Lübeck was founded in 1143 and became a major trading center for Northern Europe until the present day. In the Hanseatic League, founded in 1266, more than 100 cities joined and Lübeck played the leading role. After the discovery of America, however, the center of commerce gradually shifted to the west, from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean, to the cities of Hamburg and Bremen and to England and the Netherlands, and this marked the end of the Hanseatic League.