Göta Canal
Encyclopedia
The Göta Canal is a Swedish
canal
constructed in the early 19th century. It formed the backbone of a waterway stretching some 382 miles (614 km), linking a number of lakes and rivers to provide a route from Gothenburg
(Swedish:Göteborg) on the west coast to Söderköping
on the Baltic Sea
via the river Göta älv
and the Trollhätte kanal
, through the large lakes Vänern
and Vättern
.
The canal itself is 118 miles (190 km) long, of which 54 miles (87 km) were dug or blasted, with a width varying between 23–46 ft (7–14 m) and a maximum depth of about 9 ft (3 m). It has 58 locks and can accommodate vessels up to 105 ft (32 m) long, 21 ft (7 m) wide and 9 ft (2.8 m) in draft
. Göta Canal is a sister canal of Caledonian Canal
in Scotland
, which was also constructed by Thomas Telford
. The canal is nicknamed the "divorce ditch." It earned this nickname from the troubles that couples have to endure while trying to navigate the many locks by themselves.
The idea of a canal across southern Sweden was first put forward as early as 1516, by Hans Brask
, the bishop of Linköping
. However, it was not until the start of the 19th century that Brask's proposals were put into action by Baltzar von Platen
, a German-born former officer in the Swedish Navy
. He organised the project and obtained the necessary financial and political backing. His plans attracted the enthusiastic backing of the government and the new king, Charles XIII
, who saw the canal as a way of kick-starting the modernisation of Sweden. Von Platen himself extolled the modernising virtues of the canal in 1806, claiming that mining, agriculture and other industries would benefit from "a navigation way through the country."
The project was inaugurated on April 11, 1810 with a budget of 24 million Swedish riksdaler
s. It was by far the greatest civil engineering project ever undertaken in Sweden up to that time, taking 22 years of effort by more than 58,000 workers. Much of the expertise and equipment had to be acquired from abroad, notably from Britain
, whose canal system
was the most advanced in the world at that time. The Scottish
civil engineer
Thomas Telford
developed the initial plans for the canal and travelled to Sweden in 1810 to oversee some of the early work on the route. Many other British engineers and craftsmen were imported to assist with the project, along with significant quantities of equipment - even apparently mundane items such as pickaxes, spades and wheelbarrows.
The Göta Canal was officially opened on 26 September 1832 in an event commemorated by the painter Johan Christian Berger in his work The Opening of the Göta Canal on 26 September 1832. Von Platen himself did not live to see the completion of the canal, having died shortly before its opening. However, it was never an economic success. The arrival of the railways
in 1855 quickly made it redundant, as trains could carry passengers and goods far more rapidly and did not have to shut down with the arrival of winter, which made the canal impassable for five months of the year. By the 1870s, the canal's goods traffic had dwindled to just three major types of bulk goods - forest products, coal and ore, none of which required rapid transportation. Traffic volumes stagnated after that and never recovered.
Bishop Hans Brask's original justifications for the canal's construction were the onerous Sound Dues
imposed by Denmark–Norway
on all vessels passing through the narrow Øresund channel between Sweden and Denmark and the trouble with the Hanseatic League
. The canal enabled vessels travelling to or from the Baltic Sea to bypass the Øresund and so evade the Danish toll. In 1851, the tycoon André Oscar Wallenberg
founded the Company for Swedish Canal Steamboat Transit Traffic to carry goods from England to Russia via the canal. However, it only ran two trips between St Petersburg and Hull
via Motala
before the Crimean War
halted Anglo-Russian trade. After the war ended, the great powers pressured Denmark into ending the four hundred year-old tradition of the Sound Dues, thus eliminating at a stroke the canal's usefulness as an alternative to the Øresund.
The canal had one major industrial legacy in the shape of Motala Verkstad - a factory established in Motala to produce the machines such as cranes and steam dredgers that were needed to build the canal. This facility has sometimes been referred to as the "cradle of the Swedish engineering industry". After the canal was opened, Motala Verkstad focused on producing equipment, locomotives and rolling stock for the newly constructed railways, beginning a tradition of railway engineering that continues to this day in the form of AB Svenska Järnvägsverkstädernas Aeroplanavdelning
(ASJA) that was bought by the aeroplane manufacturer SAAB
in Linköping
.
the locks are as follows:
(with meters per locks)
Lake Vättern
(88 m above sea level)
Lake Viken canel highest point
After Lake Vänern
(44 m above sea level) Trollhätte kanal
to Göteborg and the west-coast of 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....
canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
constructed in the early 19th century. It formed the backbone of a waterway stretching some 382 miles (614 km), linking a number of lakes and rivers to provide a route from 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...
(Swedish:Göteborg) on the west coast to Söderköping
Söderköping
Söderköping is a locality and the seat of Söderköping Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 6,951 inhabitants in 2005. Söderköping is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a city...
on the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
via the river 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...
and the Trollhätte kanal
Trollhätte Canal
The Trollhaette Canal is a canal in Sweden that is now part of the Göta Canal. It connects the Göta älv river with Lake Vänern.Ships classified as Vänermax are of the maximum dimensions that will fit through the canal. The maximum dimensions for a boat to traverse this canal are:*Length: 88...
, through the large lakes Vänern
Vänern
Vänern is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the EU and the third largest lake in Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland in the southwest of the country.- History :...
and Vättern
Vättern
Vättern is the second largest lake in Sweden, after Lake Vänern and the sixth largest lake in Europe. It is a long, finger-shaped body of fresh water in south central Sweden to the southeast of Vänern pointing at the tip of Scandinavia....
.
The canal itself is 118 miles (190 km) long, of which 54 miles (87 km) were dug or blasted, with a width varying between 23–46 ft (7–14 m) and a maximum depth of about 9 ft (3 m). It has 58 locks and can accommodate vessels up to 105 ft (32 m) long, 21 ft (7 m) wide and 9 ft (2.8 m) in draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
. Göta Canal is a sister canal of Caledonian Canal
Caledonian Canal
The Caledonian Canal is a canal in Scotland that connects the Scottish east coast at Inverness with the west coast at Corpach near Fort William. It was constructed in the early nineteenth century by engineer Thomas Telford, and is a sister canal of the Göta Canal in Sweden, also constructed by...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, which was also constructed by Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
. The canal is nicknamed the "divorce ditch." It earned this nickname from the troubles that couples have to endure while trying to navigate the many locks by themselves.
History
Hans Brask
-Biography:Brask was born in Linköping 1464 to a bourgeois family. He studied philosophy and law at German universities and around 1500 he received a doctoral degree in civil and canon law from Rome. Upon his return to Sweden he first worked as canon and was later, in 1505, appointed cathedral dean...
, the bishop of Linköping
Linköping
Linköping is a city in southern middle Sweden, with 104 232 inhabitants in 2010. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality with 146 736 inhabitants and the capital of Östergötland County...
. However, it was not until the start of the 19th century that Brask's proposals were put into action by Baltzar von Platen
Baltzar von Platen (1766-1829)
Count Baltzar Bogislaus von Platen was a Swedish naval officer and statesman. He was born on the island of Rügen to Filip Julius Bernhard von Platen, Field Marshal and the Swedish Governor General of Pomerania, and Regina Juliana von Usedom.-Swedish Navy:At age 13 Baltzar entered the Royal...
, a German-born former officer in the Swedish Navy
Swedish Navy
The Royal Swedish Navy is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet – as well as marine units, the so-called Amphibious Corps .In Swedish, vessels of the Swedish Navy are given the prefix "HMS," short for Hans/Hennes...
. He organised the project and obtained the necessary financial and political backing. His plans attracted the enthusiastic backing of the government and the new king, Charles XIII
Charles XIII of Sweden
Charles XIII & II also Carl, , was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 until his death...
, who saw the canal as a way of kick-starting the modernisation of Sweden. Von Platen himself extolled the modernising virtues of the canal in 1806, claiming that mining, agriculture and other industries would benefit from "a navigation way through the country."
The project was inaugurated on April 11, 1810 with a budget of 24 million Swedish riksdaler
Swedish riksdaler
The riksdaler was the name of a Swedish coin first minted in 1604. Between 1777 and 1873, it was the currency of Sweden. The daler, like the dollar, was named after the German Thaler. The similarly named Reichsthaler, rijksdaalder, and rigsdaler were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, the...
s. It was by far the greatest civil engineering project ever undertaken in Sweden up to that time, taking 22 years of effort by more than 58,000 workers. Much of the expertise and equipment had to be acquired from abroad, notably from Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, whose canal system
History of the British canal system
The British canal system of water transport played a vital role in the United Kingdom's Industrial Revolution at a time when roads were only just emerging from the medieval mud and long trains of pack horses were the only means of "mass" transit by road of raw materials and finished products The...
was the most advanced in the world at that time. The Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
developed the initial plans for the canal and travelled to Sweden in 1810 to oversee some of the early work on the route. Many other British engineers and craftsmen were imported to assist with the project, along with significant quantities of equipment - even apparently mundane items such as pickaxes, spades and wheelbarrows.
The Göta Canal was officially opened on 26 September 1832 in an event commemorated by the painter Johan Christian Berger in his work The Opening of the Göta Canal on 26 September 1832. Von Platen himself did not live to see the completion of the canal, having died shortly before its opening. However, it was never an economic success. The arrival of the railways
Rail transport in Sweden
Rail transport in Sweden uses a network of 13,000 km of track, the 20th largest in the world. Construction of the first railway line in Sweden began in 1855. The major operator is the state-owned SJ AB....
in 1855 quickly made it redundant, as trains could carry passengers and goods far more rapidly and did not have to shut down with the arrival of winter, which made the canal impassable for five months of the year. By the 1870s, the canal's goods traffic had dwindled to just three major types of bulk goods - forest products, coal and ore, none of which required rapid transportation. Traffic volumes stagnated after that and never recovered.
Bishop Hans Brask's original justifications for the canal's construction were the onerous Sound Dues
Sound Dues
The Sound Dues were a toll on the use of the Sound which constituted up to two thirds of Denmark's state income in the 16th and 17th centuries...
imposed by Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway is the historiographical name for a former political entity consisting of the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, including the originally Norwegian dependencies of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands...
on all vessels passing through the narrow Øresund channel between Sweden and Denmark and the trouble with the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
. The canal enabled vessels travelling to or from the Baltic Sea to bypass the Øresund and so evade the Danish toll. In 1851, the tycoon André Oscar Wallenberg
Wallenberg family
The Wallenberg family is a prominent Swedish banking family, renowned as bankers, industrialists, politicians, diplomats and philanthropists. The most famous of the Wallenbergs, Raoul Wallenberg, a diplomat, worked in Budapest, Hungary, during World War II to rescue Jews from the Holocaust...
founded the Company for Swedish Canal Steamboat Transit Traffic to carry goods from England to Russia via the canal. However, it only ran two trips between St Petersburg and Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
via Motala
Motala
Motala is a locality and the seat of Motala Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 29,798 inhabitants in 2005. It is the third largest city of Östergötland, following Linköping and Norrköping...
before the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
halted Anglo-Russian trade. After the war ended, the great powers pressured Denmark into ending the four hundred year-old tradition of the Sound Dues, thus eliminating at a stroke the canal's usefulness as an alternative to the Øresund.
The canal had one major industrial legacy in the shape of Motala Verkstad - a factory established in Motala to produce the machines such as cranes and steam dredgers that were needed to build the canal. This facility has sometimes been referred to as the "cradle of the Swedish engineering industry". After the canal was opened, Motala Verkstad focused on producing equipment, locomotives and rolling stock for the newly constructed railways, beginning a tradition of railway engineering that continues to this day in the form of AB Svenska Järnvägsverkstädernas Aeroplanavdelning
AB Svenska Järnvägsverkstädernas Aeroplanavdelning
AB Svenska Järnvägsverkstädernas Aeroplanavdelning was a company making aircraft in Linköping, Sweden. The company was started as a subsidiary company of ASJ ). The company was started in the 1930s headed by Sven Blomberg, earlier designer at Svenska Aero...
(ASJA) that was bought by the aeroplane manufacturer SAAB
Saab
Saab AB is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. From 1947 to 1990 it was the parent company of automobile manufacturer Saab Automobile, and between 1968 and 1995 the company was in a merger with commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania, known as Saab-Scania.-History:"Svenska...
in Linköping
Linköping
Linköping is a city in southern middle Sweden, with 104 232 inhabitants in 2010. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality with 146 736 inhabitants and the capital of Östergötland County...
.
Modern usage
Parts of the canal are still used to transport cargo, but it is now primarily used as a tourist and recreational attraction, dubbed Sveriges blå band ("Sweden's Blue Ribbon"). Around two million people visit the canal each year on pleasure cruises and related activities.Locks
From the east-coast of Sweden to Lake VänernVänern
Vänern is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the EU and the third largest lake in Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland in the southwest of the country.- History :...
the locks are as follows:
(with meters per locks)
- Mem, 3
- Tegelbruket, 2.3
- SöderköpingSöderköpingSöderköping is a locality and the seat of Söderköping Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 6,951 inhabitants in 2005. Söderköping is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a city...
, 2.4 - Duvkullen nedre, 2.3
- Duvkullen övre, 2.4
- Mariehov nedre, 2.1
- Mariehov övre, 2.6
- Carlsborg nedre, 5.1
- Carlsborg övre, 4.7
- Klämman, open
- Hulta, 3.2
- Bråttom, 2.3
- NorsholmNorsholmNorsholm is a locality situated in Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 573 inhabitants in 2005. It lies around 15 kilometres southwest of Norrköping....
, 0.8 - Carl Johans slussar (seven locks), 18.8
- Oskars slussar, 4.8
- Karl Ludvig Eugéns slussar, 5.5
- Brunnby, 5.3
- Heda, 5.2
- BorensbergBorensbergBorensberg is a locality situated in Motala Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 2,712 inhabitants in 2005. It is located 15 km east of Motala next to the Göta kanal and lake Boren and has an industrial area known for plastics manufacturing, including plastic sheet manufacturer Arla...
, 0.2 - Borenshult, 15.3
- MotalaMotalaMotala is a locality and the seat of Motala Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 29,798 inhabitants in 2005. It is the third largest city of Östergötland, following Linköping and Norrköping...
, 0.1
Lake Vättern
Vättern
Vättern is the second largest lake in Sweden, after Lake Vänern and the sixth largest lake in Europe. It is a long, finger-shaped body of fresh water in south central Sweden to the southeast of Vänern pointing at the tip of Scandinavia....
(88 m above sea level)
- ForsvikForsvikForsvik is a locality situated in Karlsborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 365 inhabitants in 2005....
, 3.5
Lake Viken canel highest point
- Tåtorp, 0.2
- Hajstorp övre, 5.0
- Hajstorp nedre, 5.1
- Riksberg, 7.5
- Godhögen, 5.1
- Norrkvarn övre, 2.9
- Norrkvarn nedre, 2.9
- Sjötorp 7-8, 4.6
- Sjötorp 6, 2.4
- Sjötorp 4-5, 4.8
- Sjötorp 2-3, 4.8
- Sjötorp 1, 2.9
After Lake Vänern
Vänern
Vänern is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the EU and the third largest lake in Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland in the southwest of the country.- History :...
(44 m above sea level) Trollhätte kanal
Trollhätte Canal
The Trollhaette Canal is a canal in Sweden that is now part of the Göta Canal. It connects the Göta älv river with Lake Vänern.Ships classified as Vänermax are of the maximum dimensions that will fit through the canal. The maximum dimensions for a boat to traverse this canal are:*Length: 88...
to Göteborg and the west-coast of Sweden.
External links
- Göta Canal - Official site
- Göta Canal in Google Earth