Finland’s gateway to the world: hanseatic city of Turku

Postcard

Turku is Finland’s oldest city, centrally located at the crossroads of the Baltic Sea. The city served as Finland’s gateway to the world since the Hanseatic times.

 

The Hanseatic League dominated commercial activity in the Baltic Sea in the Middle Ages. The League was founded by north German towns and German merchant communities abroad to protect their mutual trading interests.

In the 14th century the main trade route from Finland to the Hanseatic towns in North Germany went via Tallinn. Traders from Turku sailed to Tallinn where they could do business with Hanseatic merchants travelling east and west.