East India Company House, Gothenburg, Sweden

The old East India Company House (now the City Museum) was once the hub of Sweden's trade with the Far East. Most seafaring nations in the 18th century had an East India company which held a monopoly on trade with the East. Scottish merchants were not part of the lucrative dealings of the English, so Scot Colin Campbell, in association with Niclas Sahlgren in Gothenburg, devised an idea for a Swedish East India Company, which would be Sweden's first international trading company.

The company started up in 1731, and the next year the first ship set off for the Far East. This made Gothenburg a European centre of trade in products from China and the East. The main goods were silk, tea, furniture, porcelain, precious stones and other distinctive luxury items. Trade with China saw the arrival of some new customs in Sweden. The Chinese cultural influence increased, and tea, rice, arrak punch and new root vegetables started appearing in Swedish homes.Middle and upper class families bought entire porcelain services with their monograms on.The last ship from East Asia arrived in Gothenburg in 1806, by which time the great East India era was already over.

The house of East India Company was built between 1750-1762. Today it hosts the city museum, archaeological museum and etnographic museum.

References:

Marianne Mehling et al. Knaurs Kulturführer in Farbe. Schweden. München 1987.
goteborg.com

User Reviews

Antonello Caboni (2 years ago)
An amazing experience. Our guide was so lovely, interesting and knowledgable.

Fabio (2 years ago)
Beautiful 18th replica of a ship built in its original technology. It is possible to see in the place how the parts of the ship were built. Normally, the boat is in the pier during the summer. The other seasons it is away in some other ports. A friend of mine reports have visited it on Gibraltar. There are amazing reports of this ship rescuing sailboats in North Sea.

Josh (2 years ago)
Amazing ship and a great look back into history. Seeing the Götheborg was a dream come true, and I sincerely hope others get to share my joy.

Bar Noun (3 years ago)
With all the money they made in Nice-France, they didn't even bother hire some translators to explain to the people who do not speak English something about the ship. Very disrespectful.

Kam Singh B (3 years ago)
The Gotheborg of Sweden ship was docked at London, Canary Wharf. We visited on Friday at 9:30am and the ship was packed! Once we entered the ship there was a queue inside to go up the top deck at the back of the ship which took about 20 minutes. You do get a chance to go down below deck to view the cannons and see the heart of the ship with its wooden frame. The Swedish representatives were friendly and helpful throughout. The ship is truly beautiful and the guys have done an awesome job in replicating the original. It's a shame the lack of organization resulted in queues and spoiled the experience.

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