[5] Goslar is situated in the middle of the upper half of Germany, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Brunswick and about 70 km (43 mi) southeast of the state capital, Hanover.

Geographically, Goslar forms the boundary between the Hildesheim Börde which is part of the Northern German Plain, and the Harz range, which is the highest, northernmost extension of Germany's Central Uplands.

In the northeast the Harly Forest stretches down to the River Oker, in the east, Goslar borders on the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Immediately to the south the Harz range rises above the historic borough at a height of 636 m (2,087 ft) at Mt Rammelsberg.

The eponymic River Gose originates approximately 9 kilometres (6 miles) south-west of Goslar at the Auerhahn Pass (638 m (2,093 ft)) east of the Bocksberg mountain.

The settlement on the Gose creek was first mentioned in a 979 deed issued by Emperor Otto II; it was located in the Saxon homelands of the Ottonian dynasty and probably a royal palace (Königspfalz) already existed at the site.

Goslar became the favourite residence of Conrad's son Henry III, who stayed at the palace about twenty times.

Shortly before his death in 1056 Emperor Henry III met Pope Victor II in the church, emphasizing the union of secular and ecclesiastical power.

While Henry aimed at securing the enormous wealth deriving from the Rammlesberg silver mines as a royal demesne, the dissatisfaction of local nobles escalated with the Saxon revolt 1073–1075.

During the German throne dispute the Welf king Otto IV laid siege to the town in 1198 but had to yield to the forces of his Hohenstaufen rival Philip of Swabia.

Though a complaint was successfully lodged with the Reichskammergericht by the Goslar citizens, a subsequent gruelling feud with the duke lasted for decades.

Goslar was temporarily placed under Imperial ban, while the Protestant Reformation was introduced in the city by theologian Nicolaus von Amsdorf who issued a first church constitution in 1531.

After years of continued skirmishes, they finally had to grant Duke Henry and his son Julius extensive mining rights which ultimately edged out the city council.

Goslar and its economy was hit hard by the Thirty Years' War, mainly by the Kipper und Wipper financial crisis in the 1620s which led to several revolts and pogroms.

Facing renewed aggressions by Duke Christian the Younger of Brunswick, the citizens sought support from the Imperial military leaders Tilly and Wallenstein.

The city was occupied by the Swedish forces of King Gustavus Adolphus from 1632 to 1635; in 1642 a peace agreement was reached between Emperor Ferdinand III and the Brunswick duke Augustus the Younger.

To dispel homesickness he started to write a few verses about his childhood, which would eventually evolve into the masterpiece that was published in 13 volumes after his death as The Prelude.

Nevertheless, the status of Imperial immediacy was finally lost, when Goslar was annexed by Prussian forces during the Napoleonic Wars in 1802, confirmed by the German Mediatisation the next year.

After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 Reichsminister Richard Walther Darré made Goslar the seat of the agricultural Reichsnährstand corporation.

In the course of German rearmament a Luftwaffe airbase was built north of the town and several war supplier companies located in the vicinity, including subcamps of the Buchenwald and Neuengamme concentration camps.

In the summer of 2018 a bottled typewritten message dated 26 March 1930 was discovered in the roof of Goslar Cathedral, signed by four roofers, who bemoaned the economic state of the country.

[citation needed] Situated at the foot of the Harz mountains, Goslar offers a range of outdoor pursuits including swimming, rock climbing, motor sports, flying, sailing and mountain-biking.

The football department of Goslarer SC 08 earned the right to play in the fourth division Regionalliga Nord in 2009-10 after winning the Oberliga Niedersachsen championship.

[13] In 2006 Goslar hosted the Salier Year to celebrate the founding of this ancient German Imperial dynasty a millennium ago.

The Achtermann Hotel and the Kaiserpfalz are popular conference centres, host to the annual German Road & Transport Tribunal Days: the Deutscher Verkehrsgerichtstag The largest employers in Goslar are H.C. Starck (chemistry company), tourism and the civil service.

The supplementary public Waldorf school Harz – Branch Goslar educates its pupils along a more spiritual line termed anthroposophy, based on the teachings of the Austrian pedagogue Rudolf Steiner.

[14] BBS 1 Goslar -Am Stadtgarten- focuses on education in business administration, economics, health services and information and communications technology (ICT).

Some 80 km (50 mi) to the south is the highly acclaimed University of Göttingen (founded by King George II of Great Britain).

Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System UNESCO Official Website Circles est.