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Which manufactured goods did western Europe send east through Hanseatic trade routes?
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Hanseatic League
Hanseatic port of Hamburg, manuscript illumination from the Hamburg City Charter of 1497.
Through the trade routes controlled by the Hanseatic League, western European regionsâspecifically Flanders and Englandâexported significant quantities of manufactured goods to the eastern European "hinterland."
The primary manufactured good sent eastward was cloth. In addition to textiles, western merchants supplied various other manufactured products to the Slavic populations in exchange for raw materials and food surpluses, such as grain, timber, wax, and honey. While the textile industry of the Low Countries was a major driver of this trade, other industrial centers in the region, such as those in the Meuse corridor, also contributed metal products to the broader network of northern European commerce.12