Baltic Amber Trade Network

Type Object Region Baltic Time c. -500

A long-distance exchange network centered on amber collection and processing along the Baltic coast, extending into Central Europe and the Mediterran…

Timeline

c. -500–400Vistula–Oder–Danube corridor · PolandAmber collected along the Baltic coast was carried south via waterways such as the Vistula River and overland routes; the Roman and Greek worlds used it for jewelry and grave goods, forming an early Northern Europe–Mediterranean exchange corridor.
c. 1190–1199Novgorod–Prussian coast · NovgorodLate in the 12th century amber was still collected along the Prussian and Pomeranian coasts and traded with German merchants through Slavic commercial cities such as Novgorod for furs, wax, and metal; the trade was multi-node and multi-ethnic, not yet fully Hanseaticized.
c. 1300–1500Lübeck–Danzig (Gdańsk) · HanseHanseatic cities and the Teutonic Knights controlled more amber-producing areas and processing stages; Gdańsk became an important export port, and amber trade was incorporated into a more institutionalized Northern European commercial network.

Sources

Amber: Window to the Past — David A. Grimaldi (1996)
The Cambridge History of Scandinavia, Volume 1: Prehistory to 1520 — Knud J. V. Jespersen (ed.) (2003)