ABSTRACT
Northern Europe is usually and correctly seen as peripheral to advances in navigation as well as in the design and construction of seagoing ships. The discussion of Columbus and the important events of 1492 does not normally include any examination of the maritime history of northern Europe and specifically of ships in that part of Europe. During Columbus's lifetime, however, England, the Low Countries, northern Germany, and northern France were very much on the edge of Europe, both economically and politically. Voyages made from the British Isles and Scandinavia in the Middle Ages made a contribution to the European conquest of the sea. The usual reason for studying the economy and shipping of northern Europe is that the economic, commercial, and demographic focus of the continent shifted from the Mediterranean to north-western Europe in the sixteenth and especially in the seventeenth century.
