"Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second largest city in Sweden after Stockholm and the fifth largest amongst the Nordic countries. It is the capital of Västra Götaland County (West Gothia). The city is located on the south west-coast.
Gothenburg has a population of 500,181 and 510,491 in the urban area. The metropolitan area has a population of 905,729.
The City of Gothenburg was founded in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. It is situated by the sea at the mouth of Göta Älv, the river running through the city, and is the largest sea port of the Nordic countries. Gothenburg is also a significant university city with a large student population of both the University of Gothenburg, which is Scandinavia's largest university, and Chalmers University of Technology.

Name

The city was named after the Geats (Swedish: Götar varied: Geatas, Gautar, Goths, Gotar, Gøtar, Götar), the inhabitants of Gothia, now southern Sweden - i.e. "Defense of the Geats". The river on which the city sits is the Götaälv or Gothia River. Göta borg is the fort on the Göta River, built to protect the port, which was created to be Sweden's commercial window to the west.

In Dutch, Scots, German and English — all languages with a long history of being spoken in the trade and maritime-oriented city — the name Gothenburg has traditionally been used for the city. The French form of the city name is Gothembourg. Gottenburg can also be seen in some older English texts. These traditional forms are now sometimes replaced with the use of the Swedish Göteborg, for example by the Göteborg Opera, Göteborg Ballet, Göteborg International Film Festival, and by the city itself (in English, the City of Göteborg). Many British newspapers, and the U.S. Navy, also refer to the city in English as Göteborg. Effective February 1, 2008, however, Göteborgs universitet, previously designated as Göteborg University in English, changed to the University of Gothenburg. Other old variations in Swedish are Götheborgh, and the most common, Götheborg."