1.1.1 Context
It is generally accepted by economists, historians, human geographers and social anthropologists that port-towns and port-cities played a major role in the long-run development of Europe, North and South America and, more recently, of Africa, Asia, Australasia and the Middle East. Well before the initial onset of industrialisation in Britain towards the end of the eighteenth century, waterborne trade, whether river-based, coastal, regional, continental or transoceanic, had affected both the pace and pattern of urban expansion. From a European perspective, the dominant role of the Mediterranean, from the Baltic to the Caspian Sea, was gradually superseded by long-distance, inter-continental trade links which were initiated as a result of âheroicâ voyages of discovery from the late fifteenth century onward. In many cases, they were consolidated by European settlement, the appropriation of land, the displacement and partial extermination of native populations, and the establishment of European colonies and both formal and informal empires.
The creation and consolidation of trading networks and the initial growth of a globalised economy well before the modern period were only possible because of waterborne transport links. As a result, port-towns and port-cities, as focal points for commerce and trade, became a prominent feature in the urban hierarchy of many countries. In the pre-industrial period, trade was an important factor that determined the pattern of urban expansion and ports, after capital cities, frequently registered the greatest growth rates in population and economic activity. Maritime commerce has always been a powerful driving force behind urbanisation, and ports acted increasingly as nodal points for the flow of population and the dissemination of goods and services. At the start of the nineteenth century they constituted approximately 40 per cent of Europeâs largest cities.1 Their relative importance in the course of the following two centuries was reinforced by the expansion of industrial production and centralised manufacturing, which were located initially close to sources of power (water and coal) and accessible raw materials (iron ore and other metals). Some ports developed an extensive industrial profile through shipbuilding and the processing of bulk imports, whether cattle, hemp or oil. Even today 11 of the 20 largest cities in the world are seaports, with Shanghai having an estimated population of just over 24 million inhabitants.2
Contrary to popular opinion, the rise of port-cities which operated on a world stage was not a phenomenon of modern capitalism and the international division of labour. According to Mielants, Antwerp in the sixteenth century was the âfirst truly global cityâ with extensive trade links, high rates of in-migration, specialised production of luxury goods and an extensive service function. With far-ranging trading links with the Baltic, the North Sea, Northern Italy, France, the Holy Roman Empire and further afield, approximately 40 per cent of world trade was channelled through its port. Its global status was reflected by a surge in the rate of demographic growth. Between 1500 and 1560 its population grew from approximately 50,000 to 114,000 at an annual rate of 2.1 per cent.3 Yet this impressive figure was easily exceeded by the annual growth of some British ports between 1851 and 1911, for example in the case of Liverpool (2.4 per cent), the Tyne ports (3.9 per cent), Cardiff (8.4 per cent) and Middlesbrough (12.7 per cent). Some European ports, relatively unaffected by the expansion in trans-Atlantic trade or poorly served in terms of adequate investment in their operational infrastructure, witnessed a decline in their economic fortunes, but others underwent a remarkable transformation with annual population growth rates well above the national average, as was the case in Malmö (12.4 per cent, 1820â1914) and Kiel (16.2 per cent, 1867â1914).4
Such a rate of demographic and economic expansion affected many aspects of port-city life, but the role of ports as growth poles, whether in the later Middle Ages or the nineteenth century, also had a dramatic impact on the settlements, communities and towns of their hinterlands, in particular in relation to population mobility and migration, the range and scale of trading networks and the spatial extension of urban cultural norms. The changing relationship between ports and their hinterlands should be regarded as an integral component of research by urban historians, but all too often they have been concerned primarily with analysing self-contained processes which operated within the well-defined boundaries of maritime towns and cities.
In recent years, there has been considerable research on a number of port-related themes, including âthe nature and character of land-based maritime cultureâ focusing in particular on distinct âsailortownâ locations and waterfront communities.5 Some excellent work has been undertaken analysing the demographic dynamics of port-cities, their dependency on in-migration and the spatial distribution, adaptation and integration of different groups of ethnic in-migrants, while business historians have produced a wealth of material on the creation, range and significance of trade and business networks.6 By definition, some of these studies offer a perspective which reaches out beyond the designated boundaries of port-cities, but, with few exceptions, the changing relationships with their hinterlands and forelands are not a primary concern. Bibliographic surveys on urban history include themes and topics which address the relationships between port-cities and their hinterlands, such as migration, external trade and inter-urban communications, but very few publications are specifically concerned with analysing the impact of port-city growth (or decline) on their respective hinterlands.7 As a result, the relationship between port-cities, their hinterlands and forelands as a field of research has been generally neglected, at least until comparatively recently.8
This volume brings together ten case studies by scholars from America, continental Europe, Ireland, Japan and the United Kingdom. They are drawn from a range of disciplines, including architecture, early modern history, historical demography, human geography, local and regional studies, maritime history, migration history, political and social science and their history of modern consumption and distribution. They focus on the changing and complex relationship between ports, their hinterlands and forelands and discuss the range of factors which influenced their development over time. They highlight the ways in which port-towns and port-cities have interacted with their respective hinterlands and forelands as a result of in- and out-migration, cultural exchange, the wider flow of goods, services and information, and the expansion of colonial and imperial power. They are presented in a chronological order, beginning with Adriana Valenciaâs study of the Moroccan port of Rabat (SalĂ©) between the expulsion of the Moriscos by Phillip III of Spain between 1609 and 1614 and ending with Paul McNamaraâs study of the creation of the Free City of Danzig (1920â39) in the aftermath of the First World War and the economic and political consequences this had for its relationship with its traditional hinterlands.
The geographical and thematic range is extensive. They cover a number of Atlantic ports: Rabat/SalĂ© (Morocco); Portugalâs northerly port-city of Porto, which is discussed by both AmĂąndio Barros and Ana Ribeiro from different perspectives and time periods; and a range of non-metropole Spanish ports, including Huelva, Vigo, La Coruña, AvilĂ©s, Santander, Bilbao, Cadiz and Seville, which Patrick OâFlanagan analyses in order to explore the consequences of the imposition of the New World trading monopoly for their relative growth or decline and their hinterland relationships. In the Low Countries, two extensive chapters on early modern Amsterdam (Miki Sugiura) and Antwerp between 1750 and 1850 (Anne Winter) are followed by a study by Torsten Feys of foreland connections between Rotterdam (and other major ports involved in the emigrant trade) and New York, which demonstrates how changes in the way the trade was organised had important ramifications on European ports of departure and their respective hinterlands. The global perspective is reinforced by contributions by Francesca Bruschi and Adrian Jarvis, respectively, on the impact of colonial intervention and Imperial control on the hinterland and foreland relations of ports in Senegal in French West Africa, in particular Saint Louis, and in British India (Bombay, Calcutta and Madras), focusing in the latter case on the transmission (and modification) of new technology in the case of civil engineering from Britain (as the foreland) to India. The final chapter by Paul McNamara on Danzig in the interwar period emphasises the extent to which port-hinterland relations were often determined by political factors outside the control of local actors.
The introductory chapter focuses on a series of issues which remain central to research on port-hinterland (and foreland) relations. It explores the need to unravel definitional questions relating to the classification of different types of hinterlands and forelands and the changing relationships between them over time. It also discusses the methodologies developed by different disciplines to analyse these dynamic processes and how their historiography has been influenced in the light of new research. But the primary focus will be on five central issues affecting the relationship between ports and their hinterlands and forelands with which all the chapters intersect: politics; economic linkages; migration and, finally, cultural interaction. The last section provides a synopsis of each of the volumeâs chapters.
