Ny Varberg (New Varberg) was a city founded sometime between 1429 and 1434 about five kilometres north of present-day

Varberg Varberg () is a locality and the seat of Varberg Municipality, Halland County, Sweden, with 35,782 inhabitants in 2019. Varberg and all of Halland are well known for their "typical west coast" sandy beaches. In Varberg the coast changes from ...

, Sweden. It was abandoned around 1612. The city was located at a crossroads where the roads from Småland and

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

met the royal road through

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömseb ...

. To have access to the sea, a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

700 metres long was built between

Kattegat The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in Sweden ...

and Himleån. It is unclear who founded the city or why. Just outside the city there was (until 1525) a Carmelite

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

, as well as a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

and a hospital. The city's area grew from less than 6000 m² during the 15th century to 12000 m² at the beginning of the 17th century. From the middle of the 16th century and onwards the city suffered devastation on many occasions. In 1545 a major fire broke out, and large parts of the city were destroyed during the

Northern Seven Years' War The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the ''Nordic Seven Years' War'', the ''First Northern War'' or the ''Seven Years War in Scandinavia'') was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden (1523–1611), Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denm ...

. Through support from the Danish state and attempts at forced resettlement, a phase of reconstruction was begun at the end of the 16th century. However, another fire broke out in 1597 and during the

Kalmar War The Kalmar War (1611–1613) was a war between Denmark–Norway and Sweden. Though Denmark-Norway soon gained the upper hand, it was unable to defeat Sweden entirely. The Kalmar War was the last time Denmark-Norway successfully defended its ''dom ...

the city was so ravaged that king

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian mon ...

decided to move the city to its present-day location.

Sources

* ''Varberg - en kommuns historia'', Varbergs kommun, 1993. Varberg: Carlssons Boktryckeri AB. {{coord, 57.1408, N, 12.2647, E, source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title Populated places established in the 15th century 1612 disestablishments Varberg Municipality Former populated places in Sweden