SVERIGE	SWEDEN
län: Västra Götaland

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Göteborg (English: Gothenburg), the capital of Västra Götaland County, is situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, about 400 km southwest of Sweden's capital, Stockholm. With a population of about 603,000 (2019) in the city proper and about 1.1 million in the metropolitan area, it is Sweden's second-largest city. The Trollhätte Canal, leading to Trollhättan, begins in Gothenburg. Together with the Göta Canal, it forms a 390-km-long waterway across Sweden to the Baltic Sea.

In the early modern period, the configuration of Sweden's borders made Gothenburg strategically critical as the only Swedish gateway to Skagerrak, the North Sea and Atlantic, situated on the west coast in a very narrow strip of Swedish territory between Danish Halland in the south and Norwegian Bohuslän in the north. After several failed attempts, Gothenburg was successfully founded in 1621 by King Gustaf II Adolf on a low-lying area on the southern bank of the Göta River. Dutch planners and engineers were contracted to construct the city as thus the town was designed like Dutch cities such as Amsterdam, Batavia (Jakarta) and New Amsterdam (Manhattan, New York). Dutchmen initially won political power, and it was not until 1652 that Swedes acquired full political power over Gothenburg. In the Treaty of Roskilde (1658), Denmark-Norway ceded the Danish province of Halland, in the south, and the Norwegian province Bohuslän in the north, which left Gothenburg less exposed. Gothenburg grew into a significant port and trade centre on the west coast, because it was the only city on the west coast that, along with Marstrand, was granted the rights to trade with merchants from other countries. Until the 18th century, fishing was the most important industry. However, in 1731, the Swedish East India Company was founded, and the city flourished due to its foreign trade with highly profitable commercial expeditions to China. The harbour developed into Sweden's main harbour for trade towards the west, and when Swedish emigration to the United States increased, Gothenburg became Sweden's main point of departure for these travellers. With the 19th century, Gothenburg evolved into a modern industrial city that continued on into the 20th century.

The German Church (Swedish: Tyska kyrkan) [left, no. 4550: background], also called Christina Church (Christinae kyrkan), named for Queen Christina, was consecrated originally built in 1634–1648 and was used by the German and Dutch congregation in Gothenburg. After a large fire in 1669, which destroyed large parts of the city, the church was rebuilt until 1699. After another large fire in 1746, he church was again rebuilt until 1748, the new tower was completed in 1783. In 1961, a 42-bell carillion was installed in the tower. The church was renovated in 2000–2001.

Stora hamnkanalen (Great Harbour Canal) [foreground], here labeled as Södra hamnkanalen (Southern Harbour Canal) bisects the old town from west to east.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothenburg, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6teborg; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christinenkirche_(G%C3%B6teborg); https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6teborgs_kanaler]