The merchants who had frequented Middelburg since 1582 were invited to return in 1587 to the ( now independent ) Dutch staple port was moved during the early 17th century from Middelburg to Delft in 1621, then to Rotterdam in 1635, then to Dordrecht in 1655.
12.
This could be, because of a legal monopoly for stockpiling a single commodity ( wool ), granted by a political ruler ( like the staple ports designated by the kings of England in medieval times ), but also more generally because of technical and economic reasons, that still give certain advantages to a spoke-hub distribution paradigm.
