or Kalenberg, the name of a district, including the town of Hanover, which was formerly part of the duchy of Brunswick. It received its name from a castle near Schulenburg, and is traversed by the rivers Weser and Leine, its area being about 1050 sq. m. The district was given to various cadets of the ruling house of Brunswick, one of these being Ernest Augustus, afterwards elector of Hanover, and the ancestor of the Hanoverian kings of Great Britain and Ireland.