The Birth and Growth of
By Peter Berlin weden’s second largest city is called Göteborg in Swedish and is pronounced Yuhtebory. “Gothenburg” is an example of an exonym – a foreign corruption of a native word or name occasioned by the inability of foreigners to pronounce the original correctly or, in this particular case, for historic reasons. Gothenburg, or variants thereof, was the name of the first semblance of a city that was established at the mouth of the Göta River in 1604. The founders were primarily maritime folks from the Netherlands, Germany and Scotland, and
S
they found it easier to wrap their tongues around “Gothenburg” than Göteborg. The Danes burned the city to the ground in 1611, so the Dutch, the Germans, the Scotsmen and a few Swedes had to rebuild it from scratch. According to legend, as the Swedish king was looking for a suitable location for the new city, suddenly a dove fleeing from an eagle landed at his feet, seeking shelter. King Gustavus Adolphus took that as a sign from God that this would be the location of the city, and uttered the immortal words: “Here shall the city lie!” Gothenburg became Sweden’s trade window to the rest of the world via Göta River, Kattegatt, the
North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The window was narrow indeed, with the Danish province of Halland to the immediate south and the Norwegian province of Bohuslän to the north – hostile neighbours for the most part. In 1658 the Swedish king had had enough of constant Danish-Norwegian incursions and seized both Halland and Bohuslän. As a result, Gothenburg’s existence became less precarious but remained as cosmopolitan as ever. By the time the city received its royal charter in 1621, the city council had four Swedish, three German, three Dutch, and two Scottish members.
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Swedish Press | November 2020 11
