Book Reviews

The publisher is to be praised for producing a very beautiful book; the illustrations are particularly attractive. Moreover, some of the articles are based upon solid and original research, and are indubitably contributions to their field of knowledge. And yet, I am a little puzzled with the title and supposed conceptional frame of the book. What is typical of an Asian port city? Apparently the authors are somewhat baffled by the question. Clearly, it is a town where the harbour occupies a major part of the population, patently it contains a cosmopolitan community of seamen and traders, and it is a meeting place between routes and cultures. Still, these are but truisms when not contrasted to different types of towns: ceremonial centres, the court-city or the fortress. Take for instance Lewandowski's comparison between the layout of the port city of Madras with that of the ceremonial centre of Madurai. The port city should then be arranged within the framework of Asian towns in general. Again, to gather an image of what is typical of a port and what holds for trading emporia in general, the features of the society found along the seashore ought to be contrasted to that of the caravan-cities in the hinterland. Thus, the temporary marriage between local girls and itinerant traders in the typical Southeast Asian port of Patani might be equally well located in the caravan trade and pilgrimage centre of Mashad in the Persian interior. The Asian port town needs to be placed in its historical development. Can the "colonial port city" be compared with pre-colonial trading-emporia for instance, and what are the differences? There are marked variations not only in the layout and administration of such cities, but as regards to their relationship with the hinterland as well; consider the part played by the railroads in the development of the Indian interior. Still, these points are just reminders that this study is to be considered as one piece of the vast mosaic of urban history of Asia, of which many pieces are still missing. As such, this is a most useful work.