Brätte was a city on Lake Vänern's southernmost bay, which is now Lake Vassbotten. A predecessor of today's Vänersborg.
The town was originally known Vassända. It is unclear when the story begins, but it was a commercial center in the early 1500s. Brätte name was first mentioned in 1556. The site had a strategic position because the cases on the Göta Älv at Rånnum (current Vargön) and Trollhättan forced shipping on Lake Vänern to unload their goods here for inland past cases of the so-called Edsvägen. In addition, the road went from the then Norwegian Bohuslän in Skara and the road from Dalsland past the place.
Sometime between 1580 and 1587 Brätte earned town privileges.
During the Kalmar War, 1611-1613 New Lödöse conquered by the Danes and several of the city's citizens move to nearby market towns, most of Brätte whose population increases from 200 to 450. When New Lödöse was Danish, Brätte took over as the country's only place of shipment to the west until 1619 when Sweden beat back the lost areas in Älvsborgs second strike.
Three things made it impossible for Brätte to survive as a city, it was bad for the military point of view, Lake Vassbotten was founded so that the ships could not enter port. It had already been attempts to move the city both by Gustav Vasa in 1560 and of Eric XIV few years later. The next attempt was made by Charles IX in 1610 after six of the town's 22 houses burned down. The problem was that the intended location, main network, was privately owned, but in 1641 came to an agreement and the estate was redeemed. Brätte residents could now start building their new city and February 1, 1644 issued by Queen Christina's regency privileges for Vänersborg. The last inhabitants leave Brätte 1647.
Archaeological excavations were made including 1918 and 1943 and it is now possible to see remains of the city. Much of the subject finds can be seen on the Vänersborg Museum, where also a model, made of Soren Elmqvist, depicting Brätte at the beginning of the 1600s are on display.