Purpose Of The Hanseatic League

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Anneliese Carrascoso
Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League, or Hansa, was a trade confederation in northern Europe that stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea. The league dominated commercial activity from the thirteenth to the fiftieth century (Hibbert). The Hanseatic League had a profound impact on the trading system used today in Europe, and has been partially revived in certain European cities.

The Hansa was founded by European towns and merchant communities abroad in the late twelfth century as a way of protecting mutual trading interests (Hibbert). The League stemmed from alliances of traders and trading towns in two notable regions: the east and the west. In the east, German merchants held a monopoly over the Baltic trade, and …show more content…

The Hansa was in control of many kontor, which were foreign trading posts belonging to the Hanseatic League. The major kontors were located in London, the Russian port of Novgorod, Bruges of Flanders, and Bergen of Norway.

The purpose of the Hanseatic League was to pursue the shared economic interest of merchants from the Baltic to the North Sea during the Middle Ages (Hanseatic League). The League had a major influence on economic structure from the thirteenth, through the seventeenth centuries. One of their principle objectives was to reduce the risk of pirates and other threats to their trade (Hibbert). The League also helped to defend the cooperating cities against grander economic powers (Hanseatic League).

In the end, up to 200 towns and cities were a part of the League. The Hansa primarily traded timber, furs, tar, flax, honey, wheat, and rye from the east to Flanders and England in return for cloth (Hanseatic League). Metal ore, commonly copper and iron, and herring came southwards from Sweden (Hanseatic League). The Hansa also dominated the shipbuilding …show more content…

The role that culture and language played in binding the members together was crucial. The dominate language spoken was Middle Low German. This dialect impacted many countries involved, especially for the Scandinavian speakers (Hanseatic League. ‘Hanse’ was a Germanic word for guild (Hibbert).
Notable people
The decline of the League has been attributed to many different factors. Perhaps one of the most notable reasons was due to the increased competition between England, Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden as the states accumulated more power (Hanseatic League). Another major contributor was the social unrest subsequent to the Protestant Reformation. During the economic crises of the late fourteenth century, the territorial states emerged as rivals to the Hansa (Hanseatic League). The entrepreneurial independence of Novgorod was ended in 1478 by Ivan III, which resulted in the closure of the Novgorod kontor. Italian imports overtook the Hansa economy as silver coins were used as a medium of payment as opposed to