Ge110ZachBr: Hansa Presentation

Map of Hansa trade cities

"The Hansa was a trading alliance between several European cities in the 13th to 17th centuries. Hamburg and Luebeck were the first cities to create a merchant association in the 12th century. Luebeck had fish and transportation, but Hamburg had the salt to preserve it. Their idea gave other cities something to follow and thus becoming the Hanseatic League"

Hanse Internals

Merchant associations not just league or cities.
Trade was very dangerous and risky so they decided to band together to travel.
For water travel they used ships called cogs

Largest cogs could carry up to 200 tons worth of goods

Cities consisted of sea faring merchants and trade houses.

Hanse Facts

Hanse was found in the 12th century
Located on the Baltic sea
Basic trade routes between Hamburg and Luebeck
Fishing, salt cultivation, and woolen fabrics were popular trade goods.

Bruges

Bruges is the capital and the largest city in the province of Belgium. The important historical landmarks there are:

The Groeningmuseum

http://pictify.com/user/Groeninge

The museum highlights many collections of art and works done by Renaissance artists. Many works are from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Beguinage

http://www.discoverflanders.com/beguinageofbruges.asp

Beguinage is a french term that refers to a semi-monastic community of women. These were religious women who sought out to serve god.

Trade

Main exports:

Fur/Hides
Meat
Butter
Dried Fish
Tar
Seed rye

Main Imports:

Salts
Clothes
Metals
Wines

Trust and Truth

A big deal during the Hansa time was the trust that was required in their line of work. Many deals were not done with written contracts or anything like that. The most important thing when dealing with each other was trust. If someone says that they have the money to pay for something that meant that they DID have it.

Fall of the Hanseatic League

Timeline

1386 Lithuania and Poland unite
1397 Denmark, Norway, and Sweden unite
1494 "Ivan III of Moscow closed Hanseatic trading settlement at Novgorod
15th century, Dutch grew in industrial strength
Were able to drive German traders out of Dutch markets
16th century, Hanseatic League was very week
Assigned Heinrich Sudermann as a perminant official to fix internal issues
End of 16th century, remained weak
The Hanseatic League eventually fell due to a lack of centralized power, they could not withstand the influence of the more powerful nation-states.