In all countries bordering the Baltic Sea, the waters have in one way or another played an important and sometimes crucial role throughout the course of history. About 8,000 km of coastline which surround the Baltic Sea have been the stage for many events that have had a great impact on the fate of the region.

One famous example is the Vikings, who are primarily known as terrifying raiding warriors who used their extraordinary seafaring skills in order to plunder vast parts of Europe. If we take a closer look at political and economic interplay in the Baltic Sea Region during the Viking period, lasting from about 700 AD to well into the 11th century, this proves to be a rather one-sided picture. Archaeological evidence shows that the Vikings also tried their luck and succeeded as merchants, building several - at times flourishing - centres of trade such as Ribe (today in Danish territory) and Hedeby (known as Schleswig, in Germany). In contrast to the Swedish Vikings who set out to plunder, but also to settle and trade in the Baltic Sea area, the Danes navigated their open square rigged vessels towards the coast of Western Europe and also England, where Danish kings would hold the throne until 1042 AD.

'Centre of trade' is also a good way to describe the Polish city of Gdansk, which experienced its commercial heyday not during the Viking era, but several hundred years later. As a member of the Hanseatic League from 1361 onwards, the city came to play an important role within this powerful trade emporium. Established as an alliance of different trading guilds, the Hanseatic League sought to protect merchants and also put a special emphasis on acquiring trade privileges for the members. The successful centres of trade within the League, such as Lübeck, Novgorod or Gdansk, shared two important traits: their status as independent city republics, and their strategic location along the main trading lines of the Baltic Sea. Although the League collapsed in the early 17th century, architectural remains of the glorious Hanseatic time can still be admired throughout the region today.

Both Viking and Hanseatic sailing vessels crossing the Baltic Sea carried one precious trading good: Baltic amber (succinite), which was sometimes regarded as more valuable than gold and had previously therefore been exported to Ancient Egypt or the Roman Empire. From archaeological findings, scientists know that the first amber artefacts were processed around 4000 BC in what are today Latvia and Lithuania. Besides trading with it, people along the eastern shore of the sea used amber as both decorative and religious objects - and also later on for pharmaceutical purposes. This versatility is due to the fact that amber, unlike other semi-precious stones, is made out of organic elements and therefore easy to shape. Latvians, in particular, seem to attach special symbolic value to the succinite: they occasionally refer to the Baltic Sea as the Amber Sea (Dzintarjura) and there are many Latvian folk songs and names that affectionately refer to amber. Furthermore, for generations of tourists, hunting the seemingly unimpressive chunks of resin has undoubtedly been one of the highlights of their Baltic Sea experience.