History of Gothenburg
The history of Gothenburg (Swedish: Göteborg) begins with the foundation of the city in 1621, although by that time people had already been living in the area for thousands of years, since the Neolithic Period, and moreover there had already been a series of earlier settlements on the lower Göta Älv, including one which also bore the name Gothenburg. The Göta Älv has been of crucial importance throughout Swedish history as the country's only direct outlet to the North Sea, and thus to the wider world beyond the Baltic Sea.