In the 1300s a land route and then a canal connected Lubeck with Hamburg. Why do you think this linkage was so important?

The 1300's land route and later canal connecting Lubeck with Hamburg is so important because Lubeck had become a very important merchant's base by those days, having access to the Baltic and North Sea. In 1241 it formed an alliance with Hamburg, which in turn controlled access to salt trade routes.

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Explanation:

It was really important because it was a chance to continue Hanseatic trade route, for that the channel had to be built between two great cities, that's why these cities were chosen.