TRANSFORMATION OF THE POLITICAL MAP OF WESTERN EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES AS A RESULT OF ACTION ECONOMIC-GEOPOLITICAL PROCESSES

Economic-geopolitical processes have had a huge impact on the geopolitical systems of Western Europe in the Middle Ages, which resulted in quantitative and qualitative changes of the political map. Economic-geopolitical processes facilitated to the qualitative change through the phenomenon of urbanization and the formation of centralized realms. At the same time they have influenced quantitative changes - contributed to the formation and expansion of a number of unique geopolitical systems such as Venetian and Genoese Republics, the Hanseatic League. The article attempts to explain the reasons of activation of economic-geopolitical processes in the Middle Ages with the theoretical positions of geopolitics, political geography and systematic approach to research.