The Hanseatic League was a medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 12th century, the League expanded between the 13th and 15th centuries and ultimately encompassed nearly 200 settlements across eight modern-day countries, ranging from Estonia in the north and east, to the Netherlands in the west, and extended inland as far as Cologne, the Prussian regions and Kraków, Poland.
Livonia or in earlier records Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia.
The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Christian military orders and kingdoms, primarily against the pagan Baltic, Finnic and West Slavic peoples around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.
Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,435. It is 186 kilometres southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the two largest lakes in Estonia, Lake Võrtsjärv and Lake Peipus. From the 13th century until the end of the 19th century, Tartu was known in most of the world by variants of its historical name Dorpat.
Viljandi is a town and municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,407 in 2019. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major Estonian cities, Pärnu and Tartu. The town was first mentioned in 1283, upon being granted its town charter by Wilhelm von Endorpe. The town became a member of the Hanseatic League at the beginning of the 14th century, and is one of five Estonian towns and cities in the league. The once influential Estonian newspaper Sakala was founded in Viljandi in 1878.
Pärnu is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located 128 kilometres (80 mi) south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and 176 kilometres (109 mi) west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Riga, which is a part of the Baltic Sea. In the city, the Pärnu River drains into the Gulf of Riga.
Valga is a town in southern Estonia and the capital of Valga County and Valga Parish. Until their separation in 1920, Valga and the town of Valka in northern Latvia were one town. They are now twin-towns. The area of Valga is 16.5 square kilometres and that of Valka is 14.2 km2 (5.5 sq mi). Their populations are respectively 12,261 and 6,164. On 21 December 2007 all border-crossing points were removed and roads and fences opened between the two countries with both countries joining the Schengen Agreement.
Hansa Group or Hansabank Group was a Baltic banking group operating in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania between 1992 and 2008. It started in Estonia and expanded to Latvia in 1995 then Lithuania in 1996. It was acquired by Stockholm-based FöreningsSparbanken, later Swedbank, in two stages in 1998 and 2005.
Albert of Riga or Albert of Livonia was the third Catholic Bishop of Riga in Livonia. In 1201, he allegedly founded the city of Riga, the modern capital of Latvia. The building of the Riga Cathedral started during his tenure there in 1221.
The State of the Teutonic Order was a theocratic state located along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. It was formed by the knights of the Teutonic Order during the early 13th century Northern Crusades in the region of Prussia. In 1237, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword merged with the Teutonic Order of Prussia and became known as its branch – the Livonian Order. At its greatest territorial extent during the early 15th century, the State encompassed Chełmno Land, Courland, Gotland, Livonia, Estonia, Neumark, Pomerelia, Prussia and Samogitia.
The Livonian War (1558–1583) was fought for control of Old Livonia. The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom of Sweden, and the Union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland.
Teet Kask is an Estonian choreographer.
Hanseatic flags are the banners of Hanseatic cities that were flown by cogs and other ships of the Hanseatic League from 13th to 17th centuries.
The history of Riga, the capital of Latvia, begins as early as the 2nd century with a settlement, the Duna urbs, at a natural harbor not far upriver from the mouth of the Daugava River. Later settled by Livs and Kurs, it was already an established trade center in the early Middle Ages along the Dvina-Dnieper trade route to Byzantium. Christianity had come to Latvia as early as the 9th century, but it was the arrival of the Crusades at the end of the 12th century which brought the Germans and forcible conversion to Christianity; the German hegemony instituted over the Baltics lasted until independence—and is still preserved today in Riga's Jugendstil architecture.
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 Northern War.
The Peterhof or Petershof was a Hanseatic kontor, one of the four major trading posts of the Hanseatic League, on the right bank of the Volkhov at Novgorod, Russia, then forming the Novgorod Republic. It was named after St. Peter's Church, a Catholic church that was used by the Hanseatic merchants. It eventually consisted of two parts, the palissaded enclave, called the Peterhof proper, further uphill from the river Volkhov, and a beachyard, the Gotenhof, on the river that was eventually included in the Peterhof. Baltic trade, including Novgorod's trade, was dominated by the Hanseatic League from the 13th to 15th centuries. It was first shut down in 1494 by Ivan III of Russia, but later reopened although a terminal decline could not be halted.
The Union of Cities THE HANSA was founded in the Dutch city of Zwolle in 1980 by representatives of former Hanseatic cities to "revive the common heritage of the Hanseatic era." With almost 200 member cities and municipalities, the Union of Cities THE HANSA is the largest voluntary association of cities in the world. The aim of the multilateral municipal partnership is to continue the cross-border tradition of the Hanseatic League as a contribution to European integration, joint tourism marketing and generally increased cooperation between the member cities.
