Atlantic Fisheries and Cod Trade in the 1470s

Timeline

1. 1471–1474Icelandic waters · AtlanticEnglish, Hanseatic, and Breton fleets fished for cod in Icelandic waters each summer using hook and net; catches were salted aboard or ashore into durable stockfish. In the 1470s disputes over quotas and landing rights arose between local Icelandic authorities and foreign fishermen, but European demand for cheap protein kept catches expanding.
2. 1473–1478Coast of Newfoundland · AtlanticBasque and Breton fishermen, with ocean-going experience, reached the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and fished cod on a large scale offshore. Fleets carried salt and barrels for initial processing at sea. Documentary and archaeological evidence shows European use of the Grand Banks was already substantial in the 1470s; after the season fleets sailed directly to Spanish or French ports, bypassing Iceland.
3. 1475–1480Bergen · NorwayThe Bryggen wharf in Bergen gathered Norwegian wind-dried cod and imported salted fish, which Hanseatic merchants transshipped to the Baltic and the German interior. Bristol, Bordeaux, and other ports also distributed Atlantic catches. By the late 1470s stockfish had become a key food for Lenten fasts and army supply; fishery profits fed back into shipbuilding and the salt trade, forming one wing of Atlantic economic expansion alongside Portuguese exploration of Africa.