The changes of the navigation and the maritime trade in the Baltic Sea in the late medieval period

Abstract

It must be concluded that in the 15th century the economy of the Baltic area was becoming more and more dependent on the production in the agricultural sector, which defined the development of trade, craft manufacture and the capital market. It marked the place for the southern Baltic area in the European system of international division of work, which started at the beginning of the 16th century. Within the framework of the new world economy the Baltic zone could maintain its position only as a producer and exporter of mass products such as corn, food, wood and forest products. The phenomenon led to the development of Danzig and Polish lands situated in the mouth of the Vistula. The increase in the export of mass products, the main consumers of which became the Netherlands, resulted in the positive change of the trade balance between the Baltic zone and the West (from the 1480s). As a result of rising income from trade many merchants resigned from risky long-distance navigation. The example of Danzig shows that during the time of prosperous trade the number of Danzig ships participating in the navigation between the West and the Baltic decreased.