How the Hanseatic League Built a Medieval Trade Empire

Viking Trade: How Raiders Became Medieval Merchants

Discover how Viking trade transformed raiders into Europe's most connected medieval merchants. Read the full story of their trade empire now. The post Viking Trade: How Raiders Became Medieval Merchants appeared first on Alain Guillot.

How the Hanseatic League Built a Medieval Trade Empire

Between the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 11th century, as Europe recovered from the instability following the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century), the continent’s commerce grew, also fueled by the development of long-distance trade. The presence of pirates and bandits, however, made traveling dangerous. Moreover, merchants had to deal with quarrelsome overlords. To protect their trading interests, German merchants began to…