The last decade has witnessed the growth in number, quality and scope of Maritime History studies centred on historical dynamics of port spaces from Antiquity to current times. This has occurred to such a degree that case studies and general studies on the economic, social, political and cultural aspects of port spaces have granted the discipline a separate identity. There are several excellent overviews of the subject, such as the publications of the GIS d’Histoire Maritime which provide an account of the current historiography on medieval maritime studies; or the work coordinated by Amélia Polónia and myself, centred on longue durée case studies; or the recent publications of Michel Balard and Christian Buchet, or that of Wim Blockmans, Mikhail Krom and Justina Wubs-Mrozewicz, who explore port realities and ‘their circumstances’, in the words of José Ortega y Gasset. This is what a port and its connections with the city and mercantile dynamics represent. Within this context, Atlantic History emerged as a subdiscipline which, albeit centred mainly on the modern age, delves into the exploration of the port realities of medieval times.

Thus, Maritime History, Atlantic History, and Port History gravitate towards the analysis of large port spaces associated with the new worlds. This leaves a narrow margin for the treatment of minor and/or peripheral ports. However, a growing interest in the smaller enclaves is surfacing. Those enclaves Michael N. Pearson defines as central to or protagonists of any analysis of the maritime landscape, being the point of contact between the land and the sea; Alain Cabantous, Maryanne Kowaleski, Gérard Le Bouëdec or Frédérique Laget identify them as originators of civilisation on the waterfront; André Vigarie, Amélia Aguiar Andrade, Michel Bochaca, or Jesús Solórzano Telechea define them as a koiné between the salty sea and the port town, the interface between the foreland and the hinterland. Here the territorialisation of port activities evolved hand in hand with local communities to create a form of coastline civilisation as well as a maritime boundary. The koiné is also identified and described in work by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Josef Konvitz, Jan de Vries, Peter Rieterbergen and Michael N. Pearson as breathing life into Coastal History, which deals with the maritime dimension and the littoral society.