The Swedish canal completed in 1832 that connects the Baltic Sea to the North Sea via lakes is the Göta Canal.
The Göta Canal runs across southern Sweden and forms part of a longer 390-kilometre waterway. Together with the Trollhätte Canal and the Göta älv river, it links the Baltic coast near Söderköping with Gothenburg on the North Sea. The route passes through Lake Vättern and Lake Vänern, Sweden’s largest lake.
Construction began in 1810 under the direction of Baltzar von Platen, with assistance from British engineers including Thomas Telford. More than 58,000 workers took 22 years to complete the project. The canal itself is about 190 kilometres long, although 87 kilometres were excavated or blasted, with the remainder using existing waterways.
A common mix-up is treating the entire Baltic–North Sea route as one canal. Technically, the Göta Canal and Trollhätte Canal are separate. The route’s 58 locks raise boats to a high point of about 91.8 metres, and today the canal is used mainly for tourism and recreation rather than heavy commercial shipping.