The Hanseatic League was a medieval and early modern alliance of merchant guilds and towns in Northern Europe, centred on Baltic and North Sea trade. It grew out of cooperation among German merchants in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and was led by Lubeck, with Hamburg, Bremen, Cologne, Danzig and many others. The League kept trading posts in London, Bruges, Bergen and Novgorod and traded timber, furs, grain, fish and cloth. It sometimes used blockades and even war to defend its privileges. It declined from the sixteenth century as territorial states became stronger and Dutch and English merchants competed, and its last diet met in 1669, though Lubeck, Hamburg and Bremen kept the Hanseatic name.
Before and after
- 12th centuryRise of Waldensians
- 12th centuryConstruction of Spiš Castle
- 12th centuryConstruction of Edinburgh Castle
- 12th centuryConstruction of Old City of Baku
- from 12th century to 19th centuryFounding of Hanseatic League
- c. 1200Construction of Rouen Cathedral
- 1200Birth of Albertus Magnus
- 12th centuryConstruction of Maiden Tower
- c. 1200sKilwa becomes a great Swahili trading city
More in Society, economy & sport
- 20 April 571 CEBirth of Muhammad
- 8th centuryRise of Neo-Confucianism
- c. 970 CEFounding of Al-Azhar University
- from 1150 to 1971Founding of University of Paris
- 7 April 1348Founding of Charles University
- 1477Founding of University of Tübingen
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes.