From the Middle Ages to the renaissance the Hanseatic League was the most powerful mercantile organisation in the Northern Europe.
Although being loosely organised Hansa was uttermost influential.
League was lead by the German and L├╝beck may be considered as its centre. As the members were towns in northern Germany but the league had offices even in London and Novgorod. The hanseatic traders ruled the mercatile seas in there region and had also great political power. The Hanseatic hegemony began to disrupt in the later Middle Ages and during the 16th century when new competitors sailed in their home waters.
