Port cities played a critical role in urban development, whether in Europe, North America, or the developing world. Even in the pre-industrial period, trade was an important factor which affected the pattern of urban expansion and ports, after capital cities, often registered the greatest growth rates. In fact, maritime commerce was a powerful driving force behind urbanization. But despite the rapid growth of port-cities from the early-modern period onwards, comparatively little research has been undertaken on port-hinterland relations.
This book collects important new research from key scholars in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, America and Japan. They focus on the determinants of port-hinterland linkages and the significance of trade, migration and cultural exchange as distinct, but interrelated, fields of interaction between ports and their hinterlands. The book addresses four key themes: the political framework of port-hinterland relations, the economic linkages between port-cities and their hinterlands, the migration hinterlands of port-cities as well as their cultural hinterlands.