page_title: Old Salt Route
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Old Salt Route / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Old Salt Route in Northern Germany – historical pavement near Breitenfelde Deutsch: Alte Salzstraße zwischen Lüneburg und Lübeck – historische Pflasterung bei Breitenfelde
context_page_description: The Old Salt Route was a medieval trade route in Northern Germany, one of the ancient network of salt roads which were used primarily for the transport of salt and other staples. In Germany it was referred to as Alte Salzstraße.
  Salt was very valuable at that time; it was sometimes referred to as "white gold." The vast majority of the salt transported on the road was produced from brine near Lüneburg, a city in the northern central part of the country and then transported to Lübeck, a major seaport on Germany's Baltic Sea coast.
context_section_description: Historians generally recognize the Old Salt Route as part of a much longer path, which functioned as an important connection between the northern and southern reaches of the country. One of the oldest documents that confirms Lüneburg and its role in refining and transporting salt dates from 956 A.D. According to that document, King Otto I the Great granted the St. Michaelis Monastery in Lüneburg the customs revenue from the saltworks. Even at those early times, the city's wealth was based in large part on the salt found in the area. The Old Salt Route attained its peak of success between the 12th and the 16th century.
  The trade route led from Lüneburg northward to Lübeck. From that port city, most of the salt was shipped to numerous destinations that also lie on the Baltic Sea, including Falsterbo, which boasted a Scania Market. There it was used for the preservation of herring, an immensely important food in the Middle Ages, as well as for other foods. The salt trade was a major reason for the power of Lübeck and the Hanseatic League.
caption: Old Salt Route: historical pavement near Breitenfelde
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