HANSESTADT

Turku (Åbo in Swedish) was founded in the 13th century; the name is from tǔrgǔ, Old East Slavic, meaning “marketplace”.  It was the most important Finnish town in the Middle Ages, and the only one to trade with the Hanseatic Leage.  From 1350, only Turku and Uusimaa were permitted by King Magnus Eriksson to trade with any place other than Stockholm.  There is evidence of trade between Turku and Lübeck from the 1360s, with Gdansk from 1395, and with Tallinn (Reval).  Turku Castle (below) was founded in 1280.

The International Hanseatic Days were held in Turku in 2004, on the occasion of its 775th birthday. The city is twinned with three other Hansestädte:  Bergen, Rostock and Gdansk.