of Hønefoss and the rural municipalities of Hole, Norderhov, Tyristrand, and Ådal. However, the area of Hole was removed from the municipality of Ringerike on 1 January 1977 to become a separate municipality once again. The historic area of Ringerike included not just the modern municipality of Ringerike but also Hole and Krødsherad, Modum, and Sigdal.

Etymology The Old Norse form of this name was Hringaríki. The first element is (probably) the genitive plural of hringir, the name of an old Germanic tribe. The last element is ríki n 'kingdom, reich'.

Geography The municipality of Ringerike is bordered on the north by the municipalities of Sør-Aurdal and Søndre Land; on the east by Gran, Jevnaker, Lunner, and Oslo; in the south by Bærum, Hole, and Modum; and in the west by Krødsherad and Flå.

Lakes in the region include: • Samsjøen • Øyangen • Sperillen • Ullerentjernet • Vestre Bjonevatnet.

Economy Billions of Norwegian kroner has been invested (as of 2022) in infrastructure, as a result of a government order (oppdragsbrev) in 2015; the municipality had to do their part in regard to the project "Ringerike Line"; the national budget is not final yet (as of October 2022) and government money for the project has not yet been allocated.

Ringerike is famous for two agriculture products; Ringerike potato (Ringerikspotet) and Ringerike pea (Ringeriksert). Jens Aabel first started production of Ringerike potato around 1867. The Ringerike pea has obtained PDO (protected designation of origin). In June 2007, the Ringerike potato got "protected geographical indication" (PGI) under the name Ringerikspotet fra Ringerike. Six farmers are now producing and packing this special potato at Ask in Ringerike. Most of the potatoes are sold in the Oslo area.

The town was also home to the commercial operations of the Norwegian Mapping Authority which in 2004 divested these to the then Ugland IT Group, later renamed Nordeca. The offices were closed in 2010 with all operations moving to Lysaker due to increasing computerization of map-making.

It is also home to mountain ranges, including Ådalsfjella.