Hanseatic League Facts for Kids

Main trading route of the Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League (German: die Hanse, Dutch: de Hanze, Estonian: hansa, Latvian: Hanza Polish: Hanza, Swedish: Hansan) was an alliance of trading guilds. These guilds established and maintained a trade monopoly over the Baltic Sea and most of Northern Europe. This monopoly lasted for a time in the later Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, between the 13th and 17th centuries.

Many cities were part of it.

Cities that are still called Hansestadt

The following cities were part of the Hanse. They carry the word Hansestadt (Hanseatic City) as part of their official city name:

The Hanseatic League was a powerful economic and defensive alliance that left a great cultural and architectural heritage. It is especially renowned for its Brick Gothic monuments, such as Stralsund's St. Nikolai Church and its City Hall, shown here. UNESCO lists the old town of Stralsund, together with Wismar, as a World Heritage Site.
Foundation of the alliance between Lübeck and Hamburg
Town Hall of Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia)
Stargard Mill Gate, Pomerania, today in Poland
Georg Giese from Danzig, 34-year-old German Hanseatic merchant at the Steelyard, painted in London by Hans Holbein
View of the Harbour Crane [de; pl] in the port city of Gdańsk (Danzig), today in Poland
Hanseatic museum in Bergen, Norway
Heinrich Sudermann
Modern, faithful painting of the Adler von Lübeck – the world's largest ship in its time
Hanseatic Seal of Elbing (now Elbląg)
Hanseatic Seal of Stralsund
Map of the Hanseatic League, showing principal Hanseatic cities
The Oostershuis, a kontor in Antwerp
The Hanseatic Warehouse in King's Lynn is the only surviving League building in England
German language logo
Europe in 1097
Europe in 1430
Europe in 1470
Carta marina of the Baltic Sea region (1539)