Lödöse, which grew at the mouth of river Göta (Göta älv) in the 12th century, was Sweden’s boundary to the west. The city grew early into an important trading centre. It was Sweden’s only port on the west coast, and both Hanseatic merchants and pilgrims were seen there. Already in the 12th century there were three churches and a royal manor with its own mint in the town, and around the year 1300 the town had reached its heyday. In the 15th century union politics and problems with customs weakened the position of Lödöse, and due to this the town was moved 40 kilometres downstream to a new place where the new Lödöse (nowadays Gothenburg) was founded in 1473.
