The Indian Ocean - Michael Pearson [24]
Port cities have been much discussed. They are the quintessential merging of town and sea, the conduit through which maritime and terrestrial influences mingle and merge. Broeze made some useful comments: to use the term port city
means that the economic, social, political and cultural life of that city is also predominantly determined by and has to be analysed in the light of that port function.... It is above all the active intertwining of all forces from foreland and hinterland through the physical and mediating function of the port which explains the extent, pace and manner of each port city's specific development.14
Matvejevic put this in more abstract terms: 'Cities with ports differ from city-ports, the former building their piers out of necessity, the latter growing up around them by the nature of things. In the former they are a means and an afterthought; in the latter, starting-point and goal.'15
In discussing the connections and character of port cities, we can use concepts which have long been in use in European studies. A useful one is the geographers' term, 'umland'. This is defined as 'formerly applied in a general way to surroundings, and included in hinterland; now more precisely applied to an area which is culturally, economically and politically related to a particular town or city.'16 It is then the immediate surrounding area, directly connected to the city, frequently because it provides foodstuffs for the city. The umland may be best seen as transitional between the dominant town and the pure countryside.
Port cities have relationships both with the sea and the land. For the former, the term 'foreland' is much used. The foreland is the area of the overseas world with which the port is linked through shipping, trade and passenger traffic. It is separated from the port city by maritime space. The 'hinterland' radiates out from the port city inland and so begins at the end of the umland. It is the landed area to which the port's imports go, and from which come its exports. To try and be more specific than this is difficult. One obvious point is that while all cities have umland and hinterlands, only port cities also have forelands.17 All port cities act as hinges, connecting different maritime areas. In the early modern period Hurmuz connected the Gulf with the Arabian Sea; Melaka, and now Singapore, connect two oceans. Many are located on choke points, as with the examples just given.
The relationship of the port city or emporia to the surrounding areas varies greatly. They can be seen as Janus-faced, looking at both hinterland and foreland, and most of them are affected by changes in either. Yet even this is not invariant; all are bound to and affected by the sea, but those which are mere redistribution centres, like again Singapore, and earlier Aden, Melaka, Hurmuz and Mocha, are little affected by events in the hinterland. These are 'entrepot' ports, which live by redistribution. Such ports draw little or nothing from the interior, but rather repackage, break up, and send on foreign goods to a foreign destination. On the other hand those which draw goods from the hinterland will clearly be affected by changes there: Colombo, Surat, Mumbai, Jakarta, Bangkok.
As Broeze implied, location on the shore does not necessarily produce a port city. It is a matter of which function is dominant. Two examples of cities on the shore which are even so not port cities are primate cities, and cities with ports. Kuwait is, and Hong Kong used to be, a primate city, because they are really city states which include a port role among their many functions. So also with Colombo and Bangkok. They dominate in terms of population, industry, politics, culture, or at least high culture, and so while they have docks, they are not really port cities, but rather cities with ports, for they have so many other functions. Contrariwise, today some ports have no cities: they are simply jetties which provide facilities to load cargoes of oil, or iron ore, onto huge carriers or tankers. These purpose built, single