Changing economic situations within the Hanseatic economic area (´Hanse´) from 1300 to 1800

The Hanseatic League is geographical defined as the area between England and Flanders in the west and Western Russia in the east, between the scandinavian countries in the north and the central german area in the south, where the bulk of the merchants realized their economic interests. The joint research project ´Changing economic situations within the Hanseatic economic area 1300-1800´: The research association project was funded by the VOLKSWAGEN-STIFTUNG in line with the research main focus ´Research of the early modern history: the old Reich in european context´. It was an international joint research project and its center was the ´Forschungsstelle für Geschichte der Hanse und des Ostseeraums´ at the Department of cultural affairs of the Hanseatic city Lübeck(Amt für Kultur der Hansestadt Lübeck). 35 scientists from 10 european countries and from Canada are involved in the research project. Aim of the Project: The inter-temporal relations of the economic structure of the Hanseatic League and their change in regional and international context should be analysed by collectin historical-economic time series. Main Regions: Up to March 1997 about 400 time series were collected. There are three central regions, which a) outperform other regions because of a detailed documentation of time series, and b) which differ in their economic structure: 1. the dutch-english area, characterized by a dense business-structure, geared to the export of drapery and other woven material as well as metal products; 2. the area of wendish Hanseatic cities (Hamburg, Lübeck, Lüneburg, Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund, Greifswald; including Stade), be affected by intermediate trade and offered only few own production for the export. 3. the prussian/polish-´livländisch´ area, characterized by the export of agricultural and forestry commodities and semi-finished products, mainly to the western centres, to the Netherlands, and to England.