Baltic maritime trade (c. 1400–1800)
History of maritime trade in the Baltic Sea / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Baltic maritime trade began in the Late Middle Ages and continued to develop into the early modern period. During this time, ships carrying goods from the Baltic and North Sea passed along the Øresund, or the Sound, connecting areas like the Gulf of Finland to the Skagerrak. Over a period of 400 years, maritime powers in the east and west struggled to control these markets and the trade routes between them. The Baltic trading system of this era can be explained as beginning with the Hanseatic League and ending with the Great Nordic War.