What kind of association was the Hanseatic League?

The Hanseatic League came into being in the 13th century when merchant towns and guilds belonging to central and northwestern Europe came together to promote trade, protect mutual interests and protect each other from invasions and plunder. The league burgeoned over three centuries, and gradually declined and faded away by the late 16th century.

The origins of the league are to be found in groupings of traders and groupings of trading towns in two main areas: in the east, where German merchants won a monopoly of the Baltic trade, and in the west, where Rhineland merchants were active in the Low Countries and in England.

From the mid-13th century the cooperation between north German towns became much more extensive and regularized. By 1265 all towns had agreed on common legislation for the defense of merchants and their goods. By the end the 13th century, all north German trading associations and towns and their bases for foreign commerce were bound in a single league. The Hanseatic League was now in existence. Its existence and its importance were based on the fact that the league controlled, by virtue of vigorous action and geographical position, the main currents of northern trade.

By the end of the 16th century, the Hanseatic League was moribund. The new patterns of European trade that slowly evolved in the age of great discoveries hastened its end. The last diet was held in 1669.