The Hanseatic League - Trade in the North and Baltic Seas c. 1400

A map illustrating the expanse and complexity of the northern Europen trade network of commerce and the powerful association of cities and merchant guilds known as the Hanseatic League (from Old High German - Hanse for “guild,” or “association,” most probably based on a Gothic word for “company, troop, a gang of men”). At its height, the League numbered more than 200 cities across Northern Europe and maintained a trade monopoly along the coasts of the Baltic and the North Seas, from present-day Russia in the east to England and Scotland in the west.