From tradition for the future
Together, the cities promote awareness of the Hanseatic League in their Rhenish homeland, thus cultivating tradition and identification with their own history. What's more, they make the formative past tangible and usable. For the economy and tourism profit equally from the cultivation of Hanseatic values. In this way, a vision for the entire region emerges from a look back. In 2019, the association celebrated its tenth birthday.
A sustainable alliance
As an organisation of Low German long-distance merchants, to which around 200 port and inland towns belonged, the Hanseatic League helped to shape and determine the economy, trade and politics for over 400 years until it lost its importance in the mid-17th century. In the Middle Ages and the early modern period, it was the most influential player in international trade and offered its members protection abroad, represented their trade interests vis-à-vis foreign rulers, provided its members with trading privileges and adjudicated disputes of its members in its branches abroad through its own jurisdiction.
Today, the Rhenish Hansa is well established. Its members cultivate a positive culture of remembrance and at the same time use it as a marketing tool to make their cities more attractive.
Further information (German): www.rheinischehanse.de
Impressions from the Rhenish Hanseatic cities
