GOTTENBURG, goeten-boorg, GOTHEN BURG, or GOTEBORG (Swedish Goteborg, or Gotheborg; Latin, Gothoburgum), Sweden, seaport, the second in the kingdom in respect to population and trade, 25 per cent of the foreign trade of the country being done here, capital of the county of the same name; situated on the Gota, five miles from its mouth, 255 miles west-southwest of Stockholm. It has a dry dock cut out of the solid rock and five miles of quayage; and the completion of the Gota Canal and also the railway facilities have greatly in creased its commercial importance. Although founded in 1618, by Gustavus Adolphus, the town, in consequence of numerous fires, is quite modern — the streets are at right angles and the houses well built. It has a uni versity attended by 2,000 students, and a library of 130,000 volumes. The manufactures in clude iron, steel, machinery, sail-cloth, linen and leather, and there are oil-presses, cot ton-mills, dye-works and building-yards, at which a considerable number of vessels are launched; the most important industrial es tablishments are tobacco factories, porter breweries and sugar-refineries. The trade is very extensive, the harbor being excellent and generally free from ice. Its commercial im portance dates from the Continental blockade of 1806, when it became the chief British depot in northern Europe. The chief exports are iron ores, wood, pulp, grain, dairy produce, cattle, matches and soap; the chief imports coal, iron, bacon, silk, linen, cotton goods, petroleum, machinery and implements and salt. Among social reforms the town is noted for its licensing system (see GOTHENBURG SYSTEM).
It is the seat of a United States consulate.
Pop. 178,875.
GoTTERDAMMERUNG,jgerter-dem'me roong, "the twilight, or gathering nightfall of the gods," the title of Wagner's dosing opera in his Nibelungen cycle of dramas, first produced at the Bayreuth Festival 11 Aug. 1876, and in the United States at New York, 25 Jan. 1888. The subject of the opera is what is called in Scan dinavian mythology the Ragnarok, or end of the world. This was brought about largely by the admission of Loke, the god of evil and mis chief, into Asgard, the abode of the gods. It was through Loke that Balder, the bright and good god, was slain and flung down into the abodes of Hel, the goddess of death. Confusion throughout the universe is the consequence. The sun and moon are swallowed by giants; con tinuous winters rage without an intervening summer; the earth trembles in the throes of earthquakes. Mountains topple down with a crash; the Fenriswolf breaks its chains and fetters. The Midgard serpent writhes to get free; the ship Naglfar, built of the finger-nails of dead men, passes over the sea, filled with giants of the frost and mountain; Loke leads the hosts of Hel and bursts upon the scene. Thewers of evil rush to the battlefield while Heimdal blows his Gjallarhorn, Odin seeks the giants for advice, the other gods as well as the heroes of Valhal arm them selves and sally forth, and the battle begins. While the fight is still raging the immortal god Surt flings light and flame over the world, and the earth, reduced to ashes, sinks beneath the watery waste. See NIBELUNGENLIED ; RAGNAROK and SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY.