A commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns along the North Sea and Baltic coasts that dominated northern European trade from the 13th to 17th centuries.
Formally dissolved at its last diet in 1669, though it had been declining since the mid-16th century and functionally ceased as a major trading power much earlier; only Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck participated in the final 1669 assembly.
Overview of the League's commercial and political history.
The classic comprehensive history of the Hanseatic League's commercial network and institutions.