1.
Judaism
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Judaism encompasses the religion, philosophy, culture and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism is an ancient monotheistic Abrahamic religion, with the Torah as its text, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the relationship that God established with the Children of Israel. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth-largest religion in the world, Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Modern branches of Judaism such as Humanistic Judaism may be nontheistic, today, the largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. Major sources of difference between groups are their approaches to Jewish law, the authority of the Rabbinic tradition. Orthodox Judaism maintains that the Torah and Jewish law are divine in origin, eternal and unalterable, Conservative and Reform Judaism are more liberal, with Conservative Judaism generally promoting a more traditional interpretation of Judaisms requirements than Reform Judaism. A typical Reform position is that Jewish law should be viewed as a set of guidelines rather than as a set of restrictions and obligations whose observance is required of all Jews. Historically, special courts enforced Jewish law, today, these still exist. Authority on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person or organization, the history of Judaism spans more than 3,000 years. Judaism has its roots as a religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions, the Hebrews and Israelites were already referred to as Jews in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title Children of Israel. Judaisms texts, traditions and values strongly influenced later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity, Islam, many aspects of Judaism have also directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law. Jews are a group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2015, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14.3 million, Judaism thus begins with ethical monotheism, the belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of humankind. According to the Tanakh, God promised Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation, many generations later, he commanded the nation of Israel to love and worship only one God, that is, the Jewish nation is to reciprocate Gods concern for the world. He also commanded the Jewish people to one another, that is. These commandments are but two of a corpus of commandments and laws that constitute this covenant, which is the substance of Judaism
2.
Swedish language
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Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken natively by more than 9 million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It is currently the largest of the North Germanic languages by number of speakers, Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties descended from the rural dialects still exist. The standard word order is, as in most Germanic languages, V2, Swedish morphology is similar to English, that is, words have comparatively few inflections. There are two genders, no cases, and a distinction between plural and singular. Older analyses posit the cases nominative and genitive and there are remains of distinct accusative and dative forms as well. Adjectives are compared as in English, and are inflected according to gender, number. The definiteness of nouns is marked primarily through suffixes, complemented with separate definite and indefinite articles, the prosody features both stress and in most dialects tonal qualities. The language has a large vowel inventory. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless velar fricative, a highly variable consonant phoneme. Swedish is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, by many general criteria of mutual intelligibility, the Continental Scandinavian languages could very well be considered dialects of a common Scandinavian language. In the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language began to undergo new changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, the dialects of Old East Norse that were spoken in Sweden are called Runic Swedish while the dialects of Denmark are referred to as Runic Danish. The dialects are described as runic because the body of text appears in the runic alphabet. Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse was written with the Younger Futhark alphabet, from 1200 onwards, the dialects in Denmark began to diverge from those of Sweden. An early change that separated Runic Danish from the dialects of Old East Norse was the change of the diphthong æi to the monophthong é. This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read stain, there was also a change of au as in dauðr into a long open ø as in døðr dead
3.
Gothenburg
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Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, the city has a population of approximately 550,000 in the urban area, Gothenburg was founded as a heavily fortified, primarily Dutch, trading colony, by royal charter in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. At a key location at the mouth of the Göta älv, where Scandinavias largest drainage basin enters the sea. Gothenburg is home to students, as the city includes the University of Gothenburg. Volvo was founded in Gothenburg in 1927, the original, parent Volvo Group and the now separate Volvo Car Corporation are still headquartered on the island of Hisingen in the city. Other key companies are SKF and Astra Zeneca, Gothenburg is served by Göteborg Landvetter Airport 30 km southeast of the city center. The smaller Göteborg City Airport,15 km from the city center, was closed to airline traffic in 2015. The city hosts some of the largest annual events in Scandinavia, the Gothenburg Film Festival, held in January since 1979, is the leading Scandinavian film festival with over 155,000 visitors each year. In summer, a variety of music festivals are held in the city, such as Way Out West. The city was named after the Geats, the inhabitants of Gothia, the river on which the city sits is the Göta älv or Gothia River. Göta borg Gothia Fortress is the fort on the Göta Älv, in Dutch, Scots, and English, all languages with a long history in this trade and maritime-oriented city, the name Gothenburg is used for the city. The French form of the city name is Gothembourg, but in French texts, Gothenburg can also be seen in some older English texts. In Spanish the city is called Gotemburgo and these traditional forms are sometimes replaced with the use of the Swedish Göteborg, for example by The Göteborg Opera and the Göteborg Ballet. However, Göteborgs universitet, previously designated as the Göteborg University in English, the Gothenburg municipality has also reverted to the use of the English name in international contexts. Other old variations in Swedish are Götheborgh, and the more common Götheborg, one English text, written in the late 15th century, states the name as Guthaeborg. In 2009, the city launched a new logotype for Gothenburg. Since the name Göteborg contains the Swedish letter ö the idea was to make the more international. As of 2015, the name is spelled Go, teborg on a number of signs in the city
4.
Synagogue
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A synagogue, also spelled synagog, is a Jewish house of prayer. Synagogues have a hall for prayer, and may also have smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall. Some have a room for Torah study, called the beith midrash beis medrash —בית מדרש. Synagogues are consecrated spaces used for the purpose of prayer, Tanakh reading, study and assembly, halakha holds that communal Jewish worship can be carried out wherever ten Jews assemble. Worship can also be carried out alone or with fewer than ten people assembled together, however, halakha considers certain prayers as communal prayers and therefore they may be recited only by a minyan. The synagogue does not replace the long-since destroyed Temple in Jerusalem, israelis use the Hebrew term beyt knesset. Jews of Ashkenazi descent have traditionally used the Yiddish term shul in everyday speech, Sephardi Jews and Romaniote Jews generally use the term kal. Spanish Jews call the synagogue a sinagoga and Portuguese Jews call it an esnoga, persian Jews and some Karaite Jews also use the non-Hebrew term kenesa, which is derived from Aramaic, and some Arab Jews use kenis. Reform and some Conservative Jews use the word temple, the Greek word synagogue is used in English, to cover the preceding possibilities. The all-day Yom Kippur service, in fact, was an event in which the congregation both observed the movements of the kohen gadol as he offered the days sacrifices and prayed for his success. During the Babylonian captivity the Men of the Great Assembly formalized and standardized the language of the Jewish prayers, prior to that people prayed as they saw fit, with each individual praying in his or her own way, and there were no standard prayers that were recited. Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, one of the leaders at the end of the Second Temple era and this contributed to the continuity of the Jewish people by maintaining a unique identity and a portable way of worship despite the destruction of the Temple, according to many historians. A synagogue dating from between 75 and 50 BCE has been uncovered at a Hasmonean-era winter palace near Jericho, more than a dozen Second Temple era synagogues have been identified by archaeologists. Any Jew or group of Jews can build a synagogue, there is no set blueprint for synagogues and the architectural shapes and interior designs of synagogues vary greatly. In fact, the influence from local religious buildings can often be seen in synagogue arches, domes. Historically, synagogues were built in the architectural style of their time. Thus, the synagogue in Kaifeng, China looked very like Chinese temples of that region and era, with its outer wall, the styles of the earliest synagogues resembled the temples of other sects of the eastern Roman Empire. The surviving synagogues of medieval Spain are embellished with mudéjar plasterwork, the surviving medieval synagogues in Budapest and Prague are typical Gothic structures
5.
MENA
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The term MENA is an English-language acronym referring to the Middle East and North Africa region. The term MENA covers a region, extending from Morocco to Iran, including all Middle Eastern Mashriq. The term is synonymous with the term the Greater Middle East. The population of the MENA region at its least extent is considered to be around 381 million people, the MENA acronym is often used in academia, military planning, disaster relief, and business writing. Due to the ambiguity and Eurocentric nature of the term Middle East, some people prefer use of the terms Arab World. Both the Arab World and MENA region remain the most common terms and are used by most organizations, academia, the World Bank, UNDP and even the UNSC all use both terms. MENA has no standardized definition, different organizations define the region as consisting of different territories, the following is a list of commonly included countries and territories. Sometimes also included in definitions of MENA, The MENA region has vast reserves of petroleum. According to the Oil and Gas Journal, the MENA region has 60% of the oil reserves. As of 2011,8 of the 12 OPEC nations are within the MENA region, islam is by far the dominant religion in nearly all of the MENA territories,91. 2% of the population is Muslim. The Middle East-North Africa region comprises 20 countries and territories with an estimated Muslim population of 315 million or about 23% of the world’s Muslim population, the term MENA is often defined in part in relation to majority Muslim countries. Of the countries noted in the definition, all except Israel are majority Muslim. From April 2013, the International Monetary Fund started using a new region called MENAP. Now MENAP is prominent economic grouping in IMF reports, the term MENAT has been used to include Turkey in the list of MENA countries. List of business region acronyms Europe, the Middle East and Africa Middle East economic integration Greater Middle East Near East Arab world Arab Spring Arab Winter
6.
Far-left politics
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Far-left politics or extreme-left politics is a branch of politics further to the left of the left-right spectrum than the standard political left. Far-left politics are generally the province of extra-governmental groups and those espousing them are typically opposed to their governments, dr. March sees four major subgroups within contemporary European far-left politics, communists, democratic socialists, populist socialists and social populists. Hloušek and Kopeček add secondary characteristics to those identified by March and Mudde, such as anti-Americanism, anti-globalization, opposition to NATO and these people include both authoritarians and libertarians. McClosky and Chong surveyed a number of militant, revolutionary groups in the US and they argue that, like far-right extremists. The term ultra-leftism has two overlapping uses, one usage is a generally pejorative term for certain types of positions on the far left that are extreme or intransigent. The term is also used—pejoratively or not—to refer to a current of Marxist communism. Ultra-left currents within left communism are often subject to criticisms from other factions of the left, the left communist organization International Communist Current refuses to work with leftist groups except for other left communists or anarchists. Gilles Dauvé, a left communist theorist, argues that all bourgeois regimes should be opposed, the term ultra left is rarely used in English, in which people tend to speak broadly of left communism as a minor variant of traditional Marxism. In opposition to Bolshevism, the left generally places heavy emphasis upon the autonomy. The term has been popularised in the United States by the Socialist Workers Party, a number of far-left parties gave birth to militant organisations during the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Red Brigades and the Red Army Faction. These groups generally aimed to overthrow capitalist systems and replace them with socialist societies
7.
Far-right politics
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Far-right politics are right-wing politics further on the right of the left-right spectrum than the standard political right. Far-right politics often involve a focus on tradition, real or imagined, as opposed to policies, right-wing populism, a political ideology often combines laissez-faire, nationalism, ethnocentrism and anti-elitism is often described as far-right. Right-wing populism often involves appeals to common man and opposition to immigration, far-right politics include but are not limited to aspects of authoritarianism, anti-communism, and nativism. Claims that superior people should proportionally have greater rights than people are sometimes associated with the far right. The far right has historically favoured an elitist society based on its belief in the legitimacy of the rule of a supposed superior minority over the inferior masses. However, right-wing populist ideologies which are described by commentators as far-right often use appeals to the common man as opposed to the appeals of the elites. Far-right politics sometimes involves anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are deemed inferior, hence, far right politics is associated with Othering. According to Christina Liang, this field is especially peculiar about its terminology. Each label carries with it a specific understanding of family of political parties as well as a particular set of assumptions regarding their origins. In an extensive survey of the literature, academic Cas Mudde found 26 definitions of right-wing extremism that contained 57 different ideological features, there is also debate about how appropriate the labels fascist or neo-Fascist are. Mudde lists nativism, authoritarianism, and populism as core elements of populist radical right political parties, in the United States, the term hard right and Alt-right have been used to describe groups such as the Tea Party movement and the Patriot movement. The term has also used to describe ideologies such as Paleoconservatism, Dominion Theology. The German political scientist Klaus von Beyme describes three phases in the development of far-right parties in Western Europe after World War II. From 1945 to the mid-1950s, far-right parties were marginalised, and their ideologies were discredited due to the recent existence and defeat of Nazism. Thus in the immediately following World War II, the main objective of far-right parties was survival. From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, the so-called populist protest phase emerged with sporadic electoral success, the most common demand-side theories are the social breakdown thesis, the relative deprivation thesis, the modernisation losers thesis and the ethnic competition thesis. The rise of political parties has also been viewed as a rejection of post-materialist values on the part of some voters. This theory which is known as the reverse post-material thesis blames both left-wing and progressive parties for embracing a post-material agenda that alienates traditional working class voters, another study argues that individuals who join far-right parties determine whether those parties develop into major political players or whether they remain marginalized
8.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
9.
Daily Express
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The Daily Express is a daily national middle market tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom. It is the title of Express Newspapers, a subsidiary of Northern & Shell. It was first published as a broadsheet in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson and its sister paper The Sunday Express was launched in 1918. As of December 2016, it had a daily circulation of 391,626. The paper was acquired by Richard Desmond in 2000, hugh Whittow has served as the papers editor since February of 2011. The papers editorial stances are often seen as aligned to the UK Independence Party, in addition to its sister paper, Express Newspapers also publishes the red top newspapers the Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday. The Daily Express was founded in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson, Pearson, who had lost his sight to glaucoma in 1913, sold the title to the future Lord Beaverbrook in 1916. It was one of the first papers to place instead of advertisements on its front page along with carrying gossip, sports. It was also the first newspaper in Britain to have a crossword puzzle, the Express began printing copies in Manchester in 1927 and in 1931, the publication moved to 120 Fleet Street, a specially commissioned art deco building. Under Beaverbrook, the newspaper achieved a high circulation, setting records for newspaper sales several times throughout the 1930s. Its success was due to its aggressive marketing campaign and a vigorous circulation war with other populist newspapers. Beaverbrook also discovered and encouraged an editor named Arthur Christiansen who, at an early age, showed talent for writing. Christiansen became editor in October 1933, under his editorial direction sales climbed from two million in 1936 to four million in 1949. The paper also featured Alfred Bestalls Rupert Bear cartoon and satirical cartoons by Carl Giles which it began publishing in the 1940s, on 24 March 1933, a front page headline titled Judea Declares War on Germany was published by the Daily Express. During the late thirties, the paper was an advocate of the appeasement policies of the Chamberlain government. The ruralist author Henry Williamson wrote for the paper on many occasions for half a century and he also wrote for the Sunday Express at the beginning of his career. In 1938, the moved to the Daily Express Building. It opened a building in Glasgow in 1936 in Albion Street
10.
Hisingen
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Hisingen is the fifth-largest island of Sweden, with an area of 199 km2. It forms part of Gothenburg and is bordered by the Göta älv to the south and east, the Nordre älv to the north, and the Kattegat to the west. The northern part of the city of Gothenburg, with its harbours, industries and suburbs, is located on the island, the population of the island is around 130,000, making it the most populated island in Sweden, ahead of Södermalm and Gotland. For a brief, post-war period Hisingen was home to the largest shipbuilding centre in the world, Hisingen is home to both the Volvo Group and the now separate Volvo Cars. Most of the Nordic countries largest port, the Port of Gothenburg is also located on Hisingen, the etymology of the name Hisingen is disputed. Hísing makes its first appearance in 13th century Icelandic sources, Hisingen is dated back to 1399, the basic meaning of the prefix His- is to split, cut off and can be found in the placenames Hisøy and Hisön. Hence, the name can be interpreted as the cut off from the mainland. A colloquial name for Hisingen is Elevator Nobody or Lift Nobody and this is a play on words, hiss is Swedish for elevator-lift, and ingen is Swedish for nobody. The rock wall paintings and remains of ancient settlements prove that Hisingen was inhabited by the year 9000 BC and it was on Hisingen that the first town with the name Gothenburg existed. It was founded by king Charles IX in 1603 on the bank of the Göta River. It was inhabited mostly by Dutch merchants, enticed to settle there by favorable economic conditions, however, the town was completely destroyed by the Danish in 1611 during the Kalmar War. Until 1658, when it was ceded to Sweden from Denmark-Norway by the Treaty of Roskilde, the island was divided into a Swedish, the island was mostly farmland until the 19th century, when industrialization began and companies like Arendalsvarvet, Eriksberg, Götaverken and Lindholmen started operating there. For most of the 20th century, until the crisis in the 1970s. The Volvo car manufacturer has its roots on Hisingen, it was there that their first factory was located and the first car, today, the company still has its main office and production facilities on the island. The Volvo Museum is also located nearby, over the last 20 years, the northern bank of Göta älv has undergone major expansion. Residential areas, university buildings and high tech industry have replaced the shipyards. See also, History of Gothenburg, History of Westrogothia, History of Bahusia The island has a landscape with coasts, farms. The biggest forest area is Hisingsparken, which is also the largest park in Gothenburg, rya skog, a smaller forest and a nature reserve, is located in the south of Hisingen
11.
Partille Municipality
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Partille Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in Partille, which constitutes a part of the contiguously built-up Gothenburg urban area, the municipality is one of the smallest by size in Sweden with an area of only 59.35 km². The parish Partille was made a municipality, when the first local government acts came into force in 1863. Territorially it has not been affected by the municipal reforms carried out during the 20th century. It has retained its size, but it has developed into a suburb of Gothenburg, the western part of the municipality is part of the contiguous Gothenburg urban area. This then leads into Partille Centrum, which is the seat, other localities are, Jonsered Kåhög Öjersjö Furulund, Partille The municipality is subdivided into four geographical areas, Partille, Sävedalen, Jonsered and Öjersjö. The area is a traditional Swedish woodland, much of its industries has therefore a connection to the forest industry. Apart from Partille Manor, the key feature of Partille is the shopping mall Allum. In 1999 Partille municipality initiated a cooperation with the construction company Sten & Ström Sverige, the aim of this co-operation was to unify the two parts of the municipality, each on the north/south of the highway E20. The construction of Allum began on 3 February 2004 and was completed on 9 April 2006, the name Allum comes from the old Swedish word for alla, the name thus mean åt alla or till alla. The mall has created roughly 650 new jobs and includes around 100 stores, the area has been inhabited for more than a thousand years. Fifteen ancient monuments from that time remain, Partille is located in a valley, between some mountains in a rocky terrain. Its name is believed to be derived from something similar to Part haella meaning split rock, another possible meaning could be Port haella, the door in the mountain. The small river Säveån flows through the valley and intersects Partille, the name Säveån stems from the words säve, as in sävligt and ån, as it is a very slowly flowing little river. The river has been of importance for Partille throughout its history. The fertile soil around it was used for agriculture and during the ages a lot of farms were located there. The oldest existing building in Partille is Partille Kyrka which was built in the 13th century, the church, being placed in the current centre of Partille, indicates that the present centre has been the natural rendezvous and centre of the municipality ever since it was built. Being a Swedish, very old-fashioned, Partille Kyrka has no bell tower and it is also an excellent place for fishing
12.
Gothenburg Municipality
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Gothenburg Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Gothenburg, the major part of the Gothenburg urban area is situated within the municipality, but there are also some other localities as well as rural areas. When the first Swedish local government acts were implemented in 1863 the City of Gothenburg, founded and chartered in 1621 and its territory has since then been added through amalgamations in 1868,1906,1922,1931,1945,1948,1967 and 1974. The local government reform of 1971 made the city a unitary municipality, the municipality prefers, however, to style itself Göteborgs stad, whenever legally possible. Billdal Brännö Donsö Gothenburg Hjuvik Nolvik Olofstorp Styrsö Säve Torslanda Vrångö The municipality has an assembly, consisting of 81 members. Kristdemokraterna,3 The municipal executive committee has 13 members, representing the six parties from the two political coalitions who have seats in the assembly. The chairwoman of the assembly is Lena Malm and the chairwoman of the municipal executive committee is Ann-Sofie Hermansson from the Social Democratic Party. In 2009 the two boards of Frölunda and Högsbo were joined together. It has been decided that from the start of 2011 many more will be joined together leaving 10 new district boards, the boards carry responsibility for primary school, social, leisure, and cultural services within their respective areas. In the election of 1998 three boroughs held local referendums on forming their own municipalities, but their petitions were rejected by the government of Sweden. Sister cities, Chicago, United States Kraków, Poland Saint Petersburg, Russia Tallinn, Estonia Rostock, Germany Regional, Oslo, Norway Gothenburg Law Court
13.
Archipelago of Gothenburg
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The archipelago of Gothenburg comprises northern and southern archipelagoes. The southern archipelago is part of Gothenburg municipality located in the province of Västergötland while the archipelago is Öckerö municipality. Trafikverket has ferries from Lilla Varholmen to the northern archipelago, some of the islands are interconnected by bridges. Southern archipelago ferries go from Saltholmen, plus a ferry from Fiskebäck. It has 5,000 permanent and another 6,000 summer residents, the archipelago is completely car free. Transportations is carried out by means of cycles, delivery mopeds, electric cars, in the Norse sagas, it was called Elfarsker, as the river Göta älv had its estuary there. The islands appear to have been famous as a location for holmgangar during the Viking Age and it is a small island with narrow footpaths. Not even mopeds are allowed here, the name of the island implies trading. Styrsö, during the 1830s the Öberg family established a guesthouse there and this was the start of a bathing resort, which expanded rapidly with the start of steamboats in 1867. Donsö is an important fishing and ship-owning community, the harbour is the center of the island. It is surrounded by 20th century fishing facilities, vargö has been a nature reserve since 1986. The varied sea landspace offers a diversity of flora and it is a good place to see razorbills, woodland birds, gulls and eiders. Rivö fjord, the estuary of the Göta älv Southern Gothenburg Archipelago The Gothenburg Archipelago Göteborg & Co
14.
Boroughs and districts of Gothenburg
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Gothenburg Municipality, Sweden is subdivided into 10 stadsdelsnämndsområden. The term is translated to borough. But they are really no boroughs, as they are no legal entities or juristic persons of their own, the members of the committees are appointed by the kommunfullmäktige and not by the electorates of the respective boroughs. They therefore represent the majority of the municipality as a whole. Gothenburg previously had 20 boroughs, but after a decision in the assembly in January 2010 some of the boroughs were merged. The merge were implemented on 1 January 2011, each borough is divided into a few officially defined residential districts. All in all there are 94 districts and these are usually created by natural neighbourhoods, but sometimes those consist of more than one traditional district. The boroughs are responsible for, among other things, preschool, compulsory schooling, leisure, culture, social services, home-help service, below is a list of all the boroughs in Gothenburg, as well as the official districts. Also included are traditional districts, where those are a part of an official district, the list of traditional districts are incomplete
15.
Port of Gothenburg
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The municipally-owned Port of Gothenburg is the largest port in the Nordic countries, with over 11,000 ship visits per year from over 140 destinations worldwide. The port is situated on both sides of the estuary of Göta älv in Gothenburg, the north shore, Norra Älvstranden, is on Hisingen island and the south shore, Södra Älvstranden, is on the mainland. It is a river and coastal port and the total length of the dock is 13.1 km. The port is divided into a number of sections or harbors, in 2013 the port handled approximately 860,000 containers and 160,000 new cars. It has 24 scheduled rail freight shuttles, serving Norway and Sweden, the primary imports are crude oil, textiles and food. The primary exports are new vehicles, steel and paper, there are specialised terminals for containers, ro-ro, cars, passengers and oil and other energy products. The port is large and deep enough to even very large ships. It was then the worlds largest container ship,396 metres long with a draft of 16 metres and a 19,224 TEU capacity
16.
Lilla Bommen
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Lilla Bommen is a part of Gothenburg harbor used for visiting boats and also the name given to the land surrounding the harbor. The eponymous building along with The Göteborg Opera house and the barque Viking are all located at Lilla Bommen, the harbor was located between two bastions, the Gustavus Primus at the present-day opera house, and the S, tus Ericus west of the Lilla Bommen high-rise. Completed in 1860, with a quay 525 m and 3.5 m deep, Lilla Bommen soon became the port in Gothenburg for canal boats. It was the point for cargo and passenger ships going up the Göta älv, through the Göta Canal, then across lakes Vänern and Vättern to Stockholm. Demolition of the old house at Lilla Bommen started on 7 October 1862. In 1899, a house was built at Lilla Bommen at the end of the line for the Västergötland–Göteborgs Järnvägar. An option considered at the time was to fill in the entire dock, Lilla Bommen is a part of the Gothenburg harbor on the shore of the Göta älv. Said to have been constructed in the 1640s, as of 2015 it is used as a marina, owned and operated by the Gothenburg Municipality through the Liseberg company, Lilla Bommen is also the name of the land surrounding the harbor. On the west side of the dock is The Göteborg Opera house, completed in 1994 while on the east is a complex that includes a high-rise with the same name as the area. The building is known as The Lipstick or The Skanska Skyscraper. The barque Viking is moored between the dock and the high-rise, the former Lilla Bommen Bridge crossed the Östra Hamnkanalen at its outlet in the Lilla Bommen harbor. It connected the Kanaltorget with the S, t Eriks Torg and it was a wide and heavily trafficked bridge with railway tracks. It became part of the landfill when the canal was filled in, east of the harbor is Lilla Bommen Square, which was named in 1883. The square was created in 1878 when part of the Vallgraven, another part of Lilla Bommen outside the Vallgraven was the Stadstjänareholmen. This area was leased by master carpenter Hultman, who gave his name to Hultmans Holme a district in modern Gothenburg. In July 2001, when digging was done at S, t Eriksgatan in Lilla Bommen, in connection to the construction of the Götatunneln, a boat wreck from the mid 1700s was found. The boat was buried under more than 3 m of heavy landfill, what was left of the boat was a 10 m ×3 m section of the hull, consisting of the keel, the sternpost and parts of the hull sides. The boat was made from oak and pine, and was estimated to have been approximately 12 m long
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West Sweden
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West Sweden is a National Area of Sweden. The National Areas are a part of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics of Sweden and it is located in the south-west of the country, centered on Västra Götaland County and the city of Gothenburg. After Stockholm it is the second most populated region and it borders with Norway and the riksområden of North Middle Sweden, East Middle Sweden, Småland and the islands and South Sweden. The most populous cities are Gothenburg, Borås, Halmstad, Vänersborg, Uddevalla, Trollhättan, Mölndal, Skövde, Varberg, Kungsbacka and Lidköping
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History of Gothenburg
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The history of Gothenburg begins with the foundation of the heavily fortified town in 1621, during the Thirty Years War, when Sweden was once-again in armed conflict with Denmark–Norway. The region on the west coast of Sweden has been inhabited for thousands of years. During the Stone Age, there was incidentally a settlement right on present day Gothenburg, as a reminiscence, there are eleven rock carvings in the Gothenburg area. The predecessor of present-day Gothenburg was Lödöse,40 kilometers upstream from the present day city on the Göta River, but the new settlement also had its problems, and the town dwellers had to seek protection at the old Älvsborg Fortress. King Gustav Vasa tried to build a new city near the old Älvsborg Fortress, but was not successful. When Sweden rose to be a major European power in the 17th century, his son King Charles IX founded a town on the bank of the Göta älv and near the outlet to the sea. This was the first time that the town was named Gothenburg and this short-lived town was almost wholly inhabited by Dutch merchants and immigrants, and Dutch was the official language. The Swedish king attracted the Dutch to Sweden with the promise of free trade and they enjoyed privileges such as 20 years of tax exemption and lowered customs rates. In return, Sweden and the west coast could benefit of the skills, the town was granted the right to strike its own gold and silver coins, as well as to have its representatives in the parliament. However, the island of Hisingen was in a fragile position – they could not withstand the Danes, soon after the outbreak of the Kalmar War, on 12 June 1611, the town was burned down. In 1621, the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus II, the son of Charles IX, the settlement used the fortification skills of the Dutch immigrants. Gothenburg was able to grow and prosper within the city walls, right from this point, the Scots enclave in the city were granted 2 seats on the town council. The city was influenced by the Dutch. Their city planners were contracted to build the city as they had the skills needed to build in the areas around the city. The town was planned after Dutch cities to have canals, such as Amsterdam, during the Dutch period the town followed Dutch town laws and there were propositions to make Dutch the official language in the town. The Gothenburg coat of arms was based on the lion of the coat of arms of Sweden, symbolically holding a shield with the national emblem, in the 18th century, fishing was the most important industry. However, in 1731 the Swedish East India Company was founded, the harbour developed into Swedens main harbour for trade towards the west and with the Swedish emigration to North America increasing, Gothenburg became Swedens main point of departure. The impact of Gothenburg as a port of embarkation for Swedish emigrants is reflected by Gothenburg, Nebraska
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Timeline of Gothenburg
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The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. 1650 - Printing press in operation,1672 - Gothenburg Town Hall built. 1680 - Gothenburg and Bohus County established,1731 - Swedish East India Company headquartered in Gothenburg. 1761 - Göteborgs glasbruk begins operating,1762 - East India House built. 1773 - The Vauxhall pleasure gardens is inaugurated,1778 - Royal Society of Sciences and Letters in Gothenburg active. 1779 - Comediehuset, the first theater in the city, is established,1786 - Societetsskolan, the first school open to females, is founded. 1807 - Fortifications of Gothenburg demolished,1815 - Fruntimmersföreningens flickskola is founded. 1829 - Chalmers industrial school founded, Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning newspaper begins publication. 1833 - Kjellbergska flickskolan is founded,1843 - Gumperts Bookshop in business. 1850 Eriksbergs Mekaniska Verkstad in business,1851 - Lindholmens varv begins operating. 1854 - Statue of Gustavus Adolphus erected in the Stortorget,1860 Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club founded. 1861 - Göteborg City Museum and Göteborgs folkbibliotek established,1864 - Aron Jonason photo studio active. 1870 - Bräutigams cafe in business,1882 - Wettergrens bookshop in business. 1884 - Foundation of the Gothenburgs Womens Association and the womens movement. 1886 - Hartelius bookshop in business,1888 - Göteborgs Aftonblad newspaper begins publication. 1894 - Hotel Eggers in business,1896 - Göteborgs Morgonpost begins publication. 1899 Illustrated Hvar 8 dag magazine begins publication,1900 City Library of Gothenburg built. Statue of John Ericsson erected in Kungsportsavenyen,1905 - Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra formed
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William Chalmers (merchant)
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William Chalmers was a Swedish merchant and freemason. He was born in Gothenburg in 1748 as the son of the Scottish merchant, William Chalmers, Sr. and his Swedish wife, William Chalmers Jr. was the oldest amongst his brothers James, George Andreas and Charles Chalmers. He became a director of the Swedish East India Company and in 1783 he was appointed as their resident representative in Canton and he would stay there and in Macau for ten years before returning home. He died in Gothenburg in 1811 leaving half his fortune to the Sahlgrenska hospital, after some other donations, the remainder was donated to create a crafting school for poor children, which in 1829 became a college, that today is named the Chalmers University of Technology. William Chalmers studied commercial & marketing in Gothenburg and United Kingdom, before continuing his studies in a manner to France. At the age of 35, he was nominated to become the purchaser of the Swedish East India Company in Canton, in 1793, when Chalmers was 45 years old, he had been living in Canton for ten years. Afterwards, he returned to Sweden as the manager of the Swedish East India Company as well as the manager of Trollhätte Kanalverk and he faithfully contributed to the finalization of the canal and was able to leave the company seven years later. Six years post the finalization of the canal, the last Swedish East India Company-ship arrived into Sweden, on it was merchandise from China and Spain
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Eriksbergs Mekaniska Verkstad
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Eriksbergs Mekaniska Verkstads AB was a Swedish shipbuilding company based in Gothenburg. It was founded in 1850 by Christian Barchman under the name Ericsbergs metall och tackjerns-gjuteri and it delivered its last ship in 1979. Founded in 1850 by Christian Barchman, the company worked with galvanization. The first shipyard wharf was opened in 1871, and two later they delivered their first ship. In 1876 the company was transformed into a company. In the beginning of the 1890s, the shipyard was still the smallest of the three wharfs that existed in Gothenburg, production was based on passenger ships, steam cutters and towboats for Denmark, Norway and Finland, and ferries for Stockholms public transportation. In 1915 Eriksberg underwent massive developments to accommodate production of ships after a major takeover of the corporations stocks by Dan Broström. In this regard, Eriksberg had an advantage through the direct-ownership by the Broström family, with a relatively modest share capital Eriksberg was able to make net profits of 40-50 million SEK every year during the 1940s. This was enhanced by the favourable wartime windfall taxes introduced during the war, in the beginning of the 1950s, Eriksberg obtained the rights to manufacture Burmeister & Wains diesel motors, unlike Götaverken who chose to manufacture their own original designs. This involved a certain lead for the production of tankers. Many thought that the limit,40,000 tonnes deadweight, was reached. Eriksbergs financial position was solid, like the competitors in Sweden. Both Kockums and Götaverken were listed and were independent companies, while Eriksberg, during the 1950s and the 1960s, Eriksberg was the most profitable shipyard in the country, and to work at Torpet was a status job in Gothenburg. The last profitable decade was the 1960s, before competition from the Japanese shipbuilding industry became too fierce, Eriksberg succeeded however, unlike its competitors Götaverken and Kockums, to retain high solvency and go through the last years of the 1960s relatively unhurt. Both Kockums and Götaverken, being public companies, were insolvent and were saved, in the case of Götaverken, the Salén Group of Stockholm, assumed ownership for a limited time with the option to regaining its investment from the State. In the beginning of the 1970s, it clear to the companys management that there was only a respite of a few years before the economic resources were exhausted. The rise of wages and salaries, enforced by the unions in the beginning of the 1970s. The Swedish krona with recurring devaluations raised import prices for the wharf, when the Bretton Woods system was abandoned in 1973 and the US dollar became floating, it was obvious that the Swedish shipbuilding industry was at the brink of ruin
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EU Summit 2001
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The 2001 meeting of the European Council was held in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, from 14–16 June. The EU Summit focused upon EU enlargement, sustainable development, economic growth, the EU–US summit included a visit by U. S. president George W. Bush on 14 June. It was the first U. S. presidential visit to Sweden and it was marred by extensive demonstrations. The main protests were organised by three broad coalitions, a local coalition Bush Go home that opposed U. S, there was also a broad Iranian and a smaller Anti-capitalist coalition as well as non-violent networks and Reclaim the Streets organising demonstrations and a street party. According to the police, more than 50,000 demonstrators gathered in Gothenburg during the three days of the summit, among them a smaller amount with foreign nationality, the summit was guarded by approximately 2500 police officers. Besides a number of encounters and skirmishes there were a number of riots, the first one occurred on 14 June after the police had surrounded and enclosed the Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet where demonstrators had been invited by the city to stay during the summit. Later in the evening during the Reclaim the City demonstration, a police unit came under attack by demonstrators throwing projectiles, the police subsequently fired shots at the demonstrators. Three persons were injured by gunshots, one of whom was seriously injured and this was the first use of firearms against Swedish demonstrators since the Ådalen shootings in 1931. The riots were followed by prison sentences for 64 persons convicted of criminal behaviour, in total demonstrators were sent to prison for almost 50 years. As of 2006, no officer has been convicted of wrongdoing during the summit. One officer was tried and convicted for committing perjury during a trial against a Gothenburg demonstrator, the riots left large areas of central Gothenburg demolished due to the violent protests of the demonstrators, as well as leaving many stores looted. As a reaction to this, protesters from all over the world planned to gather in Gothenburg to demonstrate under different banners, the political background to the protests was a conjuncture of three forces. EU-criticism and opposition to membership in the EU was stronger in Sweden than anywhere else in the union, secondly a wave of globalisation protests against neoliberalism had gained momentum after the protests during the EU Summit in Amsterdam 1997 and the WTO meeting in Seattle 1999. Anti-war and environmental concerns against the U. S. was a third factor, the police planned and gathered their forces in anticipation of the meeting. Never before had this many heads of state met in Sweden, the police had long prepared for disturbances and also had many different intelligence services directed at the groups participating in the planning of demonstrations. There were differing opinions amongst the police forces involved, the security police did not want the Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet to be used as they felt it was too close to the EU Summit while the Gothenburg police insisted on having the demonstrators there. American police tactics against protesters were in use such as a unit that was supposed to have a dialogue with demonstrating organisations. The officers in command of the stated that they were very pleased with how the police had served during the summit
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Swedish East India Company
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The Swedish East India Company was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1731 for the purpose of conducting trade with the Far East. Sweden was the last of the more prominent seafaring European nations to engage in the East India Trade, the royal privileges for the Swedish East India Company were granted almost a century after the other European trading companies were established. With the advent of the East India trade in the 1600s, Chinese, drinking tea and having Chinese objects became the height of fashion in the Swedish socialite and the middle class. Chinese culture, philosophy, art, agriculture and architecture were studied and copied. The most prominent example of this is the Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm, China was considered a model community, a template for how a country should be governed. The first attempt of organizing a Swedish East India trading company was made by a Flemish merchant, during the 1600s, the Dutch merchants dominated the newly founded Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden. On 14 June 1626, Usselincx received royal privileges for a company for twelve years. The privileges included clauses about the ethics of trading with foreign, the first priority was to establish friendly, long-term relations that would be mutually beneficiary for both parties. The venture was supported by a number of prominent Swedes, including the King himself, political difficulties and Swedens participation in the Thirty Years War where King Gustav II was killed, put an end to the plans. The resources were used for a smaller company, trading within Europe. The aim was to bypass the Spanish and Portuguese blockades, the plan did not gain any support as the ice barriers proved even more difficult. Borg stated that if there was a war between Sweden and Denmark, he could deliver the Danish fort in Tharangambadi, India, to the Swedes, residual resources were used to send two ships, the Solen and the Trumslagaren, to Lisbon for salt. A later attempt to establish the Swedish trade on the East Indies, was made by pirates sailing out from Madagascar, after having attacked other trading ships, they had become wealthy and were looking for a place to settle down and invest their money in legitimate enterprise. The pirates numbered about 1,500 and commanded a considerable and they started by offering the Swedish King Charles XII half a million pounds sterling and 25 armed ships for his protection, but the matter was not resolved. In 1718, representatives for the pirates met again with the King at his camp during the campaign against Norway. The new offer was for 60 ships, armed and stocked with goods, if the pirates were allowed to settle down in Gothenburg, when the King was shot and died on 30 November 1718, the venture folded. Sweden was impoverished after the Great Northern War, and trade was seen as an option for rebuilding the country, opinions about whether trade with the East Indies would be profitable enough diverged. The greatest concern was that Sweden would not have resources to defend the companys ships
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Torslanda Airport
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Torslanda Airport — served the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, as its main airport from 1923 to 1977, when the Göteborg Landvetter Airport was opened. In 1969, an air control tower was built on an adjacent hilltop as replacement for an older tower built in 1938. In a notable 1972 incident, a flight also from Torslanda en route to Stockholm was hijacked and diverted to Bulltofta airport outside the Swedish city of Malmö. Nine Croatians imprisoned nearby were traded for 500.000 SEK before flying to Madrid, Spain, the 1969 control tower remains as one of the last artifacts of the airport. Most of the old airport was demolished in 1997, when the former runway paving were mainly removed, until 1995, Volvo housed its collection of historic vehicles in The Blue Hangar. Now they are located in the Volvo Museum, a few kilometres away, the former runways have partially been used for car testing by Volvo, for driver training and race car testing, and for model aircraft, until the runways were removed. An area is used for storing ship containers. A golf course has been built over parts of the former runways, the road no 155 to Öckerö went a detour around the north-south runways. Around 1997 the road was rebuilt to go straight across the former runway, the terminal building remains and is used for a number of small shops. The name Amhult was popularised by William Edelman in 2001, when he was requested to build a population centre. The architect, Mikael Jansson, made a sketch of the centre, the construction headman, Frans Bergentall, claims that Mikael Janssons sketches were stolen from Simon Nestorovski, an investigation were started late in 2003, but no evidence was found. The case closed early in 2010, History, Torslanda ESGB at WWW. ESGB. se Torslanda Airport, History Torslanda Airport, Photos, Today
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Gothenburg Central Station
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Gothenburg Central Station is the main railway station of Gothenburg, Sweden. The station serves 27 million passengers per year, making it the second largest railway station in Sweden after Stockholm Central Station, the station opened on October 4,1858. The station is situated in the city of Gothenburg, right by Drottningtorget, the Gothenburg Central Station, Centralhuset and Nils Ericson Terminalen are a part of Resecentrum, Göteborg. Gothenburg Central Station is owned and administered by Jernhusen, numerous railways were built across Sweden in the 19th century. One of the first distances was the one between Gothenburg and Jonsered, as the railway grew more popular, the need for a station emerged. The Gothenburg Central Station was built between 1856 and 1858, the architect in charge was Adolf Wilhelm Edelsvärd. The first building was made between 1856 and 1857 by architect Adolf Wilhelm Edelsvärd, first, the building included a big entry hall, two waiting areas and a few restaurants. In 1923 the train station was rebuild and enlarged after Folke Zettervalls plans, on March 14,1923, an important fire destroyed large parts of the Central Station. Between 1928 and 1930 the station was enlarged due to the volume of traffic. After 1930 some more changes were made, including a new restaurant built in front of Drottningtorget, in 1993, the Central Station was restored and between 2000 and 2003 the Central House, was added as an extension to the existing building. The current interior design is similar to the 1923 model with wood pillars, glass ceiling, during the 19th and early 20th century about one million Swedish emigrants passed through the station in order to get to the harbour. Their final destination would be America, in February 2007, a bomb threat was addressed to the Gothenburg police. The bombing was to place at the Gothenburg Central Station. Later that day, a bag was found in the old parts of the station, the evacuation of the station began at 21,30 local time and two hours later the station was free to open again. The bag was examined and no high explosive was found, in January 2010, a one square metre section of the stations glass ceiling collapsed after ice had fallen onto it. One person suffered bruises by falling glass splinters and big parts of the station were closed due to safety reasons, there are 16 platform tracks at the station. Trains depart and arrive from five different railway lines, To the north on the Bohus Line, towards Stenungsund, Uddevalla, to the north on the Norway/Vänern Line, towards Älvängen, Vänersborg, Karlstad and Oslo. To the east on the Western Main Line, towards Alingsås, Skövde, Stockholm, to the south on the West Coast Line, towards Kungsbacka, Malmö and Copenhagen
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Kungsportsplatsen
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Kungsportsplatsen is a square in the city centre of Gothenburg, Sweden. The square was constructed in 1852 and got its name after the Kings Gate, the gate was the main entrance to the fortified city, which was and still is surrounded by a moat. When the city grew outside the moat and there was no need to defend the city any longer the gate was torn down, at Kungsportsplatsen there is a statue of king Charles IX, which was placed there in 1936
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Tingstadstunneln
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Tingstadstunneln is a motorway tunnel under the Göta älv, connecting Hisingen with mainland Gothenburg. The tunnel was constructed with two parallel immersed tubes with three lanes of traffic in each tube and it is part of the E6 route linking Norway with south-west Sweden. Construction started on 17 January 1961, and the tunnel was inaugurated at 11,30 am on 29 March 1968, the tunnel has the lowest motorway elevation in Sweden, at 15 m below sea level. The tunnel has severe traffic problems since several years, so therefore a new tunnel is built a little farther north, Marieholmstunneln
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Gothenburg tram network
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The Gothenburg tram network is part of the public transport system organised by Göteborgs Spårvägar, controlled by Västtrafik in the Swedish city of Gothenburg. These figures are expected to increase when the stage of Kringen is finished. The trams perform about 2,000 trips and cover 30,000 km per day, in 2007,100.5 million journeys were made. The first tram line in Gothenburg was started in 1879 by the English company Gothenburg Tramway Ltd and this was a horse-drawn tramway, which stretched from Brunnsparken to Stigbergsliden. The city of Gothenburg bought the tramway in 1900, and introduced electrically powered trams only two later, when Sigfrid Edström led the electrification of the trams. During the next 40 years, the system was heavily expanded, reaching outside the city borders by 1907. However, after investigation, it was concluded that it would be too expensive to dig the necessary tunnels under the city centre. The expansion of the net through the Kringen is gradually and step by step creating a ring around the city centre. In 1999 the first step was started, which most notably included the 1050 m long Chalmers tunnel which was opened for traffic in 2002, the second and third steps are currently in the planning stage. Since 2010, the previously used magnetic stripe cards have been replaced with RFID cards, ticket machines taking coins and credit cards have also been installed on the trams, along with a text message system where tickets may be purchased with mobile phones. Most tram lines pass through Brunnsparken, which is effectively the central hub of transport in Gothenburg. The exceptions are lines 8 and 13, Korsvägen is another major stop, where lines 6 and 8 meet lines going into the city centre and out to Mölndal. Most tram lines are on the side of the river. By April 2016, it was announced that a minimum 40 trams of the new model M33 had been ordered from Bombardier Transportation Sweden AB/Vossloh Kiepe GmbH for delivery by year 2019, there is a fleet of heritage trams used in the network. One of the oldest trams, M115, which was built in 1902, is preserved in operational condition, list of Gothenburg tram stations Engberg, Patrik
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West Link
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Västlänken is a planned railway tunnel under central Gothenburg. The purpose of the project is to increase capacity and reduce travel times on the Gothenburg network by changing the Gothenburg Central Station from a terminus to a transit station. Two new underground stations, Haga and Korsvägen, will also be built. Of the 920,000 people who live in Greater Gothenburg,410,000 people live outside the Gothenburg urban area, approximately 250,000 people in the region commute to or from Gothenburg Municipality. The majority of people use cars for transportation and the roads in the region are overloaded. Better rail communications to different parts of Gothenburg and better connections to trams would improve the situation, there is a political wish to attract more public transport users. 15 minutes could be saved per journey, time would be also saved on other journeys, for example around 5 minutes from Alingsås to Sahlgrenska or Chalmers. In addition to this, it would allow high-speed trains from Stockholm to serve destinations such as Kungsbacka, as early as the 1950s there were plans for a tunnel under the inner city for railbound vehicles, then for trams. The plans were abandoned because of the cost, the city has to finance tramways, while the government finances railways. The planning process has taken a time, being included in preliminary city plans in the mid 90s under the project name Centrumtunneln. A feasibility study was conducted in 2001–2002 by Banverket in cooperation with Västra Götalandsregionen, Västtrafik, Göteborgsregionen, similar rail tunnel projects have already been implemented in Malmö and in Stockholm. Västlänken is not part of the Trafikverket Future plan 2004–2015, nor the alternative plan, construction could start earlier since the Västra Götaland Regional Council is willing to invest money in the project. Banverket investigated three routes for Västlänken, including new stations along the routes in the city centre, the route alternatives were named after the proposed new stations, Haga–Korsvägen, Haga–Chalmers, and Korsvägen. In addition to these alternatives, an expansion of the current rail network to the south, with a larger termius station, was also investigated, named Förstärkningsalternativet. On December 19,2007, Banverket chose the Haga-Korsvägen alternative as it best fulfilled the goals for the expansion, a majority of other governmental bodies to which the proposed routes were referred for consideration also agreed on that opinion. The construction cost for the project is estimated at SEK14.5 billion, by 2012 the estimated cost had increased to 20 billion. The cost of the project will be financed by road tolls levied on vehicles entering and leaving central Gothenburg. City Tunnel, Malmö Citybanan, Stockholm Gothenburg quadricentennial jubilee
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Gothenburg commuter rail
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Gothenburg commuter rail or Göteborgs pendeltåg is the commuter rail system associated with Gothenburg, Sweden. The trains go on the tracks, shared with long-distance trains. They are operated with X11 and X61 electric multiple units, there are three lines in the Gothenburg commuter rail system. The first line opened in 1960, to Alingsås, in 1992 another line to Kungsbacka was opened, when the railway had been rebuilt as double track. In addition there are regional rail lines, going to cities further away, with a higher speed. In opposite to Stockholm, Västtrafik allow their monthly tickets to be used also on SJ inter-city trains, from 2010 all Västtrafik regional trains are part of the Västtrafik pay-per-ride ticket system. The regional trains to Borås, Vänersborg and Skövde go in addition to the long-distance trains, the trains to Strömstad are kind of long-distance train by themselves, but the county authorities has responsibility, since it was inside one county also before the county reform 1998. The Gothenburg-Stenungsund line has extra departures creating half-hour schedule in rush hour, to Vänersborg there is from 2012 double track and sometimes two trains per hour. A fifth rail line that can be counted as a rail line is the Öresundståg Gothenburg-Malmö-Copenhagen. Västtrafik monthly passes are valid to Kungsbacka, but this is not usually considered a Västtrafik line, the most used connection on these lines is the connection to Borås, if including the about 60 daily buses that go since the railway cant support the demand. There are plans to build a new railway here, as part pf Götalandsbanan, the first part, Mölnlycke-Bollebygd, is planned to be opened around 2020-2025, and later extended to Stockholm
