Trade
While the medieval structure of Stockholm remained mostly unaltered during the 16th century, the city's social and economic importance grew to the extent that no king could permit the city to determine its own faith. Export from the city by the end of the 1550s has been estimated to 600.000 marks, four to five times the export from any other Swedish city (such as Nya Lödöse and Söderköping). So, by controlling trade to and from Stockholm, the king effectively controlled national trade. The most important export items at this time was iron (56%), butter (11%), train oil (10%), and salmon (6%) (export of copper was prohibited during the later reign of Vasa). The most important destinations for these goods were Lübeck (60%) and Danzig (30%), with the remaining 10% shipped to Baltic cities, Stralsund and Rostock, Denmark, the Netherlands and France. While Lübeck apparently was an important trade partner, confrontations between the king and the German city caused export to be diverted to other destinations over periods, and in 1549-55 export to Lübeck was prohibited for Swedish citizens. Import of salt was important. Preserved records from the era fail to detail the amount of other goods delivered to the city from the rural areas surrounding it, including agricultural products produced in the Lake Mälaren region such as butter and fur.
During the reign of Vasa's sons Stockholm was dominating every aspect of the country. While the city hardly produced anything exportable by itself, approximately two third of national export was channelled through the city; an export dominated by iron and copper from Bergslagen but which also included agricultural items, such as butter and occasionally corn, and forestry products, such as pitch and tar. While this trade caused many Swedes to settle in the city, the trade and the capital needed to control it was largely in the hands of the king and German merchants from Lübeck and Danzig.
Read more about this topic: Stockholm During The Early Vasa Era
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