Hanseatic trade route: Route Map and History
Sea route of the Hanseatic League linking London and Flanders with Lübeck, the Baltic and Novgorod. Furs, wax, grain and timber flowed west; cloth and salt flowed east.
Open the Hanseatic trade route in the interactive map
Key facts
| Active | 1250 – 1600 (approximate) |
| Length shown on the map | about 2,600 km |
| Main stops | 8 |
Stops along the Hanseatic trade route
| Stop | Ruled by in 1300 | Ruled by in 1400 | Ruled by in 1500 | Ruled by in 1600 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | English territory | English territory | England | England and Ireland |
| 2 | Bruges | Holy Roman Empire | Holy Roman Empire | Holy Roman Empire | Habsburg Netherlands |
| 3 | Hamburg | Holy Roman Empire | Holy Roman Empire | Holy Roman Empire | Holy Roman Empire |
| 4 | Lübeck | Holy Roman Empire | Holy Roman Empire | Holy Roman Empire | Holy Roman Empire |
| 5 | Visby | Unclaimed / no data | Kalmar Union | Kalmar Union | Denmark-Norway |
| 6 | Riga | Teutonic Knights | Teutonic Knights | Teutonic Knights | Poland-Lithuania |
| 7 | Reval (Tallinn) | Denmark | Teutonic Knights | Teutonic Knights | Sweden |
| 8 | Novgorod | Novgorod | Novgorod | Grand Duchy of Moscow | Tsardom of Muscovy |
The route is drawn schematically through its main stops; real caravans and ships used many variants. The state columns come from the border maps closest to each year.
Other trade routes
- Silk Road · 130 BC–1450
- Maritime Silk Road · 100 BC–1500
- Incense Route · 500 BC–AD 200
- Persian Royal Road · 500 BC–330 BC
- Amber Road · 100 BC–AD 400
- Route from the Varangians to the Greeks · AD 800–1100
- Trans-Saharan Route (western) · AD 300–1600
- Trans-Saharan Route (central) · AD 600–1900
- Cape Route to India · 1498–1869
- Atlantic triangular trade · 1520–1867
Last updated 9 November 2026. Sources: border data from historical-basemaps, land and rivers from Natural Earth; texts written for Chronica Maps from standard reference works. How we make the maps.