The Importance of the Port: A Close Reading of a 1678 Map of Bombay Port

This essay will explore how a 1678 map of Bombay Port highlights the influnce that being a port city had on Bombay's development. We will synthasize the details of the map alongside the recorded history of the time to see how each source can inform the other. In this way we will be using the map as a sort of 'text' and thus doing a 'close reading' of its cultural and political importance at the time.