TRADE
No city is self-sufficient. Some goods can be produced locally but others have to be imported. A city that is part of a trade network is open to an active exchange with other centres. Its development is possible only thanks to this.
From the very beginning the heart of Poznań was located in the market square. It was here that the local and foreign merchants had been meeting for centuries. Old fairs, and then also the famous Poznań International Fair, cemented the city’s mercantile identity.
However, there is more to trade relations than just doing business. There is also the story about the fate of merchant families for which Poznań became a new home.
What was it, then, that attracted foreign merchants to our city?
What goods did they offer the inhabitants?
Did they decide to stay in Poznań for good?
Illustration: Kazia Kalitan-Młodkowska