Lödöse
Encyclopedia
Lödöse is a locality
situated in Lilla Edet Municipality
, Västra Götaland County
, Sweden
. It had 1,265 inhabitants in 2005. It is considered the precursor to modern day Gothenburg
, the second largest city in Sweden.
By the year 1000, Lödöse was an important trading town, located between modern-day Oslo
and Copenhagen
and near the mouth of the Göta river
. It was Sweden's only port on the West Coast: hence, it had great strategic importance. Trapped as it was between Norway
and Denmark
, Lödöse was moved to the site of present day Gothenburg (Göteborg) to escape taxes levied on merchants.
Today, Lödöse is a small town with 1,300 inhabitants in Lilla Edet Municipality
, 40 kilometers northeast of Gothenburg up the Göta älv
. The medieval history of the town is displayed at the prize-winning Middle Age museum – Lödöse Museum – which opened 1996.
Urban areas in Sweden
Urban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States.A tätort in Sweden has a minimum of...
situated in Lilla Edet Municipality
Lilla Edet Municipality
Lilla Edet Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Lilla Edet....
, Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County is a county or län on the western coast of Sweden.The county is the second largest of Sweden's counties and it is subdivided into 49 municipalities . Its population of 1,550,000 amounts to 17% of Sweden's population...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. It had 1,265 inhabitants in 2005. It is considered the precursor to modern day Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, the second largest city in Sweden.
By the year 1000, Lödöse was an important trading town, located between modern-day Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
and Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
and near the mouth of the Göta river
Göta älv
The Göta is a river that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat at the city of Gothenburg on the western coast of Sweden. It is located in Götaland, with the river itself being a site of early Geatish settlement. The length is 93 km. Often the combination of Göta älv and Klarälven is mentioned...
. It was Sweden's only port on the West Coast: hence, it had great strategic importance. Trapped as it was between Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Lödöse was moved to the site of present day Gothenburg (Göteborg) to escape taxes levied on merchants.
Today, Lödöse is a small town with 1,300 inhabitants in Lilla Edet Municipality
Lilla Edet Municipality
Lilla Edet Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Lilla Edet....
, 40 kilometers northeast of Gothenburg up the Göta älv
Göta älv
The Göta is a river that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat at the city of Gothenburg on the western coast of Sweden. It is located in Götaland, with the river itself being a site of early Geatish settlement. The length is 93 km. Often the combination of Göta älv and Klarälven is mentioned...
. The medieval history of the town is displayed at the prize-winning Middle Age museum – Lödöse Museum – which opened 1996.