This study examines specific cases of irregular trade during the final decades of Swedish Pomerania with help of case material from the city archives in Stralsund and Wismar, as well as contemporary newspaper advertisements from Stralsundische Zeitung, and reflects those in the light of prevalence of overall factors for smuggling, namely the impact of globalization, the grade of organization of a national economy, economic borders and relationship to the Swedish state, as well as modern consump-tion, and the inclination of the individual smuggler. An imbalance both within itself and in comparison with neighboring emerging national states, as a result of weak economic state power in combination with Swedish support for Swedish-Pomeranian sea trade, turned Swedish Pomerania into a smuggler’s haven.

The agreement on Swedish Pomerania between Sweden and Prussia from 1815 contains an article that is central for this essay. It states that the inhabitants of Swedish Pomerania and the Pomeranian in Sweden were given six years to decide in which of the kingdoms they wanted to be citizens after Sweden had left Pomerania. Since this possibility was raised in an international treaty, one can assume that both signatories supposed it was a matter that would affect a certain number of individuals within Swedish Pomerania. I am examining to which extent this possibility was used, by whom and why. All in all, I have been able to show that there was a clear perception among the authorities of both sides that a certain number of inhabitants probably would want to leave Pomerania in connection with the transition to Prussia. I have also shown that people actually moved from Pomerania to Sweden during the years 1815 to 1821, although this was never the question of a major wave of emigration. Those who moved proved to have different motives and that these motives varied depending on background, occupation etc. The same applies to those who stayed.