While numerous historical works exist on specific East European cities, nothing has hitherto been published from an historical geographical standpoint on the spatial development of trade. Trade and urban development in Poland rectifies this, and uses the experience of Cracow to illumine general patterns of trade and urban growth in central and eastern Europe over several centuries.

Dr Carter emphasises the spatial aspects of commodity analysis during the later medieval and early modern periods, and traces the impact of political circumstance on commercial progress and mercantile evolution. He describes the regions and places of especial significance for Cracow's trade development, and examines the principal trading flows and commodity movements within the overall context of European economic and social change.

Based upon an intensive analysis of primary sources, Trade and urban development in Poland breaks new ground in its examination of the impact of commerce on urban growth over the longue duree, and will make a major contribution to our understanding of the historical geography of central and eastern Europe.