Hanseatic League

medieval league of towns for the promotion and protection of commerce (in North Germany and adjacent countries)

This article is about the historical concept. For the modern, please see Hanseatic Parliament  The Hanseatic League was an alliance of trading guilds that established and maintained a trade monopoly over the Baltic Sea, to a certain extent the North Sea, and most of Northern Europe for a time in the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period, between the 13th and 17th centuries.
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Noun
1. a commercial and defensive confederation of free cities in northern Germany and surrounding areas; formed in the 13th century and most powerful in the 14th century
(hypernym) confederation, confederacy, federation
(member-meronym) Bergen