The Asian continent has a maritime tradition spanning as far back as the third millennium {BC}, and its port cities have for centuries had a social and cultural character radically different from those on the shores of the Atlantic. A fresh and innovative perspective on Asian history, economic development, and urbanization, Gateways of Asia focuses on the vital role played by ports and port cities across the centuries. The authors explore these cities as links to each other and to the outside world, as meeting grounds of indigenous and overseas cultures and as the stageposts for struggles of expansion, imperialism, and colonialism. A range of multidisciplinary studies discuss cities including Bangkok, Kobe, Kuwait, Bombay, Banten, and Vladivostok from the thirteenth century to the present. Reflecting on both the influences of modernization and Westernization and the impact of traditional, inland cultures on the development of these cities, Gateways of Asia is a significant chapter in the understanding of multicultural interaction over history, from the vantage point of the contemporary global village.