Truso

Truso, situated on Lake Drużno, was an Old Prussian (Pomesanian) town near the Baltic Sea just east of the Vistula River. It was one of the trading posts on the Amber Road, and is thought to be the antecedent of the city of Elbląg (Elbing). In the words of Marija Gimbutas, "the name of the town is the earliest known historically in the Baltic Sea area". The main export goods of Truso were amber, furs, and slaves, while blacksmithing and amber working were the major industries. The beginnings of the town can be dated back to approximately the end of the 8th century, while in the second half of the 10th century, the town declined and was eclipsed as a trade center by nearby Gdańsk.

Truso was situated in a central location upon the Eastern European trade routes, which led from Birka in the north to the island of Gotland and to Visby in the Baltic Sea and later included the Hanseatic city of Elbing. From there, traders continued further south to Carnuntum in the Alps. This was called the Amber Road. The ancient amber roads led further south-west and south-east to the Black Sea and eventually to Asia. "For East Prussia, Truso played the same role as Haithabu (Slesvig) or Hedeby for north-western Germany or Slavic Vineta for Pomerania", Gimbutas has observed.

East-west trade route went from Truso and Wiskiauten (a rival centre in Prussia which sprang up at the south-western corner of the Courish Lagoon), along the Baltic Sea to Jutland, and from there up the Slien inlet to Haithabu/Hedeby, a large trading center in Jutland. Hedeby, which lay near the modern city of Schleswig in Schleswig-Holstein, was pretty centrally located and could be reached from all four directions over land as well as from the North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Baltic Sea.

...
Wikipedia