Gustav II AdolfThe History of Göteborg

The origin of Göteborg lies in Lödöse, 40 kilometres up the Göta älv river. During the 11th century Lödöse grew into a town. In 1473 the people of Lödöse were ordered to move to another town called Nylöse. Today that town is called Gamlestaden, the Old Town, and is a part of Göteborg. The name Göteborg appeared for the first time briefly between 1607 and 1611 at what is now the northern end of the Älvsborg bridge on the island of Hisingen. This and other settled areas were destroyed during conflicts between Sweden and the then so powerful Denmark.

Dutch salesmen built up modern Göteborg. They used the cityplan of Amsterdam with the network of canals because Göteborg had the same marshy ground as Amsterdam. The canals served as transportation, drainage, sewerage and water supply for the people. Gustav II Adolf was the king who founded modern Göteborg the year of 1621. From the beginning Göteborg was fortified with an advanced defensive system of granite bastions and ravelines supported on the extensive piling in the soft clay. The fortifications were successively modernised. The fortified towers Kronan, the Crown, and Westgöta Lejon, the Lion, was built and the fortress Nya Elfsborgs fästning, New Elfsborg, was built on an island in the river.

Increased trade and shipping made it possible for Göteborg to grow. In the 18th century the town was the headquarters of the Swedish East India Company, a shipping line with exclusive Swedish rights to the eastern trade routes, as far as China. Tea and chinaware, the luxury goods of the period, were brought into Sweden this way. By mid-18th century Göteborg had 10,000 inhabitants. During the 19th century, Göteborg was industrialised and grew from 13,000 people in 1800 to 130,000 in 1900.

Göteborg currently has close to 500,000 inhabitants and is the second largest city of Sweden, surpassed only by the capital, Stockholm.

 

  

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