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Hanseatic Maritime Trade Routes

Type Object Region Northern Europe Time 1250–1669

The Hanseatic maritime routes were a shipping network linking the Baltic and North Seas from the medieval to the early modern period, with hubs at Lü…

Timeline

  1. 1250–1350Lübeck–Visby route · GotlandAfter its reconstruction, Lübeck became the crossroads of Baltic trade and allied with Visby on Gotland; merchant ships carried furs and beeswax along the eastern Baltic coast to western Europe, and the cog type began to dominate shipping.
  2. 1350–1440Bruges Kontor · FlandersThe Hanse established four major Kontore in London, Bruges, Bergen, and Novgorod; from the mid-14th century a convoy system was implemented, with the Lübeck–Hamburg land transit running in parallel with the outer sea route.
  3. 1441–1450Kattegat–Øresund route · Danish StraitsIn the mid-15th century Hanseatic ships carried large quantities of herring, grain, and cloth via the outer sea route around the Jutland peninsula; large-capacity cogs made sea transport cheaper than the Lübeck land transit, bringing the league's maritime routes to their zenith.
  4. 1500–1669Amsterdam · North HollandWith the Age of Discovery shifting the focus of trade southward and ports such as Amsterdam rising, the Bruges Kontor declined; the Hanseatic maritime routes were marginalized in the global trade order, and Lübeck convened the last Hanseatic Diet in 1669.

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