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Hansa Trader Journal

Cities, markets, and medieval trade.

Notes from Hansa Trader on medieval trade cities, living markets, and the design of a persistent browser strategy game.

June 28, 2026

The Secret History of Trading Strategy Games

Before Patrician and Port Royale became the obvious references, trading strategy games were scattered across M.U.L.E., Hanse, space traders, tycoon games, Anno, and Offworld.

  • Game Design
  • Strategy Games
  • Trading Games
  • Patrician
  • Port Royale
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June 28, 2026

What Makes a Great Trading Strategy Game?

The best trading strategy games are not solved trade loops. They make players read changing markets, commit capital, build operations, and adapt when rivals move.

  • Game Design
  • Strategy Games
  • Trading Games
  • Economic Strategy
  • Trade Empire Builder
June 27, 2026

From Viking Trade Routes to the Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League did not invent northern trade. It turned older Viking-age routes around Hedeby, Birka, Lubeck, Visby, and Novgorod into a city-based merchant network.

  • History
  • Hanseatic League
  • Viking Age
  • Trade
June 27, 2026

London Before the Steelyard

Before the Steelyard became the famous Hanseatic compound on the Thames, London was already a rich, difficult city where wool, royal power, and German merchant ties met.

  • History
  • London
  • Steelyard
  • Hanseatic League
  • Trade
June 27, 2026

The Strategic Island in the Baltic

Gotland's strategic position matters today. In the Middle Ages, the same island geography made Visby a hinge between Scandinavian, German, and eastern trade.

  • History
  • Visby
  • Gotland
  • Hanseatic League
  • Baltic Trade
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