The Hanseatic League, or Hansa, was a trade confederation in northern Europe that stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea. The league dominated commercial activity from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, and had a major influence on economic structure up through the seventeenth centuries (Hibbert). The Hanseatic League had a profound impact on the trading system used today in Europe, and has been partially revived in certain European cities.
Formation
The Hansa was founded by European towns and merchant communities abroad in the late twelfth century as a way of protecting mutual trading interests (Hibbert). The League stemmed from alliances of traders and trading towns in two notable regions: the east and the west. In the east, German merchants held a monopoly over the Baltic trade, and in the west, Rhineland merchants were operative in the Low Countries and in England (Hibbert). The league was born from the merging of the different sectors, a process initiated and favored by the towns in these regions due to their vital interest in trade between the Baltic and northwestern Europe (Hibbert).
By the early 13th century north Germans had a near monopoly of long-distance trade in the Baltic (Hibbert). Lübeck, located on the Baltic, was the center ‘capital’ of the early Hanseatic League. Its
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The cities who participate refer to themselves as ‘Hansestadt’. The purpose was to revive the spirit of the League as a social and cultural alliance. Its existence encourages the exchange of culture and traditions amongst members, and in the words of the Hanseatic League president, “aims to bring about closer economic, cultural, social and national ties across Europe” (Saxe). International Hanseatic Day is celebrated annually by states, such as Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen, featuring a Hanseatic Market filled with traditional customs and atmosphere (Past is Future). The festival is commonly held in
As shown contextually in document 5, Asia was replacing their barter and tax payment from goods and services to silver. Such a change requires and very large supply and circulation of said precious metal. China was willing to pay a lot for said metal as its new economic system depended on it. In order to cash in on this potential gold rush, for lack of a better word, european nations sought elsewhere for a supply of silver they could control, ultimately leading to the colonization of the Americas and military conquests of isles like the Phillipines and Indonesia. The pattern of the silver trade shifted as Europeans now expanded it to reach more of the western hemisphere by establishing mines in Brazil and other areas. Documents 1 and 3 showcase in detail how connected the west and east now became because of the silver trade, which previously resided in Asia predominantly. Silver went from the mines in the east (Japan) and sometimes isles (Philippines), to the colonies, and ultimately China after the chinese merchant ships would travel to said colonies and pick up the silver. Such an increased connected between the west and east is seen again post-Renaissance. As Europe is going through a revival, it seeks wealth elsewhere, like european nations in the later centuries. Europe begins expeditions and forges relationships with eastern nations
Before the Modern Era, international communication was not prevalent. Many factions were present between distant regions in the world, and regional trade flourished between lands that were close in proximity. Lands in the Americas or South America did not experience a strong connection to lands further east due to these gaps in communication. However, due to the emergence of silver, regional economies all combined to form one global economy. In this global economy, different, distant regions interacted through a common trade. Silver production, common from the 1500s to 1750, helped global interactions flourish. Different regions, specifically China and the Philippines, Spain and its colonies, and England collectively experienced shifts in their societies and economies through a combined need to interpose themselves in this global flow of silver, that was then expanded upon through different methods of gaining silver.
Timothy Brook discusses in his book the aspects of world trade during the 17th century and how through the process of globalization, how regions became as interconnected as we know of today. Most people tend to have this conceptualized idea of what globalization is as well as its process. Throughout my educational career, globalization has always been portrayed as big businesses working together providing different goods and services worldwide. In other words, globalization simply involves big, fortune 500-esque companies and has no involvement from anyone else. In the text, however, Brook gives a different interpretation and does so by examining six different paintings by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. Instead of focusing primarily on the obvious aspects of each painting, Brook draws the readers’ attention to a variety of intricate details and provides insight for all of them. This helps support his belief that globalization can be traced back to the events of the 17th century and had contributions from several individuals.
In the mid and late of the 15th Century, Europe attained control over the globe’s wind patterns and ocean currents and started creating a European-based...
Many people think that Christopher Columbus was the first European to set foot in America, but this conventional belief is wrong; Leif Erikson, a Norse explorer set foot in Newfoundland almost 500 years before Columbus was even born. This paper will cover everything about Leif Erikson’s life including his grandfather’s banishment from Norway, and Leif’s father’s exile from Iceland. Leif Erikson’s early life, his family, and his visit to Norway to serve under the king. The first recorded European to see North America, Bjarni Herjólfsson, and Leif Erikson’s voyage to America. This paper is also going to talk about Leif Erikson’s brother, Thorvald Erikson’s voyage to Vinland because his tale is interesting. Near the end of this research paper, it will have a paragraph on Leif Erikson’s later life. Finally at the end of this paper it is going to talk about the unknown reason why no other Europeans sailed to Vinland, and Leif’s impact on modern day North America.
The commercial activity has been, over the centuries, linked to human activity, due to the need to obtain satisfactory. The evolution of trade throughout history presents issues of immense importance to understand the current configuration of trade, However, for the purposes of this research we will be observing what is free trade so we can understand and interpret every point that we will be talking about in this investigation. Free Trade is an economic concept, referring to the sale of products between countries, duty-free and any form of trade barriers. Free trade involves the elimination of artificial barriers (government regulations) to trade between individuals and companies from different countries.
The League of Nations has been seen as a seriously flawed international organisation and its failure to prevent World War Two has been well documented. Provide something of an alternative perspective by identifying and highlighting important policy-areas in which the League made valuable progress.
The League of Nations sounds like a superhero team and in a sense, the goal that The League was trying to achieve could have been something straight out of a comic book. Originally proposed by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I, The League was born after some alterations. The League of Nations’ main intention was to bring an end to the war and prevent another one of the same atrocious proportions from happening in the future. Forty zealous countries joined this fight, but the most powerful country of all was not among them: The United States of America. While many Americans agreed with the goal of The League, many did not and those that did not were ones in power. The portion of the “mission statement” for The League that caused
Spufford, Peter. Power And Profit: The Merchant In Medieval Europe. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson Inc., 2002.
Trading was a critical part to the culture life of a Viking. This task brought in many important goods that the Vikings needed to live an ordinary life. The Vikings were the international tradesmen of their time. In Constantinople (Istanbul) they traded silk and spices for slaves that they had brought from Russia. They Amber they found in the Baltic area and they brought furs, skins, and walrus tusk ivory to the trading towns in Western Europe from the northern parts of the world such as Greenland. The Vikings founded trading cities in Scandinavia such as Birka, Ribe, Hedeby and Skiringsal. In Ireland they founded terrific trade in Dublin and, in England, they made the city of York flourish to become the most important trading town outside of London (La Fay 149-150). At a time when old trade routes between east and west thro...
From 1609 to 1713, the Dutch Republic was going through “The Golden Age.” It was a time of economic wealth, and a higher standard of life compared to most European countries. However, the Netherlands had the highest cost of living out of all European countries. It was the period in which mercantilism expanded, and domination of trading power was necessity. England, France, and Portugal were also expanding their boundaries of trade, which will begin a long fight for mastery at sea. The Dutch was the trading capital of the world at this time; in which is represented in this quote,” Although the Dutch tenaciously resisted the new competition, the long distance trading system of Europe was transformed from one largely conducted through the Netherlands, with the Dutch as universal buyer-seller and shipper, to one of multiple routes and fierce competitiveness.”(Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 24, pg. 890). The Netherlands operated in 7 provinces, known as the United Provinces, and the Dutch society was mainly consisted of bourgeoisie, sailors, and merchants. Because of the major trade industry in Holland, and that agricultural was secondary to the trading industry, the Dutch people were taxed extremely high for goods. However, a wave of culture flowed through Dutch Society, influenced by the economic profit that the Dutch gained from trade.
Ellis, Elisabeth G., and Anthony Esler. "Vikings Settle Among Slavs." Prentice Hall World History. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2011. N. pag. Print.
...maritime trade and monopoly of state trade and routes, and was used as a means in war.
Copenhagen’s history, along with Denmark’s, leading up to the early 1900’s was in some ways similar to other european countries in terms of being conquered “1807 Bombing of Copenhagen by the English navy” (Denmark.dk, 2014) and conquering “1666-1917 Danish colonies in Caribbean” (Denmark.dk, 2014). Up until the 1800’s the layout and land use of Copenhagen wasn’t really as vast as other european cities of the time.
Rice, Eugene E. and Anthony Grafton. The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559. 2nd. ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1994.