The question of what makes a city imperial is a complex. Whether it was the site of a past empire or a modern port city, it is important to know how these two types of cities were governed. However, we must remember that the colonial and imperial concepts are not mutually exclusive and that the latter cannot be considered independent of the former. The distinction between the two is not as sharp as it once was, and therefore, we must be willing to accept that each of them has its own history of exploitation.