European Market Towns

Lueneburg, in northern Germany, became famous and prosperous (expressed by the staircase-shaped merchant buildings which are still standing) by mining salt and trading this very valuable product during the Medieval Ages. Why was salt important? What does the red arrow point to? What is the large black symbol at the east end of the white space (labeled, Am Sande)?
Examine the photo of the city of Heide below, which is located between the polders and glacial uplands in the North European Plain. What was the largest market square in Germany used for?

Answers:

• salt was used to preserve meat and fish and to give food taste -- food that was often spoiled!
• Lueneburg in northern Germany, south of Hamburg, shows a large market square (the sandy soils of the North European Plain is reflected in the square's name: Am Sande [literally, on the sandy place] with the Gothic church at the east end.

• Heide, in northern Germany: farmers from the poorer glacial uplands brought their livestock to this market to exchange and later to buy grains from farmers who came from the fertile polders.

Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 1 February 1996; last revised on 07 March 2005