This book argues that pre-modern settlers from western Europe were fundamental in transforming the political and economic fate of eastern Europe and Scandinavia in the period AD 800-1800. Cities that were targeted for settlement grew as they imported new technologies and became connected to extensive trade networks. In addition, settlers brought with them inclusive political institutions, initially only for themselves, that changed the governing structure of cities. The increases in urban population and the new templates for government introduced by Western settlers were used by local rulers to build states that left deep imprints across the continent.