Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, its population was 55,442. Lying along the Holston River, Kingsport is commonly included in what is known as the Mountain Empire, which spans a ration of southwest Virginia and the mountainous counties in northeastern Tennessee. It is the largest city in the Kingsport–Bristol metropolitan area, which had a population of 307,614 in 2020. The metro Place is a component of the larger Tri-Cities region of Tennessee and Virginia, with a population of 508,260 in 2020.

The name “Kingsport” is a simplification of “King’s Port”, originally referring to the Place on the Holston River known as King’s Boat Yard, the head of navigation for the Tennessee Valley.

Kingsport was developed after the Revolutionary War, at the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Holston River. In 1787 it was known as “Salt Lick” for an ancient mineral lick. It was first arranged along the banks of the South Fork, about a mile from the confluence. The Long Island of the Holston River is near the confluence, which is mostly within the present-day corporate boundaries of Kingsport. The island was an important site for the Cherokee, colonial pioneers and to the fore settlers, and specifically mentioned in the 1770 Treaty of Lochaber.

Early settlements at the site were used as a staging sports ground for other pioneers who were traveling overland on the Wilderness Road leading to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap. First chartered in 1822, Kingsport became an important shipping port on the Holston River. Goods originating for many miles nearly from the surrounding countryside were loaded onto barges for the journey downriver to the Tennessee River at Knoxville.