A Study on Early Modern German Trade Cities and the European International Trade

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Germany is situated in Central Europe and has continued to connect every part of Europe. This geographical background of traffic created areas in which many intricate trade routes were running and many important trade cities developed before the unification of Germany as a national state.The aim of this Study is to investigate the trade relations and extent of the late middle and early modern German trade cities which connected Germany with various districts of Europe. This study is focused on three main trade cities, Lubeck, Hamburg and Leipzig, that is to say two port towns of the German Hansa and one overland trade city.In the first chapter of the research report, international conditions of the western Baltic region are taken up as the background for Hanseatic international trade.From the investigation in the second chapter about Lubeck's trade relations with the Baltic, we found along the Baltic coasts three trade areas centering on Lubeck, namely, 1. the Baltic Sea area, 2. the Baltic-North Sea area, 3. the south-west Baltic Sea area. Generally speaking, Lubeck was situated at the center of the Baltic-North Sea trade area with the trade of Russian-Livonian products during the expanding era of the Hansa, so we examine Lubeck's Russian-Livonian trade in the supplement of this chapter.The third chapter consists of the research on Hamburg's trade development relations in the late middle and early modern ages. Particularly we made clear a part of the importance concerning Hamburg's trade with the continental hinterland.The fourth chapter contains a study about Leipzig's trade relations with Hamburg and Poland as examples of trade between east and west continental Europe.In the conclusion we point out the necessity for further investigation on the German trade city (Hansa-Messestadt) in order to relativize the "national history".