The Hansestadt Lüneburg was built on the salt trade, as the “white gold” was mined nearby; salt was a fundamental commodity of the Hansa trade as it was needed to preserve the fish traded all over the Baltic. The Old Salt Route led from Lüneburg to Lübeck, crossing the Elbe at Launenburg (top left picture). From 1398 the Stecknitz Canal, between the Elbe and the Trave rivers passing via Mölln (bottom right), facilitated transport by water to Lübeck. The canal was replaced in 1900 by the Elbe-Lübeck Canal, which followed a similar route. (Thanks again to Claus).
The old town is an island in the river Trave; it’s the biggest German port on the Baltic. See also the other cards.
Lübeck, the Queen of the Hansa, was where it all started. Prior to the establishment of the League, Saxon traders used the city as a base for their trade to Scandinavia and the Eastern Baltic. Lübeck formed an alliance in 1241 with Hamburg and later with Cologne, challenged Scandinavian dominance of the Baltic, established colonies in England, Livonia and Russia, and became the dominant city of the League, hosting the first General Diet of the Hansa in 1356.
These splendid cards came from Rainer. The first, of the Holstentor, is Torsten Krüger; the others, by Thomas Radbruch, are of Mengestraße, Wahmstraße, Puppenbrücke and Glandorpshof.
