Gothenburg

Gothenburg (Swed. Göteborg), next to Stockholm the most important town of Sweden, stands at the mouth of the Göta, in 57° 42' N. lat. and 11° 58' E. long. Although originally founded by Gustavus Adolphus in 1618-21, the town, in consequence of numerous fires, is quite modern—regularly built and clean, with several canals, crossed by numerous bridges. The harbour is excellent, and seldom obstructed by ice. The few buildings which deserve special mention are the exchange, cathedral, and town-hall. There is a museum (art, zoology, industry) besides a fine garden belonging to the Horticultural Society. The more important industries embrace ship-building, iron-working, sugar-refining, the manufacture of matches, paper, wood pulp, and porter, and herring-fishing. The exports consist principally of iron, timber, grain, butter, matches, paper, wood pulp, zinc ore, hides; the imports of coal, iron, salt, flour, grain, machinery, oils, rice, wines and spirits, and sugar, the annual value of imports and exports being each about 3 millions. The port is entered and cleared by about 5070 vessels of 1,815,380 tons burden every year. The commercial importance of Gothenburg dates from the Continental blockade of 1806, when it became the chief British depôt in northern Europe. The town has given its name to the Gothenburg Licensing System, which originated here in 1865. All the wine and spirit shops are kept by a company licensed by the town authorities, and are conducted by salaried managers; all profits remaining after the company has been allowed five per cent on its capital go into the town treasury. See LICENSING LAWS. Pop. (1877) 71,707; (1888) 99,647; (1895) 111,250.