Riga was undoubtedly the major port city in the eastern Baltic and consequently

the gateway for Lithuanian trade with Western Europe. This contribution focuses

on Riga’s commercial role in the first half of the seventeenth century when the city

became a part of the Swedish empire and the city’s relationship with the Lithuanian

hinterland, still a part of Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth, became much

more complicated. The article stresses the economic reasons for Swedish political

and military engagements in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which peaked with the

Union of Kodainiai in 1655. From a historiographical perspective, this paper begins

with the argument by the Swedish historian Arthur Attman that Swedish interest

in the eastern Baltic territories began with trade. The paper will suggest that the

Lithuanian nobility and merchants were also interested in establishing a good relationship

with Sweden because Swedish power guaranteed political stability accompanied

by commercial development, this being reflected in the success of Riga’s

merchants during the 1630s and 1640s.