Gefle

Gefle stands at the mouth of the Gavleån on the Gulf of Bothnia, where a harbour connects Gästrikland with the Baltic. Its merchants shipped iron and copper from the inland mining districts, while fishermen sailed north along the Norrland coast for the seasonal herring catch. The town became an important meeting place for the products of forest, mine and sea.

Gefle was recorded as a town in 1413 and received royal privileges in 1446. Its merchants obtained explicit rights to domestic and foreign trade in 1491. Despite restrictions intended to favour Stockholm, the port grew into a major centre of export in the sixteenth century. Crown shipbuilding and the shipment of copper, timber, tar and iron added to its importance. In the seventeenth century the ironworks of Gästrikland benefited from the town's established commercial connections, sending bar iron through its harbour to markets across the Baltic and beyond.