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seas and waterways of the world
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seas and waterways of the world An Encyclopedia of History, Uses, and Issues VOLUME
John Zumerchik and Steven L. Danver, Editors
Copyright by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Seas and waterways of the world : an encyclopedia of history, uses, and issues / John Zumerchik and Steven L. Danver, editors. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN ---- (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN ---- (ebook) . Waterways—Encyclopedias. . Seas—Encyclopedias. I. Zumerchik, John. II. Danver, Steven Laurence. HE.S .'—dc ISBN: ---- EISBN: ----
This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, LLC Cremona Drive, P.O. Box Santa Barbara, California - This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Introduction by John Zumerchik and Steven L. Danver The Editors and Contributors I.
ix xiii
History of the World’s Seas and Waterways
Adriatic Sea Aegean Sea African Dams and Locks African Rivers Arabian Sea Arctic Ocean Asian Dams and Locks Asian Ports and Harbors Asian Rivers Atlantic Ocean (TH–ST Centuries) Australian Dams and Locks Australian Ports and Harbors Baltic Sea Bering Sea Black Sea Bosphorus Strait Caribbean Sea Caspian Sea Central and South American Ports and Harbors
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CONTENTS
Central and South American Rivers Coral Sea Dardanelles English Channel European and Mediterranean Ports and Harbors European Canals European Dams and Locks European Rivers Great Barrier Reef Great Lakes Great Salt Lake Gulf of Alaska Gulf of California Gulf of Mexico Hudson Bay Indian Ocean Irish Sea Island Ports and Harbors Lake Pontchartrain Lake Tahoe Lake Titicaca Lake Victoria Mediterranean Sea North American and Central American Canals North American Dams and Locks North American Ports and Harbors North American Rivers North Sea Pacific Ocean Panama Canal Persian Gulf Philippine Sea Red Sea Russian Waterways Sea of Japan South American Dams and Locks South China Sea St. Lawrence Seaway Strait of Gibraltar Straits of Magellan Suez Canal
CONTENTS
II.
Uses of the World’s Seas and Waterways
Agriculture, Food Commodities Agriculture, Fruits, and Vegetables Archaeology, Underwater Coastal Tourism Industry Coastal Urban Development Containerization Diving Ecotourism Fish and Shellfish Farming Fishing Methods and Technology, th Century Fishing Methods and Technology, Up to the Late th Century Fishing, Sport Fuels, Transportation Hydrogen Hydropower and Water Resource Management Landbridges Methane Hydrates Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Oil and Natural Gas Passenger Shipping, Cruise Industry Passenger Shipping, Ferry Industry Passenger Shipping, Passenger Industry Pharmaceuticals from the Sea Sailing and Yachting Sand and Gravel Sea Water Seaside Resorts and Tourism Seaweed and Other Plants Ship Design and Construction Shipowners Surfing Tidal Energy Wave Energy Whaling, Before Whaling, Modern Wind Energy, Offshore and Coastal
III. Issues Pertaining to the World’s Seas and Waterways Aquarium Industry Cartography and Hydrography Customs
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CONTENTS
Desalination Dredging Electricity, Lighting, and Lighthouses European Law and Treaties Exploration International Environmental Laws and Treaties International Security International Shipping, Trade Laws and Treaties International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Law of the Sea North American Laws and Treaties Offshore Structures Piracy Pollution Port Operations Privateering Reefs and Building Artificial Marine Habitat Research Organizations Research Vessels and Missions (before ) Research Vessels and Missions (-Present) Salvage Sea Level Changes Shipping and Shipbuilding, Government Policy Impact Storm and Flood Control Trade and Transportation (pre-th century) Trade and Transportation (th–th centuries) Trade and Transportation (th–th centuries)
Chronology
Glossary
Index
Introduction
If there is one substance that is impossible to separate from the course of human history, it is water. From a purely economic perspective its value is immeasurable, as over twothirds of the earth is covered by it. Aside from our bodies requiring water to survive, we need water as a resource to clean ourselves and our belongings, irrigate the crops we eat, transport ourselves and the goods we consume, generate the electricity we demand, and as a medium to enjoy some of our favorite leisure activities like swimming, sailing, and surfing. However, water is just as important on social and political levels as it is on an individual basis. The world’s seas and waterways have served an ever-evolving importance to the development of civilizations around the world, activities surrounding resource acquisition (fish, energy, minerals) as well as the transportation of people, energy, commodities, and manufactured goods. Reflecting the title of this work, there are approximately entries covering the oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, and waterways. Each entry outlines important geographical and geological features, and unites the historical significance of the body of water to the economic development of the region. Whenever an important resource was discovered, or an important new product or agricultural commodity became popular, it resulted in the development of lucrative new trade routes that trading companies, often backed by navies, went to great extents to control and extend their power. A detailed approach to all the important explorations undertaken through history, which is covered extensively by many other sources, was beyond the scope of this work. Rather, the approach throughout this work is to focus on the evolving motivations, and the risk-reward dynamics, behind the efforts of nations and business interests to embark on exploratory missions to discover valuable new imports, and to establish new or alternative trade routes such as the coveted Northwest Passage.
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INTRODUCTION
The early explorers had multiple goals, one of which was scientific. Considering the large number of shipwrecks, and the cargo lost, missions of early explorers included efforts to reduce navigational risks with cartography and hydrography efforts. Beginning in the th century, basic scientific exploration missions gained prominence. As governments realized the potential profitability of science, the balance between patronizing the arts vis-à-vis science began tilting towards science, which continues today. Early scientific missions operated with very limited budgets and used retrofitted cargo vessels, but by the latter half of the th century, vessels were designed specifically for scientific missions, equipped with advanced technology for deep water marine life studies and archeology. The largest private sector investment has been in geophysical prospecting vessels, primarily searching for new sources of offshore petroleum. The energy and mineral resources of the ocean, largely unknown until the early th century, have contributed a growing share of overall crude oil reserves because of advances in the science of exploration and production. Oil exploration, which was largely confined to coastal areas until the s, was taking place in the harsh North Sea by the s, and in the open ocean at depths exceeding , feet by the s. Vast untapped resources of methane hydrates, discovered deep below the ocean surface, may some day become an important energy source, and electrolysis to separate hydrogen from oxygen may someday be the main driver of the hydrogen economy. The gravitational flow of water itself is responsible for much of the energy we use. Harnessing the flow of water for energy production, as well as irrigation, dates back over , years. Hydroelectric facilities provide approximately seven percent of all electricity production in the world. Generation of electricity from flowing water has fallen from favor in modern times because it requires the use of dams, which has been discovered to have detrimental environmental effects. Thus, dam-less water turbines were developed in the early st century as a much more environmentally friendly means of capturing energy from the flow of water. Because winds are stronger and more consistent at sea, offshore wind turbine developments were introduced in the s, but aesthetic objections from the local populations, and the difficulty of engineering turbines that can withstand storms, make the future of offshore wind power uncertain. Future development depends on the future price of fossil fuels. Development of other electric energy generating alternatives— indirectly harnessing the energy of the wind by harnessing the energy of wave and ocean thermal power plants—may someday be an important provider of electricity production as well. However, research funding for these alternative technologies has declined after fossil fuel prices peaked and began declining in the s. Fossil fuels—crude oil, natural gas, and coal—are also the major commodity transported down rivers and across oceans. Before the emergence of the railroads in the early th century, water was the preferred choice to transport people and goods. During the vast migration triggered by the California gold rush of , many a fortune seeker chose the much longer Cape Horn route (or the portage across Panama) rather than
INTRODUCTION
the much shorter, but far more arduous and dangerous journey over land. Yet in an era where fresh Alaskan halibut can reach your table overnight, super-sized container ships delivering Asian electronic equipment cross the ocean in less than days, and oil tankers longer than a football field arrive from the Persian Gulf in less than seven days, it is easy to forget the tremendous advances in transportation that have made products so convenient and readily available. Transportation of people and goods along rivers and canals was extremely prevalent in ancient China, and throughout Europe and the United States up until the th century, because of the high cost of ground transportation. In much of the world, it could cost more to move goods miles inland than across the Atlantic Ocean. However, after the first steam locomotives began running in the early th century, rail became a formidable competitor to canals featuring horse-drawn barges. Whereas a horse could pull far more goods on a barge at slow speeds, at high speeds much more could be pulled by rail since water resistance increases much faster with speed than air and rolling resistance. Although water resistance resulted in the slow demise of the canal system for highvalue goods, canals and waterways have remained a vital means of transporting agricultural, coal and raw materials. It is likely the marine mode will always have an energy advantage at transporting large volumes of freight at slow speeds, but inland rivers and waterways will continue to be pulled in several competing directions. The need for dams to provide hydroelectric power and irrigation must compete with the need for transportation and sustaining fish populations. Much of human history has taken place either on the water, or at the water’s edge. Water draws us near, but also serves as a natural border between cities, states, and countries. Access to the waterfront has always had a significant influence on local and national economies, with landlocked nations such as Bolivia in South America, Afghanistan in Asia, and several African nations at a significant disadvantage to their neighbors in terms of trade and economic development. Therefore it is not surprising that many wars have been fought over control of water, and favorable international commerce was largely dictated by gunboat “big stick” diplomacy until the th century when “dollar diplomacy” became dominant. In modern times, the recreation and leisure aspect of the coast has gained in prominence. Going to the beach has been a favorite past time for decades, but population growth, more affordable jet travel, greater leisure time, and more diverse choices have significantly increased interest among the populace and coastal developments have responded to attract tourists, including cruise lines. The desire to escape harsh winter conditions has led to the growth in travel to beautiful coastal beaches in Mexico, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. The number and popularity of sporting activities also has increased. Whereas rowing, sports fishing, and sailing have a long history, surfing, water skiing, wind surfing and kite sailing have been introduced in more modern times. Finally, there are the environmental aspects to consider. There is widespread disagreement whether the oceans and rivers are ecologically resilient or fragile—fragile in the sense that detrimental development does irreversible damage. According to the United
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INTRODUCTION
Nations, by the turn of the th century more than half of the world’s population lived within miles of the shoreline. Although coastal development has lead to erosion, destruction, and pollution of habitat used by many ocean species, the greater scientific understanding of the impacts of coastal development has resulted in remediation and well-planned growth that has resulted in dramatic improvements in water quality and the improved habitats for many species in the United States and other developed nations since the s. Many commercial entities have successfully altered their operations to comply with environmental regulations, proving that development and environmental protection are not conflicting goals. Fishing methods have not only changed drastically through the centuries, but the innovations that made possible over fishing have, in turn, spurred the scientific work regarding how to increase fish populations, and the increase in fish farming to supply world markets. Moreover, from an international relations perspective, competing interests have given rise to diplomatic measures (treaties, international laws, and regulating bodies) that try to equitably manage the use of the seas for shipping, fishing, mining, and energy exploration. The seas and waterways were an integral aspect of world history, and are certain to remain so. But as the incomes and leisure time of a growing world population rises, there will be ever greater pressure to increase trade, transportation, and economic development along the rivers, lakes, and coast lines of the world. Hopefully, prudent policy and advances in science and engineering will make this development sustainable development.
The Editors and Contributors
Editors JOHN ZUMERCHIK, director of planning, Mi-Jack Products Inc. Mi-Jack Products is a highly diversified leading freight transportation service company, credited with numerous major innovations for intermodal transportation. Aside from being the leading manufacture of rubber tire gantry cranes for intermodal terminals, Mi-Jack and the Kansas City Southern Railroad jointly rebuilt and mechanized the Panama Canal Railroad (Panama Canal Railway Company), which has become a high-volume container land bridge and cruise ship tourist railway. Before joining Mi-Jack Products Inc., Mr. Zumerchik was an editor for the McGraw-Hill Company and the American Institute of Physics. Mr. Zumerchik has authored Newton on the Tee: A Good Walk through the Science of Golf (Simon & Shuster, ), and has been an author/editor of two awardwinning titles: the two-volume Macmillan Encyclopedia of Sports Science ( Booklist Editor’s Choice) and three-volume Macmillan Encyclopedia of Energy, which was an American Library Association Outstanding Reference Source (), Library Journal Best Reference (), and Reference and User Services Association’s Outstanding Reference Sources (). STEVEN L. DANVER is visiting assistant professor of history in Seaver College at Pepperdine University and a general partner at Mesa Verde Publishing. He earned his doctorate in history at the University of Utah, specializing in water and environmental policy, and has taught history at numerous colleges and universities, including National University, Front Range Community College, Westmont College, Santa Barbara City College, and the University of Utah. He has worked in the publishing industry since , and has been managing editor of Journal of the West since . Dr. Danver has worked as an editor and a writer on over historical reference books. His dissertation, “Liquid Assets: A History of Tribal Water Rights Strategies in the American Southwest,” to be published by the University of Oklahoma Press, examines the long history of one of the most important issues of modern relevance to American Indians in the
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THE EDITORS AND CONTRIBU TORS
West. He is also coeditor of The Great Depression and New Deal: A Thematic Encyclopedia (), Water Politics and the Environment in the United States (forthcoming), and editor of the four-volume series Popular Controversies in World History (forthcoming). Contributors Lars-Fredrik Andersson, University of Miami Hubert Bonin, Université de Bordeaux Jesse E. Brown Jr., Mississippi State University Paul Buell, Western Washington University David J. Clarke, Memorial University (Canada) Eleanor Congdon, Youngstown State University Justin Corfield, Geelong Grammar School (Australia) James R. Coull, University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom) Kerry Dexter, Tallahassee, Florida Elizabeth Elliot-Meisel, Creighton University Julia Fallon, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (United Kingdom) William F. Felice, Eckerd College Vivian Louis Forbes, University of Western Australia Cheryl Fury, University of New Brunswick (Canada) Abby Garland, Bob Jones University William Glover, Canadian Hydrographic Service (Canada) Stefan Halikowski Smith, Swansea University (United Kingdom) Ingo Heidbrink, Old Dominion University Charles E. Herdendorf, Ohio State University Peter Jacques, University of Central Florida Pinar Kayaalp, Ramapo College of New Jersey Stephen Marshall, East Tennessee State University Jay Martin, Claremont McKenna College Kenneth McPherson, East Fremantle, Australia David E. Newton, Ashland, Oregon Lee Oberman, Catonsville, Maryland Ayodeji Olukoju, University of Lagos (Nigeria) Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Hofstra University James Seelye, University of Toledo Bryan Sinche, University of North Carolina Zachary A. Smith, Northern Arizona University Eva-Maria Stolberg, University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) Robert Lloyd Webb, University of Virginia Jann M. Witt, Deutscher Marinebund (Germany) Richard Wojtowicz, Montana State University
I History of the World’s Seas and Waterways
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A
ADRIATIC SEA The Adriatic Sea is the section of the Mediterranean Sea between the Italian and Balkan peninsulas. It stretches for miles, oriented northwest to southeast, with an average width of miles. At its mouth—the Strait of Otranto—it narrows to miles across, emptying into the Ionian Sea. The western shore is mostly lowland formed from the erosion of the Apennine Mountain range, which forms the spine of Italy. The soil is best suited for cultivating grapes, grains, and olives. Because this region has very few major rivers and the minor ones are short and flow on a course perpendicular to the coast, it has few ports capable of protecting shipping in bad weather. Bari and Brindisi are the most prominent cities close to the Strait of Otranto in the south, while Ancona is the only major port in the center of the Italian coast. In the North, silt from the Po, Adige, Brenta, and other minor rivers in Lombardy and the Veneto, fills the region between the Apennines and Alps, making rich lands capable of supporting intensive farming. On the northernmost corner of the Adriatic, the land becomes marshy and supports the lagoon where Venice is located. The coincidence of rivers, deep shipping lanes (despite the shifting sands), and one of the major routes out of Italy through the Alps, gave the citizens of Venice the opportunity to become one of the great emporiums in the medieval and early modern eras. The nearby Istrian Peninsula, which projects far into the Adriatic, was close enough to Venice to act as a staging post for ships when the shipping lanes of Venice were especially busy. South from Istria, the Balkan Mountains come close to the Adriatic in some areas, while rivers provide deltas and pockets of land in others. The Adriatic shipping lanes followed close to the land of the Eastern shore of the sea because of prevailing winds, the pattern of currents and deep-water, and an abundance of places
ADRIATIC SEA
View of Trogir, in the Dalmatian region of Croatia. Dalmatia’s location along the Adriatic coast, with its many protected bays and inlets, has made it a popular trade stop since Roman times. Corel.
to find shelter and fresh water. Merchantmen and pirates took advantage of the many islands (generally long, thin, and parallel to the shore), river-mouths, and indents in the shore. The historically notable ports of Dubrovnik (also called Ragusa), Trieste, Senj, Kotor, Zara, and Split came to prominence servicing ships, and acted as a vital trade corridor where the rich resources of the hinterland could be traded for international goods. The most prominent issue concerning the Adriatic in the modern era is whether Venice is sinking into the sea, and how to save it from the resulting winter flooding. Scientists attribute the sinking phenomenon, in part, to high usage of fresh water out of regional aquifers, resulting in their collapse. The other factor is that when a highpressure weather system sits near the Strait of Otranto, and low air pressure stays close to the Venetian lagoon, it draws additional water to it. The Venetian government believes that the best way to handle the flooding from the aqua alta is to build a moveable barrier near the main shipping routes. The Romans named the land on the east side of the Adriatic, Dalmatia. Migrations of peoples from the north and east brought successive waves of Celts, Germanic Goths and Avars, Slavs, and Muslims to the region. The most important of these waves was the arrival of the Croats and Serbs sometime in the seventh or eighth centuries c.e. During the Middle Ages, Dalmatians constantly had to be aware of the desires of their
ADRIATIC SEA
Map of the Adriatic Sea
neighbors, such as Hungary, Bulgaria, and Albania, all of whom wanted the land. The arrival of the Ottoman Turks created another hostile member to the region. The rivalry between Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christianity is still being played out today, albeit complicated by the addition of Islam by the Ottomans. Historically, however, the importance of the Adriatic has been trade. Inland from Dalmatia, Hungary was rich in gold, silver, and base metals such as copper, lead, and iron. Trade either went through land-based routes over the top of the Adriatic Sea to Venice, or followed river valleys down to the coast. For most of the Middle Ages, local lords controlled the lands immediately along the Balkan side of the Adriatic, only rarely on behalf of one of the major powers. This meant that maritime commerce, especially for the great emporium of Venice, required treaties, resident diplomats in commercial enclaves, or outright domination of the ports. Oftentimes, Venice tried to exert its influence, diplomatically and militarily, by dictating to the Dalmatian cities how they should conduct their business. A prime example of their aggressive attitude is their use of the Fourth Crusade’s warriors to bring Zara under Venetian control in c.e. The Ottomans threatened to make the Adriatic a Muslim sea when they
ADRIATIC SEA
View of the caldera, Santorini, Greece. The caldera was formed by the massive eruption of a volcano on the island in b.c.e. The eruption and ensuing aftermath probably caused the end of the Minoan civilization on the nearby island of Crete. iStockPhoto.
crossed the Straits and seized Otranto in . Internal political divisions forced their withdrawal, and thereafter the Adriatic was, theoretically, open to all international commerce, although Venice continued to play a significant role. The religious-based competition to dominate the Adriatic Sea only ceased with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in . Eleanor Congdon References and Further Reading Fine, John V.A. The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, . Fine, John V.A. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, . Fletcher, Caroline and Tom Spenser. Flooding and Environmental Challenges for Venice and Its Lagoon: State of Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Lane, Frederic Chapin. Venice: A Maritime Republic. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, . Madden, Thomas F. Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, .
AEGEAN SEA Nicol, Donald. Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Wolff, Larry. Venice and the Slavs: The Discovery of Dalmatia in the Age of Enlightenment. Stanford: Stanford University Press, .
AEGEAN SEA The Aegean Sea is the northeastern extension of the Mediterranean Sea. The Aegean is surrounded by the Anatolian Peninsula to the east and the Balkan Peninsula to the west and north, with Crete generally considered as the southern limit. It is approximately miles long, measured from north to south, and miles east to west. Its deepest water is in the southeast between Crete and Rhodes. Almost , islands dot the sea in seven geographical groups. Many of these islands are volcanic in origin, of which a few, notably Santorini (also known as Thera) and Kolumbo, are still considered active. Some of them have deep-water harbors where ships can take shelter from the worst weather. Dangers such as swift and unpredictable currents, fierce winter storms, hidden rocks, and sudden violent winds in summer, challenge even the best sailors. The most historically active routes through the Aegean are the same as those used by the Greeks returning from Troy. The Aegean supported the first cultures and civilizations in Europe: they depended on sea-borne transport for communication and trade. The Cycladic peoples, named after the island-group from which they originated, and whose artifacts, including statuettes thought to represent fertility goddesses, were the first inhabitants, dating to as early as b.c.e. They traded actively in utilitarian goods between Thessaly, Macedonia, Crete and the islands. The Minoan civilization emerged on Crete around b.c.e. A massive earthquake around b.c.e. shook the whole island, destroying the buildings at many sites. The Minoans rebuilt, creating large labyrinthine but unfortified structures, the most famous of which is Knossos. Their culture still poses many questions to scholars: the meaning of their writing, known as Linear A; their apparent abhorrence of warlike activity; the exact natures of their government and of their religion; the purpose of the many depictions of bulls and of people vaulting over bulls; and their ultimate fate. The story of the Lost City of Atlantis, some scholars suggest, may refer to the Minoan-era city buried during one of the eruptions on Thera. Archeological findings show that they traded widely throughout the Aegean. All of their major complexes were conquered or abandoned around b.c.e., leaving only Knossos still active until about b.c.e. Most scholars accept that the Mycenaeans of mainland Greece were responsible for the end of the Minoans. This is based on the dispersal of the survivors throughout the islands and to the coast of Anatolia, as evidenced by the tomb goods found in Mycenae, including bull heads, and Linear B tablets that use Minoan characters to write the Greek language. The Mycenaean culture was based on fortified complexes. Each complex dominated a pocket of cultivatable land and a piece of sea-coast, and each area
AEGEAN SEA
was separated by the high mountains of the Peloponnesus, thus forcing a reliance on ships. Mycenaeans were expert mariners and warriors. Archeological evidence shows them trading and making pirate raids throughout the Aegean, and as far away as Egypt. The debate about the reality of the Trojan War, its date, location, and what archeological materials are contemporary to it continues. The current best estimate is – b.c.e. Explanations for the demise of the Mycenaeans around b.c.e. range from internal disintegration, to invasion on land by the Dorians, to the Sea Peoples who are also sometimes credited with wrecking havoc on Ugarit and destabilizing the end of New Kingdom–era Egypt. Between the Greek and Roman periods, the role of the Aegean Sea changed dramatically. Homer’s epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey, which are generally accepted to have been written down around b.c.e. after circulating for centuries as oral poetry, speak
Map of the Aegean Sea
AEGEAN SEA
extensively to the difficulties of navigating the Aegean. These epics, and subsequent events, confirm that the peoples of the islands acted as independent political units equal or greater in importance to the settlements on the Greek and Anatolian mainland. In the fateful fifth century b.c.e., however, the Persian Wars, followed by the Peloponnesian Wars, changed the balance of power. The mainland Greek states, especially Athens and Sparta, seized the opportunity offered by alliances in opposition to the Persians to take control of the islands and their resources. Under Alexander the Great and his Macedonian successors, these islands became little more than territory to be fought over. The islands never again figured as independent and important units. The spread of the Roman Empire saw the Aegean Sea’s role diminish to that of a transit region for goods from the Eastern Mediterranean westward towards the Italian emporia; cargo ships with huge amounts of grain from the Black Sea passed through on their way to markets in Rome and central Italy. Pirates found the vessels easy targets among the islands of the Aegean, although not in such number as to discourage or change the Roman graintransit activities. Christianity arrived in the Aegean region during the first few decades after the life of Christ. The islands sent a bishop to the Council of Chalcedon in c.e. to sign the condemnation of Monophysitism. As the route for ships heading to “New Rome” (Constantinople) from the old Rome, the Aegean Sea remained at the center of the empire. The takeover of the Western Roman Empire by Germanic tribes confirmed the status of the sea as the main conduit for trade for the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire. During the Roman and Medieval periods, this trade route involved international goods moving to and from the European ends of the Silk Road. The Romans, or Byzantines, expressed their influence over the islands of the Aegean for the next thousand years through the many beautiful churches they built. The first period of building and relations between the islands and emperor ended in the eighth century, when the islanders unsuccessfully supported an iconodule pretender to the Byzantine throne against the emperor, who wished to remove all icons from churches. The emperor’s punishment paled in comparison to the contemporary wave of plague that carried off a huge part of the region’s population. This was followed in the th century by the first major Muslim raids on the islands. Soon, the clash of religions was regularly played out in the waters of the Aegean. Meanwhile, the Iconoclastic Controversy subsided, the population rebounded, prosperity returned, and the Byzantine emperors once more returned to building churches on the islands. They also relied on the islanders to supply the greater part of the manpower for their fleets. The Fourth Crusade, in , brought about the next great change for the Aegean region. This action, which turned European Crusaders against the Christian city of Constantinople, fractured the governance of the Aegean region. The Venetians and Crusaders divided control over the Aegean amongst themselves; most of the islands were not assigned. The Venetians were anxious to keep control of trade routes and to keep the ports out of the hands of their commercial rivals, such as the Genoese and Catalans. The
AEGEAN SEA
Venetian government did not have the resources to support the active conquest of all the islands and ports. They therefore gave individual adventurers the opportunity to bring territory into Venetian subjugation. For example, Marco Sanudo was among the commissioners who represented the government in the purchase of Crete from one of the Crusaders, Boniface of Montferrat. He also paid to equip eight galleys and hire enough sailors to conquer the island of Naxos. He then led the Venetian efforts to conquer the rest of the Archipelago, organizing it into a Duchy ruled by his family. Other adventurers followed suit and took control of other parts of the Aegean. For example, Catalan adventurers conquered and ruled Athens. The Italian and Iberian mariners carried many trade-goods through the Aegean, stopping at the islands and along the coast, mostly for the purposes of stocking up on water and waiting out weather. The Venetians eventually developed regular yearly fleets that carried the most precious items, such as spices arriving in Constantinople from the Black Sea termini of the Silk Road. While the Venetians worked hard over the next few hundred years to completely control the Aegean Sea and trade routes, they were not effective at preventing pirates from flourishing on the islands and preying on traffic, nor at completely shutting their rivals out; for example, Genoese adventurers took control of Chios to exploit its mineral reserves. Genoese, Catalan, and eventually Turkish pirates became such a threat to traffic that the islanders eventually asked the Venetian government to exert more direct control. In the early years of the th century, Venice did actually buy or take over, by various means, many of the ports along the Adriatic coast, around the Peloponnesus and throughout the Aegean Sea, in an effort to prevent the spread of Ottoman Turkish control. In the long run, Venetian efforts could not prevent the Ottomans from achieving hegemony throughout the Aegean. The fall of Constantinople in finally gave them the key to the trade routes through the Aegean. Through the rest of the century, Ottoman fleets struggled with the Venetians, taking over the ports and water routes one by one. In , the bloody Battle of Coron, on the western coast of the Peloponnesus, spelled the end of Venetian dominance in the Aegean. Once more, the islands, shores, and routes were controlled by one force—this time the Islamic Ottoman Turks. While Venetians and other mariners continued to trade throughout the Aegean, once more the primary significance of the region became as a transit zone that ships moved through, not remarkable for its individual achievements or places. This remained true until the th century, when the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of the countries of Greece and Turkey, and modern technological achievements made old transit routes much less important and led to the last transformation of the Aegean. It is once more important for its individual parts instead of the roads through it. Tourism in the th century has brought the individual islands back into prominence for their beauty and their historical remains. Eleanor Congdon
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References and Further Reading Dartmouth College (based on the teachings of Jeremy B. Rutter). “Prehistoric Archeology of the Aegean.” Dartmouth College. http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/ (accessed August , ). Finlay, George. The History of Greece under Othoman and Venetian Domination. Boston: Adamant Media Corporation, . Frazee, Charles. The Island Princes of Greece: The Dukes of the Archipelago. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, . Freely, John. The Cyclades: Discovering the Greek Islands of the Aegean. New York: I. B. Tauris, . Lane, Frederic Chapin. Venice: A Maritime Republic. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, . Madden, Thomas F., and Donald E. Queller. The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople. Philadelphia, PA: University of Philadelphia Press, . Manning, Sturt. A Test of Time: The Volcano of Thera and the Chronology and History of the Aegean and East Mediterranean in the Mid Second Millennium B.C. Oxford, U.K.: Oxbow Books, . Miller, William. The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece. AMS PS Inc, . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “Ocean Explorer: Aegean and the Black Sea .” NOAA. http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/greece/back ground/edu/media/seafloor_mapping.pdf (accessed September , ). Nicol, Donald. Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations. New York: Cambridge University Press, .
AFRICAN DAMS AND LOCKS In the th century, Africa was not concerned by the impetus fuelled by the Second Industrial Revolution to promote electrification and investments in hydroelectricity equipment. Due to its climate, transportation needs, and agricultural practices, Africa relied more on natural resources for navigation (on the Nile, Niger, or Senegal rivers) and for irrigation. However, this reliance complicated life for many farmers in regard to their day-to-day access to water and river shipping, as they were often subjected to alternating periods of droughts and floods. For the sake of economic progress, in the mid-th century independent Egypt began the Suez project to develop a few sections of canals in the Nile Delta. While the Suez project comprised two canals for fresh water, the concept originated as a result of the absence of dams and locks. Under colonial rule, engineers dreamed of modernization: From to , British Egypt built the first Aswan Dam to regulate the Nile’s flow. The Aswan Dam was raised twice, first between – and then –. From to , a beacon for such a challenge was the massive French program, Office du Niger, orchestrated by Governor Émile Bélime to structure the Niger loop. The program created dams (such as Sansanding), a power plant, and connections to canals reaching irrigated pioneer areas for cotton and rice. Office du Niger took shape from the s to the s, touted
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Irrigation canals have been used in the Nile Delta since ancient times. Irrigation is an agricultural tool whereby water is routed to an agricultural area by artificial means, like a man-made canal. Corel.
as a success for its type of administered economy. Northern Africa also was shown as a brilliant success for French engineers, as oueds were equipped with the first large dams in both Algeria and Morocco. Built in the late s, Kariba on the Zambezi provided power to the copper industry in British Rhodesia (future Zambia and Zimbabwe), while Edea in French Cameroon powered an aluminum complex. Symbolic independence was also a factor in the Egyptian struggle to build the newer and bigger Aswan High Dam: When Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal to raise capital, and contracted with Soviet engineers to complete it (in –/, the reservoir being filled only in ), he showed western countries that Egypt could evolve free from the United States or the World Bank, which had refused to finance the project. Still providing percent of Egyptian power, the Nile area used the Aswan water to provide for the needs of local agriculture and to meet the challenges of demographic growth. Dams as Leverage to Intensive Agriculture Dams were initially conceived as a way to achieve economic independence throughout Africa. Development had to rely on water resources to draw networks of canals for irrigation, and to broaden the culture of cotton and rice in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, the delta of the Senegal River, the Niger loop, and the surroundings of Lake Chad were
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targets for investment, often sustained by international organizations (World Bank, African Bank for Development, etc.). Disappointment came from the lack of secondary canals to channel water deep into the countryside, the deterioration of canal networks because of bureaucratic administrations in several state-controlled economies, and the priority often given to exported crops over agricultural self-sufficiency. This led to a reshaping of policies beginning in the s. For example, in the Senegal delta or in the Niger loop, smaller dams and canal networks were favored instead of larger ones. Dams as Leverage to a Modern Economy More than fostering agricultural schemes, dams were often conceived of as leverage to industrialization and urbanization. Each African country took part in some kind of a competition to welcome tall dams as symbols of their economic independence, and international organizations and public works companies contributed to the impetus. Independent Mozambique, once a colonized country, was proud of its Cahora Bossa complex (built in – on the Zambezi River), which could export power to South Africa. Rivers flowing down the mountains to the Guinea Gulf, or those of Southern Africa, have all welcomed dams from the s until now (the st century), with fresh momentum gained in the mid-s. The largest dams have spurred pride in each country: Akosombo in Ghana (functioning since on the Volta, with the Volta reservoir as the world’s largest man-made lake, joined to an aluminum complex and exporting power to neighboring countries); Kossou in Ivory Coast; Kainji on the Niger (–, in Nigeria, one of the world’s widest dams); Inga in the Democratic Republic of Congo (on the largest falls in the world with two stages of the project, first Inga I and II, then Inga III and Grand Inga to be completed in the s, envisioning the interconnection of electric grids of five countries from Congo to South Africa); Katse in Lesotho (on the Orange/Sengu River, powers the northern industrial Transvaal region since ); Bujagali in Uganda (building began in ). At the start of the st century, Africa was equipped with approximately , dams, two-thirds of which were only for irrigation. South Africa, with , has the most, followed by Zimbabwe with and Algeria with . Only a few countries conceived of comprehensive development schemes for a relevant use of their water resources—like South Africa, Algeria, and Morocco—where a broad program was launched in to create dams in years. Although the contribution of dams and irrigation schemes to development was not questioned, beginning in the s people began questioning their long-term effects on environment, fish resources, and silt alluvia flows, which resulted in more balanced projects. For example, the type of agriculture being favored for irrigation is now more oriented towards local crops. Nevertheless, the need for power to sustain urbanization growth explains the call for accelerating the momentum to equip hydroelectric resources throughout Africa. Hubert Bonin
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References and Further Reading Adams, W.L. Wasting the Rain: Rivers, People and Planning in Africa. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, . “Main South African Dams.” International Water Power & Dam Construction , no. (): . Neville, Ruben and William M. Warren. Dams in Africa: An Inter-Disciplinary Study of Man-Made Lakes in Africa. London: Cass, . Pearce, Fred. The Dammed: Rivers, Dams, and the Coming World Water Crisis. London: The Bodley Head, . South African National Committee on Large Dams. Large Dams and Water Systems in South Africa. Pretoria, . Swearingen, Will. Moroccan Mirages: Agrarian Dreams and Deceptions, –. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, . Usher, A.D., ed. Dams as Aids: A Political Anatomy of Nordic Development Thinking. London: Routledge, .
AFRICAN RIVERS Since ancient times, people in Africa have primarily lived along rivers. Rivers have provided people with a dependable means of transport, as well as fertile land and a source of food and water. Subsequently, when European explorers began surveying the African hinterland in the th century, much of their exploration was connected with the search for river origins. Human remains in the Makapans Valley along the Limpopo River date as far back as . million years ago. In Kenya, Louis S. B. Leakey (–), his wife Mary Leakey (–), and their son Richard Leakey discovered remains of early man in swamplands near ancient rivers. On November , , one of the earliest hominid skeletons, now named “Lucy,” believed to be three million years old, was found by the U.S. anthropologist Donald Johanson. Johanson made the discovery in a site near the Awash River in Ethiopia. Throughout the history of mankind, rivers have played an important role in human civilization. In ancient times, the Egyptian civilization along the River Nile was the most important in Africa. It emerged on both sides of the banks of the Nile, relying on the fertility of the soil to generate a large and dependable surplus in crops, which in turn led to the accumulation of great wealth and power. As a result, from well before the start of the first dynasty in b.c.e., Egyptian life was dominated by the annual flooding, which was followed by the harvests of the land along the Nile, with ships plying the river for trade. The banks of the Nile were home to the papyrus beds that later provided writing material for the Egyptians. These papyrus beds are also significant in the JudeoChristian tradition, as the baby Moses, the Hebrew prophet, was hidden in a small reed boat, after a command by the Pharaoh of Egypt stated that all male Hebrew children should be drowned in the Nile. The biblical account of the finding of Moses refers to the Pharaoh’s daughter, Thermuthis, bathing in the river—and hence finding Moses; a detail
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The Nile river winds through Egypt in this satellite photograph; the Sinai peninsula and Red Sea are on the right. NASA.
that points towards the early use of the river by the Egyptian ruling class. The Egyptians also built a navy to control the Nile, with a major naval battle fought in b.c.e., when Ramses III repelled an attack by seafarers from the Mediterranean. Historically, one of the notable animals associated with the Nile (although it is actually found in many parts of Africa) is the Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus).Since ancient times, the crocodile has been associated with the god Sobek, which represented protection of the weak, fertility, and the power of the Pharaoh. The city of Arsinoe became the center of the main temple for Sobek. The Egyptians revered the crocodile to the extent that when one died or was killed, its body was embalmed and mummified before being placed in sarcophagi. Both mummified crocodiles and crocodile eggs have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs. Also since ancient times, Nubian fishermen have killed, stuffed, and mounted crocodiles over their doorways to ward off evil spirits. Most of the major sites in Ancient Egypt are located along the River Nile, and various theories have been put forward concerning the transmission of ideas, as well as the transportation of building materials, including some of those used in the building of the pyramids. The subsequent importance of the Nile led to the central Nile Delta becoming one of the most densely populated areas of the country, as well as the foundation of the
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city of Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile in b.c.e., by Alexander the Great. Alexandria later became the location of Alexander’s interment after his death in Babylon. Alexandria rapidly emerged as one of the major cultural centers in the ancient Mediterranean, featuring a magnificent library as well as the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world), located on the island of Pharos. Elsewhere in Africa, many other settlements were also built along rivers, although the spread of the population, as traced by linguistic evidence and archaeological remains, seems to have followed landward migrations. Such landward migration appears to have occurred without reference to rivers, and the later transmission of new inventions, such as iron, seems to have taken place through coastal trade rather than by river traders. With the exception of the Nile, the rivers in Africa are a relatively insignificant part of the continent’s transportation network, partly because of fast flows, large seasonal variations in their flows, cataracts, and the difficult navigation of deltas. Since ancient times, these factors have made some of the major rivers an impediment, rather than beneficial, to sea transport. Many of the great urban centers of the ancient and medieval periods, such as Nok (in modern-day Nigeria), and Great Zimbabwe (in modern-day Zimbabwe) were not along rivers. Timbuktu, for years symbolic of remoteness in Europe, and a great cultural center, was also miles from a river, in spite of the harshness of its environment. It was quite clear that the proximity to the desert trade routes were far more important than a position along a river. Yet another problem with settlements near rivers was the swampland, which could serve as a breeding area for mosquitoes spreading diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and Schistosomiasis (bilharzia), a disease found in freshwater snails. With the arrival of European sailors, there was interest in the rivers as a way of accessing inland parts of the continent, but few of the early voyagers explored them as they did in South America. Vasco da Gama, on his voyage around the southern part of Africa, discovered many of the rivers, including the Limpopo River, but he did not sail up it, nor did many later explorers. However, with the start of international slavery and the transportation of slaves to the Americas, European and American slave ships started using the River Gambia, Senegal River, and the River Congo to locate more slaves. This often led to fighting between tribes. The Portuguese also started to expand their influence in south-eastern Africa (modern-day Mozambique) around the Changani River and the Limpopo River. Further north, along the east coast of Africa, the Arab slave traders had long used some of the river estuaries to capture slaves, and also for hunting elephants and trading in ivory. On October , , the Portuguese fought and defeated King Antonio I of Kongo at the Battle of Mbwila, near the Ulanga River, and in June , they also defeated the Soyo and the Ngoyo tribes at the Battle of Mbidizi River, ensuring their control over what would become Angola. It was not long before American, British, Danish, French, Portuguese and Spanish, and later Brazilian ships, were involved in taking slaves from many river deltas to the Americas. Gradually, however, the curiosity of European travelers meant that in the late th century there were attempts to map the Niger. In , the desire to map the Niger led to the forming of the African Association in London to help promote African exploration,
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particularly locating the mouth of the Niger. In , Mungo Park, the Scottish explorer, offered his services to the African Association and headed off to the River Gambia and from there, using two local guides, went in search of the River Niger. Park was the first European recorded reaching Segu, and in he proceeded along the Niger to Bamako, having traced the course of the river for about miles. As the first person from Europe to see the river, he returned to Britain where he authored, Travels in the Interior of Africa (). In January , while on his second journey, he once again reached the Gambia before heading for the Niger in January . He was never seen again. Reports later emerged of him being attacked—and repelling the attackers—on the Niger, but later drowning in the Bussa Rapids. Apart from the interest sparked by Mungo Park, the Niger certainly never fascinated the Europeans as much as the River Nile, which was highly important in the GrecoRoman historical tradition. However, each year, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society awards the Mungo Park Medal to commemorate the explorer of the River Niger. The search, or quest, for the source of the River Nile had long fascinated explorers. A number of British adventurers set out, buoyed by the fact that Agatharchides had reported that King Ptolemy II Philadelphius (reigned – b.c.e.) had sent a military expedition up the Blue Nile where they were able to determine that the heavy rainstorms in the Ethiopian highlands each year were responsible for the summer floods on the Nile. By the th and th centuries, European travelers were going as far as Lake Tana (in modern-day Ethiopia), and James Bruce was to be the first person who went further in –. When Napoleon led the French into Egypt in his ill-fated Egyptian Campaign of , this led to the French fleet being destroyed by the British, under Horatio Nelson, at the Battle of the Nile (or Battle of Aboukir Bay) on August –, , thus preventing any major French exploration of the Nile, although his artists did record many of the temples and ruins along the river banks. British interest in river systems in East Africa started with the British occupation of Mombasa in –, the expansion of their influence over the Horn of Africa in –, and the gradual economic penetration of the ports in East Africa. In , the British explorer John Hanning Speke, while traveling with Richard Burton, reached the southern shore of Lake Victoria. As Burton was recuperating from an illness at the time, the discovery was attributed to Speke. This angered Burton and led to a public squabble. Speke’s famous book, Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (), led to much interest in the region, and to British explorers visiting the region that is now Uganda. In an effort to verify the work of Speke, the Scottish doctor and explorer David Livingstone entered the River Congo system by accident, and it was left to WelshAmerican journalist and adventurer Henry Morton Stanley to find Livingstone, and also to finally prove Speke correct. Unfortunately, Livingstone died in Africa before he could publish his findings, although his letters were published posthumously. Many others were subsequently involved in traveling along the Nile, and in spite of the number of expeditions, such as those by Australian writer Alan Moorehead, wars and troubles from
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the late s made travel along some remote parts of the Nile difficult. It was not until that a team under Hendri Coetzee from South Africa managed, in the White Nile Expedition, to navigate the entire length of the River Nile. Their expedition eventually led to the National Geographic film, The Longest River. The search for the route of the Congo also captured the imagination of European explorers. Under the support of the Geographical Society of Paris, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, the French-Italian explorer, navigated the Gabon and Ogooué rivers, and then the Congo from . Brazza aimed to conquer the lands along the River Congo for the French, and was partially successful, although the Belgians did manage to take over the inland region south of the River Congo. It is also, although not explicitly mentioned by name, the river of note in Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness (), a critique of the Belgian role in the Congo Free State (later Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo). Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s mission at Lambaréné is located on the River Ogooué, which flows roughly parallel to the Congo, miles to the north of it, and is the largest river between the Niger and the Congo. In th century South Africa, some of the rivers gained great symbolic importance. The Battle of Mhlatuze River saw Shaka, the leader of the Zulu Empire, victorious in the Zulu Civil War of ; and when the Ngoni people crossed the Zambezi in , there was another famous battle. On December , , some Voortrekkers led by Andries Pretorius, having crossed the Buffalo River on the previous day, were attacked by a force of some , Zulus at Ncome River. The battle was so furious, with , Zulus killed (and three Voortrekkers injured), that the river became known to the Voortrekkers as Bloedrivier (“Blood River”), and the “Day of the Vow” has been a public holiday in South Africa—now called the Day of Reconciliation. Some Voortrekkers did subsequently settle on the Oranjerivier (“Orange River,” or Gariep or Senqu River)—the longest river in South Africa—where, in , they established the Orange Free State. After the Orange River Convention was signed on February , , Britain recognized the state. In , diamonds were found along the Orange River, leading to initial wealth for the Orange Free State, but also increased the risk of invasion or annexation by the British. By the s, the Buffalo River had become the boundary of Zululand. When British soldiers crossed the river on January , , it signified the start of the Zulu War. The term “crossing the Buffalo” has been used as the title of a history of the Zulu War by Dr. Adrian Greaves, widely acknowledged as one of the experts on the topic. The second engagement of that war, on January –, , at Rorke’s Drift, was at an outpost located near a natural ford on the Buffalo River. The Natal Native Contingent, from the main British army, was able to retreat across the Buffalo River after being defeated at Isandlwana. During the Second Anglo-Boer War of –, the Buffalo River was not that important, given the greater need to control the railway lines in the region. However, the Battle of Modder River on November , , did see the British under General Lord Paul Methuen, moving to Kimberley to relieve that city, where they were attacked by
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Boers who were led by Generals Piet Cronjé and General Jacobus H. de la Rey. Although the British dug trenches along the Modder River to protect themselves from the Boers, the British victory was a pyrrhic one: men were killed and wounded, compared to negligible Boer casualties. The Boers had successfully delayed them. The Battle of Magersfontein (December –, ) was also fought along the Modder River with the British, under Methuen, being driven back by the Boers who used the terrain and their greater mobility to pin down a much better equipped force. To the north, conflict along the Nile occurred in conjunction with the AngloEgyptian takeover of the Sudan, and the emergence of the Mahdist movement. In the last period of the rule of Khedive Ismail, from until , the Egyptians managed to establish their military control as far as Unyoro, on Lake Albert Nyanza. However, once again trouble in Egypt led to trouble in the Nile Delta, with the British bombarding Alexandria on July , . In the following year, the Mahdist movement, which desired a return to the simplicity of early Islam, laid siege to Khartoum, Sudan. This, in turn, led to the British General, Charles Gordon, being sent to Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, located at an important junction in the Nile, the confluence of the White and Blue Niles. His aim was ostensibly to organize the evacuation of the Egyptians from the city, but instead decided to remain. Gordon was killed by the Mahdist forces on January , , during the capture of Khartoum. The death of the Mahidi on June , , did not lead directly to British control, which was enforced from to when General Horatio Kitchener led his troops down the Nile and finally defeated the Sudanese at the Battle of Omdurman on September , . The war was written about by Winston Churchill, then a young army officer, in his two-volume work The River War (). The British victory then led to what became known as the Fashoda Incident when a small French military force, under Major Jean B. Marchand, reached the River Nile at Fashoda, in the southern Sudan, and wanted to ensure French control of the left bank of the river. When Kitchener moved against the French, Marchand, on instructions from Paris, withdrew and avoided conflict. Although the fate of Gordon captured the imagination of many British people, interest in Egyptian ruins occurred earlier, largely driven by the building of the Suez Canal in , a major world trade route that brought much wealth to Egypt. With the growing ability to travel, international tourism essentially started with British and other tourists heading to Egypt, where Nile cruises became popular. Amelia Edwards wrote A Thousand Miles up the Nile, published in , and the interest generated by this work led to the formation of the Egypt Exploration Fund. Thomas Cook, the British travel agency, pioneered tours to Egypt and regular Nile cruises; tours that have continued to the present day. Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, first published in , highlights the wealthy European and American tourists visiting the sites in Egypt, and “wintering” in the country. Because the cataracts at Wadi Halfa in the Nile hindered travel, the creation of Lake Nasser to generate hydroelectric power in the Aswan High Dam, completed in , improved the Nile as a navigable waterway. Indeed before construction on the dam, the
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Egyptian President, Gamal Abdul Nasser, regularly swam in the River Nile to show his strength. In Sudan, at the confluence of the White and Blue Niles, the Grand Hotel in Khartoum was a popular destination for many tourists before war engulfed the region. Mention should be made of what became known as the Oil Rivers Protectorate, established in by the British in what is now Nigeria. These rivers still remain vital transportation links to the vast oil reserves of Nigeria. Adventure stories involving mysterious and dangerous African rivers fascinated readers’ imaginations. In , Rudyard Kipling, the British imperialist journalist and author, wrote his Just So Stories, one of which was called “The Elephant’s Child” and spoke of the Limpopo River as the “great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees” and where the “Bi-Coloured Python Rock-Snake” dwells, making it wellknown to school children around the world. At the high point of the colonial empires in Africa, mail boats traveled along the rivers to remote settlements in Central Africa and were the setting for many boys’ adventure stories. Although East Africa had been fully explored, mainly by the British, by the s and s many Britons were starting to move there, especially to the highlands of Kenya. One interesting curiosity of history emerged during this period: the Kionga Triangle. As the British Colonial Office was transcribing details of the various treaty agreements signed by the European powers, they discovered that a very small region on the south bank of the Rovuma River had not been allocated to any power. Germany tried to claim it, but in Portugal seized the territory, which became a part of Mocambique (Mozambique). When World War I broke out, the British were anxious to capture the German colony of Tanganyika (modern-day mainland Tanzania) and the African Rivers War of – was the name given to the fighting around the Rufiji River. The British were trying to locate the German ship SMS Königsburg, which was finally scuttled by the Germans on July , , in the Rufiji Delta, the British winning the engagement now known as the Battle of the Rufiji Delta, fought from October until July . The fighting became the centerpiece of The African Queen (), by British writer C. S. Forester, turned into a famous film in , directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The same war was also the inspiration of the novel Shout at the Devil () by the South African writer, Wilbur Smith. Smith’s book was also turned into a film in , directed by Peter R. Hunt, and starring Lee Marvin, Barbara Parkins, and Roger Moore. During the s and s, most of the former European colonies in Africa gained their independence. Two former colonies took their name from the Kingdom of Kongo, and also from the River Congo: Congo (Brazzaville); and Congo (Kinshasa), later Zaire, and now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Gabon took its name from its most prominent river, and Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso) because of the River Volta. Niger and Nigeria both took their names from the River Niger. An exception was the French territory of Ubangui-Shari, which took its name from the rivers Ubangui and Shari,
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and after independence in became the Central African Republic; the capital, on the River Ubangui, retained its name, Bangui. Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) also took its name from the Zambezi River. In , when Mozambique gained its independence, the name of its capital, Lourenco Marques, was renamed Maputo, taking the same name as a famous chieftain in pre-colonial Mozambique, but also the River Maputo, which rises in South Africa and flows into the Maputo Bay in Mozambique. Rivers still represent boundaries for many countries in Africa. The Limpopo River has had much focus in recent years due to the number of Zimbabweans who have escaped from their country in search of a better life, many of whom seek illegal work in South Africa. Gambia remains one of the few countries in the world that, geographically, largely covers both banks of an important river. The River Niger was also the western boundary of the short-lived Republic of Biafra, which existed from until and was recognized by only five other African countries. Apart from the Nile, the rivers of Africa are best known today as places where wildlife congregate—tourists from all around the world flocking to the rivers in East Africa and Southern Africa to watch hippopotami, elephants, rhinoceroses, crocodiles, wildebeest, kudus, bongos, alligators, frogs, and various birdlife—especially waders and migratory birds. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Allison, J.M. The African River Wars –. Garden Island, N.S.W.: Naval Historical Society of Australia, . Bovill, E.W. The Niger Explored. London: Oxford University Press, . Butcher, Tim. Blood River—A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart. London: Vintage Books, . Gerster, Georg. “The Niger: River of Sorrow, River of Hope.” National Geographic Magazine, August , –. Gudenkauf, G. Belgian Congo: Mailboat Steamers on Congo Rivers & Lakes (–): Postal History and Cancellations. Newbury, Berks, U.K.: Philip Cockrill, . Harrison, William. Burton and Speke. New York: St. Martin’s Press, . Lloyd, Christopher. The Search for the Niger. London: Collins, . Ludwig, Emil. The Nile: The Life-Story of a River. New York: The Viking Press, . Moorehead, Alan. The White Nile. London: Hamish Hamilton, . Moorehead, Alan. The Blue Nile. London: Hamish Hamilton, . Naylor, Kim. Guide to West Africa: The Niger and Gambia River Route. London: Michael Haag, . Seaman, Linda. Where the River Flows: Bringing Life to West Africa. Kansas City, MO: Nazarene Publishing House, . Stewart, Gary. Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos. New York: Verso, .
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ARABIAN SEA A sea, as a geographical term, has an imprecise meaning. For while the Arabian Sea, Caspian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea are all considered seas, they are geographically quite dissimilar bodies of water. The Mediterranean is virtually land-locked; the Caspian is a saline lake; the Arabian is actually the northwest sector of the Indian Ocean basin. Divided into two basins by the Carlsberg Ridge, which is an extension of the Mid-Indian Ridge, the Arabian Basin lies northeast of the Carlsberg Ridge and the Somali Basin to the southwest (Chatterjee , –). It merges to the north into the Indus Cone. To the west and to the northwest it abuts the Owen Fracture Zone and the northern projection, the Murray Ridge, which separates the Indus Cone and the Gulf of Oman (Nairn and Stelhi ). One of the many regional seas of the Indian Ocean Basin, the Arabian Sea is bounded to the north by Iran and Pakistan, to the west by the Arabian Peninsula, and to the east by India and the Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive
Map of the Arabian Sea
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Ridge (Forbes ). The Arabian Sea separates the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent. Its littoral states are India, Iran, Maldives, Oman and Pakistan. From the commencement of the present era, merchants and mariners from the ports of the Mediterranean and Red Seas, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia all congregated at anchorages and ports around the Arabian Sea from the Horn of Africa to the west coast of India. The history of geography infers that ships from China and ports of the Mediterranean Sea had ventured into the Arabian Sea with the prime objective of trade (Prasad ; McPherson ). The Arabian Sea facilitated the trade routes, broadly defined, between maritime nations in every direction. Educators, merchants, and scholars were attracted to the regional centers of culture, education, religion, and trade within Asia. International commerce, in the historical and contemporary context, was a key player, and for this reason the major maritime powers and colonial administrators controlled shipping within the region. Such action was made possible by establishing trading posts, imposing trade barriers and taxes, and implementing local laws and regulations that were designed to be advantageous to traders. About percent of the total sediment thickness of the Indian Ocean is in the Arabian Sea. The Indus provinces are both rich in illite and chlorite supplied to the ocean by the Indus River System, which drains the sediments of the Himalayas into the Arabian Sea (Academy of Sciences, USSR ). Furthermore, the aeolian dust input from the Arabian Peninsula, by westerly and northwesterly winds may have significantly increased during the last glacial maximum. The lack of a close relationship between winds and currents applies particularly to the Arabian Sea. Towards the equator, the ocean currents appear better related to the prevailing winds. The annual Indian Southwest Monsoon Current is evident from about May to September (southwest refers to the monsoon, not the direction of flow of the current). This current is an extension of the northeast-setting Somali Current, which tends to meander eastwards over the central part of the Arabian Sea and then moves southeasterly towards the coastline of Pakistan and India. Mastery and local knowledge of the monsoon winds provided mariners and passengers with regular passage across the Arabian Sea, enabling the growth of international trade networks founded upon the growing prosperity and wealth of the maritime nations. Seaborne trade across the Indian Ocean in general was primarily determined by what Braudel (–) suggested was longue duree, or long term rhythms of the human and natural environment. There is no corresponding general current over the Arabian Sea during the Northeast Monsoon, which is experienced during the months of December through March. Tropical revolving storms, locally referred to as cyclones, are occasional. One devastating cyclone was experienced off the coast of Oman during March . The prevailing pattern of currents is affected, sometimes considerably, by the violent winds accompanying the storms. The primary cause of shipping accidents have been very severe weather conditions during the monsoonal periods, along with the negligence on the part of seafarers in exercising due care and displaying their professional skills in discharging their
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duties. In addition to these factors, poor maintenance of the vessels, along with various problems like slips, lapses, mistakes, fatigue, and defects in ship design, have contributed to sinking ships over many decades. The sea surface temperature, which is slightly warmer in the western Arabian Sea, implies less upwelling along the southeast coastline of the Arabian Peninsula and a weaker monsoon. The Arabian Sea is one of the most productive regions in the world and is characterized by strong seasonal oscillations in biological production. In summer, the strong southwest monsoon causes intense upwelling in the western Arabian Sea, while in winter the surface cooling in the north results in enhanced vertical mixing. In both seasons, the photic zone receives nutrients rising from greater depths, which results in high productivity, that is, phytoplankton fixes carbon through photosynthesis. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) -year trend shows an increase in fish capture from . million tons in to . million tons in (see FAO ). The Arabian Sea is one of only six Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) identified in which fishery trends are not decreasing, and for which a precautionary approach to management might lead to sustainability. The greater marine biodiversity of this tropical region is reflected in catch composition. There is a high catch percentage for both coastal fishes and pelagic fishes. Fisheries of large oceanic pelagic fishes are substantial and lucrative (Bakun et al. ). Over centuries there has been an abundance of herring, sardines, anchovies, and crustaceans. Vivian Louis Forbes References and Further Reading Academy of Sciences, USSR. Geological-Geophysical Atlas of the Indian Ocean. Moscow: Administration of Geodesy and Cartography, . Baars, M., P. Schalk, and M. Veldhuis. “Seasonal fluctuations in plankton biomass and productivity in the ecosystems of the Somali Current, Gulf of Aden, and Southern Red Sea.” In Large Marine Ecosystems of the Indian Ocean: Assessment, Sustainability, and Management, ed. Kenneth Sherman, E. Okemwa and M. Ntiba. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Science, . Bakun, A., C. Roy, and S. Lluch-Cota. “Coastal upwelling and other processes regulating ecosystem productivity and fish production in the western Indian Ocean.” In Large Marine Ecosystems of the Indian Ocean: Assessment, Sustainability, and Management, ed. Kenneth Sherman, E. Okemwa and M. Ntiba. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Science, . Braudel, Fernand. The Mediterranean: And the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. vols. London: Collins, -. Chatterjee, Sankar. “A kinematic model for the evolution of the Indian Plate since the late Jurassic.” In New Concepts in Global Tectonics, ed. Sankar Chatterjee and Nicholas Horton. Lubbock, Texas: Texas Technical University Press, . Desai, B.N., and R.M.S. Bhargava. “Biologic production and fishery potential of the Exclusive Economic Zone of India.” In Large Marine Ecosystems of the Indian Ocean: Assessment, Sustain-
ARCTIC OCEAN ability, and Management, ed. Kenneth Sherman, E. Okemwa and M. Ntiba. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Science, . Dwivedi, S.N. and A.K. Choubey. “Indian Ocean Large Marine Ecosystems: Need for National and Regional Framework for Conservation and Sustainable Development.” In Large Marine Ecosystems of the Indian Ocean: Assessment, Sustainability, and Management, ed. Kenneth Sherman, E. Okemwa and M. Ntiba. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Science, . FAO. “Trends in oceanic captures and clustering of large marine ecosystems— studies based on the FAO capture database.” FAO Fisheries Technical Paper, , . Forbes, V.L. The Maritime Boundaries of the Indian Ocean Region. Singapore: Singapore University Press, . McPherson, Kenneth. The Indian Ocean: A history of People and the Sea. Delhi: Oxford University Press, . Nairn, A.E.M., and F.G. Stelhi, eds. The Ocean Basins and Margins: The Indian Ocean. Vol. . New York: Plenum Press, . Piontkovski, S.A. “Spatial-temporal structure of Indian Ocean ecosystems: A large-scale approach.” In Large Marine Ecosystems of the Indian Ocean: Assessment, Sustainability, and Management, ed. Kenneth Sherman, E. Okemwa and M. Ntiba. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Science, . Prasad, P.C. Foreign Trade and Commerce in Ancient India. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, .
ARCTIC OCEAN The Arctic Ocean, the smallest of Earth’s oceans at just over . million square miles, occupies about three percent of Earth’s surface. Nearly all of the Arctic Ocean lies above the Arctic Circle and the majority of it is covered by ice most of the year. Surrounded by three continents, with limited outlets to other oceans and a coastline almost , miles long, it is more like an island sea. The Arctic Ocean’s only outlets are to the Atlantic Ocean, via the Davis Strait and the Norwegian Sea, and to the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait. The ocean floor is divided into two basins—the Eurasia Basin and the North American (or Amerasia) Basin—by its largest ridge, the Lomonosov Ridge, which connects Greenland to Russia. At over , miles long and rising to , feet, the ridge is actually an underwater mountain range. Two other substantial submarine ridges are the Alpha Cordillera and the Nasen Cordillera. The Alpha Cordillera divides the Amerasia Basin from the Canadian Basin, the largest sub-basin, and the Makarov Basin. The Nasen Cordillera divides the Eurasia Basin from the Fram Basin (where the North Pole is located), and the Nansen Basin, the smallest sub-basin. The Arctic Ocean is in constant motion, although the deepest waters barely move due to the submarine ridges and the landlocked nature of the ocean. Water movement and wind keep much of the ice moving, which in turn creates cracks and pressure ridges. Numerous internal currents, as well as currents from the Atlantic Ocean and wind blown
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Glacier off the coast of Greenland. The Arctic Ocean is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year, and almost completely covered in winter. Dreamstime.com.
off the coast of Greenland, move the water and ice and make navigation a challenge. Several sizable rivers also flow into the Arctic, contributing to the motion of the water and infusing the ocean with a substantial amount of fresh water. Fresh water remains closer to the surface and freezes more readily than the denser salt water. The ice in the Arctic Ocean is diverse, from frozen ocean water, called sea ice, to ice that enters from the land, such as glaciers, icebergs (which break off from glaciers or ice shelves), ice islands (large icebergs), ice shelves, ice sheets, and lake ice. The deepest parts of the Arctic Ocean are covered by thick polar pack ice. Polar pack ice, or multi-year sea ice, is ice that has not melted for at least two years and is not attached to land. It is distinguished from first year ice, which is thinner and most of which melts in summer. Additionally, multi-year ice is largely salt-free, as the ice loses the salt in the process of freezing. This salt-free polar pack ice is much denser and stronger than young ice and is also more dangerous to ships. Whereas seasonal ice usually thickens one to two meters before melting, multi-year ice is typically twice as thick, and when it is in the form of icebergs it can rise hundreds of meters above the ocean and plunge to great depths below the surface. There are two types of ice-free areas in Arctic ice. Leads are cracks in the ice that open narrow passages of water. Polynyas are areas of open water within the sea ice that usually do not freeze. Both are important in the arctic waters. Ship navigation is facilitated by the open areas of water; sea mammals, such as whales, walruses, and seals surface for air,
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Map of the Arctic Ocean
and polar bears swim these waters and await their prey at the water’s edge. There is little evaporation of the frozen ocean water, and the ice reflects the sunlight, thus inhibiting photosynthesis beneath the surface. Leads and polynyas allow the sun to penetrate the water and stimulate plant growth below the surface. Phytoplankton is fundamental to the food chain, as it is food for the small fish of the Arctic waters, which in turn are eaten by larger fish, seals, walruses, whales, polar bears, birds, and man. The Arctic Ocean’s ecosystem is both unique and fragile. Recovery from contaminants, such as pesticides, industrial chemicals, oil, or other damage is difficult and takes time, as pollutants are not easily washed away, cleaned up, or broken up. Of grave concern both presently and far into the future, is the nuclear waste that has been dumped into the Arctic waters, both deliberately and by accident. All the pollutants not only contaminate the water, but also enter the arctic food chain. The reality of such fragility, combined with the reality of an area rich in natural resources, helps explain the ongoing debate over exploration, development, extraction, and transportation of the ocean’s
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resources. Traditionally, the commercial importance of the Arctic Ocean centered on fishing and seals. Today, extraction of natural gas and oil is increasingly becoming more attractive because of depleting world reserves and advances in exploration and production technology, and the potential for more shipping also continues to be explored. At present, there is increased cooperation between the Arctic states to protect their environment, but in the second half of the th century this was not the case. The advent of long-range bombers, nuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and a perceived vulnerability to surprise attack over the Arctic, heightened and fueled the Cold War. Both the United States and the Soviet Union considered the Arctic Ocean a strategic area of great military importance. Nuclear-powered submarines routinely and secretly plied the Arctic Ocean and nuclear-powered icebreakers transited the frozen waters. Each state also employed floating ice as research stations. These ice stations were significant for research, but ice stations have a limited life, as the ice either drifts to areas no longer desired for research, or the ice itself is compromised by the harsh climate and needs to be abandoned before it breaks up. During the Cold War, there was little willingness between the superpowers, or even between military allies, to view the Arctic outside the national security lens. Thus, despite the scientific community’s interest, cooperative non-military scientific and environmental research languished. The United Nations, however, addressed various issues facing the Arctic waters, both during and after the Cold War. In the post-Cold War period, the Canadian-initiated Arctic Council met to discuss and devise ways to protect this vital ocean and region of the world. The Arctic Ocean has the widest continental shelf of any of Earth’s oceans, nearly one-half of the ocean floor. Due to this expanse, there are numerous disputed claims of ownership among nations. To resolve the conflicting claims to the ocean floor, as well as abate the competing claims to passages, waterways, islands, and borders, the Law of the Sea Convention, which came into force in , gave nations years after signing to map their continental shelf for the purpose of making claims beyond the kilometers ( nautical miles) Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). While the drifting polar pack ice exists year round in the center of the ocean, the warming climate has contributed to both a general thinning of the ice throughout the ocean and to increased periods of ice-free open water. If the warming trend continues, the number of months available for arctic transit, as well as the area of navigable waters, will increase. However, even with advanced iceberg locator technology, ice remains a hazard and a significant risk to ship lines contemplating Arctic routes. As relatively warmer water attracts new species and more fish, arctic fishing could increase, leading to longer fishing seasons and new areas to fish. Fishing not only attracts commercial interests, but also recreational fisherman and tourists. Additionally, petroleum geologists believe there are massive undiscovered gas and oil reserves beneath the Arctic Ocean. As world oil reserves dwindle, the Arctic Ocean is certain to see an increase in the exploration, extraction, and shipping of gas and oil.
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The Northwest Passage, along the coast of North America, and the Northern Sea Route (formerly the Northeast Passage), along the northern coast of Russia, are Arctic sea routes connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. These trade routes greatly reduce travel distances. The first successful transit of the Northern Sea Route was by the Swede, Nils Nordenskjöld in –. The first surface ship to transit the Northwest Passage was captained by the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, from –. Many explorers, captains, and seamen perished in the arctic waters seeking the fabled Northwest Passage and the fame and fortune that would surely follow. Of the two passages, the Northern Sea Route is much more active, supported by the Russian (previously Soviet) government. The potential of a navigable and financially profitable Northwest Passage (NWP) increases as the ice pack continues to recede, but at this time, it remains rarely transited. Yet because of the abundant natural resources in Canada, Alaska, and Siberia (oil and minerals), shipping activity in the Arctic Ocean is certain to increase, particularly for the trans-oceanic route from Russia to North America (called the Arctic Bridge). The once inaccessible and indomitable Arctic Ocean is entering a new era of access and development. Elizabeth Elliot-Meisel References and Further Reading Chaturvedi, Sanjay. The Polar Regions. Chichester, U.K.: John Wiley & Sons, . Linacre, E and B. Geerts. “The Arctic: The ocean, sea ice, icebergs, and climate.” University of Wyoming. http://www-das.uwyo.edu/~geerts/cwx/notes/chap/arctic.html. (accessed July , ). Macintyre, Ben. “As the Arctic Ice Returns, the Old Great Game Begins.” The Times, February , . http://www.engergybulletin.net/pringt.php?id= (accessed August , ). McRae, Donald and Gordon Munroe, eds. Canadian Oceans Policy: National Strategies and the New Law of the Sea. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, . United Nations. “United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.” http://www.un.org/Depts/ los (accessed July , ).
ASIAN DAMS AND LOCKS Unlike North America or colonized Africa, Asia did not engage in comprehensive programs to develop modern dams and water management before the second half of the th century ( Japanese-led Manchuria being a rare exception). However, in the ancient world, Asians expended great efforts in adapting the flow of water to the seas. Aside from China, who connected the basins of the Hoang Ho and Yangtze rivers with canals, water flow was controlled for irrigation to support intensive agriculture (paddy field), and to reduce the effects of floods (and monsoons) in deltas, or of droughts in subtropical areas.
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Socialistic Programs for Water Resources Although dams and water diversion projects were a major part of ancient history, modern governments have gone to great lengths to design broad programs to use water resources as an engine for economic growth. A model of note was Central Asia (now in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan), which was colonized by Russia (then the Soviet Union). Enormous investments were made in dams and canals in the Turkestan valleys of Amou Daria and Syr Daria (with the Ferghana area) to support cotton crops. The Rogun and Nurek dams, built in Tajikistan during the s and s, are among the world’s highest dams. Capturing percent of the flow of Amou Daria in the east, the massive Garagum Canal, which pierced through Turkmenistan from to , was the world’s longest irrigation canal ( miles), and was even opened to navigation. There were also projects in Azerbaijan (such as the Mingechaur Dam) (You are right. The author is French and used the French spelling.) and Georgia (the Ziemo-Avtchal Dam; Inguri Dam). Even Central Siberia and northward flowing rivers were involved in comprehensive hydroelectric schemes favoring industrialization (from Ural to the Kuzbass for high energy-consuming industries like aluminum, electro-chemicals or special steel). Hydroelectric facilities of note include the Ienissei (Krasnoiarsk, for long the world’s most powerful hydro-plant with million kW) and its tributary, the Angara (Bratsk with . million kW), the Ob and its tributary Irtych (the Ust-Kamenorgorsk Dam). To refurbish “Red” countryside, Maoist China constructed numerous man-made dams, canals, and terraces throughout popular villages. This success led to the first wave of big dams that mixed power production and flood control. The Yichang-Ghezouba
View of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China, . When it becomes fully functional in , the dam will be the largest energy producing dam in the world. iStockPhoto.com.
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Dam (built in the s) was the first large dam in the Yangtze valley. The Hoang Ho was equipped with dams (starting in ), from the Kansu, Chensi, and Chansi regions to Chandong (for instance the Sanmen Dam). These projects were accompanied by a few hydropower plants and numerous programs to stabilize and exploit controlled lands. Even the Ming Valley, about miles upriver from Beijing, welcomed a dam in as a symbol of conquest over underdevelopment. In all these cases, traditional navigation on river waterways was preserved and even modernized. Centralized planning was also adopted in Turkey and India to symbolize the acceleration of growth through intense investments by the state in supplying basic resources, mainly power and water. Turkey, under the rule of Atatürk and his following successors, worked to resolve popular and ethnic divides through the emergence of a modern economy in eastern areas where dams stopped several rivers. For example, within the Tigris-Euphrates water system, the Atatürk Dam, built in , was a critical element to the plan, as are the Bakhma and Dukan dams. Nehru’s India was equally aggressive in developing water resources along the Indus Basin (Nagarjuna Sagar on the Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh in , etc.), and then along rivers flowing down the Dekkan Highs (in the Mysore state on the Sharavati) to establish an array of dams (Bhakra-Nangal Dam in the Punjab, and in the –s, the giant Tehri Dam on the Bhagirathi River, a tributary of the Ganges). By the end of the th century, India had built , large dams, with more still being planned. Dams as Leverage to Modern Third World By the s, most developing countries were struggling to find ways to build dams for irrigation, navigation, and hydropower to leverage their economic development. International organizations (e.g., the World Bank), engineers from big public works companies, and state experts converged to list the key dams to be built as a first stage of growth. In the wake of the Aswan Dam adventure, dam sagas were thus told by countries or corporations, all proud of such technical achievements, which in turn paved the way to irrigation systems, colonization of areas by villages and peasants, and grids to send power to rapidly emerging cities in neighboring regions. Dams were conceived as accelerators to fill the gap of development for countries lacking energy and mining resources, and/or engulfed with overpopulation. Each country had its own “dam story”: less socialist than India, neighboring Pakistan adopted the same strategy to equip the Sind to promote cotton and rice cultures (e.g., Kotri, Sukku dams, before the huge Tarbela Dam in on the Indus). Iran says dams are an opportunity to modernize agriculture to join oil as an economic growth engine. The Reza Shah Dam, built in on the Karoum (in the Zagros Mountains), remained the highest dam in the Middle East until the start of the st century. Ex-Communist Countries Join the Dam Trail Beginning in the s, ex-Communist countries—despite the pervasive role of the Communist Party in several nations—decided to mobilize far more of their water
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resources to face the needs of industrialization. China could rely on the enormous flow of Yangtze Kiang. Aside from smaller projects, the giant Three Gorges Dam complex was launched in Hubei in . Finally completed in , it stood nearly feet in height and an enormous , feet in width. It has been designated as the world’s largest hydropower plant, generating . million kilowatts with turbine generators, and is able to regulate the course of the Yangtze as well as supply power to cities and plants in emerging Central China, thanks to its ,-foot-long reservoir. The Yangtze Basin alone will eventually total large dams when targets are reached in the s. However, dams are being built and planned for each river basin. In Sichuan, the huge Erkan Dam on the Yalong Jiang was completed in , and near the border of Burma, on the unexploited Salween River, there are plans for construction of dams, to be completed by the s. Smaller, but still impressive, are the other projects gathering momentum in Southeast Asia. In Laos, the Nam Theun Dam opened in , and in Vietnam the Son La Dam, with an initial capacity of , milliwatts and a potential capacity of , milliwatts (completion –). This will create, according to World Bank and engineer designers, electric power and an integrated grid between several countries.
Social and Environmental Balance at Stake At the turn of the st century, such rapid emergence of modern tools was questioned because of the social and environmental effects, but the heritage aspect was also at stake whenever archaeological sites (in Turkey), or cities rich with historical legacy, had to be covered by reservoir lakes. The forced relocation of hundreds of thousands people, such as the case of the Three Gorges Dam (for which . million people were moved), was denounced because of the pressure put on populations. The main issue surrounding the building of new dams became the environment, as experts argued about such problems as the negative consequences of dams and their reservoirs on the silt flows and deposits, the effects on fisheries downstream, on bio-diversity, and about risks of earthquakes because of the pressure of reservoirs. However, the primary issue was the contest for water. For example, reservoirs in upper Syr Daria and Amour Daria depleted the Aral Sea, prompting protest from Syria and Iraq against water use upstream by Turkey. Spurred by experts and non-governmental organizations (e.g., South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People, International Rivers Network), the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank recently introduced parameters of regulation as a means of establishing more balanced projects to finance. The new initiative has resulted in the financing of the three Kalabagh dams in Pakistan, dams scheduled in North-East India, and even some projects in China, despite the weight of state control on experts’ opinions. Experts have also had to consider the leverage played by hydropower to reach growth targets and avoid massive flood casualties (, between and ). Ironically, because of the proliferation of dam construction in China and throughout Asia, Chinese engineering began aggressively marketing their portfolio of skills to Africa. The maturity of
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Asian expertise was reflected when the International Symposium on Water Resources and Renewable Development in Asia, which gathered delegates from countries, held its first meeting in in Bangkok. This conference was followed by another symposium held in in Da Nang, Vietnam. Hubert Bonin References and Further Reading Benson, Steven, A.D. Coleman, Dai Qing, and Jens Friis. The Cost of Power in China: The Three Gorges Dam and the Yangtze River Valley. Lake Orion, MI: Black Opal Press, . Collins, Bartholomew. Hydropower & Dams in South and East Asia. Sutton, U.K.: Aqua-Media International Ltd, . Dunstan, M.R.H. “RCC Dams in Southeast Asia Relative to the Rest of the World.” International Journal on Hydropower and Dams , no. (): –. Hirsch, P. “Large dams, restructuring and regional integration in Southeast Asia.” Asia Pacific Viewpoint , no. (): –. Khagram, Sanjeev. Dams and Development: Transnational Struggles for Water and Power. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, . Mei, Wu. “Uncovering Three Gorges Dam.” Peace Research Abstracts (Sage Productions) , no. , (): –. Ozis, Unal. Historical Dams in Turkey. Ankara: State Hydraulic Works Administration, . Pan, Jiazheng and Jing He. Large Dams in China: A Fifty-Year Review. Beijing: WaterPower Press, . Ronayne, Margaret, Rochelle Harris, and Kerim Yildiz. The Cultural and Environmental Impact of Large Dams in Southeast Turkey., Galway, IRL: National University of Ireland, . Sanjuan, Thierry and Rémi Béreau. “Le barrage des Trois Gorges. Entre pouvoir d’État, gigantisme technique et incidences régionales.” Hérodote, no. (): –. Shapiro, Judith. Mao’s War against Nature: Politics and the Environment in Revolutionary China (Studies in Environment and History). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Singh, Satyajit. Taming the Waters: The Political Economy of Large Dams in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, . Singh, Shekhar and Banerji Pranab. Large Dams in India: Environmental, Social & Economic Impacts. New Delhi: Indian Institute of Public Administration, . Smith, Bonnie J. The Three Gorges Dam: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Harrisonburg, VA: James Madison University, .
ASIAN PORTS AND HARBORS For much of history, traditional Asian cities served inward-facing, land-based empires and were established to deal with internal concerns. The largest cities, the capitals, were symbols of political authority and were located at inland sites that were chosen for ease of administration and defense against frontier invaders and pirates. Due to its geography,
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Japan was the exception, as its largest plain and densest area of population was located close to the sea. Asia has a maritime tradition spanning as far back as the third millennium b.c.e., when the civilizations of Sumer and the Indus were first linked. Early Chinese artifacts unearthed by archaeologists in Tanzania and Axum attest to the rapid spread of maritime technology and the inauguration of long-distance routes that linked the extremities, what scholars refer to as the Indian Ocean world, by the fifth century a.d. During the ninth and tenth centuries Siraf, on the Persian coast, was among the principal ports of seagoing traffic, which included luxury goods, such as ceramics from the Far East. Since that time, the Indian Ocean has, by all calculations, continually proved to be the most trafficked of all the world’s oceans. Initially, the trafficking was the result of harnessing the natural rhythms of the trade winds and monsoon seasons with indigenous shipbuilding materials such as coir rope, bamboo framing and cotton sails, and more recently thanks to steam power and the diesel combustion engine, which have neutralized the tyranny of the winds. Yet there is poetic truth in the old European mappae mundi that show the Indian Ocean landlocked, for it was both difficult to get to and difficult to get out of. The lost but much-cited Persian sailing directions known as the Rahmana, which go back at least until the th century, warned of the “circumambient sea, whence all return was impossible” and where Alexander the Great was said to have set up a magical image, with a hand upraised as a warning: “This is the ne plus ultra of navigation, and of what lies beyond in the sea no man has knowledge.” Because of this isolation, Asian port cities have a very different social and cultural dynamic from ports on the Atlantic. Individual port cities have waxed and waned, but the system of trade as historians would like to see it was fairly coherent, both in its patterns of trade and the general political neutrality and subservience of the port cities to inland empires. The Asian port city system was marked by regularly interspaced beacons of commercial activity that served as points where cargoes were broken up in rhythm with the seasonal interruptions in transportation forced by the calendar of monsoon winds. The port system has also been analyzed in terms of the growth of walled cities with orientation to the sea along riverine systems that linked hinterland to coast, and that were important trans-shipment points for long-distance trade. In some cases, such as Palembang, the port city was built on piles and partly on rafts of bamboo and wood (rakit) floating alongside the banks of the Musi River, earning it the epithet of “Venice of the East.” The commercial elite in port cities throughout Asia enjoyed long-term political dominance. With respect to Southeast Asia, the system of port trade began when the area became the point of convergence for emporium goods moving between the oriental and occidental regions from as early as the third century a.d. Goods such as precious gems, sandalwood, ivory from East Africa, camphor, peacocks, and Arab vases were transported. Emporium cities were open to foreign merchant communities who were provided with a
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kampung or quarter to reside in, and access to the law and civic rights often on par with the local population. These populations nevertheless remained tenuous, and dependent on political circumstance, as evident in the case of the Macassarese Diaspora to Ayutthaya in the s. Many of these populations were massacred due to political intrigue and suspicions founded on religious difference. The latter example may be seen as a consequence of the European destabilization of the system with the incursions of the Dutch: in principle, naval force was not allowed to interfere with the peaceful enterprise of all commercial contenders. Whole stretches of the Asian coast were, however, only slowly brought into the workings of this system. While much of Southeast Asia was marked by the “concentricity of entrepot and polity,” the Vietnamese in the north and the Cham in the south of the Indochinese continent had been inward-oriented, rice-growing peoples for centuries or millennia; only in the seventh and eight centuries a.d. did their coastal communities start to fish and raid their neighbors. Other civilizations, such as that of the Sailendras in Java in the eighth and ninth centuries, and the Kingdom of Mataram in the th and th centuries, remained remarkably inward, land-locked polities. These types of civilizations lived primarily off of agricultural revenues rather than trade, and they held ambivalent relations with the sea. Historians have sought to explain this frequent aversion to the sea through mental distortions resultant from beliefs such as Confucianism, which viewed the sea as a subvalue, a pollutant of caste. In India, Sultan Bahadur of Gujarat, although not Confucian, famously declared: “Wars by sea are merchants’ affairs and of no concern to the prestige of kings.” Historically, scholars have debated whether the Indian Ocean world system stretches to East Africa. Kerry Ward, who has worked on the emergence of Cape Town, thinks not, but for ports further up the Atlantic littoral, like Mombasa and Kilwa, historians such as B.S. Hoyle do emphasize that the model does apply, and that the Benadir and Swahili coasts should be considered the southwestern façade of the Asian Seas. It can still be debated, however, to what extent white colonial rule, which turned much of the coastline into plantation economies for the world market, broke the East African littoral from being specifically locked into the maritime economies of Western India and the Arabian world. However, trade was not the only motor for navigation and the spread of port cities, as the spread of Islam across the Asian world from the th to the th centuries engendered a massive shift of population as part of the annual pilgrimage or hajji to the Arabian Peninsula. Jeddah acted as the port of welcome for the hajjis, who then continued on their way to Mecca; these two cities proving to be some of the most remarkable meeting and market places in Asia, dominating the Red Sea as well as knotting together overseas links with Egypt, Africa, and Southeast Asia. However, Europeans increasingly became commercially dominant by using political and military pressure to exploit indigenous labor. Those ports that Europeans did not take over directly were driven out
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of business by the development of competing European ports. An example of this is the establishment in of Batavia, the Asian capital of the Dutch East India Company on the west coast of Java in . Batavia was built very much as a Dutch city in the tropics. The cities Eurocentric landmarks included a church, the city’s gabled houses, canals, and cobbled streets. Goa, too, as the nerve center for the Portuguese Estado da Índia, was built very much on the model of Lisbon, with the focus of the city a large square known as Terreiro do Paço adjoining the wharves on the Mandovi River. The square is situation inland from the oceanfront, just as Lisbon is from the Atlantic. The Viceroy’s Palace was built at the head of the Terreiro do Paço so that the Viceroy could personally observe the city’s commercial activity from his window. The arrival of Europeans placed a new importance on seaports as centers for overseas trade. The Spanish government, for example, established the Port of Manila in , on the site of a farming and fishing village, to serve as a place where products from China could be exchanged for silver brought from Acapulco in Mexico. The rule of Spain extended throughout strategic areas of the Philippines, but the annual taxes (the bandala and the polo) collected from the indigenous peasant population were not the main source of profit. Spain’s wealth was derived from external trade, which was dominated by Manila. The system was nevertheless fragile: the trade suffered during periods of economic downturn, galleons were lost at sea, and the resident Chinese population was periodically massacred as a form of scapegoating. Manila’s economy was that of a supply region, an economy shaped by the markets of distant cities that failed to develop industries to replace imported products, and failed to develop strong links with the surrounding region. As a consequence, the surrounding economies of supply regions remained stunted and stultified. Manila, like many successful port cities in the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean, including Batavia, Bangkok, Bantam, Nagasaki, and Brunei, depended on free-floating communities of sojourning Chinese traders. These communities were effectively dispossessed of their mother country through a combination of Confucian scorn and rigorous anti-commercial legislation enacted by the country’s Peking-based authorities, yet they energetically grafted themselves on to existing commercial circuits. Through running a seasonal junk trade with southern China, these traders offered European powers access to Chinese markets and Chinese goods. In the case of Batavia, the Chinese also offered vital manpower in the construction industry and ran agricultural concerns, such as the sugar plantations, in the city’s immediate hinterland. In Bangkok, settlers of Chinese origin constituted as much as half the city’s population between the th century and World War II. The European presence in Asia ushered in a considerable militarization of the Asian seas and, correspondingly, European fortress-building at strategic ports became commonplace, though often at the cost of local goodwill, as the missionary Domingo Navarrete explained in the s: “The Muslims do not want in their lands anyone who ventures to erect more imposing buildings [than they]. They do not allow the Portuguese
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to place one stone upon another.” In places where European hold was tenuous, such as Macao or Nagapattinam, fortresses were never built. Otherwise, there were many different types of forts built: from wooden structures defended by palisades, such as Filipe de Brito y Nicote built in Lower Burma, but these were susceptible to fire and, as was reported on the eight-fathom single wooden bastion constructed by Count Benyowski at Louisbourg in Madagascar in , “in a quite rotten condition.” On the other hand, there were quite simply massive fortresses, such as the one at Diu, with a series of interlinking bastions; others, like the Fortaleza de S. Sebastião on Mozambique Island, which was begun in the sand could house , men. However, the period of port fortification in Asia was rather short lived. By the end of the th century, the Portuguese authorities were fleeing from Old Goa to the airy retreat of rural estates (quintas) and the ocean shore, favoring new, but exposed settlements such as Pandelim (Panaji). Dismantlement of existing fortifications, more often than not, was instructed by European commanders, who did not want to be seen as ruling by force. In , for example, Governor Daendels ordered a larger part of the town walls of Batavia to be razed so that, in the words of visitor Weitzel, “only rubbish heaps remain.” In Calcutta, which was retaken by Clive and Watson in , the Old Fort was gradually and slowly demolished and the large piece of ground where it stood redeveloped for public buildings and recreational space—a public park. In many of these cities, walls were slowly demolished for the express purpose of obtaining the building material for harbor modernization. Everywhere in Asia, port cities came to act as the gateways through which technological innovation and European domination moved, as the port cities often controlled the hinterlands and acted as vital lynchpins in the development of the world economic system. In China, treaty ports came to represent the vanguard of foreign imperialism in the period of –. These were already existing Chinese port cities opened by unequal treaties to foreign residence and trade, but were sometimes not even sea or river ports but cities far inland. For example, treaty ports were established by the Treaty of Nanjing in . These ports were established throughout southeast China, to Taiwan, Manchuria, and up the Yangtze River as far as Hankou. All of China’s largest cities were treaty ports with the singular exception of Beijing. Beginning in the mid-th century, foreign concessions, or settlements, were established in these treaty ports by Chinese authorities as residential areas for foreigners. Foreign governments paid modest annual ground rents for these leased areas, which in turn granted -year leases to its nationals. These settlements enjoyed extraterritoriality, and exercised their own legal jurisdiction over their nationals. They won the right to set up and maintain local administrative agencies such as police departments, sanitation, and road construction which were consequently run by the foreign governments. Foreign business was, in effect, shielded from Chinese taxation. The treaty ports were mainly economic centers through which foreign goods flowed into China. They virtually monopolized China’s growing foreign trade and became centers of modern commercial institutions like banking, finance, and insurance. By the
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beginning of the th century, treaty ports were also centers of industrial development, including arsenals, steamships, factories, and railroads. Chinese revolutionaries found havens in the foreign settlements where Chinese police could not operate. The Chinese Communist party, for example, was founded in Shanghai in , while the Republican Revolution was started in Wuhan in . Although the treaty port was a uniquely Chinese phenomenon, parallels can be found elsewhere, such as in Plaju in southern Sumatra, where the Dutch-run Batavian Petroleum Company took over existing oil exploration in and built a refinery. Further refineries were later built in , by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, on the opposite side of the river. This heavily industrial city became a Western industrial enclave, where Western staff, doctors, geologists, and engineers were sent to work, though housed in well-situated private areas with every possible convenience. Even in port cities closed off from colonial exploitation, such as those of Japan following the expulsion order of and until the Meiji Restoration during the second half of the th century, major port cities such as Nagasaki served as a vital conduit for the modernization and secularization of the country. Here, as at Basra and Jeddah, Asian linkages and influences probably had a greater impact and were of more lasting influence than Western expansion. Theoreticians of the modern port city, such as Peter Reeves, borrow from urban and historical geography on the one hand, and transport economics and location theory on the other, to distinguish between the economic base of the port city and its social, cultural, and political superstructure. In their analysis, a port city is a city whose main economic base for its non-local market is its port. Variants of this include the entrepot, where the port serves primarily for transfer from one ship to another, and “jetty ports” such as Marmagao and Paradeep, which serve as simple export points of bulk commodities such as iron ore or coal. The port city is impossible to isolate from both its hinterland and its foreland, or maritime influences. Modernity, then, has meant different things for Asian ports and harbors. Extensive bridge building, for example, across the Musi River in Palembang, has meant that the city could reorient away from the riverbanks. Indeed, Atiya Kidwai’s work on the port cities of India from to has shown how the pattern of industrialization and tertiarization can cause port cities to lose their specific character and turn them into general economically diversified and broadly based cities. Given the continued role of maritime force on Asian ports, navy port development has been a key feature of the modern Asian littoral. Historian Frank Broeze has identified four types of major navy ports in Asia: () the metropolitan Bombay-type, where the docks and naval facilities are but one element in a manifold metropolitan identity; () the big-city, regional capital, Cochin-type, which also contains navy ports like Visakhapatnam, Aden, and Bandar Abbas; () the small-town Berbera-type, where the base overshadows the community around it, such as facilities like Simonstown, Umm Qasr, Chah Bahar, and Karwar; and () the pure navy port, à la Diego Garcia, which was
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separated from Mauritian sovereignty in and whose facilities were upgraded in the s. This facility is considered the world’s purest naval port due to a routine deployment of around vessels. At the start of the th century, port cities in East Asia constituted two of the four most populous cities in the world. Not all analysts, however, are particularly optimistic about the port city’s future in Asia. Some of the sites for these port cities were in origin poorly chosen: Shanghai, for example, was located on a site that drained so poorly that a Western doctor found it “a subject of considerable surprise that the inhabitants can live at all among so much filth in the canals, in the streets, and in their own houses.” Some cities were built up overnight, without satisfactory attention devoted to basic provisions such as underground canalization and sewerage. Some of these problems have persisted. For example, in Vladivostok, pathways and gullies are turned into sewers after a rainfall. Refuse pollutes wells and eventually reaches all the nearby streams, obliging residents to drink imported water from Japan, Korea, and Shanghai. Basic civic public health projects will need to be undertaken ex novo for the city to meet the challenges of continued population growth and urbanization. If these issues are not tackled, the spectacular development of air and road traffic, as well as the communications revolution will strongly diminish the need for central physical commodity markets and the role of port cities as centers of commercial and financial decision making. Passenger traffic has steadily declined into the st century, reducing the employment opportunities that ports directly and indirectly generate. These analysts consequently predict the growth of metropoles and general cities possessing still significant, but not dominant, port cities (and free trade production zones) with examples like Tokyo, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Calcutta, Karachi, Basra, and Kuwait; and, at the same time, increasingly specialized loading or discharging terminals, or jetty ports, such as Kharg Island or Mina al Ahmadi for oil, Paradeep and Marmagao for iron ore, and Aqaba for rock phosphate. Yet there is still plenty of reason to be optimistic. Today, Singapore and Shanghai are the world’s busiest ports in terms of annual shipping tonnage. Elsewhere, new facilities such as the industrial port of Jebel Ali, in Dubai, are being developed. In recent times, the value of transpacific trade has surpassed that carried across the Atlantic Ocean, with demand-side forces within China playing a key role. These developments could likely lead to more substantial consequences for Asian ports and harbors, particularly on the Chinese littoral where, from the late s, Chinese political leaders have assigned a systematic and catalytic role to its port cities in the nation’s drive towards modernization and economic development via its policy of openness. In addition, the trend toward containerization has led to the fact that the largest container ports in the world, which did not even exist forty years ago, are now found in Asia. The future of the Asian port city, then, while conceding many of its characteristics to a more generic set of functions, will look primarily to the Pacific. Stefan Halikowski Smith
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References and Further Reading Arasaratnam, Sinnappah. “Pre-modern Commerce and Society in Southern Asia.” Inaugural lecture delivered at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, December , . Broeze, Frank. “Geostrategy and navy ports in the Indian Ocean since c. .” Marine Policy , no. (): -. Broeze, Frank, ed. Brides of the Sea: Port Cities of Asia from the th to the th Centuries. Sydney NSW: New South Wales University Press, . Fairbank, John King. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, -. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, . Frost, Lionel, ed., Urbanization and the Pacific World, –. Farnham, U.K.: Ashgate, . Kidwai, Atiya. “Port cities in a national system of ports and cities: a geographical analysis of India in the twentieth century.” In Brides of the Sea: Port Cities of Asia from the th-th Centuries, ed. F. Broeze. Sydney: New South Wales University Press, . Palembang, P. “Venice of the East.” In Issues in Urban Development, ed. P.J.M. Nas. Leiden: Academic Press Leiden, . Reeves, Peter. “Studying the Asian port city” In Brides of the Sea: Port Cities of Asia from the thth Centuries, ed. F. Broeze. Sydney: New South Wales University Press . Reid, Anthony. Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce –. Volume : Expansion and Crisis. New Haven: Yale University Press, . Ward, Kerry. “Tavern of the Seas? The Cape of Good Hope as an oceanic crossroads during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.” In Seascapes: Maritime Histories, Littoral Cultures and Transoceanic Exchanges, ed. J.H. Bentley, R. Bridenthal, and K. Wigen. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, .
ASIAN RIVERS Major Asian river systems come from two sources: the Tigris and the Euphrates from the mountains of eastern Turkey, with most of the other major river systems originating in the Tibetan Plateau. Rivers originating in Tibet and the surrounding region include the Indus, the Ganges-Brahmaputra, the Hooghly, the Irrawaddy, the Salween, the Mekong, and the two main rivers of China: the Yellow River and the Yangtze. Due to their importance for China, India and much of mainland Southeast Asia, it has been calculated that the rivers from the Tibetan Plateau currently provide water to sustain more than one-third of the population of the world, making the Asian river systems crucial for the world. As with other parts of the world, many of the early human settlements in Asia were alongside rivers, and the Tigris and the Euphrates ensured that Mesopotamia became known as the Cradle of Civilization. It was along these rivers that the Sumerian civilization was established, and this later led to the building of the great cities of Babylon, Nineveh, and Nimrud for the Babylonians and the Assyrians. In the th century, aerial photography of the region revealed large numbers of artificial ditches and canals used for irrigating fields and providing water for the cities. Although much of the area is
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now desert, at the time of the great civilizations, it is thought to have been full of lush vegetation, with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon being regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. The Tigris and the Euphrates also had symbolic significance, with the Euphrates representing the eastern boundary of the lands promised by God to Abraham in the Book of Genesis, and the southern part of the Tigris becoming the eastern boundary of Babylonia, as well as the western extent of the land of the Elamites. The region where the two rivers reach the Shatt al-Arab waterway, especially around the southern part of the Tigris, was until the s a marsh area inhabited by the Marsh Arabs. As a result of these civilizations using the rivers as their boundaries, battles were fought near them. One of the first recorded battles in the region was the Battle of the Diyala River in b.c.e., in Mesopotamia. This battle occurred between the Assyrians and Elamites, and the Elamites were decisively defeated, although historians have surmised that it may well have been a pyrrhic victory for the Assyrians as they did not follow up what should have been an easy attack. In Biblical times, there are constant references to rivers, with the Jordan River being seen as a source of the fertility for the Holy Land. The Jordan is crossed by Jacob, and after the Israelites left Egypt, Joshua took them to the river where they were involved in the sacking of the city of Jericho, located near the Jordan. The War of the Maccabees also took place along the river, as does the fight between Jonathan and Bacchides. In
The first of expected millions of people bathe in the Ganges River to wash away their sins on the first day of the Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad, India on January , . AP/Wide World Photos.
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Hu Kou Falls on the Yellow River in China. The second largest river in China, the Yellow River flows through nine Chinese provinces before emptying into the Bohai Sea. iStockPhoto.com.
addition to these incidents, the New Testament describes Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist as taking place in the Jordan. As a result, the river also has symbolic importance in Christian and Mandean worship. The Indus Valley (or Harappan) Civilization emerged at approximately b.c.e., and the emerging cities were occupied for about , years. These settlements were mainly along the Indus River (hence the name of the civilization), and most were located close to the Arabian Sea, with a number of outlying townships such as Mehi on the Gwydir River, Telod on the Narmada River, and Bhagatrav on the Tapti River. Indians still regard the Ganges River as holy, and at Varanasi (formerly Benares), Hindus come every year to bathe in the river water at what is regarded as a ritual ceremony to wash away sins. In China, most early settlements appeared along the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. Both of these rivers flooded regularly, which provided fertile soil enabling high-intensity cultivation. The rivers were—and indeed still are—so crucial to the agriculture of China that they are imbued with great symbolic value. By the time of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (respectively – and – b.c.e.), the Chinese civilization focused heavily on the regions between the Yellow River and the Yangtze. An example of river symbolism in Chinese culture is the presence of a river going across the center of the board in Chinese chess, which is not the case with Indian (and European) chess.
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Already by the fifth century b.c.e., there was a need for large artificial waterways in China, not just for irrigation but also for transportation. This led to the start of what became the Grand Canal that, when it was completed about , years later, represented the longest artificial waterway in the world. Many battles in ancient Asia were fought along rivers. In November b.c.e., at the Battle of Fei River, the commander of the Eastern Jin was able to easily destroy the forces of the Chin. The Fei River no longer flows, and as a result historians have been uncertain about the exact location of that battle. The Battle of the Wei River in b.c.e., saw the Han fighting the State of Qi. Similarly, in West Asia some of the most famous battles of the period were found near rivers. Alexander the Great won the Battle of River Granicus, defeating the Persians in May b.c.e. He then defeated the Persians again at Issus in November b.c.e., near the mouth of the Pinarus River. Alexander later fought the Battle of the Hydaspes River in b.c.e., against the Indian forces of Porus—significant because Alexander’s army attacked the war elephants deployed by the Indians while on horseback. By the first century c.e., Asia had been transformed, with the western part falling under the rule of the Romans, central government in China being established by the Han Dynasty, and the Gupta Empire of India maintaining its rule up to the western boundary, the Indus River, until c.e., when it was destroyed by the Huns. In Southeast Asia, in the Mekong Delta, the Funan Empire was founded in about c.e., the Port of Oc-Eo being located in the delta region. As descriptions by Chinese chroniclers speak of a rich settlement with powerful leaders, and in spite of work by French archaeologists, only the site of Oc-Eo has anything amounting to a city in the region from that date. Although it had ready access to water, the people of Oc-Eo built large numbers of canals that they used to irrigate their fields. However, they also brought with them many crocodiles, as well as the likely spread of malaria. In medieval times, with increased urbanization, many of the villages along rivers became towns, and large numbers of towns were effectively cities. Baghdad, founded in c.e., straddled the River Tigris; with Hierapolis, Callinicum, and Zenobia also being built on the Euphrates. The city of Angkor (in modern-day Cambodia) was along the Tonle Sap Lake, which also poured into the Mekong River; and the Siamese capital city of Ayuthia was located on the Mae Ping River. However, there were also a number of inland cities from the medieval period, such as Mecca and Medina, two of the holy cities of Saudi Arabia which do not have close access to a river. Yet these types of cities were both exceptional cases. By medieval times, some of the northeastern boundary of the Mamluke Empire was the Euphrates River, and many settlements along rivers in India and China grew in importance. As with European maps of the same period, the width of rivers was grossly exaggerated in medieval and early modern times. Maps such as the Tabula Peutingeriana, a th century copy of a fifth century map, showed India intersected by many large rivers that cut heavily into the continent. It seems probable that the inflated size of the rivers reflected their perceived importance at the time.
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Rivers continued to play an important part in early medieval history. At The Battle of Talas River in c.e., the Arabs defeated the Chinese army, who was trying to exercise Chinese rule over Central Asia. The famous Water Margin stories of the Sung dynasty were set along the Huai River region. It was by using the Mekong River that the Chams of modern-day central Vietnam were able to attack Angkor, although the final destruction of Angkor was to come from a landward attack by the Siamese. The expeditions of General Ch’iu Fu against the Mongols resulted in battles against the Mongols from to , along the Kerulen and other rivers. As well as fighting, rivers served as backdrops for some notable architectural wonders. In particular, the Taj Mahal is located on the Yamuna River in Agra–one of the most important cities in early modern India. By the early modern period, European traders, initially Portuguese, and later Dutch, English, and French, started to arrive in the Indian Ocean. Prior to this, much of the trade between Europe and Asia came along the fabled Silk Road, but the arrival of ships led to the added importance of ports, including many river ports such as Hooghly and Calcutta in northeastern India, as well as Malacca in modern-day Malaysia. The Japanese also utilized rivers in their attacks on Korea during this period, with the Battle of the Imjin River in c.e., seeing the Japanese, under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, defeat the Koreans. As rivers had come to dominate commerce in Europe, the European colonial powers arriving in Asia also sought to gain control of Asian rivers. In India, the British took over the river mouths, especially in Bengal to gain control over Calcutta and Hooghly. During the Battle of Plassey in , Robert Clive led a small English force against a massive Indian army along the River Hooghly. The British were able to launch their attack, by boat, into far reaches of India and thus they were able to defeat Indian forces and become a major colonial power in India. Trade along the Hooghly became a mainstay of British rule, as was control of the Brahmaputra, which, taken together, gave them access to most of Bengal. In the Indian Mutiny of , there was fighting along rivers, with the massacre of many Europeans at Cawnpore (modern-day Kanpur). The massacre took place along the Ganges as Europeans were attempting to leave the city under what they thought was an agreement with the local ruler (which historians now suggest was broken by his advisers to ensure that he became fully committed to their cause). Since the Indians undoubtedly realized the advantages the British would have once they were able to bring in their navy, the locations of the much of the subsequent fighting in the Indian Mutiny took place away from rivers. Although the Siamese capital of Ayuthia was situated on the Mae Ping River, this did not prevent the Burmese army from sacking the city in . This attack forced the Siamese to relocate their capital. General (later King) Taksin moved it to Dhonburi (or Thonburi) on the Chao Phraya River, close to the sea. His successor, Rama I, later moved it to the west bank of the river and established what is now Bangkok. As the city grew during the th century, traders, both Thai and foreign, built warehouses along the river,
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and also used the water from the river to establish the canals, or klongs, which are still used today for navigation in Bangkok. In China, European traders were anxious to gain access to important markets and were able to gain access to markets along the Zhu Jiang River, particularly, to trade at Canton (Guangzhou), while the Portuguese gained access at Macau, and the British at Hong Kong. However the European and North American traders were more anxious to gain access to central China through the Yangtze River, which saw the emergence of the city of Shanghai as an “International City” from . This allowed trade along the Yangtze River, and gradually in the latter half of the th century, the colonial powers were to establish Treaty Ports with Shanghai, Nanking (now Nanking, also on the Yangtze), Hankow (Hangzhou, on the Qiantang River) and Tientsin (Tianjin, on the Grand Canal). Peking (Beijing) was one of the few large Chinese cities not on a river, as the Manchus, having come from Mukden (now Shenyang), on the Hun He River, quickly discovered that the lack of a river to Peking actually made it much easier to protect from encroaching European traders, and later from their armies. In , the U.S. trading vessel, the General Sherman, was caught in the marshes around Mangyongdae while trying to navigate the Taedong River to Pyongyang. Once trapped, the vessel was set upon by locals and the missionaries on board were killed. As the French began occupying Indochina, they also began to explore the Mekong in the hope that it might allow them access into southern China. Their most famous expedition, in –, initially led by Francis Garnier and later Captain Ernest Doudart de Lagrée, was not able to locate a river route to China, as the Khone Falls prevented easy navigation—although Doudart de Lagrée was awarded the Victoria Medal from the Royal Geographical Society of London for his work. In , Garnier became involved in the search for the upper course of the Yangtze River. For the British, access to inland parts of Burma led to the formation of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company in . By this time, the Japanese were also establishing a large and powerful navy, and modeled theirs on that of the British. The Japanese had ambitions to secure the Korean Peninsula, and defeated the Chinese navy at the Battle of the Yalu River in . Starting with the Boxer Uprising in , the Chinese, realizing that their navy was no match for those of the Europeans or indeed the Japanese, formed a strategy revolving around the fact that there was no river to Beijing, and thus no easy way for foreign powers to attack. This strategy seems to have been part of the military planning of Prince Tuan and other “Boxer Princes.” By destroying the railway line to Beijing from Tianjin (Tientsin), the nearest port to the Chinese capital, in June the foreign powers had to force their way past the Taku Forts that guarded the mouth of the Hai (or Peiho) River, retake Tianjin, and then embark on a landward attack on the city without the benefit of their naval battery. Although the foreign navies were easily able to blast their way past the Taku Forts, they faced major logistical problems when their forward column was isolated on land.
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Two important battles on rivers in the region followed. The Japanese were able to defeat the Russians at the Battle of the Yalu River from April to May , . It was the first major land battle of the war with the Russians, and it helped secure Japanese control over the Korean Peninsula. In December , the U.S. invasion of the Philippines saw fighting at the Battle of Dolores River. In World War I, there was little river fighting in Asia, apart from in Mesopotamia where the British did send a flotilla up the Tigris and the Euphrates. Although the British forces at Kut-al-Amara on the Tigris River were forced to surrender on April , , the eventual defeat of the Turks in Mesopotamia led to the creation of Iraq, which dominated the two rivers, but was without a deep water port in the Persian Gulf. This was a major reason for Iraq invading Kuwait in the s. By this time, the French had divided Vietnam into three sections: Cochinchina, Annam and Tonkin, each dominated by a large city, which in turn focused on a river. In the south, Saigon controlled much of the trade on the Mekong, including trade with the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. It was also the route by which many intrepid tourists used for access to the ruins of Angkor Wat. In central Vietnam, Hue was located astride the Pearl River, with the Imperial Palace located on the north bank of the river, and the largely European quarter on the south bank. It was on the south bank, facing the Imperial Palace, that the French built their school the Quoc Hoc (“National Academy”), and in front of it their World War I Memorial, commemorating the sacrifice of French and Vietnamese soldiers in the war. It is on this river that the French film Indochine () starts, with the funeral of a royal courtier. Further up the river were the mausoleums of the various Vietnamese Emperors from the Nguyen Dynasty. In Tonkin, the northern capital, Hanoi, was on the west bank of the Red River. All three rivers have hosted or continue to host regular dragon boat festivals. Canoelike dragon boat racing, which dates back over , years as a traditional veneration of the Asian dragon water deity, has been practiced continuously and widely throughout Asia since this period. Beginning with the Chinese Revolution of , fighting broke out around the country as various warlords vied for control of different provinces. As they drew much of their support from the south, the Nationalist Kuomintang had control of Canton, and in order to build themselves into an effective fighting force, established the Whampoa Military Academy along the Zhu Jiang River. Gradually under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, they pushed north, crossing the Yangtze, and then finally taking Beijing in . Before then, in , Chiang turned on the Communists, thus starting the Chinese Civil War. It was during the Long March in – when the Communists, led by Mao Zedong, tried to escape the Nationalists that the Communists were involved in the crossing of the Luding “chain” bridge over the Dadu (Tatu) River, which remains a center point of the folklore of the Chinese Communist Party. With the Japanese invasion of China in , the Chinese tried to hold back the Japanese at natural landmarks such as rivers. In March , there was bitter fighting at the Battle of the Xiushui River when the Japanese bombarded the Chinese forces to
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allow them to cross the river and continue their invasion of China. In the subsequent Japanese invasion of British Malaya, the British, Indian, and Australian troops tried to hold back the attackers at Slim River in Malaya on January –, , and at Muar on the Muar River later in the same month. In Burma, there was much fighting on the Irrawaddy and the Salween, with the Japanese unable to control either of them properly, and the Allies using them as conduits to infiltrate commandoes. During the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia, for Britain, the Netherlands, and Australia (all of whom had large numbers of prisoners-of-war held by the Japanese), the forced labor camps at Kanchanaburi in Thailand became well known by the name of the local river, the River Kwai. The river was made even more famous by Pierre Boulle’s novel The Bridge on the River Kwai (), later made into a film of the same name in . After World War II, several rivers have proven important in Asian military conflicts. The partition between Pakistan and India led to a large number of ideas being mooted by ardent nationalists on both sides. One such idea was raised by extreme Hindus and involved changing the flow of the Indus River, seen as the heart of the ancient Indian Civilization, so that it would flow through post-Partition India. Needless to say the idea was rejected as being totally impractical. In China, the Nationalists escaped along the Yangtze River prior to the collapse of the Republic of China on the mainland in , and Edgar Snow’s book The Other Side of the River () symbolized what many Americans and others felt about Communist China, although the term “river” was purely in the mind as there was no river that separated Communist China from the non-Communist world. In , the Yalu River between North Korea and China gained great symbolic value to the North Koreans after the Chinese crossed the river to enter the Korean War. The Battle of the Imjin River, from April –, , saw the Chinese defeat the United Nations forces. In Vietnam, the partition of the country in was along the Ben Hai River (not the th parallel as often cited), and much of the fiercest fighting during the Vietnam War was in the Mekong River Delta, a region over which the French, the South Vietnamese and the Americans found great difficulty in exerting their control. From to the siege of Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, largely depended the Mekong River with the Wet Season, when the river was much wider and faster flowing, making the capital easier to hold. Mention should also be made of the fighting in East Pakistan during the same time, much of which took place around the Brahmaputra River, leading to the creation of Bangladesh. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, although it controlled the Tigris and the Euphrates, Iraq’s lack of a deep water port at the mouth of the river led to a series of wars with Iraq’s president, Saddam Hussein, going to war with initially Iran and then Kuwait. It also led to Saddam Hussein draining the marshes around the Tigris River in an attempt to get more arable land and make the country less dependent on imports. Although this also led to a reduction in malaria, ecologically it was disaster, and the Marsh Arabs, who had lived in the region since ancient times, were dispossessed.
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Saddam Hussein himself had grown up in the town of Tikrit on the Tigris River, and in after the failed assassination attempt on the Iraqi Prime Minister, Qassim, Hussein escaped by swimming the Tigris; an event that led to him regularly swimming in the river at the same spot when he became president. During the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq in , the forces of the “Coalition of the Willing” were only briefly halted at river crossings, and when Saddam Hussein did flee from them, he was eventually captured in hiding at a farm owned by one of his bodyguards along the River Tigris, close to the spot where he had conducted his annual swim. Saddam Hussein had built a large dam on the Euphrates River to help control the flow of the river, one of many attempts by governments around Asia to try to control the flow of rivers and regulate any flooding. The Nampo Dam, constructed by the North Koreans on the Taedong River, has prevented the flooding of Pyongyang, and the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze, built in spite of massive protests in China, will prevent the inundation of water on the flood plains of the Yangtze, and generates vast amounts of hydropower. Although many people still use the rivers for transportation, roads have often replaced river trade. Nowadays, many tourists enjoy travelling along rivers, and this has led to the emergence of a river-based travel industry. Many tours up the Yangtze take visitors to the Three Gorges Dam, and tourists heading to Angkor Wat from Phnom Penh still use the Mekong River before crossing the Tonle Sap. In Vietnam, daily boat tours along the Pearl River show tourists the Nguyen Dynasty mausoleums dotted along the river as well as the Ben Hai River, which separates the formerly North and South Vietnam. Many tourists to Bangkok travel the klongs, the Chao Phraya River, and visit the River Kwai at Kanchanaburi; and passengers on Air Koryo from Beijing to Pyongyang have the Yalu River pointed out as the plane passes into North Korean airspace. In China, an alligator park has been located on the Yellow River, and other countries have also established national parks and tourist destinations along rivers. Justin Corfield
References and Further Reading Fairley, Jean. The Lion River: The Indus. London: Allen Lane, . Frater, Alexander, ed. Great Rivers of the World. London: Book Club Associates, . Osborne, Milton. River Road to China: The Search for the Source of the Mekong. London: Allen & Unwin, . Osborne, Milton. The Mekong. North Ryde, NSW: Allen & Unwin, . Spencer, Cornelia. Yangtze: China’s River Highway. Champaign, IL.: Garrard Publishing Company, . Toynbee, Arnold J. Between Oxus and Jumna. Oxford: Oxford University Press, . Van Beek, Steve. The Chao Phraya: River in Transition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, .
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ATLANTIC OCEAN thst CENTURIES The Atlantic Ocean, the second largest ocean in the world, covers an area of . million square kilometers (. million square miles), about one-fifth of Earth’s surface. It is an elongated s-shaped basin stretching from the Arctic to the Antarctic that serves as a natural divider of European and African civilizations on one side, and American civilizations on the other side. The first transatlantic crossing did not occur until Leif Eriksson’s voyage in c.e., which was followed by an unsuccessful attempt by Thorfinnr Karlsefni to establish a Viking settlement in (his group was apparently driven off by Native Americans). Once transportation routes became established in the th century, North Atlantic commercial and human flows prevailed because both sides of the ocean were economically developed. Southern areas, on the other hand, mainly supplied commodities in exchange for goods. As the U.S. economy developed, it fuelled its own transportation flows coastally along the Atlantic, often down to Panama, which was more prevalent than European trade along the coast of Africa. As the process of economic integration between Europe and America strengthened, so did the volume of transit. Yet by the late th century, globalization shifted the balance of power from the North Atlantic to the South Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.
The Atlantic Revolution and the First Industrial Revolution (s–s) While some historians often refer to “an Atlantic Revolution” linking the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolution, others have attributed a dense economic block for spurring the first industrial revolution: the production of high-value goods and its contribution to capital accumulation. The British colonies in North America, the northern United States (initially Salem, then Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York), and Great Britain constituted a transatlantic area where trade was intense, far more so than cross-joining northwestern European coasts (from Atlantic ports of Bordeaux or else to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea). A key axis thus took shape, which grew stronger when the American Revolutionary War ended in , followed by the conclusion of the French Revolution in and the Napoleonic Wars in . Clippers, which are rapid three-poled ships, became the main cargo carriers through the Atlantic from the s until the s. They were built in Great Britain, France (Bordeaux), and the United States. Networks of commercial, banking, and transit relationships were woven between Northern European and North American harbors. Packet boats were dedicated to the transportation of postal cargoes, which explains their speed (less than days, instead of about from Britain from New York, due to western winds; but five to eight weeks heading the reverse direction). As shipping companies competed on speed of transit, steamers were rushed to the market in the s because they could cross the Atlantic four times a year versus twice a year for clippers. Eventually, passenger liners became indispensable and were equipped with ranges of comfort.
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Globally, the actual cost of transatlantic freight was reduced by percent between and , which eased the traffic of staples. This “modern” transatlantic economy replaced the “old” type after the th century. During the th century, the triangular trade route dominated trade commerce, with ships originating in Western Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa (France and Great Britain having predominated over Danish, Dutch, or Portuguese traders), then sailing to America with slaves, and then returning home from America or the Caribbean Islands to Europe with goods (sugar, wood, cotton, etc.). Such flows were somewhat reignited in the –s, but the abolition of the slave trade and its repression (especially by the British fleets along the Atlantic coasts of Africa and the Guinea Gulf ) halted this history between the s and s, though slave ships continued until the s for France, s for the United States, and for Brazil. This forced the business model to evolve. The Mississippi river area, and Latin America, developed into strong exporting economies: “King Cotton” from the United States and Brazil, meat and wheat, wool and leather from Argentina and Uruguay, food-stuff from Brazil (coffee, cocoa, sugar, timber), rum and cane sugar from the Caribbean, guano (from the Pacific coasts through the Magellan Detroit to provide fertilizers to European agriculture).These flows were partly oriented towards U.S. ports to foster emerging industry, or else they headed to Europe. A few harbors became huge warehouses for transatlantic commodities. Liverpool, for example, tackled four-fifths of imports of U.S. cotton in Britain, far ahead Glasgow and London, because of the prosperity of Lancashire; in , , cotton bales were disembarked in Liverpool, and only , in Glasgow and , in London. However, for overall European transit, London prevailed in the mid-century decades, far exceeding France (Le Havre, Bordeaux), Belgium (Anvers), the Netherlands (Amsterdam), or Germany (Hamburg). Last, after the gold and silver cycle of the th and th centuries in South American, modern mining began its history and a few countries started exporting nitrates, copper, and tin (Chile, Bolivia). The perspectives of such agricultural, harbor-based, and mining activities opened doors to mass immigration. Despite the arrival of Asiatic people, flows from European ports predominated: the poor classes from the United Kingdom (mainly Irish), from Germany or from Italy constituted the first waves of transatlantic migrants from the s to the turn of the th century; even Brazil, which welcomed one million people in –, became a strong German colony. They were then (from the s) followed by Slavonic people fleeing misery, and Jews escaping from growing Russian anti-Semitism. The United States welcomed million immigrants from to , followed by million from to . New York became the main door to such immigrants, and the quarantine and controls created a large administrative contact point, first on the “Battery” beginning in , and then at Ellis Island in . Such massive human flows and rapid urbanization greatly expanded the U.S. economy, and thus far more broadened the demand for goods imported from Europe to satisfy a growing population (clothing, alcohol, etc.), and the tastes of bourgeoisies (wines,
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silk clothes, furniture, art pieces, etc.). Exports of equipment goods gathered momentum from the s to develop railroads, ports, and city facilities. In the s, Liverpool exported percent of its manufactured goods to the United States, ahead of Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and the Caribbean; and the Americas absorbed percent of its exports, which explained that the port assumed about percent of U.K. exports, a head of London (%) and Hull (%). Transatlantic and costal traffic cannot be analyzed separately because ships were of multi-use. They carried cargo to Northeastern United States; then practiced sabotage down to the South (with foodstuff, cereals, flours, meat, often carried to New York through the canals opened as links to the Great Lakes), to the ports of the Carolinas and Georgia (Charleston, Savannah), to Alabama (Mobile), and more and more to New Orleans, which became a leverage to the Mississippi Basin; last they brought back cotton or other commodities (tobacco, etc.) to Europe. Coastal sabotage also joined southern ports to New York because of the growing interdependency of the economies of each area. Northward, local sabotage was practiced from New York throughout New England. The protection of Long Island along a major segment ( miles) favored the relationship. Meanwhile, the emergence of western U.S. states created a call for imports from the East Coast. Thus, Atlantic sabotage joined the New York area more and more to the Isthmus ports (roads and a railway opened as soon as ). The present concept of “hub” has its origins in New York, which served as a platform for regional transits and as a platform for transatlantic trade. Arrays of pilots were mobilized to cross the Gedney Channel; after the Narrows from Upper Bay, docks were established along the banks of the Hudson, North, and East rivers. Because of a low range of tide, no major investments had been required; hundreds of wharves were sufficient, which reduced the cost of port usage. Although demand from the United States prevailed because of their strong purchasing power, British trading houses, followed by German ones, and trailed by French, established a strong presence all over Latin America, accompanied by banks. British interests were broad and embedded in Salvador de Bahia, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires. Supporting overall exchanges, an economic transatlantic system was built, with issuing and remittance of bills of exchange, issuing of American bonds in Europe to finance railways and harbors, insurance of shipping and cargoes, trading commodities on the British markets (cotton, sugar, etc.). All these documents often traded in London, which was then at the very heart of this Atlantic economy until transatlantic cables eased such transfer of information. The balance of power could not been contested: the British commercial fleet was so massive that it exerted a strong influence over the entire Atlantic. However, the United States fleet challenged the British leadership because it developed trade along Latin American coasts and the Caribbean. The United States erased piracy from freshly independent states, and the Caribbean islands (in the s), then conquered commercial positions, first in Cuba, then southwards. For decades, case-by-case chartering prevailed. This changed in with the Black Ball Line, the first regular sail-liner from Liverpool to New York. Liverpool shipping
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companies worked to maintain an advantage (e.g., the Harrisons with the Charente Steam Co., the Holts with the Ocean Steamship Co.), with steamer service following in , particularly for passenger transportation. The famous Cunard, created by Samuel Cunard and John McIver, linked Liverpool first with Boston in and then with New York in , thus distinguishing itself from competitors by its efficiency. The Inman Line (from ) and the White Star Line (re-set from ) challenged its power throughout the second half of the century. The Blue Ribbon crowned the fastest transatlantic crossing, with speeds of to knots at the turn of the s, achieved a six-day crossing with the Etruria in . American ships joined the trail as soon as the s (Red Star line, ; Blue Swallowtail, etc.), and a key competitor to Cunard became the United States Mail Steamship Company, founded by Collins in . Competition resulted in far-reaching risk taking, which in turn led to major accidents (e.g., the Arctic in , victims), and iceberg collisions (e.g., the Pacific in and the infamous White Star Line, Titanic, in ). U.S. interests took over the laboring Inman Line in and transformed it into the American Line in , with Southampton and Anvers as its European outlets. However, the dominant threat to Cunard supremacy came from the purchase of the White Line by U.S. financier, J. P. Morgan in . German shipping also penetrated into the Brazilian harbors as soon as the s–s, taking profit from the emerging needs of German industrialization while also establishing footholds all over America (Hamburg America Line, North German Lloyd, from Bremen, created by Albert Ballin, etc.). British thalassocracy over the Atlantic reached its apex in the third quarter of the century, and henceforth had to adapt to a more competitive environment. Various other countries, like Italy and France, entered the market as well. France’s, Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, created in – by the Saint-Simonian Pereire brothers to insert France within the new world economic system, and its first steamship (built in Glasgow… because the Penhoët shipyards of Saint-Nazaire opened only later) crossed the Atlantic Ocean in : the “French Line” became the flagship for a country trying to resist British maritime hegemony. Le Havre harbor became the French gate to the Atlantic and benefitted from successive investments to keep momentum with the traffic (first for cotton and alcohols); Dunkirk provided the northern area with imported wools and jute; Bordeaux managed its wines and the exchanges of its large hinterland. The Atlantic Area as a Shipping and Military Challenge (s–s) Despite the upsurge of Asian trade and transportation, the Atlantic remained of foremost importance during the first quarter of the th century. Technical progress eased transatlantic crossings. As clippers lost momentum against steamers, they were relegated to low-value bulk cargoes until the first decade of the th century. Steamers, in essence, built an invisible bridge across the Atlantic for European migrants, mainly in low-class decks of the ship, but also in luxury decks that catered to the bourgeoisies, either for European tourism, or for businessmen from both sides. Shipbuilding evolved during
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the Second Industrial Revolution, with steel hulls and then electrotechnical machinery powered by fuel. U.S. shipyards prospered to contest British hegemony. Shipping companies fought for corporate image, comfort, speed, and security. Records were constantly broken to proclaim leadership through the “Blue Ribbon.” British liners led the team, followed by German and French ones. Because of their leading role in the spreading of the Second Industrial Revolution and the continued development of numerous states, the United States intensified their immigration, with transatlantic flows reaching million immigrants from to . A growing segment of this immigrant population served to populate the western United States, not only because of gold fevers, but because of the urbanization process. Canada, Brazil (with almost million inhabitants in ), and Argentina also opened their doors to European immigrants, following fresh moves of the pioneering agriculture fronts. Immigration was sometimes temporary with thousands of people, primarily Italian, crossing the Atlantic for a few months or years before coming back to Europe. Yet dreams of an American El Dorado convinced about ,, Italians to leave Europe in –, often from the French ports of Le Havre, Marseille, and Bordeaux—this latter wave moved to Latin America (via Messageries Maritimes line)—and more often, directly from Genoa and Napoli (via Navigazione Generale Italiana, Italia, Veloce, Lloyd Italiana)—while Fiume in Istria tackled Austro-Hungarians. German ship owners also received market shares in the transportation of Mediterranean immigrants to America, as their companies prospered because of the growing departures of Slavonic and AustroHungarian people. German ship owners also profited through the Italia, which they owned, and spread networks of agents all over Europe, either to pick up migrants or to draw them by railway to German or French ports. U.S. business lobbies and public opinion exerted a growing pressure to set up some “America-First” areas of the Atlantic. Beyond the Monroe Doctrine of , which had already promoted U.S. interests in Latin American and the Caribbean, the United States began to prevail more and more in this area against European interests. Geopolitically, a form of colonial or imperial control took shape, in particular against Spanish interference (Cuba and Puerto Rico in ), or over Saint-Domingue (submitted to U.S. interests). During Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, a symbolic “big stick” was used to assert U.S. political and even military influence southwards, extending into Mexico by . The U.S. war fleet was part of this system, which transformed the Gulf of Mexico into a U.S. security zone. However, the U.S. civilian fleet developed its scope all over Latin America: maritime power crowned America’s rising influence. The creation of the Panama state and Zone (in ), and the opening of the Panama Canal, were linchpins for such progression: sabotage between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts grew significantly, and “Panamax” became the new type of ship crossing the Isthmus. An informal economic U.S. area had been built in a few decades, and it seemed that it could lay down principles of freedom from transatlantic dependence on European powers. Aside from setting up customs tariffs by President McKinley in , immigration quotas were instituted in and to select types of migrants against low-key population since
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transatlantic migrations were no longer considered indispensable to the reinforcement of U.S. power. Immigration fell from . million in , to , in , , in , and a nadir of , in –. Even though Canada and Latin America persisted in welcoming migrants during the s, the shipping companies lost massive amounts of passengers. Despite such trends towards isolationism, the United States remained within intense transatlantic trade networks because of the relative complementarity of both sides’ economies; only the trade of alcohol was stricken by Prohibition, which drove channel flows through off-shore bootlegging islands (the Bahamas) or Canada. A new activity also developed with high-range transatlantic tourism on luxury liners, a niche where the Cunard, starring the Queen Mary in , was able to attain first one-fifth of the market-share, then a quarter after absorbing the White Star Line in . Yet this dominance was challenged by France’s Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (Île-de-France in , before the Normandy in ), Italy (Rex, Conte di Savoia), and Germany (Europa, Bremen). Until World War I, European trading companies and banks (like Bolsa, or Bank of Latin & South America, linked to Lloyds Bank) kept their influence over numerous Latin American markets, thanks to the embedded nature of their networking strongholds. War ships were even used in to blockade Venezuela coasts until an agreement about the country’s debt to German and British banks was resolved. In this context, European shipping sustained momentum throughout the South Atlantic—like the French liner Chargeurs Réunis to Rio and Buenos Aires, and Compagnie Générale Transatlantique to the French Antilles—and established lines through the Panama Canal to the Pacific coasts, islands, and colonies. On the other side of the Atlantic, the colonization of Africa had been completed (with agreements among European nations in and , and with the French protectorate over Morocco in ). This paved the way for an agricultural revolution all over Sub-Saharan Africa, which was now able to export groundnuts, oil-palms, timber, and other local goods. At the turn of the century, the imperial economic system had gathered momentum: harbors and wharves were built all along the Guinea Gulf and southwards, from where railways or roads opened to the hinterland. Commercial fleets came down from Europe: Germany had the Woermann Linie from Hamburg; France had the Chargeurs Réunis and the Messageries Maritimes; Belgium had the conglomerate Société générale de Belgique, which travelled to the Congo; and the U.K. ran the Dempster Line that created an Atlantic colonial area. These operations worked in such a way that staples were picked up in exchange for consumer and equipment goods, while ships also transported traders, soldiers, civil servants, and missionaries. A few countries became mining strongholds (e.g., gold and diamonds in Southern Africa) that broadened the scope of Atlantic trade from the U.K. European harbors asserted themselves as gates to Africa—and further, to join eastern African coasts and the Indian and Pacific oceans— thanks to areas and warehouses that specialized in such transit: Hamburg, Bordeaux, and Le Havre (also Marseille, through Gibraltar), and several British ports.
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Naval fighting was reignited during the Russo-Japanese War in Asia at the very beginning of the th century as armored battleships became the issue of a “naval race” between these two powers. Newly equipped fleets also trained in the Atlantic, where Great Britain developed naval bases throughout the ocean (Halifax in Canada, four bases in the Caribbean, one on the Falkland Islands, the Bermudas, Ascension and Saint-Helene islands, Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Lagos in Nigeria, etc.). These new bases proved useful when World War I broke out. World War I was an intense maritime war, but not between warships. The German fleets had to be sheltered around the Jutland against the threatening British Home Fleet because of the imposed blockade that began in November as a way of neutralizing American ships trading with Germany. This also paved the way for the transiting function through other neutral Scandinavian countries. A new stage was reached when German submarines completed another blockade, around the United Kingdom, in February . This led to U.S. discontent over the American victims of such indistinct torpedoing, such as the Lusitania in May . The consequent recess was halted when “total war” resumed in January and when about U Boats were sent to cut Britain from its transatlantic suppliers. Such negation of the neutral statutes of U.S. supply ships explains the eventual entry of the United States into what became a world war in April . At least ships and submarines were condemned to sink into the Atlantic, as approximately newly-built submarines attacked convoys of civilian boats supplying European ports. These successful campaigns against British supply ships in the spring and summer of effectively cut Britain off from its overseas resources. After these attacks, cruisers and destroyers were employed as convoy escorts. North-American troops were transported to European ports to join the – offensives. A special harbor was built, for example, in Bordeaux-Bassens, dedicated to U.S. troops and equipment, and about two million soldiers transited through Bordeaux and Saint-Nazaire. Thus, the Atlantic played a direct role in World War I as the key axis to provide fresh troops and back-front supplies. The importance of naval issues was confirmed at the conference in Washington DC: a global naval agreement was concluded that fixed ceilings to war fleets, along side the results of the war and of the newly established balance of power. If Pacific ( Japanese and United States) fleets were involved, the overall accord had effects on the Atlantic shipping industry and on the naval bases all over U.S. (Portsmouth, etc.) and European ports (Plymouth, Lorient or Brest, etc.). This accord further consecrated the durable emergence of U.S. tonnage against German and British ones, despite a massive reduction of warship building for more than a decade. The Apex of Classical Transatlantic Shipping (s–s) Strikes set off an economic crisis by cutting off traffic. From Europe to North America, passenger volume fell from one million in , to , in , which caused deficits among shipping companies. Revenue was also lost to transatlantic flights that were introduced shortly after Lindbergh’s crossing in . World War II restarted sea battles
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because, especially from April , German pocket-cruisers and submarines, coming from the North Sea and re-fuelled from French basis, were able to destroy hundreds of Allied ships and millions of tons of ships ( million for Great Britain alone). Strategically, classical concepts were still active. At the beginning of air flight, even planes were required to use “ports” along the coasts. The Atlantic was also not the field for aircraft carriers or for a durable sea-based war, as was the case in the Pacific in –. The key in the Atlantic was still massive traffic of warehoused armaments and goods—first thanks to the Lend-Lease agreement from March , then due to total war from December . Millions of soldiers were involved in huge landing operations, first in North Africa (November ) and then in Normandy ( June with artificial harbors off shore). A series of almost , Liberty ships were built, among a total of , new boats, with million tons delivered to U.S. shipyards. Freighters Sustaining Growth (s–s) From the s to the s, passengers left liners to use airlines, and symbols like France, launched in , and Queen Elisabeth II () had to be sold in the s. The business model was thus revolutionized: transatlantic shipping was dedicated to tedious freight transportation, but here too the business model evolved. General cargo liners were still committed to the powerful growth trend, which took place in response to U.S. industry exporting larger amounts of equipment goods to rebuild post-war Europe. Further, U.S.-based multinationals spread all over Western Europe (and even Africa) to contribute to a growing affluent society, and machinery and mechanical parts filled boats. Yet the business model of freight shipping was also revolutionized when specialized ships were first dedicated to oil. These oil tankers began traveling from Latin America to the United States or Europe, or around the Cape of Good Hope from the Middle East, or Indonesia to Europe, or through the Suez Canal, with super-tankers of over , tons, by the s. Ore-carriers also proliferated, servicing Latin American (iron, copper, tin, bauxite from the Caribbean, etc.), the Brazilian port of Vitoria, and African mines (non-iron metals, etc.) to Europe or to the United States (manganese from Sub-Saharan Africa or phosphates from Morocco, etc.). Around the Atlantic Ocean, like elsewhere, heavy industry was transferred to the shore (steel plants, oil refineries, and petrochemicals), and either in North America or in Western Europe, huge industrial zones (Newport and Port-Talbot for Bristol, for instance, in Wales) were established. This required the transfer of several harbors from old quays to large spaces, generally downstream, to ease access to transatlantic freighters. That was the case in Rotterdam Europort, which became the leading port in the world beginning in the s (until ), in France (Le Havre versus Rouen), or in Germany (Bremerhaven, Wilhelmshafen and Cuxhaven, instead of Bremen and Hamburg). Historical ports declined because their hinterland either lost momentum (textile for Liverpool or Boston), or because they were not efficient enough (Hamburg, Bordeaux, London). If the Great Lakes could benefit since from the opening of the Saint-Laurent canal, the U.S. classical ports (New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, or
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Boston, with a traffic of respectively , , and million tons in ) had to reinvent themselves through major investments. Massive industrial zones spread along the Atlantic coasts—in Louisiana and Texas (Houston), for example for petrochemicals— or the estuaries and bays (Chesapeake for Baltimore, Delaware for Philadelphia). An Atlantic Globalization (From the s) Worldwide integration inserted itself in Latin America, especially Brazil, for ore and foodstuff, but also in regard to equipment goods, which required huge investments in the ports. The United States opened their Atlantic coast to large imports from the Middle East or Latin America, thus spurring the prosperity of modernized ports, like Baltimore. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, harbors had to join the technical revolution, with container ships becoming the key instrument of sea transportation, which imposed the building of facilities able to tackle worldwide lines rapidly, before fostering feeder lines spreading or picking up containers all over little harbors. Concentration prevailed; if Baltimore, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Dunkirk or Anvers kept momentum, London and New York benefitted from a renewal thanks to the drift of their platforms downstream. Otherwise a majority of ports became mere regional ones, touched by feeder lines a few times a month, or by tramping for the distribution of such goods as oil-refined products, chemicals, fertilizers, and cement. Big shipping companies resulted from mergers in order to resist Asian businesses, and a few European (Maersk, Cma-Cgm, etc.) could tackle worldwide and transatlantic transit, even if hundreds of little companies survived by tramping all along Atlantic coasts. The last effect of globalization was that traffic through the Pacific overtook the Europe-America routes, and more often, transatlantic transit became dependent on traffic generated from Asia—mainly around Africa for Europe. The weight of the North-Atlantic maritime track joining North America to the Channel drifted from about two-thirds of worldwide maritime circulation in the s, to two-fifths at the turn of the st century. A lesser opportunity was afforded to ports with historical heritage or to sea-entertainment facilities, because the new economy of tourism created a sector of mass cruises for middle classes, mainly North-American, most notably in the Caribbean, but also along western Africa (Canaries) and even in Europe. Hubert Bonin References and Further Reading Albion, Robert G. The Rise of New York Port, –. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, . Briot, Claude and Jacqueline. Clippers Français. Douarnenez: Éditions du Chasse-Marée, . Butel, Paul. The Atlantic. New York: Routledge, . Butler, John. Atlantic Kingdom: America’s Contest with Cunard in the Age of Sail and Steam. Washington D.C.: Brassey, . Coleman, Terry. The Liners: A History of the North Atlantic Crossing. New York: Putnam, .
AUSTRALIAN DAMS AND LOCKS Curtin, Philip. The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex: Essays in Atlantic History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Elliott, John H. Empire of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America, –. New Haven: Yale University Press, . Falola, Toyin and Kevin D. Roberts. The Atlantic World, –. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, . Fox, Stephen. Transatlantic: Samuel Cunard, Isambard Brunel, and the Great Atlantic Steamships. New York: HarperCollins, . Gordon, John Steele. A Thread across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable. New York: Walter & Co, . Heffer, Jean. Le port de New York et le commerce extérieur américain, –. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, . Hyde, Francis E. Liverpool and the Mersey: An Economic History of a Port, –. Newton, MA: Abbot, David & Charles, . Loyen, Reginald, Erik Buyst and Greta De Vos, eds. Struggling for Leadership: Antwerp-Rotterdam: Port Competition between –. Heidelberg: Physica Verlag, . Malon, Claude. Le Havre colonial de à . Le Havre: Publications des Universités de Rouen et du Havre-Presses Universitaires de Caen, . Marzagalli, Silvia and Bruno Marnot, eds. Guerre et économie dans l ’espace atlantique du XVI e au XX e siècles. Pessac, FR: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, . McCusker, John, ed. Essays in the Economic History of the Atlantic World. New York: Routledge, . Nugent, Walter. The Great Transatlantic Migrations, -. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, . O’Rourke, K.H., and Jeff rey G. Williamson. Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth Century Economic Economy. Cambridge MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, . Verley, Patrick. L’échelle du monde. Essai sur l’industrialisation de l’Occident. Paris: Gallimard, . White, David Fairbank. Bitter Ocean: The Battle of the Atlantic, –. New York: Simon & Schuster, .
AUSTRALIAN DAMS AND LOCKS Due to the extremely arid climate and the depth of the water table, dams have been of significant historical importance to Australia. The first dam of any consequence in Australia was the Yan Yean Dam, a simple earth embankment with a clay puddle core wall that was completed in . Impounding water from a tributary of the Upper Plenty River, the dam provided a ready source of water for Melbourne, a city growing quickly because of the mid-s Gold Rush. The success of this dam led to about others being built for major cities throughout Australia to provide water for cities and towns, or to help with crop irrigation. The Thorndon Park was soon built for Adelaide, South
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Australia. The next major dam was the Enoggera Dam. Completed in (and enlarged in ), it provided a regular water supply for Brisbane, Queensland for nearly years. This was followed by the creation of the Gold Creek Reservoir in to provide more water for Queensland’s capital. In , on the other coast of Australia, the Victoria Reservoir was created from damming a tributary of the Canning River to provide water for Perth, Western Australia; and in the same year, the Laanecoorie Dam, near Bendigo, was built to provide irrigation water for crops. By the early s, with Adelaide again running short of water, the Happy Valley Reservoir was created from damming a part of the Torrens River. The gold rush to Kalgoorlie in the early s led to the need for further water in that part of Western Australia, which saw the Mundaring Weir built in , in which year a part of the Coliban River was dammed for more irrigation water, as was part of the Goulburn River in to create the Waranga Reservoir. The Cataract Dam, completed in , was built from concrete masonry, and had the task of supplying water to Sydney and the nearby city of Wollongong. Even during World War I, five more major dam projects were completed: the Cotter Dam, to provide water to the newly planned city of Canberra, destined to become Australia’s federal capital; the Manchester Dam to supply water to Queensland in ; the Warren Dam for the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, also completed in ; the Ridgeway Dam in Tasmania in to provide water to Hobart; and the Millbrook Dam in South Australia, to add to the water supply for Adelaide. Since World War I, there have been many more dam projects aimed at helping preserve water in Australia—the continent having a low annual rainfall—and providing drinking water for urban areas. There were also dams built for the generation of hydroelectric power, one of the earliest being the Burrinjuck Dam, completed in in New South Wales to help provide power for the city of Yass, New South Wales—near Canberra. The Snowy Mountain Hydroelectric Scheme of the late s led to the damming of rivers in the Snowy Mountains. The building of dams increased considerably during the s and s, and although the construction of most of the dams was uncontroversial, there were protests in the s over the damming of Lake Pedder in Tasmania, with the Gordon Dam providing large levels of hydroelectric power. The most controversial of all the dams in Australia was undoubtedly the Franklin River Dam. Plans were drawn up in the late s calling for the flooding of a largely untouched natural area, which was eventually declared a World Heritage property in , during the height of the protests. The government was committed to the dam, so the referendum was limited to controlling the type of dam and its location. In a compulsory vote, up to percent of the population wrote “No Dam” on the ballot paper, and the leader of the protests, Bob Brown, a medical doctor, was catapulted into the national spotlight. While he was in prison after having been arrested for protesting the dam, he was elected to the Tasmanian State Legislature in January . Two months later the Australian Labor Party, under Bob Hawke, swept to power on a promise to stop the dam, which he did by passing legisla-
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tion that overrode Tasmanian state laws. Bob Brown went on to head the Green Party, which has become a major force in Australian politics. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Australian National Committee, International Commission on Large Dams. “Register of Large Dams in Australia.” Australian National Committee, . Brown, Bob. Memo for a Saner World. Camberwell, Vic.: Penguin Books, . Thompson, Peter. Bob Brown of the Franklin River. Sydney, N.S.W.: George Allen & Unwin, .
AUSTRALIAN PORTS AND HARBORS Although there were many harbor settlements where Aboriginals used boats for fishing in order to sustain their small settlements, there were no true shipping ports before the establishment of Sydney in . The original plan by the British was to establish a settlement at Botany Bay, a natural and largely enclosed harbor. However, when the First Fleet came to Sydney in , bringing with them the first convicts and soldiers, the first settlement was built on the southern shore of Port Jackson. Present day Sydney became the first European port in Australia. Soon, a few inland port settlements followed, notably that at Parramatta. This area became New South Wales. Gradually other ports were established: Newcastle, Port Macquarie, and Wollongong being the largest three. Following the increase in the number of convicts sent to Sydney, in the British authorities decided to set up a penal colony in Van Diemen’s Land (modern-day Tasmania), and it was not long before Hobart Town became a bustling township, with the Port Arthur settlement dating from . They also set up another penal colony at Norfolk Island, with its main settlement, Kingston, being located near the best natural port on that island. In the first half of the th century, ports were established all around Australia as settlers from Britain, and later elsewhere, started erecting houses, shops, taverns, and then civic buildings. In , there were enough settlers in southeast Australia that the region was called Victoria, gaining its status as a separate state. It had a large number of ports, the biggest being Melbourne, in Port Phillip Bay, and the others—Williamstown, Geelong (both in the bay), Warrnambool and Portland also being important. Indeed, with the discovery of gold in central Victoria, prospectors from all over the world flocked to Victoria, with Geelong emerging as a major port because of its closer proximity to the goldfields than Melbourne. In the late th century, with the increase in the importance of wool and the agricultural export industry, the Murray River became an important waterway for produce, with Echuca, in Victoria, becoming the largest inland port in the country, with paddle steamers taking the produce down the river to South Australia.
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In the late th century, restrictions were placed on the Chinese coming to the goldfields, and because the nearest major port, Adelaide, was too far away for a landward trek, many Chinese started going by ship to the more immigrant-friendly port of Robe, which grew in importance for a period. The city of Adelaide was founded in in the Gulf St. Vincent, with its position and Kangaroo Island sheltering it from the Indian Ocean. The Port of Murray Bridge also became important for its dealing with produce from Echuca and elsewhere on the Murray River. Van Diemen’s Land changed its name to Tasmania in , and it has long been dominated by its ports: Hobart on the southern coast, and Launceston, Devonport, and Ulverstone on the north coast. In Queensland, a number of major ports were built on the east coast at Brisbane (the state capital), Bundaberg, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns, and Cooktown. These ports grew wealthy with the increase in the pastoral industry from the s, and were used as ports for the goods from the farms west of them. Owing to the difficulties in the terrain in the Northern territory, the only significant port remains Darwin, which had, and indeed still has, great strategic importance for the military— being bombed by the Japanese in . In , it proved important in the Australian military managing to send troops to secure East Timor after it voted for independence. This should continue due to the construction of a landbridge railroad from Alice Springs to Darwin in . For Western Australia, with such a large coastline, it has a large number of ports situated in harbors, some operating for agricultural produce, but many for mining. Perth, the state capital, and Fremantle, were both in natural harbors, as was Broome, with the location of mining resources influencing the location of Esperance, Carnarvon, Geraldton, and most important of all Port Hedland. Although the port has a population of only ,, it is the largest port in Australia in terms of the number of tons being shipped. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Davison, Graeme, John Hirst and Stuart Macintyre. The Oxford Companion to Australian History. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, . Nile, Richard and Christian Clerk. Cultural Atlas of Australia, New Zealand & The South Pacific. Surry Hills, N.S.W.: RD Press, .
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BALTIC SEA The Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed annex of the North Atlantic Ocean separating the Scandinavian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe. It stretches approximately nautical miles from east to west between Kiel, Germany, and St. Petersburg, Russia, and about nautical miles from north to south between Gdańsk, Poland, and Luleå, Sweden. The Baltic is connected to the North Sea by the Skagerrak, the main approach being the Øresund, a strait between the Swedish province of Scania and the Danish island of Sealand. Because the Baltic Sea is relatively small, with coast lines claimed by many countries, it has long been of major strategic importance, both militarily and economically. As early as during the Mesolithic period (ca. to b.c.e.), the Baltic Sea was used as a route for communication between cultures. There are indications of overseas transport as early as the Neolithic Age (ca. — b.c.e.) integrating the Baltic into a wider mercantile network. During the Bronze Age (ca. — b.c.e.), ships also played an important role as a cultural and religious symbol. Archaeological research suggests extensive military operations exceeding local conflicts in the first centuries c.e. that probably were connected with the European migration period. In the fifth century c.e., the Angles, a Germanic people from what is now Schleswig-Holstein, together with the Jutes and Saxons, invaded England. At the same time, Slavic people settled the lands on the southern Baltic coast that had been abandoned by Germanic tribes. During the Viking Age (ca. — c.e.), Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian marauders, raided large parts of Europe. In addition, the Vikings were also enterprising merchants, trading raw materials from the Baltic for luxury goods from Western Europe, the most important emporiums being Haithabu (near Schleswig, Germany) and Birka (near Stockholm, Sweden).
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After b.c.e., the Baltic region, after converting to Christianity, became an integrated part of Europe. At the same time, the formation of Poland and the Scandinavian kingdoms began. In the th century, Denmark, due to the weakness of the German empire, emerged as the major power in the Baltic. Accordingly, from to a toll was collected from the ships passing the Øresund. During the th century, the Teutonic Order conquered a large territory on the southeastern Baltic coast, which eventually came under Polish suzerainty following the Order’s decline in the th century. From the th to the th century, the Hanseatic League, an association of German trading towns, dominated Baltic trade, exchanging raw materials from the Baltic for manufactured goods from Western Europe. The Hanseatic towns’ economy was based on privileges and well-established trade routes that led to permanent commercial enclaves in Bruges in Flanders, Bergen in Norway, Novgorod in Russia, and the Steel Yard in London, the so-called Hansekontore. Soon the city of Lübeck became the leading town of the Hanseatic League, other important Hanseatic towns in the Baltic being Rostock, Danzig (Gdańsk), Riga, and Reval (Tallinn). After the victory of the Hanseatic towns over Denmark in , generally regarded as the height of the League’s power, decline began with the emergence of new competitors: the Dutch acted increasingly independent from the League, as well as the formation of powerful nation-states in the Baltic: In Lithuania and Poland were united, while Denmark, Sweden, and Norway formed the so called Kalmar Union, from to , when Sweden once again gained independence. By the mid-th century, Dutch ships dominated Baltic shipping. For another two centuries, however, Lübeck, persisted as the most important trade town in the Baltic, which remained an important source for raw materials, even though the major trade routes now had shifted to the Atlantic Ocean. The th century was marked by the struggle between Sweden and Denmark for the Dominum Maris Baltici, the domination of the Baltic. At first, Sweden was successful in contesting traditional Danish supremacy. In , Denmark lost sole control of the Øresund when Scania was ceded to Sweden. Eventually Sweden was defeated by a coalition of Russia, Poland, Saxony, and Denmark in the Great Northern War (–). Now Russia became the dominating power in the Baltic, and Sweden and Denmark were reduced to medium powers. The th century also saw the rise of Prussia to a major European power, while, due to internal struggles, Poland fell victim to Russia, Prussia, and Austria, who took possession of the entire territory between and . Despite minor conflicts between Sweden and Russia, peace in general was upheld in the Baltic Sea after . During this period, the British superseded the Dutch as the major mercantile nation in Baltic shipping. During the second half of the th century, Denmark and Sweden, taking advantage of their neutral status in the major European conflicts of that period, established themselves as important seafaring nations. This period of peace and wealth ended only with the Napoleonic Wars. In and the Danish capital, Copenhagen, was attacked by Britain, who feared the end of
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access to the Baltic. In , Denmark joined Napoleon in his war against Britain, who nevertheless was able to maintain free access to the Baltic during the entire period of war. As a result of a defeat in , Denmark had to abandon Norway, which was seized by Sweden as compensation for the loss of Finland, which had been annexed by Russia in . Not until in did Norway regain independence from Sweden. After defeat in the war against Austria and Prussia, Denmark also lost the duchies Schleswig and Holstein, which had been under Danish rule since , both being annexed by Prussia in . Now the city of Kiel became the major German naval base in the Baltic. Since its opening in , the Kiel Canal, connecting the Baltic Sea with the Elbe River, has constituted a major route for Baltic shipping. During World War I (–), Germany retained control of the Baltic and thus was able to maintain trade with the neutral Scandinavian countries. In , the czarist regime was overthrown in Russia, which eventually led to the creation of the Soviet Union. In November , Kiel was the site of a naval mutiny, sparking the revolution that led to the downfall of monarchy in Germany. As a result of World War I, Finland became an independent state. Likewise, the Polish state was reestablished, together with the so-called Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, all four being occupied again by Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II (–). As in World War I, Sweden remained neutral and was a major source of supply for Germany, while German forces occupied Denmark and Norway beginning in April . After a Soviet attack in , Finland, on the other hand, joined forces with Germany when the latter invaded the Soviet Union in , but called for peace in , thus sustaining independence. During the last weeks of the war, convoys evacuating German troops and refugees from the advancing Red Army became a major target for Soviet naval and air forces. However, despite tragedies such as the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, which resulted in the loss of at least , lives, most reached their destinations safely. As a result of the Cold War beginning between the Soviet Union and Western powers after , the Baltic once more became an area of conflict. The Baltic States were reintegrated into the Soviet Union, while Poland and Eastern Germany became part of the Soviet dominated sphere of influence. For their part, Denmark and Norway joined NATO in , while Sweden and Finland remained neutral. As a consequence of growing Cold War tensions, in the Federal Republic of Germany was also integrated into the Western alliance, while Eastern Germany and Poland joined the Warsaw Pact. The breakdown of the Soviet empire and German reunification in was followed in by the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union. In the same year, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania gained their independence and, like Poland, soon requested to join the European Union (EU) and NATO. Today. the Baltic Sea is almost entirely surrounded by EU-member states, the sole exception being Russia. After Germany, who in had co-founded the European Community (EC), the EU’s predecessor, Denmark, was in the second country in
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the Baltic to join the EC. Finland and Sweden became EU members in , followed by Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in . Likewise, the newly formed Eastern States joined NATO, Poland being the first in , followed by the Baltic States in , thus leaving Russia, Finland, and Sweden as the only non-NATO states in the Baltic. During the last several decades, shipping in the Baltic has constantly increased. Presently, approximately , ships, or percent of global maritime traffic, pass through the Baltic Sea annually, making it one of the busiest waters in the world. However, with a further increase of Russian oil exports over the Baltic Sea, the danger of accidents also grows. According to experts, the effects of an oil spill would be disastrous for the Baltic Sea, already regarded as one the most polluted waters in the world. Jann M. Witt References and Further Reading Grier, David. Hitler, Donitz, and the Baltic Sea: The Third Reich’s Last Hope, –. Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute Press, . Palmer, Alan. Northern Shores: A History of the Baltic Sea and its Peoples. London: John Murray Publishers, Ltd., . Sicking, Louis and Darlene Abreu-Ferreira, eds. Beyond the Catch: Fisheries of the North Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic, –. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, .
BERING SEA The Bering Sea, in the northernmost part of the Pacific Ocean, covers approximately , miles between the continents of Asia and North America. To the north, the Arctic Ocean connects with the Bering Sea through the Bering Strait, which narrows to a distance of approximately miles between Russia and Alaska. The eastern boundary is Alaska and the Alaskan Peninsula; the southern boundary is comprised of the Aleutian Islands; and the Komandor Islands and Russia make up the western boundary. The Bering Sea is infamous for its weather and rough seas. Varying by region, the winters experience temperatures between ⫺ degrees Fahrenheit and ⫺ degrees Fahrenheit, made worse when the wind chill is factored in. The average annual temperatures range between ⫺ degrees Fahrenheit in the north to degrees Fahrenheit in the south. The weather, combined with the geography of the underwater landmasses, make the Bering Sea one of the most difficult and dangerous bodies of water to navigate. The severe and frequent winter storms often cover ships with layers of ice, which must be chipped off by the ship crews to prevent the capsizing of top heavy ships. Furthermore, high winds create wave heights reaching feet or more. Powerful tidal currents also add to navigational woes. Wintertime sea ice build-up from the Arctic Ocean penetrates the Bering Sea from the north, and can thicken to four or five feet, and drift as far as Alaska’s Bristol Bay.
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Historically the Bering Sea was perhaps at its most useful when its level dropped dramatically, approximately , to , years ago during the last ice age. During that time, enough sea water froze into massive glaciers to allow the depth of the world’s oceans to drop. In places where the depth was shallow enough, such as in the Bering Sea, land was exposed. The narrowest point of the Bering Sea, between the present-day United States and Russia, was shallow enough to permit a land bridge to open up. This has occurred other times in the past, and Beringia, as the Bering Strait land bridge is often called, existed in previous periods of glaciations as well, perhaps as long ago as b.c.e. The Bering Sea land bridge was roughly , miles north to south at its greatest point. Many parts of the bridge were not covered by glaciers because southwest winds from the Pacific Ocean lost most of their moisture when they passed over the Alaskan Range. This benefitted those people and animals that crossed between Asia and North America. Once the glaciers started to melt and recede, people and animals were able to travel further into the interior of North America and south along the Pacific Coast.
Map of the Bering Sea
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Although the evidence is clear that people populated North America before the land bridge allowed the migration of animals and people into North America, the appearance of Beringia did allow several thousand to make the journey. The region was explored for the first time by Russian ships under the command of Semyon Dezhnyov in . However, the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Beringia are all named for Vitus Bering, a Dutch captain who explored the area under Peter the Great in the s. Bering spent four years during that decade in the sea named for him, but did not see the Alaskan coast. He went back for another expedition in . Bering started in St. Petersburg, traveled along the northern coast of Siberia, and reached the Gulf of Alaska in . From there, he explored the southwest coast of Alaska, the Alaskan Peninsula, and the Aleutian Islands. By the s, Russian merchants set up a private fur trading company that eventually reached down into the present-day Pacific Northwest of the United States. A dispute over the Bering Sea occurred in the late th century between the United States on one side and Canada, Great Britain, and to a lesser extent Mexico, Russia, and Japan on the other side. The most valuable seal hunting in the world was around the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, which the United States had acquired from Russia in . In an effort to control the number of seals harvested annually, the United States tried to enforce an annual limit for each country. The United States claimed that the Bering Sea had been a closed sea under the Russians, and since the Russians ceded their islands in the area, that control extended to the United States. However, at that time control over the waters only extended three nautical miles out from the islands, so when the United States claimed control over the entire Bering Sea in , Great Britain refused to recognize the claim. This led to the United States ordering the seizure of all sealing vessels in the area in . The majority of the seized ships flew the Canadian flag but were manned by British sailors. All nations involved in the dispute recognized the rapid shrinking of the seal herd, so in the United States and Great Britain agreed to police the area to combat poaching. In , an international tribunal met and condemned the seizing of ships by the United States, ruling that the Bering Sea was part of the high seas, and no single nation had jurisdiction over it as such. Restrictions were placed on seal hunting during breeding months, and in the waters around the Pribilof Islands. In the United States, Japan, and Canada signed the North Pacific Sealing Convention in a further attempt to protect shrinking seal numbers. In , Japan withdrew from the agreement when they claimed that the seals were damaging its fisheries, which necessitated a new agreement between the United States, Japan, the Soviet Union, and Canada to protect the seal herd in . After expiring in , it has since been extended by subsequent agreements that have banned commercial hunting of seals in the Bering Sea. Today the Bering Sea is important for a variety of reasons. First, it is known for its great biodiversity. Many endangered whale species live there, including the blue, sei, fin, humpback, sperm, bowhead, and the rarest whale in the world, the northern right. In
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addition, orca and beluga whales, seals, walrus, and polar bears live in the region. Many species of bird, some endangered, live there as well. Fish biodiversity is also incredibly high, as over different species have been counted. Some of these species support large and exceptionally profitable commercial fisheries, including salmon, pollock, halibut, yellow fin sole, perch, and cod. The crab fisheries are among the most profitable in the world. King crab, opilio (snow crab),and tanner crab are harvested annually in dangerous conditions, and constitute a multi-million dollar industry. The largest seafood companies rely upon the Bering Sea to feed a worldwide market. Annually over $ billion of seafood is caught, processed, and distributed by the United States alone. James Seelye References and Further Reading Belov, Mikhail Ivanovich. Russians in the Bering Strait, –. Anchorage: White Stone Press, . Committee on the Bering Sea Ecosystem and the National Research Council. The Bering Sea Ecosystem. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, . Dixon, James E. Quest for the Origins of the First Americans. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, . Gay, James Thomas. American Fur Seal Diplomacy: The Alaskan Fur Seal Controversy. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., . West, Frederick. The Archaeology of Beringia. New York: Columbia University Press, .
BLACK SEA Although now an inland sea with connections to the Atlantic Ocean, the Black Sea was once a freshwater lake. Its remarkable depth, lack of islands, and history of violent storms discouraged some mariners, but the rich farmland bordering it and the rivers emptying into it drew societies and merchants to its shores well back in time; thus, at sea and along its coasts, there are strong possibilities of great future archaeological discoveries. Geologically, the Black Sea is remarkable for its depth, salinity, and possible ancient history. It is vaguely oval shaped with a kite-shaped island in the center of the northern edge—the Crimea—separating the Sea of Azovfrom the main body. At its greatest, the Sea is miles (, km) long from east-to west, and about miles ( km) from north to south. The average depth is , feet (, meters), but its greatest depth is , feet (, meters). The sea-floor actually divides into three zones: the continental shelf, the continental slope, and the basin floor. From the shore, the continental shelf gently slopes out into the sea until it reaches close to feet ( meters) in depth. The continental slope then decreases much more quickly until it reaches a depth of about , feet ( meters). The basin floor is bowel-shaped, sloping down to the deepest point at , feet ( meters). Water temperature does not follow these divisions as
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there are only two layers, dividing at about , feet ( meters). The lower waters maintain an almost constant degrees Fahrenheit. Depending on depth and location, the upper layer can vary between and degrees. Five of the greatest rivers empty into the Black Sea: the Danube on the west side, and the Dniester, Don, Boh, and Dnieper rivers. Together, these rivers more than replace the water lost to evaporation; the rest flows out through the Strait of Bosphorus. Because of the huge influx of fresh water, and the fact that the sea was originally fresh, the salinity of Black Sea water is much lower than the Mediterranean Sea, and much less dense. These waters exit through the Bosphorus as a surface current, while a smaller amount, more saline and dense, flows in starting at a depth of about meters and sinks down toward the basin floor. Vertical currents are comparatively weak, moving oxygen down into
The Danube is Europe’s second longest river, and the only major river on the continent to flow from west to east. The Danube originates in Germany’s Black Forest and, from there, flows eastward roughly , miles (, kilometers), where it divides to form a large delta on the Romanian coast of the Black Sea. Image courtesy of the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE.
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the waters only about meters. The result is that below this depth, the water is anoxic (without oxygen). It also contains a high amount of dissolved sulfuric hydride. Together, these conditions mean that only bacteria inhabit the anoxic layer. This makes conditions ideal for the preservation of ships that sink into the abyss. The Black Sea has an almost imperceptible tide— centimeters in height. During storms, however, the waves can reach as high as meters, which is why the earliest Greeks called the sea “Hostile.” Recent research about the Black Sea has focused on the theory put forward by William B. F. Ryan and Walter Pitman of Columbia University. They posit that the preponderance of flood stories, such as Noah’s Ark, in the cultures of Asia and Europe, must originate in some sort of fact. Noting that the Black Sea became isolated in the Tertiary Period and that the level of the Mediterranean rose abruptly in the Miocene Period when glacial melt caused the Atlantic to rise enough to breech the Strait of Gibraltar; Ryan and Pitman concluded that the Black Sea must have had a cataclysmic filling as well. The Bosphorus Strait formed between , and , years ago. In the past, scholars have held that the Black Sea filled slowly, yet Ryan and Pitman’s theory is that the water came in so quickly that the overall level rose about six inches a day, causing the people living along the shores to disperse in haste throughout Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and Southern Europe. Robert Ballard and scientists from Woods Hole, supported by the National Geographic Society, have used deep sea robots to confirm the possibility of settlements at the edge of the continental shelf. Ballard subsequently started investigating the deep regions, finding exceedingly well-preserved wrecks from historical periods ranging from the Greeks to the Crimean War. The history of events in the Black Sea revolves around the fertile lands along its borders and the rivers flowing into it. Mariners from the Aegean penetrated the sea as early as the second millennium b.c.e. The most important early influx of new settlers were the Greeks in the ninth and eighth centuries b.c.e. They established colonies in the region because of overpopulation in their home cities and the fertility around the Danube mouth, the Crimea, and the Bosphorus. Starting in the first century b.c.e., the region became the Roman Empire’s breadbasket. Almost all of the original Greek cities were destroyed by the Goths and other tribes moving from the Asian steppes to the west. The Huns inflicted the gravest losses on these cities. Tribes such as the Bulgars, Avars, and Khazars also moved through. Relative stability returned to political control when the resurgent Byzantine Empire and the new peoples—the Rus from Kiev—rose to dominate the sea in the mid-ninth century c.e. Both built fortified towns at the mouths of the major rivers. These cities also functioned as the starting point for one branch of the Silk Road—the overland trade routes to China. The value of goods such as silks, spices, porcelain, and jewels prompted European trade nations from the central Mediterranean to become very interested in trade with the Black Sea. The Genoese and Venetians were so concerned about this trade that they placed large colonies of their own in Constantinople, at the strategically critical Bosphorus Strait, and in the Crimea to control flow of Far Eastern and Russian goods. The Italians recognized the authority of the Golden Horde—the part of the Mongols that took over the north coast of the
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Map of the Black Sea
Black Sea. A notable invader that passed along the Italian trade routes to Europe was the Black Death virus, brought by the Mongols to Caffa, and in turn carried to Italy by the Genoese. The expansion of the Ottoman Turks changed the face of the Black Sea. When they finally captured the prize of Constantinople in , the Turks already controlled much of the southern and western sides of the sea. Seizure of the Crimean Khanate, and then the Byzantine kingdom of Trebizond in , completed Ottoman control of the Black Sea for the next three hundred years. As the Ottoman Empire started to decline, the Russians took advantage to capture bits and pieces, starting in . Catherine the Great welcomed ethnic Greeks from Ottoman regions prior to launching war in , which resulted in Turkish capitulation in . Catherine allowed substantial numbers of Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Armenians, Germans, and Greeks to settle the Crimea and the northern coast of the sea to assure sympathy and loyalty. At this point, the Black Sea’s importance shifted away from trade and more towards territorial concerns. Russian expansionism and aggression led the French and English to side with the Ottomans in the Crimean War of –. The Russians scuttled their fleet at Sevastopol, leaving significant archaeological sites for future generations. In the th century, the Black Sea was the site of battles
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and ethic displacement, but it never has regained the importance it experienced in the ancient and medieval periods for crop production and international mercantile travel. Eleanor Congdon References and Further Reading Ascherson, Neal. The Black Sea. New York: Hill and Whig, . King, Charles. Black Sea: A History. New York: Oxford University Press, . Kubijovyč, Volodymyr and Ivan Teslia. “The Black Sea.” Encyclopedia of Ukraine (), http:// www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages\B\L\BlackSea.htm (accessed January , ). Living Black Sea. “Black Sea Geography, Oceanography, Ecology, History: general information.” http://blacksea.orlyonok.ru/e.shtml (accessed January , ). Murray, Jannasch Honjo et al. “Unexpected Changes in the oxic/anoxic interface in the Black Sea.” Nature (): –. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v/n/abs/a. html (accessed January , ). Pitman, Ryan et al. “An abrupt drowning of the Black Sea Shelf.” Columbia University. http:// ocean-ridge.ldeo.columbia.edu/BlackSeaShelf/BlackSeaText.html (accessed January , ). University of Delaware College of Marine Studies. “A Black Sea Journey.” http://www.ocean.udel. edu/blacksea (accessed January , ).
BOSPHORUS STRAIT The Bosphorus Strait is the strategic natural waterway that unites the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. The Sea of Marmara, in turn, is connected by the Strait of Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea, and, by extension, to the Mediterranean. The Bosphorus Strait, running through the city of Istanbul, forms a . mile-boundary between Europe and Asia. The sinuous strait affords the city characteristics similar to other European cities bisected by a river. The shores of Bosphorus are hilly and well-wooded, dotted with fine residences, villas, and resorts. It has a maximum width of . miles, a minimum width of meters, and a depth varying from to fathoms in midstream. Many species of migratory fish use the channel to make their way seasonally to and from the Black Sea. Because of its strategic and commercial attributes, the Bosphorus Strait has played a significant role in world history. In c.e., the Byzantine Emperor Constantine began to build a city on the southwestern end of the strait. Six years later, the city was named Constantinople and became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The waterway played a vital role in Byzantium’s international commerce, but as the Roman Empire weakened, the control of the strait was contested by several states, notably Venice, Genoa, and the Seljuks. In , a naval battle took place among these rivals for control of the strait. Although the Byzantine Empire retained control, in Constantinople
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Panoramic view of Bosphorus intercontinental bridge, which connects Europe and Asia. As a safety precaution, specially trained pilots board and navigate large vessels through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Dreamstime.com.
was taken by the Ottomans; an event that marked both the end of the Byzantine Empire and the establishment of the Ottoman capital on the same location. As the Ottoman Empire expanded to the east, west, and north, the Black Sea became an inland sea with the sultan as the arbiter of the only passage between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. This lucrative control continued until the third-half of the th century, when in , at the end of a six-year war with the Russians, who, having acquired the northern shores of the Black Sea, forced the sultan to sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca whereby the straits were opened to Russian commercial navigation. The Ottomans subsequently extended the same privilege to other European seafaring powers. In , through the Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi, the Ottoman Empire agreed to close the straits to warships on Russia’s demand. European powers balking to this condition convened in London in . They cancelled the previous treaty and established the rule that no military vessels could navigate in the straits except Ottoman warships. Yet, with the weakening of the Ottoman Empire in the th century, European powers strove to impose various schemes to gain control of the Bosphorus Strait and the Dardanelles. The defeat of the Ottomans at the Russo-Turkish War of – wholly opened the Black Sea to Russian commercial shipping.
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The defeat in World War I of the Ottoman imperial government, and the ensuing Armistice of Mudros in , allowed the Allied Powers to occupy the straits. The ensuing Treaty of Sèvres (), which never went into effect, imposed the demilitarization of the straits, the subjugation of the straits under the authority of an international commission, and the opening of the waterways to all warships. According to the Treaty of Lausanne (), which marked the end of the Turkish War of Independence, the new republic was given more power over the straits, as a Turkish national was put in charge of the International Straits Commission to oversee the flow of the traffic in the two straits. In , the Montreux Convention restored sovereign authority of the straits to the Republic of Turkey, allowing the country to fortify them as it deemed fit. Under the provisions of the same convention, the two straits remained international waterways, prohibiting Turkey to restrict their use in times of peace. The strategic and commercial importance of the Bosphorus Strait continues to be high. The straits are particularly important for the oil industry, as Russian oil loaded
Map of the Bosphorus Strait
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from a number of Black Sea ports is exported by tankers to western Europe and the United States. As the . mile-long Bosphorus cuts through the heart of Istanbul, the tanker traffic poses substantial environmental and safety hazards. Indeed, accidents have become common in the busy Bosphorus ever since. The Republic of Turkey has stepped up its efforts recently to impose stricter safety regulations. The International Maritime Organization responded positively by approving some restrictions regarding an overall speed limit ( knots). Additional regulations advocated by Turkey include limiting maximum vessel size and requiring double-hulled tankers. Currently, some , ships cross the Bosphorus annually, amounting to ships a day. Such intense traffic poses an obvious danger to the city. To minimize risk, the Turkish port authority offers expert maritime pilots to serve on the bridge during a ship’s passage, but only half of the vessels crossing this narrow serpentine waterway make use of this option. Because the Montreux Convention of declared the Bosphorus an international waterway, the port authority cannot impose any tolls. However, it charges a nominal fee for conducting health inspections and maintaining the beacons and salvaging stations along the strait. These fees consist, according to a stipulation of the Montreux Convention, of $. a ton up to tons, and $. for each ton above , to keep the beacons in good order; $. a ton to maintain the salvaging stations; and $. to provide health inspections. However, in accordance with a controversial decision taken by the Turkish Council of Ministries in , the port authority bills only percent of these fees in order to appease the International Maritime Organization. Pinar Kayaalp References and Further Reading Fornari, Matteo. “Conflicting Interests in the Turkish Straits: Is the Free Passage of Merchant Vessels Still Applicable?” The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law , no. (): –. İnan, Yüksel. “The Current Regime of the Turkish Straits.” Perceptions—Journal of International Affairs , no. (): –. Joyner, Christopher and Jeanene M. Mitchell. “Regulating Navigation through the Turkish Straits: A Challenge for Modern International Environmental Law.” The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law (): –. Öztürk, Bayram, ed. Turkish Straits: New Problems, New Solutions. Istanbul: ISIS Press, . Rozakis, Christos L., and Petros N. Stagos. The Turkish Straits. In International Straits of the World, ed. Gerard J. Mangone. Vol. . Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Press, .
C
CARIBBEAN SEA Brilliant turquoise waters, white beaches, brightly colored fish in a coral reef: to many people in the world, these things are the Caribbean Sea. However, this tropical sea encompasses more than resorts and beaches. The second largest sea in the world, it is approximately , square miles (,, square kilometers) in area, with depths ranging from , to more than , feet. The Caribbean Sea is an open body of water; in other words, it shares a substantial border with at least one other large body of water. Bordering both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and flanked by the Greater Antilles to the northeast, the Lesser Antilles to the east (often called the West Indies) and the coasts of South and Central America, the Caribbean encompasses over ,, square miles. Although the Caribbean exchanges waters with the Atlantic Ocean, its waters are usually considered saltier than the North or South Atlantic because much of its waters originate in the central tropical Atlantic, where evaporation exceeds precipitation. Water enters the sea via several large passageways, most notably the Windward Passage, the Jamaica Channel, and the Mona Passage, as well as many smaller passages in the Lesser Antilles. The entire Caribbean Sea floor consists of either a continental shelf or continental margins, so the sea is relatively shallow. The deepest part, the Cayman Trench, descends to a depth greater than , feet. On the shelf, the sea floor is made up of four major basins separated by ridges. The most prominent ridges are the Beata Ridge, which separates the Colombian and Venezuelan Basin; the Aves Ridge, which separates the Grenada and Venezuelan Basins; and the Cayman Ridge, which separates the Cayman and Yucatan Basins. Tropical coral reef covers much of the floor, especially close to the islands.
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Caribbean Sea. Taganga Bay, Colombia. Dreamstime.com.
Topologically, the land on the Caribbean rim varies greatly. Many of the islands in the eastern rim are volcanic. Although the volcanic islands were created thousands of years ago, the fault line on which the Caribbean lies is still volcanically active today. Some of the islands that are not volcanic, especially the small islands that are remnants of coral, have gradually formed into a land mass. On the western rim of the Caribbean basin, the coast of Central America is mountainous, also with heavy volcanic activity. Several large currents converge in the Caribbean Sea. Both the Southern and Northern Equatorial Currents run through the Caribbean, as well as the Caribbean Current. The Gulf Stream begins in the top of the sea. In addition to currents, several wind patterns strongly affect the sea. The northeast trade winds spiral into the Caribbean and come out as the southwest trade winds. Because of the sea’s proximity to the equator, the water is warm. This mixture of warm water and strong trade winds causes the weather in the Caribbean to be generally more volatile than the weather in the larger Atlantic. During the summer, hurricanes, which form either in or around the sea, cause damage in areas of the Caribbean almost every year. The volatility of the sea causes the lands around it to greatly vary in climate. The average temperature of the area is a fairly constant to degrees Fahrenheit, and the humidity stays between and percent. Daily temperatures fluctuate more than the average temperature changes over the course of a year. Average rainfall is quite variable within the region. After winds gather moisture as they go over the sea, they drop
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their moisture when they cool while going over higher elevations, a phenomenon that is called the orographic effect. Since these winds come from the Atlantic, the northern and eastern sides of the mountainous islands receive greater amounts of rain than do the southern and western sides. The islands with lower elevation are much more arid. For this reason, near-desert and rainforest ecosystems can exist on the same island. The same disparity in climate also occurs on the South and Central American coasts. In , the Caribbean area had a population of approximately ,,. The ethnic makeup of the area has remained very diverse since its early settlement by the Spanish. Descendants of the Carib and a few Arawak still live on some islands, people of Spanish ancestry dominate Cuba, and much of the population of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and many smaller islands descend from African slaves brought to work on the plantations. As a result, the Caribbean culture has a strong African tradition, although centuries of Caribbean life have added unique aspects to the culture. Because the sea divides the islands, the culture and languages can be quite different from island to island. Most Caribbean residents speak a form of a European language such as French, Spanish, or English, but some pockets of indigenous languages still exist today. Tourism is a major industry in the Caribbean. Many resorts inhabit the beaches of the Caribbean, especially the Virgin Islands, Jamaica, and some of the islands of the Lesser Antilles. Tourists from all over the world come to the Caribbean for regattas, Carnival, and other festivals, as well as for beach vacations at almost any time of year. Caribbean cruises are also very popular. Service industries to tourists and merchandiseselling are common support industries to the tourism industry. Fishing is an important industry for many Caribbean residents. Almost every Caribbean island has at least one major seaport, and even small islands have the capability to harbor small boats, which are the basis of many Caribbean citizens’ subsistence fishing. Growing fruits of several types also provides a livelihood for Caribbean citizens. The most exported fruit is the banana, but many other tropical fruits are exported on a smaller scale. Early History of the Caribbean Nearly all historians agree that the history of the Caribbean region has been one of external control. From the earliest settlement of Europeans on Hispaniola, control has been levied from a distance. Even today, many of the Caribbean islands are still owned by European countries or the United States. The sea has both drawn together and pulled apart the islands that are in its waters; therefore, a history of the sea is a history of its islands and, to a lesser degree, its Central American rim. The Caribbean’s earliest inhabitants were the Ciboney, Arawak, Taino, and Carib Indians, from which the sea draws its name. The Ciboney were the first to arrive in the Caribbean. They inhabited small areas of the Greater Antilles. Around the beginning of the first century c.e.,, the Arawak and Carib arrived. The Arawak lived primarily in the Greater Antilles, Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and the surrounding islands; the Caribs inhabited the smaller islands of the Lesser Antilles. Modern researchers have limited knowledge of their cultures and traditions because the vast majority died from fighting and disease during European colonization.
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The first European to arrive in the West Indies was Christopher Columbus in , sailing for the monarchs of Spain. He landed first in the Bahamas, but he soon reached Cuba and Hispaniola. He founded a settlement on Hispaniola called La Navidad. Because Columbus was the first European to reach the Caribbean, Spain had a dominant role in the sea’s use for the next two centuries. After the settlement of Hispaniola, settlements appeared on many islands of the Caribbean as Spanish treasure-hunters sought gold. They found gold in the Indian cities, so they forced the Indians to assist in gold-gathering. Mistreatment of the Indians, as well as new diseases and lack of resources, caused the decimation of nearly all the Indian population of Hispaniola within about years of the Spanish settlers’ arrival. Although European hunters did find gold, they soon discovered that South and Central America had large silver resources. As a result, the Caribbean Sea began to be used to ship silver from Central America back to Spain. Due to the volatile weather and strong currents, the Spanish quickly established shipping lanes for ease of transit through the sea. Some of the new settlements lost much of their market because the shipping lanes did not go near their ports. Christopher Columbus brought sugar cane to Hispaniola, and soon sugar cane became an important cash crop for much of the Caribbean. As early as the s, other European countries were interested in Spain’s Caribbean bullion. French privateers preyed on Spanish ships even after France and Spain were officially at peace, and English privateers, such as Sir Francis Drake, became famous for their raids on Spanish ships and ports in the s and s. In response to these attacks, Spain established a convoy system, in which twice a year a group of galleons would escort the treasure ships back to Spain. This system worked very well in its mission of guarding the treasure ships. However, the convoy system further exacerbated the isolation of the treasure ports, leaving the other settlements to fend for themselves against pirate attacks. The other European countries continued to antagonize Spanish ports for several decades before finally settling the Caribbean themselves in the s. Once England, France, and the Netherlands entered the Caribbean, the sea became even more important. Where Spain had neglected an island, another country might build it up and establish a colony, thus providing another port at which trade might happen. The European countries also fought one another constantly for control of the islands, using naval blockades and sieges from the sea to effect the capture. After the Spanish rush for silver petered out, and on islands on which bullion resources were low, Spanish colonists turned to new moneymaking sources. Some colonists turned to cattle ranching, and cowhides were a fairly large export of the early colonies. Most, however, turned to agriculture. Much of the island of Hispaniola was transformed into plantations, where large quantities of agricultural products could be grown. Cotton proved untenable in the Caribbean, and tobacco proved unprofitable, but sugar cane became a major export crop. Until the late s, the Caribbean was one of the only suppliers of sugar to Europe. As settlers created plantations, it became apparent that these farms, or plantations, would need large numbers of laborers. For these laborers, early Spanish planters had
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turned to the Indians, but there were few Indians left, and in , Spain abolished Indian slavery. Planters then turned across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa. From the mid-th century until , when the transatlantic slave trade was abolished, around . million slaves were brought to the islands to be used in the plantations. By the s, percent of the people on the sugar islands were slaves. For much of the Caribbean’s modern history, the sea has been a war zone. Once Spanish dominance was over, England, France, and the Netherlands sparred over control of the sea. In the th century, the Dutch West India Company oversaw the best and craftiest of Caribbean traders, as well as providing official sanction for many Dutch pirates. These pirates helped to officially end Spanish dominance in the Caribbean. However, England and France feared the Dutch hold over the waters of the Caribbean. As a result, they passed Navigation Acts that raised tariffs, increased central control of trade, and prohibited trading with the Dutch. From to , war ravaged the Caribbean economy, as pirates from the three countries destroyed the others’ plantations and ports. Over the course of about one hundred years, the English and the Dutch fought five different wars over the Caribbean colonies. Many of the island governors used the pirates, or buccaneers, as their protection during wartime, but after the treaty was signed, the buccaneers roamed freely in the shipping lanes and terrorized whatever ships came along. For nearly every Caribbean island, sugar was the cash crop. For some of the islands, sugar was the only crop; food for the slaves was imported. This system meant that when enemy ships blockaded island ports, sometimes slaves went without food. During the s, despite the wars, the Caribbean produced to percent of the world’s sugar. To make certain that the money from the sugar went to the parent country, the European countries put in place a mercantile system, in which goods from a country’s colony had to be shipped to Europe only on ships that belonged to that country. In other words, French goods had to go to France on French ships, and so on. This system held true even for shipping to other colonies, which were not permitted to purchase goods from other countries. By the s, the sugar colonies had become so integral to the economy of the European countries that when France and England fought, they protected each other’s plantations in order to capture them unharmed and ensure they were ready for use. The islands in the Caribbean changed hands between the British and the French at least twice between and . Britain took over nearly the entire Caribbean during the Seven Years’ War under William Pitt. However, during the American Revolution, the British navy was so tied up in the North American colonies that France and Spain had the opportunity to reclaim the Caribbean. In , the Battle of the Saints brought the disputes to a head as the British defeated France under Admiral Rodney, but the war was not yet won. In , when the American colonies made peace with Britain, the French did as well. They returned nearly all the British colonies, but the dominance of the British had been shaken. Caribbean plantation owners constantly struggled with slave relations. Bands of runaway slaves, called Maroons, were a large threat. Slave rebellions threatened the white population of entire islands as well as the crops of entire islands. The most effective slave
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rebellion occurred in Saint-Domingue, where a slave revolt in the s caused the French government to abolish slavery in . The freed slaves continued to rebel against the whites, and in , after a bloody reign by Toussaint L’Ouverture, and an invasion by the French, Saint-Domingue declared itself independent and changed its name to Haiti. By the s, other nations had begun to abolish slavery altogether, and by , slavery in the Caribbean had been abolished. The abolition of slavery hit the Caribbean economy hard. The newly freed slaves often continued work on the plantations, but planters said that they were so difficult to work with that they turned to India as early as to find laborers who would be more willing to work for a small wage. Free Africans, Indians from Mexico, and Chinese people also came during the mid-th century to work the plantations. However, slave labor had made sugar very cheap in Europe, and now the Caribbean had to compete with other areas of the world that could ship sugar more cheaply. A drop in the price of sugar around the same time as the abolition of slavery made the economic situation even worse. In Britain and France, the government passed Navigation Acts that laid tariffs on foreign sugar in order to keep the colonies’ sugar price viable. However, with the coming of the Industrial Revolution, merchants pressured the government into dropping the tariffs and thus the Caribbean lost its market. The United States entered the Caribbean by buying bananas and sugar from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. In the s, almost all the sugar from those three countries found its way to the United States. America’s economic interest soon turned violent. In , the U.S.S. Maine mysteriously blew up and sank in the Havana Harbor in Cuba. The United States used this tragedy as the catalyst for declaring war on Spain and entering the Spanish-American war. As a result of the Spanish-American War, the United States occupied Cuba for three years, after which it was treated almost like an American colony. This occupation set up the United States as the major power in the Caribbean. The Panama Canal was one of the United States’ largest projects in the Caribbean. This project, which connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean, was completed in after several years of difficult construction. The United States’ participation in the project solidified American influence in the Caribbean. It also increased shipping through the Caribbean Sea, both from the Caribbean region and from the East Coast of the United States, since the water route to the Pacific had been cut nearly in half. After the completion of Panama Canal, the United States intervened in Haiti, occupying it from –. During the first part of the th century, the United States policed the Caribbean as though it were an American territory. World War II to the Present Although World War II was fought mostly in Europe and the Pacific, it did encroach on the Caribbean as well. German submarines sank or damaged more than three hundred ships in the Caribbean Sea in alone. As the Nazi threat dwindled, communism became more prevalent in the Caribbean. Most notably, Fidel Castro took over Cuba in
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, creating a Communist state that was hostile to the interests of the United States. In , the United States officially severed diplomatic ties with Cuba; and on April , , Cuban insurgents, under the direction of the United States, staged an invasion at the Bay of Pigs. As the result of poor planning, the invasion was a disaster for the United States. Escalating tensions between the United States and Cuba led to the Cuban Missile Crisis in . Nothing came of the crisis, and Cuba and the United States currently have a tenuous peace. The United States also involved itself in several other Caribbean countries during the later part of the th century. Two major offensives occurred in the Dominican Republic in and in Grenada in . In , the United States invaded Panama to remove President Noriega, who had become a liability to the United States defense. Despite the United States’ strong presence in some Caribbean countries, in one country the United States actually relinquished some control. In the s, President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with President Torrijos that would give control of the canal to Panama, as long as Panama kept the canal neutral. In , the transfer of authority occurred. The th century has been a century of political turmoil for most of the Caribbean. Whether through the entrance of communism or the fight for independence, Caribbean states have undergone great political changes. Yet the th century has also brought new environmental issues to the Caribbean Sea. Although the fishing industry of the Caribbean is not as profitable as it could be, overfishing of certain animals such as turtles, spiny lobsters, and conchs has caused problems for some islands. Overfishing and chemical leaks have also put stress on the coral reefs in the Caribbean, which are a major part of the Caribbean ecosystem. Warmer seas caused by the El Niño phenomena also affects the reefs, causing bleaching. This bleaching disrupts fish habitats, resulting in a loss of fishing territory. In the last few years, bleaching has become a severe problem for reefs in Belize, the Virgin Islands, and Panama, as well as other islands. Scientists are still working on long-term solutions to these environmental problems. Another major concern for agricultural interests in the Caribbean is the pervasive erosion of the islands’ farmland. Centuries of sugar farming has caused deforestation and, therefore, erosion; farmers are losing their lands to the sea. These lands are also being stripped of their resources as the monoculture of the cash crop depletes the soil. Related to the problems of the environment is the problem of poverty. Haiti is considered by many experts to be the poorest country in the world, and many of the other Caribbean countries struggle with poverty. While foreign tourists spend large amounts of money to enjoy the spectacular beaches and resorts of the islands, many of the islands’ residents go hungry. According to USAID, . percent of the Caribbean population is unable to get necessary daily nutrients. Yearly hurricanes often decimate the property of residents of the Caribbean rim. Because of poverty, many Caribbean nations have turned to foreign aid. In , the United States provided $. million in aid to the Caribbean. Although the economy of Latin America and the Caribbean has improved by . percent since , it is not yet a competitive force in the global economy.
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As the Caribbean struggles to learn how to be independent, it is dependent on foreign aid to keep its economies afloat. CARICOM, the Caribbean Community Secretariat, a trade organization that sprang from the Caribbean Free Trade Agreement, was formed in to help regulate the trade of the Caribbean region and stabilize the economies of some Caribbean countries. Health care is also a concern for the Caribbean region. The AIDS epidemic is a specific cause for concern. In , more than , people died from AIDS, and in , approximately , children were orphans because of AIDS. The Caribbean, which is highly dependent on tourism, and whose produce has limited access to U.S. markets, continues to struggle economically and politically. Escalating prices for imported energy, high unemployment, and growing poverty, make it difficult for governments to take the environmental initiatives necessary to protect the natural beauty of the Caribbean for future generations. Abby Garland References and Further Reading Andrews, Kenneth R. The Spanish Caribbean: Trade and Plunder, –. New Haven: Yale University Press, . “Belize Reef Die-Off Due to Climate Change?” National Geographic. http://news. nationalgeo graphic.com/news///__belizereefs.html (accessed January , ). Blume, Helmut. The Caribbean Islands. London: Longman, . Colin, David, Whitney Dubinsky, and Carl Derrick. “Latin America and the Caribbean: Selected Economic and Social Data .” United States Agency of International Development (), http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADK.pdf (accessed January , ). Ferguson, James. Eastern Caribbean in Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics, and Culture. New York: Interlink Books, . Geyer, Richard A. Handbook of Geophysical Exploration at Sea. New York: CRC Press, . Henderson, James. The Caribbean & the Bahamas. Cadogan Guides. London: Cadogan Books, . Knight, Franklin W. The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism. New York: Oxford University Press, . “LME: Caribbean Sea LME.” Large Marine Ecosystems of the World (), http://na.nefsc. noaa.gov (accessed January , ). Munro, Dana Gardner. Intervention and Dollar Diplomacy in the Caribbean, –. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, . Richardson, Bonham C. The Caribbean in the Wider World, –: A Regional Geography. Geography of the World Economy. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, . Rogozinski, Jan. A Brief History of the Caribbean: From the Arawak and the Carib to the Present. New York: Facts On File, . “USAID: Latin America and the Caribbean—Caribbean Regional Profile.” USAID, http://www. usaid.gov/locations/latin_america_caribbean/country/program_profiles/caribbeanprofile. html (accessed January , ).
CASPIAN SEA “Warming, Disease Causing Major Caribbean Reef Die-Off.” National Geographic (April , ), http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news///__coral.html (accessed January , ). Wilgus, A. Curtis. The Caribbean: Peoples, Problems, and Prospects. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, .
CASPIAN SEA The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water in the world. It is surrounded by Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Azerbaijan. With a surface area of , square miles (, square kilometers), it is often described by geographers as the world’s largest lake. More than . million years ago, the Caspian Sea was a remnant of the Tethys Sea, which also included what is now the Black Sea and the Aral Sea. The southern shores of the sea are ringed by the Elburz Mountains, and the western coast reaches the eastern part of the Caucasus Mountains. Evidence of human habitation, dated to about b.c.e., has been found in the Belt and Hotu caves near the southern shore of the Iranian town of Behshahr. Excavations in this region have yielded coarse pottery, often described as “soft ware” because it crumbles easily. The Persians, who called the sea the Khazar or the Mazandaran Sea, relied on the Caspian as part of a main trade route from Afghanistan through Tepe Hissar, skirting the Elburz Mountains before leading to Hamadan. At that time, the Caspian Sea was an important location for sea salt. The Achaemenian Persian Empire occupied the lands around the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, and knowledge of the sea was certainly known to the Greeks, who called it the Hyrcanian Ocean. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the fifth century b.c.e., described the enclosed nature of the Caspian Sea accurately, but also related that the Atlantic “beyond the Pillars of Hercules” (the Strait of Gibraltar) and the Indian Sea were in part of the same body of water. Herodotus wrote that it took a -day voyage, using oars, to go from the northern to the southern shore, and an eightday voyage to go from the west to the east. In addition to the Persians, who lived to the south of the Caspian Sea, from the fourth millennium b.c.e., pastoral people from the Steppes began heading into the Caucasus Mountains and towards the northeast shores of the Caspian Sea. When Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire in b.c.e., he captured Persepolis (in b.c.e.) and then led his soldiers to Ecbatana in search of the Persian Emperor Darius. From there, he traveled to Rhagae (modern-day Teheran), reaching Amol, on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, before leading his armies eastwards to Afghanistan and India. The Greek writer Arrian describes how Alexander ordered some of his men to sail the Caspian Sea to see whether or not it was connected with the Black Sea. Upon Alexander the Great’s death, the Diadochi Wars led to years of fighting, and by the second century b.c.e., the kingdoms of Media Atropatene reached up to the
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Map of the Caspian Sea
southern shores of the Caspian Sea, with the Kingdom of Parthia rapidly taking control of the east coast. The fighting abilities of the Parthians ensured that the Roman Empire never reached the Caspian Sea—indeed by the time of the death of the Emperor Augustus, the Parthians controlled the southern and some of the western shores of the Caspian Sea, as well as the east. By the time of the Sassanian Dynasty in Persia, much of the shoreline of the Caspian Sea was controlled by nomadic tribes, some of whom owed allegiance, for a period, to the Sassanian Emperor. During the fifth century, Christianity spread to the Caspian Sea, and two hundred years later, so did Islam. With the Khazar Empire controlling the northern and northwestern shores of the sea, the southern and western shores were within the Abbasid Caliphate. It was not until the th century that the Khazars were driven back by the Russians, who, under Sviatoslav I of Kiev, campaigned along the northwestern shores of the sea in – c.e. The Russian victories were decisive in the decline of the Khazars, and although there were some small Russian settlements, in the late th century the
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Mongols, under Genghis Khan, fought all around the Caspian Sea, and the entire sea soon fell within the Mongol Empire. However, with the death of Genghis Khan, the southern shores fell under the control of the Il-Khan Empire, and the northern shores became part of the Khanate of the Golden Horde. By the early modern period, the two major trade routes from West Asia to China skirted the Caspian Sea; one route went through Samarkhand, to the north of the sea, and the other traveled through Teheran, going south of it. The decline of the Mongol Empire led to the emergence of the Khanate of Astrakhan, which controlled the River Volga, as the Kalmyk people settled along the northern and western shores of the sea. Gradually, Russian influence started penetrating the region and the town of Geryev was founded in . Thus, the Russians began taking some of the southwestern coastline as the Ottoman Empire declined. Under Tsar Peter the Great, the Russians took over the entire southern coastline of the Caspian Sea, including, in , the Port of Baku, which had been a center of commerce in the region for hundreds of years. Baku and much of the coastline was returned to Persia years later. It was not until – that the Russians annexed Azerbaijan again, giving them control of the important Port of Baku. During the latter part of the th century, the Russians tried to expand industry around the Caspian Sea and built a number of railway lines. One line connected the Port of Astrakhan with Urbach. Further, railways through the heartland of Russia helped with communications that had previously relied on the River Volga. A southern line ran to Petrovsk, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, and then to Baku, before heading inland and westwards to Tiflis. By this time there was an important petroleum industry in the region—Marco Polo had noted the presence of oil in the region during the th century—and the ability to transport machinery as well as oil became important. It was not until the s that British railway engineers started work along the Persian shores of the Caspian Sea. By that time the situation in Russia had changed dramatically. The collapse of the Russian Empire during World War I () led to the Russian Civil War, with the Communists seizing power in Baku on November , , and at Astrakhan on February , . In , the British and their allies launched a Transcaucasian and later a Transcaspian expedition. These expeditions allowed the British to briefly take control of Baku and aid the White Russians fighting the Communists along the western shore of the Caspian Sea, with the Ural Cossack Army attacking along the north coast. Although Azerbaijan was independent for a period in –, with a Caspian Sea coastline, it was not long before the Soviet Union was in control of the region, except for the southern part of the sea, which remained part of Persia (Iran). During World War II, the German armed forced headed for the oil-producing areas on the western shores of the Caspian Sea, but never reached the sea itself. During the s and s the government of the Soviet Union built many heavy machinery plants along the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea had long been known for its sturgeon, from
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where caviar is found, but unfortunately their numbers became depleted through overfishing, as well as extensive pollution from the oil industry around Baku and elsewhere. There has also been the problem of rusting boats and machinery. However, what has caused the most serious long-term damage to the Caspian Sea occurred during the s, when large amounts of water were desalinated and used for irrigation. Major oil refineries now exist not only at Baku, but also at Turkmenbashy, the largest port of Turkmenistan, and at Atyrau and Aqtau in Kazakhstan. With the construction of oil pipelines around the Caspian Sea, supplemented by proposed pipelines going across the sea (especially between Aqtau and Baku), environmentalists fear even worse degradation of the Caspian Sea and its shores. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Arrian. The Campaigns of Alexander. Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin Classics, . Cullen, Robert. “The Caspian Sea.” National Geographic , no. ( ): –. Hopkirk, Peter. On Secret Service East of Constantinople. London: John Murray, . Levine, Steven. The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea. New York: Random House, . Pagnamenta, Robin. “Pipe Dreams.” Geographical , no. ( ): – .
CENTRAL AND SOU TH AMERICAN PORTS AND HARBORS Ports have played a very important role in the history of Central and South America. Seven of the countries in South America have capital cities that also serve as ports. By contrast, apart from Panama, none of the capitals of any Central American countries are located on the coast. Before the arrival of the Spanish and other European powers in the region, many of the indigenous people of Mesoamerica lived on the coast or near rivers. The arrival of the Spanish led to the building of many ports. The first of these was Veracruz in Mexico, where Hernan Cortés established a fort in . However, the most important early Spanish port was Lima, founded on January , , which remained the center of Spanish Royal power in Latin America until the s, and indeed for a long period, all goods imported from Europe to Latin America had to go through the Port of Lima, although this led to widespread flouting of the laws and rampant smuggling. Before the founding of Lima, the only significant ports already established by the Spanish were Santa Marta (founded in ) and Cartagena (founded in ), on the Caribbean coast of modern-day Colombia. Spanish adventurers then started establishing other settlements throughout South America, with the first being the foundation of Buenos Aires in , and Asunción,
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located along way up the River Paraguay, in the following year. While Asunción flourished, the first settlement of Buenos Aires failed, and the city was reestablished in by people from Asunción. The Port of Caracas was founded in , but remained a small town until the s. Guayaquil, in modern day Ecuador, was a particularly well-sheltered harbor useful for shipbuilding. The Spanish wealth from the Caribbean soon attracted pirates and buccaneers from other countries; one of the best known was the English sailor Sir Francis Drake, who attacked Spanish ports and besieged Cartagena in . The Portuguese were also active in establishing port cities along the coast of Brazil with Olinda founded in , Recife (Pernambuco) founded in , and Bahia founded in . Although it had been discovered by a Portuguese sailor in , it was not until that a settlement was established at Rio de Janeiro by the French, although five years later the Portuguese took control of the natural port that, in , became the capital of Portuguese Brazil. Although Lima was still the center of Spanish power in South America, by the midth century, its position was challenged by Buenos Aires and traders who were anxious to avoid the cost of transporting everything through Lima. These traders began an active smuggling program selling directly to Buenos Aires using a number of ports on the east coast of the River Plate—mainly Colonia del Sacramento () and Montevideo (). When the British Royal Navy easily captured Buenos Aires in , the emboldened population in South America decided to try to achieve independence from a weakening Spanish Empire, resulting in fighting breaking out throughout Latin America. In , the Port of Guayaquil in modern-day Ecuador became the place where Jose’ de San Martin and Simon Bolivar met during the Wars of Independence, and were unable to agree on uniting their forces. Whereas eight countries gained independence in South America, five countries in Central America—Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica— also became independent (albeit entering into a brief confederation). Unlike all the new South American countries that had well-located ports, all of these newly independent countries needed effective port facilities. However, development of Central American ports was hampered by tornados on the Pacific coast and the decimation of populations because of malaria on the Caribbean coast, with the east coast of Nicaragua becoming known as the Mosquito Coast. The increase in world trade in the latter half of the th century led to a boom time for ports such as Valparaiso. Indeed Valparaiso, with its sheltered port, rapidly became the powerhouse of the Chilean economy, eclipsing briefly the Chilean capital of Santiago. Although Santiago remained the country’s capital, the Chilean National Congress (parliament) has been located in Valparaiso since the mid-s. In the s, the Port of Caracas was vastly improved and enlarged, and by the s, the demand for raw materials led to the Chilean ports of Antofagasta, Iquique, and Arica emerging in importance. Bolivia, in contrast, lost its Pacific coastline and direct access to the sea after the War of the Pacific with Chile (–), and thereafter its economic growth lagged well behind that of Chile.
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Illustration of the early settlement at Buenos Aires on the Rio de la Plata. Bettmann /Corbis.
For Brazil, ports remain important, and the port city of Rio de Janeiro is still by far the largest city in the country, although in , for political reasons, the capital was moved to the newly built Brasilia. The port of Manaus, on the Amazon, became important during the late th century on account of access to wild rubber, but subsequently declined. Guyana’s capital, the port of Georgetown, remains the largest city in the country, as does the Port of Paramaribo in neighboring Suriname. Belize City remains the largest city in Belize, although the capital was moved to Belmopan after Belize City was badly destroyed in a hurricane in . Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Butland, Gilbert J. Latin America: A Regional Geography. London: Longmans, . Early, Edwin et al. The History Atlas of South America. New York: Simon & Schuster, .
CENTRAL AND SOU TH AMERICAN RIVERS The rivers in Central and South America, as with other waterways around the world, have been used by people since ancient times for drinking water, subsistence fishing, and
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crop irrigation. A number of archaeological remains of ancient pre-Columbian villages have been found near rivers, and indeed in more recent times, the Incas clearly used the Apurímac River, one of the sources of the Amazon River, as a boundary of their kingdom. The one major Mesoamerican culture that did not appear to locate its major cities near supplies of water was the Maya, being particularly strong in the Petén Basin, which has no river systems. It appears likely that the whole civilization might have collapsed on account of a sustained drought, which in turn led to civil strife and internal peasant rebellions. In the Andes, the Incas never established settlements of the size of the Maya, and many of these were located near regular sources of water. Both the Incas and Aztecs also developed elaborate canal systems for irrigation and consumption. The Incas constructed numerous bridges across river valleys for their Inca Royal Road, and their capital Cuzco was located near the Cayaocachi River, while the Tullumayo and Huatanay rivers also provided water for the city. The Aztecs, in a much more arid area, dramatically changed the route of the San Juan River through Teotihuacán, effectively turning it into a canal. From the moment the Spanish arrived in Central and South America, they began mapping the shores of the continent, as well as the location of many of the rivers. In , Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who had been on the first voyage of Columbus in , sailed to what is now the Port of Recife, and from there he sailed north discovering the mouth of the Amazon River. In the fourth voyage of Christopher Columbus in –, Columbus reached the northern coast of Brazil and passed by the mouth of the Amazon, and also the Orinoco River. Amerigo Vespucci’s first voyage in – located the mouth of the Río San Francisco, as did the voyage of Pedro Alvares Cabral in . Two years later, in January , Gaspar de Lemos found what he thought was the mouth of a river and named it Río de Janeiro. Even though it was later proven to be a bay, the name remained. The River Pará at Belem, was also explored during this time. The expeditions in of Alonso de Ojeda, Juan de la Cosa, and Juan de Nicuesa, reached the mouth of the Río Magdalena. In , Vasco Nunez de Balboa found the mouth of the Río Atrato, in northwestern Colombia, and then marched his men inland in search of a “Great Sea,” the existence of which he had heard from Indians, and saw the Pacific Ocean. Up until this point, the vast majority of exploration in the Americas by the Spanish had been by ship, or within a few days march from the coast. The success of Balboa’s mission encouraged Hernando Cortes and his expedition, which landed in at Veracruz, Mexico. Cortes embarked on an inland expedition, leading to the sacking of the Aztec capital of Teotihuacán in the following year. However, in spite of Balboa and Cortes, most of the expeditions still clung tenaciously to the coast and places accessible by river. In –, Juan de Solis discovered the mouth of the Río de la Plata (“River of Silver,” now “River Plate”). In -, Ferdinand Magellan explored the river more thoroughly. Magellan initially believed that the Río de la Plata was the southern tip of the South American continent, but after nearly three months sailing it, he discovered his mistake. Brothers, Bartolemé and Gonzalo
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García del Nodal sailed further up the Río de la Plata in their voyage of –, with the British-born sailor Sebastian Cabot leading a Spanish crew up the Río Paraguay in his voyage of –. Roger Barlow, who accompanied Cabot, later wrote A brief Summe of Geographie, based on an original work by the Spanish explorer Martin Fernández de Enciso, describing the journey. In , Francisco Pizarro captured and sacked the Inca capital of Cuzco, but there was a strong belief by the Spaniards that there were still rich Inca cities that might be possible to reach by river from the Río de la Plata. However the Spanish began to change their operations from those of discovery and, followed by looting, to one of settlement. In August , the expedition of Pedro de Mendoza, consisting of ships, more than a thousand men, a hundred horses, pigs, and also “horned cattle,” set sail from Spain and sailed up the Río de la Plata and the Río Paraguay to establish, on August , , fortifications that became the city of Asuncion, the first major inland settlement by the Spanish. Soon after the city was founded, dockyards were built initially for repairing ships and later for building new ships. The original settlement of Buenos Aires in then ended, and it was not until that the city was re-founded, this time by people from Asuncion. By this time much of the rest of the coastline of South and Central America had been mapped. In –, an expedition led by Francisco de Orellana sailed up the Napo and Maranón rivers, and by August they reached the mouth of the Amazon River, destroying settlements along their route. De Orellana traveled to Trinidad where he met wild women, thus causing him to name the river the Amazon after the Amazons in Greek mythology. After the establishment of this route around Cape Horn, Spanish ships started exploring the west coast of Central and South America, which led to Lima becoming the capital of Spanish America. It was not long before ships from other nations started arriving in Central and South America. The Portuguese had been granted the eastern part of the South American continent by the Treaty of Tordesillas in , and they began establishing settlements along the modern Brazilian coastline. Technically, at that stage the Portuguese did not have control of the mouth of the River Amazon, so they tended to remain on or near the coast. Tales of the great wealth of the Americas led to English expeditions crossing the Atlantic Ocean, with a number of them sailing up the Amazon where they established a few small settlements, none of which survived for long. The English buccaneer Sir Walter Raleigh financed expeditions to the Orinoco River. However, these were unsuccessful. Frans Post’s oil painting, The Ox Cart (), now held at the Louvre, shows the cultivated river valleys of the Dutch period in Brazil. Daniel Thomas’s painting Egerton’s Travellers Crossing the Brook, is a famous scene often reproduced, showing horsemen resting their horses in Mexico. With increased migration to Latin America by the Spanish and others, it was not long before there were ports around the continent; Bogota in Colombia, having no river, being an exception. In the southeast, the Río de la Plata had become one of the major rivers controlled by the Spanish, with Buenos Aires located near its mouth, and Asuncion up the Río de la Plata and the Río Paraguay, being the only real inland river port of
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any size in the continent. Because of its closer proximity to Europe, it was not long before Buenos Aires challenged Lima, the Spanish administrative capital, as the center of commerce in South America. The emergence of Buenos Aires as the major Spanish port on the Atlantic coast of South America began to pose a major problem for traders. The Spanish colonial government enacted legislation forcing all imports from Europe to go through Lima, from where they would be taken across land to Buenos Aires. This added greatly to the cost of imports in Buenos Aires, and it was not long before traders started smuggling goods directly to the city, bypassing Lima, and in turn, the Spanish customs. To be able to do this effectively, the port of Colonia del Sacramento was established by the Portuguese in on the eastern bank of the Río de la Plata. Ships could sail up the river and dock at Colonia, waiting for a favorable moment to smuggle their goods into Buenos Aires. In , the city of Montevideo was also established, officially to allow Spain to claim the eastern bank of the Río de la Plata by overshadowing Colonia, but also to make smuggling to Buenos Aires and Asuncion even easier. This led to a legal problem: Technically the land on which Colonia and Montevideo stood was Portuguese, but because these were largely settled by the Spanish (and also some foreigners such as Britons), they were effectively in a legal limbo, which made smuggling even easier. The situation was unresolved during the War of the Austrian Succession, also sometimes known as the War of Jenkins’ Ear (or in North America as “King George’s War”), and eventually led to bad relations between the Portuguese and the Spanish. The eventual compromise was for the Spanish to agree to hand over much of the area covered by the Jesuit reductions in the upper part of the Río Paraguay, and in return the Portuguese would hand over Colonia, an agreement made famous in Robert Bolt’s book The Mission (). This would give the Spanish control of the Río de la Plata. The Seven Years’ War broke out in , and the British soon came to control the Caribbean. In , after the Spanish entered the war on the French side, the British attacked the Spanish in Central America to capture the area that is now Nicaragua in the hope of possibly building a canal from the Atlantic through to the Pacific. As part of their strategy, British ships sailed up the Río San Juan in Nicaragua to attack the Spanish fort of El Castillo, which had been built in for just such an eventuality. The British commander, Henry Morgan, led , men and ships in their attack on El Castillo, but failed to take the fort. This was one of the first major river battles in Central or South America involving two major European powers. Although the fighting between the British and the Spanish in Central America was largely indecisive, Carlos Morphy, the governor of Paraguay, did manage to engineer the swapping of the former Jesuit lands in Paraguay for Colonia, which the Spanish took forcibly in . Although the British were unable to take the Río San Juan in Nicaragua during the Seven Years’ War, they did try again in the American War of Independence, after Spain joined the war. On this occasion, the British managed to sail up the river and take El Castillo, an action in which a young naval captain, Horatio Nelson, nearly lost his life. The rest of the war went badly for the British and they gave up their conquests in Central America.
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With the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, there was little fighting in Central and South America until when Spain again entered the war on the French side, and the British, from South Africa, sailed their fleet to the Río de la Plata and captured Buenos Aires on June , , and Montevideo in July of the same year. This left the Royal Navy briefly in control of the mouth of the Río de la Plata, but the British were forced out of Buenos Aires in August by the local militia. In November , a large French force crossed through Spain, with the permission of the Spanish government, and attacked Portugal. This led to the flight of the Portuguese court to Río de Janeiro, and in March , the French deposed the Spanish king. After this, there was widespread fighting in South America with many of the people in Spanish America declaring themselves free of Spanish rule, and starting a series of insurgencies that resulted in the Wars of Independence. Much of the fighting was on land, but the Río de la Plata was again the scene of major fighting with the newly created Argentine navy fighting under Guillermo Brown and defeating a Spanish Royalist fleet near the Isla Martín García on March –, . The independence of the United Provinces, later Argentina, led to a revolution in Banda Oriental, the Spanish-speaking region on the eastern bank of the Río de la Plata. The Brazil-Argentine War from until , saw a Brazilian naval blockade of the Río de la Plata, and eventually a British-mediated peace enabling Uruguay to become an independent nation in . It was agreed that there would be free navigation of the Río de la Plata, a situation that suited Paraguay, who relied on the river, and also Brazil, who used the river to send supplies to central Brazil around the Matto Grosso. José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, the dictator of Paraguay from until , and his successor Carlos Antonio Lopez, recognized the importance of the river and its continuation, the Río Paraguay. To secure their interests, they decided to construct a massive fortification at Humaita to help defend the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion from attack. As a landward attack was largely impossible, the only method of attack would be for the Argentines or the Brazilians—the most likely enemies—to send their ships up the Río Paraguay to take Asuncion. To this end, the fort at Humaita, at the bend of the Río Paraguay, was enlarged using British technical expertise. The fortifications themselves were equipped with large guns, and a vast chain was constructed that, together, would make it very hard to force a passage to Asuncion. Francisco Solano Lopez, during his father’s presidency, had also been to Britain where he had purchased a steamer, the Tacuari, which was used as a model by the Paraguayan ship-builders to make other steamships. The importance of rivers in South America can be clearly seen by the events of –. In , the government of Bernardo Berro of Uruguay was under attack, with the rebels having the support of the government in Buenos Aires. President Francisco Solano Lopez feared that it might fall and lead to a possible blockade of the Río de la Plata—as had taken place during the rule of Juan Manuel de Rosas over Argentina from until . Thus, he decided to send his army by land to help the government
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of Uruguay. He feared that if he did this, the Brazilian government might use this as an opportunity to attack from the Matto Grosso. As a result, on November , , he ordered the seizure of the Marques de Olinda, a Brazilian steamship carrying supplies and weapons to the Brazilian garrison in the Matto Grosso, along with the newly appointed governor. This was tantamount to declaring war on Brazil, which followed soon afterwards when the Paraguayans went up the Río Paraguay and captured the Matto Grosso. They then returned to Asuncion, and from there proceeded south, taking the Argentine city of Corrientes on April , , and then went by land towards Uruguay, by which time the Berro government had fallen. These actions left Paraguay at war with Brazil, Argentina, and also the new Uruguayan government who formed the “Triple Alliance.” Paraguay had hoped that Justo José de Urquiza, a local caudillo, or strongman in north-eastern Argentina, would side with them and that the Argentina federalist who saw Urquiza as their hero, would also rally and take over their heartland, a province of Argentina known as Entre Rios (“between rivers”). The symbolism of the “two rivers” appears in the provincial flag, which has two blue stripes representing both the Argentine flag and the two rivers. This was a prosperous agricultural area located between the Río Parana and the Río Paraguay. As it turned out, Urquiza did not help Paraguay, instead deciding to make a fortune supplying the Argentine army with supplies. The Paraguayan navy was defeated at the Battle of Riachuelo on June , , but it was six months before the Allies could organize their forces for a full-scale invasion of Paraguay. In January , the Argentine, Brazilian, and Uruguayan forces crossed the Río Parana and began a landward invasion of Paraguay. They were assisted by a large navy that tried to force its way past Humaita on the Río Paraguay. The Battle of Curupayty was fought on the banks of the Río Paraguay on September , , in which the Paraguayans drove back the attackers. In August , the fort of Humaita fell, and the Argentine and Brazilian gunboats headed up the Río Paraguay where, delayed at Angostura, they were able to occupy Asuncion on December , . One of the Brazilian steamboats that went up the river took the British adventurer and explorer Richard Burton, who wrote of the river and the fighting in his book Battle-fields of Paraguay (). After the War of the Triple Alliance, with the land of Paraguay largely destroyed, much of the river transport only went as far as Corrientes, the ports of Buenos Aires and Montevideo going through a period of great prosperity. The Amazon River was partly explored in by Pedro Teixeira, but much of it remained unrecorded until the s, when the French naturalist Charles-Marie de la Condamine went on a raft trip down the Amazon, recording the geography and ethnography. In the early th century, the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt was able to map the connection between the Orinoco and the Amazon, while traveling down the Casiquiare River. The British naturalist and explorer H. W. Bates spent the period from until traveling on the Amazon, and his book The Naturalist on the River Amazon, published in London in two volumes in , did much to excite interest in the Amazon in Britain, as did the official U.S. expedition to Amazonia during the s.
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E. F. Schutte’s oil painting The Paulo Alfonso Falls () shows the power of the rivers in Brazil, and Pedro Weingartner’s After the Flood () illustrated the environmental devastation that resulted from flooding rivers. However, it was the discovery of wild rubber in Brazil that led to the major opening up of the Amazon, and the emergence of Manaus as one of the largest river ports in the world during the s. In , a fort had been built at that location by the Portuguese, and it remained a minor outpost until the discovery of rubber, which was then in great demand as the only major source of rubber. With the great wealth generated by the rubber industry, steamships took luxury goods up the Amazon River, returning with rubber. The rubber boom ended in with the cultivation of rubber by the British in Malaya, and Manaus went into decline. During the later part of the th century, Manaus became a romantic tourist destination, which it remains today. Explorations of the Amazon became popular among the world’s powerful nations, and in –, President Theodore Roosevelt and the Brazilian Colonel Candido Rondon studied the tributary of the Madeira, which in turn led to greater knowledge of the river systems in Brazil. One earlier expedition in the s, headed by Major Fothergill, involved the hiring of a cook called Sidney Reilly who later moved to England with Fothergill and he (Reilly) became a famous British spy. In , Colonel Percy Fawcett was involved in an expedition down the Heath River, along the border between Bolivia and Peru, and years later was lost in a tributary of the Amazon, where it is supposed that he and his son were killed. Fawcett is said to have been an inspiration for the fictional character, Indiana Jones. The wealth and improvement in technology in the late th century, as well as the expansion of the railway network, led to the construction of many bridges over rivers throughout Central and South America. Although new bridges were built in Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil, old bridges remained in use in more remote parts of South America. One bridge over the Apurímac River, in Peru, which had been around for some three hundred years, collapsed in the s sending a number of people to their death in the river below; the story formed the basis of Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey (). However, in terms of technology, the major construction project in Central or South America was the Panama Canal. The first attempt to build a canal through Panama by the French in the s, failed. Some went back to an old plan of using the Río San Juan in Nicaragua, but there was worry about a volcano near the proposed route. As a result, the Americans, under George Washington Goethals, went back to the original plan of having a canal running through Panama, close to Panama City. The canal was able to utilize some of the waterways in the vicinity, but much of it was new. The Panama Canal opened in and transformed the economy of Central and South America dramatically. During the s, tourists started traveling to South America and cruises up the Amazon became popular. There were also many people who wanted to see the Iguazu Falls at the borders of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. While those from Río de Janeiro
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Spread in a horseshoe shape over nearly two miles, the Iguacu Falls are the result of a volcanic eruption. During the rainy season (November–March), the rate of flow of water going over the falls may reach , cubic feet per second. The Iguacu River, which generates power at the Segredo, Osorio, and Santiago falls, joins the Parana’ River at the point where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet. PhotoDisc, Inc.
or Buenos Aires made the long land trip, others went by boat up the Río Paraná from Corrientes, or up the Río Uruguay. The Angel Falls, the highest free-falling waterfall in the world, on the Kerep River (or Río Gauya) in Venezuela also became popular after its discovery in . Thanks to the development of refrigeration during the latter part of the th century, the Port of Fray Bentos in the Río Uruguay, close to the Rio Gualeguaychu, emerged as a center in the beef export industry. In December , soon after the outbreak of World War II, the German raider Graf Spee was chased into the port of Montevideo by the British Royal Navy, and the captain later scuttled the vessel in what became known as the Battle of the River Plate. After the military coup d’état that overthrew the Argentine civilian government of Ramón Castillo on June , , many people fled from Buenos Aires to Montevideo. The exodus of the government formed a scene in the film Evita (). Soon afterwards, one of the colonels involved in the coup, Juan Peron, by then vice president, was himself arrested and held on Isla Martín García. The island traditionally held prisoners from the Indian War who had been interned in , and notably, the politician Hipólito Irigoyen was also interned there in . Peron was quickly released after protests led by his mistress
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(and future wife) Evita. The island subsequently became a place where enemies of the military were interned—former president Arturo Frondizi was held there in after he was deposed—and later became a halfway house for prisoners before their release, and is now a resort for day-trippers from Buenos Aires. From the s, plans were drawn up to utilize the rivers to build hydroelectric schemes, with perhaps the most famous being the construction of the Itaipú Dam in Paraguay, which was completed in . It was the largest hydroelectric power project in the world at that time, providing some percent of Paraguay’s electricity, and percent of that for Brazil. Beginning in the s, cheaper air travel and better roads (with cheaper bus travel) resulted in a decline in people using rivers to go from one place to another. This led to most river vessels becoming either cargo ships or pleasure boats on small journeys. To try to encourage more use of the rivers, river cruises began and remain popular in parts of South America. Many tourists from Buenos Aires also travel in the Río de la Plata, especially to Uruguay and to the Isla Martín García. Cruises are common on the Amazon, and in , Manaus, the capital of Amazonia, was declared a free trade zone to try to revitalize the economy of that part of the river. In the next years, the population of the city rose from , to over a million. Other rivers have seen the establishment of regular events; since an annual swim race has been held in April on the Orinoco River and the Caroní River, organized by the city of Guayana (Venezuela), with up to , competitors taking part. The Río Espolón and the Río Futaleufú in Chile have both become popular places for white-water rafting, river kayaking, and fishing. By contrast, the Río Orosi Valley in Costa Rica has tried to preserve its colonial heritage, attracting many tourists who visit the country. From April until May there was a series of confrontation along the Rio Uruguay, with Uruguay keen on establishing a pulp mill, and the Argentines worried about whether or not it would pollute the river. There have also been Naturalists who have studied the marine life in most of the rivers in Central and South America. The Orinoco Crocodile, in the Orinoco River Basin, is one of the rarest reptiles in the world, with less than specimens existing in the wild. In Honduras, the Río Plátano Biosphere reserve was established in by the Honduran government and the United Nations to preserve the local wildlife. In Venezuela, the Hacha Falls, the Salto el Sapo, both in Canaima, the Quebrada de Jaspe, and the Salto Aponguao waterfalls in La Gran Sabana, as well as the Angel Falls, also attract many tourists. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Collier, Richard. The River that God Forgot: The Story of the Amazon Rubber Boom. London: Collins, . Early, Edwin et al. The History Atlas of South America. New York: Simon & Schuster, .
CORAL SEA Fleming, Peter. Brazilian Adventure. London: Jonathan Cape, . Furneaux, Rupert. The Amazon. London: Hamish Hamilton, . Gheerbrant, Alain. The Impossible Adventure. London: Victor Gollancz, . Helfrich, Gerard. Humboldt’s Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the Latin American Journey that Changed the Way We See the World. New York: Gotham Books, . Perez, Triana S. Down the Orinoco in a Canoe. London: Heinemann, . Pope, Dudley. The Battle of the River Plate. London: Pan Books, . Rawlins, C.B. The Orinoco River. New York: Franklin Watts, . Williamson, James A. English Colonies in Guiana and on the Amazon – . Oxford: Clarendon Press, .
CORAL SEA The Coral Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean, is a marginal sea bordered by the northeast coast of the Australian mainland, the eastern coast of Queensland in Australia, the southern coast of Papua New Guinea, the sea to the east of the Solomon Islands, to the west of Vanuatu, and to the west of New Caledonia. The name Coral Sea comes from the large number of coral reefs around various margins of the sea, the most important being the Great Barrier Reef. Territorially, because of the -mile coastal claim, most of the sea is administered by Australia, with sizeable parts administered by Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and France (for New Caledonia). The Coral Sea includes a number of uninhabited islands called the Coral Sea Islands Territory, which is administered by the Territories section of the Australian Department of Transport and Regional Services. The sea itself was formed between and million years ago when the Queensland continental shelf was uplifted. This not only led to the formation of the sea but also to the creation of the Great Dividing Range in southeast Australia. Water depths in the sea vary extensively, with many shallow coral reef areas posing navigational problems. This caused the area to be renowned for shipwrecks during the late th century. The first European to sail through the Coral Sea was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman (d. ). In , the sea was extensively traversed by Matthew Flinders, who sailed the Investigator. Returning from Tahiti on his first voyage, Captain James Cook passed through the Coral Sea on the Endeavour. It was on his second voyage that Cook discovered the island of New Caledonia, which was annexed by France in . William Bligh, in the longboat after the mutiny on the HMS Bounty in , crossed the Coral Sea, as did Edward Edwards, in the HMS Pandora, in search of the mutineers two years later. Much of the shipping between Australia and the Pacific Islands passed through the Coral Sea, and in the Australian government established a meteorological station on Willis Island. On June –, , Australian aviators Charles Kingsford-Smith and Charles Ulm flew Smith’s plane, the Southern Cross, from Fiji across the Coral Sea to
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Map of the Coral Sea
Brisbane, and then on to the United States before heading to Australia; they were the first to cover that distance. With the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Australian Navy was keen to retain control of the Coral Sea to prevent the Japanese from attacking the southern part of what was then Papua and New Guinea (now Papua New Guinea), or the east coast of Australia. At the Battle of the Coral Sea fought on May –, —most of the action taking part on the last two days of the battle—the Japanese gained a tactical victory, but the American and Australian navies gained a strategic one. The battle was the first naval battle in which the ships from both sides did not actually come in sight of each other, and was also the first where aircraft carriers were involved on both sides. The Japanese were able to sink an American aircraft carrier, the USS Lexington, with the loss of only the light carrier, Shoho. However, the craft prevented the Japanese from landing troops to take Port Moresby. In many ways, it set the scene for the Battle of Midway a month later, which saw the Japanese decisively defeated.
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With the Allies in control of the Coral Sea, the Australians and Americans used it to take further men and materiel to New Guinea, with the U.S. Navy using it to launch their attack on Guadalcanal in August , the first land battle between the United States and Japan since the fall of the Philippines. Since World War II, the Coral Sea has seen the establishment of many shipping lanes with Australia. In , the Coinga-Herald National Reserve (. million acres) and the Lihou Reef National Reserve (. million acres) in the Coral Sea were proclaimed as protected locations to preserve their natural environment. Although globally coral reefs are vanishing five times faster than rainforests, resulting in the decimation of many shark and tuna species, the Coral Sea has been able to remain healthy due to its location. It is largely unprotected, meaning that it is vulnerable to coral bleaching due to global climate change and other human-caused maladies. Although ecotourism seeks to allow humans to enjoy locations like the Coral Sea while minimizing their impact, the very presence of more people in the region may compound that vulnerability. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Hoyt, Edwin P. Blue Skies and Blood: The Battle of the Coral Sea. New York: Pinnacle Books, . Henry, Chris. The Battle of Coral Sea. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, . Idriess, Ion. Coral Sea Calling. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, . Villiers, Alan. The Coral Sea. New York: Whittlesey House, . World Wildlife Federation-Australia. “Coral Sea.” http://www.wwf.org.au/coralsea/ (accessed August , ).
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DARDANELLES The Dardanelles, known by the Greeks as the Hellespont, has long been the symbolic waterway dividing Europe from Asia. Extending approximately miles in length, but in some places barely . miles wide, it has played a strategic military and economic role since ancient times. The Trojan War, waged in about the th or th century b.c.e. (Troy overlooks the straits), is one of the earliest accounts of the waterway’s strategic importance. Crossing the Dardanelles has long been the key to invading armies. In b.c.e., when Xerxes I led the Persian Achaemenian army into Greece in the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis, he built a pontoon bridge over the Dardanelles. In b.c.e., Alexander the Great led the Macedonian army, by boat, across the Dardanelles into Asia Minor. The founding of the city of Byzantium, later known as Constantinople, led to the Dardanelles becoming crucial in the defense of what became, after c.e., one of the capitals of the Roman Empire. By this time there were regular ferries to take people across the Dardanelles, and when the supporters of Peter the Hermit arrived at Constantinople in on the People’s Crusade, the Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I, quickly transported the peasant army to Asia Minor where they were quickly defeated by the Turks. Several months later, the French and German soldiers of the First Crusade (led primarily by Godfrey de Bouillon) were also ferried into Asia Minor. As the Seljuk Turks, and later the Ottoman Turks, started to threaten Constantinople, the Byzantines gradually lost land on both sides until they ended up in control of only the city, which fell in a siege in to become capital of the Ottoman Empire. As Russia expanded as a military power during the Napoleonic Wars, it blockaded the Dardanelles in , with the support of the British. The Russians defeated the
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Aznac fort in Dardanelles, the last protection structure in Turkey before entering Greece. Dreamstime.com.
Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War of –, and in the Russians forced the Ottoman rulers to sign the Treaty of Hunkiar Iskelesi. The treaty directed the Ottomans to refuse to allow ships belonging to non-Black Sea powers through the straits, upon the Russians request. Thus, the British and French worried that the Russians would be unchallenged in the Black Sea. In July , at the London Straits Convention, in response to the Treaty of Hunkiar Iskelesi, representatives of the British, French, Austrians, and Prussians forced the Russians to agree that (during peacetime) only Turkish warships could use the Dardanelles, effectively preventing the Russian Black Sea fleet from being any threat in the Mediterranean. In , when the Crimean War broke out, the British and French, who were allied to the Ottoman Empire, sent their ships through the Dardanelles to attack the Russian naval base at Sevastopol. In the Congress of Paris in , the Russians had to formally reaffirm the agreement signed years earlier. During the late th century, large numbers of foreign tourists started visiting Constantinople, and it became common to swim across the Dardanelles. Many drawings and paintings of the Dardanelles date from this period. With the entry of Turkey into World War I in November , the British First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, decided that a combined British-French force could make their way through the Dardanelles and attack Constantinople, driving Turkey quickly out of the war. The Turks had mined the straits and an Anglo-French
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expeditionary force, which included large numbers of Australians and New Zealanders, landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in April . The expedition ran into stiff Turkish opposition, and the Allied soldiers were forced to withdraw in January after inflicting and sustaining massive casualties. In , at the end of World War I, the Treaty of Sèvres was signed and as part of the treaty, the Dardanelles were demilitarized and turned into international territory controlled by the League of Nations. Three years later at the Treaty of Lausanne, the new Republic of Turkey had the Dardanelles restored to their jurisdiction, but foreign warships were allowed to use them. The Montreux Convention of July reconfirmed the agreement, and during World War II, when Turkey was neutral, the Dardanelles were not allowed to be used by ships from either the Allies or the Axis. The Ottomans had drawn up plans in the early th century for a bridge across the Dardanelles, but nothing happened. However, in the Bosphorus Bridge, the fourth longest in the world, was built. Traffic was so heavy that the collected tolls paid for its costs in less than years, and a southern bridge, the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, was built in , with a third bridge and rail tunnel currently planned. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Laffin, John. Damn the Dardanelles! The Story of Gallipoli. Sydney: Doubleday, . Mansel, Philip. Constantinople: City of the World’s Desire –. London: John Murray, . Phillipson, Coleman and Noel Buxton. The Question of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. London: Steven and Haynes, . Taylor, Phil and Pam Cupper. Gallipoli: A Battlefield Guide. Kenthurst, N.S.W.: Kangaroo Press, .
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ENGLISH CHANNEL The English Channel is a body of water that separates Great Britain from France and connects the Atlantic Ocean with the North Sea. The current geographic boundaries of the Channel are from Land’s End and Ushant in the west, and the Straits of Dover in the east. Yet, the geographical constraints of the Channel have changed much over time; the Elizabethans drew the boundary between . East and . North while, in , after the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the boundary was defined as the seas between Cape Finisterre and the Naze. The history of the Channel begins during a time when the lands of Great Britain were a part of the mainland of Europe. During the Paleolithic Period (about . million years ago to , years ago), the world went through several major climate changes, including ice ages. The periods between ice ages eventually led to subsidence, where the warmth caught up to the retreating glaciers and, slowly, flooded the Anglo-German Plain (it became the southern North Sea) (Williamson , –). Various fishermen may have sailed through the channel to visit the British Isles in ancient times, but the first recorded journey through the Channel was undertaken in b.c.e., by Pytheas, a Greek astronomer and mathematician. The Greeks would make other journeys through the Channel, but in b.c.e., the Romans (under Julius Caesar) set out with ships to cross the Channel and land in what is now the city of Dover; the Romans under Emperor Claudius returned in c.e. and stayed until c.e. (Hargreaves , – ). The Channel would also prove to be the means by which the Angles and Saxons reached the British Isles between and c.e., as well as the way the Danes reached the Isles in the th through the th centuries (Hargreaves , ). Thus, historians have argued that the English Channel was not necessarily a means of isolation
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or defense; rather, it was a means of invasion and conquest. It was the key behind the Norman Conquest of , the Elizabethan Campaigns against Philip II of Spain in the Netherlands, and played major roles in both World War I and World War II. Just as the English Channel is strategically important, it is also economically important. Even the first Greek voyages in the fourth century b.c.e. were economically motivated—corn, cattle, tin, lead, slaves, and hides were being traded on the Isles for brass, salt, and earthenware (Hargreaves , ). The Romans resumed such interest and, of course, their empire did not ignore economic interests. By early modern times, however, the Channel would serve an important role in the shipping of goods to and from British Colonies. Also, by the late th century, over , merchant vessels were shipping goods between Great Britain and North and Western Europe (Williamson , ). After the Napoleonic Wars came to a close in , the Channel enjoyed a longlasting peace until the beginning of World War I. During the th century, the Channel remained an important maritime highway for the British Empire, especially for goods coming and going from Asia. The British East India Company was a major transporter in Channel waters until its dissolution in , shipping goods and soldiers to and from both the treaty ports in China and their holdings in India. After , however, the Raj in India became Britain’s chief focus in Asia, but the Channel still remained an important maritime highway for goods moving between the Raj and the Isles (Williamson , ). The idea of building a tunnel under the English Channel was first proposed in by Jacques-Joseph Mathieu, a French Engineer (Fetherston , –). Various plans by engineers and government officials throughout the th and early th centuries would be submitted for tunnels and other methods of crossing the Channel. Yet it was not until April , that the British expressed an interest in having a company build a tunnel that would last years (Fetherston , ). In , the contract was given to an Anglo-French company, TransManche Link, and the Chunnel (or Channel Tunnel) was completed in . The Channel is also used for recreation. Yachting and sailing (or simply boating in general) are major pastimes for those who live in the region and make use of the waterway. Additionally, many people swim across the Channel—Mathew Webb was the first to do so in , although many since then have set world records (Williamson , –). Thus, the English Channel plays an important role in economics, militarism, and recreation, just as it has over the millennia. The Channel’s history is a dynamic one; one that is ever-changing. The English Channel will continue to play a role in western Europeans’ lives for years to come. Jesse E. Brown, Jr. References and Further Reading Fetherston, Drew. The Chunnel: The Amazing Story of the Undersea Crossing of the English Channel. New York: Random House, .
EUROPEAN AND MEDITERRANEAN PORTS AND HARBORS Hargreaves, Reginald. The Narrow Seas: A History of the English Channel, its Approaches, and its Immediate Shores: B.C.–A.D. . London: Sidgwick and Jackson Limited, . Schick, Asher P., ed. Channel Processes: Water, Sediment, Catchment Controls. Cremlingen, D.E.: Catena-Verlag, . Williamson, James A. The English Channel: A History. New York: The World Publishing Company, .
EUROPEAN AND MEDITERRANEAN PORTS AND HARBORS With over , miles of coastline, and no location in Western Europe farther than miles from the sea, the history of European civilization has been linked to the sea. Through the ages, its inhabitants have been at the forefront of maritime endeavors, whether engaged in naval warfare, fishing, trade, or exploration. A focal point of these maritime activities always has been their ports. The Middle Ages Europe has been home to port settlements at least since the Bronze Age (c. – b.c.e.), although the evolution of its ports might best be traced from the Middle Ages. In the seventh and eighth centuries, new port settlements developed on both sides of the North Sea and the English Channel; many were founded near navigable waterways or possessed a good harbor. Although their infrastructure was often very basic, these ports were important trading centers, with commercial links maintained between Britain, Spain, Scandinavia and many other locales. Contemporary rulers took an active interest in trade, promoting the growth of these ports. Many of these port towns thrived as hubs of European commerce until the ninth century decline, which was the result of Viking raids. By the high Middle Ages (c. – c.e.) trade had recovered, and all of Western Europe was connected by a maritime network extending from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. Europe’s port cities formed the nucleus of this trade, and their general features often persisted into modern times. Lisbon (Portugal), Bordeaux (France), Bristol (England), Hamburg, and Lübeck (Germany) benefited from broad, deep, and easily defensible estuaries. La Rochelle, Brest and Calais (France) were favorably located on trade routes, while other ports enjoyed good access to the products of nearby agricultural regions. Ports may be located either within or without municipal boundaries. While river ports like Antwerp (Belgium) and Palermo (Italy) fell into the former category, Genoa (Italy) and La Rochelle, for example, were located within city walls. Port infrastructure sometimes included coastal fortifications, like Marseille’s Fort St. Jean (France) and the Schloss of Danzig (Germany). For protection from natural threats, ports like Genoa and Calais were equipped with rudimentary lighthouses. Quays and slipways, with associated stores and warehouses, were located within the cargo handling areas of larger ports.
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This type of infrastructure was most common in large ports like Lübeck and Antwerp that dealt in heavy cargoes, including wood, minerals, and wool. Besides the large ports, there were innumerable small fishing and coastal trading settlements. Other ports specialized as resupply centers, while the outports, with their fairly deep waters, permitted large vessels in transit to avoid estuaries like the Scheldt or Seine. Finally, there were military ports, or arsenals, and those like the roadstead of Winchelsea (England), were used for overwintering. A port’s reason for being, in the Middle Ages as today, was trade. Mediaeval Almeria and Seville (Spain) served as a western terminus for Islamic trade to the eastern Mediterranean. By the s, Arabic vessels were joined by ships from Genoa, already one of Europe’s great trading cities. As Barry Cunliffe () notes, Seville acted as the interface between Mediterranean and Atlantic trade, with merchandise arriving from Sicily, Bordeaux, Portugal, England, and many other locales. Within the Mediterranean Malaga (Spain) emerged as an entrepôt for fruit and sugar, and as a stop-over for vessels awaiting favorable easterly winds for the Strait of Gibraltar passage. Ports like Lisbon, La Rochelle, and Nantes (France) all acted as staging posts in an annual Genoese and Venetian galley trade to northwestern Europe, mainly in luxury goods. Likewise, the Spanish port of Castile developed its own trade with England and the Low Countries, although this fluctuated according to the political situation. The French wine trade saw casks loaded for shipment across the English Channel. At its height, the exchange was significant. In alone more than , vessels of all nations arrived in Bordeaux, which had grown in size and importance as a commercial center following the union of Gascony and England in . During the Middle Ages a number of European ports emerged as premiere trading centers. In the Mediterranean, Venice attained a long-lasting influence based on maritime commerce, while Genoa and Pisa (Italy) attained prominence of their own in the th century. In northern Europe, Copenhagen (Denmark), founded in , became a center of both commercial and political influence, retaining its significance until the mid-th century. Another important development was the emergence of Germany’s Hanseatic League in the th century. The league was a confederation of almost towns stretching from Reval to Cologne. With a near-monopoly on Baltic commerce, the Hanse maintained trading posts in many northern ports, including London (England), and Bergen (Norway). Headed by Lübeck, many of the Hanse towns were ports themselves. The Hanseatic cities were at their height in the s, but the Flanders region, and ports like Bruges (Belgium) became increasingly important thereafter.
Towards the Modern Era Following Columbus’ voyages, new trans-Atlantic trades, like those in Newfoundland fish and West Indian sugar, were created. As has often been the case, those ports closest to the open sea, adjacent to important oceanic routes, and offering good protection from
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the elements, benefited most from Europe’s growing mercantile networks. As Michel Mollat du Jourdin () points out, estuary ports with an extensive hinterland, including Lisbon, Bordeaux, and Hamburg, were especially favored by Europe’s maritime commerce; their hinterlands both supplied and received the commodities of trade. Starting in this era, some of the great Atlantic ports—Antwerp, Amsterdam, and London, for instance—like Venice and Genoa before them, evolved into important centers of business and finance. Ports were valuable to European rulers in other ways as well. In the early th century, maritime power was directly linked to the vitality, and numbers, of national port cities. According to Josef Konvitz (), port city planning thus became associated with a country’s place on the world stage. From to , for example, France’s King Louis XIV undertook the development of Brest, Lorient, Rochefort, and Sète, while rebuilding Toulon and Marseille. These cities were all intended to function as part of a network of commercial and military ports, with the goal of boosting French prestige. Amsterdam was refurbished for similar reasons, becoming Europe’s primary market for Dutch colonial goods, and a major banking center. Following Amsterdam’s example, Scandinavian planners embellished their own port cities and created new ones. This was especially true in Sweden, where after c.e., Stockholm was enlarged and many new ports were built on the assumption that they would contribute to Swedish sea power. Ultimately port construction did not guarantee maritime predominance. Still, European port cities undoubtedly expanded from the th through th centuries. Migration was encouraged by the growth of ports, as was expansion, which was tied to enlarged national merchant marines. Some military ports, like England’s Chatham and Portsmouth, directly benefitted from the period’s endemic warfare, as England itself was often inspired by commercial disputes. As Richard Lawton and Robert Lee () report, European port cities (along with national capitals) led the way in population growth, often figuring among the continent’s most important urban centers. Certain French ports even developed into regional capitals, and some ports never lost their importance; Gothenburg, for example, remains Sweden’s second city. No one example reflects the experience of all Europe’s port cities, but Ian Friel’s () work on Britain gives some indication of developments in the two hundred years up to . As British maritime trade expanded in the th and th centuries, many ports found their resources overtaxed. At the same time, most trade became concentrated in a shrinking number of large ports, especially London and a few others like Glasgow. By the late th century, more than national ports were engaged in officially sanctioned overseas trade, but most of this was accounted for by less than a fifth of their number. Apart from these great ports and their secondary rivals, most British harbors were small, mainly catering to coastal traders, fishers, and smugglers (as Anders Møller [] points out, a similar, and even more marked, concentration of overseas trade was found in Denmark. Here Copenhagen had a near-monopoly on foreign traffic, while few other ports possessed modern harbor facilities before the th century).
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The major British ports were marked by large-scale building works, as commercial elites tried to maximize profits or attempted to outdo competitors. Britain’s major ports created new dock systems to deal with the logjam of shipping using their facilities. These systems, with their gates, locks, and other equipment, were very expensive. Such developments occurred only where absolutely necessary, as at Liverpool. Situated on the turbulent Mersey River, early s Liverpool had ample land but few adequate shipping facilities. Fearing a loss of trade, Liverpudlians constructed their first of many docks in . A larger dock project in the north of England was undertaken at Hull during the s, while commercial docks were also built at Bristol and, most impressive of all, London (such works were not confined to Britain; Hamburg possessed timber and barge docks by , for instance).
The Industrial Age Britain’s th-century dock works foreshadowed later developments. Starting around the mid-th century, Europe’s shipping industry (including its ports) was revolutionized by developments like the steam engine and the telegraph. As Brian Hoyle and David Pinder () note, Europe’s th-century port cities were known for extensive warehouse facilities, impressive suburban growth and multimodal transportation links. The Industrial Age saw many of Europe’s great ports extensively developed, due in no small measure to the ever-larger steamers using their facilities, and improved rail linkages. Although certain Mediterranean port cities, like Athens, grew significantly through the mid-th century—the Athenian population more than doubling to almost , inhabitants from to alone—the growth and development of Europe’s major port cities was most marked in northwestern Europe. A good example is Hamburg. Despite impressive growth prior to , Hamburg’s physical layout and infrastructure lagged behind. With Germany’s th-century industrialization, and the advent of technology like the steamship, the decision was made to enlarge the port while improving infrastructure. The River Elbe was deepened, the port received its first harbor basins, and new facilities were constructed for railway and road transport. Developments of this nature were not unique to Hamburg; inspection tours were made of Dutch, French, and English ports before proceeding with expansion. The intention was to develop portions of Hamburg into a dock system much like those in certain large British ports. However, the city had less tidal range than most British harbors with extensive docks, like Liverpool. A debate raged for many years as to whether Hamburg should adopt the British model or remain an open tidal port. Eventually Hamburg incorporated quays and modern loading infrastructure. The Elbe was further developed and more harbor basins were constructed. New infrastructure included sheds, warehouses, and mechanical cranes. In the s, specialized docks were constructed to serve growing North American oil traffic, and by Hamburg-based shipyards were the beneficiaries of government naval contracts. However, development
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was brought to a halt with the German Empire’s defeat in World War I. Fortunes for the port improved in the s, yet in , with the onset of the Great Depression, Hamburg’s trade was hit especially hard. Largely on the strength of armament contracts, the Nazis restored Hamburg to prominence, but World War II wiped the slate clean again as most of Hamburg’s facilities were destroyed by Allied attacks or subsequent demolition. Hamburg’s experience was reflected in other European ports, though exceptions are Rotterdam and London, for instance, where private capital made significant contributions to port development. At Hamburg, however, private resources were spurned in favor of state loans. In Britain the growing size of steamships also necessitated larger dock systems, an expense that further concentrated shipping in the biggest ports. Rail links were developed to many ports, and some railroads even built their own docks. Britain’s major ports expanded significantly in these years. By , Liverpool had been extensively modernized, emerging as a major ocean liner port, as did Hamburg. In the years or so before World War I, Liverpool’s dock system expanded by over percent. Friel contends that massive investment in development during this period saw Britain’s major ports through the worst crises of the World Wars and the Great Depression. The general trends of the industrial era impacted many European ports. From , when the North Sea Canal opened, until World War II, Amsterdam maintained a position as one of Europe’s leading mid-sized ports. Michiel Wagenaar () asserts that the port’s relative prosperity was based, in part, on infrastructural development meant to offset its geographical disadvantages as ships became larger. Another beneficiary of th-century port development was Antwerp. Amidst a weakening competitive position compared to Rotterdam, government intervention after promoted large-scale improvements. By the late th century, both the Port of Antwerp and its regional hinterland were thriving. Many Danish ports were also enlarged and refurbished; one major improvement was a dock-harbor at Esbjerg, completed in . The railways increased Esbjerg’s importance as an export center, and several enlargements were undertaken through the early th century. Likewise, in Copenhagen saw the construction of a free harbor with the infrastructure typical of Europe’s larger ports, such as electrical cranes and warehouse facilities. Like those in many other western European nations, Denmark’s small ports did not disappear altogether, but shipping, especially in the export trades, was concentrated in a few major ports. This development was mirrored in Eastern Europe, where most pre-industrial ports had been small. As in the West, bigger vessels and overland links made many of the lesser ports redundant, and shipping was concentrated in the larger centers. Stettin (Szczecin, in modern Poland), for example, thrived after following the construction of a railway line to Berlin. In the th and early th centuries, such changes occurred faster than at any previous time in history, and this trend only gathered momentum from the s on.
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Modern European Ports During World War II, a number of European ports, like Hamburg, were virtually destroyed, while others such as London suffered extensive damage. Nonetheless, Europe’s economy had recovered significantly by the s, and extensive expansion plans were carried out from then through the s. Even more so than the th century, the modern era has been characterized by rapid change. Political, economic, and technological shifts have all greatly impacted Europe’s ports, although they remain as important as ever, if not more so. As the European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) reports, the European Union (EU) is now home to more than , ports, handling on average . billion tons of cargo and transporting million passengers annually. As maritime trade in commodities like fuels and consumer goods expanded in the s and s, existing technology proved inadequate to meet requirements. As Yehuda Hayuth and David Hilling () note, new technology often emerged so rapidly as to render existing infrastructure obsolete during its normal working life. In some of the long-established British ports—Liverpool and Glasgow, for instance—redundancy became a real problem as labor-intensive, inefficient cargo-handling methods created costly delays for shippers. To combat this, the shipping industry adopted new technologies, especially in ship design, and European ports either had to accommodate these or fall by the wayside. Since the late th century, ship sizes have increased dramatically, especially in the case of oil tankers. Few conventional ports could handle the largest of these vessels, and new deep-water facilities have been constructed at ports like Milford Haven (England) and Rotterdam. As Western Europe’s only North Sea harbor with fairly deep water close by, Rotterdam can accommodate the biggest supertankers and break bulk carriers. Located a mere nautical miles from Rotterdam, Amsterdam is limited by the depth of the North Sea Canal and the IJmuiden Lock gates. At the port of Antwerp, the building of larger locks still does not permit handling some of the largest vessels using Rotterdam. Similarly, the Kiel Canal and Baltic routes limit the traffic of the largest bulk carriers. Large vessels are only economical if they can be loaded and unloaded quickly. Thus, there has also been a revolution in cargo-handling technology—roll-on/roll-off (Ro/ Ro) vessels and standardized containers being especially important as they drastically reduce vessels’ time in port and increase efficiency. Dover, Britain, became the nation’s most important roll-on/roll-off port. Likewise, Felixstowe and Southampton, both in convenient locales and with plenty of room for expansion, developed as important container ports. Such ports need large areas of land for container storage, with efficient, unobstructed access. This requirement has often necessitated the separation of modern European port facilities from the traditional port city core, a development affecting both northern and Mediterranean ports. The dislocation between modern port facilities and the old core area can lead to urban decline in metropolitan port centers, although Hamburg, Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Barcelona have all had some success in fostering civic pride in port development.
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With the size of their container vessels growing exponentially, ship owners have tried to lower costs by making less calls in port. By the s, Sea Land vessels were put in only at Rotterdam and Bremerhaven (Germany), while P & O Containers Ltd., used but a single British port for each of its main services. Other ports were served by feeder services, and major ship owners kept an eye open for the best new facilities, creating a vigorous competition among the leading European ports. The level of service expected by customers was often expensive, tending toward further concentration of services in a few major ports. Hayuth and Hilling () contend that in recent years, there has been a loss of any national port, and old patterns of regional competition— Rotterdam versus Antwerp, Marseille versus Genoa—have largely fallen by the wayside. Whereas previously, European ports were forced to compete with rivals across the continent. Another change in the container era was a shift from south to north in goods traffic. Hayuth and Hilling state that the Mediterranean, with its access to the Suez Canal, was a natural access point for rapidly expanding commodity traffic with East Asia. In practice, many vessels bypassed these ports, which in the late th century were marked by labor unrest, high costs, and low productivity. Still, some southern ports, like MarseilleFos, have engaged in far-reaching improvement schemes. A further development has been the growing political and economic ties between the European Union nations. In the context of their ports, however, Ray Riley and Louis Shurmer-Smith contend that the EU failed to develop a coordinated policy. Consequently, Europe possessed a fragmented port system, with many different approaches to doing business. According to Riley and Shurmer-Smith (), the original six-member European community had little need for a coordinated ports policy, and in recent decades many member-states still put national interests above policy integration. What integration there was, they allege, came largely from market forces, especially the growing number of Europeans traveling by motorized sea transport. Indeed, an important goal for the EU (and Scandinavia), especially in the English Channel and North Sea, was the provision of adequate port-to-port ferry connections. In the context of European integration, a further challenge came with the fall of the iron curtain and closer ties between East and West. Like their Western counterparts, Eastern Europe’s Communist regimes undertook major post-war port development projects. In Poland, one of the region’s most important maritime nations, for example, the period – saw major investments in infrastructure to accommodate specialized trade, such as fuels (Gdańsk), and for bulk carriers (Gdynia). Development slowed in the late s, however. By the s, Poland was left with outmoded infrastructure and technology, plus a lack of deep-water capacity. Derek Hall () contends that the rapid changes experienced by Eastern Europe from the late s created uncertainty, not least in terms of its ports. German reunification and the fall of the Soviet Union, he says, were likely to cause short- to medium-term decline in Eastern seaports, as trade is reoriented toward the West. On the other hand, the long-term development of continental maritime links will probably see a general upturn for Eastern European ports.
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Integrating these centers into Europe’s economic and political milieu is yet another test for contemporary port planners. Rotterdam In the early th century, the port of Rotterdam was about on par with rivals like London, Bremen (Germany), and Antwerp. By the s, however, Rotterdam had emerged as the world’s largest port. According to Flierman (), Rotterdam’s rise as a modern port was based in part on geography—its location on the River Rhine Delta, and on links to Germany by inland waterways. Furthermore, the Nieuwe Waterweg (New Waterway) connected Rotterdam to the North Sea as an open harbor, while Germany’s industrialization saw the Ruhr developed, and Rotterdam emerged as the main transshipment port for the products of the area’s heavy industry. The port has suffered some difficult times, however. When informal tramp shipping, freightage that does not adhere to a schedule or published ports of call, on which the port was heavily dependant, declined in the Great Depression, Rotterdam’s trade suffered accordingly, with many dock workers laid off. The city and port suffered another blow when both were heavily damaged in World War II. By the s, though, reconstruction of the harbor was well underway. The Dutch government and locals made concerted efforts to industrialize Rotterdam, and its trade surpassed pre-war highs as early as . In , Rotterdam overtook New York as the world’s largest port, when measured by cargo handled. Another important development occurred in when Rotterdam became Europe’s first port equipped to handle full container ships. The oil industry was an important plank in Rotterdam’s development, and from the s on it was one of the world’s largest refining centers. In fact, by the early s the Europort area had been developed to accommodate the biggest oil tankers in service. Flierman contends that Rotterdam was fortunate in having sufficient room for such developments. The port’s refineries expanded after , and it was their influence that ensured Rotterdam’s North Sea access was deepened to accommodate contemporary supertanker traffic. Soon, nearby ports like Amsterdam and Antwerp began to have their crude oil piped in from Rotterdam. Although Rotterdam was affected by the s oil crisis, its petro-chemical industry endured as the port was still able to handle the largest tankers. Another of Rotterdam’s modern pillars was the handling of general cargoes (a traditional port activity) and more recently. containers. In the post-war era, Rotterdam overtook Amsterdam as Holland’s most important general cargo port, although no massive development work was needed to accommodate this trade. This changed when the first container vessels arrived in . Since that date a number of container terminals, equipped with special cranes for the very largest vessels, have been constructed. As Reginald Loyen and his collaborators note, Rotterdam greatly benefitted from Sea Land’s and other lines’ decision to restrict their ports of call, making Rotterdam their major European container hub. As the th century closed the port was double the size of competitors like Hamburg and Antwerp. Although its very level of success makes it somewhat atypical, Rotterdam does illustrate the great changes occurring in Europe’s modern ports, not all of them positive:
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containerization has resulted in fewer, though larger, vessels put into Rotterdam, with harbor times reduced. Another negative result has been a substantial loss of employment, with major strikes occurring from the late s on. Much of the port’s infrastructure has been reconstructed or moved, partly to answer a need for greater quay room and cargo space. Restructuring has also seen companies focus their activities on a single location within the port, while a similar concentration has occurred in the case of individual trades, like that in fruit. A trend toward increasing size is still present, and many smaller companies have disappeared, overtaken by larger corporate entities. For Rotterdam, like its competitors, the only constant is change. Europe’s ports (like those worldwide) are continually evolving entities, impacted by the changing nature of trade and technology, which governs their future role in Europe’s maritime economy. David J. Clarke
References and Further Reading Akveld, L.M. and J.R. Bruijn, eds. Shipping Companies and Authorities in the th and th Centuries. Their Common Interest in the Development of Port Facilities. Den Haag, Netherlands: Nederlandse Vereniging voor Zeegeschiedenis, . Cunliffe, Barry. Facing the Ocean. The Atlantic and its Peoples BC-AD . Oxford: Oxford University Press, . De Goey, Ferry, ed. Comparative Port History of Rotterdam and Antwerp ( –). Amsterdam: Askant Academic Publishers, . European Sea Ports Organisation, . http://www.espo.be. Flierman, A. H. “Change and Continuity in the Port of Rotterdam,” in P. Holm and J. Edwards, eds. North Sea Ports and Harbours, –, Esbjerg: North Sea Society of Esbjerg, . Friel, Ian. The British Museum Maritime History of Britain and Ireland c. –. London: British Museum Press, . Hall, Derek R., ed. Transport and Economic Development in the New Central and Eastern Europe. London: Belhaven Press, . Hayuth, Y. and Hilling, D. Technological Change and Seaport Development; in B.S. Hoyle and D. Pinder (eds.) European Port Cities in Transition, pp. –. London: Belhaven Press, . Holm, Poul and John Edwards, eds. North Sea Ports and Harbours—Adaptations to Change. Esbjerg: North Sea Society of Esbjerg, . Hoyle, B.S. and D.A. Pinder, eds. European Port Cities in Transition. London: Belhaven Press, . Konvitz, Josef W. Cities & the Sea. Port City Planning in Early Modern Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, . Lawton, Richard and Robert Lee, eds. Population and Society in Western European Port-Cities c. –. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, . Malkin, Irad and Robert L. Hohlfelder, eds. Mediterranean Cities: Historical Perspectives. London: Frank Cass, . Mollat du Jourdin, Michel. Europe and the Sea. Translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, .
EUROPEAN CANALS Møller, Anders Monrad. “Danish ports in the th and th centuries,” in P. Holm and J. Edwards, eds. North Sea Ports and Harbours, Esbjerg: North Sea Society of Esbjerg, . Morgan, F.W. Ports and Harbours. London: Hutchinson & Co., . Nettle, Stanley. Port Operations and Shipping: A Guide to Ports and Related Aspects of the Shipping Industry. London: Lloyd’s of London Press, . Riley, Ray and Shurmer-Smith, Louis. Maritime Links, Seaport Systems and European Integration; in B.S. Hoyle and D. Pinder (eds.), European Port Cities, pp. –. London: Belhaven Press, . Wagenaar, Michiel. Urban Development and Civil Freedom. Bussem: Thoth, .
EUROPEAN CANALS Central Europe, southern Scandinavia, and the British Isles all developed complex systems of artificial waterways or canals. While only inland-waterway vessels can use the wide majority of these narrow and shallow canals, the Kiel Canal between the North Sea and the Baltic, which opened in , is still today a relevant waterway for ocean-going vessels. One of the very first artificial waterways in Europe was the Stecknitz Canal, between the river Elbe and the Baltic port city of Lübeck (Germany), built in the last decade of the th century. Initiated by the salt and fish trade of the Hanseatic League, the Stecknitz Canal was the first artificial waterway in history to overcome a natural watershed. Salt produced in the city of Lüneburg was shipped on barges that were meters in length, . meters in width and . meters draft. On July nd , the first barges reached Lübeck after passing locks during a five-week journey. Due to the enormous human and capital resources required to build a canal, very few canal projects followed the Stecknitz Canal during the late medieval or early modern period. Although several canal projects were proposed during these periods, such as the idea of passing the peninsula of Jutland or sailing from the North Sea to the Baltic without the passage around Cape Skagen, inland waterway navigation primarily relied on natural waterways like rivers and lakes. All of them failed until the -mile long Eider Canal was finished in , allowing coastal vessels of meters in length and ton cargo capacity to pass the canal in three or four days (or only hours for steamers). The Swedish Göta Canal is another example of an early modern canal project in the Baltic area. Finally completed in , the canal provided a waterway between the Swedish west coast and the Stockholm area by passing the Oresund, thereby avoiding the dues charged to pass through. Nevertheless, the Göta Canal was not economically successful because of the introduction of railways only a few decades later. As the longest artificial waterway in Sweden, it is still in operation and used by thousands of yachts every summer. Similar to the northern part of Europe, several canal projects were proposed for western and southern Europe. The most important project was the Canal du Midi, or Canal Royal, connecting the French Atlantic coast with the Mediterranean, and enabling ships to avoid the long and risky journey around the Iberian Peninsula. In , Pierre-Paul
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Riquet presented his project of the canal to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the French minister of finance, and King Louis XIV approved the canal project in . On May , , the canal could finally be opened. The number of locks varied through the centuries, but was always very high. In , locks had to be passed if travelling on the Canal du Midi. Although a World Heritage Site, the economic relevance of the canal is relatively minimal. However, before competition from railways started, the canal generated large economic benefits for the regions of southern France. On the British Isles, the era of canals began in the th century as the Industrial Revolution caused a demand for cheap transportation, especially for coal, which could not be satisfied by the road system. Financed strictly by private funds, the third Duke of Bridgewater initiated a canal project between his coalmines in Worsley and the city of Manchester. Opened in , the Bridgewater Canal was an immediate economic success. Within a few years only the canal was re-financed by passage fees. Furthermore, decreasing coal prices in Manchester caused an increased demand for coal. Like many other British canals built in the decades to follow, the Bridgewater Canal was designed for navigation with narrow boats only. Although these boats had an average cargo capacity of only tons, over , miles of canals were built in the United Kingdom during the Canal Mania period that lasted until the s. The era of commercial inland waterway transportation ended after less than a century when the narrow boats could no longer compete with the railway because of their limited cargo capacity. Nevertheless, the British narrow canals, which largely still exist today for pleasure boating, were a sophisticated and effective transport system for the critical freight of the Industrial Revolution. While the British and Swedish canal systems are today mostly of interest for leisure shipping or as monuments of transport history, canals in the Benelux and in Germany are still of high economic value. Inland waterway navigation in these European regions had a long history, but until the th century mainly as river navigation on the Rhine, Weser, Elbe, Oder, and Danube. Similar to the United Kingdom, the Industrial Revolution caused a growing transport demand, especially for bulk products like coal or ore, which could not be satisfied by river navigation because of the different directions of the rivers and the specific transport needs. Prussia is a prime example of a region that fostered canal projects to link the different river systems in its territory. The Finow Canal linked the Havel and Oder rivers, and provided a connection between Berlin and the Baltic ports. Since the th century, the Finow Canal could be used by ships measuring . feet in length, feet in width, and . feet draft, which is still the smallest standard size of European inland barges. In , the Finow Canal was replaced by the Oder-Havel Canal, which remains one of the most important waterways of the European canal system. The project of the Mittellandkanal (midland canal) forms a connection beginning at the Rhine, crossing the Weser and the Elbe, and continuing to the Berlin region where it connects the industrial area of the Ruhrgebiet with the port cities of Bremen and Hamburg, and later on with Berlin and the Baltic. The Mittellandkanal was first proposed in the s and was built in several phases of construction; the Rhine was connected to the Weser in , and to the Elbe in . After German reunification, the canal bridge
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above the Elbe near Magdeburg was finally completed in , and the whole Mittellandkanal could be used by modern standard inland waterway vessels of more than ,-ton cargo capacity. Several short branch canals completed the Mittellandkanal system and linked certain industrial areas to the main canal. All together, the system provides an actual west-east inland waterway that complements the many north-south rivers of Northern Europe. Another west-east European canal project dates back to the medieval period, but was completed as late as . The Rhine-Main-Danube Canal was first mentioned as “Fossa Carolina” in the th century. First completed as Ludwigskanal, in this canal enabled small inland barges to navigate between the Rhine and the Danube, and consequently between the North Sea and the Black Sea. Too small for the commercial vessels of the th century, the Ludwigskanal was finally replaced by today’s RhineMain-Danube Canal, which can be used for push-barges up to meters in length, . meters in width, and a maximum draft of . meters. Other European canals were built for specific purposes in the late th or th century, and completed the inland waterway system as a traffic network that links most seaports of the North Sea coast with the industrial regions of central Europe. For example, the Dortmund-Ems Canal, completed in , connects the Ruhrgebiet with the North Sea port of Emden, and consequently the German navy port of Wilhelmshaven, and was primary designed for German coal supply for the imperial navy vessels. Even the Cold War fostered the construction of canals. The Elbe-Seitenkanal has linked the Ruhrgebiet with the Port of Hamburg since , without the need to pass the territory of the German Democratic Republic. Conversely, the German Democratic Republic built the Havel Canal, which provided a connection between the Oder and the Havel without traveling through West Berlin. Many canals in the Netherlands (built during the period of European inland waterway navigation) complete the European canal system by linking different estuary creeks of the complex Rhine-Meuse estuary. While only the Kiel Canal is a relevant artificial waterway for ocean-going vessels in Europe today, and canal systems in Scandinavia, France, or the United Kingdom have lost their economic relevance due to their small sizes and competition by railway or road, there is a complex system of canals in central Europe that is still essential to the freight transportation system. Vessels of more than , ton cargo capacity can use the majority of this canal system with a total length of several thousand miles. The canals and the natural waterways provide direct navigation between most industrial areas in continental Europe as well as connections with the major port cities around Europe, especially the North Sea and Baltic Ports. While bulk cargo like coal, grain, oil, or building materials dominates today’s traffic on the canals, canals are also increasingly being used for container transport or even cruises. Containers are moved intermodally—transferred from huge container ships to shallow draft barges to reach inland destinations (last leg by truck). In addition to their value as a transportation system, European canals have always been, and continue to be, part of the water management system in continental Europe
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as well as recreational areas and biotope networks. Furthermore, the canals of Europe are an integrated part of the cultural landscape of Europe. Ingo Heidbrink References and Further Reading Calvert, R. Inland Waterways of Europe. London: Allen and Unwin, . Edwards, Lewis A. Inland Waterways of Great Britain: England, Wales and Scotland. Huntington, England: Imray, Laurie, Norie & Wilson, Ltd., . Schinkel, Eckhard. Schiffslift. Die Schiffshebewerke der Welt. Essen, Germany: Klartext, . Strähler, Walter. Zwischen Rhein, Ruhr und Nordsee: Die Geschichte der westdeutschen Kanäle. Gelsenkirchen-Buer, Germany: Neufang, . Teubert, Oskar. Die Binnenschiffahrt. Ein Handbuch für alle Beteiligten. Vol. . Leipzig, Germany: Wilhelm Engelmann, . Teubert, Oskar. Die Binnenschiffahrt. Ein Handbuch für alle Beteiligten.Vol. . Leipzig, Germany: Wilhelm Engelmann, . Tomlinson, Edward Padget. The Illustrated History of Canal & River Navigation. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, .
EUROPEAN DAMS AND LOCKS Dams, which have been a fixture along major rivers in Europe since the th century, have been historically instrumental to Europe’s economies by providing irrigation, power, and aiding waterborne transportation. The first dams in Europe are closely related to the need for the power produced by watermills. Since the medieval period, small rivers and creeks were used for power-production all over Europe, especially in those regions with a sufficient natural water supply. The power generated by watermills was used for grinding grain, sawing wood, and industrial purposes beginning in the early modern-period. Oftentimes, watermills required a dam to retain a certain amount of water for operating the mill, but because these mills were normally located at small rivers or creeks without relevance for inland waterway navigation, no locks were constructed at these dams. However, some rivers and creeks with mills were also used for drifting timber, which often caused severe conflicts between those parties interested in the mill and those interested in drifting or rafting timber. In such cases, weirs were integrated into the dam and could be opened for certain periods, allowing the rafts or the drifting timber to pass the weir. Watermills with dams also disrupted fishing and agriculture by, respectively, preventing fish from moving upstream and flooding meadows, either destroying crops or taking rich low-lying land out of production. Europe’s first locks were constructed along with the first canals linking watersheds. Such canals, like the Stecknitz Canal, between the river Elbe and the Baltic port city Lübeck (opened in ), required locks for climbing up and down the hills. The very first designs, called flash-locks, entailed very simple constructions with only one floodgate
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for ships passing through flash locks; the downhill floodgate would be opened after a certain amount of water had been retained behind the floodgate, so that the ship easily drifted downhill on the wave of water. For ships traveling uphill, the process was very similar, but with ships being pulled against the outgoing wave of water through the floodgate. A much more sophisticated design for a lock was developed at the same time, as well as for the Stecknitz Canal. The entry lock of the canal at the Elbe was built with two floodgates, as a kind of pound-lock, and could consequently be operated like any modern lock. This particular lock, named Plamschleuse, originally Schlüse zu Bockhorst, does not only still exist, but is the oldest remaining lock in Europe. The development of locks and dams in Europe closely followed the development of the inland waterway system during the Early Modern period. In fact, the building of locks was an integral part of the construction of artificial canals for inland waterway navigation. Providing a water supply for these canals was of equal importance, especially the summit sections of the Canal du Midi in southern France (built between and ), which required additional water supply for the operation of the canal and locks. This particular problem was solved by building a massive dam at Saint Ferréol on the nearby river Laudot to supply water for the Canal du Midi. With a length of ,. feet, a base of up to . feet thick, and a height of nearly . feet above the original riverbed, the dam was not only one of the very first big dams in Europe but also one of the largest pieces of civil engineering in Europe during the Early Modern period. Opposite to the Canal du Midi, the Swedish inland waterway between Lake Vänern and the port city of Gothenburg required no additional water supply because of Lake Vänern and the Göta Älv River. But for navigation between the lake and the river, the waterfalls at Trollhättan and Lilla Edet created a problem. Although plans to design a system of locks dates back to the s, it took until before the complex system of locks at Trollhättan could be completed to overcome the -meter waterfall obstacle. The most intensive period of lock construction coincided with the rise of inland waterway navigation in the era of industrialization, starting in the th century. While many rivers had been used for inland waterway navigation for centuries, the growth in ship size demanded larger water depths than the natural depths of the rivers. The most common practice to overcome the obstacle of shallow rivers was to build barrages to increase water depth, thus improving navigation. Barrage and lock combination, which can be found today at nearly every European river, were comparably easy to construct, and had to be accompanied by locks. Much more sophisticated locks are found at the inland waterway canal system, as they have to accommodate greater heights and a comparably low water supply. Constructed as staircase locks (for example near Bingley in England in , or in Trollhättan in Sweden in ) several designs were developed to override great heights. Combined with water saving basins and pump system lock designs developed in around , water consumption in each operational circle of a lock was reduced to one-third of the normally required amount of water. While modern inland waterway vessels could use most rivers in Europe after building barrages and locks, there were some passages already too shallow and dangerous for
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navigation in the period after World War II. In particular, the Iron Gate passage of the Danube was still dangerous, and was one of the most relevant obstacles for navigation on the entire river. Although a lot of hydraulic engineering was done at the Iron Gate passage during the th century, the obstacle could finally only become overridden by the construction of a very large dam, which was finally constructed as a joint RomanianYugoslavian project. Opened in , it raised the river by meters, and included two hydroelectric power stations and two groups of locks for navigation. Although the dam was of critical importance for navigation and power production, it caused the relocation of , people formerly living in the now flooded area, and also had a big impact on the ecosystem of the Danube. The dam at the Iron Gate is one of the very few mega-dams in Europe, and may be the only one that can be compared with projects like the Three Gorges dam in China. In addition to the dams—directly related to navigational rivers—in Europe there are several dams, especially in the Alps and other mountainous areas of Europe, which were built only for the production of hydroelectric power. Although these dams are much bigger than the medieval dams related to watermills, their basic purpose is principally the same. As the rivers retained by these dams are of little or no relevance for navigation, locks accompany very few of them. The largest locks in Europe were not built in connection with dams. Furthermore, these locks were built at tidal influenced ports to create better docking. For example, the ports of London, Antwerp, Wilhelmshaven, and Bremerhaven are separated by massive rocks from their local tidal-influenced open sea or river estuaries. Like the locks along rivers, many of these locks were constructed as early as the late Early Modern period using a very simple design without water saving basins, or any other more sophisticated technology to reduce their water consumption. In sum, dams and locks in Europe can be divided into three major groups: • Dams for power production (normally without locks) • Dams and locks combination for inland waterway navigation • Locks at tidal influenced sea-ports (normally without dams, but in many cases combined with dykes) While major projects like the Iron Gate Dam at the Danube has clearly had an impact on the eco-system of that particular river, the negative effects of the smaller dams and locks are more difficult to evaluate. Many of these dams and locks are older than one or two centuries, and the respective eco-systems have adapted themselves to the change of water level, or the decreasing currents in the rivers and creeks. Like many other parts of the inland-waterway system, they are part of the cultural landscape of Europe today, providing commercial benefits as adapted eco-systems or recreational areas. Today there are many regional, national, and even international political debates concerning the question of new dams and/or locks at the few larger rivers in Europe that still run wild, or at least without dam and lock combinations, like the Elbe, the Oder or a number of rivers in Northern Scandinavia.
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Although construction drawings for dams and locks along these rivers have existed since the s, or even earlier, it is not likely that they will ever be built. It seems that the era of dam and lock construction in Europe is more or less completely gone, except for dams and locks replacing deteriorating structures. Despite environmental objections, replacement is highly likely because of the increase in waterways for freight transportation, as gravel, coal, petroleum, grains, and large equipment are all still largely transported via barges through the locks and canals. Unlike the United States, because of a lack of European freight rail infrastructure in the st century, there has been considerable growth in sea-to-sea transshipment through ports such as Rotterdam, with container barges traveling to the hinterland markets, and then trucking to a final destination. While the era of new dams and locks may be gone, the use of inland waterways to ship commodities and products is still on the rise. Ingo Heidbrink References and Further Reading Calvert, R. Inland Waterways of Europe. London: George Allen & Unwin, . Hadfield, Charles, ed. World Canals. Newton Abbot, UK: David & Charles, . “Rotterdam’s Modal Split.” World Cargo News, June , . http://www.worldcargonews. com/htm/w..htm. Teubert, Oskar. Die Binnenschiffahrt. Ein Handbuch für alle Beteiligten. vols. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, , . Uhlemann, Hans-Joachim. Schleusen und Wehre: Technik und Geschichte. Hamburg: DSV-Verlag, .
EUROPEAN RIVERS Rivers in Europe have been important since ancient times, and most of the early settlements clustered along or close to rivers due to their usefulness for transport, trade, natural defenses, and subsistence fishing. River banks consist of some of the most fertile land on the continent. In addition, rivers have often served as a natural boundary between countries. In the case of the European continent, the Ural Mountains, and the Ural River to the south of it, are regarded as its eastern boundary. Up until the development of steam engine in the th century, populations clustered near water mills, as they were the most effective way to grind grain. Many of the major cities in Europe developed along rivers, even mythical ones. In the ancient world, Greek mythology had the mythical River Styx form the boundary between Earth and Hades, the underworld. As well as being the route taken by the dead, it was also invested with magical powers—the young Achilles being lowered into the river to make him invulnerable if any of his body parts touched the water (his mother held him by his heels—hence the Achilles heel). The Greeks also had a God of Rivers, Scamander, who sided with the Trojans in the Trojan War, fighting against Achilles. There are a number of important historical rivers in Ancient Greece including the Eurotas River, on the west bank of which was the city of Sparta, and Olympia was
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located on the north bank of the River Alpheus. Athens, close to the River Ilissus, gained its water from a connected aqueduct. Although the Greeks sailed around the Mediterranean, rivers were a far more essential aspect of the Roman Empire. Indeed, some of the surviving maps of the ancient world include a vastly exaggerated size of rivers, and great weight was given to Volturnus, the god of the river. Rome was founded on the River Tiber, and the river was prominent in its subsequent history. The mythological twins, Romulus and Remus, were abandoned on its banks, and it formed the early boundary between the emerging township of Rome and the Etruscan lands. The wooden bridge over the Tiber formed an important part of the story of the formation of the Roman Republic, with Horatius managing to repel the Etruscans until the bridge was destroyed behind him. For the Roman Republic, the River Po dominated Cisalpine Gaul, demarcating one line of defense. In the attack on Rome in – b.c.e., Hannibal relied heavily on the Carthaginians adeptness at crossing rivers. After the taking of Saguntum, the fording of the River Ebro in northern Spain signified the beginning of the attack on Italy. In his march to Italy, Hannibal managed to get his troops, and his elephants, over the Rhône River, which was one of the early instances of armies making pontoon bridges in Europe. He defeated the Romans at the Battle of the River Ticinus in November b.c.e., and the Battle of the River Trebia in December. The great Battle of Cannae on August , , where Hannibal crushed the Romans, occurred at the Aufidus River. The Battle of the River Metaurus in b.c.e., took place close to what is now the Metauro River. The battle is regarded as one of the most decisive battles in history, as it marked the defeat of Hastrubal, Hannibal’s brother, who was bringing Carthaginian reinforcements into Italy, and thus saved the city of Rome from a possible Carthaginian attack. When Julius Caesar campaigned in Gaul, his bridge over the Rhine River, constructed in June b.c.e., was the first time a large Roman force could easily cross into what is modern-day France. However, the most significant river in Roman history was Rubicon River in northern Italy, which was the southern boundary of Cisalpine Gaul. When Julius Caesar crossed it on January , b.c.e., stating “the die is cast,” he was signifying his aim of overthrowing the Roman Republic. The term “crossing one’s Rubicon” later became synonymous with making an irrevocable decision. Caesar went on to defeat his enemy, Pompey, at the Battle of Pharsalus in Greece, along the Enipeus River. For the Roman Empire, the Danube also was noteworthy, signifying the northern boundary of the Roman Empire in central and eastern Europe, with the Rhine marking the eastern boundary of Roman Gaul. Spa resorts were established in Europe dating even before Roman times, as people drank the waters from underwater rivers or springs, or bathed in them to improve their strength or wellbeing. Many resorts, including Bath in England, Vichy in France, and Wiesbaden in Germany emerged throughout Europe. There are also references in literature, and from archaeological evidence, that retiring senior officials had villas alongside rivers, with, by tradition, Pontius Pilate living out his last days in exile along the River Vienne. As recently as , there was an apparition of what was believed to have been the Virgin Mary in a grotto, near the riverbank at Lourdes in southern France, and this has led to many people traveling to Lourdes for the “taking [of ] the waters” to help with
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The Ponte Fabricio footbridge in Rome is the oldest original bridge over the Tiber River, dating from b.c.e. The Tiber River flows through Rome and served as the city’s primary transportation artery in ancient times. Corel.
cures. Many of the places in Europe also began taking their names from rivers, such as Berwick-upon-Tweed, Kingston-upon-Hull, Kingston-upon-Thames, Newcastle-uponTyne, Stoke-on-Trent, and Stratford-upon-Avon in England; Hay-on-Wye in Wales; Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany; and Rostov-na-Don in Russia. In the Dark Ages and the early medieval period in Europe, there were many battles fought on or near rivers. The Battle of Châlons, along the River Marne, in Gaul, in mid-June c.e., saw the later Roman forces under Theodoric blunting the attack of Attila and the Huns. The siege of Paris, which lasted from November , —October c.e., and was one of the major events in the Carolingian Dynasty, relied on the Vikings controlling the Seine River. Indeed, it was the Vikings ability to navigate the rivers in northern France and the British Isles that permitted them to attack and lay waste to countries almost at will. Part of their skill came from their navigation of the fjords of Norway and Sweden, and they used similar tactics in their fighting on the River Thames in . In , the English crusaders, on their way to the Holy Land, stopped in Portugal and sailed up the River Tagus to help the local Christians capture Lisbon from the Moors. Because rivers so often flowed through cities, or formed boundaries, they played
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a prominent part in medieval life. In Britain, battles on or along rivers or streams include Fulford (September , , near the Ouse) Stamford Bridge (September , , around a crossing over the River Derwent), Bannockburn ( June –, , near the River Forth), Shrewsbury (May , , near the River Severn), and Tewkesbury (May , , after the Lancastrians crossed the River Severn). During the Hundred Years’ War, the Battle of Crecy took place along the River Maye, August , . Joan of Arc also led the French across the Loire River to retake Orleans in , and later fought on the River Seine at Rouen. In eastern Europe, the Russians defeated the invading Swedes at the Battle of the River Neva in , and at the Battle of Maritsa, on the Maritsa River in modern-day Greece, the combined Serbian-Bulgarian army was annihilated by the Ottomans. Although rivers had always been important for transporting heavy items, and in wars river ports such as London, Paris, Bordeaux, Lisbon, Antwerp, Vienna, Kiev, and Oslo were often more successful than coastal ports, in early modern Europe, rivers started to become important for more aesthetic reasons. In England, King Henry VIII, and later his daughter Queen Elizabeth I, enjoyed traveling on the River Thames, with the Tudor family and their court having many residences along the river, providing easy access to London, especially the Tower of London. Hampton Court became a popular retreat for Henry, and the region around Richmond-upon-Thames was developed heavily during this period, as was Windsor. It was not long before the growth of London led to the loss of some rivers, such as the River Fleet—and under the Stuarts, the draining of the Fenlands and parts of Lincolnshire led to the loss of some waterways and the emergence of others. Canals in the Netherlands dramatically transformed what was often known as the Low Countries. In France during the same period, many of the chateaus of the Loire Valley were also being built. In eastern Europe, castles were often built along rivers, with the River Neman being the border between the lands held by the Teutonic Order and Lithuania, as stipulated in the Treaty of Lake Melno in . By the mid-th century, some river banks came to represent different things. Because of restrictions on entertainment in London, on the south bank of the River Thames, where there were less regulations, taverns and theaters operated and proliferated, with many of the plays of William Shakespeare and others performed in Southwark, in what became known as the Southbank. Indeed, this tradition continued to the Festival of Britain, which took place in in a redevelopment in Southbank. In Paris, the Left Bank of the River Seine became known for its literary connections and intellectual pursuits. For the city of Londonderry, in the north of Ireland, the River Foyle came to divide the western, Roman Catholic part of the city from the largely Protestant eastern part. There were also many places that became identified by their bridges, such as the River Thames, which was identified by London Bridge, and the River Neretva by the Mostar Bridge. There was also a number of diving competitions and events that took place from a number of the bridges. For example, beginning in , Rome holds an annual event every January , in which people dive from the Cavour Bridge into the Tiber. Similarly, the Russians jump into the icy Moskva River in Moscow, and jumping from the Mostar
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Bridge into the River Neretva is a tradition that dates back to at least . Various sporting events are also set on rivers, such as the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on the River Thames, starting in (and annually since , except during World War I and II); punting in the River Cam through Cambridge (although more as a relaxing pastime than a sporting event), and various rowing and kayaking races, later with white water rafting in Switzerland and Iceland where some rivers flow extremely fast. By the time of French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, military strategy often involved speedy attacks and working around geographical problems associated with rivers: At the Battle of Lodi on May , , on the River Po in northern Italy, Napoleon first established his adeptness and fearlessness. The Battle of Rivoli in January was fought on the River Adige, with the Battle of Friedland in seeing the French driving the Russians over the River Alle. In , Napoleon had formed the entity called Confederation of the Rhine, bringing together the states that were close to the river, and holding it together until ; in , on a raft in the middle of the River Neman, Napoleon and Emperor Alexander I of Russia signed the Treaty of Tilsit. When Napoleon’s Grande Armée crossed the Vistula in , this marked the start of the invasion of Russia, and likewise when the French crossed the River Sambre on June , , it signaled Napoleon’s attack, which culminated in the Battle of Waterloo three days later. Much of the industrialization in Western Europe during the late th and early th century took place at sites near rivers, allowing for easy transportation of coal, iron, and late steel. Mersey and the Humber in England became major waterways during the first part of the industrial revolution. To connect cities and centers of industry, a number of canals were also developed to allow heavy boats and barges to move from one river system to another. The development of the railways necessitated the building of railway bridges over rivers, but the railways gradually took away much of the transport from the rivers. Some of the longer rivers in continental Europe continued to be of major importance in terms of travel from one region to another. Most prominent was the Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft (Danube Steamboat Shipping Company), founded in by the Austrian government, which transported passengers, cargo, and mail, even producing its own postage stamps. Following a failed assassination attempt on Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on June , , the assassin Nedeljko Cabrinovic tried to escape by jumping into the River Miljacka, after which he was soon apprehended. Later that same day, along the road along the same river, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Franz Ferdinand, precipitating a series of events that led to the start of World War I. With the outbreak of war, some of the campaigning in northern France centered around rivers—the retreat from the Marne in , and the battles of Verdun and the Somme, respectively near the River Meuse and the River Somme in . Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg), located on the River Neva, was the scene of the communist takeover in the Russian Revolution in October , during which the sailors from the Aurora, anchored in the river, were to play an important part in the events that led up to the storming of the Winter Palace. At the end of World War I, the Rhine emerged, as it had during the time of Napoleon, as crucial for the defense of France. The Treaty of Versailles helped France by getting
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Germany to agree to the demilitarization of the Rhineland, barring them from stationing soldiers on west bank of the river. Beginning in the s, there was a proliferation of postcards depicting bridges over European Rivers; such images became iconic scenes, often with a distinct romantic air. The same could also be said of calendars and pictorial books of that period. Such bridges as the Iron Bridge over the River Severn in England, the bridges over the River Seine in Paris, those over the River Po in Florence, and the Tiber in Rome came to symbolize the beauty and romance of Europe. In the s and s, the dredging of many of the rivers took place. Mussolini changed the boundary between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna to ensure that the source of the Tiber, which had springs, would be in the latter, as that was the province where he was born. On March , , Hitler ordered the remilitarization of the Rhineland with German soldiers ordered to cross the River Rhine and start taking up positions on the west bank of the river. In the Spanish Civil War, which started in late , the major battle fought on the River Ebro from July until November , , was, perhaps, one of the fiercest large battles in the war. It was a decisive victory for the Nationalists, forcing the Republicans to flee north of the river. In World War II, some of the fiercest fighting was for control of rivers, with the Germans taking the city of Danzig, gaining control of the mouth of the River Motlawa, a scene that appears in the book The Tin Drum by Günter Grass. The MolotovRibbentrop Pact set the western boundary of the Soviet Union at the River Bug. When the Germans invaded France, some of the heaviest fighting occurred on May , as they tried to force a passage over the River Meuse into Belgium. Within three days, they had control of the western bank of the river, making for the River Marne at Châlons, and then for Paris. There was also a major confrontation between the Germans and the Red Army, as the German army forced its way across the River Bug. The fighting at Kiev was heavy around the Dnieper River, and at Stalingrad around the River Volga. In the city was renamed Volgograd to signify its connection to the river. Later in the war, when the Red Army moved into Poland, reaching the eastern bank of the River Vistula was the signal for the Warsaw Uprising from August , until October , , but the Red Army withdrew instead of crossing the river to help liberate the Poles. Operation Market Garden at Arnhem, on the Lower Rhine River, involved Allied paratroopers trying to capture the bridges over the Rhine, immortalized in the book by Cornelius Ryan A Bridge Too Far. The later post-war settlement of Europe saw Germany accept the eastern border of the German Democratic Republic (along with Poland), being along the rivers Oder and Lusatian Neisse. Many years later in , with the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Dniester River running through Moldova helped lead to the proclamation of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, now better known as Transnistria, representing the lands to the west of the Dniester River. Although not internationally recognized, it is the only European country that takes its name from a river. Another development of significance was the announcement by the Northern League in Italy regarding the creation of Padania, an area centered on the River Po.
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Music also came to be associated with particular European rivers, with Handel’s Water Music, composed in , referring to the River Thames (where the music had its premier on July ), and Strauss’s Blue Danube referring to the Danube River as it passed through Austria. The Rhine has long been symbolic in German culture, and Richard Wagner made use of the three water nymphs, the Rhine daughters (or Rhinemaidens) in his Ring Cycle. Theophilus Marzials wrote music and words for Twickenham Ferry (), and Virgil Thomson wrote “The Seine at Night” (). European river scenes have long captivated the interest of painters. During the Renaissance, many of the paintings were of religious themes with Biblical rivers in the background, often looking more like their European counterparts. However, artists began painting Italian and later French rivers. The Dutch painters of the Renaissance often painted river scenes as well. The artist Aelbert Cuyp traveled on the Rhine, which was the subject of many of his works. Another Dutch artist, Jodocus Hondius, painted one of the Frost Fairs held on the River Thames in London when it froze over, as the fairs had become popular scenes for artists. William Hogarth’s classic drawings of drunken mothers sitting by the River Thames have become famous. J.M.W. Turner often painted rivers including The Thames near Walton Bridge (–) and his watercolor Ivy Bridge (). Turner’s The Burning of the Houses of Parliament () shows the great breadth of a river, in this case the Thames. John Constable, born in a village on the River Stour, in Suffolk, England, painted a number of English rivers. In France, Claude Monet (who also painted the River Thames) and Alfred Sisley painted the river at Argenteuil, and Monet also painted the snow at Vétheuil; Pissarro painted the Oise, and also the River Thames during his time spent in England. The Post-Impressionist Charles Angrand painted The Seine at Courbevoie (). The Irish artist Robert Gibbings used his woodcuts as illustrations in his books Sweet Thames Run Softly (), Coming Down the Seine () and Coming down the Wye (). Another feature of European culture, wine, has also been heavily associated with rivers, often because of the need for water for vineyards, as well for ease of transporting the final product. In France, many of the vineyards were located along the Loire River, and along the Dordogne and Garonne rivers, with others on the rivers Tarn, Aude, also extensively along the Rhône, and in the Champagne region around the River Marne. In Germany, wine growing is heavily concentrated along the River Mosel and the Rhine River, as well as on the rivers Enz, Neckar, Kocher, Main, and Tauber. In Italy, wine growing areas include the regions on either side of the Tanaro River, the Arno, the Oglio, and the Tevere. In Portugal, most of the grapes are grown around the River Douro, and in Spain, wine producing areas are situated along the rivers Guadiana, Ebro and Jucar. Since Roman times, and possibly before, rivers have provided power to drive mills, it has only been from the second half of the th century that major hydroelectric stations have been constructed to tap into this power. Those on the rivers in Albania now account for about percent of all electricity generation in the country; and the Soviet Union was also involved in utilizing power with the construction of plants, such as a plant at the Dnieper Dam.
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Southeastern Russia and the southern Ukraine were dominated by the rivers Dnieper, Don, and Volga, which crossed the southern Steppes. Historically this had led to the designation of different groups, such as the Don Cossacks, being the tribes along the Don, and the region was immortalized in Mikhail Sholokhov’s And Quiet Flows the Don (). The Volga now cuts through the eastern part of the Republic of Kalmykia, a part of the Russian Federation best known around the world for its involvement in world chess. In the late th century, authorities in many countries have been involved in the construction of bridges over rivers that previously had only been crossed by ferry. The de Abril Bridge in Portugal, opened in , is a large suspension bridge crossing the River Tagus, connecting the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, to Almada, a municipality on the left bank of the river. The Humber Bridge in northern England opened in and is now the fifth largest single-span suspension bridge in the world, crossing the Humber River. Another engineering feat across a river, for totally different reasons, is the Thames Barrier at Woolwich, which was completed in , and is used to prevent the Thames flooding low-lying parts of London. As rivers have been used for dumping unwanted goods and household waste, many of the rivers became seriously polluted. Beginning in the late s, as people began taking an increased interest in ecology, work cleaning up these rivers began. River such as the Thames, the Seine, the Rhine, the Rhône, and the Danube had large parts cleared of rubbish. Archaeologists also managed to find many medieval artifacts, and many museums and private collections were furnished with medieval and early modern items. Some estuaries are now conserved as nature reserves, or wetlands. There has long been interest in river cruises, and daytrips along the Seine and the Thames have been common since the th century. However, following the end of Communism in the late th century, cruises have become more popular in Eastern Europe as well. Danube cruises have also started to become popular with many tourists as a means of seeing Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, and Romania. Fishing for trout in Scotland and other parts of Europe has remained popular, as has interest in whitewater rafting on rivers in Iceland and Switzerland. There is also growing interest in underground rivers, with sites such as the Padirac River in central France being particularly popular. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co Inc., . Cioc, Mark. The Rhine: An Eco-Biography –. Seattle: University of Washington Press, . Jones, Sydney R. Thames Triumphant. London: Studio Publications, . Magris, Claudio. Danube. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, . Moacanin, Nenad. Town and Country on the Middle Danube –. Leiden: Brill, .
EUROPEAN RIVERS Porter, Cecelia Hopkins. The Rhine as Musical Metaphor: Cultural identity in German romantic music. Boston: Northeastern University Press, . Powell, Cecilia. Turner’s Rivers of Europe: The Rhine, Meuse and Mosel. London: Tate Gallery, . Robson, E.I. A Wayfarer on the Seine. London: Methuen, . Rowe, Vivian. The Loire. London: Eyre Methuen, . Sochurek, Howard. “The Volga: Russia’s Mighty River Road.” National Geographic Magazine, May , – .
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GREAT BARRIER REEF The Great Barrier Reef is the name given to the coral reefs that stretch for , miles (, kilometers) along the northeast coast of Australia, going from the mouth of the Fly River in Papua New Guinea, at its northernmost extremity, to Lady Elliot Island in Queensland at the south. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world and covers some islands, incorporating about , individual reefs. Visible from orbit, it is also the biggest single structure in the world made by living organisms. Charles Darwin’s theory about the formation of the reef was that it was initially formed on a land margin that had subsequently subsided, with the coral continuing to grow upwards in shallow water. Geologists believe that the reef started growing in the coastal plains around b.c.e., gradually becoming submerged by b.c.e. as the level of the sea rose. The early explorers of Australia soon discovered the Great Barrier Reef, with many noting that it was hazardous to shipping. Captain James Cook in the HMS Endeavour ran aground on the reef on June , , sustaining much damage to his ship. Nearly years later, Captain William Bligh, after the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, was able to steer his longboat through the reef, a feat he managed to do from memory—his longboat not having any maps on board. However the HMS Pandora that followed two years later, searching for the mutineers, was not so lucky. Commanded by Edward Edwards, the ship hit the reef on August , , and was sunk with a large loss of life, including four of the mutineers. Marine archaeologists found the wreck in November and it is now the subject of much research. It was not until that J. Bette Jukes, a naturalist on the HMS Fly conducted the first detailed scientific survey of the reef. Many more surveys followed, and in the
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Aerial view of Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne, Australia in . Dreamstime.com.
Great Barrier Reef Committee was established to sponsor and conduct its own investigations into the reef. By this time the reef had become well-known through the books of Edmund James Banfield (–). Both The Confessions of a Beachcomber () and My Tropic Isle () sold well in Australia and Britain. In –, the Royal Society in London organized a number of major biological and geographical surveys of the reef, and a marine biology station was established on Heron Island. The University of Queensland later ran the station. A second research station was built on Lizard Island and run by the Australian Museum in conjunction with James Cook University, which has been involved in research of the HMS Pandora site, running a third research station at Orpheus Island. The Great Barrier Reef Maine Park Act of led to the establishment, in the following year, of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to enforce rules prohibiting drilling or mining within the National Park. Since then, the Great Barrier Reef has been placed under the management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, in conjunction with the government of Queensland. They have ensured the retention of much of the biodiversity of the reef, as well as the coral itself, although recent higher water temperatures in the Coral Sea, which have been tied to global climate change, have also led to bleaching of some reefs. Bleaching can weaken coral and slow its reproduction, making it vulnerable to disease or damage. In addition to the coral itself, for which there are some different species, there are different species of whales, dolphins and porpoises, and also dugongs, six species
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of turtles, and different species of sea snakes. Combined with some , different species of fish having been identified, and , different species of mollusks, the Great Barrier Reef has become a major tourist attraction. It is estimated that tourism now generates A $ billion annually for the local economy, with people able to observe the reef from the land, from boats, scuba diving, and swimming, or from helicopters. Abdul Rahman Wahid, the President of Indonesia from –, when asked what was his biggest regret about becoming blind, replied that losing his sight had prevented him from seeing the Great Barrier Reef. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Bennett, Isabel. The Great Barrier Reef. Melbourne: Lansdowne, . Bowen, James. The Great Barrier Reef: history, science, heritage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Frankel, Edgar. A Bibliography of the Great Barrier Reef. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, . Gillett, Keith. The Australian Great Barrier Reef in Colour. Sydney: Reed, . Maxwell, W.G.H. Atlas of the Great Barrier Reef. Amsterdam & London: Elsevier, . Worrell, Eric. The Great Barrier Reef. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, .
GREAT LAKES The Great Lakes of North America contain percent of Earth’s fresh surface water. Four of the five Great Lakes—Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario—straddle the boundary between the United States and Canada, while one—Michigan—lies entirely within the United States. Covering almost , square miles and containing over six quadrillion gallons of freshwater, the Great Lakes are a defining part of the Midwest, and have had an enormous impact on North American history. The basins that are now the Great Lakes were carved from bedrock during several glacial advances from the north that ended about , years ago. They filled with freshwater from glacial melting, rainfall, and natural springs to take the form that exists today. These freshwater lakes are largely covered by ice during the winter, thereby slowing navigation during December, January, February, and March. Weather in areas surrounding the lakes generally maintains a warmer temperature along the shoreline during the winter and a cooler temperature during the summer. This phenomenon is generally known as the lake effect. The Great Lakes are on the international boundary between the United States and Canada. The north shore is the Canadian province of Ontario. The south shore is composed of the states of (from east to west) New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. While Lake Superior, with a maximum depth of , feet, is the deepest, Lake Erie, with a maximum depth of feet, is the shallowest.
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The two uppermost lakes—Superior and Michigan—flow into Lake Huron, which in turn, flows through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and the Detroit River into Lake Erie, the smallest of the Great Lakes. Lake Erie flows through the Niagara River, crossing the Niagara Escarpment over the world-renowned Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario and then down the St. Lawrence River into the North Atlantic. Native Americans used the lakes as their primary routes of trade, transportation, and warfare for centuries before Europeans arrived. When Lake Huron was first viewed by French explorers in , thousands of Native Americans called the shores of the lakes home. The lakes and the rivers of the region were quickly adopted by Europeans as their preferred means of transportation, and many French and English fortifications were constructed as the struggle developed for control of the region. The first ship of European origin to sail above Niagara Falls was Rene Robert Cavelier and Sieur de La Salle’s Griffon, in . During the colonial-era wars and early nationalist period, naval and land engagements along the lakeshore helped to determine the ultimate ownership of the Old Northwest Territory. In the French and Indian War ( –), the American Revolution ( –), and the War of (–), naval fleets were built alternately by the French and British, or the British and Americans, to win control of the Great Lakes. The most famous battle, the Battle of Lake Erie of September , , involved an American fleet under Oliver Hazard Perry defeating a fleet commanded by Robert Barclay, thereby securing control of the upper Great Lakes for the United States. Shortly thereafter, the Rush-Bagot Agreement of was signed, and provided a largely demilitarized border between the United States and the United Kingdom (then holder of Canada) on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. The pact continues today with only minor modifications to control armaments. The end of the War of , and the completion of the Erie Canal in (linking the Great Lakes with the East Coast)caused an explosion of immigration, creating a flood of settlement and development in the region. By the time of the Civil War, most Native American groups had been forced out of the region as the United States and the provinces of Ontario were formed and populated. Industrial age steam technology, which significantly improved the speed and reliability of passenger and freight transportation, proved critical to the development of the lakes. The first steamboat in use on Lake Ontario was the Ontario in . The first used above Niagara Falls was the Walk-in-the-Water in . By the end of the century the Pittsburgh Steamship Company alone operated nearly one hundred steamboats throughout the Great Lakes. The Civil War brought an increase in commercial and industrial activity in support of the war effort. Many units of the Union Army traveled via lake steamers to railheads for transport to the war fronts. Some Confederate officers taken prisoner of war were housed on Johnson’s Island near present-day Sandusky, Ohio. A small band of Confederates attempted to liberate the prisoners on Johnson’s Island in September . They were able to capture two lake steamers, but were not able to capture the U.S.S. Michigan and the effort failed.
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During the late th century, commerce on the Great Lakes increased dramatically. Commercial fishing provided fish for Midwestern and East Coast markets. Farm produce including corn, wheat, and oats fed the nation. Raw materials, including limestone and timber, provided basic building materials that helped construct western towns. Coal and iron deposits transported by ship fueled the development of the industrial heartland. Steel mills sprung up in Great Lake ports like Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland drawing upon coal reserves in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, and iron ore deposits in Northern Minnesota. Several manmade outlets were constructed over the years to aid the transportation of coal, iron ore, agricultural products, finished goods, and people. Aside from the Erie Canal between Lake Erie and Ontario to the Hudson River ( ), other important waterways were the Rideau Canal () between Lake Ontario and the Ottawa River, the Chicago Sanitary Ship Canal () between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River system, and the Miami and Erie Canal ( ), a -mile route linking Lake Erie at Toledo with the Ohio River at Cincinnati. To improve navigation between the lakes, several canals and locks were built. The St. Mary’s Falls Ship Canal ( )—otherwise known as the Soo Locks—has been periodically increased in size to allow ships to travel between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. This is also the case with the Welland Canal (), which allows ships to travel over the Niagara Escarpment between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. In , the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects Lake Ontario with the Atlantic via a series of locks and dams along the St. Lawrence River, provided the primary method for large seagoing vessels to reach the Great Lakes from the East Coast. During both World War I and II, Great Lakes shipbuilders produced hundreds of ships for the national emergency, while industries of every kind converted to war production. The sheltered waters of the Great Lakes were perfect for training naval aviators using two small aircraft carriers converted from side wheel passenger steamers. Merchant ships, patrol craft, submarines, destroyer escorts, minelayers, tugs, and a variety of other craft were built on the Great Lakes during the wars. Shipbuilding and repair on the Great Lakes remains a vibrant industry due to the continued health of bulk product trade in grain, coal, taconite, and stone. One of the peculiarities of lakes terminology is the tradition of calling vessels “boats” rather than “ships,” regardless of the size of the water craft. This tradition, like the use of the term “boat” instead of “ship” for submarines, started off as a term of derision by saltwater mariners who saw the skills necessary to navigate on freshwater as fundamentally inferior to those needed to sail saltwater. Lakefarers, like mariners on American rivers and lakes elsewhere, embraced the differentiation as a sign of their specialized work, and the term of derision evolved into a source of pride. Hence, the Great Lakes boast of “boats” over , feet in length. Several unique ship designs originated to meet the special conditions of the Great Lakes. The whaleback (round hull) steamer and barge, the icebreaking car ferry, and the turtleback fish tug, to name only a few, were unique to the Great Lakes.
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By , the Great Lakes were one of the key centers of industry and commerce for the United States and Canada. However, by the s environmental problems resulting from unrestrained industrialization had eroded the sustainability of development. Key efforts were made to reverse the pollution of the Great Lakes by the International Joint Commission (formed in by the International Boundaries Water Treaty) and a number of environmental groups. The situation continued to deteriorate until the late s, when the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was implemented, helping to stem the tide of pollution in the region. Beginning in the late th century, invasive species have become an increasing problem. Saltwater species like the sea lamprey, alewife, and zebra mussel, which arrived with foreign ships, have made significant changes in the Great Lakes ecosystem, forcing authorities to focus limited financial resources on their control or elimination. Today the Great Lakes continue to be one of the most significant engines for economic development in North America. A recreational wonderland and tourist destination, the Great Lakes environment has largely rebounded from the stresses of development. Jay Martin References and Further Reading Mansfield, J.B. History of the Great Lakes. Vol. . Chicago: J.H. Beers and Company, . Martin, Jay C. Sailing the Freshwater Seas: A Social History of Life Aboard the Commercial Sailing Vessels of the United States and Canada on the Great Lakes, –. Dissertation. Bowling Green State University, . U.S. Coast Pilot : The Great Lakes. th Ed. Washington: GPO, . Wright, Richard J. Freshwater Whales: A History of the American Ship Building Company and its Predecessors. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, .
GREAT SALT LAKE The Great Salt Lake, in the northern part of what is now the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere. Worldwide, it is the th largest lake, and the fourth-largest terminal (define) lake. Although it covers about , square miles (, sq. kilometers), the size changes dramatically depending on rainfall amounts, due to it being very shallow. Geologically, the Great Salt Lake is a remnant of a much larger lake known as Lake Bonneville, which existed in prehistoric times. The area where Lake Bonneville stretched to the west of the Great Salt Lake, right up to the border with Nevada, is still known as the Great Salt Lake Desert. The Navajos and other Native Americans lived around the lake, and it is not known exactly which European first discovered the Great Salt Lake. The lake began appearing on maps of North America in the late th century when trappers and Native Americans reported the existence of a very large lake. A Spanish expedition from the settlement at Santa Fe, led by Friars, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante,
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Great Salt Lake, Utah. Dreamstime.com.
ventured into the area in –. In –, Étienne Provost and James Bridger, two trappers, came across the lake independently. Provost came from Montreal, migrated to St. Louis, and then went south where he was captured by Mexicans and held until being released in . He then settled in New Mexico, and from there worked with Le Clerc, arriving at the Great Salt Lake while on a hunting expedition in the Rocky Mountains. Bridger, from Richmond, Virginia, also moved to St. Louis, and from there took part in a westward expedition in the fall of or in early , where he also came across the Great Salt Lake. Tasting the water, he initially thought he had arrived at the Pacific Ocean, but soon realized his mistake. In , the fur trapper James Clyman managed to circumnavigate the lake, and in and Captain John C. Frémont studied the lake in greater detail. In , the Mormons, led by Brigham Young, arrived at the Great Salt Lake and formed the first settlement of the region. The Mormons founded Salt Lake City on the southeastern shores of the lake, believing the area to be their promise land. Some Mormon men who volunteered for military service in the Mexican War had financed the trek. The route taken by Brigham Young and his Mormons became known as the Mormon Trail, and when Young arrived at the Great Salt Lake he supposedly declared, “this is the place.” A complete survey of the lake took place in , and years later the golden spike was driven into the railroad line at nearby Promontory, Utah, completing the first
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transcontinental railroad across North America, which skirted the northeastern shore. Samuel Clemens (better-known as Mark Twain) visited the region in and was impressed by both the Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake City. In the U.S. Geological Survey carried out a detailed study of Great Basin region. In the s, there were record high water levels that caused property damage to people on the eastern side of the lake. To prevent this from happening again, the West Desert Pumping project was built by the State of Utah. Since it enlarged the surface area of the lake, and hence raised the level of evaporation, it increased the level of salinity, which was already more than eight times more than the oceans. Despite its size, the Great Salt Lake has never been a body of water used for transporting freight or passengers, as it does not connect Salt Lake City with any other urban areas. However, the Great Salt Lake is visited by many tourists from all over the world, with Salt Lake City attracting Mormons and genealogists, many of whom take the opportunity to visit the lake’s marshes, mudflats, and islands that attract pelicans, herons, cormorants, terns, gulls, and other birds and waterfowl. The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge draws ornithologists from around the United States, and the -mile long Antelope Island, located in the southern part of the lake, is now covered by the Antelope Island State Park, home to one of the largest bison herds in the United States. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Arrington, Leonard J. Brigham Young: American Moses. New York: Knopf, . Camp, Charles L., ed. James Clyman: American Frontiersman –. Portland: Champoeg Press, . Morgan, Dale L. Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, . Zahl, Paul A. “Life in a ‘Dead’ Sea—Great Salt Lake.” National Geographic Magazine , no. (August ): –.
GULF OF ALASKA The Gulf of Alaska is a section of the North Pacific Ocean located on the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east. Kodiak Island, Glacier Bay, Inside Passage, and Yakutat Bay are all located in the Gulf of Alaska. Although native Alaskans have inhabited the region since about , b.c.e., the earliest written records are manuscripts from the Sung Dynasty in China documenting the travels of five Buddhist monks, led by Hwui Shan, who sailed into what became the Gulf of Alaska in about c.e. Europeans first came upon the Gulf of Alaska when the Spaniard Bartholome de Fonte sailed up the coast of North America to the Inside Passage in . Just over a hundred years later, in , Vitus Jonassen Bering,
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a Danish navigator working for the Russian Tsar Peter the Great, sailed into the Gulf of Alaska in , landing at what is now Cordova. He died when his ship wrecked on Bering Island. However, not long after Bering’s death, many Russian traders began coming to the region in search of furs. Clashes with the Aleuts ensued, brought on by enslavement and other abuses, which led to a major attack of the Russians in . The much better armed Russians defeated the Aleuts and established trading bases around the Gulf of Alaska, managing to force many of the Aleuts to convert to the Russian Orthodox faith. Also in search of furs, America, British, and Spanish sailors traveled to the region in the late th century. In , Captain James Cook sailed into the Gulf of Alaska, naming Cook Inlet near present-day Anchorage, after himself. George Vancouver, one of the crew, later returned to the region and mapped much of the Gulf of Alaska more precisely, with Archibald Menzies, a naturalist and surgeon, surveying parts of the gulf. By this time, the Russians had started to establish permanent settlements in the Gulf
Map of the Gulf of Alaska
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of Alaska. The first of these, Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island, was founded in by Grigorii Shelikov who went on to head a Russian-American fur-trading company. Another Russian, Alexander Baranov, who called himself the Lord of Alaska, also started operating a fur trade company from Kodiak Island. It was not long before over hunting severely eroded the numbers of seals and sea otters populating the region. With trade falling dramatically from the s to the s, many of the trading posts on the Gulf of Alaska were abandoned. In , the boundary of Alaska was established, giving the Russians control over the entire Gulf of Alaska, a region named the Alexander Archipelago. The Russians had harbored the idea of selling Alaska to the United States, as their colonial efforts were costing more than the colony was bringing in. After contacting U.S. Secretary of State, William H. Seward, in Russia sold the region to the United States for $. million. Detractors felt that the cold, forbidding land was useless to the nation, which was still recovering from the Civil War, and subsequently labeled it Seward’s Folly. The administrative capital at this time was Sitka, on the eastern part of the Gulf of Alaska. Beginning in , the American Commercial Company began killing seals and otters for fur, thus marking their monopoly of the region. Others saw the possibility of fishing salmon in the Gulf of Alaska. Naturalist John Muir traveled to the Gulf of Alaska in –, publishing his account many years later. Although some church missions were established on the gulf, the main reason for people moving to the Gulf of Alaska was the quest for precious metals. In , Joe Juneau and Richard Harris discovered gold in the Alexander Archipelago, and the newly established settlement of Juneau became the capital. More gold was found in , near present-day Anchorage, and subsequent gold rushes followed in and the s. In the early th century, more Americans began moving to Alaska to settle, and it aspired to statehood as early as . During World War II, because of its strategic location, the United States government established major naval bases around the Gulf of Alaska. The Japanese, from the Aleutian Islands, managed to bomb Dutch Harbor, on Unalaska Island to the far west of the Gulf of Alaska. The posting of so many military personnel in Alaska led to an increase in the area’s infrastructure, and in Alaska became the th state in the Union, with Anchorage, on the Gulf, as the state capital. The vast majority of the state’s population continues to live in settlements around the Gulf of Alaska because of the sport and commercial fishing industry, and the ever growing tourism industry drawn to the natural beauty of the region. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading DeArmond, Robert N. (ed.). Early Visitors to Southeastern Alaska: Nine Accounts. Anchorage: Alaska Northwest, .
GULF OF CALIFORNIA Garfield, Brian. The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians. London: Aurum Press, . Hood, Donald W., and Stephen T. Zimmerman, eds. The Gulf of Alaska: Physical Environment and Biological Resources. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, .
GULF OF CALIFORNIA The Gulf of California, the body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from Mexico, is also known as the Sea of Cortés, named after the Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortés. It seems likely that man settled in the region during the first millennium c.e., because of a plentiful food supply—fish, marine mammals, and shellfish. However, this was not true for the area controlled by the Aztec Empire. The Cochimi people, on the other hand, lived on the west coast of the Gulf, and they were responsible for the rock art discovered by the Jesuits at the Sierra de San Francisco, the area now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. On the east coast were the Totorames and the Yaqui. The former were hunter gatherers who roamed the region in search of food. With the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors in Mexico under Hernan Cortés, and the sacking of the inland Aztec capital in , the Spanish began to dominate the region, bringing settlers to the shore of what they called the Sea of Cortés. Cortés built an outpost on the Gulf at La Paz, on the Baja California Peninsula, but it was not occupied for long. Soon after its completion, the Spanish were involved in fighting the Yaqui people who lived on the eastern banks of the Gulf, with Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, later the Spanish Governor for Nueva Galicia (what is now western Mexico), leading a Spanish army through the region laying waste to some settlements. Some Spanish, under Nuno de Guzmán, settled at what became Mazatlán in , towards the southern end of the Gulf; but the settlement was soon abandoned. It was not until that the first permanent European settlement was built, when the Jesuits, under Juan María Salvatierra, established what became the township of Loreto. In the Jesuits built their Misión San Ignacio de Kadakaamán. However, because their community was small, it was not until that the local church was completed. The Dominicans, on the other hand, were able to establish nine missions at the northern end of the Gulf of California between and . By the turn of the th century, the Spanish had started a number of townships on the eastern coast of the Gulf of California, founding Guaymas in on the site where Yaqui and Guaymenas villages had been located. By the s, the township of Mazatlán was prospering, relying on trade not only with other ports in the region, but also with ships bringing goods from South America and Asia. Recognizing the strategic importance of the gulf, in Mazatlán was blockaded by U.S. forces in their war with Mexico, during which time they occupied La Paz. In the U.S. adventurer William Walker proclaimed the “Republic of Lower California” at La Paz
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in the hope that the United States would intervene and annex the territory around the Gulf of California. They did not annex the territory and he later moved to Central America. The French also blockaded the region in in the war that resulted in the installation of Maximilian I as Emperor of Mexico. Much of the town center of Mazatlán dates from the late th century, with the cathedral built between and , although some important buildings, such as the Teatro Angela Peralta, date from the s. In , the town of Guaymas had garnered enough wealth to begin construction on their Palacio Municipal. By then, there were settlements all around the Gulf of California. In the s, the French-owned Compaña del Bolero decided to establish a settlement at Santa Rosalía on the Gulf of California. Prefabricated buildings were sent out from France, including a church that had been designed in by Gustave Eiffel for the World’s Fair in Paris. A director of the Compaña del Bolero came across the church in , and had it shipped to Santa Rosalía where it was reassembled in , and is now called the Iglesia Santa Bárbara. The American adventurer Benjamin Johnston founded the city of Los Mochis (“Place of Turtles”) several miles east of the bay, and established his own sugar cane plantations and a sugar processing factory. Largely due to the fish and shellfish, the Gulf of California has become a popular tourist resort for U.S. tourists and visitors from all over the world. Sport fishing takes place and there are large trailer parks around the town of San Felipe, which was once a quiet fishing community that has been transformed by tourism and real estate speculators. However, locals at San José del Cabo, at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, were able to stop plans for a large yachting marina, and the town, with a population of about ,, has retained much of its charm. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Gilders, Michelle A. Reflections of a Whale Watcher. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, . Parkes, Henry Bamford. A History of Mexico. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, . Steinbeck, John. The Log of the Sea of Cortez. New York: Viking Press, .
GULF OF MEXICO The Gulf of Mexico, considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, is a , square mile body of water largely surrounded by North America and the island of Cuba. At its greatest extent, the Gulf is approximately , miles from east to west, and miles from north to south. The southern coast of the United States serves as the northern boundary, and Florida composes the bulk of its eastern boundary, where it is linked to the Atlantic Ocean through the Straits of Florida, which run between Florida and Cuba. Mexico
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and the Yucatan Peninsula, respectively, form the west and southwest border, where it is connected to the Caribbean Sea by the Yucatan Channel. Although Christopher Columbus is credited with discovering the Americas, ships from his four voyages reached Hispaniola and Cuba, but not the Gulf of Mexico. The first European exploration of the gulf was completed by Amerigo Vespucci in by following the coast line of Central America before returning to Spain through the Straits of Florida. In , Hernandez de Cordoba discovered the Yucatan Peninsula. In , the Spanish monarch Charles I (better known as the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) granted the explorer, Panfilo de Narvaez, a license to claim the present-day gulf coast of the United States. Over one hundred years later, the French laid claim to the mouth of the Mississippi River and colonized Louisiana. For centuries, the Gulf of Mexico was coveted and fought over by the English, French, Spanish, and later the Americans. The Gulf of Mexico provides a variety of resources. There are large deposits of petroleum and natural gas, which have been developed extensively since the s, and provide a substantial amount of the domestic need in the United States. Offshore wells have been drilled in the Bay of Campeche off the coast of Mexico, and off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana in the United States. Sulfur is extracted from wells off the coast of Louisiana, and oyster shells are harvested off of Texas. The shells are used for many purposes, including building material for roads. The shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico is home to many species of birds, including pelicans. The waters of the gulf contain massive populations of fish. Commercial fishing is a multi-million dollar industry, and is of major economic importance to the region. Fishing in the region supplies approximately one-fifth of the annual catch of the United States;, the most important species for human consumption include mullet, oysters, red snappers, flounder, shrimp, and crab. Another important use of the Gulf of Mexico is tourism. Sport fishing, scuba diving, swimming, and recreational boating bring in millions of dollars to the region annually. Thousands of tourists go to locations along the Gulf of Mexico during the winter, and college students frequent its beaches during spring break from school. Finally, coastal areas of Florida have developed into large retirement communities. The Port of New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, was an important early terminus for shipping agricultural commodities. In the th century, Houston, Texas, Mobile, Alabama, Tampa, Florida, and Vera Cruz, Mexico all became important deep-water ports. Traffic in the region is expected to increase when new locks on the Panama Canal open in . The Gulf of Mexico’s popularity as a tourist destination, and the millions of new residents attracted to the region, have at times been detrimental to the Gulf of Mexico. The increased demand for fresh water has added millions of gallons of sewage and industrial waste. Much of this waste has either been directly pumped into the gulf, or has found its way there indirectly through rivers that drain into it. Oil spills from offshore drilling
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have contaminated beaches and killed marine life. Furthermore, agricultural practices have devastated large portions of the Gulf of Mexico as chemicals used on crops find their way into the gulf via runoff, especially from the Mississippi River. Chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers create blooms of red algae (Rhodophyta) and areas of oxygen depletion. Finally, coastal erosion and changes in the sea level have submerged large areas of coastal wetlands, particularly in Louisiana. The results of these factors include the loss of marine life, the destruction of vast forests of mangrove trees, and a reduction in the number of coral reefs. James Seelye References and Further Reading Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration. New York: W.W. Norton, . Gore, Robert H. The Gulf of Mexico: A Treasury of Resources in the American Mediterranean. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, . Langley, Lester D. Struggle for the American Mediterranean: United States-European Rivalry in the Gulf-Caribbean, –. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, .
H
HUDSON BAY The Hudson Bay penetrates the middle of the North American continent, encompassing an area of , square miles. The bay is a large and relatively shallow body of water that is percent larger than the North and Baltic seas combined, or nearly half the size of the Mediterranean (the two principal European trading seas at the time of the bay’s discovery). Due to a change in naming conventions, Hudson’s Bay is now called Hudson Bay. Early explorers entered the bay from the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson Strait, and they associated the area with the search for a northwest passage. Martin Frobisher was the first European to enter the Hudson Strait in . In , George Weymouth followed, and may have sailed most of the length of Hudson Strait. Although no records survive, Henry Hudson probably knew of these voyages when, in , he sailed the Discovery the length of the strait and entered the bay. Trapped in the ice, he was forced to winter in James Bay. When spring arrived, Hudson’s crew was unwilling to explore the rest of the bay and mutinied, leaving him and several others to die. When the mutineers returned to England, Hudson’s records were passed to Hessel Gerritsz, the leading Dutch cartographer. Gerritsz included the first map of the area within his transatlantic chart. Sir Thomas Button followed in , and wintered in Botton’s Bay, on the southwestern shore near what is now York Factory. Minor expeditions followed, including the Danish voyage led by Jens Munk in –. In , both Luke Foxe and Thomas James led English expeditions. Foxe found the channel and basin bearing his name; James Bay is named for Thomas James, who wintered on Charlton Island. Fur traders in New France may have reached James Bay over land. In , Pierre Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart des Groseilliers with Zachariah Gillam of Boston
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went to England with the proposal of trading into the bay by ship. A trial voyage under Gillam, –, led to the formation of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) by charter of King Charles II on May . Their first permanent post was at Moose Factory in . They went on to establish several more forts and trading posts near the mouths of the major rivers, which helped facilitate trade with the indigenous people. Fur brought to the posts would be transported by the HBC directly to Europe. Trade at these posts continued until the beginning of the th century. In , John Thornton’s map of the area was published in The English Pilot: The Fourth Book, and remained the best geographic depiction of the region for half a century. Commercial rivalry between New France and the HBC, and wars between England and France (Nine Years War, –; Spanish Succession, –), spilled over into the area. English and French trading posts were captured and exchanged. On September , Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, captain of the Pélican, was engaged by and defeated the HBC convoy. The HMS Hampshire was sunk, the Royal Hudson’s Bay was captured, and only the Dering escaped. With the Treaty of Utrecht in , France recognized England’s claim to the Hudson Bay and the captured HBC posts were restored to the company. After years of annual HBC trading voyages, commercial development and success followed. During this period Christopher Middleton joined the HBC as a ship’s master and quickly proved to be an outstanding seaman. In , Middleton left the HMC to join the Royal Navy in the rank of captain to command an expedition to search for a northwest passage on the west coast of Hudson’s Bay. His chart marked a considerable improvement over the existing public knowledge. During the Revolutionary War, a French fleet was destroyed at the Battle of the Saints, April , . The great French seaman and navigator, Jean-François de La Galaup de La Pérouse, who missed the battle, was given three surviving ships to raid the following HBC posts: Fort Prince of Wales on the Churchill River and York Factory. The Arctic explorer Samuel Hearne surrendered the Prince of Wales Fort to La Pérouse. After the HBC trade monopoly was abolished and the Hudson Bay was ceded to Canada, the bay was extensively chartered by the Canadian government and was developed for navigation. After several failed attempts to the town of Nelson, a rail link was established to Churchill, which became the Hudson Bay’s sole deep-sea port for wheat exports in . Despite Churchill being a shorter route to Europe, the combination of a short shipping season and the cost of upkeep for port and rail infrastructure led the Canadian government to sell the port to OmniTRAX corporation in . Exports of wheat from the port, which is open (ice-free) from July through October, have been increasing. Although trade growth prospects are uncertain, October , marked the first shipment using an even shorter route, the Arctic Sea Route, from Murmansk (Russia) to the Port of Churchill, bringing fertilizer and returning with wheat. William Glover
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References and Further Reading Newman, P.C. Empire of the Bay: An Illustrated History of the Hudson’s Bay Company. New York: Penguin, . Nuffield, E.W. Bay of the North: The struggle for control of Hudson Bay, –. Vancouver, BC: Haro Books, . Tyrrell, J.B. Documents Relating to the Early History of Hudson Bay. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, .
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INDIAN OCEAN Among the oceans of the world, the Indian Ocean is exceptional in its geographic dimensions. Unlike the Atlantic and the Pacific, which stretch from the north to south poles, the Indian Ocean is demarcated on the north by the landmass of Asia with great chains of mountains separating the ocean from the climatic forces of central Asia. To the west and east, its physical boundaries are the east coast of Africa and Australia. To the south, the Indian Ocean merges into the Southern Ocean bordering on Antarctica. The major consequence of this particular geographic configuration is its systems of seasonal monsoons that determine patterns of rainfall, winds, and ocean currents. Blowing in opposite directions during alternating seasons, these rain-laden winds made possible and dominated the rhythms of agriculture and maritime activity along the Asian and east African shores of the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean defines a region of enormous physical variety. Asian and African lands of its littoral have for centuries produced an astonishing variety of food, cash crops, and raw materials. Fishing fields north of the Equator, along with pearl and shellfisheries in the Persian Gulf, along with the waters between south India and Sri Lanka, provide bountiful harvests. The rich fisheries of the Southern Indian Ocean, which were not exploited until the th and th centuries, have proven enormously lucrative. Thousands of years ago, people from many lands crossed the Indian Ocean creating a web of maritime linkages that exist in modified form to this day. Before the advent of modern communications technology—ranging from the telegraph to the jet airliner— the sea was the major highway for communications between peoples living on its littoral. Sailors and the passengers on sailing ships were the carriers of ideas, cultures. and technologies that, along with cargoes of goods from various parts of the region, bound its
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peoples into a unique Indian Ocean world. From at least , years ago, sailing crafts operated along a wide arc from southeast Africa and Madagascar, through the lands bordering the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, to South Asia and then to Southeast Asia and Australia. Despite the fact that it was the first major ocean to develop long-distance trade, the Indian Ocean is the ocean that history forgot. Compared with the Atlantic and the Pacific, or even with small seas such as the Mediterranean and the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean has failed to attract the attention of historians until recently. It is not that the Indian Ocean did not have a history or an identity before historians and political scientists from the s onward began exploring it. Western European writers first determined maritime identities during the th century at the height of Western imperialism, and for them the Indian Ocean was little more than a British lake. given the British control of much of its littoral. It had no identity other than providing a highway linking profitable colonies. The legacy we have inherited is an imposed Western hierarchy of maritime identities. At the top of the list are the Atlantic and North Sea, followed in decreasing importance by the Mediterranean, the Pacific, the South China Sea, and then a string of even less noteworthy—to the eye of most th and th century commentators—maritime regions. This hierarchy reflects the importance of capital and empire, of powerful political relationships forged in the th and early th centuries, and the role of international trade. It reflects the interests of intellectuals from Britain, France, Germany, and the United States who paid heed to the mechanics and histories of civilizations outside Europe in terms of their apparent similarity to European concepts of civilization and state building. So it was that the Atlantic-North Sea maritime zone was seen as the great modern arena of human endeavor and progress. The Mediterranean was a decayed arena of vanished glories, valued as the source of genius that gave birth to the more vigorous civilizations of northwestern Europe and eventually North America. The Pacific was the romantic abode of noble savages—ranging from the gentle cannibals of Polynesia to the anachronistic samurais of Japan. Lesser maritime regions encompassed the piratical and typhoon ridden South China Sea, the Arabian Sea of the romantic dhow, and then even more romantic curiosities such as the Aegean and Tyrrhenian seas, and the geographically marked but intellectually shapeless Indian Ocean. There was no single Western academic view of the world in the th or th centuries, but for much of the period the environment of Western civilization shaped the issues that engaged intellectuals and academics. There was an intense preoccupation with the origin of civilizations and states, with the evolution of Western culture and the rise and fall of human genius. Such a preoccupation, no matter how diverse in content and direction, was land-focused. The sea was, at best, an adjunct to real history that evolved on land. Pirates, brave sea captains, sailors, and seaborne merchants figured in these histories as adornments to national greatness or evidence of national perfidy, but they were pawns in great land based games. They were generated by, but did not generate, history. Drake and Frobisher were products of
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the Reformation and its impact upon England; the Dutch Sea Beggars were the products of religious revolution and Spanish aggression. How fascinating if we could excise these figures from the romantic images cast of them in the th century and study them against more complex imperatives to action. Perhaps this would allow us to assess the impact their maritime activities had upon the shaping of English and Dutch history rather than simplistically seeing them as spectacular but ephemeral comets racing across the surface of human history. This is the core problem affecting maritime history. Such histories have, until very recently, been written as adjuncts to land based history. The actors in this particular historical game are passive and, although frequently exotic and fascinating, are not the makers of history but rather the ephemeral products of it. As such they can have nothing to tell us about the ebb and flow of human history and therefore maritime regions as such simply reflect the greatness, or lack of it, of their littoral civilizations. Much better to excavate Ur, Babylon, Persepolis, Petra, Anuradhapura, Borobudur or Mohenjo Daro to understand dead civilizations in the Indian Ocean region than we consider the sea as a factor in the shaping of human life. The neglect of the Indian Ocean by social scientists until recently is particularly extraordinary given that for millennia, before the arrival of Europeans in the th century, the ocean was a remarkably self-contained economic and cultural world quite distinct from other inhabited regions. From the times of ancient Egypt and imperial Rome, the great Islamic medieval Khilafat, the Italian Renaissance, and Imperial China, the lands of the Indian Ocean were viewed as a source of wondrous goods ranging from fragrant spices and exotic jungle produce, to pearls, gemstones, gold, and rare timbers and foodstuffs. Of all world’s oceans and seas the Indian Ocean can lay claim to being the earliest arena of human endeavors to both harvest the sea and to use it as a great maritime highway that stretched from eastern Africa to Asia. By the beginning of the present era, the western Indian Ocean, from the Horn of Africa to western India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, was serviced by a large number of coastal market places linked by monsoon winds, and both Middle Eastern and South Asian ships. The eastern half of the Indian Ocean—the Bay of Bengal—was in similar fashion serviced by merchants and mariners from South and Southeast Asia who linked the entire regional maritime network through the Strait of Melaka and the South China Sea to mainland Southeast and East Asia and the Indonesian archipelago to the shores of the Pacific. Sailing vessels not only carried cargoes of goods, but their crews and passengers were also central to the spread of ideas and technologies around the Indian Ocean and were central figures in the dispersal of cultures and technologies that shaped the major indigenous civilizations that exist along its shores to this day. The human actors in this maritime-based dispersal of civilizations were not the puppets of land-based powers, but represented a spontaneous process unfettered by the political imperatives of land-based powers in contrast to the often bloody and invariably state-driven expansion of European civilization from the th century. In the early centuries of the present era both,
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Hinduism and Buddhism spread peacefully along sea lanes into Southeast Asia where they were adopted by local peoples to gives rise to the Indianised kingdoms of Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, southern Vietnam, Sumatra, and Java. From the seventh and eight centuries of the present era, Islam too began to spread from the Middle East along Indian Ocean sea routes and over the next few centuries, through conversion and migration, Islamic trading communities developed along the coasts of East Africa and southern India, and in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. By the th century, south Asian and Arab merchants had carried Islam peacefully to the Malay peninsular and the Indonesian archipelago where, over the next few centuries, it became the dominant religion. Trade made the spread of all these religious systems out of South Asia and the Middle East possible, and shaped a distinctive Indian Ocean world that was overwhelmingly economically self-sufficient and intellectually and culturally stimulated by on-going commercial contacts across the ocean. There were, of course, extra-regional economic linkages—through the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf with the Mediterranean and Central Asia, and through the South China Sea with East Asia—but they were of relatively little importance. Intellectually and culturally there was little extra-regional contact. The major exceptions to this rubric were the influence of Greek iconography on Buddhist art in the wake of Alexander the Great’s incursion into South Asia. What followed was a great cultural fusion that created a cultural, economic, and religious arena that stretched from Morocco and Spain to South Asia, until it was fatally disrupted by the Mongols in the th century. The maritime trade of the Indian Ocean region was dominated by a number of communities. There were Middle Eastern groups such as Arab and Iranian Muslims, Jews, and Armenian Christians. From South Asia there were Hindu groups, particularly from Gujarat and the Coromandel Coast, as well as various Muslim communities from the Malabar and Coromandel Coasts, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Many of these Middle East and South Asian merchants and sailors traveled to eastern Africa and Southeast Asia where they operated in tandem with local coastal communities. While the Indian Ocean was looked upon by the inhabitants of both the Mediterranean and East Asia as a source of luxurious and wondrous products, in fact most maritime trade was devoted to the carriage of bulk commodities such as grain (wheat and rice), ceramics, timber, cotton textiles, minerals (ranging from iron to copper and tin) and foodstuffs such as dried fish and its by-products. In all this trade, South Asia loomed largest as the major source of bulk commodities such as cotton textiles, timber, rice, and wheat as well as luxuries such as gemstones, pepper, cinnamon, and a range of manufactured goods such as metal ware and carpets. In return for these exports South Asia was a major market for African ivory and gold; for Middle Eastern arms, horses and fine textiles; for Southeast Asian spices and peppers, tin and gold; and for East Asian silk and ceramics. All these cargoes moved from one side of the ocean to the other but rarely in one single great voyage. Most cargoes moved along segmented routes that passed through a series of transshipment points before reaching their final destination. However, certain items moved in more restricted zones: For example, East Asian
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ceramics were carried as far afield as East Africa and the Middle East, and South Asian rice cargoes moved in a much more restricted zone between northern and southern India. In the late th century, Europeans entered this remarkably self-contained economic and cultural world directly by sea around the Cape of Good Hope. The onslaught was led by the Portuguese, and was driven by a mixed desire to trounce their ancient enemies, the Muslims, and to gain direct access to the luxury goods of the fabled Indies (as the uncharted Indian Ocean region was known to Europeans), which to date had been filtered into Europe through the Muslim-controlled ports of the eastern Mediterranean. First the Portuguese and then the Dutch, British, and French established trading bases around the Indian Ocean—from Cape Town to Jakarta—between the th and th centuries, but initially their often violent arrival did little to disrupt traditional patterns of maritime trade, and European commercial enterprise was for generations dependent upon collaboration with traditional maritime trading groups. However, by the late th century, Europeans began to have a more drastic impact upon regional societies. The growing impact of Europeans during the th century was the result of political changes within and outside the region, as well as changes in the mix of European imports from the Indian Ocean region. Within the Indian Ocean region, the strong indigenous states that Europeans confronted in the late th century were, by the th century, in considerable disarray. In the Middle East, the Ottoman and Persian empires had entered a century’s long process of decline, while in South Asia the once-mighty Mughal Empire lurched towards dissolution. Paralleling these changes in the regional political scenario, the British and the French were involved in a global struggle that spilled over into the waters of the Indian Ocean. On the high seas and on land, particularly in the South Asian power vacuum created by the dissolution of the Mughal Empire, the British and the French fought for domination of the Indian Ocean sea lanes and the wealthy textile and food producing areas of South Asia. In this struggle, the French were joined by the Dutch in the late th century, and the commercial bases of the rival powers became bridgeheads for territorial expansion based on control of the high seas. The ports of Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Colombo, Melaka, Jakarta, and Port Louis became the major centers of commercial and political activity in the Indian Ocean region. During the course of the th century, political change was accompanied by changing European commercial interest in the Indian Ocean region. From an initial interest in relatively small cargoes of luxury goods (most notably spices and pepper), European commercial interest in the th century moved towards large cargoes of commodities, such as South Asian textiles, indigo and opium, and Chinese tea reflecting the growth of mass consumer markets in Europe. This changing commercial scenario was further incentive for quarreling Europeans to expand from their port bases inland to control production areas. South Asia was the cockpit of this commercial struggle and by the end of the th century, the British, who now controlled the major Atlantic and Indian Ocean sea routes, had control of its most important areas of textile, indigo, and
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opium production. While cotton textiles returned great profits in Europe, it was opium that drew the British into Southeast Asia, where they established a free port at Penang in to trade opium for silver and other commodities, which they, in turn, traded in China for cargoes of tea: the revolutionary beverage of the th century. The Battle of Waterloo in sealed the fate of the rival European groups in the Indian Ocean. The French and their Dutch allies were reduced to minor players with significant swathes of territory in southern Africa, the Mascarenes, South Asia, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia passing to the British in the decade after Waterloo. During the course of the th century, European control of the Indian Ocean littoral expanded to encompass all of East Africa, the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, most of Southeast Asia and Australia. The Dutch retained the Indonesian archipelago, the French kept a few scattered islands and Djibouti, the Portuguese held Mozambique, the Germans controlled Tanganyika (until ), and the Italians maintained various territories around the Horn of Africa. The British now dominated the rest of the region and the Indian Ocean was in effect a British lake. The establishment of overwhelming European political and military control was also reflected in the growth of European economic control and the subversion of ancient patterns of trade during the th century. The development of steam powered vessels, the railway, and the telegraph—all technologies exclusively controlled by Europeans— marked the end of most traditional shipping and either the demise or re-directing of traditional maritime trading and sailing communities. Some members of these communities found a niche in the new economic system as cheap labor on European-owned vessels; others re-directed their energies towards land-based economic activities, leaving domination of the high seas to Europeans. The all-weather steam vessel broke the ancient tyranny of the monsoons, and from the mid-th century, maritime travel took place at all times of the year, unlike the seasonal constraints imposed by the monsoon winds in the age of sail. New shipping technology enabled the construction of larger and faster vessels and a lowering of both freight rates and the price of passage for travelers. Indeed, the advent of steam, while fatally impacting the dominant role of sailing vessels in Indian Ocean maritime trade, facilitated the movement of far greater numbers of indigenous as well as European travelers. Steam vessels increased the number of Muslims traveling from the Indian Ocean littoral on the annual Hajj pilgrimage to the holy cities of Arabia, and consequently facilitated the diffusion of religious ideas and a new unity of practice and doctrine compared to previous centuries when far fewer Muslim could afford to make the Hajj, and time and distance isolated many Muslim communities. The steam vessel also facilitated a new movement of peoples around the Indian Ocean based on the movement of bonded labor out of South Asia to European colonies in East Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Mascarenes (and beyond to Fiji, the Caribbean and South America) where flourishing South Asian diasporas were created. Another type of diaspora was made possible with the advent of steam, as it became economic for larger numbers of Europeans to enter the Indian Ocean as permanent settlers who created new versions of British society in settler colonies in southern Africa and Western Australia.
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By the end of the th century, a web of sea routes dominated by European-owned steam vessels crisscrossed the Indian Ocean. Larger numbers of people than ever before traveled the ocean, but the majority of indigenous passengers were either poor laborers, pilgrims, or petty merchants: the age of indigenous merchant princes and ship owners linking the lands of the Indian Ocean region had passed. European domination of the high seas of the Indian Ocean increased during the th century as new techniques for harvesting the bounty of the sea were developed. From the early th century, European and North American whalers began the exploitation of the Ocean’s whaling stock, while others took control of much of the traditional pearling and shell industry (with the notable exception of the Persian Gulf where control was retained by local and South Asian interests), particularly in the waters between southern India and Sri Lanka where colonial authorities regulated the activities of the traditional fishers in these waters. On the western coast of Australia, pearly fisheries were discovered in the mid-th century and were soon exploited by European entrepreneurs using both imported Asian and Aboriginal labor. Much the same happened on Christmas Island and in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands where Asian labor was imported to work phosphate mines and copra plantations. However, traditional fisheries were not entirely overwhelmed by European commercial activity. In the Maldives, for example, dried fish remained a major export into the th century, as did fish products throughout Southeast Asia and in the Persian Gulf where traditional fishing groups managed to survive by supplying niche markets. Similarly, Indonesian fishermen maintained linkages with Aboriginal peoples in northwest Australia, where a flourishing trade in trochus shells and beche de mer continued into the th century. By and large fishing remained a marginalized industry across the Indian Ocean given the relative poverty of fish stocks compared with either the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans. The formalization of European colonial rule across the Indian Ocean not only facilitated European domination of the high seas, but it also created new lines of demarcation that cut across age-old linkages between the peoples of the region. Colonial states created boundaries that segmented traditional fishing grounds and imposed revenue collection systems to harvest income from maritime trade. In addition, colonial peoples became the citizens of extra-regional powers, and as such were now faced with new bureaucratic barriers to travel. Undoubtedly maritime trade had always been a source of revenue for land-based states around the Indian Ocean, but the European colonial state used taxation on trade to develop discriminatory regimes that favored imperial trade at the expense of free trade. Imperial preferences and subsidies favored the activities of metropolitan steam ship companies from the th century, just as they were constructed to favor the export of manufactured goods from the imperial heartlands in exchange for raw materials and foodstuffs from the colonies. Overall, the European imperial powers segmented the Indian Ocean and disrupted ancient patters of communication and trade. The development of the telegraph, the steamship, the railway, the vernacular press, and later the radio and the film industry provided a new means for the indigenous peoples of the Indian Ocean region to reinterpret group identity and to communicate with one another. Yet they did so as self-conscious
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citizens of different empires that, in the post-colonial era, would translate into a new self-consciousness as citizens of new states rather than as the self-conscious inhabitants of an oceanic region. The latter half of the th century saw the retreat of empires across the Indian Ocean and various attempts by newly independent states to recover control of their economies. In many instances this involved moves to create merchant marines that were either state-controlled or owned by indigenous interests, but generally such moves produced disappointing results despite the fact that many European-owned shipping companies withdrew from regular passenger and cargo activities. The problem was that there was a major change in the nature of Indian Ocean shipping. This was due to several developments: the rapid expansion of airborne passenger traffic that led to the virtual collapse of seaborne passenger traffic; the development of bulk carriers to transport oil, minerals, and foodstuffs such as wheat; the decline of inward bound cargoes as many Indian Ocean states embraced policies of import substitution in the latter half of the th century; and above all else the development of both containerization and the specialized container vessel in the same period. Containerization not only revolutionized cargo handling but led to the creation of new types of vessels with smaller crews and specialized port facilities. The end result of the domination of containerization in international maritime trade, apart form the bulk carrier trade, has been the decimation of global seaman and cargo handling communities, and the eclipse of many once great ports as new facilities— often distant from old port sites—are constructed. Rather like the steam revolution that facilitated European domination of international maritime traffic, containerization has been made possible essentially by European and East Asian capital with Indian Ocean ports at the mercy of extra-regional decision makers. However, unlike developments in the global shipping industry in the th and early th centuries when European, North American, and Japanese capital dominated, by the early st century, there was a rapid increase in capital investment in the maritime shipping industry from the oil-rich Middle East and some of the economies of Southeast Asia. This resulted in Indian Ocean capital rolling back the domination of extra-regional capital in the maritime carrying industry. In terms of harvesting the sea, most Indian Ocean states have yet to take full advantage of possible bounties relating to seabed mineral, natural gas and oil deposits, and new fishing fields, particularly in the Southern Ocean. While whaling has ended in the region, extra-regional fishing fleets are currently, legally and illegally, helping to deplete fish stocks throughout the ocean, despite attempts by countries such as Australia and South Africa to restrict fishing piracy and develop sustainable fishing policies. Offshore natural gas and oil fields have been developed by Australia and India, but apart from seabed oil fields between Australia and East Timor, there is currently little evidence that substantial deposits remain to be found elsewhere in the Indian Ocean. While the ancient cultural linkages that once bound the Indian Ocean in a web spun from maritime trade no longer exist, maritime trade is still flourishing in terms of
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volume and value. Maritime trade throughout the region is now based on the enormous wealth in natural resources (from oil to iron ore) and the accumulation of local capital and technology derived from increasing local participation in the extraction and processing of such resources, as well as the maritime carrying trade. Kenneth McPherson References and Further Reading Broeze, F.J.A. “The Globalisation of the Oceans. Containerisation From the s to the Present.” Research in Maritime History . St. John’s, C.A.: International Maritime Economic History Association, . Chaudhuri, K.N. Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean. An economic history from the rise of Islam to . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Chaudhuri, K.N. Asia Before Europe. Economy and Civilisation of the Indian Ocean from the Rise of Islam to . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Das Gupta, A. & M.N. Pearson, India and the Indian Ocean –. Delhi: Oxford University Press, . “Fish. The Forgotten Industry.” Far Eastern Economic Review , no. (): –. Graham, G.S. Great Britain and the Indian Ocean, –. Oxford: Oxford University Press, . McPherson, Kenneth. The Indian Ocean: A History of People and the Sea. Delhi: Oxford University Press, . McPherson, Kenneth. “Penang –: A Promise Unfulfilled.” In Gateways of Asia. Port Cities of Asia in the th–th Centuries, ed. F. Broeze. London: Kegan Paul International, . McPherson, Kenneth. “Port Cities as Nodal Points of Change: The Indian Ocean, s–s.” In Modernity and Culture. From the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, ed. L.T. Fawaz and C.A. Bayly. New York: Columbia University Press, . Pearson, M.N. The Indian Ocean. London: Routledge, . Subramanyam S. The Portuguese Empire in Asia –. A Political and Economic History. London: Longman, .
IRISH SEA The Irish Sea separates the eastern coasts of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland from the western coasts of Scotland, England, and Wales. Before the Ice Age, the sea is thought to have been a large freshwater lake. As the Irish Sea Glacier, the main glacier covering England, Scotland, and Ireland receded, it carved a narrow channel because ice was constrained by what are now highland mountain ranges. Today, the sea is roughly miles wide at its narrowest point, about miles ( kilometers) wide at its widest point, and miles ( kilometers) long. The sea meets the Atlantic Ocean through Saint George’s Channel, at the south, and the North Channel in the north.
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The Irish Sea has had a long history in both human civilization and natural geography, and today is a vital part of the economy and community of all the lands along its shores. Major rivers flowing into the Irish Sea include England’s, Calder and Mersey, Northern Ireland’s Lagan, and the Republic of Ireland’s Boyne and Liffey. Coastal areas and beaches along the Irish Sea are generally rocky, although there are sand beaches in several areas. There are many small inlets and larger inlets or loughs, especially on the island of Ireland. Despite the rocky coasts, sea grasses common to northern climes often grow near the water’s edge. Gulls, terns, and other shore birds are attracted to feed on sea life as well as grass seeds. Although cod, haddock, herring, whiting and plaice are among the fish caught commercially and by sport fishermen. Lobsters, mussels, scallops, whelk, and oysters are found in the bays and estuaries, yet the Irish Sea has become overfished almost to collapse. The British government has worked to restore the fishery, but the demand for fish continues unabated. There are stone markers in Ireland near the sea coast dating back to the Neolithic Age, long before the birth of Christ. As Christianity came to England and Ireland, monastic communities and towns developed on the banks of the sea facing rivers and bays; these became targets for Viking attacks and places of Viking settlement, beginning in the eighth century c.e., when swift and light Viking ships controlled the Irish Sea. Castles, some of which still stand, were built along the seacoast as protection against Vikings, as well as against the Normans who followed, and later, pirates, and English troops. Carrickfergus Castle in Northern Ireland, and King John’s Castle on Carlingford Lough in the Republic, are two examples of structures still standing near the sea. The sea was also a constant thoroughfare for people and goods, being a step for Scots traveling to Ulster to settle during the clearances of the th century, and Irish heading to Manchester and Liverpool seeking work, food, or emigrating to farther shores from the th through the th centuries. Irish Sea ports—Manchester, Liverpool, and Blackpool in England, Belfast in Northern Ireland, and Dublin in the Republic of Ireland—also served as important ship building centers. The infamous Titanic was built in the shipyards of Belfast in the early th century, and set sail on its first and last voyage from Liverpool. On both sides of the sea, many smaller towns and areas are popular holiday destinations. Tourism is seen as both an opportunity and challenge for the future of the area, as are issues of pollution, especially from nuclear power plant discharges, and the potential changes in sea level because of global warming. The health of the Irish Sea has been a concern over the past years, and the Irish Sea Forum, a group associated with the University of Liverpool founded in , has been working to raise awareness in both Ireland and Britain. The Irish Sea has long found its place in song, too. Dublin-born folk singer, Susan McKeown, has used the rivers of Ireland flowing to the Irish Sea as images in her song “River,” a song reflecting on Ireland’s past and future. Kerry Dexter
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References and Further Reading Bord Iascaigh Mhara/Irish Sea Fisheries Board. www.bim.ie/ (accessed September , ). Hall, Richard. The World of the Vikings. Dublin: Four Courts, . Irish Sea Forum Reports. The Oceanography Laboratories of the University of Liverpool, through . Liverpool, U.K. University of Liverpool, —. Various Artists. The Radio Ballads: Ballad of the Big Ships. [sound recording] Gott Discs, .
ISLAND PORTS AND HARBORS Ports and harbors are often an under appreciated factors in world history. Because water was the superior means of transportation prior to the development of the railroads in the th century, and is still economically unmatched for heavy cargo, developing efficient ports has been the key to economic prosperity and military prominence for many nations. While some ports are natural harbors, others require extensive construction work to make them viable (ship berths, widening channels), and upkeep (dredging). Some of the earliest ports were constructed by the Indus Valley civilization. Archaeologists have excavated the Port of Dholavira on the island of Cutch, and there has also been much work on the ports of Amnisos and Katsamba on the Mediterranean island of Crete. With the Greeks having a large merchant navy, they established ports, mainly in natural harbors, on islands in the eastern Mediterranean, with notable ones being on Thera, the reputed center of the famed kingdom of Atlantis; and Vathi on Ithaca (Ithaki), the home of the legendary hero Odysseus. Other notable ports on the Mediterranean include Salamis in Cyprus, Syracuse in Sicily, the old town of Corfu on Corfu Island, and the later important trading ports of Ajaccio on Corsica, and Cagliari on Sardinia, as well as the Carthaginian base at Mago on Ibiza, the easternmost of the Balearic Islands. At the same time, the Chinese were also establishing ports on islands off of their coasts, including at Chu Yai on the island of Hainan in the Han Dynasty, and on parts of the Spratly Islands. The Japanese also established numerous ports. The Romans used their navy to capture many of the island ports in the Mediterranean, and Emperor Tiberius, moving to Capri, enlarged the harbor of that island. By this time, many island ports around the world were important for maritime trade, such as Socotra off the coast of Oman, and London in the British Isles. The Vikings, being largely coastal seafaring people, established their own ports at Odense, Roskilde, and Copenhagen in Denmark, Rønne on Bornholm, Cork and Dublin in Ireland, Kirkwall in the Orkneys, and Reykjavik in Iceland, amongst others. With the growth of trade, most of the ports on Mediterranean islands and elsewhere in Europe had been settlements since Classical times, with most developing in natural harbors, although some, like London, formed on rivers. With Britain developing an important seafaring tradition, it was not long before there were substantial ports around the British Isles: Belfast, Bristol, Hull, Liverpool, Middlesborough, Swansea, and Tynemouth all located close to the mouths of rivers. Some of these also became important places for ship building.
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From the th century, European colonial powers were establishing bases in other parts of the world, and islands were particularly useful for trade, especially for slave trade: Praia in the Cape Verde Islands, the islands of Sao Tome and Principe, and nearby Fernando Po all served as transshipment points for slaves. The Knights of Malta, from their former base in the port of Rhodes Town on the islands of Rhodes, moved to Malta in , and after managing to defeat the Turks in , built the city of Valetta with its natural harbor that was to sustain Malta in war until the end of World War II. From the arrival of the first Europeans in the Americas, ports were established on most islands, the vast majority in natural harbors: Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince on Hispaniola; Bridgetown, Barbados; Montego Bay and Port Royal, in Jamaica; Providence, Rhode Island; St. Johns, Newfoundland; Nassau, Bahamas; and Havana, Cuba being the most important ones. Some of these quickly became lairs for pirates, and later for blockade runners during the American Civil War, and later still for alcohol smugglers during the era of prohibition. There were also a number of ports on small islands, which operated as penal colonies. Napoleon was first exiled to Portoferraio, on the island of Elba, and then Jamestown on St. Helena. Large-scale penal colonies necessitated the building of port settlements at Hobart and Launceston on Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), and Kingston on Norfolk Island. By the th and early th centuries, European traders in eastern Asia were often restricted to operating in ports on offshore islands: Georgetown, Penang; Nagasaki on Honshu island; and Macao and Victoria islands off the coast of China. Other notable island ports of the period include Amboina, Batavia, Macassar and Surabaya in modernday Indonesia; Colombo, Sri Lanka, Brunei City in Borneo; Singapore; and Muntok, Bangka. Off the African coast, the ports of Zanzibar and Mahajanga, Madagascar were also important, as were Suva, Port Moresby and others in the Pacific. During both World War I and World War II, island ports had to be enlarged and adapted to serve as naval bases. Those in the Pacific at Pearl Harbor, Oahu; Singapore; Manila, the Philippines; and Honiara on Guadalcanal were all important military objectives during World War II. The island port at Hagatna, Guam, served as a major U.S. naval and aerial base, and continues in that role to the present day. Some ports in the Pacific, and many in the Caribbean, are now important destinations of cruise liners, thus they are adapting to encourage an expansion of tourism and economic growth. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Karmon, Yehuda. Ports Around the World. New York: Crown Publishers, . The Times Atlas of the World. New York: The Times, . The Times Atlas of World History. New York: The Times, .
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LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN Few waterways have held such strategic significance as Lake Pontchartrain, which has served as a gateway to the interior for commerce, warfare, and recreation. The square mile brackish lake, miles long (east to west) and miles wide (north to south), is located in southeastern Louisiana, north of New Orleans, northwest of the Gulf of Mexico, and east of the Mississippi River. With an average depth of – feet, it has long been a major connector for Mississippi River traffic. Lake Pontchartrain is the second largest saltwater lake in North America, eclipsed only by the Great Salt Lake in Utah, which covers approximately , square miles. Formation of the lake occurred ,– , years ago as the Mississippi River’s alluvial deposits gradually enclosed the western and southern sides of the basin to form an oval inland lake from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. The primary tributaries that feed freshwater into the lake are Pass Manchac and North Pass, which flow from Lake Maurepas to the west, and the Tangipahoa, Tchefuncte, Tickfaw, Amite, and Bogue Falaya rivers, and Bayou Lacombe that flow in from the north. As a result, the salinity levels at the western end of the lake are low. At the southwest end, saltwater enters the lake and salinity levels are higher because of the natural entrance to the Gulf at the Rigolets, Chef Menteur Pass via Lake Borgne, and the manmade Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (completed in ) in the south. Other manmade features include the Industrial Canal in New Orleans, connecting the lake with the Mississippi River, and the Bonnet Carré Spillway (completed in ),upriver from the city that diverts overflow water from the river into the lake during floods. Native Americans of the Choctaw Tribe called the lake Okwata or “wide water.” The Bayougoula, Mougoulacha, Chitimacha, Oumas, Tangipahoa, Colapissa, and
LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN
Map of Lake Pontchartrain
Quinipissalive tribes held the shoreline during European contact and used the lake and connecting waterways for transportation and trade. The lake received its name in from Pierre Le Moyne Sieur d’Iberville, who named the lake in honor of Louis Phelypeaux, the comte de Pontchartrain. Europeans learned that portage routes from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain offered quicker, safer access to the Gulf of Mexico than the long, often dangerous route that extended one hundred miles down the Mississippi (U.S. Coast Pilot , , ). The entrances to the lake and access to New Orleans (founded ) and suburbs have historically been guarded by fortifications because of their strategic and economic importance. The first was San Juan del Bayou (Spanish Fort) located at the confluence of Bayou St. John (). Frequent changes of international territorial boundaries during the th and th centuries meant that the north and south shores were frequently held by different governments, creating a significant opportunity for smugglers.
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The first steamboat on Lake Pontchartrain was in , followed by Pontchartrain Railroad, the first railroad connection to New Orleans in . The growing commerce of the Mississippi River in the th century created a need for a more reliable and flexible transshipment point. The New Basin Canal opened in as the first all water link between the lake and downtown New Orleans. This was followed by a string of other canals over the next century. During the Civil War, the lake was an important route used to supply New Orleans and foster trade with other Confederate-held territories. When New Orleans was captured by Union forces in April , the north shore became a haven for Confederate ex-patriots who would not swear allegiance to the United States. After the war, north shore industries helped to rebuild New Orleans and renew commerce. By the late th century, the shores of the lake had become a favorite recreational area. Industries located in and around the lake traded seafood, building materials, and finished products of all descriptions. The waterway was first bisected by the -mile Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in , after which the north shore suddenly became more accessible, kicking off a major development boom that continues today. The causeway again replaced preexisting ferry services and was, at the time of completion, the longest over-water structure in the world. By the s, the health of the lake was declining due to industrial and agricultural runoff, rapid development, loss of marshlands, and incursions of both fresh and saltwater
Cypress marsh at the edge of Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana. NOAA /Terry McTigue.
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through manmade waterways. The fragility of the lake’s ecosystem soon became apparent. Civic and governmental groups led the fight to clean up the lake, outlaw oil drilling, and save the bordering marshlands. Today the lake boasts one of the most diverse collections of sea life. The normally brackish water is replaced by saltwater during major hurricanes that cause significant storm surge, temporarily altering the environment and bringing new diversity of sea life. During Hurricane Katrina (), New Orleans’ levees on the lake side gave way, flooding parts of the city and introducing manmade pollution into the environment. Ongoing environmental challenges facing Lake Pontchartrain include shoreline development, erosion, saltwater intrusion via manmade waterways, and freshwater diversion from other waterways. Jay Martin References and Further Reading Clark, John G. New Orleans, –: An Economic History. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, . Ellis, Frederick S. St. Tammany Parish: L’autre Cote Du Lac. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, . National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). http://www.nauticalcharts. noaa.gov/ (accessed August , ). U.S. Coast Pilot : Gulf of Mexico Coast of the United States from Key West, Florida, to the Rio Grande. th ed. Washington: GPO, .
LAKE TAHOE Lake Tahoe is a freshwater lake located in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the United States, on the border between California and Nevada. The lake is miles long ( kilometers), and miles wide ( kilometers). It is the third deepest lake in North America, reaching a depth of , feet ( meters). The Washoe Tribe lived around Lake Tahoe, which was the central part of their territory, and a major source of food and water. Some sources state that the name Tahoe comes from a corruption of “Washo,” while others argue that it means “big water.” The first non-indigenous people to see Lake Tahoe were Lieutenant John C. Frémont and Kit Carson, who discovered the lake while on Frémont’s second expedition across the Americas in . The next exploration mission to the region was headed by the Sierra explorer John Calhoun Johnson, the founder of what was known as Johnson’s Cutoff (now Highway ). Johnson became the first non-indigenous person to climb the peak above Lake Tahoe and see Meeks’ Bay. Johnson called the lake Fallen Leaf Lake after his Indian guide. John Calhoun Johnson began working as a mail carrier in the region, and he renamed the lake, Lake Bigler, after the then governor of California, John Bigler. In , the
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Lake Tahoe viewed from the Nevada side. Corel.
surveyor general of California, William Eddy, listed the lake as Lake Bigler, although it was renamed Lake Tahoe in by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Both names continued to be used interchangeably, and it was not until that the lake was finally designated as Lake Tahoe. As the lake is situated on the border of California and Nevada, it was finally decided that it should be divided following the land boundaries, and it was eventually split between the two states. When gold was discovered in California in , a gold rush began, with many prospectors traveling past or close to Lake Tahoe on their way to the goldfields further west. No gold was found in the region, but in some prospectors did find a rich vein of silver at the Comstock Lode, miles east of Lake Tahoe. From then until , the area around the lake was heavily logged to provide timber to help prop up the mineshafts. The logging was so extensive that by the s there were few native trees left. With the emergence of Virginia City, near Comstock Lode, Tahoe City was founded in as a resort for people from Virginia City, and gradually Lake Tahoe started to become a popular resort. In Elias “Lucky” Baldwin, a speculator, bought Tallac Point, south of the lake, and there he built a hotel and casino complex, as well as a promenade and tennis courts. The land was turned into what became the Pope Estate in , with the Heller Estate, built in , called Valhalla. In , , and attempts were made by Congress to get Lake Tahoe designated as a national park. After World War II, there was a population boom in the region
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because of the growth in gambling casinos in Nevada—Reno and Carson City being, respectively northeast and east of the lake—and the construction of major interstate highways for the Squaw Valley Olympics. The Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park was established to preserve much of the flora and fauna to the northeast of the lake, and much of the shoreline is now protected by the United States Forest Service. Protection of this extremely pristine deep water lake is necessary because the population continues to expand: whereas the population was about , in , by the s the population exceeded ,, with as many as , visitors arriving in the summer. The Lake Tahoe Historical Society museum is located in South Lake Tahoe, the township that dominates the southern shores of the lake. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Evans, Lisa Gollin. An Outdoor Family Guide to Lake Tahoe. Seattle: Mountaineers Books, . Sangwan, B. The Complete Lake Tahoe Guidebook. Tahoe City, CA: Indian Chief Pub., . Walpole, Jeanne Lauf. Insiders’ Guide to Reno & Lake Tahoe. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, .
LAKE TITICACA Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest lake (, feet/, meters above sea level), and the second largest freshwater lake in South America (after Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela), is surrounded by Peru to the west and Bolivia to the east. As a center of Native American civilization since well before the Incas, some of the surrounding lands were terraced to allow for the irrigation of potato and grain fields. There are a number of islands located in the lake: Amantani Island, Campanario Island, Soto Island, Taquile Island, and two islands known as the Island of the Sun and the Island of the Moon. These latter two, now considered part of Bolivia, have Inca ruins on them, the former being the legendary birthplace of Manco Capac, the first Inca. As a result, Lake Titicaca has an important symbolic place in Inca civilization, with some Incas journeying there from Cuzco to the northwest. For many centuries, the Incas built balsas, which were flat-bottomed fishing boats with sails made out of reeds. In , this technology was harnessed by the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl to build Ra I and then Ra II. Heyerdahl sailed across the Atlantic in Ra II to prove the feasibility of a connection between the Egyptians and the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas. The Inca Royal Roads, which skirted to the west and east of Lake Titicaca, were used by Diego de Almagro, the first Conquistador to reach the lake. On October , , the town of Huarina, on the southeast shore of the lake, was the scene of a violent clash between competing groups of Conquistadors. In the arduous battle, fought at such a high elevation, the men of Diego Centeno managed to rout the supporters of Gonzalo
LAKE TITICACA
Peruvians traveling by reed boats on Lake Titicaca. Corel.
Pizarro, brother of Francisco Pizarro, in one of a series of fights that would break the Pizarro family hold on Peru. For much of the period of Spanish rule, Lake Titicaca was an isolated part of Latin America, although there was interest in the region in the mid- to late th century when silver was extracted in the region. The town of Puno, on the western shores of the lake, was founded on November , , on the site of the Laykakota Mine. A cathedral was built in Puno in , and later a railway line was constructed to the city from Cusco. Before the railroad, the journey from the major city, La Paz, was an arduous trip around the lake either on foot, or occasionally on horseback. With the end of Spanish colonial rule, the western half of the lake became part of Peru, and the eastern half was joined with Bolivia. Following the defeat of Bolivia by Chile in the War of the Pacific in –, Bolivia lost its access to the Pacific, and has based its small navy—currently , men—on Lake Titicaca and on the country’s rivers. In the late th and early th centuries, there were a number of small lake steamers and launches, which began services across the lake. The Pan-American Highway runs through Puno, and skirts some of the western side of the lake. Along with a railway line to Puno, built by the British-owned Southern Railway, the British also established a regular steamboat service across the lake. The journey from Puno to the Bolivian port of Guaqui took hours, but this ended in the early s with the end of the ferry service.
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Starting in the s, Lake Titicaca has become a popular tourist destination, accessed either on the Bolivian side as a day-trip from La Paz, or from the Peruvian side, usually in conjunction with visiting the former Inca capital at Cuzco. As a result, a large tourist industry has grown up in Puno with many street dancers and musicians, and many hostels and hotels. The most popular day trip from Puno is to the floating islands—the tortora reed islands inhabited by the Uros people. As the reeds in the water rot, the inhabitants replenish the island with more reeds. Some of the larger islands even feature substantial buildings, all built from reeds, often with tin roofs. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Benson, Sara, Paul Helladner and Rafael Wlodarski. Peru. Footscray, AU: Lonely Planet, . Innes, Hammond. The Conquistadors. London: Collins, . Mason, J. Alden. The Ancient Civilizations of Peru. Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin Books, . Orlove, Benjamin. Lines in the Water: Nature and Culture at Lake Titicaca. Berkeley: University of California Press, . Salles-Reese, Veronica. From Viracocha to the Virgin of Copacabana: Representation of the Sacred at Lake Titicaca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, .
LAKE VICTORIA Lake Victoria is the third largest lake in the world, covering some , square miles. Subject to the territorial administration of Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, there are more than , islands and islets in the Lake, a significant number of them being inhabited. As the source of the White Nile, and as an extensive center of biodiversity, it is also important for many other countries. Lake Victoria is a relatively shallow lake, and was formed in about , b.c.e. Core samples taken from the base show that it has dried out three times, the last time between , b.c.e. until , b.c.e. Archeologists have discovered remains of stone tools and other evidence indicating that tribes living around the lake started domesticating cattle in about b.c.e. By the ninth century c.e., Arab traders were using the lake in search of ivory, gold, and also slaves. The lake, shown on an Arab map from the s, was called Ukerewe, a name preserved in one of Tanzania’s islands, the largest in the lake. The first European to sight the lake was the British explorer John Hanning Speke, who approached it from the south in . Speke was exploring central Africa with Richard Burton, and he named the lake after Queen Victoria. Burton, who discovered Lake Tanganyika, was jealous of Speke’s discovery, which led to much tension between the two regarding the source of the River Nile. This in turn led the Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone to try and verify Speke’s claims, a task later left to
LAKE VICTORIA
Anglo-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley who succeeded in circumnavigating the lake. The land surrounding the north of Lake Victoria became the British colonies of Kenya and Uganda, with Tanganyika to the south becoming a German colony. In World War I, the British planned to take control of the lake in order to attack Ruanda (modernday Rwanda), which was occupied by the Germans. This did not eventuate and it was left to the Belgians attacking from the Belgian Congo (modern-day Democratic Republic of Congo). With the Belgians being successful, the British, under Brigadier-General Sir Charles Crewe, launched an attack on the German gunboats on the lake and captured Ukerewe Island in June , and Mwanza Port in the following month. After the war, the British administered Tanganyika. During the s and s, Europeans came to the shores of Lake Victoria to hunt, with Kalman Kittenberger writing an account of his time on the lake. In , to try to improve fish yields for local people, the Nile perch
Map of Lake Victoria
LAKE VICTORIA
was introduced into the lake. Its success was limited until the s, when the population increased dramatically. With independence for Tanganyika in (it became Tanzania in ), Uganda in , and Kenya in , the lake was to play an important part in the tourist economy and history of all three countries. For Tanzania, the town of Mwanza is the terminus to the railway from Dar es Salaam and is the location of the ferry terminal for people crossing the lake. It became a popular tourist resort for yachting enthusiasts. For Uganda, the country’s capital Kampala is not far from the lake—serviced by Port Bell, with Entebbe Airport being located adjacent to the lake itself. In July , Israeli commandoes flew over the lake to launch their attack on the hijackers holding hostages at the airport. Kenya has territorial control over only a small part of Lake Victoria, with its largest settlement on the lake being the town of Kisumu, which is in the Kavirondo Gulf. Since the s, Kenya has embarked on regular campaigns around Kisumu to try to eradicate tsetse flies that use swamp land for breeding. There are heavily-used ferries connecting the ports of Kisumu, Mwanza, and Bukoba in Tanzania, and Entebbe, Port Bell and Jinja in Uganda. The sinking of the MV Bukoba on October , , resulting in the deaths of nearly , people, still rates as one of Africa’s worst maritime disasters. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading “A Backwater: Lake Victoria Nyanza during the Campaign against German East Africa.” Naval Review (). Cole, Sonia. The Prehistory of East Africa. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, . Kittenberger, Kalman. Big Game Hunting and Collecting in East Africa –. London: Edward Arnold & Co., . Moorehead, Alan. The Blue Nile. London: Hamish Hamilton, .
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MEDITERRANEAN SEA According to a majority of Western scholars, the Mediterranean Sea has been, and will continue to be, the most important body of water in the world. Its geological, oceanographic, and climatological features contribute to the availability of raw materials and resources, such as water, allowing settlement in some areas and not others. Some of the earliest advanced civilizations grew up along the shores of the Mediterranean because its waters offered easier transportation and communication than by land. Many formative events from the Crusades to the building of the Suez Canal, have served to focus attention on this body of water. The future importance of the sea in a global context will be determined by the ability of the states around it to work together as a cooperative group to address the accelerating ecological changes brought about by human impact. At its longest point, the Mediterranean is , miles and its widest point spans , miles. The Mediterranean Sea is the largest enclosed sea (as opposed to a portion of an ocean) on the planet. The coastline stretches approximately , miles. While its average depth is about , meters (, feet), its greatest depth is about , meters (. miles) in a region called the Calypso Deep off Cape Matapan, on the western side of Greece. Overall, Mediterranean waters cover approximately . million square miles (or million square kilometers), including the Sea of Marmara, but excluding the Black Sea. It divides into two regions—East and West—at the shallow region between Sicily and Cape Bon of Tunisia, and the Strait of Messina between Sicily and mainland Italy. The Western Mediterranean covers one-third of the total surface area, with a volume of over , cubic miles. The eastern part, meanwhile, covers the other two-thirds, with a volume of more than , cubic miles.
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The Mediterranean is entered or exited through two major straits. The Strait of Gibraltar connects to the Atlantic Ocean, while the Dardanelles allow water and ships to circulate between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Humans have also carved a third entrance: the Suez Canal, finished in , which allows ships direct passage to or from the Red Sea. The narrowness of these passages (the Strait of Gibraltar is the widest with an average width of miles and depth of , feet) reduces the height of the tides throughout the sea in comparison to world oceans. The major opening affecting water level or quality is the Strait of Gibraltar. North Atlantic waters are considerably colder, less saline, and more nutrient rich than those in the Mediterranean. These waters push in through the straits in a -meter deep layer, while below, a layer twice as deep (and usually not mixing with that above) flows out. The rate of evaporation is, for the whole sea, higher than the inflow of fresh water from rivers or ocean water through the straits. Evaporation is highest in the southeastern quadrant, which causes water volume in that region to decrease while salinity increases. Water that enters in the west is pushed by Atlantic pressure and pulled to fill the lower water level in the east. The denser, saltier, and warmer water sinks and is drawn westward to and through the Strait of Gibraltar, where these waters remain a distinct current for quite a distance. Scholars further divide the Mediterranean into a group of sub-seas. In the Western Mediterranean, the region from the Strait of Gibraltar between the Iberian and North African coasts, is the Alboran Sea. This is the transitional area where the incoming cool and low saline water visibly overrides the water moving out of the Mediterranean. Historically, this region has been one of the most important and busy waterways in the world. It is also home to large populations of sardines, swordfish, loggerhead turtles, and dolphins. Turning towards the north up the Spanish coast, the Balearic Sea is comprised of the waters between the Balearic Islands and the coast from approximately Valencia to the modern border with France. Following the coast to the east, past the mouth of the Rhone River, the waters from Corsica to the Italian coast make up the Ligurian Sea. This region is one of the deepest in the Mediterranean, reaching , feet to the north of Corsica. To the south, Sardinia, Sicily, and mainland Italy define the borders of the Tyrrhenian Sea. This is one of the most geologically active regions, even today. The region near the North African coast and north to the Balearics, Sardinia, and Sicily is often referred to as the Western Mediterranean. The Tyrrhenian Sea is one end of a historically crucial shipping lane—the Strait of Messina, between the east coast of Sicily and the Italian mainland. Greek mythology placed Scylla and Charybdis there. The waters between the southwest coast of Sicily and Tunisia would seem to make a more appropriate route, especially for ships on long-distance voyages. These waters, however, have swirling currents and winds, and other features derived from its geological characteristics. Even today, it is avoided in favor of the Strait of Messina. The Eastern Mediterranean also has a number of sub-seas. The Adriatic Sea stretches northwest up the back of the boot of Italy. At its mouth, the Strait of Otranto, between Italy and modern-day Albania, would seem to be a natural constriction from which to control the movement of ships. Historically, however, that control actually was exercised
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by two cities well to the south: Modon and Coron on the Peloponnesus. These cities are located on the southeastern edge of the Ionian Sea. From the surrounding ports, ships from the Adriatic turned either to the east or west to trade or fight. On the east side of the Greek mainland and the Peloponnesus, bounded on the south by Crete and by the western shore of Anatolia, and generously sprinkled with islands, is the center of classical Greek civilization—the Aegean Sea. At its far northeastern corner, near the legendary site of Troy, are the Dardanelles, the modern name for the narrow passage of water known to classical Greece as the Hellespont. This leads to the Sea of Marmara, which contains some well-known islands, including several with large deposits of high-quality marble. This marble has been used historically for building, especially the Roman Eastern capitol of Constantinople, sitting on the site of the Greek town Byzantium, now called Istanbul. The water flowing through the Sea of Marmara on its way into and out of the Black Sea has some crucial similarities to the other major entrance in the Mediterranean—the Strait of Gibraltar. The water flowing from the Black Sea has an average salinity of parts per million, while the deep layer of water has a salinity of parts per million. These do not mix; they do flow in opposite directions. Returning to the Eastern Mediterranean, some prefer to call the waters south of Crete and north of the African coast the Libyan Sea. Overall, however, the rest, from the eastern coast with the ports of the Holy Land, the mouth of the Nile River, and all the way to the Strait of Sicily, are given the generic name of Eastern Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Sea took millions of years to evolve into its present state. About to million years ago, around the time the Alps formed, the natural channel connecting the body of water to the Indian Ocean closed as tectonic plates collided. The formation of the sill between the African and European continents, at the same time as the ocean levels dropped, possibly because of an Ice Age, isolated the Mediterranean from any significant source of water about . million years ago. Thus, over the geologically short period of about , years, most of the sea evaporated. This event is called the Messinian Salinity Crisis, and it lasted until about . million years ago. During this period, it is possible that some source brought more minerals into the basin because the deposits are quite thick. When the oceans rose again, the water poured through the Strait of Gibraltar to fill the Mediterranean Sea to its final form. Likewise, the current theory is that the Mediterranean Sea overtopped the sill in the Bosphorus Strait around b.c.e. to fill the Black Sea. Geologists, geochemists, oceanographers, climatologists, and many other scientists continue to study the Mediterranean to decode its complicated past and better understand its present state. Southern Italy and Sicily have a number of active volcanoes including the famous Mount Vesuvius near Naples, which buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in c.e., Stromboli, on an island off of the toe of Italy, and Mount Etna on Sicily, which even now is burping up bits of lava. Greece has several active volcanoes— Methana on the northeast tip of the Peloponnese, on the islands of Milos, Santorini, and Nisyros—along with many inactive ones, noteworthy of which is Mount Ida on Crete. Both regions suffer frequent earthquakes because of major fault lines. Turkey, Syria, and
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Lebanon also have several active fault lines that caused two destructive earthquakes in . The Mediterranean, as it currently exists, is the product of several tectonic plates pushing together. Pieces of these plates have broken off to become micro-plates; some of these have rotated in relation to, or against, each other. The most active regions are the same ones where the volcanoes and earthquake zones exist. Some of the faults developed when the Mediterranean formed and now are inactive; others are more active now than in the past. For example, in the Eastern Mediterranean, the African plate is pushing northward, but, because of stone composition, it is going down (or being subducted) underneath the Eurasian plate at the Hellenic arc. The angle of subduction is slowly raising the Eurasian plate and creating more land while very slowly shrinking the Aegean Sea. The Hellenic arc, as a result, is one of the most active regions seismically, thus threatening activities on the waterways with repercussions such as small tsunamis. On the other hand, the far Western Mediterranean, near the Strait of Gibraltar, is not tectonically active, although this is one of the historically most significant regions. Some scholars agree with the theory that two major east-west systems in the current Sahara Desert are remnants of the original openings of the Strait of Gibraltar. In the Western Mediterranean, most of the geological activity takes place in the regions around Sicily. The island currently creeps northward at about two millimeters per year. On its southwestern side, the Strait of Sicily contains a system of ridges and troughs differentiating in height by as much as , meters. These apparently developed during the Pliocene as the result of rifting, not through regional slippage between tectonic plates. The development of two large volcanic islands within the last half million years, Pantelleria and Linosa, along with the ongoing activities of Mt. Etna, are part of this same rifting process. The islands show off many highlands formed by the up-thrusts of the faults. Some even show that at one time the Tyrrhenian Sea rotated clockwise, while at another time, part of the sea rotated counter-clockwise. To the east of Sicily, the Ionian Basin is one of the deepest regions of the Mediterranean, but its developmental history is still unclear. All of these tectonic regions are the record of past building forces, defining what obstacles water and mariners alike must navigate in order travel the Mediterranean. Historically, the Mediterranean Sea has provided a pathway for merchants, ideas, cultural exchange, and new peoples. It has acted as a barrier to many who could not conceive of ways to reach the other side, or could not master ships capable of handling the rough water. Many of the cultures around the sea, however, quickly adapted, built fleets, and explored far afield. Winds and currents, after placement of land and underwater structures, dictate how humans can use the sea. The gyre carries water from the Atlantic to the eastern Mediterranean on the surface and then back to the lower layer. This is a simplification of actual patterns, as water also moves counterclockwise around the sea. The current is very strong up the Levantine coast, as well as up the coasts of Albania, Croatia, and Serbia. This pattern is driven partly by the evaporation process. Other elements, which effect the movement of water both locally and in the Mediterranean as a whole, include temperature, air pressure, and its by-product of wind, as well as seasonal variations in such components
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as the amount of fresh water coming down the rivers. The prevailing wind in summer comes out of the northwest, a particularly good wind for ships sailing from the west to the east for trade. Ships sailing from the north side of the Mediterranean to the south could also use this wind, but going back on either route against these winds was quite difficult. While these winds were quite strong in spring and summer, most European trading nations, such as one of the dominant shippers of the medieval period, the Venetians, learned to sail out to the Eastern ports in the spring and back in the fall when the prevailing winds briefly swung around and came out of the East, making the voyage home much easier. Along with the counter-clockwise rotation of the Mediterranean current, these winds made routes along the southern coast of the Mediterranean very dangerous, and pushed the main shipping routes to the northern side of the sea. When ship technology advanced significantly in the th century, Italian shippers, in particular, stretched the sailing season so that it became year round. Driving these prevailing winds are the large seasonal hi-and low-pressure weather systems. For example, Venice often contends with wintertime flooding that they call aqua alta. This happens when a winter high-pressure system sits at the southern end of the Adriatic Sea, while high pressure sits to the north. Water displaced by the pressure the air exerts on the southern end of the sea flows toward the region of lower pressure, which in turn causes flooding. Historically, the Mediterranean’s importance goes as far back as written and archeological records. Before the First Agricultural Revolution (about , years ago), when people grouped together for the first time in permanent settlements, humans had already visited the Rock of Gibraltar and left their paintings in caves at Altamira and Lascaux. While painters, circa b.c.e., left images on rocks in the middle of what later became the Sahara Desert, the first evidence of settled peoples trading over long distances was discovered in the Neolithic city of Jericho on the Jordan River. The earliest evidence of Mediterranean mariners dates to about b.c.e. in the Cycladic Islands. Their abilities as sailors and vessels are barely attested, although they were the forerunners for later societies, especially the Minoans and Mycenaeans, who traded far afield in the Mediterranean Sea. The premier sailors of the ancient world were the Phoenicians, whose achievements include sailing out through the Strait of Gibraltar. Herodotus, writing considerably later in the s b.c.e., says that the Phoenicians were the first to achieve circumnavigation of Africa. They also influenced later cultures through their development of colonies that were used to supply their home cities with raw materials, and by their adoption of an alphabetic writing system from the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit. The Greeks, followed by the Romans, also adopted the sea routes developed by the Phoenicians. Through the rise and fall of ancient, medieval, and modern civilizations, the routes have remained largely the same. While the technology moved from small fishing vessels, to the exceptional Phoenician ships, to the biremes and triremes of the Greeks and Romans, the galleys and round-ships of Medieval sailors, and the metal ships of the last two generations, the goal of all of these people has been virtually the same: to control, or at least dominate, these routes. Such domination of the Mediterranean allows for control of markets and supplies. Seen in this light, the building of the Suez Canal
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makes complete sense—the attempt to keep control of long-distance trade by incorporating the Asian markets into the Mediterranean system. The advent of planes, trains and super-sized cargo ships has once again brought into focus the need of the region to find a way to bring attention to themselves and to remain relevant in world markets. Humans have had many small and large impacts on the Mediterranean Sea over the last three millennia, although the most dramatic changes have occurred within the last century. The fallout from the Chernobyl accident in , which acted as a traceable marker, provided some of the most clear evidence that the higher saline waters were sinking, moving west, and ultimately flowing out through the Strait of Gibraltar. The demands for fresh water for drinking and for industrial usage to the north of the Black Sea have changed the amount of fresh water that the rivers bring to the Mediterranean and the Sea of Azov. This in turn lessens the volume of the very thin life-sustaining layer on the top of the Black Sea, because what evaporates is not replaced, and ultimately what flows through the Sea of Marmara into the Mediterranean is becoming more and more saline over time. The change in the salt levels affects the balance of plants and fish that can survive in an area. Similarly, the restrictions on water reaching the Mediterranean from the great rivers feeding directly into it, especially the Nile, the Rhone, the Ebro, and the Po, have affected the salinity, nutrient levels, and overall environment. For example, when Egypt had the Aswan High Dam built across the Nile in the s, the results were quickly evident. Built to bring the country into the modern world by stopping the annual floods, providing consistent drinking water, and hydroelectric power generation, the dam brought about not only a stunning ecological decline of the river, but also impacted the Mediterranean Sea, as evidenced by a huge drop-off in the sardines harvested off the coast. Scientists have established that the reduction in water from the Nile has led to an increase in the salinity in the Eastern Mediterranean, and in water moving from there and ultimately out through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Aswan High Dam’s affect on the amount of water entering the Mediterranean also led to a reversal in the affect the Suez Canal has on the seas at either end. The various types of organisms migrating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean has grown quickly in the last three decades, forcing out or taking the environment from native ones, especially commercial types of fish. A more long-term human impact of the Mediterranean is the change in vegetation along the coasts. For example, the loss of trees cut down for housing, warmth, ship-building, and even charcoal, over the centuries contributes to erosion, atmospheric change, and changes in underwater features and currents. Other human impacts on the sea’s ecology or navigability include sewage and chemical pollution, damage from industrial dumping of warmed water, attempts to build barriers to control water movements (such as those proposed for Venice), over-fishing, and ship wrecks. The Mediterranean Sea, Mare Nostrum to the Romans, for so long the center of civilization, at the beginning of the st century is a region where people struggle to keep their preeminent place on the world stage in the face of the rising economies of Asian nations, the move towards large conglomerates of independent states represented by the European Union, and the accelerating changes in world waterways brought about by
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human impact. Issues such as building a tunnel across the Strait of Gibraltar, usage of resources by countries up-river, which impact the whole Mediterranean, and control of the age-old predatory institution of piracy will all pose challenges to the future of this once-crucial waterway. Eleanor Congdon References and Further Reading Abulafia, David, ed. The Mediterranean in History. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum . Astraldi, M., S. Balopoulos, J. Candela, J. Font, M. Gacic, G.P. Gasparini, B. Manca, A. Theocharis, and J. Tintore. “The role of straits and channels in understanding the characteristics of Mediterranean circulation.” Progress in Oceanography (): –. Astraldi, M., G.P. Gasparini, and L. Gervasio. “Dense Water Dynamics along the Strait of Sicily (Mediterranean Sea).” Journal of Physical Oceanography (Dec ): –. Braudel, Fernand. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Translated by Sian Reynolds; Abridged by Richard Ollard. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, . Catalano, R., P. Di Stefano, A. Sulli, and F.P. Vitale. “Paleogeography and structure of the central Mediterranean: Sicily and its offshore area.” Tectonophysics (): –. Fukumori, Ichiro, Dimitris Menemenlis, and Tong Lee. “A Near-Uniform Basin-Wide Sea Level Fluctuation of the Mediterranean Sea.” Journal of Physical Oceanography ( ): –. Horden, Peregrine and Nicholas Purcell. The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, . Maderich, Vladimir. “Modelling of Mediterranean system-changes under climate variations and human impact.” Environmental Modelling and Software (): –. O’Shea, Stephen. Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World. London: Profile Books, . Pierini, S. Simioli. “A Wind-driven circulation model of the Tyrrhenian Sea area.” The Journal of Marine Systems (): –. Rose, Susan. “Islam vs. Christianity: the Naval Dimension –.” Journal of Military History ( July ): –. Serpelloni, E., G. Vannucci, S. Pondrelli, A. Argnanin, G. Casula, M. Anzidei, P. Baldi, and P. Gasperini. “Kinematics of the Western Africa-Eurasia plate boundary from focal mechanisms and GPS data.” Geophysical Journal International (): –. Streeter, Michael. The Mediterranean: Cradle of European Culture. London: New Holland Publishers, . Taymaz, Tucany, Rob Westaway, and Robert Reilinger. “Editorial: Active faulting and deformation in the Eastern Mediterranean region.” Tectonophysics (): –. Yurur, M. Tekin and Jean Chorowicz. “Recent volcanism, tectonics and plate kinematics near the junction of the African, Arabian and Anatolian plates in the eastern Mediterranean.” Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (): –.
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NORTH AMERICAN AND CENTRAL AMERICAN CANALS Canals, which are manmade channels dug out of the land to make connections, have been added to the natural waterways in North and Central America to create access to the seas. Stretching from the Quebec region in Canada down to the states of Florida and Texas, and as far as the Panama Canal in the Central American isthmus, canals join with inland waterways to form vital links, and despite various states of disrepair, reveal a rich history. Fragmented accounts from interest groups has prevented a wider appreciation for the historical significance of canals, and perhaps is largely why there is a lack of public support for restoration. However, this may change because gaining a holistic view of canals in North America has been made possible recently with the production of the North America Inland Waterways Map and Index in , edited by David Edwards-May. The first attempt at a general picture was a work by Nobel E. Whitford in , and the modern publication of Hadfield’s World Canals () includes a summary but overall, information about canals is kept at a local level. Before railroads, the original purpose for canal building was to make water transport of freights possible in areas where land transport was both difficult and slow. For example, in the late th century, the transporting of goods weighing one and a half tons from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh ( miles) could take up to a month. However, by linking the natural waterways—the St Lawrence, Hudson, Ohio, Illinois, and Mississippi rivers and the Great Lakes with canals, the arrival of the freight was more predictable, speedier, and led to the development of previously inaccessible places in the Midwest. Further, in , before Chicago was connected with the Illinois River (a tributary of the
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Mississippi) by canal, it was a small town with less than inhabitants. New York too, was a beneficiary of improved trading links because the Erie Canal, completed in , allowed goods from the rich agricultural lands of the Midwest to be transported from the Hudson River down to New York City. Since the time of the early explorers, routes have been sought to the sea or for further trading opportunities. The great St. Lawrence River caused difficulties for travelers because of blockages in the form of rapids and waterfalls. To ameliorate this problem, the Lachine Canal was built to allow ships to travel from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes. While the canal is just under nine miles long, it rises a total of feet. Further, canals were built to cope with the different obstacles. The St. Lawrence Seaway, between Montreal and Kingston, Lake Ontario was divided into five sections, each with its own canal. Aside from the Lachine, other canals were the Soulange Canal, Beauharnois Power Canal, Cornwall Canal (with Farran’s Point Canal, Rapide Platt Canal, Galops Canal), and finally the Rideau Canal before Kingston. Niagara Falls is another obstacle on the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Welland Ship Canal provides a route to avoid it. Built between and , it is miles long and rises feet by means of locks. This complicated network of canals was reviewed because the combination of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River served as a vital infrastructure for both the United States and Canada. In , both countries began the seaway project to replace six canals measuring miles and containing locks, to a more simplified and efficient canal system with seven locks. The new seaway, which opened on June , , involved considerable upheaval during construction since ships still needed to pass. During the five-year construction period, bridges were raised, towns were moved, new canals were cut, and new seaway locks were built. When facing challenging terrain and the demand for more efficient transportation, funding was available from trading companies or various state governments, which encouraged engineers to be innovative. Most notable was the Sandy and Beaver Canal in Ohio. Privately financed by the Sandy and Beaver Canal Company, and completed in , it operated for only four years, but is notable for its canal engineering, including the Big Tunnel, the longest canal tunnel in America—, yards blasted out of solid rock. It also has another tunnel through hard shale and coal. Another engineering marvel is the connection between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In eight years, Pennsylvania state canals were combined with a -mile portage railroad using steam operated inclines, and resulted in the opening of miles of Main Line in . The desire to gain a passage across the Central American isthmus had been in existence since the earliest times but control of this stretch became essential for military and economic purposes. After de Lesseps built the Suez Canal shortening the sea route between Europe and Southeast Asia, he was asked to build across the narrow strip that separates the Pacific and Atlantic. The intention was that the passageway would reduce sea journeys, and the Panama Canal was eventually completed years later on August , . The result is that there are three pairs of locks on both the Atlantic
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and Pacific sides. Ships could at last sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific without going around Cape Horn. While canals were often built for access and trading routes, they were also built to harness vital water supplies. The building of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in was motivated by a health crisis from polluted waters in Lake Michigan. Chicago’s chief engineer decided to cut through a ridge between the lake and the Mississippi River, a canal miles long was built that reversed the flow of the Chicago River. By controlling the flow with locks, Chicago gained control of the draining wastes from its northern suburban communities. Despite this development in Chicago, by the canal network was , miles (, kilometers) long but faced competition from the speedier railway, and so it declined. The New York State Barge Canal, which replaced the Erie Canal in , was the one exception. While some canals have gained a new life, there are those that suffered a quick demise, like the Alexandria Canal’s seven mile stretch off the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal that was closed after a breach. An example of new life would be the Whitewater Canal, which runs from Lawrenceburg on the Ohio River upstream to Cambridge City, miles in length. It was closed and sold to a railroad in , but there is a remaining small section now restored for boat trips. The recreational use of canals is in evidence elsewhere as well. The Dismal Swamp Canal built between and , joined the Elizabeth River near Norfolk, Virginia to the Pasquotank River in North Carolina. It originally took logs from the swamp, but is now a recreational waterway for viewing wildlife. Recognition for the role that canals have played in the infrastructure of North America has been given to the Delaware Canal. It was part of the state system and ran for miles; it was completed in , and with a fall of feet, it required locks. The canal was used to transport coal from the northeast to the cities in the east, the mule-drawn boats moved over a million tons of coal a year on this route prior to the Civil War. Mules also pulled lumber, building stone, lime, and general produce. Like most other towpath canals, traffic declined and the last paying boat was in . However, the canal was designated as a National Historic Landmark in and the Delaware Canal State Park was named in , resulting in the best preserved towpath canal in America. Recreational waterways, like the Trent-Severn Waterway, is a river-lake-canal route from Trenton, Lake Ontario to Port Severn, Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. While it was started in , and built to carry lumber, settlers and freight cross central Ontario with conventional locks, two staircase or flight locks, two hydraulic lifts or lift locks, and a marine railway. It is now a -mile cruising route that has grown in popularity after an enthusiast’s society was started in . There are even shops and a visitor center along its route. Modern canals reflect a new role. In the mid-s, the Bricktown Canal was built for regeneration purposes in downtown Oklahoma City. A previously depressed industrial
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area now has commercial, entertainment, and residential development with the canal providing the water for an aquatic taxi service plus residential boating facilities. Consequently, there is a modern operating network integral to the communications and infrastructure network, and the commercial operators have an important stake in the network of inland waterways. The recreational suppliers on the towpath canals also have an important stake as do organizations like Parks Canada, who interpret canals and encourage the appreciation of their land-based features. These three separate groups all experience pressures from funding sources, competing transport modes, and environmentalists, and so they need to unite to develop an integrated approach for the future planning of the canals as part of the inland waterway network of North America. Julia Fallon References and Further Reading Edwards-May, D. North American Waterways and Map Index. Seyssinet, France: Euromapping, . Hadfield, C. World Canals. London: David and Charles, . Perry, K and T. Cash. Canals. London: A & C Black Publishers, . Pick, C. Canals and Waterways. London: MacDonald Educational, . Vince, J. River and Canal Transport Approaches to Environmental Studies Book . London: Blandford Press Ltd, .
NORTH AMERICAN DAMS AND LOCKS North America benefitted from a natural heritage that fuelled a first wave of investments in hydropower along the Fall Line of the Appalachians, and the creation of internal transportation connections. As a result of the networks provided by the rivers of the Mississippi Basin (despite floods or droughts) and the Great Lakes, and also by the tramping facilities along both Atlantic and Pacific coasts, river and sea transit helped facilitate and accelerate industrial and trade developments. However, a few investments had to be achieved to ease connections within northeastern areas: the Erie Canal was opened as early as , from Buffalo on the east of Lake Erie to the Mohawk river, along the south bank of Lake Ontario, and then to the Hudson River and southwards to the port of New York City, which became the maritime outlet of the Great Lakes. The Erie Canal was followed by the Welland Canal (from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, short-circuiting Niagara Falls) and by the Toledo Canal (opened in – to join Lake Erie, Toledo, and the Maumee River southwards to the Miami River and last to Cincinnati and the Ohio River, with another connection to the Wabash River, a tributary of the Ohio River). The Illinois Waterway appeared in , with the Chicago Canal (from Lake Michigan to the Illinois River and the Mississippi Basin). Upstream, the key Sault Sainte Marie joined Lake Superior to Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.
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Even if railways gathered momentum in the second half of the th century, and tended to assert their hegemony for freight transport, such a waterway system created a large commercial and industrial community of interests in the first half of the th century as a leveraging force to industrialization. River and lake exchanges of cereals (from the corn belt), coal (from the Appalachians, Toledo being a huge coal port), iron (charged in Superior or Duluth) transported hundreds of millions of tons throughout the Second Industrial Revolution: Traffic through the Sault-Sainte Marie Canal alone, the key classical axis, reached million tons in . Despite the breakthrough of railways, water transportation regained momentum because it remained the most economical means of shipping coal, iron ore, and grains. The Mississippi Basin (, miles long with the Missouri) benefitted from equipment to promote its commercial axis. From the s, the Ohio River and its tributaries had dams (on about , miles) supplemented by locks (. meters long; . meters wide), which were lengthened in the s to . meters. In , the Mississippi River Commission called for resuming flood control and investments; in the s the upper Mississippi, already equipped from , was modernized, creating a total of dams with locks and , kilometers (against a ,-mile course) became navigable up to Minneapolis (for . meter draft-boats). The Missouri also welcomed new dams and expanded locks. Northeastwards, internal river transportation reached a new decisive stage in the s, when the Great Lakes were linked to the Saint Lawrence River and opened what became the St. Lawrence Seaway to allow maritime ships to elevate meters ( feet) over miles from Montréal to Lake Ontario, despite a scale of rapids. An agreement was concluded between the United States and Canada in to get two power generation plants at the Niagara Falls thanks to derivative canals and conduits. However, the main investment concerned the waterway itself, in large part due to an agreement in that revolutionized the little canals and locks that Canada had established at the end of the th century (with a minimum depth of feet). Seven large locks were built between and for cargo ships of feet draft (with , tons of freight) and a continuous channel of at least feet became accessible. From upstream, the Thousand Islands section ( miles) leaves Lake Ontario and Cape St. Vincent to reach the Iroquois and the Long-Sault dams: there, the International Rapids section is comprised of the WileyDondero Ship Channel with two locks (Bertrand H. Snell and Dwight D. Eisenhower, with a total lift of meters). The following Saint-Francis section ( miles) from Cornwall Island to Lake St. Francis, is a dredged channel without locks. The Soulanges section, from Lake St. Francis to Lake St. Louis, includes the -mile long Beauharnois Canal and its two locks (with a lift of feet). Last, the Lachine section connects Lake St. Louis and Montréal with an -mile canal bypassing the Lachine Rapids, thanks to two locks (Saint-Lambert and Côte-Sainte-Catherine; feet). Transit grew through the seaway (with million tons in ), even though it is generally closed by ice from December to April. While such goods as iron from Labrador and Québec, oil from Venezuela, and bauxite from Jamaica went upstream, cereals and other commodities from
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the Midwest came downwards. Three dams supplemented the system to supply power to both countries: the Iroquois, Long Sault, and Robert Moses-Robert H. Saunders dams. Due to the penetration of high sea vessels upstream, the historical function of multimodal transshipment played by Montreal thus went on declining from percent of Canadian maritime traffic in , to percent in , and percent in the mid-s. Then, undoubtedly, the demise of the heavy industries of the Rust Belt around the Great Lakes, or in the Montreal area, from the s, cut into intraregional traffic and the Saint-Laurent waterway declined to an extent. However, it regained momentum because ships were modernized with self-unloading devices (ship-to-land or ship-to-ship), and because the reshuffling of world sea exchanges through the globalized container shipping generated a renewal of Montreal Harbor as a gateway for boxes, especially those coming from Europe. Slight programs of modernization increased the draft of the seaway (from feet to feet inches in two stages: and , almost reaching the Panamax standards) and upstream modernized the Welland Canal (–) (from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario). Environmental concerns about pollution and ecosystems led to comprehensive action to invest in long-term projects of purification of the shores beginning in the mid-s. Resources for Industrial Growth, Consuming Society, and Urbanization Beyond these transportation issues, the Second Industrial Revolution and the boom of urbanization—complemented by the trend towards the consuming society—put a premium on power production, and both the United States and Canada had a competitive edge regarding the design, engineering, and construction of hydroelectric facilities. During the time of the New Deal, hydroelectric facilities were viewed very favorably as a way to create some sense of national commitment to restarting growth and employment, thus explaining the saga of the Tennessee Valley Authority and of the Colorado and the Columbia programs; both the Soviet Union and the United States launched their own power revolution as beacons for their ability to reach progress through the command of hydroelectricity power. For example, plans had been drawn as soon as the s for the Hoover Dam, situated in Black Canyon to supply energy to Las Vegas (Nevada). The dam was built between and , with a massive height ( feet) and width (, feet at the crest), a huge artificial reservoir (Lake Mead), and a power plant supplying electricity to Arizona, Nevada, and Southern California. Priority was given to the creation of huge water reservoirs behind tall dams to control floods, fuel irrigation downstream, serve urbanization through housing estate schemes, and to provide some cruising on the lakes and sometimes shipping on canalized rivers (Tennessee). The Columbia Basin Irrigation Project (on the Columbia and the Snake rivers) mixed all these purposes in the state of Washington. The focus of the project was the creation of the Grand Coulee Dam. Built between –, the dam is feet high and , feet long. The Chief Joseph, Dalles, and Bonneville dams were all part of this development, comprising dams in the s (with a capacity of . million kilowatts). Southwards, the Colorado River was punctuated by the Hoover, Parker, Paolo Verde, and Imperial dams (with large irrigation
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diversion, the All-American Canal being the largest irrigation canal in the world) along its path to the border of Mexico, and its Gila tributary welcomed the Roosevelt Dam Because of the climate of the area, the role as a water reservoir became determinant and helped in the renewal of agriculture, and even with the creation of tourism. California also built many dams (almost ) from the s until the s (Glen Canyon on the Colorado in , Salt Springs in , San Gabriel in , etc.). In the heart of the Midwest, the Tennessee Valley Authority became part of a massive project to raise the standard of living through employment opportunities in agriculture and by broadening the industrial basis of the region. The U.S. Congress established this independent agency in May of , initially to operate the Wilson Dam and then to set up about dams in the whole basin of the river and its tributaries ( on the Cumberland, like the Wolf Creek Dam), in order to create power, water supply, and flood control on the Tennessee River. However, the project extended downstream on the Ohio and Mississippi, and even formed a continuous navigation channel miles from Knoxville (Tennessee) to Paducah (Kentucky), where it meets the Ohio River and the U.S. inland-waterway system. Electrical power is produced from dams (of which, six
View of the massive Hoover Dam from a helicopter. Originally known as Boulder Dam, Hoover Dam is located on the Nevada-Arizona border in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River. iStockPhoto.com.
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are privately owned by the Alcoa firm), which are supplemented by steam and nuclear plants under the same TVA entity, to power many nearby industrial facilities (fertilizers, chemicals, aluminum, etc.). There has also been a commitment to the redevelopment of these areas with reforestation and improving the waterway for agricultural communities. The growth of leisure activities in the st century refocused the value of the TVA lakes, which are used for recreational purposes by about million people who are lured by wildlife and leisure activities. New Stages of Hydropower Growth More discreet programs took shape after World War II. Development was reignited from the s–s when new schemes of investment into dams and reservoirs were conceived to accompany the intensification of agriculture and the acceleration of urbanization along the Rocky Mountains and in the far Southwest. South and North Dakota, California, and New Mexico, for instance, were equipped with new dams, without any navigational intent (except for recreation), but to act as support for high consumption of water—even though environmentalists began arguing for types of growth and agriculture that required less water and energy. An abundance of competing sources of energy (coal, gas, and oil, all also used for steam power plants) hindered the growth of hydroelectric projects, which limited the growth of this renewable energy as a percentage of total U.S. energy production (about percent). However, huge development projects took shape in Canada beginning in the s to supply industrialization, with several projects (Quebec, Manitoba, Columbia) exporting surplus power to the United States. The tributaries of the St. Lawrence (Outaouais, St. Maurice with the giant Shawinigan Falls development, Saguenay, Manicouagan, Outardes) were punctuated by HydroQuébec’s dams. Hydro-Québec conceived of a massive program along the James Bay (La Grande Project) to build large dams on rivers such as the Eastmain, Rupert, Grande Rivière from until . They further conceived of a second program to be completed in the mid-s. In the United States, plans are being developed to tackle the issue of urbanization in rapidly growing states like Nevada, and the removal of dams for environmental reasons is being debated in the Northwest and other regions. Waterways are no longer part of the debate because railway freight and trucks remain the basis of internal transportation in North America. Hubert Bonin References and Further Reading Alanson, A. Van Fleet. The Tennessee Valley Authority. New York: Chelsea House, . Billington, David P. and Donald C. Jackson. Big Dams of the New Deal Era: A Confluence of Engineering and Politics. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, . Guess, T. The Mississippi. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, . Hornig, James, ed. Social and Environmental Impacts of the James Bay Hydroelectric Project. Montréal, C.A.: McGill-Queen’s University Press, .
NORTH AMERICAN PORTS AND HARBORS Owen, Marguerite. The Tennessee Valley Authority. New York: Praeger, . Tennessee Valley Authority. The Historical Roots of TVA. Knoxville, TN: Tennessee Valley Authority, . Wilmon, Henry Droze. High Dams and Slack Waters; TVA Rebuilds a River. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, .
NORTH AMERICAN PORTS AND HARBORS Ports in North America originally developed similarly to the patterns of colonization and settlement in Europe. Major cities on the Atlantic coast, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Mississippi River were, in most cases, early ports that served the needs of Spanish, French, and English colonial merchants. Ports in the West Indies facilitated the export of sugar and the import of slaves—a trade that linked Europe, Africa, and North America. Though the Caribbean ports were (and are) significant as specialized ports, by the th century, the rapidly industrializing United States began to dominate shipping in North America, expanding markets into the Pacific Ocean and Asia and opening ports on the Pacific Coast. At the same time, major ports on the western coast of Canada emerged as well. In the th century, southern California and southeast Texas became important port areas by serving the needs of Asian importers and oil producers, respectively. Meanwhile, ports in Mexico finally began to grow alongside a modernizing economy and burgeoning population. Since world trade is primarily seaborne, the continued modernization of port facilities to accommodate ever-larger vessels remained central to all the North American economies. The permanent English colonization of North America did not create the great natural harbors of the Atlantic seaboard that service the modern-day cities of Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Halifax, Hampton Roads, New York, and Philadelphia. Nonetheless, these harbors did allow for rapid growth of these cities as centers for trade with the mother country. Similarly, the major ports along the St. Lawrence River, Montreal, and Quebec City facilitated the growth of French Canada in the th century and beyond. These ports were centers for the vital fur trade that helped to generate fortunes for France in the colonial period. In general, prior to the industrialization of the th century and beyond, North American ports served their immediate vicinity and, as a result, there were many small ports along he Atlantic seaboard. In the Gulf of Mexico, the port of Veracruz served as a dropping-off point for the Spanish fleet as it resupplied its transoceanic colonies. In the colonial period, this was the only major port in Mexico, which was (and is still largely) a country with highland population centers and limited port activity due to the fact that its chief economic exports are agricultural and maricultural products. Prior to European settlement, major harbors had served native peoples as settlement areas and locales for coastal trade for thousands of years. However, once English settlers arrived in the North American mainland in the late th century, these harbors were quickly transformed into ports that could serve deep-water vessels crucial
NORTH AMERICAN PORTS AND HARBORS
to international trade. Though Jamestown, near the present day ports of Norfolk and Newport News, was the first permanent English settlement, the cities of Plymouth (), Salem (), and Boston () hosted the first important New England ports, with Boston being the most important to the development of the region. The geography of Boston Harbor went a long way toward determining the growth of what is now the oldest continually active port in the Western Hemisphere. Situated between Cape Ann to the north and Cape Cod to the South, Boston Harbor provided safe refuge for sailing ships, and its proximity to both the Atlantic Ocean and natural resources, such as lumber and fish, allowed it to flourish. South of Boston, New York Harbor developed more slowly, though it would eventually surpass Boston and every other port in North America. In , however, its distance from the Atlantic Ocean made it less attractive than Boston. Philadelphia and Charleston, both larger cities than New York, were the largest ports in the mid-Atlantic and the south respectively. Philadelphia, the largest commercial center in the colonies, shipped almost every form of cargo, and Charleston shipped indigo, rice, and other crops while serving as a major port for slave trading, which was legal throughout the American colonies until the early th century. The Hampton Roads ports, comprised of Hampton (), Newport News (), and Norfolk () were limited by miniscule population growth and swampy lands. The ports primarily served naval purposes. The most important ports of the colonial period were not those on the North American mainland but on the many islands of the West Indies: Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and many smaller islands and archipelagos. Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands all had a major presence in the West Indies beginning in the th century. The Dutch introduced sugar to the other colonial powers in the region and it soon became the most important crop on almost all of the islands. The sugar trade helped to fuel the slave trade, which also made a fortune for the Caribbean islands, especially as a component of the triangular trade route with the North American mainland. Whereas early port locations in North America were determined almost exclusively by geography, development in the th century was driven by technological factors. In the early th century, the development of railroads, the Erie Canal, and other canals revolutionized shipping strategies and port development in North America, leading to the consolidation of Atlantic ports and the expansion of inland ports and cities. The Erie Canal provided vital coastal access from the mid-continent. Built in , and stretching from Albany to Buffalo, it linked New York City to the Great Lakes via the Hudson River. Railroad transport, which began in the s, became a major force in cargo transport by the s. More and more, port development depended on rail and canal links that would allow for rapid shipment between the interior and ocean ports. As ports grew and changed to encompass different industries in the late th and early th centuries, labor groups, infrastructures, and many municipalities moved to centralize port management. New York’s rapid rise from one of many important ports in the United States to one of the most important ports in the world was impelled by the growth of the Erie
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Canal and the expansion of paved roads and railroads that made small, local ports less necessary, especially given the increasing size of the vessels crisscrossing the globe. The canal was largely responsible for the astronomical growth of New York. In , New York’s ports handled six percent of United States trade (measured by value). By , it grew to percent, and reached percent by . Just as important, the New York ports handled over percent of American passenger traffic in the post-bellum era, and scores of immigrants arrived in the United States via the Port of New York. Immigration caused the city to grow significantly and reshaped the cultural landscape of both New York and the American interior. The increased demands of such growth required extensive expansion and consolidation of New York’s port facilities. In , the Board of Docks was created to oversee construction and development of the New York area ports. Until this time, piers were constructed by investors; the city itself had little regard for an overall strategy. However, as the port expanded in the late th century (and as the city encompassed the five boroughs that define it today) the Port of New York grew to include Staten Island, Jamaica Bay, and Newark Bay, on the east coast of New Jersey, as well as lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. All of these ports had easy access to the Hudson River, the East River, and thereby Long Island Sound, the Atlantic Ocean, and to the railways terminating in and around New York City. In , the Port of New York Authority (renamed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in ) was formed to administer to various harbor interests. Though New York is unquestionably the most important port in United States history, other eastern ports grew to meet increasing demand in the th century. Philadelphia, the largest port on the Delaware River, capitalized on some of the important industrial and technological changes, yet its port facilities lagged behind. Following the creation of the Department of Wharves, Docks, and Ferries in , the construction and maintenance of municipally owned piers and port facilities blossomed, helping the port benefit from the burgeoning oil and coal industries. Until then, the port’s haphazard piers and wharves could not adequately accommodate steamships, which gave New York and other ports a huge advantage in attracting international trade and passenger traffic during the th century. Philadelphia, like New York and Baltimore, was also a major center for grain and perishable cargoes from South America, and played an important role as a center for shipbuilding (both merchant and military) throughout the th and th centuries. Baltimore, the third in the triumvirate of major Atlantic ports of the Industrial age, served the American South and had geographic advantages over the other major ports because it served the West Indies and South America. At the same time, Baltimore’s relatively great distance from the ocean meant that it was closer to the Midwest than many of its Atlantic competitors, which was important for river, canal, and rail transport. Additionally, the construction of the Chesapeake and Delaware canals in cut the sailing time from Baltimore to Atlantic ports in the north by an entire day. During the th century, Baltimore handled large quantities of wheat and flour bound for overseas,
NORTH AMERICAN PORTS AND HARBORS
pioneered the fertilizer trade in the s, and, until , was a major refining center for overseas copper. As it did in New York, the growth of the Port of Baltimore necessitated changing administrative strategies, and, in , a Port Development Commission was established to create a unified plan for development and expansion of the port. New Bedford is something of an anomaly among North American ports in the th century. Unquestionably a major industrial shipping center, New Bedford only served one industry: whaling. From –, whaling was one of the most profitable industries in the United States, and New Bedford was home to nearly ships—half of the domestic whaling fleet. Following the Civil War, when insurance rates made whaling less profitable and the discovery of petroleum and kerosene in Pennsylvania made whale oil less necessary, the whaling industry declined precipitously. The last whaling ship was built in New Bedford in , and since then the port of New Bedford has served local fishermen and tourists heading to Martha’s Vineyard. Boston, the first major port in America, and the southern ports of Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah declined in this period in comparison to the other Atlantic ports. Their remote location, relative to inland trade centers, and the lack of rail and road lines connecting them to those centers, rendered them less important as hubs for international commerce, though the ports continued to serve the large metropolitan areas to which they were directly connected. The southern ports, which served an economy based on slave labor in the days before the Civil War, were not as quick to industrialize as were those in the north. This lack of modernization limited port development throughout the region. However, in the years following the Civil War, Norfolk developed a stronger infrastructure, and, along with Baltimore and Philadelphia, enjoyed superior rail rates on grain shipments from the Midwest. This helped the mid-Atlantic ports assert dominance vis-à-vis Boston and the southern ports, and to this day, the mid-Atlantic ports between New York and Virginia are the most important ports on the east coast of America. At the mouth of the Mississippi River sat the largest river port in th-century North America: New Orleans. New Orleans and the river marshlands to its south were the terminals of the Mississippi River, into which almost two-thirds of the nation’s interior waterways drained. The fourth largest city in mid-th century America, New Orleans was the largest southern city and a major center for the export of cotton, grain, and other agricultural products of the slave south, as well as slaves themselves. Its prominence also spurred the development of upriver cities like St. Louis, Memphis, Chicago, and Minneapolis. On the Western Gulf coast, only Galveston, Texas was naturally suited to serve as a major port and began serving ocean-going vessels in . Then, as now, Galveston was almost entirely a dry-cargo port with very little trade in petroleum. Sulfur, grain, cotton, and sugar are the primary commodities shipped from Galveston today, and it served as a natural resource gateway throughout the th century. The Erie Canal, which spurred the remarkable growth of New York, was also crucial to the development of the Great Lakes ports at Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, and Chicago as it provided a water route from the lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Just
NORTH AMERICAN PORTS AND HARBORS
as important, especially for Chicago, was the dredging of a canal connecting the lakes with the Mississippi River. Chicago’s crucial location as a connector between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi, as well as its emergence as the railroad terminus for the entire United States, made Chicago the largest city in the Midwest by and the largest inland port in the world. Before , first Cincinnati and then St. Louis were the largest cities in the Midwest by virtue of their locations on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. St. Louis was the second largest port (by tonnage) in the United States in . The expansion of canal and rail systems from the s to the s helped fuel the growth of Pittsburgh (at the confluence of the Ohio, Susquehanna, and Monongahela Rivers) and Louisville (also on the Ohio). All four of these Midwestern river cities were home to over , people by , evidence of the growing prosperity and importance of the Midwestern ports. San Francisco was the lone western port of any significance in the th century, spurred by the gold rush of , which brought large numbers of people to the west coast of the United States for the first time. San Francisco continued to develop because of its natural harbor and its connection to the Central and San Joaquin valleys, which were major wheat and barley producing areas by the late th century. Across the San Francisco Bay in Oakland, the port was slower to develop, but that city was the terminus of the transcontinental railroad (completed in ); by the time bridges connected the two cities in the s, both were major population and industrial centers. Far into the Pacific, Honolulu developed as a way station for whaling and other trading vessels in the th century. What followed was a major influx of western capitalists and missionaries who would redefine the Hawaiian Islands and lay the groundwork for the annexation of the islands by the United States (statehood would follow in ). After the collapse of the whaling industry during the Civil War, Honolulu took on a major role as a port for sugar exports, facilitated by a trade agreement with the United States that allowed for duty-free sugar exports from the islands. In the th century, Honolulu and other island ports served the U.S. military, and with the construction of rail facilities, marine terminals and container cranes, continued to serve as a major port for the shipment of agricultural resources to the American mainland. In Canada, Halifax, Nova Scotia boasted the finest natural harbor on the east coast, and its remote location meant that it was a full day’s sail closer to Northern Europe than other Atlantic ports. However, its remote location relative to natural resource centers limited its early importance. After the intercontinental railway reached Halifax in and connected the port to the grain rich interior of Canada and the United States, traffic volume increased dramatically. Montreal, at the head of navigable water on the St. Lawrence River, developed quickly. It boasted steamship service to Quebec in and was also at the forefront of public planning, with a port commission steering major port improvements as early as . Though it is located well inland from the Atlantic Ocean, and could not accept large ocean-going vessels until the St. Lawrence was dredged in the mid-th century, Montreal benefited from its close proximity to the resource-rich hinterlands at a time
NORTH AMERICAN PORTS AND HARBORS
when those areas were blossoming as agricultural and industrial centers. Just up the river from Montreal, Quebec was the first port in Canada and a major depot for trade and immigration throughout the th century. The Corporation of Trinity House of Quebec City, founded in , was the first North American port commission and helped to guide the development of Canada’s major port. With the dredging of the river and the decline of Quebec’s port facilities, as well as delays in connecting both sides of the river to Canada’s rails system, Montreal became Canada’s leading port by . Throughout the th century, Mexico boasted only one Gulf Coast port: Veracruz. However, like many of the ports in Mexico, its growth was limited by the foul climate and disease-ridden lowlands on which it sat. To the south of Mexico, the completion of the Panama Canal in had a dramatic impact on all North American ports because it gave rise to Asian manufacturing centers, and gave shippers more port options besides cutting distances and transit times. Since World War II, ports have changed dramatically, largely as a result of containerization, which has necessitated large capital investments for cranes and other equipment needed to unload large container ships. Furthermore, as trade volume increased, infrastructure became more crucial to port development and growth. Without adequate railway and roadway links, heavy traffic would make it impossible to move the enormous quantities of goods and raw materials from ports to their inland destinations. Demand for facilities and infrastructure, along with the growth of air shipping, has furthered the trend toward port consolidation that began with the development of railroads and canals. While traffic at smaller ports has dwindled, traffic at ocean ports and a few major inland ports—those with superior modern infrastructure and good interchange with truck and rail—have generally experienced significant growth. The population of Los Angeles went from , in to nearly four million in . During the th century, export traffic at the largest port on the west coast, Los Angeles/Long Beach, has been spurred by the introduction of refrigerated rail cars serving the citrus fruit industry, the discovery of oil in the late th century, and the emergence of the movie, radio, and television industries that spawned related developments in manufacturing and industry. Since the s, the Los Angeles area has also witnessed rapid growth in military industries and electronics industries. On the import side, starting in the early s, Los Angeles became a key land bridge port for containers, alleviating traffic congestion at the Panama Canal. By the s, Los Angeles and Long Beach had become the two largest gateways for international trade in dollar terms ( percent of all shipments are containerized), and combined, they are the fourth largest water ports in the United States in terms of tonnage. To the north of Los Angeles, San Francisco grew rapidly during World War II as a center for troops and supplies heading for the Pacific theatre, and for shipbuilding and ship repair. Oakland, just across the San Francisco Bay, was the first port on the west coast to build container facilities and commenced containership operations in . Oakland remains one of the largest container ports in the world. On the North Pacific Coast, Seattle developed as an outfitting center for prospectors heading to Alaska
NORTH AMERICAN PORTS AND HARBORS
during the Klondike gold rush of the late th century. During the steam age, Seattle’s proximity to Asian ports was crucial for importing perishable items, and it remains an important port for forest products and petroleum as well as a major military center. Seattle’s port is twinned with that of Tacoma, which sits across the Puget Sound. In , the two ports combined to handle nearly million tons of cargo, most of it foreign. Valdez, on the southern coast of Alaska, is infamous as the name of the Exxon tanker that ran aground in , but it is also one of the most important ports in the United States, handling over million tons of domestic cargo. The northernmost ice free port in the United States, Valdez is also the southern terminus of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. As such, Valdez is a center for shipping petroleum bound for refineries within the contiguous United States, though it boasts container and grain shipment facilities as well. Situated on the Pacific Coast, between Seattle and Valdez, lies Vancouver, the largest port in Canada and the second largest port (in terms of total volume) on the west coast of North America. Vancouver emerged as an important city when it became the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in , and it remains an export center for forest products, as well as grain, coal, potash, and sulfur from inland regions of western Canada. Since the s, the Canadian government has moved to ensure greater centralization and uniformity in port infrastructure. With the establishment of the National Harbours Board, which included representatives of Canada’s biggest ports and the responsibilities for conducting commercial and service operations, major improvements followed in the ports of Montreal and Quebec. Of particular note was the decision to use icebreakers to ensure the navigability of the Montreal-Quebec channel of the river during the harsh winter months. This change allowed the St. Lawrence ports to compete on more equal footing with the ocean ports at Halifax and Vancouver, which do not freeze in the winter. In , Montreal began utilizing container facilities to accommodate weekly container service from Great Britain, and continues as a major inland container port to this day. In the United States, three major inland ports remained highly important through the th century and on into the st, largely as a result of the rail-air-sea-land infrastructure development and containerized river barges. The Huntington Tristate Port in northern West Virginia is the seventh largest U.S. port in terms of total tonnage, all of it domestic trade. The port, which serves Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia, sits near the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio rivers and is served by an interstate, three rail lines, and a major airport. Pittsburgh, boasting three rivers, two rail lines, and four interstates, along with an international airport, is the th largest U.S. port. St. Louis links New Orleans to Chicago and the East Coast, and is the st largest port in the nation. It is home to four interstates, an international airport, and countless rail lines. These ports are all engaged in domestic trade, with their inbound flow sent to hinterlands via any number of transport options, and their outbound flow leaving via river barges bound for destinations like New Orleans, Chicago, or the major Atlantic ports. The major beneficiary of the river barge trade is the Port of South Louisiana, which
NORTH AMERICAN PORTS AND HARBORS
stretches miles along the Mississippi River; it is the largest port (in terms of tonnage) in the Western Hemisphere and the fourth largest in the world. Relying equally on offshore oil rigs in the gulf and the agricultural markets in the South and Midwest, the port has grown rapidly in the latter half of the th century as a site for raw material exports. With the exception of Galveston, ports in Texas sprang up in the late th century and continue to thrive today because of the petroleum industry in Texas. These ports are largely served by barge traffic from destinations up various canals and waterways. Houston, Texas City, and Corpus Christi, all send large quantities of both raw petroleum and refined oil to domestic and foreign destinations (though the trade is primarily domestic). The Texas ports were slow to develop, not only because of the relatively late emergence of the petroleum industry, but also because of their natural deficiencies. Almost all of the deep-water ports on the western Gulf Coast are man-made, as is the lengthy Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, which stretches from the Mississippi River to the border of Mexico. The remarkable network of man-made waterways connecting southwestern cities spawned a good deal of cargo traffic that serves the heavily populated regions that first grew out of the petroleum industry. In the st century, Houston and Galveston have the size, facilities, and infrastructure to compete with the major Mississippi River ports for cargo shipments bound for the hinterlands of the Midwest and the Great Plains. In fact, Houston is the largest port in the United States in terms of foreign tonnage and is second in total tonnage behind the Port of South Louisiana. The southeastern United States is primarily served by New Orleans and other ports on the southern Mississippi River, though there is major port activity in the Atlantic cities south of Baltimore. Hampton Roads developed in the th century with the coming of the two world wars, which helped grow a major labor force for wartime shipbuilding. Following the wars, several ports continued to grow and, in , were combined under a single governing entity. Today, Hampton Roads is the second largest exporter (in volume) in the United States and handles percent of America’s coal exports. Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia have modernized their ports with container facilities, and, as of , the port of Charleston ranked sixth (in dollar terms) for importation of foreign goods. Modernization of the southern ports on the Atlantic, coupled with the continued growth of the Sun Belt states, suggests that the ports south of Baltimore will continue to expand in the years to come. Mexico has also developed its port facilities in the th century, though facilities (and their use) lag far behind both the United States and Canada. The United States has about times as many vessel entrances/clearances each year, and Canada, with a population one-third the size of Mexico, has twice as many clearances each year. However, ocean shipping is still central to the Mexican economy because of petroleum exports. Along the Gulf Coast, Dos Bocas, Pajaritos and Cayo Arcas (an offshore oil platform) are the three largest ports in Mexico, and they handle large quantities of Mexican petroleum, much of it exported to the refineries on the Gulf Coast of the United States. Addition-
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ally, the container facilities at the smaller ports of Veracruz, Manzanillo, and Altamira have allowed for larger amount of international cargo trade. As the st century begins, North American ports are facing new challenges as ship sizes increase and more post-Panamax containerships (so named because they are too large for the Panama Canal) come online. While non-container ports, such as those on the Gulf Coast, will not be affected by expanding ship sizes, ocean ports will most certainly have to modernize their facilities in order to accommodate the post-Panamax ships. The New York Port Authority recently delivered two post-Panamax cranes at its Newark and Jersey City terminals, but the only port north of Virginia capable of handling a fully loaded , container ship is the natural deep water port of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Capitalizing on the natural barriers to port expansion in some of the major Atlantic ports to the north, the ports of Norfolk, Charleston, and Miami also added post-Panamax cranes, which may help them compete with the (generally) more popular northern ports. Likewise, on the Pacific Coast, the large ports of Vancouver, Oakland, and Los Angeles/Long Beach have added post-Panamax cranes to their facilities. Ports that have invested in such major capital improvements are well on their way to maintaining or creating a significant role in international shipping, while other ports may be left behind. As with containerization in the s, changes in ship technology will continue to shape port development and expansion in the years to come, thus reshaping ports and cities throughout North America. Bryan Sinche References and Further Reading Alexandersson, Gunnar, and Göran Norström. World Shipping: An Economic Geography of Ports and Seaborne Trade. New York: Wiley, . American Association of Port Authorities, Port Research Committee. A Compendium of North American Ports; Report. New Orleans, LA: American Association of Port Authorities, . Cunningham, Brysson. Port Studies: With Special Reference to the Western Ports of the North Atlantic. London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd., . Hershman, Marc. Urban Ports and Harbor Management: Responding to Change Along U.S. Waterfronts. New York: Taylor & Francis, . Jackson, Gordon, Lewis R. Fischer, and Adrian Jarvis. Harbours and Havens: Essays in Port History in Honour of Gordon Jackson. Vol. . St. John’s, Nfld.: International Maritime Economic History Association, . Mangone, Gerard J., and University of Delaware. The Future of American Ports. Newark, DE: University of Delaware, Graduate College of Marine Studies, . Morgan, Frederick Wallace. Ports and Harbours. Hutchinson’s University Library, . Ruppenthal, Karl Maxwell. Canada’s Ports and Waterborne Trade. Vancouver, C.A.: Centre for Transportation Studies, University of British Columbia, . Sinclair, Harold. The Port of New Orleans. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, inc., .
NORTH AMERICAN RIVERS Sussman, Gennifer. The St. Lawrence Seaway: History and Analysis of a Joint Water Highway. Montreal: C.D. Howe Research Institute, . U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Waterborne Commerce of the United States, National Summaries. New Orleans, LA: .
NORTH AMERICAN RIVERS North America contains an abundance of freshwater in the form of lakes and rivers. Over of the rivers are more than miles long, draining to every major body of water surrounding the continent—the Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay, Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean. Table lists the longest North American rivers, along with the size of their drainage basins and the mean water discharge at their mouths. This entry will explore six of the most prominent rivers in terms of their geography and influence on the human population of their watersheds. Mississippi River This is the largest river system in North America, with its major tributaries draining an area of approximately ,, square miles, or nearly percent of the entire continent. Running entirely through the United States, the Mississippi River rises in Lake Itasca Minnesota, continues south, intersecting with its major tributaries, the Missouri and Ohio rivers, and finally empties into the Gulf of Mexico south of the port city of New Orleans, some , miles from where it started. With its tributaries, the Mississippi drains all or part of states, as well as and two Canadian provinces. As the central river artery of a highly industrialized nation, this river system has become one of the busiest commercial waterways in the world. At times it is an unruly neighbor of some of the continent’s richest farmland. As such, it has been subjected to many attempts to control its flow. The Mississippi is ranked as the fourth longest river in the world by adding the length of the Missouri River system to the Mississippi (downstream of the Missouri-Mississippi confluence)for a combined length of , miles. In volume of discharge, the Mississippi’s rate of about , cubic feet per second is the eighth greatest in the world. The Mississippi’s delta is a classic example of river deposition into a quiescent body of water. For millions of years, sediment that has eroded from watershed has deposited across the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, forming a great apron of sediment miles in radius and , square miles in area. The surface area of the delta exceeds , square miles. Through a birds-foot network of distributaries that spread out into the gulf, the Mississippi delivers approximately million tons of sediment each year. The Mississippi has been the subject of intense hydrological study, particularly because of its frequent and potentially devastating floods. In , the most disastrous flood in the recorded history of the lower Mississippi valley occurred. More than , square miles of land were flooded, and all communications, including roads, rail, and
TABLE 1. Major Rivers of North America (greater than 900 miles in length)
River
Outflow Location
Length (km)
Watershed (km2)
Discharge (m3/sec)
MississippiMissouri
Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana
5,970
3,230,000
15,040
MackenzieSlave
Beaufort Sea, Northwest Territory
4,240
1,787,000
8,940
Saint Lawrence (incl. Great Lakes)
Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Quebec
3,320
1,424,000
10,050
Yukon-Lewes
Bering Sea, Alaska
3,180
850,000
6,310
Rio Grande
Gulf of Mexico, Mexico-Texas
3,030
460,000
34
NelsonSaskatchewan
Hudson Bay, Manitoba
2,570
1,132,000
2,270
Arkansas
Mississippi River, Arkansas
2,350
417,000
1,160
Colorado
Gulf of Mexico, Mexico
2,330
640,000
42
Atchafalaya-Red *
Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana
2,260
246,000
6,990
Columbia-Snake
Pacific Ocean, OregonWashington
2,240
194,000
5,490
Brazos
Gulf of Mexico, Texas
2,110
120,000
217
Ohio-Allegheny
Mississippi River, Illinois-Kentucky
2,100
528,000
7,710
Churchill-Beaver
Hudson Bay, Manitoba
2,100
298,000
996
Mississippi (upper)
Mississippi River, Missouri
1,880
446,000
2,900
Platte-North Platte
Missouri River, Nebraska
1,590
233,000
181
*Includes Mississippi River diversion
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A tugboat pushes barges down the Mississippi River, a major shipping artery in the United States. Dreamstime.com.
telephone services, were cut in many places. Farms, factories, and whole towns went temporarily underwater. At least people lost their lives. Since the freak conditions of , the mean discharge of water into the lower Mississippi by its major tributaries has been carefully monitored. To relieve some of the flow to the delta, at approximately miles downriver from Vicksburg, percent of the sediment and water discharge of the river is diverted into the Atchafalaya River. The Ohio River is chiefly responsible for the lower Mississippi flood situations, which may be aggravated by such factors as early rains, a sudden hot spell in early spring that melts the northern snows, and heavy downpours throughout the lower valley. Under such conditions levees are stressed, the lower river rises over its banks, and lakes are formed on the backside of the levees. The current, which normally runs no more than two to three knots, may then double in constricted channels. A wide variety of pollutants, derived from municipal, industrial, and agricultural sources, have been identified in the waters and sediments of the Mississippi River. High concentrations of bacteria associated with human waste have been found downstream from most large cities, and are attributed to inadequately treated sewage flowing into the river. However, water samples taken from the lower Mississippi show a relatively high dissolved-oxygen content and low biochemical oxygen demand, yielding a relatively low index of river pollution. With the passage of the Clean Water Act of , and the implementation of best management practices for water treatment, water quality continues to improve in most reaches of the Mississippi River.
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Built in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in , the New Orleans was the first steamboat to appear on the Mississippi, which launched the era of commercial transport on the river. By mid-, more than , vessels unloaded their cargoes at the port of New Orleans. As the steamer rates on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers dropped, it became cheaper to send pork from Cincinnati, Ohio to New York via the Mississippi, than to transport it over the Appalachians, a route that was times shorter. Today, the Mississippi River continues to be a major shipping route for mid-America. Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River occupies a geologically old depression along the intersection between the Appalachian Mountains and the Canadian Shield, which has been worn down through millennia of erosion and movement of Earth’s crust. Toward the end of the Quaternary Period, melted waters from glaciers occupying the depression during Pleistocene Ice Age were replaced by the Laurentian Great Lakes in the west about , to , years ago. Oceanic waters, which had intruded the eastern portion of the depression, were expelled when the crust rebounded after the weight of the glacial ice was removed. Thus, about , years ago, a residual river-like watercourse—the St. Lawrence—was established. The St. Lawrence River flows into the Great Lakes, which, taken together, represent the largest surface area of fresh water in the world, encompassing some , square miles. Otherwise known as the Laurentian Great Lakes, their drainage basin is about , square miles (extends approximately miles) from north to south, and about miles from Lake Superior in the west to Lake Ontario in the east. The St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes played a central role in European colonization and the development of North America, and for decades have attracted people and industry; Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and the southern portion of Lake Michigan are now ringed with large population concentrations. The lakes have not benefited from this development, however, and have been seriously affected by pollution. Concern over the fate of the lakes reached a high pitch in the late th century, with both the United State and the Canadian governments investing significant funds in research and technologies for reversing the consequences of years of misuse of the lakes’ waters. Lake Erie, once considered a dead lake, has made a remarkable recovery that has been attributed to strict control on nutrient loading, particularly dissolved phosphorus. The St. Lawrence River can be subdivided into five sections: International Rapids, Quebec Lowlands, Upper Estuary, Middle Estuary, and Lower Estuary. The International Rapids extend from just above Montreal south to Kingston, Ontario. This stretch of the river is home to a large number of hydroelectric power plants and navigation canals. The flow volume of this section of the St. Lawrence, as measured at Cornwall, Ontario, is about , cubic feet per second. The Quebec Lowlands consist of a short section with a calm and nonreversible flow. This portion of the river course is characterized by the inflow of the system’s principal tributary, the Ottawa River, by the presence of numerous islands, and by the development
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of the greater Montreal metropolitan area. During the winter months, a thick crust of ice connects the two banks of the river, and icebreakers are needed to maintain an open channel for shipping. The Upper Estuary extends from Lake Saint-Pierre to below the Île d’Orléans at Quebec. There, the current of a freshwater tide begins to be reversible. High bluffs rising from the river edge held important strategic value and led to the foundation of the city of Quebec in . The immediately adjacent area became the historical cradle of the distinctive French-speaking population of Canada. In the Middle Estuary, from the eastern end of the Île d’Orléans to the confluence with another major tributary, the Saguenay River, the St. Lawrence broadens but remains relatively shallow. Progressively, the water ceases to be fresh and becomes brackish. In the Lower Estuary, the river bottom exhibits a significant break of gradient near the confluence with the Saguenay River. The depth of the water increases from about feet to , feet. By way of this drowned valley, cold, marine waters from downstream enter the region. A number of ferries connect the two banks. In contrast to the thinly settled northern bank, behind which lie the inhospitable, rugged landscapes of the Canadian Shield, the southern frontage of the lower estuary is open to the interior where major roads, including the Trans-Canada Highway, lead away from the river toward New Brunswick and other Canadian maritime provinces. At a dredged depth of feet, the Port of Montreal can accommodate moderate-sized ocean going vessels, but not the large container vessels that call on Nova Scotia ports such as Halifax and a planned new port at Melford (which could open by ) on the Canso Strait. Yukon River The Yukon River Basin, one of the least developed and most sparsely populated regions in North America, comprises , square miles. Rising in the Pelly Mountains of northwestern Canada, near the British Columbia-Yukon Territory line, the Yukon, from the headwater lakes of Lake Atlin ( square miles) and Teslin Lake ( square miles), meanders westward through Alaska and empties into the Bearing Sea some , miles downstream near the community of Alakanuk. About miles downstream of Lake Atlin, the Lewes River—one of the Yukon’s headwater rivers—once rushed through narrow Miles Canyon and over rocky ledges at Whitehorse Rapids. During the Klondike gold rush era, these obstacles to river travel necessitated the construction of the short railroad from Skagway, Alaska, to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, the latter becoming the southern terminal of water transport northward. The river has since been dammed south of Whitehorse for hydroelectric power, flooding the rapids under the reservoir lake, and deep water now fills the former canyon, affording navigation above the dam. The Yukon proper is formed at the confluence of the Pelly and Lewes rivers at Fort Selkirk in the Yukon Territory, about miles upstream of the Alaska border. The Yukon River is about feet above sea level as it crosses the border into Alaska. The Porcupine River joins the Yukon at Fort Yukon, Alaska; this tributary drains the northern Yukon Territory and the southeastern slope of the rugged Brooks Range in
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Alaska. The Yukon then flows generally westward for about miles across a broad, flat valley where the channel is braided through numerous islands and sandbars. At the western end, this reach, known as the flats, is a narrow gorge where the river rushes through a low mountain barrier known as the ramparts. Near the center of Alaska, the main southern tributary, the Tanana River, joins the Yukon. The elevation at the confluence is only meters above sea level. Upstream on the Tanana about miles lies Fairbanks, the largest city in the Yukon River Basin. The glacier-fed waters of the Tanana drain the north slopes of the Alaska Range. About miles downstream from the Tanana confluence, the last major tributary, the Koyukuk River, drains southward from the south-central slopes of the Brooks Range. Here, the Yukon is only feet above sea level and only about miles due east of Norton Sound on the Bering Sea, but the Yukon is forced to detour miles to the southwest around the high terrain of Debauch Mountain and Bonasila Dome. As the Yukon nears the Bering Sea, it bends sharply northward to empty into Norton Sound, a large delta over miles across, with numerous marshy distributary channels that have formed as the river discharges into the sound. The mean discharge rate at the river mouth is , cubic feet per second. The history, exploration, and human development of this region of Canada and Alaska center around the river system. Russian explorers chartered the lower reaches in the s, and Robert Campbell of the Hudson Bay Company explored the upper course of the river in the s. During the Klondike gold rush of the late s, the Yukon was a convenient route to the gold fields. During the ice-free summer, the Yukon River is a navigable waterway to Whitehorse and experiences only light traffic, primarily package freight and bulk cargo, because of the sparse population. The valleys of the Yukon River Basin, where most of the population of central Alaska lives, experience a subarctic climate with relatively warm, short summers, but the treeless upper mountain slopes are classified as having an Arctic climate. The Yukon River is a major spawning ground for salmon, thus fishing is an important seasonal activity. Rio Grande River The Rio Grande River, or Río Bravo (in Mexico), is not only a major river in terms of length, being the fifth longest in North America, but it has also been important politically and historically, as it forms a portion of the border between the United States and Mexico. Beginning high in the Rocky Mountains, the Rio Grande flows through both semiarid and desert regions, and has been used by both pre-contact and modern American Indians to grow crops in one of the most arid regions of the country, before it ends its course in the Gulf of Mexico. With a total length of about , miles and a watershed area of , square miles, the size is impressive, but most is not accessible for navigation because a large proportion of the river’s basin is arid or semiarid. Only about half of the total area, or about , square miles, actually contributes significantly to the river’s flow.
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The headwaters follow a canyon through forests of spruce, fir, and aspen into the broad San Luis Valley in Colorado, after which it cuts the gorges and canyons in northern New Mexico before entering the open terrain Mexican Plateau. The declining elevation, decreasing latitude, and increasing aridity and temperature produce a transition from a cold grassland climate characterized by piñon pine, juniper, and sagebrush to a more desert-like climate with mesquite, creosote bush, cactus, and yucca. The Rio Grande has created three major canyons in and around the Big Bend National Park in Texas. Along the remainder of its course, the river wanders sluggishly across the Gulf Coastal Plain to debouch in a fertile delta where it joins the Gulf of Mexico. The main tributaries of the Rio Grande are the Pecos, Devils, Chama, and Puerco rivers in the United States and the Conchos, Salado, and San Juan rivers in Mexico. The peak of flow may occur in any month from April to October. The peak river flow in the upper reaches of the Rio Grande is typically in May or June as a result of melting snow and occasional thunderstorms, whereas the lower portion commonly experiences its highest water levels in June or September because of summer rainstorms. The Rio Grande has an average annual yield of some . million acre-feet. About one-third of that yield reached the Gulf of Mexico before the building of the Falcon Dam, upstream from Rio Grande City, in . Now only a small percentage of its former discharge reaches the delta. Irrigation has been practiced in the Rio Grande Basin since prehistoric times, notably among the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. Increases in population and in the use of water made several water treaties necessary between the United States and Mexico, as well as the Rio Grande Compact among Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, concerning shared use of the waters. Colorado River The Colorado River drains a vast arid and semi-arid region of North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, it flows generally southwest, emptying into the Gulf of California just across the border between the United States and Mexico. Its drainage basin covers nearly , square miles and spans seven Western states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. For miles, the river forms the international boundary between the United States (Arizona) and Mexico, before flowing an additional miles to the Sea of Cortez in Baja California. While the principal tributaries of the upper portion of the Colorado drainage basin are the Gunnison, Green, San Juan, and Little Colorado Rivers, the Gila River is the only major tributary in the lower segment of the basin. Prior to the construction of massive hydroelectric and water supply dams, the Colorado River carried huge amounts of sediment to the sea, forming a great delta across the northern part of the Gulf of California. For more than miles of its course, the Colorado has cut a deep gorge. Tributary streams entering the main stream from the east and west, and the major tributaries from the north and south have excavated narrow, winding, deep canyons. Thus, the upper and central portions of the Colorado River Basin are traversed by a labyrinth of deep gorges. The longest of these unbroken canyons through which the Colorado flows
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is the spectacular Grand Canyon, about miles long, to miles wide, and as much as , feet deep, cut through sedimentary layers of rocks. Upstream, another impressive gorge is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, which cuts through granite, gneiss, and black schist to a depth of over , feet. Farther downstream, the lower Colorado River is flanked the Mojave and the Sonoran Deserts. At one time the gulf extended farther to the northwest, well above the point at which the Colorado now enters Gulf of California. As the river carried its load of sediment eroded from the mountains to the north, a deltaic dam was deposited, cutting the northern part of the gulf. The waters in the basin behind the natural dam gradually evaporated, forming a large area of desert at an elevation feet below sea level, known as the Salton Sink. In , floodwaters caused a break in the diversion controls for the Imperial Canal about miles south of the California-Mexico border, allowing the Colorado River to rush into the Salton Sink creating the Salton Sea, a lake about feet deep, miles long, and miles wide. The Salton Sea has since become saline because it lacks an outlet. Protective levees were constructed in to guard the agriculturally rich Imperial Valley from the break, and to block a major railroad route. In southern Colorado along the tributaries of the San Juan River, Mesa Verde National Park contains hundreds of deserted cliff dwellings from the Pueblo Indians. These well-preserved structures attest to the region’s first occupants; the Classic Pueblo Period lasted from – c.e. The mouth and lower reach of the Colorado was first explored by Hernando Alarcon in . No large cities have been built along the Colorado River, but controversies over water rights have long raged between the United States, Mexico and among the bordering states. These disputes have now been resolved through treaties and compacts to regulated the river’s use. Because of the extensive use of Colorado’s water for irrigation, the mouth the mean flow is only , cubic feet per second. Columbia River The Columbia River is the largest North American river emptying into the Pacific Ocean. In terms of annual flow, it is exceeded only by the Mississippi, St. Lawrence, and Mackenzie River. As it is relied upon for hydroelectric power by much of the Pacific Northwest, the river is dammed in numerous locations, the largest being the Bonneville Dam. The mouth of the river, just north of Portland, Oregon, is the only deep water port between San Francisco and Puget Sound. Beginning its , mile course in British Columbia, the Columbia River intersects with numerous rivers on its way to the Pacific, including the Kootenay, Snake, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Okanogan, Yakima, Cowlitz, and Willamette Rivers. The Columbia flows from its source in Columbia Lake, at an elevation of , feet, in British Columbia near the crest of the Rocky Mountains, to the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Oregon. The river traverses east-central Washington in a sweeping curve known as the Big Bend because its prehistoric course was interrupted first by lava flows and later by ice sheets. The ice sheets were instrumental in creating the Channeled Scablands, a series of coulees (steep-walled ravines) trending northeast-southwest in the northern
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part of the Columbia Plateau—Grand Coulee is the largest of these. Shortly below its confluence with the Snake River, its largest tributary, the Columbia turns west and continues miles to the ocean, in turn forming the boundary between Oregon and Washington; in this last stretch, the river has carved the spectacular Columbia Gorge through the Cascade Mountains. Tides flow upriver for miles. Portland, Oregon (about miles from the mouth), and Vancouver, Washington ( miles) are the upper limit of oceangoing navigation. Aided by a dredged channel and a series of locks, barge traffic is made possible up the Snake River to Lewiston, Idaho, more than miles inland from the Snake River’s mouth near Kennewick, Washington. Although this water route has historically been used for transporting passengers and package freight, in recent years barge traffic has been primarily for the transportation of agricultural products. Charles E. Herdendorf References and Further Reading Cohen, Saul A., ed. The Columbia Gazetteer of the World. New York: Columbia University Press, . Ellis, Kaethe, ed. The International Geographical Encyclopedia and Atlas. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, . Encyclopedia Britannica. Standard Ed. Chicago: University of Chicago, . Gresswell, R. Kay and Anthony Huxley, eds. Standard Encyclopedia of the World ’s Rivers and Lakes. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, . Havighurst, Walter. River to the West: Three Centuries of the Ohio. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, . Pringle, Laurence. Planet Earth: Rivers and Lakes. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, . Reader’s Digest Guide to Places in the World: A Geographical Dictionary. London: Reader’s Digest Association, . Scheffel, Richard L. and Susan J. Wernert, eds. Natural Wonders of the World. New York: Reader’s Digest Association, . Sedeen, Margaret, ed. Great Rivers of the World. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, . Showers, Victor. World Facts and Figures. rd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, . Webster’s New Geographical Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, .
NORTH SEA The North Sea is an epicontinental sea on the east side of the North Atlantic. The North Sea is bordered on the west by the British Isles, on the southern shores by France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, and on the eastern shores by Germany, Denmark, and Norway. For the northern (and eastern) border of the North Sea, there is a variety of definitions related to different purposes, but the most common definition
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(Oslo-Paris Treaty of ) limits the North Sea at five degrees East and degrees North. The North Sea covers an area of approximately , square miles with an average depth of a little less than meters, and a total water volume of approximately , cubic miles. With the exception of a small area off of southern Norway, the entire North Sea is located on the European continental shelf. During the last glaciation period in the Pleistocene Era (Devensian Glaciation/ Weichsel Glaciation), the northern parts of the North Sea were covered with ice while the southern parts were dry land with a tundra-type climate. The sea-level rose at the end of this glaciation period and formed the major parts of the actual North Sea, while some coastlines are much younger; even in medieval periods large portions of cultivated land sank into the North Sea. In addition to the shallow water depths of the North Sea, the coastlines of the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark are characterized by huge mudflats or tidelands off the coasts that are only semi-permanently covered with water. Tidal estuaries of the Rhine, Scheldt, Weser, Elbe, Thames, and Humber rivers dominate major parts of the coastline of the North Sea. Strong tidal currents, shallow waters, and a tidal range up to nearly seven meters at some coastal areas creates one of the most dangerous navigational environments of the world. Nevertheless, the North Sea and the English Channel are key trade routes, with the highest concentration of ship traffic. Located in the central part of northwest Europe, the North Sea became an early focal point of maritime trade and cultural exchange. Together with the adjunct Baltic, the North Sea became the most relevant operational area for Hanseatic Sea-trade in the medieval period. With the major Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Bremen at the southeast coast of the North Sea, and two of the four main Hanseatic Kontores in London (steelyards) and Bergen (Bryggen), as well as nearly subsidiary Kontores around the North Sea, this particular epicontinental sea was the most relevant traffic zone for the most powerful trade organization between the th and th centuries. Vessels like the Hanseatic cog were designed especially for trade on the North and Baltic seas, and enabled the merchants of the Hanseatic League to establish one of the first multinational trade empires, which was based on ocean-crossing maritime trade. Although the age of exploration opened the Atlantic and other oceans for international trade during the Early Modern period, the North Sea remained one of the most relevant navigational areas of the world. In addition to its relevance for maritime trade, the North Sea was of major importance for the political development of Europe. Since the Vikings, naval vessels of all coastal nations have sailed these waters and were used for direct battle action, protecting trade or blockades of certain coastal areas or ports. The United Kingdom, in particular, adeptly used the method of the blockade in the North Sea for protection and promotion of its own maritime trade interests. Control of the North Sea dictated the control over access of continental European nations to the developing global trade. The three
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wars between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (–, –, ) marked not only the beginning of the rise of the British Royal Navy and the British Empire, but demonstrated clearly that, without control over the North Sea, there was no chance to participate in the first round of globalization. The concept of a sea-blockade against North Sea ports was repeated by the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic wars, while France and its allied nations introduced the Continental System to prohibit trade between continental Europe and the British Isles. In both World War I and World War II, the North Sea became a major battle ground, primarily because all German navy vessels had to pass the North Sea when leaving their home ports at the German Bight, the south-easterly corner of the North Sea. In addition to its relevance for European trade and politics, since medieval times the North Sea has provided abundant fish resources to the inhabitants of its coast. While the fisheries in the North Sea were, for a long time, more or less inshore fisheries in the estuaries of the main rivers, the open North Sea became interesting to fishermen of all coastal nations later in the middle of the th century. In a very short period, all coastal nations built up fishing fleets suitable for operations on the shallow banks in the center of the North Sea. Although catch effort remained at a low level in comparison to today, there was an urgent need for regulating the fisheries. On May , , the Convention on the North Sea was signed by nearly all coastal nations of the North Sea. While the Law of the Sea was based until on the principle of the Freedom of the Seas (Hugo Grotius), the coastal nations agreed on the introduction of a -nautical mile zone under sovereign control of the coastal nation. Only fishermen of the respective coastal nations were entitled to continue fisheries in this -nautical mile zone, while foreign fishermen were limited to the waters outside this zone. The convention of became the starting point of the modern Law of the Seas. In fact, the North Sea had to face conflicts like on any other fishing grounds of the world, more than half a century earlier than in most other oceans of the world. With the introduction of the steam trawlers to the North Sea fisheries in the s, fishing effort, and therefore pressure on the fish-stocks, increased immediately and rapidly. The North Sea was the first ocean of the world to experience the severe damages to the eco-system caused by industrialized fisheries. A complex system of fisheries treaties and conventions were implemented to address the problem, but the problem remains because fishing technique continue to advance. The other relevant resources for the North Sea are mineral oil and natural gas, which have been exploited since the late s. Today the North Sea contains some of the most productive oil fields of the world, and some of the port cities on the North Sea had become major service points for an international industry dominated by a very small number of multinational companies. A very recent development for the North Sea is off-shore wind-energy, which might become the next major industry of the North Sea. Closely related to the use of resources in the North Sea is the development of the Law of the Sea and territorial claims in the North Sea. While the convention introduced only -nautical mile territorial waters off the coastal nations, the North
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Large oil platform in the North Sea outside Norwegian coast. Dreamstime.com.
Sea was divided into Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) in the s because the distances between the coastlines were too short for the remaining high sea areas outside the -nautical mile wide EEZ introduced in the context of the Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Starting at the same time, the development of the European Union greatly influenced the North Sea. Today, the North Sea, excluding the Norwegian EEZ, forms the so-called EU-sea, which means that it is an open access area for the fisheries of all European Union members. The epicontinental North Sea is no longer part of the High Sea, but furthermore something similar to a common territorial ocean area of the European Union. Like in the medieval period, the North Sea is again of crucial relevance for European trade, and because of this, most European container ports are located at the North Sea. The ports of London, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Bremen, and Hamburg have the same relevance for connecting the European hinterlands to world trade as the Hanseatic ports in the medieval period. In addition to all economic relevance for maritime trade, or the use of marine resources as well as political and strategic relevance, the North Sea was and is an area of cultural exchange and the development of cultural traditions. Although there was at no time a Lingua Franca existing for the North Sea region, people living around the North Sea developed a lot of cultural parallelisms during the centuries, which can be found easily in architectural patterns and the organization of trade. Altogether the North Sea
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is an epicontinental sea that was crucial in shaping modern Europe and was heavily influenced by human activities like most other oceans of the world. Ingo Heidbrink References and Further Reading Bang-Andersen, Arne. The North Sea: A Highway of Economic and Cultural Exchange; Character, History. Stavanger, Norway: Norwegian University Press, . Brand, Hanno. Trade, Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange: Continuity and Change in the North Sea area and the Baltic c. –. Hilversum, Netherlands: Uitgeverij Verloren, . Credland, Arthur G. Harvest from a Common Sea: The North Sea Fishery –. Esbjerg, Denmark: Association of North Sea Soc., . Heidbrink, Ingo, ed. Konfliktfeld Küste: Ein Lebensraum wird erforscht. Oldenburg, Germany: Biblioteks- und Informationssystem der Universität Oldenburg, . Jordan, Paul. The North Sea Saga. Harlow: Pearson Longman, . Scholl, Lars U., ed. The North Sea, Resource and Sea Way: Proceedings of the North Sea History Conference, Aberdeen . Aberdeen: Arts & Recreation Dept., .
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PACIFIC OCEAN The Pacific, the world’s largest ocean, covers an area of . million square miles (. million square kilometers). The Pacific contains approximately , islands, including the island chains of Indonesia, Oceania, and Polynesia, as well as the Mariana Trench, which reaches a depth of , meters, making it the lowest point on Earth. It is abundant in natural resources, especially fish. The Pacific is enclosed by the Russian Far East and the Bering Strait, the Sea of Okhotsk and Japan, the East and South China seas, the western shores of the Americas, and the Gulf of Alaska to Cape Horn. Additionally, south of Australia the Pacific meets the Indian Ocean. Maritime routes connect the Americas with Australia, Australia with East Asia, the Russian Far East with Alaska. The name Pacific was coined by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and means peaceful. However, as a body of water the Pacific Ocean is not peaceful. The East Asian region is a hotbed of typhoons. Geologists believe that the Pacific is Earth’s oldest ocean, dating sediments back to more than million years ago. Some scholars contend that the Pacific was part of Earth’s first ocean, the Panthalassa, some million years ago. The collisions of the Pacific plate with that of East Asia and the Americas’ create the so called Ring of Fire, a circle of active volcanoes that runs from Kliuchevskoi on Kamchatka (Russian Far East), Mount Fuji in Japan to the Cascades and Andes. Earthquakes, such as those in California and Japan, are characteristic for the Ring of Fire. The economic development of East Asia, Australia, and North America since the late th century turned the Pacific Ocean into the most dynamic and productive world region. Political scientists such as David W. Drakakis-Smith speak of a Pacific Century. To understand its present position in the context of globalization, a view of the historical development is necessary. It is also very difficult to put all the different countries and
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their cultures, mentalities, and religions in a common historical context. From its discovery by the Europeans, the Pacific region was dominated by colonial powers, at first by the European nations, then in the th century by the United States, Japan, the Soviet Union, and Communist China. Despite this broad diversity, there is a maritime setting in the history of the Pacific, the push of the nations to the sea. It is useful to divide the region into different historical-cultural components. The Russian Far East embraces the Priamur and Primorye provinces, the coast of Okhotsk, Kamchatka, Chukotka, Sakhalin, and the Kurile Islands totaling nearly , square miles (,, square kilometers). Due to the warm water of the kuroshio, southern Primorye and the city of Vladivostok have a mild climate. Contrary to many Siberian rivers, the Amur does not flow into the Arctic Ocean, but rather into the Pacific. Humans first settled in the Amur River valley , years ago, when the first people came from Mongolia and Manchuria. The land bridge over the Bering Strait facilitated the migration between Asia and North America, and similarities can be seen between Neolithic pottery of the Russian Far East and indigenous art of North America, Indonesia, and Polynesia. Around c.e., Tungus tribes formed the Bohai Kingdom, with its capital Mudanjiang, miles northwest of modern-day Vladivostok. There were diplomatic relations between Bohai, China, and Japan. In , Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, conquered the territory of today’s Russian Far East and built an administrative center at the Amur before starting a sea campaign against Japan. Prior to the Russians appearing on the Amur around , the indigenous population of Amur and Primorye paid tributes to the Chinese emperor. An insatiable demand for furs drove the Russians from the Urals to the Pacific coast between and . Sealed by the Treaty of Nerchinsk (), the Amur became the borderline between Russia and China. In the far northeast region of Russia, on the Okhotsk seaboard (Kamchatka and Chukotka), Russian settlements had a severe problem with food supplies; the delivery of grain from western Siberia took nearly a year. Therefore, from the mid-th century, Russian settlements expanded to Alaska, California, and Hawaii in order to find land suitable for agriculture. At that time, because Peter the Great and his successors saw the Pacific as a source of wealth, Russian navigators explored vast regions of the North Pacific from the Kuriles to the western coast of North America, including discoveries as distant as Oceania. It was the Danish captain Vitus Bering, the leader of the Second Kamchatka Expedition (–), who found the strait between Eastern Siberia and Alaska—three decades before James Cook surveyed the northwestern shores of North America. By , the Russians established the Russo-American Company in order to organize the fur trade in Alaska. The goal of the Tsarist government was to open trade with East Asia, the United States, and the Spanish colonies in Peru and on the Philippines. During the Crimean War, English naval squadrons appeared in the Sea of Okhotsk. The general-governor of Eastern Siberia, Nikolai Murav’ev, used this as pretext to annex the Amur region from China. Moreover, the Russians concluded the Treaty of Shimoda with Japan (), which defined the Russo-Japanese border in the Kuriles archipelago between the isles of Iturup and Urup.
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In the s and s, Russian advance into the North Pacific came to a halt: Alaska was sold to the United States in , and with the Japanese, the Kuriles were exchanged for Sakhalin in . With Tsar Nicholas II, Russia’s Pacific policy came to a new stage: in the Trans-Siberian railroad was built, and three years later work on the Chinese Eastern railroad began. At the same time, Russia sought warm water ports in Korea. This increasing presence disturbed Japan and finally provoked the Russo-Japanese War in -. This war, which resulted in a humbling defeat of Russia, was marked by the sea battle of Tsushima. Nevertheless, the Russian Far East experienced an economic boom in the last decades of the Tsarist empire. Hundreds of international companies, primarily American, British, and East Asian, found their way to the harbor of Vladivostok. This atmosphere of cosmopolitism was disturbed by the October Revolution of . Under Stalin, the Russian Far East became an internationally isolated region until the Soviet entry into the Pacific War in the summer of . During World War II, Japan was committed to the South Pacific, and between and the North Pacific was a calm backwash. According to the Lend-Lease Agreement of March , there was extensive wartime shipping across the North Pacific between Yakutia and Alaska. At the allied war conference of Yalta in February , Stalin agreed to enter the war with Japan. For this agreement China was required to pay. Stalin took advantage of the ongoing Civil War in China and forced Chiang Kai-shek to consent to a joint management of the Chinese Eastern railroad and to the lease of the naval base at Port Arthur in Manchuria. After the defeat of Imperial Japan, the North Pacific became contested ground for the superpower rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union met this challenge with the conclusion of the Soviet-North Korean and the Sino-Soviet treaties between and . During the Korean War (–), the United States increased their intelligence presence in the Russian Far East and North Pacific. Under Khrushchev the situation eased and in , the Far Eastern Steamship Company was established to establish commercial ties with the United States and Canada. Following the Soviet-Japanese Peace Declaration of , the Soviet Union exported Far Eastern coal and timber to Japan. At the beginning of the s, the Soviet government created a Far Eastern Economic Zone. Nevertheless, the military buildup continued until the end of the Soviet Union. The leading historian of the Russian Far East, John J. Stephan, estimates that the Soviet Pacific fleet was operating with ships and , men between Madagascar and California by the s. During the Ice Ages, humans of Siberia crossed the Bering Strait and migrated over the Americas. It was the Jesuit, José de Acosta (–), who proposed this thesis in the Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias published in . The migration between North and South America went along the Pacific coastline, the Rocky Mountains, and the Andes. It is still debated among archaeologists if there were cultural contacts between the Amerindians and East Asia, Polynesia, and Oceania. Like in Siberia, the push for furs drove the Europeans from the interior of North America to the Pacific coast. The Europeans used the Amerindian trade routes from Hudson Bay across the northern plains to the Pacific coast. The most important event of this westward drive was the
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voyage of Alexander Mackenzie (–) who reached the Pacific at Bentinck Arm in . In search for the Northwest Passage, the coastal exploration was led by captain James Cook, who disembarked at Nootka Sound in , some years after the Spaniards. The British were interested in sea otter furs because, at that time, the Chinese paid high prices for them. Although the British competed vigorously with the Russians, who advanced along the Aleutian Islands to Alaska, by sea otters were so scarce that the trade was no longer profitable. Colonization of the coastlands moved slowly. In , the Anglican chaplain appointed by the Hudson Bay Company, Herbert Beaver (–), began his first missionary activities among the indigenous population near Vancouver. During the Fraser River gold rush of the s, some mission villages were established. At the end of this decade, the British changed their administrative policy when the Hudson Bay Company lost its disposal over British Columbia, which became a British colony by . The British government hoped that the establishment of a British colony would help to Europeanize the Amerindian communities more than the loose control of the Hudson Bay Company, but there was an additional motive: after the U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia in , the British feared an annexation of British Columbia. There was a silent influx of U.S. miners who were participating in the gold rush. After the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in , the city of Vancouver experienced an economic boom like its counterpart in the Russian Far East, Vladivostok. Thousands of migrants from China and Japan crossed over the maritime routes of the Pacific Ocean in order to settle in British Columbia. In Washington state, hydroelectric dams (among them the Grand Coulee Dam) were built along the Columbia River. During World War II, Seattle, Vancouver, Bremerton, and Tacoma became centers for the building of warships. In Oregon, the Oregon Steam Navigation Company became the largest employer by the mid-th century because of its monopoly in shipping via the Columbia River before the railroad was built. Like in other coastal regions, Native Americans living in Canada and the western United States fished for salmon, shellfish, and hunted sea mammals. Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese explorer, was the first European to survey the Californian coast in . Despite the short presence of English explorer Francis Drake in , the Spanish made more frequent stays in California when they arrived from Manila, the Philippines in their trading ships. Sebastián Vizcaíno was the first to map the California coastline. Finally, in the early th century, the Russians appeared along the coast and established a trading center at Fort Ross. Peoples of South America settled around , b.c.e. in the coastal provinces of Chilca and Paracas, which are in modern-day Peru. These early civilization declined due to the floods and droughts El Niño brought to the coastlands that destroyed the rich fish resources along the Peruvian coast and brought economic hardship for the indigenous communities. The Patagonian culture of Chile relied on fishing and was unable to recover from the loss. In , when the explorer Ferdinand Magellan appeared with Spanish ships in the Strait of Magellan, the conquering Spanish met the fierce resistance of the Mapuche tribe. After the great rebellion of , the Bío-Bio River became the
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boundary between the Spanish and the Mapuche. From the th century until the late s, the Beagle Canal was a disputed waterway between Chile and Argentina. At the beginning of the st century, shipping increased after Chile signed a free trade agreement with the United States and Korea. Oceania, named by the French explorer Dumont d’Urville in , encompasses a world of numerous islands including coral atolls. The area extends from east of the Indonesia–Australia–New Zealand triangle to Hawaii, part of the United States, and to Chile’s Easter Island. The Polynesian culture, an old sea-migrating Austronesian culture that can be traced back to the Malay archipelago, is dominant. It is assumed that the Polynesian people spread from Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga to the Cook Islands, Tahiti by b.c.e. During the next two centuries, they reached the Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Hawaii, and New Zealand. The Maori, the indigenous population of New Zealand, are part of the Polynesian culture. The Polynesians cultivated fishing, and demonstrated good skills for long distance navigation by tracking the movement of stars, and the flight path of birds. Polynesians also developed a special kind of canoe that is similar to modern catamarans. Navigators were highly respected in Polynesian culture. Thor Heyerdahl, who made the Kon-Tiki expedition in , theorized that Polynesians had migrated to South America by their canoes, but this has not been recognized by scholarship. Polynesians also settled on New Zealand between and c.e. Polynesian culture on New Zealand became known as Maori. Maori legends tell of Kupe, a great Polynesian navigator who came from the mythical Maori homeland Hawaikiki. The first European to discover New Zealand was the Dutch sailor, Abel Tasman, who sailed for the Dutch East India Company. In December , he landed in Golden Bay, on the southern island. Falsely, Tasman believed that he had discovered the southern tip of a new continent. After the English explorer James Cook followed in –, there was a period of frequent traffic by British, American, and French trading ships. A great wave of immigration occurred in the late th century when several thousand Chinese came to New Zealand to work in the goldfields. The first Europeans to explore the coastlines of Australia were the Dutch: William Janszoon appeared in with his ship Duyfken in the Gulf of Carpentaria. By the beginning of the th century, the eastern coastline was named New Holland, but the Dutch did not establish any permanent colonies on the new continent. In April , the British navigator James Cook landed with his Endeavour at Botany Bay, and then sailed northwards. Cook officially claimed the eastern coastline for Britain and named it New South Wales. This was the beginning of the British colonization of Australia. European settlements in Australia were established on the coast and the population was concentrated in ports that often became administrative centers. The first settlers consisted of convicts and marines. The discovery of coal in near Newcastle, north of Sydney, led to the establishment of a port on the mouth of the Hunter River. In the late th century, commercial whaling began, with whaling and the export of whale byproducts becoming the primary industry of Australia. (Whaling stations were located on the southeast coast of New South Wales.) Whale blubber was melted down to be
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used as oil for lamp fuel, candles, and also as a base for soaps; whalebone was used for corsets and umbrellas. The development of steam-driven whaling boats and harpoon guns in the th century made commercial whaling more effective, but also led to the near extinction of whales in the region. It was not until the s that legislation for whale protection came into force. In , Australia’s last whaling station, the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company, located in western Australia, was closed. The devastating floods of Australian waterways, like that of the Yarra River, were eliminated by the construction of canals in the late th century. The Coode Canal was built under the supervision of the British engineer John Coode and nearly , workers took part in the construction. The Australian gold rush of the s stimulated boat traffic on Australia’s largest river, the Murray, but it was difficult to transfer commodities to and from oceangoing ships to the mouth of the Murray, which was too shallow for navigation. Thanks to technological advances, rivers and coastal engineering developed further after World War II. The various amphibious landings in the Pacific taught Australian engineers more about ocean waves and their transformation in coastal waters. In East Asia, Chinese civilization developed along the Yellow River (Huang He), named after the yellow loess. Under the Ming Dynasty, cities on the East Chinese coastlines traded with Japan, but Chinese merchants even reached maritime routes in East Africa. Historically, China was a great seafaring nation. Zheng He was the most prominent maritime explorer of that era. Under Emperor Yongle (–) a large navy was built with four-masted ships of , tons. Among East Asian countries of this time, China held the lead in shipbuilding and was not inferior to that of the Europeans. Beginning in the mid-th century (the Qing Dynasty), China’s maritime expansion came to a standstill. Because the ruling Manchus preferred a land-based expansion to inner Asia, establishing spheres of influence over Xinjiang, Tibet, and Mongolia, this isolationism facilitated the imperialist ambitions of West European nations and the United States. The Opium War of between China and Britain resulted in various unequal treaties. Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Japan forced their way into privileged commercial access to Chinese ports. The Treaty of Nanjing () conceded Hong Kong to Britain. Communist China, which began after with only a small navy, had to charter foreign ships. Ocean transportation, especially across the Pacific Ocean, did not regain significance until when the People’s Republic of China opened up to the outside world. Japanese maritime activities can be traced back to the Jômon Period, before b.c.e. Archaeological items suggest there were trade routes to Okinawa. Ancient Japan also had intensive contacts in the East Asian mainland (China, Korea), which was across the sea. In the late th century, the Mongols tried an unsuccessful seaborne invasion of the Japanese islands. A typhoon that the Japanese called kamikaze (divine wind) destroyed the Mongol navy. By , a Portuguese ship that started its journey in China, landed on the isle of Tanegashima. In the next few years, more and more traders from Portugal, England, Spain, and the Netherlands appeared on the shores of Japan. During the
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Azuchi-Momoyama period (–), General Toyotomi Hideyoshi started maritime campaigns against China and Korea. However, by , the Japanese had to retreat from the Korean peninsula. In the th century, the shogunate restricted foreign access to Japan, because the shoguns feared a conquest by the Europeans. Only the Dutch were allowed to hold a trading post on Dejima Island in the Bay of Nagasaki. This was the period of maritime isolation of Japan (sakoku). In the th century, there were various attempts by the Europeans to enforce an opening, with the Russians attempting to get a foothold on Hokkaidô, Sakhalin, and the Kuriles. On July , the U.S. navy, under Commodore Matthew Perry, landed with four warships in the Bay of Edo—today’s Tokyo. These vessels were known as the Black Ships (kurofune). The gunboat policy of the Americans and Europeans resulted in unequal treaties that gave the foreigners’ extraterritoriality to all their ships and commodities. In World War I, Japan allied with the Western powers and the Japanese navy succeeded in seizing German colonies in Micronesia, and the German port of Qingdao. Thus, the Treaty of Versailles conceded Japan control over Germany’s former Pacific islands north of the equator. During World War II, Japan occupied many cities of the Chinese Pacific coast, like Shanghai or islands like Hong Kong and Taiwan. French Indochina, British Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies were also invaded. Finally, the Japanese attacked Port Darwin in Australia and Pearl Harbor in the United States. Yet the U.S. victory at the Battle of Midway proved to be the turning point of the Pacific War. On September , Japan had to sign its unconditional surrender on the USS Missouri, and surrender all its maritime possessions in the Pacific. By , the U.S. marines retreated from Okinawa and conceded the islands to Japan, but Japanese attempts to regain the Kuriles from Russia have remained unsuccessful until today. Korea kept maritime contacts with Japan and China from the early Middle Ages onward. The construction of ships, which can be dated back to c.e., was necessary to defend the coastline against attacks by Japanese pirates. The famous Korean admiral, Jang Bogo, defeated Japanese and Chinese pirates in the early ninth century. In the th century, the Mongol emperor used the Korean navy in order to attack Japan. At that time, Korean engineers developed cannons for their battleships. Until the late th century, Europeans were not allowed to trade at Korean ports. In the same year, when Commodore Matthew Perry’s Black Ships invaded Japan, an American gunboat, the USS South America, appeared at Busan. Like in Japan, a foreign invasion was feared. A French military expedition was followed in by an U.S. military expedition. By , Korea was forced to sign a treaty with the United States that ended the period of the country’s isolation. Eva-Maria Stolberg References and Further Reading D’Arcy, Paul. Peoples of the Pacific: The History of Oceania to . Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, .
PANAMA CANAL Banner, Stuart. Possessing the Pacific: Land, Settlers, and Indigenous People from Australia to Alaska. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, . Barman, Jean. The West beyond the West: A History of British Columbia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, . Di Piazza, Anne and Erik Pearthree. Sailing Routes of Old Polynesia: The Prehistoric Discovery, Settlement, and Abandonment of the Phoenix Islands. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, . Finney, Ben R. Voyage of Rediscovery: A Cultural Odyssey through Polynesia. Berkeley: University of California Press, . Frézier, Amédée F. A voyage to the South-Sea, and along the Coasts of Chili and Peru. London: Jonah Bowyer, . Gibson, James R. Otter Skins, Boston Ships, and China Goods: The Maritime Fur Trade for the Northwest Coast, –. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, . McDougall, Walter A. Let the Sea Make a Noise. A History of the North Pacific from Magellan to MacArthur. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, . Mitchell, Brian R. Africa, Asia & Oceania: –. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, . Miwa, Ryoichi. Maritime Policy in Japan: –. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, . Rawls, James J. and Walton Bean. California: An Interpretative History. Boston: McGraw-Hill, . Stephan, John J. The Russian Far East. A History. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, . Wang, Guwu. Maritime China in Transition, –. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, .
PANAMA CANAL Basking in the notoriety of his successful Suez Canal triumph in , Ferdinand de Lesseps soon turned his attention to an even grander project: building a similar waterway through the Central America isthmus. There was a need for such a waterway due to the growing maritime traffic between Europe and western America. Circumnavigation around South America, through the Detroit de Magellan, was difficult and time consuming. The intercontinental railways in the United States (from the s), and even the railway track opened in through the Panama isthmus, could not provide enough opportunities because of the cost of transshipment of cargo—especially for raw materials and commodities, or large equipment machines. Bonaparte Wyse, an unknown but crafty French engineer, had explored the isthmus in and succeeded in concluding a covenant with the Bogota government in . Despite the hostility of American business and political authorities against such a French intrusion, an international congress of scientists was held in Paris in to consider the feasibility of five competing projects. In the end, the second shortest route (. miles), through Colombia from the Limon Bay and Colon on the Atlantic coast, to Panama Bay on the Pacific, was selected because it was believed this canal route could be accomplished without a lock system. The Compagnie Universelle
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Ships pass each other in the muddy Gaillard Cut section of the Panama Canal. The cut is a narrow, winding, eight-mile section of the canal that crosses the Continental Divide. Panama Canal Authority.
WILLIAM GORGAS Trained as a doctor and surgeon, William Crawford Gorgas is best remembered for his eradication of yellow fever in Cuba during the construction of the Panama Canal, which made it possible for the great canal to be built. Gorgas’ efforts have been called the single most important factor in the completion of the important structure. Gorgas was born on October 3, 1854 in Toulminville, Alabama. His father was an ordnance officer for the army and later served during the Civil War as a general in the Confederate Army. Gorgas attended the University of the South for his undergraduate degree and went on to Bellevue Medical College in New York City, from which he received his medical degree in 1879. In 1880, Gorgas enlisted in the U.S. Medical Corps. As was typical of such service, he spent the next eight years traveling to many parts of the world. He contracted yellow fever on one of his trips but recovered. His experience made him an especially valuable asset during the Spanish-American War, when he was posted to a yellow fever camp in Havana, Cuba.
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As chief sanitary officer in Havana, Gorgas’ assignment was to eradicate yellow fever from the city. His first efforts were directed at cleaning up the tropical city, which had open sewers and garbage lying everywhere. However, despite his formidable organizational powers, Gorgas’ efforts failed miserably. He then decided to try something that had been suggested by the Army Yellow Fever Commission, on which Walter Reed served. Since the commission had declared that the Aedes aegypti mosquito was the vector (carrier or transmitter) of yellow fever, Gorgas set about developing a plan to eliminate every single mosquito breeding ground in Havana. His plan included destroying everything from wet utensils to small ponds. He then directed his troops to fumigate the city and put existing yellow fever patients under quarantine. Once completed, those measures quickly stopped more outbreaks since the cause had been eradicated. Gorgas was so successful in Havana that in 1904, the U.S. government appointed him to serve as the chief sanitary officer in Panama, where American workers were trying to build an enormous canal that would cut thousands of miles off shipping routes. A canal had already been attempted by a French group, from 1881 to 1889, but more than 20,000 laborers died of yellow fever, and the effort had to be called off. Unfortunately, Gorgas was at first hampered in his eradication program by the chairperson of the Canal Commission, who refused to provide Gorgas with screens and sulfur for fumigation because he believed that “the whole idea of mosquitoes carrying fever is balderdash.” Soon the chairperson resigned, though, having failed to get Gorgas fired, and his successor fully cooperated with the sanitary officer’s measures. By 1906, no further cases of yellow fever were being reported. Gorgas remained in Panama until 1913, and the canal opened to ships the following year. He died of a stroke on July 3, 1920 in London.
du Canal Interocéanique de Panama was set up in December by Lesseps, and his son Charles. Several Paris bankers issued equity and bonds, and by launching a large newspaper advertising campaign, individual investors were lured with the support of the recently developed deposit banks. Collecting million francs to dredge million cubic meters seemed feasible within an eight-year deadline, especially because French public works companies had gained vast experience in numerous large projects, such as the building of harbors. The dredging process, which started on March , encountered numerous disappointments. In particular, large numbers of engineers and laborers were stricken ill or died of tropical diseases (around , deaths or percent), and dredging unstable grounds resulted in numerous landslides. Delays and costs grew rapidly, but Lesseps stubbornly stuck to the original plan of a non-locks canal even as construction swallowed tens of million of francs. With only a fraction of construction completed (by July he dredged millions cubic meters and delivered a first canal miles long), and the company’s credit capital drying up, the company collapsed in February when its last issue failed.
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Map of the Panama Canal
The cost of the canal and day-to-day management had already reached , million francs issued in the Paris market. If million was used to purchase the Wyse concession, millions for the debt service, millions was dedicated to the construction itself. Fresh cash needed to complete the dredging—woefully underestimated at million cubic meters—was estimated at million francs. All the figures had doubled since the commissioning of the project in . The project looked hopeless. Considering the massive amount of dredging needed to complete a lock-less passage, it is surprising that the company never seriously considered the establishment of locks. A second company, the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal l de Panama, picked up the pieces in October and intimately linked with the previous financiers and bankers, but without the Lesseps clan. Its only aim was to keep concession rights, pending a turnaround among investors. As part of a larger Latin American strategy, the United States seized the opportunity to use the economic development prospects of canal construction as leverage. In ,
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Colombia transferred the concession—the uncompleted canal, the railroad, and a narrow strip of Colombia—to the United States. Resistance was vanquished through a secession movement supported by the United States, culminating in Panama proclaiming its independence in November of . Under the control of the United States, for a perpetuity mandate versus a yearly indemnity, the canal zone ( miles broad) allowed American authorities to acquire the concession, the canal, and the railroad from the French company’s shareholders and creditors for million francs.. The building and the management of the canal, no longer outsourced, were placed under the responsibility of the local public authorities, led by the legendary American hero, Georges Washington Goethals. Unlike the Lesseps group, the American team quickly decided on the use of locks to dramatically lower the amount of excavation; nevertheless, American builders (with , workers) still extracted million cubic meters. Counting Lesseps’ work, total dredging reached million cubic meters, over four times the volume for the Suez Canal. Despite a huge landslide of , cubic meters on October , and another one in , the twin-lock chambers, the Gatun Dam, and the Culebra corridor became emblematic achievements of this second program in which very productive new technology—steam shovels and dredgers—played key roles. In . hours, the first ship (the , ton Ancon steamer) crossed the isthmus on August , . American interests had invested $ million for construction, for a total of $ million with the purchase of the concession. This compared very favorably to the earlier effort: , million francs versus , invested by the first company. The canal used the courses of both Rios Chagres (down to the Atlantic) and Grande (down to the Pacific); the dam on Rio Chagres formed the artificial Gatun Lake. The two parallel sets of the Gatun locks, each consisting of three flights, were needed to elevate from the Atlantic. The two successive double locks of Pedro Miguel (with one flight, and a way up or down for meters) and Miraflores (with two flights, and a way up or down for . meters) linked with the Pacific side. The Gaillard Cut is the narrower passage of the canal through the hills, with its bottom at a height of . meters above sea level. Such a complexity explains the key role of specially trained pilots for the transit. The Panama Canal transit is . miles long from coast to coast, or . miles if the maritime fairways are taken into account; it has a minimal width of meters and an authorized clearance is of . meters. It was considerably greater than the Suez Canal: to meters and a clearance of . meters. The considerably smaller locks, meters in length and . in width, set the ceiling for the Panamax designation—ships built just small enough to transit the Panama canal. In , ships between , and , tons constituted the majority ( percent); over , tons was considered a minority (. percent), with , tons being the average. The gains in time were considerable for some routes: New York to San Francisco was reduced from , miles to , miles, and New York to Hong Kong from , miles to ,. Other routes were more marginal, such as New York to Japan (New York-Yokohama, , miles versus ,). British ships from Liverpool often chose the Suez Canal (Liverpool-Singapore: , miles through Suez versus , through Panama). Generally, European ships were more
PANAMA CANAL TABLE 1. Geographical Flows of Panama Traffic in 1938 Intercoastal U.S. traffic
23.3%
European traffic on the Pacific coast of the U.S. and Canada
15.4%
U.S. traffic on the Latin American Pacific coasts
12.8%
European traffic on the Latin American Pacific coasts
10.8%
U.S. traffic in the Pacific and Far-East countries
18.3%
U.S. traffic in Australia
3.9%
European traffic in Australasia
4.5%
TABLE 2. Transit through the Panama Canal Number of ships 1922
Net tonnage 11 million
1924
5,158
26 million
1929 first maximum
6,289
30.6 million
1930 1933
30 million 4,162
1934 1938
5,524
1940 1944 1945
23 million 29 million 27.4 million 27.3 million
1,562
7 million 8.6 million
oriented toward the Suez, which is why U.S. ships constituted percent of the traffic in , and percent in . The Panama axis was, in essence, an internal waterway for the United States, much like the Great Lakes. Intense intercoastal tramping activity (such as oil products) accounted for . tons, or percent, of total traffic in . The Panama canal made rapid economic expansion of the North-Pacific coasts possible by cutting transportation costs to the East Coast and Europe. Traffic reached million tons in , and hovered around the maximum until the outbreak of World War II. The traffic from West to East was more important in the context of tonnage ( percent in ) because raw materials and commodities (petroleum, nitrates, wood, sugar from the Philippines, minerals, crude foodstuffs, and cereals) were exported eastwards by Latin America; conversely, the westward traffic was comprised either of commodities (first-transformed metals, oil) or lighter (but more valuable) equipment
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goods (machinery, railway equipment, cars, and car parts, etc.). The internationalization of transit during the interwar years followed the upsurge of Japanese purchases in the United States (metals): ships from Japan weighed . percent of the transit in . Yet large ship owners still predominated, with British (. percent) and Norwegian fleets ( percent) ahead of Germany (. percent) and France (. percent). The Panama Canal had a far-reaching effect on the world economy, commercial development, and world trade patterns, spurring specialization and economic growth in emerging or industrialized countries. Its key military role also was apparent during World War II, when war fleets and the booming production of transport and war equipment relied on the canal. President Roosevelt wanted to launch a huge works program to build a new set of locks large enough to accommodate big warships, but the plans were scrapped because military planners were more comfortable with the division of Pacific and Atlantic fleets. The traffic through Panama climbed dramatically from million tons in , to million in ; beyond the booming world economy, the upsurge could be attributed first to the development of the Californian economy, and second, to the fact that half of Japanese exports transited through Panama. The development of the Panamax containership (laden with , containers) in the s, along with the upsurge in worldwide containership lines, including sub-delegated feeders lines redistributing the cargo from hubs, were key components of the intermodal revolution. When the canal experienced capacity constraints, President Johnson proposed to double it on December , . However, minor technical improvements (tugging, security equipments, lighting, etc.), which improved traffic flow for larger ships and allowed the canal to operate around the clock beginning in March , expanded capacity sufficiently to dampen President Johnson’s plans. Nationalistic fervor grew harsher in the s-s. In , the United States wisely negotiated an agreement placating Panamanian demands, yet preserving the U.S. economic and strategic interests. The Organization of American States welcomed the signature of the Panama Canal Treaty (or “Torrijos-Carter Treaty,” alongside both presidents’ names) on September , , which called for the canal to be transferred to the Republic of Panama, which would assume full responsibility for its administration, operation, and maintenance. A collateral treaty established neutrality, guaranteeing the canal remain open, safe, neutral, and accessible to vessels of all nations. On October , , the transfer occurred between the United States and Panama. Panama gained jurisdiction over the former Canal Zone, but for years, a new U.S. agency became responsible for managing, operating, maintaining, and improving the canal through December , with a Coordinating Committee and a bi-national board of directors while local pilots were being trained. Progressively, the number of Panamanian executives grew within the canal administration, resulting in a smooth transition when the Panama Canal Authority took over on December , at noon. Efficiency and maintenance did not suffer following the withdrawal of the United States: Canal Waters Time (cwt), the average time it takes a vessel to navigate the canal
TABLE 3. Panama Canal Traffic Along Principal Trade Routes in Fiscal Year 2005 (million tons) U.S. Intercoastal
9,502
U.S. East Coast & Canada-Oceania
6,725
U.S. East Coast-Asia
110,903
U.S. East Coast-West Coast South America
24,316
U.S. East Coast-West Coast South America
9,394
South America East Coast- U.S. & Canada West Coast
2,672
Europe-West Coast Central America
19,547
Europe-Asia
4,681
Europe-West Coast U.S. & Canada
10,080
South America Intercoastal
6,609
West Indies -West Coast Central America
3,100
Other routes
68,917
Total
278,282
Source: Panama Canal Authority
TABLE 4. The 15 Top Countries by Total Traffic (million tons) in Fiscal Year 2005 United States
136.5
China
35.1
Japan
32.2
Chile
19.2
South Korea
14.9
Peru
13
Ecuador
11.1
Canada
10
Panama
9.5
Mexico
8.5
Colombia
8
Venezuela
6.9
Taiwan
6
Germany
4.3
Guatemala
4.3
United Kingdom
3.3
PANAMA CANAL
(about to hours), including waiting time, did not grow and the rate of accidents remained low. A small economy has also grown around the canal, with about , employees, , of whom are Panamanian. Both harbors are being developed to favor transshipments and are managed by private companies. Globalization explains why increasing volumes of imports from Asia are now also traveling through the canal to the East Coast of the United States. Canal traffic remains high, about , ships a year: , crossed the isthmus in (from October to September ), , in , and after a slump to , in , the amount rose to , in . Coupled with a steady rise in average ship size, this caused the tonnage carried to increase from million tons in fiscal , to . million in . The glaring inadequacy of the existing locks continues to become more and more apparent. Another key obstacle to larger vessels is the Gaillard Cut, which was widened and strengthened as part of the canal authority’s $ billion investment during the s-s, with the aim of increasing capacity by percent. Key projects included deepening the Atlantic and Pacific entrances and the Gatun Lake navigational channel with a three-feet increase of its bottom (from to feet over the sea level, or from . to . meters) and a percent increase in the water reservoir volume thanks to a
A survey ship passes through the Panama Canal. In , the Panama Canal Authority received proposals from three international consortia for the design and construction of new locks that will allow the Panama Canal to expand and receive supertankers, or post-panamax ships, by . NOAA.
PANAMA CANAL
program started in (. million cubic meters). Water depth is particularly problematic during periods of draft. Many ships cannot make the passage, and large container ships must unload some containers to reduce their draft. Because of the growth in container traffic and the drafts problem, the Panamanian government gave Kansas City Southern Railroad and Mi-Jack Products (leading intermodal terminal builder and designer) a lease to build intermodal terminals at each coast, and the go-ahead to reconstruct the Panamanian Railroad, the continent’s first land bridge, for cross-isthmus passenger and intermodal service. Service, which began in , has experienced a steady increase in passenger and rail service, and has dramatically alleviated transcontinental highway congestion. The Panama Canal Authority is intent on expanding freight capacity by improving two-way navigation, and by modernizing the tugging machines to speed traffic flow. However, since the canal has limited additional capacity, and the proportion of Panamax ships is growing, the Panama Canal Authority intends on handling higher volumes with either greater canal capacity or with the Panamanian land bridge. To handle larger ships (up to , tons), plans have been floated to enlarge the locks system (along the lines of the plan), widen of the Gaillard Cut (starting in ), and begin a program to alleviate the deforestation problem responsible for the shortfall of water at Gatun Lake—a vital water supply for the locks. Upgrading is also essential. The Panama Canal Authority is well aware of competing projects—as some are renewed dreams dating back to s—promoted again through Nicaragua, Colombia, and Mexico. Hubert Bonin References and Further Reading Alfred, Richard. The Panama Canal in American National Consciousness, –. New York: Garland, . Bouvier, Jean. Les deux scandales de Panama. Paris: Julliard, . Cameron, Ian. The Impossible Dream: The Building of the Panama Canal. New York: William Morrow, . Diaz Espinosi, Ovidio. How Wall Street Created a Nation: JP Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal. New York: MJF Books, . DuVal, Miles. And the Mountains Will Move: The Story of the Building of the Panama Canal. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, . Edgar-Bonnet, Georges. Ferdinand de Lesseps. Après Suez, le pionnier de Panama. Paris: Plon, . Friar, William. Portrait of the Panama Canal from Construction to st Century. India: Graphic Ar, . Major, John. Prize Possession: The US and the Panama Canal, –. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . McCullough, David. The Path between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, –. New York: Simon & Schuster, . Panama Canal History Museum. http://www.canalmuseum.com (accessed January , ).
PERSIAN GULF Siegfried, André. Suez, Panama et les routes maritimes mondiales. Paris: Armand Colin, . Ulrich, Keller, ed. The Building of the Panama Canal: Historic Photographs. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, .
PERSIAN GULF The Persian Gulf is an extension of the Arabian Sea. It is also called the Arabian Gulf, and, sometimes, political correctness dictates that it be referred to as The Gulf. The littoral states of the Persian Gulf are Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. With a northwest/southeast axis of about miles ( kilometers), a maximum width of miles ( km), a surface area of about , square miles (, sq km), and an average depth of about meters, it is a comparatively small and shallow body of water that has proven to be a navigational challenge for large, deep-draft oil tankers. The depths are generally greater off the high coasts (to the east, Iran) than the low coasts (to the west, Arabian Peninsula). To the south, the coastline is flat, while the coast on the Iranian side is mountainous. The depths rarely exceed or meters and at certain points decrease to and meters. In depths of less than meters, especially off the Arabian coast, the soundings depicted on charts are irregular; there are several shallow banks and shoals. Off the coast of Iran, and in the deep part of the Persian Gulf, the seabed is generally composed of mud; on the Pearl Bank it is hard sand, coral, and rocks; and in numerous places off the Arabian coast, especially northward of Bahrain, it is white clay. Therefore, vessels transiting the Persian Gulf usually navigate along the bathymetric axis where there is relatively deeper water. When approaching the major ports and offshore loading facilities, caution and greater navigational skills are required by mariners. The Persian Gulf was not a major shipping zone until the era of engagement of large tankers to transport crude oil exploited from onshore and offshore fields of the Gulf States. Today it is one of the most strategic bodies of water in the world wherein ships carry about million barrels of oil per day, or about percent of the world’s energy annually (EIA, ). In the northern portion of the Persian Gulf, the average surface temperature of the sea is at its lowest, about degrees Fahrenheit during the month of February, and at its highest, about degrees Fahrenheit in August and September. The air and sea surface temperatures are generally high, and the salt level is as high as percent, which results from an evaporation rate higher than the supply of fresh water into the Persian Gulf. The main fresh water source is from Iran and Iraq, through the Shatt al ‘Arab—the confluence of three rivers: Euphrates, Tigris, and the Karun. Irrigation methods and overuse in Iraq may be responsible for the slowing rate of flow of fresh water into the Persian Gulf. Surface currents within the Persian Gulf appear to be generally variable throughout the year. The rate of the majority of currents do not exceed one knot (about . miles/hr), but occasional stronger currents may be experienced. The diurnal inequality in the tidal
PERSIAN GULF
Map of the Persian Gulf
streams within the Persian Gulf is considerable; of the two streams setting in a particular direction during a -hour period, one is considerably stronger than the other. The surface area of the Persian Gulf has slowly decreased during the last , years, when most of Kuwait and lower Iraq were part of the total basin. This process continues presently as sediment from the Shatt El Arab enlarges the delta area and reduces the area of the gulf. The marine environment of the Persian Gulf has been affected by serious incidents of oil spills from the heavy traffic of oil tankers and the deliberate burning of oil flowing from onshore pipelines towards the final days of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in . Disturbed weather conditions occur mainly during the months of December to February (the winter months) and the summer skies are almost permanently cloudless in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf. Vivian Louis Forbes
PHILIPPINE SEA
References and Further Reading Beaumont, Peter et al. The Middle East: A Geographical Study. London: D. Fulton, . Blake, Gerald et al. The Cambridge Atlas of the Middle East and North Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Couper, Alastair, ed. Times Atlas of the Oceans. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., . Energy Information Administration. “Persian Gulf Background.” http://www.eia.doe.gov (accessed October , ) Hydrographer of the Navy. Persian Gulf Pilot, th ed. London: Hydrographic Department, . Hydrographer of the Navy. Ocean Passages of the World. London: Hydrographic Department, .
PHILIPPINE SEA Located to the east of the Philippines, the Philippine Sea is part of the western Pacific Ocean that covers the area between Japan and Palau. The two other nations with land adjoining are the Republic of China (Taiwan), and the Marianas. As a result of its strategic location, the sea has been the scene of th and th century European exploration, and considerable naval activity during the th and th centuries as well, the most important being the Battle of the Philippine Sea in . Ferdinand Magellan and his crew were the first European voyagers to the region in . Eight years later, the Spanish and the Portuguese drew up a line of demarcation, with the western part of the Philippine Sea allocated to the Portuguese, and the remainder to the Spanish. However, soon afterwards, the Spanish formed a permanent presence in the Philippines, and also occupied Landrone Island and Caroline Island, giving them nominal control over the southern part of the Philippine Sea. The crew of the Liefde, including Will Adams, the first Englishman to arrive in Japan, crossed the Philippine Sea, landing at Kyushu in April of . During the th and th centuries, the famous Manila galleons, which took silk across the Pacific to Acapulco in Mexico, crossed the northern part of the Philippine Sea. Returning galleons journeyed across the southern part of the sea carrying back silver, although the exact routes were never made known to prevent piracy. Piracy had long been a problem in the Philippine Sea, with Japanese and Filipino pirates regularly attacking merchant ships. During the latter part of the th century, the emergence of Japan as a naval power led to the Japanese annexing the Ryukyu Islands in , and taking control of Formosa (Taiwan) in , effectively cutting off Chinese access to the Philippine Sea. In , the United States defeated Spain, consequently taking the Philippines and the island of Guam. The following year the Germans took the Marianas and the Caroline Islands. As a result, by the start of the th century, the sea was effectively controlled by Japan, the United States, and Germany—although the German Asiatic fleet was based at Tsingtao (modern-day Qingdao) in China. In World War I, the German fleet was forced to flee for South America, and the Japanese captured the German Pacific Islands. During the s and s, with U.S. and Japanese-held territories surrounding the Philippine Sea, it was inevitable that it would be the scene of fighting when hostilities
PHILIPPINE SEA
started. These had been foreseen by British spy, journalist, and diplomat Hector Bywater, and on December , the Pacific War started, with the Japanese capturing Guam on December , and invading the Philippines on December , giving them total control of the Philippine Sea. In with the war turning against Japan, the United States attacked Saipan on June , . On June , the U.S. fleet, under the command of Admiral Ray Spruance, gathered in the western part of the Philippine Sea for a looming battle with the Japanese fleet, commanded by Jisaburo Ozawa. The Battle of the Philippine Sea on June –, was fought off the Mariana Islands, resulting in the Japanese navy losing three of their five aircraft carriers, and some planes, compared to only planes lost by the United States. This led to the United States recapturing Guam in July , and then Palau in September of . In the following month, U.S. troopships were able to cross the southern part of the Philippine Sea and land marines at Leyte, leading to the retaking of the Philippines. From November until the final Japanese surrendered in August , U.S. bombers from the th Air Force flew across the Philippine Sea to bomb Japan. During World War II, Japan maintained regular air services with Saipan, Palau, and Davao (the Philippines). After the war, the Philippine Sea, dominated by the U.S. military and aerial presence, also became an important zone for civil aviation from the various Pacific islands to and from Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading D’Albas, Andrieu. Death of a Navy: The Fleets of the Mikado in the Second World War –. London: Robert Hale, . Davies, R.E.G. Airlines of Asia since . London: Putnam, . Honan, William H. Bywater: The Man who Invented the Pacific War. London: Macdonald & Co., . Rogers, Robert F. Destiny’s Landfall: A History of Guam. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, . Y’Blood, William T. Red Sun Setting: The Battle of the Philippine Sea. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, .
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R
RED SEA The Red Sea is an inlet of the Indian Ocean dividing Africa and Asia, and is surrounded by Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia, with Israel and Jordan having an outlet to the Gulf of Aqaba. The name does not come from the color of the water, but is believed to have originated from the seasonal blooms of the Trichodesmium erythraeum plant, which grows near the surface of the water. An alternative hypothesis has the word being used to describe the Southern Sea as the Greek historian Herodotus often uses the two interchangeably. The most famous mention of the Red Sea in the ancient world is in the Bible, where in the book of Exodus, the waters of the Red Sea part to allow Moses to lead the Israelites from captivity in Egypt towards the Holy Land. When the Egyptians were crossing the sea, the waters returned, sweeping them away. Some geographers have suggested that the reference is actually to the nearby Reed Sea, which was a lake; the Reed Sea has since dried up with the building of the Suez Canal. Egyptians certainly sailed around the Red Sea, and trade was important with the Egyptians mounting an expedition to the Land of Punt (variously identified as near Aden, Djibouti, or places in modern-day East Africa) in b.c.e. There were even attempts to build a canal as early as the th Dynasty (c. b.c.e.), to link the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, a move that would have significantly strengthened the naval and economic power of Egypt. In , Thor Heyerdahl built a reed boat that he called the Tigris, with the aim of sailing it down the Tigris, through the Red Sea and to the Indus River. However, he was so angered by the wars in the region at that time that he burned the boat in Djibouti.
RED SEA
The Red Sea in Egypt has been a principal trade route to the Indies for centuries. Corel.
From the th to the th century, the Kingdom of Axum flourished on both sides of the Red Sea, with its capital in the Tigray Region of modern-day Ethiopia. Although Arab traders sailed around the Red Sea in medieval and early modern times—with many boats taking pilgrims to the Saudi Arabian holy cities of Mecca and Medina, European interest in using it as a trade route only started in the th century. Interest in the Red Sea as a trade route resulted in Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian Expedition of . Although the mission failed, it led to J.B. Lepere, a French engineer, reviving plans for a canal. Until the opening of the Suez Canal in November , much of the mail sent from Europe to India and Australia went to Egypt, and after a short journey over land, was then transported via ships traversing the Red Sea; this was still faster than sending ships around the Cape of Good Hope. However, the building of the Suez Canal by Ferdinand de Lesseps led to a massive boom in trade through the Red Sea. It was not long before European powers started to establish, or enlarge, their bases there. The British established the Port of Aden in . Located at the south of the Red Sea, it soon became a very important military base. Opposite Aden, in the s, the French established a base at Obock, and then the port of Djibouti in what was then known as French Somaliland. Similarly, the Italians had bases in modern-day Eritrea. The Red Sea quickly became one of the most strategic waterways in the world, and was used by most European countries to transport people and goods to and from Asia
RED SEA
Map of the Red Sea
and Oceania. Trading companies such as Beese became famous all around the world. With increasing affluence, there were also many more Muslim pilgrims going to Mecca and Medina, using the port of Jeddah. In October , the Italians used the Asmara Port as the main base for their attack on Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia), and in , the British used the Red Sea to bring in soldiers and materiel to attack the Italians.
RUSSIAN WATERWAYS
After World War II, the Red Sea became a high traffic route for oil tankers. In the late s and early s, the French used the Red Sea, and their military base at Djibouti, for taking soldiers to fight in Indochina. The Suez Crisis of , which saw the Egyptians nationalize the Suez Canal Company (the owners of the canal), and led to fighting around the northern part of the Red Sea. Following the Six Day War in , the Suez Canal was closed and was not reopened until , seriously damaging the trade along the Red Sea. Since the late s, there has been much fighting around the Red Sea, with Sudan, Yemen, and Ethiopia facing major insurgencies, the latter leading to the formation of the State of Eritrea in , resulting in Ethiopia losing its access to the Red Sea. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Doubilet, David. “The Desert Sea.” National Geographic (November ). Landstrom, Bjorn. The Quest for India. London: Allen & Unwin, . Monfreid, Henri de. Sea Adventures. Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin, . Schonfield, Hugh J. The Suez Canal in Peace & War –. London: Vallentine Mitchell, . Waterfield, Gordon. Sultans of Aden. London: John Murray, .
RUSSIAN WATERWAYS Although Russia is a landlocked nation, and traditionally never considered a sea power, rivers nevertheless played a vital role in Russian history—facilitating settlement, trade, colonial expansion, and the exploitation of Russia’s natural resources. Russia is blessed with an abundance of rivers. European Russia has the Don, Dnieper, and Volga; Siberian Russia has the Ob, Yenissei, Irtysh, Lena, and Amur. The European rivers have historically facilitated strong trade and traffic links to Central Europe, the Baltic, and Black Sea; the Siberian rivers connected the empire with the Arctic and Pacific Ocean, and accelerated colonization from the th century onward. From the beginning of Eastern Slavic history, between and c.e., peasant settlement took place along rivers. Aside from waterborne transportation, which was the fastest means at the time, Eastern Slavic settlers (Belarusians, Ukrainians, and Russians) also benefited from the abundance of fish and irrigation for agriculture. In the th century, Russian princes, like Svyatoslav Olegovich of Novgorod, initiated voyages via the northern rivers into the White Sea. Rivers of European Russia were also well known to the Vikings, who traded with Eastern Slavs, steppe nomads, and the Byzantine empire via the Volga River. By settling among the Karelians (Finns), Eastern Slavic peasants developed a link to the Arctic Ocean. In the south and east, rivers like the Volga and the Ob were disputed between Russian settlers and Tatar/Siberian nomads. In order to secure colonial advance (in search for land, goods like commodities from Byzantine and the Middle East, and furs from Siberia), Russian Cossacks forcefully opened the
RUSSIAN WATERWAYS
waterways to the east. They used kochi, light wooden vessels approximately feet in length and the capacity to carry men and around six tons of goods. Light, shallowdrafted, and flat-bottomed, it was a versatile craft that was not too difficult for a crew to portage. Although the typical voyage in the th century was only between and miles, larger version of kochi, which could be up to feet long, multi-sailed, with a carrying capacity of – tons, were suitable for longer voyages and sea routes. Kochi served Cossacks well in terms of conquering Russia’s eastern frontier. Yermak, the legendary conqueror of Siberia, was a vagabonding Cossack from the River Don. From the Don, via its tributaries, Yermak and his troops reached the Kama River, the gateway to the Urals and Siberia. The Kama and the rivers of Siberia provided the infrastructure for Yermak’s rapid expansion into Siberia. Early Russian frontier towns (forts) on the Siberian frontier were built near rivers, like the West Siberian administrative center of Tobol’sk at the Tobol River. Rivers were faster than the long, road-less overland route. By , Russians founded Mangazeya on the Taz River, which developed into an important harbor and trade emporium on the Arctic Ocean. However, fearing foreign annexation (by the English), in Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich decreed that the sea route to Mangazeya via the White Sea should be closed. The closing not only hurt foreign merchants trying to trade directly with Mangazeya, but also Russians trying to trade with foreign ports. From onward, commerce in lucrative furs was purely Russian, and traffic was now exclusively by way of the lower Ob. Yet there existed another waterway into inner Siberia, the Yenissei. By , Cossacks had reached the Lena River, and now the Pacific Ocean was not far away. The eastern parts of the Arctic Ocean and the northeastern shores of the Siberian Pacific coast were explored for the first time. From the th century onward, Russians founded small stations along rivers and along the Arctic Ocean, and in turn created a vast river-seaways network. In the late th century, Siberian rivers were charted for the first time. By the th century, under the rule of Peter the Great (–), the whole Arctic Ocean was controlled by Russia. Peter the Great recognized that Russian waterways provided critical access to the seas for trade and military expansion. Thus, he founded St. Petersburg in as a trade port and military fort at the outlet of the Neva. It was the Great Nordic War with Sweden that influenced Peter the Great’s decision for building the harbor in order to emphasize Russia’s power on the Baltic Sea. The Tsar’s grand tour to England and the Netherlands helped him comprehend how important sea trade, shipbuilding, and waterways were for an aspiring world power. Peter the Great’s long reign and successful development of waterways established a trend of exploration and expansion of waterways that would be continued by his successors in the th century. To gain access to the Black Sea, the Russians captured the Turkish-held fortress of Azov via the Don and Dnieper rivers in the early summer of . It was the most important forepost that was conquered by the Russian army in combination with Don Cossacks. The Fort of Azov became the gateway to the Black Sea that was strategically controlled by the Russians for the first time. The conquest of Azov also set the beginning of RussoOttoman rivalry over the Black Sea and the Bosphorus Strait.
RUSSIAN WATERWAYS
In the th century, with the rise of nationalism, Russia’s great rivers like the Don, Volga, Lena, and Amur were glorified in popular literature and songs. The vast network of waterways stirred the dreams of Russian intellectuals of their home country as a vast and powerful empire. The great Russian rivers were revered like the legendary Rhine in Germany or the Mississippi in the United States. Great rivers became the national identity for the Russian empire. Mighty rivers made Russia a special continent, especially the wild rivers of Russian Asia, which had an enigma like the Amazon. Whereas the rivers of European Russia like the Don, Dnieper, and Volga were associated with the old, medieval folkloric Russia, the Siberian rivers, such as the Lena and Amur, symbolized Russia as a world power that stretched to the Pacific Ocean. The far eastern river, the Amur, came belatedly to Russia when the region was annexed from China between and . Russians identified each river region (like the Don region, the Volga region, the Amur region) as unique and distinct homelands of the Russian inhabitants (primarily peasants). Intellectuals strongly felt that rivers were the center of Russian civilization, even arguing that Russian settlement and colonization from the Middle Ages onward followed along rivers. Although the Tsarist government began to build canals during the period of industrialization in the last decades of the empire (the late th and early th centuries), the boom of diverse water projects began during the Soviet period. Stalinist ideology proclaimed the struggle of socialist civilization against wild, unregulated rivers. Building canals and dams in order to exploit the abundant water resource of the Soviet Union was considered an important step forward for the socialist civilization. In the s, the White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal and the Moscow-Volga canals were built by forced laborers. Over , Gulag prisoners perished while building these dubious projects: the economic advantages were limited because of the low depth of the canals. Nevertheless, Stalin’s adventurist policy to transform Russian rivers continued under his successors Khrushchev and Brezhnev. Siberia especially, with its abundance of rivers, was considered a rich unexploited water resource. Khrushchev was the most prominent advocate of hydroelectric power, particularly as a means to meet Soviet industries never-ending thirst for electricity. During his tenure, nine Siberian water dams were under construction or actually built, including the megawatt Novosibirsk Ob’ Dam and , megawatt Bratsk Dam, the megawatt Irkutsk Dam, and the , megawatt Krasnoyarsk Dam. In northeastern Siberia, in Yakutiya, the first river dams were built on permafrost, which forced rebuilding. Because the new energy-hungry aluminum smelters, nonferrous metallurgical combines, and wood-processing industries needed water and power, they were sited adjacent to Siberian rivers, and near hydroelectric power facilities. This also had an impact on the population, as many Siberian villages were forced to relocate. Soviet water experts wanted to divert Siberian rivers, which overwhelmingly run north into the Arctic Ocean, to the water-deficient south in order to make the Central Asian steppes and deserts fertile. The plan foresaw the diversion from the confluence of the (West Siberian) Ob and Irtysh rivers south to Central Asia, over a distance of some
RUSSIAN WATERWAYS
, miles. Soviet planners thought that by doing this, Central Asia would be the thirdmost promising agricultural area next to the Southern Volga region and the Kuban. There was also a plan to restore the shrinking Aral and Caspian Sea by diverting . cubic miles per year from Western Siberia to Central Asia by the construction of a , mile canal (nearly equal to two-thirds the length of the Mississippi). The diversion project provoked heated debates at the Party Congress, characterized by rivaling group politics. In the Soviet water industry, like in other industrial sectors, there were strong patronclient relationships. The struggle for water became a battle for power: a fight for the right to profit from resource exploitation. Whereas party officials in Moscow and in Central Asia pushed for the diversion project, Siberian party leaders wanted to exploit water for Siberia’s self-use. Additionally, the adventurist water projects provoked the protest of an ecological movement, represented by famous Soviet intellectuals and writers like Valentin Rasputin, Sergei Zalygin, Vasilii Belov, and Yuri Bondarev. They criticized water diversion projects from Western Siberia as an attack on Siberia’s wild nature. If the project had been realized, the West Siberian wetlands would have been destroyed and many species of flora and fauna would have died out. The water project came on the agenda of the Communist Party’s th Congress in , and the Politburo decreed commencement for . However, it took two more years to get the consent of the regional Siberian Party. By , construction of the diversion canal began, but the project was stopped by the new party leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, who criticized the environmentally damaging grand-scale public works projects of his predecessors. Moreover, the growing crisis of the Soviet system made Gorbachev realize that such an ambitious project in water policy would only further bankrupt the country. The effect of Gorbachev’s glasnost was that the Soviet public became increasingly aware of ecological disasters all over the Union. Protest groups, like the West Siberian Natives, feared that a water diversion would harm the nomads’ grazing areas, and Soviet geographers warned that the diversion would reduce the flow of fresh water into the Gulf of Ob, raising its salinity and lowering its temperature. Mounting public protest prevented any additional river diversion projects to proceed. This marked the triumph of Siberian regionalism over Soviet centralism, as many leaders of the ecological movement stemmed from Siberia. In the last years of the Soviet Union, water became a question of economic autonomy and ethnic sovereignty. Whereas in Tsarist Russia, waterways were used as lines of communication and trade through the vast empire and there existed a great nostalgia of Russian rivers as the soul of Russian nationhood, under the Soviets, rivers were viewed as economic engines for accelerating economic development, with little concern for the human, social, and environmental costs. All hydroelectric and irrigation projects resulted in heavy ecological damage in every part of the Soviet Union. In particular, irrigation systems resulted in drastic water shortages in the south of the Union, especially acute in the Azov and Aral seas due to the depletion of the rivers Volga, Amu Darya and, Syr Darya. With the completion of the Trans-Siberian railroad in , navigation and trade by river began to decline in the late th century. Because ice limited the shipping season on Russian waterways—particularly Siberian rivers that were limited to a May-September
RUSSIAN WATERWAYS
season—barge transportation was of limited utility. Yet, even during the warm months, cargo traffic by rail in the th century, followed by air in the th century, proved faster and more efficient. Eva-Maria Stolberg References and Further Reading Brubaker, Douglas R. The Russian Arctic Straits. Leiden: Nijhoff, . Fox, Irving K. Water Resources Law and Policy in the Soviet Union. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, . McNeese, Tim. The Volga River. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, . Vinogradov, Sergei. “Trans-boundary Water Resources in the Former Soviet Union: Between Conflict and Cooperation.” Natural Resources Journal , no. (): – .
S
SEA OF JAPAN The Sea of Japan, bordered by Japan on the south and east, the Korean Peninsula on the west, and the Russian island of Sakhalin to the north, experiences primarily calm and tide-less waters because of these natural barriers. Geological evidence suggests that the sea was landlocked during the last Ice Age, a time when the land bridge between Asia and the Americas existed. Similar to the English Channel for Great Britain, the Sea of Japan served as a means of isolation and protection for Japan. Aside from the mostly-mythical invasion of Korea by Japanese forces under the Empress Jingū in the late-second century c.e., the Japanese stayed out of foreign military affairs for many centuries. However, the Toi Invasion of began to alter the Japanese view of isolationism, as proven by the ease by which the Korean pirates amassed a large force and sacked Japanese coastal villages (Ballard , –). The Sea of Japan was, and still is, an important waterway for commercial trade. Even during Japan’s period of isolation, for example, trade had been conducted with China, especially because of the movements of Buddhist monks (Ballard , ). Yet, it was the period after the Mongol Yoke was thrown off that trade increased. By the middle of the th century, Europeans made their way into the sea’s waters, particularly the Portuguese in (Ballard , ). The arrival of Europeans brought a whole new culture into the lands bordering the Sea of Japan, greatly impacting their cultures, religion, technology, and government. In the th and th centuries, the nations bordering the sea entered a time of change. Japan became a Shogunate in , usurping most of the Emperor’s authority and creating a military state. Korea became a united kingdom under the Joseon Dynasty in , but by the th century, the state became a tributary of the Chinese Qing Empire
SEA OF JAPAN
Map of the Sea of Japan
following the and invasions. Russian expansion during this time brought their empire through much of Siberia, but they would not make major headways into the sea until the th century. During the th century, the role of the Sea of Japan began to change dramatically. After the Opium Wars of – and –, the sea became an important waterway for vessels heading to and from newly-opened treaty ports in the declining Qing Empire. Moreover, with the opening of these treaty ports, a new network of trade was opened between European and Asian nations, at first centered on the British East India Company, but later becoming far more diverse. Japan became a major player in both commercial and diplomatic affairs after restoring the authority of the emperor in the Meiji Restoration of –. The sea played a considerable role in the restoration since a naval battle in May of at Hakodate proved to be the decisive defeat for the Shogun’s armies (Bywater , ). The newly restored imperial state would begin to modernize its army and navy, soon becoming the most Western power in Asia.
SOU TH AMERICAN DAMS AND LOCKS
By the beginning of the th century, the Sea of Japan was dominated by the new Japanese Empire. Japan defeated the Qing Empire in the Sino-Japanese War of – , gaining control over Manchuria and Korea, and then defeated Russia in the RussoJapanese War of –. After World War I, the Western nations, particularly the United States, recognized the growing power of Japan in Asia. Thus, in , the United States transferred the strongest part of its navy into the Pacific as a balance to the growing strength of the Japanese Empire. This would prove to be an important move with the continued expansion of their empire throughout the s, s, and with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War in (Bywater , ). The threat of Japan was quelled in and the Sea of Japan went back to serving its function as a commercial waterway. Today, in the st century, the sea is important to North and South Korea, Japan, and Russia, as well as all nations that conduct trade with them. It is also a rich resource for fishing, and provides excellent recreation (sailing, swimming, etc.). The Sea of Japan is a body of water with significant military and economic importance, just as it has been throughout the ages. Jesse E. Brown, Jr. References and Further Reading Akaha, Tsuneo. Japan in Global Ocean Politics. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, . Ballard, G.A. The Influence of the Sea on the Political History of Japan. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., . Bywater, Hector Charles. Sea-Power in the Pacific: A Study of the American-Japanese Naval Problem. New York: Arno Press, . Valencia, Mark J., ed. International Conference on the Sea of Japan. Honolulu: East-West Environment and Policy Institute, .
SOU TH AMERICAN DAMS AND LOCKS There are a number of dams in South America, the vast majority of which are located, either wholly or in part, in Argentina and Brazil. Most of the major dams are intended to generate hydroelectricity, but some in arid parts of Argentina have been mainly for irrigation. The earliest major dam in Argentina was that at San Roque, which was built between and , and officially opened in . The aim was to help provide fresh water for Buenos Aires, the capital. However, in structural problems led to a major political scandal. In , a new dam was built near the original one. Attempts to remove the original dam failed. When the water level of the San Roque Lake falls, portions of the original dam can be seen. The Los Molinos Dam was built between and on the Los Molinos River in the Córdoba Province to regulate the flow of the river and generate hydroelectricity. In the Los Quiroga Dam, on the Dulce River in the province of Santiago del Estero, was completed as a diversionary dam, with a hydroelectric plant built adjoining
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it in . The Cerros Colorados Complex, on the Neuquén River in northwest Argentine Patagonia, was built in , with the first hydroelectricity generated in , and officially opened in . The Ingeniero Ballester Dam was subsequently built to help regulate the flow of the Neuquén River. In , work ended on the El Carrizal Dam in Mendoza Province; the dam was built to regulate the flow of the Tunuyán River, and also to provide water for irrigation. In , work started on the Salto Grande Dam, and it was completed in when hydroelectricity production started. Straddling the border of Argentina and Uruguay, it provides much electricity to both countries, being the precursor to the much larger Yacyretá Dam on the borders of Paraguay and Argentina. The Limay River in Argentine Patagonia is now the location of five dams, all built to provide electricity, These are the Alicurá Dam (); the Piedra del Aguila Dam (); the Pichi Picún Leufú Dam (); the El Chocón Dam (), which has the largest hydroelectric power plant in Patagonia, achieving full capacity in ; and the Arroyito Dam (). The El Cajón Dam in the province of Córdoba, built along the course of the Dolores River, was completed between and . The dam resulted in the creation of a large artificial lake used for irrigation, and also for fishing and sailing, the primary purpose of the dam being to regulate the river. Other dams in Argentina include the Quebrada de Ullum Dam, on the San Juan River, which helps with the irrigation of the Tulum Valley, and the Los Reyunos Dam in central Mendoza Province, which generates hydroelectricity. The first large dam in Brazil was the Furnas Dam located in Minas Gerais State. It was built between and and resulted in the creation of the Furnas Lake, with the dam being used for generating hydroelectric power, as well as regulating the flow of the Grande River. Work on the smaller dam at Tres Marias also started in and was opened in . Championed by President Juscelino Kubitschek, its main purpose was to generate hydroelectricity and also to regulate the flow of the river. Many of the subsequent dams built in Brazil have led to considerable political disputes over the impact they have had on the environment. The Balbina Dam on the Uatumä River, built between and , was criticized for not only damaging the local flora and fauna, but also for its astronomical cost. Indeed, the proposed Belo Monte Dam, located on the Xingu River, Brazil, was to be the third largest in the world, and the second largest hydroelectric dam in Brazil. However the first proposal was abandoned in the s because of local and international protests, with plans recently being unveiled to resurrect the project. Mention should also be made of the Camará Dam located on the Mamanguate River, Paraiba, in northeast Brazil, which burst on June , , flooding two nearby towns and killing three people; and the Campos Novos Dam, Santa Catarina Province, southern Brazil, completed in , which was the third largest dam of its type in the world but suffered major damage when the wall broke on June , . Another dam that faced problems, but of a different nature, was the Sobradinho Dam, which led to the formation of an artificial lake of the same name, along the Sao Francisco River, the th largest artificial lake in the world. At its height, it produced percent of the hydroelectric power in the northeast of Brazil, but with the falling water levels, the energy supply has significantly dwindled.
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Political controversy also dogged the construction of the massive Itaipu Dam on the borders of Paraguay and Brazil, generating most of the electrical power for Paraguay, and also for large sections of Brazil. The awarding of contracts in Paraguay by the Stroessner government was widely criticized. The only other major dam in South America is the Guri Dam in Bolivar State, Venezuela, constructed to generate hydroelectricity. Work started in but it was not finished until , and a second dam was completed nearby in . Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Cummins, Barbara J. Dam the Rivers, Damn the People: Development and Resistance in Amazonian Brazil. London: Earthscan Publications, . “Enormous New Dam Fails in Brazil,” New Scientist, no. ( July , ): . Riberio, Gustavo Lins. Transnational Capitalism and Hydropolitics in Argentine: The Yacyreta High Dam. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, . Wright, Robin. “Hydroelectric Dams on Brazil’s Xingu River and Indigenous People,” Cultural Survival ().
SOU TH CHINA SEA The South China Sea is part of the Pacific Ocean, covering the region between southern China, Vietnam, Thailand, the east coast of West Malaysia, Singapore, East Malaysia, Brunei and the western coast of the Philippines Archipelago. Traditionally the Chinese called it Nan Hai (“Southern Sea”), the Vietnamese called it Bien Dong (“Eastern Sea”), and some in the Philippines referred to it as the Dagat Luzon (“Luzon Sea”). There are a number of islands within the sea, the most well known being the Spratly Islands, which were the subject of competing sovereignty disputes in the s. The South China Sea saw much seafaring in ancient times, with the port of Oc-Eo as the likely capital of the Empire of Funan, a precursor of the Cambodian Kingdom of Angkor, although it is believed that it was centered on the Mekong delta in modern-day Vietnam. Many of the kingdoms that flourished around the South China Sea in medieval times maintained significant navies. The Kingdom of Champa, which flourished in modern-day central Vietnam from the th century, was a large maritime power. Sailing down the coast of Vietnam, and up the Mekong River in , they defeated the Khmers at Angkor. The Sultanates of Sulu and Brunei, both on the island of Borneo, also depended heavily on maritime trade. The Mongol navy crossed the northern part of the South China Sea in to attack Vietnam, and crossed the central part of the sea in – on an expedition to Java. In southern China, seafaring was also very important, with Hainan Island becoming well known for piracy. With the arrival of European traders, Portuguese caravels used the South China Sea to connect their base in Malacca with their trading post at Macao, and later to Formosa (modern-day Taiwan). In , after the Dutch captured Malacca, they also used the
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South China Sea to trade with Zeelandia in Taiwan, with both the Portuguese and the Dutch starting a profitable trade with Nagasaki in Japan. Japanese ships, especially those of pirates, also started to make heavy use of the South China Sea by the th century, with Japanese merchants establishing the port of Faifo (modern-day Hoi An, Vietnam). This, however, ended in when the Japanese were ordered to return, and international trade was forbidden. By the late th century, British traders started to regularly use the South China Sea, which increased dramatically with their occupation of Malacca, and in , with the settlement of Hong Kong. During this period some traders managed to make large fortunes, and in one trader in particular, James Brooke, was appointed as the Rajah
Map of the South China Sea
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of Sarawak. With piracy also increasing, later in the th century, European powers, particularly Britain and France, launched major attacks on pirates and their bases. A joint French-Spanish force attacked Tourane (modern-day Da Nang) in , leading to a major increase in French interest in Vietnam, which was taken over between and . Many Chinese traveling to Australia for the gold rush of the s, and also to Southeast Asia, traveled through the South China Sea. During the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese Navy used the South China Sea to attack ports in southern China, and their forces sailed from Taiwan to attack Malaya, the Philippines, and northern Borneo in December of . The only major sea battle in the first stage of the Pacific War in the South China Sea was the attack on, and the sinking of the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse on December , , signifying an end of British imperial power in the region. Towards the end of the war, the U.S. Navy used the South China Sea for landing on Luzon in January , and a combined Allied force retook Brunei in June , with British forces sailing to Saigon (modern-day Ho Chi Minh City) in September to secure it for the return of the French. After World War II, the U.S. th Fleet, based at Subic Bay in the Philippines (closed in ), dominated the South China Sea, with many operations in Vietnam, including the Gulf of Tonkin incident on August , , involving use of the sea. During the s, the Spratly Islands, which cover about small islands and reefs, were subject to competing claims in their entirety by the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Vietnam, with the Philippines and Malaysia also claiming portions. This led to some of these countries basing troops in some of these islands, with Brunei establishing some of the sea as a part of its fishing zone. Because there also was the discovery of oil in the region in , tensions among the countries will continue as all parties realize the economic and military significance of the South China Sea. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Agan, Maris. The Sovereignty Dispute over the Spratly Islands. LLM thesis, University of Melbourne, . Catley, Robert. Spratlys: The Dispute in the South China Sea. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, . Kwa, Chong Guan and John K. Skogan. Maritime Security in Southeast Asia. London: Routledge, . Ptak, Roderich. China, the Portuguese and the Nanyang. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, . Samuels, Marwyn S. Contest for the South China Sea. London: Methuen, .
ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY The St. Lawrence Seaway connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was built in order to bypass the rapids on the St. Lawrence River as well as large obstructions such as Niagara Falls. In the process of traveling from Montreal to Lake Erie ships are elevated about feet. The St. Lawrence
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Opened in after five years of construction, the St. Lawrence Seaway connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. An American-Canadian project, it is considered a triumph of engineering. Corbis.
Seaway System creates an approximately ,-mile path from Duluth, Minnesota, to the Atlantic Ocean. The entire seaway system includes canals and locks, encompassing all of the Great Lakes and the canals connecting them, from the western end of Lake Superior to Montreal. Although the canals of the seaway actually span less than nautical miles, the areas they open encompass more than , square miles of fresh water, thousands of miles of shoreline, and important port cities on the Great Lakes. Many Midwestern Canadian and American cities are closer in actual mileage to European ports than coastal ports are, but until the seaway provided deep-water access to the Atlantic, shipping goods out of the Great Lakes was cost prohibitive. At the turn of the th century, around percent of the shipping through the seaway moved through overseas markets. Over billion U.S. dollars’ worth of cargo has gone through the seaway since its opening in , and the port cities’ proximity to railroads makes the transport of Midwestern agricultural goods faster and cheaper than it has ever been. In addition to transportation, hydroelectric facilities on the seaway system provide electricity to surrounding parts of the United States and Ontario. Because of ice and other weather conditions, the St. Lawrence Seaway operates for about nine months of the year, closing between late December and late March. The earliest travelers on the rapids of the St. Lawrence River saw the need to bypass them. Although much of the river was navigable, the Lachine Rapids and Niagara Falls
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made shipping by water impractical for farmers along the Great Lakes. In , the Erie Canal, which linked Lake Erie with the Hudson River, greatly improved shipping from the Great Lakes area to the Eastern Seaboard. However, because Canadians viewed the Erie as a threat to their national interests as they would have to use the American canal to get goods out of the Great Lakes area, Canadians were first to show interest in using canals to make the St. Lawrence River a waterway from the interior of Canada to the Atlantic Ocean. In the s, William Hamilton Merritt of Ontario decided to build a private canal connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie in order to bring water to his mills, as well as to bypass Niagara Falls. As the Welland Canal was hastily and poorly constructed, maintenance costs were severe. Merritt’s canal garnered heavy traffic, despite its high costs, and soon it was deepened and extended to span miles upon completion in . In , Upper Canada’s government purchased the canal and almost immediately began plans to expand it. From to , the Welland Canal was redesigned three more times. Even the current canal has been adjusted greatly since its construction. In , the realignment of the Welland Canal bypassed the city of Welland, creating a more direct route from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. The Oswego Canal, connecting Lake Ontario to the Erie Canal, was built in . The Lachine Canal of , bypassing the Lachine Rapids of the St. Lawrence River, was a forerunner of the St. Lawrence Seaway System. In , the United States built the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, the first canal in the seaway system built solely by Americans. However, no unified system existed for getting Canadian goods all the way out to the Atlantic Ocean from the Great Lakes. Canada suggested to the United States the idea of a jointly built seaway in the s. The Canadian government was very interested in pursuing the seaway, but the United States did not back a seaway plan, partially because railroad interests opposed it, and partially because the government was reluctant to share any potential profit with the Canadians. John Lind’s bill, which provided for a joint survey with Canada to explore the possibility of a seaway, was defeated. In the early th century, politics in the two countries prevented progress on the seaway. Both countries feared infringement into their sovereign rights. Canadians planned for a seaway built completely within Canada, and Americans planned for a canal route to the Great Lakes via the Hudson River. World War I interrupted any chance for the two countries to agree, but even after the war, Canadian sentiment for a non-cooperative seaway was still very strong. One of the major questions during the process of building the seaway was whether the power created from the project would be public or private. In Canada, Ontario Hydro, a Canadian power company, provided public power to Ontario using the parts of the seaway that had already been built. In Quebec, R.O. Sweezey wanted to develop private power in the Beauharnois section of the river by building a canal for both power and navigation. Although sentiment in Canada was originally for public power all the way down the St. Lawrence, Sweezey easily got his request to develop the Beauharnois
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canal privately; even after a bribery scandal was discovered, Sweezey still got his canal, and Quebec power on the St. Lawrence was developed privately. The Great Depression of the s made the seaway less of a priority for the two governments, although Franklin D. Roosevelt, then governor of New York, supported it. When Roosevelt was elected President of the United States, he became a variable proponent: sometimes he seemed inclined to start work, but at other times he would not defend the project. In , a shift in Canada’s government brought a pro-seaway prime minister into power. The United States Army Corps of Engineers saw this change as a good omen and established a temporary headquarters for St. Lawrence Seaway operations in Massena, New York. Roosevelt went as far with the seaway project as to sign an executive agreement with Canada on March , . He called the seaway a defense measure, providing quick access to the Great Lakes’ resources. However, because of World War II, the U.S. War Department decided that the project would be too expensive in both money and materials, so the project was tabled. Despite official blocking, the seaway project moved on privately because power and shipping needs increased as World War II required commodities and manufactured goods from the Midwest. In the late s, a strike of iron ore in the Labrador region of Canada brought many steel companies into agreement with the seaway idea. They wanted access to the Labrador strike as well as to other important commercial areas that might want the iron products. In , the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Association brought together steel companies and American automakers to lobby for the seaway. Even Quebec’s government, which had previously feared reduced traffic through Montreal, now supported the seaway because it would make the ore easier to access for the Quebecois. Despite so many private interests clamoring for the seaway, the United States continued to hedge about the actual construction. Canada’s government eventually became impatient and decided to build an all-Canadian seaway. In , Minister of Transport Lionel Chevrier introduced the idea of an all-Canadian Seaway, and in , Prime Minister St. Laurent received official approval from the cabinet. Once he had Canadian approval, St. Laurent asked the United States for help with the power part of the seaway and President Truman agreed. After much more discussion, the United States decided to help Canada by building the portions of the seaway in U.S. territory. Senators Wiley and Dondero sponsored the St. Lawrence Seaway Bill in Congress, and on May , , the final bill was passed. The last major section of seaway to be constructed was the canal through Cornwall, Chevrier’s hometown. About this time, Canadian workmen and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the Iroquois, Long Sault, and Moses-Saunders (“Big Mo”) dams. As the canals were being excavated, the workmen encountered major difficulty in digging through either surprisingly hard rock or excessively soft mud, so costs and work time were much more than expected. Despite the delays, the dams were finished on time, and the final major portion of the seaway was completed on July , .
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On April , , the St. Lawrence Seaway officially opened. England’s Queen Elizabeth and President Eisenhower were there to view the beginning of the waterway that had been more than years in the making. Even though users of the St. Lawrence Seaway must pay tolls, the relatively low cost of seaway shipping has saved thousands, even millions of dollars for corporations around the world. In monetary terms, the St. Lawrence Seaway has proven to be an even more valuable investment for the United States than the Panama Canal, and the Midwest industries of both Canada and the United States have a vital shipping corridor to more distant markets. Thousands around the seaway have benefited from the generated hydroelectric power, and thousands more have used the park areas created by the construction of dams and shoreline. Abby Garland References and Further Reading Becker, William H. From the Atlantic to the Great Lakes: A History of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, Office of Administrative Services, Office of the Chief of Engineers, . Chevrier, Lionel. The St. Lawrence Seaway. Toronto: Macmillan Co. of Canada, . Mabee, Carleton. The Seaway Story. New York: Macmillan, . The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. “Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System.” http://www.greatlakes-seaway.com/en/home.html (accessed December , ). The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. “The Welland Canal Section of the St. Lawrence Seaway.” March . http://www.greatlakes-seaway.com/en/pdf/welland.pdf (accessed December , ).
STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR The Strait of Gibraltar is the stretch of water between Iberia and Morocco, connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. The strait ranges from miles to miles in width. On the north side, the strait stretches from Cape Trafalgar to the Rock of Gibraltar, while on the south side, Cape Spartel in Morocco and Ceuta, and the nearby Al-Mina Port mark the boundaries. The strait, therefore, is approximately miles long when measured from west to east. The strait’s depth ranges between , to , feet ( and meters), with an average of , feet ( meters). The floor, when compared to the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean on either side, is quite shallow, forming the Camarinal Sill. Geologists have extracted cores of silt from the Mediterranean that date to the Miocene period, showing that about . million years ago the level of the Atlantic Ocean dropped. The strait dried up and plants grew on its floor. Much of the water in the Mediterranean evaporated, causing the salinity of the water to increase until the salt precipitated out, leaving thick deposits. When the Atlantic rose again about . million years ago, it broke
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Straits of Gibraltar and Ceuta, Spain. Dreamstime.com
through at the Strait of Gibraltar, refilling the Mediterranean’s basin. Water flows in two directions through the strait: colder and less-saline Atlantic water flows into the sea on the top layer, while warmer, denser, and saltier Mediterranean water flows out starting at about feet down. Waves form where the two streams interact, sometimes as high as feet, although their tops rarely break the surface. The opposing streams have not yet equalized the salt content in the Mediterranean in comparison to the Atlantic. The currents through the strait attract types of fish that thrive on organisms that prefer these mineral-rich waters. Historically, people have approached the Strait of Gibraltar in two ways: as a barrier to north-south movement that has to be overcome, or as a pathway for east-west travel that benefits those who controlled it. These two approaches are evident in the stories attached to the region, as well as from the events that have taken place. For example, early stories noted not the waterway, but the extraordinary rock formations on either side—now called the Rock of Gibraltar and Al-Mina. The Greeks connected the two locations to the Greek hero Hercules and his labors. They said that the Titan named Atlas, a giant who guarded the magical golden apples of the Hesperides, lived there. The Greek hero Perseus, however, showed Atlas the severed head of Medusa, turning him into a mountain. The myths state that Hercules used his great club to blast the former giant into two pieces— ever after called the Pillars of Hercules—on his way to fetch the cattle of Geryon. Settlement of the land on either side of the strait dates back to pre-historic times. Archeological evidence, in the form of burials in the caves on the Rock of Gibraltar,
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suggests that Neanderthals, or contemporaries, lived in the region. The Phoenicians landed on the Iberian coast and made settlements as early as b.c.e. They sailed through the strait on their voyages to ports on the North Sea, to England to pick up tin, and to visit trading posts they planted along the African coast. The ability to move through the strait helped the Phoenicians develop into a dominant colonial mercantile power. In the Roman Era, the general conception of the Strait of Gibraltar changed and it became a stage in north-south relations and travel; the Punic Wars began the realignment. The Romans moved into the lands they took from the Carthaginians, placing settlements on the Iberian side of the strait. Unlike their predecessors, they rarely sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules for trade. Some of the most important Greek and Roman geographers, historians, and literary figures, including Strabo, Polybius, Aeschylus, Pindar, Eratosthenes, Appias and Herodotus, discuss the Pillars of Hercules as the limit of the civilized world. Plato, when discussing the city of Atlantis, placed it to the west of the pillars, outside the strait, and somewhere in the ocean to signify the difficulty of reaching it. The Roman settlements on the Mediterranean coast of Iberia, some of them originally Carthaginian creations, were centers of production and distribution of a key product using the two most important natural resources of the region: salt and fish. These were the two major ingredients for the famous savory sauce called garum. This concoction was made by fermenting the innards of salted fish, particularly mackerel and tuna, until they liquefied; contrary to popular perception caused by a comment from Seneca, the producers did not use rotten fish to make it. Garum was shipped throughout the Roman Empire and highly prized. Outside of these towns, salt-pans produced high quality salt for export by evaporating off the seawater. Roman roads linked the region to the far corners of the empire. Rome continued these roads across the strait in order to strengthen the link to new colonies in such far-flung areas as Timgad and Septa (Ceuta) in North Africa in later years. Although the Roman Empire’s power in the west declined starting in the third century, the emphasis on north-south movement grew stronger during the next period. When the Visigoths pushed the Vandals out of Roman Iberia and into North Africa, they continued across the Strait of Gibraltar as well in order to establish trade links and governmental outposts. The Islamic invasion on Iberia in April had many impacts, not least of which were a new name for the northern Pillar of Hercules and the water flowing past it, and an assurance that the north-south emphasis on the strait would continue for the next three centuries. As part of the wave of jihad and conquests in the western part of North Africa in the early s, the governor, Musa ibn Nusayr, sent a small expedition, probably no more than , soldiers under the command of his deputy Tariq ibn Ziyad, with orders to investigate conditions in Visigoth Spain. Tariq landed near the northern Pillar of Hercules, the great rock that ever after has carried his name: Jabal Tariq or Gibraltar. He quickly moved westward and took control of the old Roman town of Julia Traducta, now called Algeciras. His progress into Visigoth Spain after his rout of King Rodrigo at the Guadalete River on July , , was almost unimpeded as the Visigoths collapsed. Musa soon followed after, concerned that Tariq was actually setting up his own kingdom.
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They joined to conquer Cordoba and Toledo and many cities beyond. Much of Iberia fell under Islamic jurisdiction as a result. The arrival of the last Ummayad male, and his establishment of the Caliphate of Cordoba in c.e. permanently removed Islamic Iberia from under the control of the Muslim powers in Egypt, the Middle East, and Baghdad. As the Caliphate later fractured into smaller pieces, the strait became a path to Iberia for new Muslim sects that grew in North Africa, particularly the Almoravids and Almohads. In , the Arab governor of Algeciras ordered the building of the first fortification on the Rock of Gibraltar. The first city was built in the aftermath of the arrival of the Almohads in . Traffic through the strait for the purpose of trade was limited because individual ships were easy prey for the opportunists who turned to piracy. As Christians made progress, reclaiming Iberia from the Muslims, they also became more active in maritime trade, beginning the realignment of use of the Strait of Gibraltar to east-west movements. The famous penetration of the Mediterranean by Viking raiders in first demonstrated to the Scandinavians and northern Europeans the possibilities for future trading activities. On two different journeys, the people from the north made notable passages through the strait—the Normans in on the way to take over Sicily from the Muslims, and in – when the Normans, assisting in the Second Crusade by attacking Lisbon, continued on to the Holy Land through the strait. In Iberia, the Re-conquest made piecemeal progress until the great Battle at Las Navas de Tolosa in . During the th century, Castilian attempts to gain control of the strait accelerated. In , Castilian ships conquered Gibraltar, but without taking Algeciras. The victory was only temporary. The first Italian merchant ships heading for England and Flanders, however, tested Islamic control of the strait in these years. They made another concentrated effort to break open the strait to maritime trade in the s when the Castilians attacked Algeciras; without also taking Gibraltar, the Castilian attacks were only temporarily successful, and the onset of the Black Death halted further actions. By the last two decades of the century, however, Castilians and Catalans had retaken enough of Iberia and had gained enough interest in trade with the north that convoys and individual ships dared the strait and the pirates lurking there. As passage through the strait became easier, Henry the Navigator of Portugal in the th century launched his voyages of discovery from the edge of the strait. The Strait of Gibraltar became very busy with trade in the early modern period, and competition to control it became fiercer. Over and over again, cities on either side of the strait were attacked by Christians or Muslims, carrying out their holy war by sea. Despite the British capture of Gibraltar in (today still a British Overseas Territory), and the Spanish ceding it by treaty to Britain in , control and passage remained contentious. The Battle of Trafalgar in was fought in large part because of this tugof-war for control of the ships moving into and out of the Mediterranean. The intensity and efficiency of travel through the Mediterranean picked up when the Suez Canal was built in : no longer did goods have to be off-loaded in Egypt and carried overland in order to continue to or from the far East. Besides the Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar
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became the most important segment of long-distance maritime trade between European powers and their colonies in the East. In the modern period, however, the emphasis has changed back to north-south travel. Because over . million people ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar each year, there is some debate centered on whether the countries on either side of the strait can and should make a bridge across it to facilitate movement by land vehicles. The lack of information about the impact of such a massive project on the environment and on the flow of maritime traffic east-west, even when fuel scarcity suggests that shortcuts help to conserve energy, will not easily become a part of the history of the region. Eleanor Congdon References and Further Reading Archer, Edward. Gibraltar, Identity and Empire. New York: Routledge, . Corcoran, Thomas. “Roman Fish Sauces.” The Classical Journal , no. (): –. Duggen, S., K. Hoernle, Paul van den Bogaard, Lars Rüpke and Jason Phipps Morgan. “Deep Roots of the Messinian Salinity Crisis.” Nature (): – Harvey, L.P. Islamic Spain. to . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, . Herring, David. “The Strait of Gibraltar in -D.” Earth Observatory, NASA. http://earthobser vatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php?img_id= (accessed September , ) Hills, George. Rock of Contention: A History of Gibraltar. London: Robert Hale and Co., . Markoe, Glenn. Phoenicians. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, . Menemenlis, D., I. Fukumori, T. Lee. “Atlantic to Mediterranean Sea Level Difference Driven by Winds Near Gibraltar Strait.” Journal of Physical Oceanography , no. (February ): –. O’Callaghan, Joseph F. Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, .
STRAITS OF MAGELLAN The Straits of Magellan, which are miles ( km) long and vary between and miles in width, run between the southern islands of Tierra del Fuego in South America and the southern end of mainland South America. Throughout the straits there are many narrow channels bordered by Chilean islands. Except at the easternmost end where it is touched by Argentina, the channel lies entirely within Chilean territorial waters. The western end of the waterway stretches to the northwest from the northern end of the Magdalena Channel to the Pacific Ocean. Punta Arenas, located on the Brunswick Peninsula, is the major port for the Straits of Magellan. The Straits of Magellan were the shortest water route between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean until the Panama Canal opened in . Until then, it was considered by most to be the safest way to move between the Atlantic and Pacific. Another
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possibility was the Drake Passage, which is located between the southernmost point of South America and Antarctica. However, although the Straits of Magellan suffer from storms, the Drake Passage is much worse, experiencing extremely turbulent waters in addition to frequently being choked by sea ice and icebergs. Still, sailing ships preferred the Drake Passage because of the limited ability to maneuver through the Straits of Magellan. The Straits of Magellan are named after the European explorer Ferdinand Magellan (–) who entered the passage on November , , All Saints Day. As such, the strait was originally named the Strait of All Saints, until the Spanish monarchy renamed it in honor of Magellan. The Spanish, whom the Portuguese Magellan sailed for, attempted to colonize parts of the region around the channel. However, the colonies suffered from a harsh climate and severe food shortages. In the late th century, a British explorer reached the Spanish colonies and renamed the area Port Famine. Chile took possession of the Straits of Magellan on May , . Fears of either British or French occupation led the Chilean government to establish a settlement on the northern side of the strait. The first settlement was abandoned and Punta Arenas was founded further north in . With the development of the steam engine and steam ships, a towing service through the straits was started in . Starting in , navigation became frequent when the Pacific Steam Navigation Company established a service from Liverpool to Valparaíso, with a stop at the colony of Punta Arenas. The combination of the difficulty of passage and an increase in maritime navigation resulted in significant losses of lives and cargo, so when the treaty was signed that put the Straits of Magellan under Chile’s control, the treaty stipulated a requirement of safe passage for world cargo. Navigation waned significantly with the completion of the Panama Canal, but as a growing percentage of freight vessels exceeded the maximum allowable size for passage through the Panama Canal, as well as reaching full capacity, the Straits of Magellan began to experience much greater usage beginning during the late th century. However, this traffic was mostly for large post-Panamax ships, and not high-value containership cargo that could be land-bridged across North America. Cruise ships and bulk commodity ships still travel the straits, and traffic is only expected to increase because the Panama Canal is already at its maximum capacity and entails steep pilotage fees. James Seelye References and Further Reading Markham, Clements. Early Spanish Voyages to the Straits of Magellan. Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, . Pigafetta, Antonio. Magellan’s Voyage: A Narrative Account of the First Circumnavigation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, . Rector, John. The History of Chile. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, . Tangredi, Sam J. Globalization and Maritime Power. Washington D.C.: Institute for National Strategic Studies, .
SUEZ CANAL
SUEZ CANAL Owing to the initiatives of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the Compagnie internationale du canal maritime de Suez (Suez Maritime Canal International Company) was founded in . Lesseps, as a diplomat who had been with the French consulate in Egypt, spent a considerable amount of his time researching attempts to build the canal during Roman times, as well as plans drawn up by Napoleonic engineers and Saint-Simonian dreamers. He eventually succeeded in convincing the Egyptian authorities to concede the location of a future waterway and some other advantages to a company with roots in both France and Egypt (in Ismaïlia). Lesseps persuaded investors of the canal’s feasibility, notably petty savers—mostly from France, but also from several European countries—and thus collected the funding (in equity and bonds) to pay thousands of laborers in the Isthmus and from public works firms with enormous excavators to complete the lock-free waterway. The canal was opened in November , yet it took until to reach the eight-meters depth and to build Port Said. The gain in time was substantial: In , the journey from London to Calcutta required to days, covering some , miles via
FERDINAND DE LESSEPS A diplomat who dreamed of immortality through his accomplishments, Ferdinand-Marie Vicomte de Lesseps, was the driving force behind the realization of the Egyptian Suez Canal linking the Mediterranean and Red seas. Born on November 19, 1805 in Versailles, France, he was the fourth son of French diplomat Mathieu de Lesseps and his wife, a Spanish noblewoman. After an education at the Lyceum Napoleon, Lesseps entered into public service. In 1832, he was posted to Alexandria in Egypt, where he struck up a close friendship with Said Pasha, the son of Muhammad Ali, the founder of modern Egypt. With those men, he studied plans drawn up by Napoleonic-era surveyors of a potential canal across the Isthmus of Suez. In 1854, after an unceremonious end to his diplomatic career, Said Pasha, then viceroy of Egypt, invited him to come and make the dream of the Suez Canal a reality. On November 30, 1854, the history of Egypt was forever altered with the first of a series of concessions made by Said Pasha to Lesseps allowing for the commencement of the construction. On April 25, 1859, Lesseps’ crews began construction on the canal at the northern city of Port Said, largely financed with Egyptian money borrowed from European banks, and on November 17, 1869, the French empress EugénieMarie and Egyptian viceroy Ismail Pasha presided over inaugural ceremonies for the magnificent canal that changed the routes of international shipping. For Europeans, Lesseps was a hero beyond measure, and he was showered with accolades, including the Legion of Honor from France and the Star of India from Great Britain. However, despite the miracle of the canal’s construction, it was not built without a price. The vast majority of work on the canal was wrought by forced labor done by Egyptian peasants who were uprooted from their homes and often
SUEZ CANAL
given no tools beyond their bare hands to dig the canal. Water was in short supply, and thousands of Egyptian peasants died in the 10 years it took to build the canal. Unable to pay its debts, the Egyptian government was forced to sell its shares in the Suez Canal Company to the British government in 1875. That act made the British the largest shareholders and ultimately opened the door to formal British imperial rule over Egypt with the military occupation of 1882. With the success of the Suez Canal, Lesseps was charged with leading the construction of the Panama Canal in 1879. However, Lesseps was unable to strategize a successful plan, and in 1889, his company was forced to liquidate. Because of the dramatic repercussions this had on some key investors, the French government launched a formal investigation in 1892 and eventually convicted Lesseps of fraud in February 1893. However, within a few months, the charges were reversed, and Lesseps never served jail time, although his son Charles did. The stress of the trial had a negative effect on his health, and on December 7, 1894, Lesseps died of old age in La Chenaie, France.
the Cape, compared to only to days (, miles) passing through the Suez. Similarly, going from Marseille to Saigon via the Cape required to days (, miles), while it took only to days (, miles) through the Suez. Great doubts about the canal’s success marked the first years of operation. The expected increase in traffic never materialized because the Great Depression of – brought all investment in steamships and sailboats (mainly clippers) to a virtual halt. Moreover, technical glitches surfaced and cast a shadow on the safety of the transit through the canal. Slow growth in revenues presented significant financial problems for the company. The ship owners also protested against the delays that plagued the opening of the canal, and by the early s, British corporations finally rose in revolt against the company, discovering their informal clout in the world maritime community. They went on to form a pressure group (that of shipping and also the trio of ship-owners, shippers, and freight forwarders). This group could mobilize entire governments as well as the major financial institutions of the world because British shipping companies dominated their area and could take action for national economic and maritime interest. The rise of British influence in Egypt (military occupation in , High Commissioner Cromer in to , a protectorate in December ) and on the company itself (the buying out of its Egyptian shares by British interest groups) considerably reduced the leeway given to its directors. In November , the company entered into negotiations with these ship-owners, accepting seven of them into its board of directors, which in turn increased the number of Englishmen to out of a total of . The newly reconstituted board lowered the transit toll by . percent between – and –. Next, a series of works was launched in –, a second such program after the original excavations to solve the still persisting black points—ships could cross without having to slow down or be subjected to yawing due to hydro-dynamic forces. Depth increased to . meters in
Map of the Suez Canal
SUEZ CANAL
and then to meters. The draught went from . meters in to meters in . The average width went up from to meters in , with certain sections reaching widths of meters with bends going up to – meters. The stations were enlarged to facilitate the transit of larger ships; the embankments were fortified by plantations and stone pitching. This program of some hundreds of millions of francs was nevertheless spread over time ( years instead of ) as technological advances allowed the company to improve the navigating conditions by means other than dredging. Nighttime navigation was introduced in –, the number of experienced pilots increased, and telephony was pioneered. Additionally, in an international agreement provided ship owners and states with guarantees of opened transit whatever the geopolitical environment— which was not respected during both World War I and II because British troops gave priority to the security of the Allies’ transit. From to , the structure of world shipping underwent a dramatic change as clippers gave way to steamers, which were strategically routed to take full advantage of the stocks of coal at all the ports of call. Port Said developed into the key coal supply port for the Suez Canal route. Next came ships that ran on much more energy-dense fuel oil. The first went through the Suez Canal in , which was shortly followed by TABLE 1. Net Annual Tonnage Passing through the Canal (Millions of Tons) 1892–1897
8
1900
10.8
1904
13.4
1907
14.7
1909–1912
17.5
1910
16.6
1912 (pre-War record)
20.3
1914
19.4
1917
8.4
1918
9.3
1920
17.6
1922
20.7
1922–1925
23.8
1925
26.8
1927–1929
31.4
1929 (new record)
33.5
1930
31.7
1932
28.3
1935
32.8
1937 (new record)
36.5
1939
29.6
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ships powered by diesel engines in . By , a fifth of the tonnage passing through Suez was transported by diesel-driven vessels. The growing world economy and the development of overseas empires drove Suez traffic growth: between and , to , vessels passed through, and the number surpassed by –. In – some eight ships negotiated the canal on a daily basis; by –; and by –. Globally, the traffic quadrupled between and , and in spite of the worldwide depression in the s, it stabilized at around million tons before World War II.
TABLE 2. The Traffic Passing through Suez by Geographic Point of Origin in 1937 India, Burma (Myanmar), Ceylon
24.4
China, Japan, Philippines
20.4
East Africa and nearby islands
6.9
Oceania
6.5
The U.S. Pacific coast
1.2
Ports in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
7.6
Ports in the Persian Gulf
16.6
TABLE 3. The Traffic (in Tons) by Ship-Owner’s Nationality 1901–1910 Italy
1.4
Germany
1920
1930
1935
1939
9.1
4.7
18.5
14.4
10.7
8.2
7
15.6
Netherlands
4.7
8.1
10.5
7.1
8.3
France
6
4.4
6.3
5.4
5.5
Norway
0.6
1
3
4.2
4.3
Japan
1.6
9.1
3
2.5
1.8
2.1
1.6
1.5
United States
TABLE 4. Average Gross Tonnage of All Vessels Passing through the Canal 3,500
1890–1899
4,500
1900–1909
5,300
1910–1919
6,900
1920–1929
7,700
1930–1939
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This growth in the transit can be explained by the extension of the links between Europe and its trading partners. While the Indian peninsula dominated the trade links, the Far East also played a part, as did Oceania and East Africa. Understandably, due to its crude oil, the Middle East too figured prominently in the s (from % of transit in to .% by ). South to north trade dominated the flow and accounted for two-thirds of transit in – as well as in –. Cotton, cereals (Indian and Australian wheat, rice), cane sugar, groundnuts, copra, soya, and oilseeds were some of the goods sent to Europe as were rubber, jute, and Indian hemp and manganese. Later, Indonesian and Middle-Eastern crude joined the list of exports. The maritime influence on the canal’s economy was exerted by a number of large corporations, mainly British. In , of the first shipping companies using the canal were British (Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. being first); five German companies (Norddeutsche Lloyd was second) and the lone Austrian (Lloyd Austrian was eighth) came before three French and two Dutch companies. The tonnage of British shipping passing through the canal peaked at percent in , fell to percent in the –s, and leveled out at around percent in the –s. British domination continued throughout the inter-war period. Still in , of the best clients of the Suez Company originated from England. Thanks to the development of its Indonesian interests, the Netherlands gained while, despite its empire, France was overtaken by Japan. The Universal Suez Ship Canal Company found itself faced with the technological challenge of accommodating a growing number of large vessels with draughts greater than eight meters (warships, liners, livestock transporters, etc.). Some ships of ,– , tons appeared in the s and those of , tons in the s. To keep abreast of these requirements, the company had set up a pool of some two dozen engineers, managing teams of technicians who operated from three bases at Port Said, Ismailia and Port Tewfik. They were supervised by an international works consulting committee composed of experts from diverse countries who met every year to evaluate the progress made by the canal to adapt to the demands of world shipping. The company, in conjunction with the ship owners, achieved with some ease the goals defined by the board in conjunction with ship owners. During the first third of the th century, it continued along the previous lines, maintaining the optimal balance between investing freely in a major modernization program and investing just enough to consolidate, and thus avoided any excess spending while adapting to the quantitative and technological changes in the ships. Three new works programs for modernizing the canal were thus implemented in a kind flowing plan; they were themselves modified to suit changing circumstances. The third plan, which was conceived in , was upgraded in and then again in . A fourth program was launched in . The fifth, though finalized in , could not be implemented until due to World War I. Meanwhile the sixth plan was launched in . These plans brought about a gradual, almost imperceptible improvement in the depth and draught of the canal.
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TABLE 5. Transit Times, in Hours 1885
1888
1890
1895
1900
1905
1938
43
30 3/4
24
19
18 1/2
18
13
Only the sixth program ( to /), which stressed standardization, increased width in the curves, and created new crossing stations, and thereby significantly improved navigation. The width of the canal, which measured meters in , was standardized at meters and a depth of meters. This was possible because the crossing stations which had been put in place earlier and linked up seamlessly. At the bends, the width was increased slightly more, to meters, so that cruising speeds could be safely maintained. The depth increased from meters in to meters in , and the draught from to . meters (+%). As part of the modernization plan, a permanent dredging program was initiated to de-silt the canal, and in the case of the channel at Port Said, to clear the sea alluvium. Between and , the canal itself was cleared of some million cubic meters and then of another million between and . This total of approximately million cubic meters represents twice the volume of excavated matter ( million) when the canal was first dug through the desert. On average, some three to four million cubic meters per year were moved between and , and five to six million between and . Crossing the isthmus became regular and safe. The transit times had been greatly improved. The introduction of nighttime navigation and the possibility of handling any ship at any time were major advances achieved in the last years of the th century. In the midst of the s, the Canal Company reviewed the required adaptations to the canal so that it would be able to accommodate larger ships, particularly the oil tankers that were growing both in number and size. Between –, a team of engineers set about drawing up precise plans in order to increase the draught to feet, otherwise the wake of these ships would accelerate the erosion of the banks and cause even greater maintenance problems. However, the worldwide depression and the resultant dip in traffic reduced the project’s scope. Improvements made between and were more than adequate to handle the depressed traffic volume through the s. The initial cost of the canal is estimated at million francs, of which million went into works (such as for the embankment and dredging, etc.), versus , million francs at the Panama Canal for the work done between and . Since the s, a total of million francs had been expended on subsequent programs. A different estimate puts the total at million francs: with million spent between and and another million between and . It was as though a second canal had been dug and the volume excavated was double the amount dug out for the original canal. The canal was so profitable that its cost was very quickly amortized. The work programs were financed with ease and paid back in a few months by the resultant increase
TABLE 6. Growth in the Traffic Passing through the Suez Canal
Number of ships
Tonnage (millions of tons)
1929
6,274
33.5
1937
6,635
36.5
1939
5,277
29.6
1942
1,646
8.3
1945
4,206
25.1
1946
5,057
32.7
14
1947
5,972
36.6
16
1948
8,686
55.1
24
1949
10,430
68.9
1950
11,751
81.8
1951
11,694
80.4
1952
12,168
86.1
1953
12,731
92.9
1954
13,215
102.5
1st quarter of 1954 1955
Ships per day
17 to 18
32
36 37.13
14,666
1st quarter of 1956 March 9, 1958
115.8 44 84 (a record until 1975 )
TABLE 7. Countries Classified According to the Weight of the Cargo Passing through the Suez Canal in 1950–1955 1st. United Kingdom 2nd. Norway 3rd. Liberia 4th. France 5th. Italy 6th. Panama 7th. Netherlands 8th. Sweden 9th. United States 10th. Denmark 11th. Germany
SUEZ CANAL
in traffic and revenues. In the s, these revenues were supplemented by exceptional exchange rates (due to the revaluation of the Pound Sterling against the franc, especially around to ). In spite of the devaluation of the pound in , the s saw continued gains in profits because the Canal Company had made many short-term investments that brought in handsome dividends. Given the extent of its revenues, the generous dividends showered upon its shareholders (which included the British Crown), and its financial investments, it could have further reduced its transit tariffs. After the major reduction (⫺.% until –) agreed to as a result of an understanding was arrived at with the ship owners in , the company increased them again (+% between – to –)—pointing at the inflation of the war years and the s, and the need for financing a new program of works; the company also resorted to loans between and . This hike helped in tiding it over during the inflation years, and the extra revenue allowed it not only to continue investing but also reward its shareholders. Still, when the situation changed and prices dropped, the ship owners prevailed on the company to again reduce its rates (in , , and ) by a total of percent between – and –. However, the company did not lower its tariffs sufficiently during the apex of the slump in between – to encourage greater traffic. Although the economic crisis slowed traffic through the canal, the problem was compounded by the effects of World War II: transit fell by percent between and . It was only in that the pre-War () level was regained. Early in the s, traffic more than doubled the maximum attained at the end of the s. This was considered the era of the Korean boom. The Korean War and the rearming of NATO resulted in daily transits doubling between and , and up another percent between and .
TABLE 8. Growth in Tonnage Average gross tonnage of the vessels passing through the Suez Canal 1940 –1944
6,900
1945–1949
8,500
1950
9,394
1950–1954
9,700
1953
9,808
1954
10,375
Average tonnage of the oil tankers passing through the Suez Canal 1953
16,000
1954
18,000
SUEZ CANAL
The north-to-south traffic doubled between –, and again between – , but the south-to-north transit quadrupled. The petroleum revolution expanded the traffic as exports from the Middle East were shared equally between the pipelines joining the Mediterranean and the canal. Tankers accounted for percent of the traffic in , compared to percent in , with shippers from the Gulf countries making up percent of the total, instead of the percent share they had in – . Moreover, the flag of convenience became a factor; though the United Kingdom still dominated the Canal Company’s clientele (with one-third of the tonnage), the flags of the Scandinavian countries, Panama, and Liberia came to occupy prominent positions. The size of the ships passing through the canal began to increase too. Average gross tonnage surpassed the , tons mark in , and vessels of more than , tons constituted almost . percent of the total traffic by . Very large ships—with either lengths exceeding meters or widths of over meters—represented some four to six percent, respectively, of all transit in . The clearance of the canal could barely accommodate the growing number of ships such as aircraft carriers, battleships, whalers, ore tankers, chemicals carriers, and especially oil tankers for which a draught of to feet had become extremely common in the post-war era. The biggest of these ships (such as the aircraft carrier Valley Forge in ) had to take great precautions and slow down markedly while crossing, as a clear warning had been flashed by the ,-ton Ile-de-France, which ran aground on both the occasions that it navigated the canal in . This growth in ship size caused major problems. In –, studies on models indicated that the passage of large ships would greatly increase the erosion of the embankments. Because the basin of the canal was too small, these large ships would create enormous eddies when they went full steam ahead in order to maintain their speed, particularly downstream where they would be subjected to currents. Yet, at the turn of the s, the company chose to stick to its original plans, which involved investing in segments as and when the need was felt. Every investment was weighed against its marginal cost, so as to keep a clear check on the expenses. Due to the war, dredging had to be suspended at Port Said in , during the first quarter of , and in the canal between April and November . After the war ended, an urgent restoration program was undertaken with dredging as the first priority. The embankments were also renovated with hundreds of miles of ripraps reconstructed between and . Sheet piles had to be driven and the embankments covered with a concrete lining to counteract the erosion caused by the backwash of passing ships. The functionality of the canal was further enhanced with the addition of pilot-boats, tow-boats and safety-boats (about a hundred in total). Additional pilots were also hired, and by , their number had grown to . From , the transit was reorganized into convoys, with ships being grouped at Port Suez and Port Said to make the crossing in single file in one direction per day. This avoided the mid-canal crossing of large ships, which had necessitated that some had to anchor in mid-canal to let another ship pass. This continued until , when a bypass channel was opened with fixed zones
SUEZ CANAL
for crossing. A seventh work program was launched between and comprised mainly of the digging of a . mile long bypass channel (between Kantara and El Ferdan, from the to the . mile mark) that would serve as a crossing zone in addition to the already existing one in the Amer Lakes. This Farouk Diversion (named after the Egyptian king) was opened in July . Meanwhile, the increase in dredging improved the depth by half a meter and a draught of feet was achieved in March . The PortSaid basins were also enlarged. Swept forward by this renewed dynamism, a new dredging record was set in with the excavation of . million cubic meters breaking the old record of . million, which had been set in . The bypass channel itself required the moving of some . million cubic meters. In spite of this restoration program followed by the seventh works program, the company felt challenged by the problems caused by traffic growth and the difficulties faced by the ships passing through the canal. The opening of the Trans-Arabian Pipeline in brought about the distinct possibility of being faced by a competing network. An eighth works program was spread over five years, between and : It comprised of adding two bypass channels, one (of . miles) to the south of Port Said, which would facilitate the movement of the descending convoys, and the other, of some . miles, to the south of the Great Amer Lake to shorten the trajectory and equalize the transit times between the three sections separated by the two crossing zones; percent of the work was completed by July . The plan also called for the widening and deepening of the basin, which attained a depth of first and then feet. A total of million cubic meters were moved between and —more than what had been done in the years to and the equivalent of two-thirds of the million, which had been excavated by digging the canal in to . The whole canal was widened and deepened, while a tenth of the entire length (amounting to . miles) was duplicated. The rise in the traffic was indisputable as the first five months of , which already saw the daily transit of approximately ships. The foundations on which the company’s engineers had based their theories were rudely shaken: It launched a major inquiry in – aimed at the ship owners and oil companies, with a view to get sufficiently reliable data and chalk out the outlines of a new program of investments in keeping with the projected increase in traffic. A revolution in maritime transport was underway because one anticipated that the south-to-north traffic through the canal would double between and to attain some million by . The canal was close to the saturation point. The delays imposed on the larger vessels in their transit, the inconvenience of the routes themselves, and the necessary creation of convoys were all causes that explain why the transit times did not improve. Though it had always required (since ) about hours to pass through the canal, it now increased, with the passage from Port Said to Port Suez taking up to / hours in –, and then to / hours in to . However, the company failed to be proactive enough and lost a few terms in setting up its new works program. If the investments had not been whittled down, the ship owners had perhaps been sacrificed for the sake of the shareholders. The first hike took place between and (+% compared to the level in December ) due to the inflation caused by
SUEZ CANAL
The Suez Canal is a man-made waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez. Egypt manages the canal, which was closed during the Six-Day War. It was reopened in . Corel.
World War II and the after-war period, and the necessity to finance the restoration program. The higher rate set in was maintained until September . In spite of a few reductions, the taxes paid by the ship owners were higher than those paid in –, and almost equal to those of –. This left the ship owners with precious little profit: in fact, over the years to , they ended up paying an extra million francs compared to what they would have paid had the tariffs been maintained at the – level, and a whopping million francs more if the – level had been sustained. The company could have used a part of the undistributed profit balance to reduce the heavy tariff burden; the ship owners did not come together to put pressure for a reduction in the tariffs. It may be that the growth in maritime transport allowed them to pass on the extra cost to the shippers by hiking their own rates. It was only in September , then later in June and in March , that the company agreed to lower its transit tariffs in accord with the demands of the British government and the ship owners. As a symbol of European imperialism, and within a framework of struggle between nationalist Middle-East countries and ancient metropoles, Egyptian Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in July . During the fighting with Israeli, French, and British troops, the Egyptian army sunk ships and the canal was closed from October , to April , . The return of peaceful times allowed Egyptian experts to set up a national managing and technical team, and allowed the canal to reassume its vital trade role, especially for oil. Although the Egyptian Suez Canal Authority built up
SUEZ CANAL
a portfolio of skills able to master the transit constraints, military events—the war of attrition between Israel and Egypt—forced the canal to close for eight years (from June , to June , ). This had a great impact on trade, particularly oil, as tankers were forced to circumnavigate around South Africa. Upon reopening, the canal had to be refurbished because of the halt on maintenance works. It also had to be modernized to meet the new requisites of ship owners who were investing in larger ship, especially for raw materials and for the revolutionary container carriers. Far beyond the day-to-day improvement works, the Suez Canal Authority launched a program aimed at digging a second parallel canal ( millions cubic meters were dredged in –), which short circuits Port-Said. It allows two-way convoys of ships to pass by separate waterways, which reduces risks considerably. By , the doubled canal was active for approximately miles (% of the total length). A second program was completed in , which redefined the doubled canal: new standards of Suez Max, at about ,–, tons (versus , for the Panamax). Since the s, the Port Said, Port Fouad, and Suez harbors have been modernized; embankments reinforced; and the range, quality, and duration of facilities have been enhanced. A third program, operating up to the mid-s, will allow the draught to reach a little more than meters to accommodate over-Panamax container ships and more than four-fifths of the world’s tanker fleet. The development of emerging countries in the Middle East opened doors to fresh transit for equipment goods, even if hydrocarbons still prevailed. At the turn of the st century, about ships traveled through the . mile-canal every day. In , , ships crossed the isthmus with a total cargo of million tons, which provided the Suez Canal Authority with a large income from collected fees. Collecting over four billions Euros, the Suez Canal Authority has an abundance of capital to reinvest into the Suez Canal so that it remains a major and critical maritime route. Hubert Bonin References and Further Reading Bonin, Hubert. Suez, du canal à la finance (–). Paris: Economica, Corkhill, Michael. Chemical Tankers: The Ships and Their Cargoes. London: Fairplay Publications, . Edgar-Bonnet, George. Ferdinand de Lesseps. Le diplomate, le créateur de Suez. Paris: Plon, . El-Hefnaoui, Moustapha. Les Problèmes Contemporains Posés par le Canal de Suez. Paris: Guillemot & de Lamothe, . Farnie, D.A. East and West of Suez. The Suez Canal in History, –. Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, . Funck-Brentano, Christian, ed. Compagnie universelle de Suez. Paris: Éditions de Clermont, . Karabell, Zachary. Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal. New York: Knopf, . Kyle, K. Suez. London: Weidenfeld, . Lesseps, Ferdinand (de). Après Suez, le pionnier de Panama. Paris: Plon, . Newton, John. A Century of Tankers. The Tanker Story. Oslo: Intertanken: .
SUEZ CANAL Parfond, Captain. Pilotes de Suez. Paris: France-Empire editions, . Reymond, Paul. Histoire de la navigation dans le canal de Suez. Le Caire: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, . Schonfield, Hugh. The Suez Canal. London: Penguin Special, . Schonfield, Hugh. The Suez Canal in World Affairs. London: Philosophical Library, . Siegfried, André. Suez, Panama et les routes maritimes mondiales. Paris: Armand Colin, . Stuart, Gail. The Suez Canal. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, .
II Uses of the World’s Seas and Waterways
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AGRICULTURE, FOOD COMMODITIES Food has been moved by sea for as long as there have been means of moving it. Early human migrations, which were often small in scale, nearly always involved taking some food along to consume, and also, in the case of grain and the seeds contained in foods consumed, for replanting. By contrast, large-scale movement of agricultural food commodities by sea for commercial purposes, or to supply armies, had to await the development of boats and ships large enough to make such movement practical or even possible. The exact timeframe of this development is unclear, but the ancient Egyptians were certainly capable of moving very large cargoes, such as obelisk stones, by sea or the Nile River. They also went on very large expeditions, for example, to Punt, on the Red Sea coast, to bring back exotic commodities, including foods. Other ancient peoples had similar capabilities. Certainly exotic foods were traded by the Phoenicians and others, but the real movement of agricultural commodities in substantial bulk seems only to have begun with the Greeks. This was because the large Greek cities were produced by an on-going process of synoikismos, whereby smaller settlements were consolidated into larger communities. These larger settlements were usually incapable of feeding themselves from local resources. They rather relied on trade in which what they had, usually olives, olive oil, and wine, was exchanged for what they lacked, usually grain, although sometimes the trade was more extortion than trade. This was primarily true when colonies strongly under the influence of a mother city were involved with the Athenian Empire, where allies were often treated like colonies. The high point in this development was the near total dependence of Athens on food imports, especially during its isolation during the Peloponnesian War (– b.c.e.). Ultimately its power was decided by a series of military reverses, in Syracuse, as it tried to tap into
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the grain of Sicily, and then along the Dardanelles as Sparta and its allies destroyed its last fleets. This cut Athens off completely from the grain of the Black Sea, upon which it was then totally dependent. The city of Rome also came into being by a process of synoikismos, except that in the case of Rome, its consolidation involved much of Italy and beyond, and not just a single region. The result was that Rome became the largest city in the ancient world. However, it was totally dependent upon imports of food to survive, and its masses were dependent on food handouts, as well as official entertainment, or bread and circuses. To meet its needs, in addition to a well-developed overland and riverine traffic in Italy, grain and other food commodities were moved in large quantities from Egypt and other points such as North Africa, as it was wetter and more fertile in those areas. Some of the largest merchant ships known at the time were used to sail the relatively protected Mediterranean. These ships went beyond the relatively modest ships of the Greeks, but were still based upon Greek technology although there is some evidence that fore and aft rigging were used. Rome continued to feed itself under this basis for centuries, until Roman political power declined to the point that it could no longer control the sources of production (e.g., North Africa, under the Vandals) and no longer controlled them exclusively. The capital then moved to Constantinople in c.e., which took over most Egyptian grain trade. At that point, Rome declined rapidly, and was briefly abandoned at one point in the th century. Farther afield, Rome was engaged in an active commerce in wine, which it exported throughout its empire and beyond, and in spices and exotics, including garum, a Roman fish sauce. Some got as far as a German tomb, nearly in modern Poland, where it was apparently in high demand. Most important in the trade of exotics was pepper from India, as well as cinnamon, mostly from the Malayan Peninsula. Diocletian’s regulations of prices, listing all of the commodities involved in the early th century, show how extensive this trade was. Early Medieval trade was initially more confined and largely riverine, in part because of a regression of technology and due to an overall economic decline. This changed with the Arabic conquests. The Arabs largely restored a trade in bulk grain and other agricultural food commodities. They also introducing new crops and new technologies, which considerably enhanced production in many key areas. Another influence was a growing European recovery. By the end of the early Middle Ages, technology improved and with it came major new trade routes, principally those operated by the Hansa cities along the Baltic coast and beyond, including movement of grain to European cities. The trade in exotic food commodities and spices continued with the Arabs, who were largely in control and working through the Italian cities. With the coming of the Mongols, and the active movement of representatives of Italian cities to China and beyond, global trade expanded considerably, although most of the routes were still controlled by the Muslims. Cairo became a particularly important center. It was soon host of the first coffee houses, resulting in a major new export in a whole new agricultural commodity that reached its first high point in the th and th centuries. After the th century, a major change took place in Europe with the rise of Holland, which was well positioned
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along Europe’s major river axis. The trade was based primarily upon the movement of fish in specialized vessels, called fluyts, but grain and other agricultural food commodities were involved too. Recent research has suggested the quantities carried were large indeed, even by modern standards. Muslim control intensified with the collapse of the Mongols and the return to older patterns, but the situation changed drastically in the late th century with the discovery of a direct route to India around Africa. This meant that Asian spices and exotic foods could now be shipped directly to Europe, thus avoiding Muslim middlemen. By that time, there had been a revolution in Atlantic shipping technology with the emergence of larger and stronger ships that were more fit for Atlantic swells. These new ships had fore and aft rigging, sternpost rudders and other innovations, including compasses allowing more accurate navigation. By the th century a new, truly large-scale trade industry had evolved, at first based upon exotics and spices but, as the period wore on, also on the mass movement of tea. Tea was a commodity that China possessed in abundance and was in great demand in Europe. Tea, in fact, was so in demand in Europe that the flow of the commodity west created a highly negative trade balance for the Europeans. This was one factor leading to the Opium Wars of the early th century, as Europeans tried to force opium on China to pay for its tea habit. In China, the really large-scale movement of agricultural food commodities by sea began under the Mongols when, for the first time in Chinese history, an active and successful effort was made to ship rice and other agricultural food commodities north by sea to avoid rebel-held areas in the central and coastal south. Although this effort was ultimately abandoned, it was more because of the weakness of the central regime in Beijing than the viability of the trade. By the th century, China had the largest and most sophisticated ships in the world and used them for unparalleled power over Japan, Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, and beyond. Trade very much followed the flag, and China, in many ways, showed the Portuguese the pattern for developing their own commercial pepper and exotics empire in the th and th centuries. Beginning in , Portugal even penetrated China itself as official Chinese exploration (but not trade) efforts declined. Prior to the Mongol Era, Chinese sea trade had been extensive, but most of it involved trade in exotic foods and spices from Southeast Asia in particular. The products involved are detailed in a number of Chinese works focusing on the trade and customs operations. The range was considerable and the trade important for China, particularly for Southern Song (–), cut off from the Silk Road and dependent economically on the South Seas’ trade. The modern trade in agricultural commodities, which is truly a large-scale, global industry, really began in the th century, the age of the great East India ships operated by the British and others (even Denmark). These were, by the standards of the time, huge ships weighing thousands of tons and capable of moving truly large cargoes of tea and other commodities all the way from China to Europe, if necessary, with few intervening stops. Trade of sugar and coffee were also developing as the European demand for these products grew. The grain trade was still focused on the Baltic, in large part because Baltic
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grain was still available in sufficient quantities to meet and exceed western European demands. This situation changed, largely in the th century as Europe’s population grew beyond the capacity of its imported food needs to be met locally, and as large-scale trade in New World grain and other agricultural commodities became possible and economically viable for the first time. The critical innovations involved were the development steam, which allowed faster voyages than by sail alone, and, most important, iron ships. This freed the British, in particular, from dependency upon Scandinavian and other sources (the teak of Southeast Asia, for example; most Indiamen were locally built) for wood and allowed a considerable speeding up of the ship building process. There was now no need to wait for wood to season, sometimes for years. Also, Britain and most of the northern European shipbuilding powers had iron in abundance. Moreover, the iron industry was already booming thanks to railroad development and demand in other areas. Thus, from the second half of the th century onwards, quite large, efficient vessels took to the seas and drove out the sailing ships, a process complete by the first quarter of the th century. Their actions allowed countries such as Britain, and to some extent Germany (unified in ), to live largely from imported foods as their population and industrialization of cities grew. At the same time, coupled with railway development, the backlands of countries such as the United States were now connected to a world food market, which they increasingly supplied with cheap grains and other agricultural commodities. In the case of Argentina, in particular, meat was supplied by the refrigerator ship that quickly followed the steam-iron ship revolution. The free movement of beef (and later milk) in these ships drastically improved urban diets in Europe. People could afford such luxuries as per capita income rose and the cost of food shipments fell. By the time of World War I, the pattern of movement of agricultural commodities, especially grain, from colonial or formerly colonial areas to old Europe had assumed such proportions that blockades (already a serious weapon of war in the th and early th centuries) directed against trade became a weapon of choice for the Central Powers. They were anxious to respond to Britain’s and France’s own blockade of their ports and, at the same time, starve Britain out and force it to surrender. Although it was industrial goods such as oil and weapons that the blockade supposedly targeted, in the end it was food, at least in World War I, that was most critical for Britain and, for that matter, Germany. The latter proved itself particularly sensitive to a food blockage; this was one reason for the influenza epidemic and starvation of late and early . However, Britain maintained its blockage even when the war was over. Sunken ships could also not be used to transport anything once the war was over, creating problems that lasted well beyond the war years. The pattern of World War I was repeated during World War II, except that Germany, having learned its lesson and also controlling more territory, was far less vulnerable than was Britain. It once again had to make do as best it could, rationing all critical commodities. Britain did not starve, largely thanks to its success in doing this, and also thanks to the United States, who came to its military aid and also turned its great industrial
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capacity into building ships in greater numbers than were being sunk, as it had, to a similar extent, during World War I. Prewar patterns persisted after World War II, except that the United States and other major producers of agricultural surplus such as Canada, Australia, and also Argentina, were now in the driver’s seat. Japan’s chemical industry, the source of urgently needed mineral fertilizers, was more or less destroyed by World War II, and much of Europe was in similar straits meaning that both the European victors and the defeated were now still more dependent upon food imports to survive. The United States, in particular, provided freely as part of the Marshall Plan, but the movement of agricultural food commodities now assumed a political significance since the United States could aid whom it pleased and use food aid as a political weapon to advance its policies, although such a use of food was never implicit. An encouragement of exports pleased the U.S. agricultural lobby, as using U.S. ships to transport grain, for example, was popular with labor unions and those building and maintaining the ships, as well as with the ports they used. Today, in the era of globalization, food is no longer so implicitly a weapon. Commercial, not particularly political interests, are dominant. Nonetheless, the pattern of large scale and vital world trade of agricultural food commodities from areas of surplus, such as North America, Argentina, and Australia, as well as the surplus rice producers, such as Thailand, continues. Surplus agricultural commodity producers are Brazil, Turkey, and New Zealand, with Brazil now particularly important as China’s main soybean supplier. A special area is the coffee trade, in some cases because the market has created major dislocations by forcing some countries to largely monocrop coffee to the exclusion of subsistence farming, for example. Only the direction has changed to some degree with China, now one of the major recipients, particularly of U.S. commodities. The trade is all the more critical since it is no longer simply Europe that is dependent upon food imports, but virtually the entire world, outside of the fortunate surplus areas, and even these areas import at least some agricultural food commodities. This includes growing quantities of rice into the United States, since local varieties are not always those preferred by the rapidly emerging Asian-American population. Trade is not just limited to wheat and other grains, but also soybeans, which the surplus producing areas produce in abundance. Similarly, dried products and even fresh vegetables are heavily traded. The United States, for example, receives a substantial part of its fresh vegetables from Latin America, Mexico, and the Pacific Northwest. This is because Chile is in its season of productivity at the time when many food products are out of season in the United States. This trade has created the peculiar pattern where most food commodities are available at virtually all times of the year, with an active trade in special ships sailing up the Pacific or Atlantic coasts. Carrying most of the trade today are huge ships for bulk grain and other commodities, serviced by mass handling facilities once they land. Also affecting food transport, as well as other kinds of transport, has been containerization. It has cut turnaround times drastically and allowed existing shipping to be used far more efficiently. Containerization also allows a more specialized and direct supply of large quantities of grain, including specialty grains, and other food commodities.
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Among them are commodities coming from a single traditional source and not mixed with genetically modified grains and other foods, which may be a cause for rejection of shipments in today’s market, although genetically modified foods are now so prevalent that resistance to their sale will almost certainly decline in the future. Diversification of the food market has certainly played a role in the development of the international trade in agricultural food commodities. U.S. supermarkets, which may today be run by Vietnamese or Chinese or Arab immigrants, now carry just about anything that the local market demands. This includes rice from the surplus rice producing regions, but even very specialized commodities such as te’f from Ethiopia or quinoa from Peru, virtually all of the goods coming in by ship along with more traditional products. How this will play out in the future is uncertain, but quite probably the traditional pattern of some areas of great surplus will be altered as goods are exported to areas of deficit. The case for wheat, for example, will become more complicated with certain areas of deficit perhaps not universally in deficit and exporting what they do produce in abundance to an increasingly diversified world market. Another influence will be genetically modified crops, which will allow surplus production in areas where surplus production was once impossible. Patterns will soon become too complex to chart but hopefully the oceans, with masses of ships becoming more sophisticated for monitoring and tracking freight, will still continue to carry the masses of agricultural food commodities that much of the world needs to survive. Paul Buell References and Further Reading Bunker, Stephen G., and Paul Ciccantell. Globalization and the Race for Resources. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, . Casson, Lionel. Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, . Dermigny, Louis. La Chine et l’Occident, le Commerce a Canton au XVIIIe Siècle, –. vols. Paris: Éditions Jean Touzot, . Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Statistics Division. Statistical Yearbook . Garnsey, Peter. Famine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World, Responses to Risk and Crisis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Mazumdar, Sucheta. Sugar and Society in China: Peasants, Technology, and the World Market . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, . Miller, J. Innes. The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire, B.C.–A.D. . Oxford: Oxford University Press, .
AGRICULTURE, FRUITS, AND VEGETABLES Because of the perishable nature of produce, improving water borne transportation to distant locations has been a major endeavor since ancient times. Agricultural regions
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either needed to be near cities, or linked to by seas and waterways in order to viably export or import produce. Fruits and vegetables are different from other agricultural food commodities in that freshness and good taste has usually been a dominant consideration, although fruits and vegetables can be dried, pickled, salted, or even sugared for preservation and transportation. The Chinese, in particular, were great picklers and there was a large trade in the resulting products, including exchanges of special, regional products. Recently, fruits and vegetables have also been canned, frozen, even powdered and made into concentrates. In their dried, pickled or otherwise preserved form, there has long been a trade, although trade in exotics or medicinals were dominant. There were two major exceptions in the ancient world, the trade in olives and wine. The first were considered a staple, along with the oil, and both were traded throughout the Mediterranean and far inland, wherever the trade routes could reach. Grapes were produced in abundance throughout the region, wherever the climate was favorable, and while some were dried as raisins, most grapes were transported in fermented form, as strong and thick wine in pottery amphorae. Also considered a staple, then as now in the wine-drinking regions, Greek wine was often heavily spiced, even with narcotics to give it an even greater kick. Although the aged and well-preserved premium wines of post-Pombal Portugal had yet to emerge, some wines were highly prized in both Greece and Rome, even if they had to be consumed relatively quickly given pre-glass storage and less than pure products. The wine trade may be traced primarily through marks on amphorae and their types. It is clear that much of it moved by sea. Wine went wherever Greeks or Romans went and, of course, Greece and Rome were not the only parts of the ancient world producing wine. Egypt and Mesopotamia also produced and distributed wine, but preferred beer, which does not travel as far nor does it preserve well in temperate climates. At the time, distillation had not been invented, yet some early attempts to concentrate alcohol had been tried, including freeze distillation in which an unfrozen portion of a fermented beverage is spooned off and saved, thus enhancing alcohol content since alcohol slows freezing. Until relatively recently, this technique was primarily used for fruit juices, particularly in Central Asia. The Arabic sharbat tradition is also related. Some dried vegetables were more important as spices than as vegetables, although the categories are often confused from a modern point of view (e.g. fenugreek; a staple in Mesopotamia, mostly a spice elsewhere). Linear B tablets, for example, call for mint in many varieties, and since the mint in question was for storage, it was almost certainly dried. Its use to flavor food or to make drinks was probably then, as today, in Greece and the Middle East. Given the realities of the Greek world (i.e., production less than consumption), some of this mint likely moved by sea. The Romans were particularly interested in exotic vegetables as the Apicius cookbook and other contemporary sources make clear. Recipes not only call for many dried and fresh spices, but for a variety of fruits and berries, beans, pulses, and leaf vegetables. Some were produced locally, but many were items of trade and, in this case, the foods involved were nearly all moved by sea. Sea transport, given the primitive means of land transportation of the ancient world, was the only convenient and efficient way to move
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anything in bulk, although rivers were very important too, particularly the Rhine in northern Europe. Galen also calls for fruits and vegetables as part of his dietary therapy, assuming that they would be available even in areas where they were not produced, also indicating the presence of trade. Nonetheless, most fruits and vegetables were consumed fresh whenever possible, and grown in house gardens in most cases. The Arabs, who took over Roman and Greek practices in many areas, also had a liking for fresh fruits and vegetables (e.g., the famous garden poems of Andalucía, Spain); they also consumed dried products as well, particularly those considered spices or medicines, but some purely as foods. Although the Europeans had ice cellars, and the Romans may have used some ice to enhance freshness, the Arabs were probably the first to use ice and ice chests on a large scale to preserve fruits and vegetables. In addition to vegetables in dried and pickled forms, means were also found to move fresh produce as well. Here the need to maintain freshness was critical, and thus distances were normally limited, although there are stories of foods brought considerable distances by forced shipping (oars mostly) at the behest of the very rich. Various artificial means were found to lengthen the distances that could be traveled, that is, primarily a careful packing (for example using straw or sawdust as an insulator) and placement in cool holds below the surface level of the sea, and possibly the use of some ice, although this is not always spelled out in sources, and the evidence for this practice is seen later. Given the relatively short distances to be traveled in the Mediterranean, usually under oar, at a normal maximum of five to seven knots, for most of a -hour day, such methods, even if limited, worked quite well in getting fresh fruits and vegetables to market, especially in the cooler seasons of the year when nature helped the preservation. The Mediterranean is also humid, working against vegetable wilting. The Chinese mostly moved their fruits and vegetables overland, or via canal, particularly after the th century when the Grand Canal first began to link north and south. Pickling was particularly favored in North China, with its limited growing season; fresh was preferred almost everywhere else. It is known that, like the Arabs and possibly the Romans, the Chinese knew how to use ice and ice chests to preserve freshness., The Chinese overseas trade in fruits and vegetables was largely with Southeast Asia, and commodities trade was primarily of exotics or medicinals, rather than as subsistence consumables. In general, anything in great demand in China would probably end up being grown locally since south China can easily duplicate conditions found elsewhere in a larger region. Nonetheless, the sea trade in fruits and vegetables was important and has continued, in altered forms, up to the present. The Chinese market, then as now, is noted for the great range of foods marketed and consumed, preferably as fresh as possible. While tea was the major commodity moved by the great East Indiamen of the th and th centuries, as the tea industry took off in China from about c.e. onwards, the Chinese also imported fruits and vegetables. Chinese sugared fruits, some of them special to China, soon made their appearance in Europe as part of the trade route, as did Rhubarb in various forms. Although most European rhubarb came from Turkey,
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it was still exported from China. Some of this was disposed of, along with many other commodities, as part of the country trade, as European traders and others based in India tried to move Chinese products, which were not particularly in demand in Europe, to other, intermediary consumers; the reverse was also true. The Medieval Europeans had their own trades in fruits and vegetables, although, given the time it took to travel by sea, fresh fruits and vegetables were rarely transported by sea. Salting was the rule along with sugaring, far rarer given the shortage of sugar, except in the form of honey, until early modern times. In the Mediterranean, the olive trade continued, and as before, the olives were usually packed in oil and spiced, sometimes partially dried. Europe also consumed large amounts of dried fruits and vegetables as spices or medicinals. Nonetheless, most fruits and vegetables were produced and consumed locally and were rarely moved. This only began to change in early modern times as ships improved drastically in size and reliability, but technology still limited movement of fresh fruits and vegetables, as opposed to dried and otherwise preserved produce. Even in early modern times, the position of fresh fruits and vegetables was a minor one except when they were in season. Thus, the shipping revolution of the th century, with the shift to iron ships powered by steam, and the appearance of refrigerator ships or other kinds of controlled shipping environments, marked not only a change in the basic trade in food commodities, but it also marked the beginning of a major dietary evolution. While movement of slow ripening fruits such as bananas and other tropical products had already begun by that time, refrigeration, which slowed ripening and spoilage time for fruit, and if the vegetables were packed properly, wilting time for vegetables, meant that fresh fruits and vegetables could be moved great distances and still be marketed and sold as fresh. They could also be sold at relatively cheap rates given the scope of the shipping involved. Earlier shippers discovered that the ethylene produced by some fruits, particularly bananas, which can be picked completely green and will ripen in transport, also promoted the ripening of other accompanying fruits, necessitating segregated transportation. The containerization of cargo beginning after World War II solved this problem, allowing simultaneous shipment of many, even specialized commodities. As a result of these innovations in sea transportation, the average Londoner of the early th century, with an often unhealthy and highly seasonal diet, became the Londoner of the th century who was able to consume foods once available only to the rich. This was a veritable resolution that continues today as the trade undergoes further enhancements and an even wider variety of fruits and vegetables are moved in various forms to suit the needs and tastes of consumers around the world. Today the trade in fresh fruits and vegetables is highly specialized and does not particularly involve the countries that possess great surpluses in commodities such as wheat and rice. Almost every country around the world now imports and exports some fruit or vegetable, in some form or the other, even when the trade is relatively small; though it may not be small in terms of generating foreign exchange for those countries who do not have major mineral resources. Associated with this evolution is a new economic
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imperialism in which an excessive monocropping of certain fruits and vegetables is creating potentially negative effects on sustainable farming methods. These commodities are usually highly sought after in the developed world, and their production has been taken over by monopolistic companies. A result of this growing monopoly is the lack of influence of smaller and less powerful countries and farmers. While serving world markets, and generating needed foreign exchange, such over-concentration on certain fruits and vegetables, or other food products has resulted, in many areas, in the removal of lands once used for subsistence farming from the hands of peasants and their placement under the control of great food commodity companies that often pay wages well below what it takes to live without having some degree of subsistence farming to supplement limited monetary income. Poverty has been one result of the modern global food trade, and considerable discontent has fueled social revolution in many areas. Although, many consumers are now turning to such products as fair-market coffees in which environmental and social guarantees are offered. Two major types of commodities are involved in the trade of fresh fruits and vegetables today. On the one side are the specialized fresh commodities such as bananas, usually produced exclusively in vast areas to the exclusion of almost everything else. On the other is a more generalized production of fruits and vegetables; each on a limited scale but produced to meet very specific markets, including markets for specifically processed foods, such as juice. One country very much involved in the latter kind of trade is Chile, which has used sea transportation to supply the Pacific Northwest, as well as much of the rest of the United States, with fruits such as plums and nectarines. Through such connections as the Pacific Northwest, where it is cold and rainy most of the year, has regular supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables even in the middle of winter thanks to growers in tropical areas or below the equator. Unfortunately, the trade has not always yielded ripe, appetizing fruits and vegetables, a problem now being dealt with. The greater the distances involved the more likely that the movement of produce will be by sea, usually using containerized shipping. Just as Chile provides warm-weather produce to the Northwest United States, the Northwest uses sea transport to ship high-quality apples rarely seen in local Asian markets to Japan and China. However, limiting expansive trade are overt tariffs, usually as anti-dumping regulations, and hidden tariffs, usually in the form of pest control or purity regulations. Thus, for a long time, Mexican avocadoes could not move north, in spite of demand, because of supposed problems with pests. This is particularly a problem with many Chinese products, but it is becoming harder and harder to enforce such regulations as production technology improves and as Chinese products become more consistent (size, type, and shape), although recently, in another area, biological and chemical contamination issues have repeatedly been raised in regard to Chinese products. As this kind of trade has grown, so the has the flow of shipping and the size of ships involved, truly huge and specialized ships now participating regularly in the movements of commodities involved and, on land, these huge ships must be serviced by large-scale, highly sophisticated port facilities. Failure to develop such facilities can often mean
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that an otherwise flourishing region begins to decline and becomes dependent upon other ports for survival. This even happens in fully developed countries, such as the relative rise and fall of the northwestern ports of Tacoma, Seattle, and Vancouver. In some cases, the problem is local failure to sufficiently capitalize infrastructure, including railroads, which have been allowed to decline almost everywhere in the United States, for example. Major players, such as Dole or Chiquita, also manipulate regional ports to compete with each other, cut their own costs, and perhaps establish monopolies. Thus, the specialized high-speed vessels can have a completely different impact upon local and regional trade than the traditional container ships that can supply almost any port, if they are allowed to do so. Nonetheless, while the type of trade involved is the same, global consumers vary greatly. In general, North America buys a smaller variety of fruits and vegetables than, for example, China, but this may be changing with the large Asian population in the United States and a growing demand for more specialized produce, such as mangoes and pomegranates. Some U.S. markets now have hundreds of varieties of fruits and vegetables, from fresh lychees to bitter melons, and from fresh Vietnamese basil to a wide range of cucumbers, for example. While many of the fruits and vegetables in demand can be grown locally, others cannot, adding still more to a growing sea-trade industry. Today the trade in fruits and vegetables is too complex to easily summarize, and every country imports something, whether it is a surplus food producer or not. Particularly important are the flows to Europe, which are primarily tropical fruit, and flows of bananas from the specialized growing areas in Central and South America (also the Philippines) to East Asia. East Asia buys other countries’ fruits and vegetables as subsistence food but also as luxury food, such as the best Washington apples, for example, which remain a much-desired commodity in China and Japan. A new component of the international trade in fruits and vegetables is trade in organic fruits and vegetables. Primarily, such fruits and vegetables are produced within the regions that consume them, but Third World countries are now getting into the act as well. Since organic fruits and vegetables usually sell for a substantial premium, raising them potentially allows small countries, for example, in Central America to take in far more foreign exchange than they usually do from monocropping bananas or coffee, for example, although these crops are important too. Future trade is likely to be much like the trade of the present except that some major new producers are likely to enter the arena. In the st century, China is the single greatest producer of fruits and vegetables of almost every sort in the world, as well as being one of the world’s largest markets for imported foods. Historically, it has exported little but this seems now to be changing. China’s intensive agriculture in the south is in fact highly efficient and is beginning to produce a surplus of some magnitude that can be traded internationally, including to Chinese communities resident abroad. Chinese production costs are also low, which gives it a particular advantage. Other developing countries may utilize similar approaches to the market for their own benefit, but no agriculture in the world works quite like the Chinese. One thing is certain, the market will
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continue to diversify and the days when only a relatively few commodities were involved in sea trade are long past. Paul Buell References and Further Reading Bunker, Stephen G., and Paul Ciccantell. Globalization and the Race for Resources. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, . Dermigny, Louis. La Chine et l’Occident, le Commerce a Canton au XVIIIe Siècle, –. vols. Paris: Éditions Jean Touzot, . Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Statistics Division. Statistical Yearbook . Hu Shiu-ying. Food Plants of China. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, . Vehling, Joseph Dommers, ed. and translator. Apicius, Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome. New York: Dover Publications, .
ARCHAEOLOGY, UNDERWATER Underwater archaeology involves any archaeological work that takes place in a submerged or underwater environment such as in oceans, rivers, lakes, marshes, and manmade bodies of water like canals. In most cases, it involves the use of divers, although in some marshland or small bodies of water, it has involved making a wall around the site, draining it and then working on the remains in the same way as land-based archaeologists work. Since ancient times, divers have tried to recover material sunk in shipwrecks, but this was largely haphazard, and depended on the availability of swimmers and the closeness of the wreck to land and to the surface. Archaeology as a science dates back to work by Heinrich Schliemann (although Schliemann was not “scientific” in his approach) during the late th century. Widespread scientific study of artifacts recovered from underwater sites did not take place until long after the invention of diving suits in the early th century. Diving suits allowed divers to reach great depths to recover items at the bottom of seas. Although there have been problems over ownership in land archaeology, underwater archaeology has raised far more problems since permission for diving has to be granted by the country in whose territorial water the wreck is located, the insurer (for recent vessels), and other authorities. Even when shipwrecks are discovered in international waters, questions over property ownership of found objects often end up in court. Some of the earliest underwater archaeology involved the work undertaken at the Maya site at Chichen Itzá, Cenote, in Mexico, which began in and involved remains found in wells and underground water storage areas. Using better diving techniques, in there was the recovery of artifacts from the Antikythera Wreck, a Greek ship of the early st century b.c.e. The wreck was located between the Greek mainland and Crete,
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An unidentified diver in the eastern port of Alexandria, Egypt examines a find dating back to the reign of Pharaoh Apries of the th Dynasty (– b.c.e.). Hours of diving in the murky Mediterranean and exhaustive mapping have revealed parts of the ,-year-old city. AP/Wide World Photos.
and was discovered by sponge divers in the previous year. For this archaeological expedition, the site was systematically examined by divers, and many of the items from it are now held at the National Museum of Athens, Greece. Gradually technology continued to improve, and the use of larger diving suits, particularly the one-atmosphere diving suits, allowed divers to remain in the sea for longer periods. This enabled them to work at greater depths and in more complicated situations such as in the work carried out on the wreck of the RMS Lusitania in . This work, and indeed much later work by the British and also U.S. governments, has been carried out by highly trained navy divers. It was not long before wetsuits came to be used, and these allowed for easier dives with more maneuverability underwater. It also allowed divers to handle more complicated machinery such as cameras. Shortly after, French divers Jacques Cousteau and Philippe Diole began photographing underwater life from cameras used by divers and also from submersible vessels. In , George Bass of the University of Pennsylvania photographed the Cape Gelidonya wreck, a late Bronze Age vessel off the south coast of Turkey. Discovered by sponge divers the previous year, Bass worked with amateur archaeologist Peter Throckmorton to study the wreck over three months. It was the first major scientific underwater archaeology operation, with Bass adapting the techniques
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used on land to his work at sea. Since then, there have been many underwater archaeological operations all over the world. In the Mediterranean, archaeologists have excavated large numbers of ships. On a shipwreck recovered off the Italian port of Puteoli, large numbers of Lysippos sculptures were recovered and are now on display at the J. Paul Getty Museum in California. Based on historical records of the content aboard sunken ships, underwater archaeologists have focused considerable efforts on salvaging the wrecks of the Spanish Armada. Although early archaeologists were involved in recording wrecks and salvaging important items, gradually some were involved in recovering entire wrecks. The remains of the hull of the Serçe Limani wreck, located off the Turkish port of Marmaris, is now in the Bodrum Museum in Turkey. However, the most famous operation of all was the excavation of the Mary Rose, the flagship of the English King Henry VIII, which sank with great loss of life in July ; the entire wreck was raised from Portsmouth harbor in and conserved. It can now be viewed in a special dry-dock in Portsmouth. The wreck had first been found in , but it was not until the use of side-scan sonar technology in the late s that the whole site could be examined in detail. To prevent looting, it was covered by the Protection of Wrecks Act of , which provided the framework for major archaeological work to begin in . In regard to Chinese and other Asian vessels, many of the porcelain vessels on board the trading ships have survived. In , fishermen off the coast of South Korea came across what became known as the Sinan Wreck, and the Korean Ministry of Culture coordinated the archaeologists who, with help from the navy, recovered the objects that were then displayed in museums in Korea. Subsequently, underwater archaeologists have been hired by commercial companies formed to recover goods. This has involved recording the items, and then removing them for subsequent sale. These projects have included the Vung Tau wreck off the coast of Vietnam (items selling for $ million at auction), the Binh Thuan shipwreck (items selling for nearly $ million), and the famous Nanking Cargo (items selling for $ million). During the s and s, archeological work undertaken on the HMS Pandora, the ship sent by the British navy in search of the mutineers from the HMS Bounty, resulted in a much greater level of knowledge about the Royal Navy at the time and of the people on board the HMS Pandora, when it was wrecked off the Great Barrier Reef in . Some work was also carried out on the site where the HMS Bounty was scuttled off Pitcairn Island in . Much work has also been undertaken by underwater archaeologists searching for wrecks off the U.S. coastline or in rivers, either for ships involved in the Revolutionary War (including Captain Cooks’ Endeavour), or more frequently, the American Civil War. The most famous Civil War wreck was the USS Monitor, which was located in the Atlantic Ocean in , and designated by the U.S. government as its first marine sanctuary. Because many Civil War wrecks lie in rivers, creeks or marshes, occasionally walls have been built around these wrecks so that water then could be pumped out to allow for more detailed dry archaeological work. Elsewhere around the world, there has been work on early modern, and also some modern, wrecks in the Caribbean, with interest heavily focusing on the Spanish gold
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ships, some Portuguese trading ships, and also later vessels of important historical significance. Most of these operations have had much popular support, although a few have been controversial over the issue of ownership, and for more recent ships, that of maritime war graves. For many recent shipwrecks that have been found in international waters, the ship itself is technically the property of an insurance company, usually Lloyds of London. Unlike many archaeologists operating on land, the location of the wreck has generally been the first problem facing underwater teams. With GPS (global positioning system) accuracy, it is now possible to easily return to the same site over successive days, eliminating a problem that faced many early maritime archaeologists. If the wreck was in shallow and clear water, divers could then record information by taking photographs and using waterproof notepads. The next stage was to divide the seabed into grids, and as items were recovered, it was recorded in which grid they had been found. The recording of data is still far more complicated than normal archaeology. Aided by GPS and other advanced technology, modern archeologists can more efficiently map and work wrecks, and more accurately record where items are discovered. With better technology and techniques, much better diving equipment, and underwater submersibles, it has been possible to locate and study the wrecks of ships such as the Titanic, the HMS Edinburgh carrying gold from the Soviet Union to Britain in , and the Australian naval vessel HMAS Sydney, which was sunk during World War II and discovered in March . In the case of the Titanic, there was controversy over the recovering of items from the wreck in . Equipment is now sufficiently affordable for many private venture archaeologists to go in search of wrecks, aiming to locate and recover as much as they can, often to sell and in turn fund their research. Because this area remains controversial, a number of these individuals have qualified archaeologists who help with the mapping and recovery program, and this has allowed museums and private companies to combine their expertise and money to embark on underwater archaeology. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Archaeology Underwater: An Atlas of the World’s Submerged Sites. New York: McGraw-Hill, . De Borhegyi, Suzanne. Ships, Shoals and Amphoras: The Story of Underwater Archaeology. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, . Delgado, James P., ed. British Museum Encyclopedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology. London: British Museum Press, . Pickford, Nigel. The Atlas of Ship Wreck & Treasure. Surry Hills, N.S.W.: RD Press, . Silverberg, Robert. Sunken History: The Story of Underwater Archaeology. New York: Bantam Books, .
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COASTAL TOURISM INDUSTRY Arriving by land, sea, and air, the coastal tourism industry thrives by attracting visitors to the coastline. Sun, sand, and sea are desired by a great many global tourists, with enticing images of the coast dominating holiday brochures and travel programs. People are drawn to the coast for the natural attractions of cliffs, beaches, and open sea. It may also be that there is a wish to escape, or to enjoy the socializing that accompanies the holiday atmosphere of coastal resorts. The appeal of the coast also endures because coastal destination suppliers have encouraged new visitors by adding different forms of tourism activity in response to dynamic consumer demand. Consequently, the coastal tourism industry offers a range of activities such as hiking, biking, and golf on land, and swimming, surfing, and diving at sea. The industry comprises an infrastructure in the form of amenities including accommodations and catering. Access to the sea is often provided via marinas and harbors, plus attractions include recreational activities using the natural features of beach and sea. The coastal tourism industry includes many suppliers— amusement arcade owners, tour guides, ice-cream sellers or wind-surfing teachers to name of a few—whose numbers will vary at each destination depending on the level of development. Coastal tourism takes place along the coastline, which refers to the boundary between land and sea. It is often quite a narrow strip of land, but the coastal zone has also been defined as the area of up to approximately miles ( km) from the sea. Given the popularity of coastal resorts, there has been a great deal of research into resort development, and this research has shown that the most common structural features are usually the linear seafront with a beach, a promenade with a road, and a line of seafront buildings. The piers, promenades, and gardens that form the environment in coastal resorts
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are also attractive to tourists, and there are distinguishing elements to the resorts that give the place a strong identity. The buildings that look out to sea—hotels, restaurants, and retailers—are usually the most luxurious and expensive. Behind this first line of development there are often smaller hotels, guest houses, and bed and breakfast accommodations that spread out into the town and the residential areas. In the majority of coastal regions basic data on tourism and its impact is poor. One of the problems has been the number of different organizations involved in managing and developing coastal areas. Environmental legislation varies around the world, and there is often no base-line data even in more developed countries. However, the decline in some of the traditional sources of income and the increased economic need to develop tourism, along with the consumer demand for high quality natural experiences, has led to more research. Despite being one of the oldest forms of tourism, coastal tourism is one of the fastest growth areas in tourism activity. Suppliers cater to the traditional seaside experience, but also offer all-weather, all-year entertainment and activities to ensure they remain in business. The coastal tourism industry routinely offers quality products and have tailored their facilities to particular market segments; for example foreign language learning, conference facilities in Brighton, and sports-based resorts (particularly tennis), watersports, golf, and (increasingly) casinos. The traditional northern seaside resort of Blackpool in the United Kingdom now offers an unrivalled range of music hall and cabaret entertainment, nightclubs, conference facilities for business tourism, along with its wellknown illuminations, pier, and promenade. The coastal tourism industry can be a major employer, and Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach, established in , has , employees including their own plumbers, welders, joiners, wardrobe department, and a park chaplain. The importance of the coastal tourism industry as an employer is reflected in plans circulating around Britain to bolster flagging seaside resorts. The plans include leisure centers with swimming pools, sports halls, bowling alleys, courts, gyms, plus visitor centers with beach observation towers. In addition, these development plans include exhibition areas, caterers, retailers, conference facilities, cinemas and theatres, and the extreme sports of mountain biking, climbing, skiing, and skate boarding. Public spaces are included in the forms of promenades, pedestrian or cycle boulevards, and plazas. The seaside has been popular with tourists since the th century, when sea-bathing became fashionable and access was made possible by the railway. Activities on, in, and around the sea are the most common form of tourism activity and form the bulk of the mass tourism. In the United States, winter sunshine resorts emerged in Florida and California, and the Florida developer Henry Flagler built luxury hotels along the east coast, contributing to the development of resort mystique, customer expectation, and subsequent popularity. An increase in car ownership beginning in the s spread visitors along the coast rather than in clusters around the railway terminus, but still the coast remained the attraction on both sides of the Atlantic, with Hawaii and Florida thriving in the United States, and Blackpool, Bournemouth, and Margate in Britain. Domestic coastal tourism in Europe peaked in the s, and thereafter tourists sought coastal
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Blackpool Pleasure Beach, one of the earliest popular coastal tourism locations, in Lancashire, England. Dreamstime.com.
tourism overseas. The large movements of people to coastal resorts throughout the world—helped by paid holidays, jet aircraft, and falling costs—led to the development of a mass industry by the s. The Mediterranean area has seen the most development since the mid-th century, but tourist flows to attractive beaches in Australia, Thailand, the Caribbean, and Mexico have also seen mass tourism development. The prevalence of resort-style vacationing has resulted in the description of identikit resorts where the facilities and amenities are very familiar to the tourist and reflect what is available at home. The facilitators of these mass movements(once government approval has been achieved) are often developers and tour operators who have packaged transport, accommodations, and additional services like transfers, resort representatives, and excursions to sell. They often create all-inclusive holidays to encourage all the money spent to be controlled by them using the marketing ploy that they can make the experience affordable. The power of the tour operator has been in evidence since the first days of the vacation package when Thomas Cook, a member of the temperance movement, was motivated to package excursions for tourists by train in the th century to avoid their spending time in the public house drinking away their earnings. The first person to package a holiday with air transport was Vladimir Raitz in . By chartering a plane, Raitz showed how,
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by guaranteeing clients to fill the seats and fixing the date of outward and return travel, he could have predictable passenger loads for cost advantages. The development of the travel industry and the number of organizers of travel packages working with people in the host destination led to a structure and systems of tourism organization never previously known; this in turn shaped the access to and location of tourist destinations. The result is a high degree of polarization of tourism, and the attractive and unique landscapes along the coast continue to lead to a population concentration in these areas. Spain is an example where the majority of tourists are concentrated in specific coastal areas. The Spanish islands have less local capital and are more dependent upon tourism as a source of income and consequently rely on the tour operators and their tourists, thus giving the tour operators considerable power. These tour operators absorb money away from the local economy in what is called leakage, and this has a negative effect on a local economy. Coastal environments have experienced a range of negative impacts from tourism. Land clearing and pollution have the worst effect, with pollutants coming from resorts and ships. Local people experience problems of water diversion for tourists and the destruction of habitats and damage to the natural environment. Since the late s, golf has been viewed as a lucrative tourism business. The construction of golf complexes involves considerable development to support this activity. To create a golf-based resort, features like hotels, residential houses for staff, shopping centers, entertainment facilities, power plants, access roads, and airports need to be constructed. Diving and snorkeling are also well-known activities in the coastal environment, becoming increasingly popular in recent years. Like golfing, the construction and infrastructure development to support the number of visitors to coral reefs has also had a major negative impact in destinations like the Red Sea resorts. The coastal tourism industry has been brought into the spotlight after the tsunami off the coast of the Indian Ocean in December . Coastal communities in India are experiencing a redevelopment that prioritizes tourism and evicts locals from their home areas. This reflects the priority shown by many governments worldwide that wish to attract private investment into coastal areas believing this will help their economies. Often plans include building amusement parks and casinos. International agencies have supported the development of tourism as a form of livelihood for coastal communities and there are often tensions between traditional employers, like fishermen, and those who see land close to the sea for the exclusive use of private investment. Julia Fallon References and Further Reading Hall, C.M. Tourism Rethinking the Social Science of Mobility. Essex, U.K.: Pearson Education, Ltd, . Harris, R., Griffin, T., and Williams, P., eds. Sustainable Tourism a Global Perspective. Oxford, U.K.: Butterworth–Heinemann, . Lewis, B. “Over Here: Holidaymakers in Britain.” Guardian Weekend. July , .
COASTAL URBAN DEVELOPMENT Magalassery, S. “The Tsunami of Tourism: Disaster in India.” Tourism in Focus, Summer. London: Tourism Concern, . Page, S.J., P. Brunt, G. Busby and J. Connell. Tourism: A Modern Synthesis. London: Thomson Learning, . Shaw, G. and A.M. Williams. Critical Issues in Tourism: A Geographical Perspective. nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, .
COASTAL URBAN DEVELOPMENT The coastal city, or hydropolis, consists of a conurbation of more than , inhabitants living in close contiguity, and generally oriented towards an extensive body of surface salt and fresh water. The coastal urban zone is bounded on the landward side by a local hinterland, and on the seaward side by a coastal littoral zone. Lying at the interface of land, sea, and air transport, it is a node in a large network of commercial, social, and political activities. Sixty percent of the world’s population, and percent of cities with a population above . million, are concentrated along coastlines. Many of the world’s largest cities— Tokyo, New York, Boston, Montreal, Sydney, Mumbai, and Shanghai—are clustered along coasts. Several coastal metropolises, such as Tokyo, London, Lisbon, and Lagos, are also capital cities or the headquarters of administrative entities. Port cities like Oporto, Singapore, and Marseille (France) have played pivotal roles in the rise of their parent nations. These cities are integrated nationally or horizontally, and vertically or globally, as lynchpins of the world economy. Relations between coastal and hinterland centers have either been symbiotic or dependent, especially where the former merely act as conduits for the latter. However, coastal cities, as sites of industrial and commercial activities, function as economic growth poles. In Western Europe and Japan, port cities spawned maritime industrial development areas (MIDAS) in the post-World War II era. Japan’s most important economic zones are centered on its leading port cities: Osaka, Kobe, Tokyo, and Nagoya. Cities, such as Kashima, that evolved around developer ports became regional economic and population growth centers. In China, the port city of Shanghai has been the economic capital since the s. Devoid of good freight railway and highway networks, the massive economic development that began in China during the s has been largely driven by industrial zones around its coastal cities, especially the Yangtze River Delta (centered on Shanghai) and the Pearl River Delta (centered on Hong Kong) belts. As an export-driven economic superpower in the era of containerization, it only made sense to locate manufacturing close to the major ports, which has driven much of the population to these coastal sites in search of employment. Multiple usage of space in coastal cities has subjected the land-sea interface in the littoral zone to high population pressure. However, the impact varies across the globe. On the Mediterranean coast, for example, human pressure on coastal resources increased
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CONVENTION ON WETLANDS OF INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE (1971) EXCERPT The main purposes of the 1971 Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (commonly known as the Ramsar Convention) are to stem the encroachment and loss of wetlands and establish a recognized List of Wetlands of International Importance in order to encourage international protection of wetland ecosystems. As of December 2004, the list contained 11,397 wetland areas—approximately 303 million acres of land. The treaty was opened to signature on February 2, 1971 and entered into force on December 21, 1975. Some 142 countries are members. An amendment was passed on December 3, 1982 in an effort to increase participation in Ramsar. That protocol, which resulted in the creation of Article 10B among other minor changes, is reflected in the document below, which summarizes the convention. Convention on Wetlands of International Importance “The Contracting Parties, Recognizing the interdependence of man and his environment; Considering the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands as regulators of water regimes and as habitats supporting a characteristic flora and fauna, especially waterfowl; Being convinced that wetlands constitute a resource of great economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational value, the loss of which would be irreparable; Desiring to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future; Recognizing that waterfowl in their seasonal migrations may transcend frontiers and so should be regarded as an international resource; Being confident that the conservation of wetlands and their flora and fauna can be ensured by combining far-sighted national policies with coordinated international action; Have agreed as follows:” … ARTICLE 2 Each parties will designate precisely described wetlands within its territory to be included on a List of Wetlands of International Importance. In selecting wetlands for the list, countries will take into account an area’s ecological, biological, and scientific significance. A party does not give up sovereignty over a wetland placed on the list. Upon joining this treaty, each signatory will choose at least one wetland for the list. More wetland areas may be added later. A member also has the right to remove wetlands from the list. Whether adding or deleting wetlands to the international list, a country must take into account its international responsibilities regarding conservation and wise resource management. … ARTICLE 4 Treaty members will create nature reserves on listed or unlisted wetlands in order to promote the conservation of wetlands and waterfowl. If a party finds that decreasing
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the boundaries of a wetland is in the nation’s best interest, it should compensate for the loss of wetlands, particularly by creating additional nature reserves. Treaty members will encourage scientific research and the free exchange of information regarding the plants and animals living in wetland systems. Increasing waterfowl populations and promoting the training of competent wetland researchers are also important goals.
by percent in the -year period up to . However, it ranges from a low of five percent in Croatia, to a high of percent in Algeria. In effect, coastal urban development varies according to the density of land use, exemplified by building and population density. The difference between high and low-density uses is accounted for by, among others, economic performance, standard of transport infrastructure, tourist activities and standard of living. A wide range of activities—tourism, industry, commerce, fishing, housing, recreation, and conservation— take place in the zone, with industry exerting the greatest pressure. However, housing is a key requirement given the general drift of hinterland dwellers toward coastal cities. As large population centers, coastal cities are sites of cultural and social interactions, and the crucible for forging a distinct sub-national culture. Coastal cities, such as Calcutta, are the political, educational, cultural, and economic hubs of their countries. They are also the first recipients and transmitters of culture and foreign influences. As the axis
Futuristic skyline of major coastal city Shanghai, China, China’s largest city and an industrial center. PhotoDisc, Inc.
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of air, road, and railway transport systems, port cities are critical to trade and transport within and across national boundaries. Proximity to the sea also makes the cities susceptible to negative socio-cultural influences associated with international gateways. The coastal zone and its cities are vulnerable to disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, and flooding. At the current rate of coastal development, it is estimated that coastal flooding (due to climate change, storm surge, and damage from high winds) in large cities of the world will increase threefold by , affecting million people. This scenario will expose property and infrastructure in coastal cities, especially Miami in the United States and Guangzhou, China, worth trillions of U.S. dollars to potential damage and loss. Other vulnerable cities include Kolkata, Mumbai, Dhaka, Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai, Bangkok, and Yangon. Urban development in the coastal zone is a function of location or topography, size, and accessibility of ports, the volume of shipping and trade, the size and characteristics of the population, transport/hinterland links, government policy, and the interplay of local and global dynamics. Depending on the blend of local, regional, national or global dynamics, coastal urban centers play critical economic, social, and political roles within and beyond their native countries. Coastal urban development has generated both economic benefits and social, economic, and political problems. The concentration of human population has translated into the development of robust markets and industrialized development zones, but has also led to social and urban problems requiring much planning and countermeasures. Tokyo, for instance, faces problems of housing and waste management, which led to expansion into the adjoining Tokyo Bay. The government has also developed improved transportation routes to hinterland cities and regions to draw industry and citizens out of the megalopolis. For example, it is hoped that the development of improved barge service along the Yangtze River will encourage more economic development inland and halt the massive migration to coastal cities. Historically, rapid rates of urban development have exerted a deleterious impact on the coastal environment, leading to pollution, erosion, and environmental degradation. Thus, by slowing and better managing the growth of coastal development, it is much easier to mitigate these adverse impacts. Ayodeji Olukoju References and Further Reading Carter, R.W. Coastal Environments: An Introduction to the Physical, Ecological and Cultural Systems of Coastlines. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, . Ding, Song. n.d. “Three major trends in coastal city development.” China Development Institute. www.cdi.com.cn (accessed August , ). Hoyle, B.S. “Development dynamics at the port-city interface.” In Revitalising the Waterfront: International Dimensions of Docklands Redevelopment, ed. B.S. Hoyle, D.A. Pinder and M.S. Husain. London: The Belhaven Press, .
CONTAINERIZATION Hoyle, B.S. and D.A. Pinder, eds. European Port Cities in Transition. London: The Belhaven Press, . Van Dijk, Henk and Magda Avelar Pinheiro. “The changing face of European ports as a result of their evolving use since the nineteenth century.” Portuguese Journal of Social Sciences , no. (): –.
CONTAINERIZATION The container, a standard-size metal box designed to be moved with common handling equipment into which cargo is packed for shipment, has evolved into the key physical and logistical support of international trade and globalization. Although available in several sizes, all containers adhere to a single standard, which accelerated containerization by permitting full access to the distribution system by reducing the risks of capital investment in modes and terminals. Another notable reason for the accelerated adoption of containerization was its intermodal speed, which is transferring between ships, railcars, truck chassis, and barges using a minimum amount of time and labor. Stacking is also a notable advantage, enabling a more efficient use of transport modes (cellular containerships, double-stacking rail), terminals, and storage yards. The container, therefore, serves as the load unit rather than the cargo it carries. Their relevance does not relate to what they are—simple boxes—but what they enable: the movement of goods fairly seamlessly across a variety of modes. The referenced container sizes are the footer and the footer, which was agreed upon in the s and became an ISO (International Standard Organization) standard. The -foot long box, commonly defined as a Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU), is '" high and feet wide. Initially, the footer was the most common container, and consequently TEU became the standard reference for measuring containerized flows. However, as containerization became widely adopted in the late s and early s, shippers began to switch to larger container sizes, notably the footer. Larger sizes confer economies of scale in loading, handling, and unloading, which are preferred for long distance shipping as well as by customers shipping large batches of consumption goods. The same ship capacity would take, in theory, twice as much time to load or unload if footers where used instead of footers. Thus, because of the desire to use the largest container size possible, the footer is being gradually phased out. Hi-cube containers have also been put in use, notably since they do not require different handling equipment or road clearance. They are one foot higher ('") than the standard '" height, and a footer hi-cube container provides about percent more carrying capacity than its standard counterpart. Most North American double-stack rail corridors can handle two stacked hi-cube containers, creating an additional multiplying effect in terms of total capacity per rail car. There are also -foot hi-cube containers, which are favored in the United States for domestic rail and trucking shipments. There are indications that maritime shipping companies are considering switching to larger container standards. For instance, in APL began offering
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-foot container service from China to Los Angeles, which may become a norm since feet is the maximum permitted length for trailers on U.S. highways. Because containers have a useful life of about to years, intermodal carriers cautiously transition to new standards because of prior commitments in capital investment in modal and intermodal infrastructures. The container is the main vector of international trade. As a standard load unit it permitted a growing level of flexibility in the location of production with markets being serviced by global distribution strategies. More than a box, the container performs the basic function of being a load unit that can be transported by various modes; it is also a warehousing unit than can be considered as inventory in transit from a production or retailing standpoint. In some cases, the container has become the production planning unit, with inputs and outputs considered as containerized batches along synchronized supply chains, just as packets of data over the Internet. This resulted in the proliferation of time-based distribution strategies starting in the s; shorter transit times are linked with lower inventory levels, which can result in significant cost reductions. The Emergence of Containerization Despite Malcolm McLean being widely credited with the sailing of the first (converted) containership in , containerization and intermodal transportation have much older origins. Containerization, in reality, was the logical outcome of attempting to transship freight more efficiently. In the late th and early th centuries, attempts were made to improve transshipments, particularly between road and rail. At the micro level, the pallet can be considered as the first successful intermodal unit; at the macro level, integrating rail and trucking initially took the form of simply loading trucks on rail cars. This traileron-flatcar (TOFC) approach, which began in the s, still had significant limitations in terms of capacity (because of chassis wheels, far fewer transported per train), and thus turned out to be an intermediate phase of intermodalism; while over percent of North American intermodal rail was TOFC in the late s, TOFC traffic dropped below percent by . It is the advent of the container that had the largest impacts on intermodal transportation. In its early years (s), containerization was seen as the simple application of temporary portable storage facilities, loaded with cargo, and made mobile as a unit for intermodal unified transport. Core advantages of the container were an ease of transfer and security from theft. Capacity was very limited and the ships used were simply inexpensive converted tankers (many World War II surpluses); such a radical shift in transportation was considered a very risky endeavor. Like many technological innovations, the container faced a period of introduction and experimentation before its advantages were recognized by the transport industry. Although significant productivity improvements were realized along the transport segments it was initially applied to, major maritime shippers were unwilling to convert to containerization. Many shippers were waiting things out, particularly in regard to which standard would eventually prevail. Investing in an intermodal standard, which could turn obsolete, was seen as very
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risky. In the mid s, the adoption of standard container sizes, particularly the now ubiquitous and footers, and of a uniform corner casting standard, permitted the adoption of the container worldwide, not just simply over specific trade segments. Risk was no longer related to a standard, but simply to the development and exploitation of market potential. Standardization, which simplified transfers among modes, marked the true beginning of containerization. Long distance containerized trade quickly followed in with the introduction of transatlantic container services. Still, to make containerization fully effective with economies of scale, a specialized class of ships solely designed to carry containers was introduced in . On the inland side, rail companies started to offer Container-onFlatcar (COFC) services, but their extent was limited due to high intermodal costs. Inland freight distribution faced several hurdles as its modes, particularly rail, were heavily regulated and in many cases because of public ownership, as in Europe. The situation was much different for maritime transportation. Without the hindrance of regulations, many players jumped in as container services began to be offered across the Atlantic, and then the Pacific in the early s. Maritime transportation quickly adapted to containerization since it saw clear performance and competitive advantages. The problem of standardization still remained, but the diffusion of containerization over inland transport systems forced a solution. While the maritime segment could maintain, albeit inefficiently, different intermodal standards since they owned their own fleet, cranes, and chassis, the complexity of ownership of inland transportation, both for rail and trucking, could not support different intermodal equipment standards without serious duplications. Economies of scale are much less applicable to inland transport systems, and different standards tend to have much more impacts. Thus, in spite of a slow phase of adoption, inland transport systems, particularly rail, were the main factor that forced the evolution of containerization as a fully standard transport product. After the North American rail industry was deregulated in the s, inland freight transportation systems quickly adapted to containerization. Companies were no longer prohibited from owning across different modes, which favored additional levels of integration. Shipping lines, in particular, began to offer integrated rail and road services to their customers. The advantages of each mode could be exploited in a seamless system. Customers could purchase the service to ship their products door-to-door without having to concern themselves with modal barriers. With one bill of lading, clients were able to obtain a single rate, despite the transfer of goods from one mode to another. Additionally, double-stacking, Inter Box Connectors (which removed the requirement for bulkheads on double-stack rail cars) and the development of land-bridges in the mid s, proved to be a boost to long distance inland containerized distribution in North America. Containerships Containerships are the foremost expression of containerization in global trade. The first generation of containerships was composed of modified bulk vessels or tankers that
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could transport up to , TEUs. At the beginning of the s, because the container was an unproven transport technology, reconverting existing ships proved to be the least expensive and least risky solution. These ships carried onboard cranes since most port terminals were not equipped to handle containers. The ability of ports to handle containerships ceased to be a major concern with the setting of specialized container terminals around the world, which permitted cranes to be removed from the ship design, allowing for more container capacity. Once the container began to be widely adopted at the beginning of the s, the construction of the first cellular containerships (second generation) entirely dedicated for handling containers grew as well. All containerships are composed of cells lodging containers in stacks of different height depending on the ship capacity. Economies of scale rapidly pushed for the construction of larger containerships in the s because the greater the number of containers carried, the lower the costs per TEU. The process became a virtuous circle compounding larger volumes and lower costs. The size limit of the Panama Canal, which came to be known as the panamax standard, was achieved in . The risk of going beyond the third generation capacity of , TEUs delayed the next generation of larger containerships by a decade. It took years to go beyond panamax because of the perceived risk in terms of the configuration of the networks, additional handling infrastructure, and draft limitations at ports. In the fourth generation of containerships was introduced, breaching the , TEU barrier. The size limits quickly went to the fifth generation (Post Panamax Plus) with capacities reaching , TEUs in . Economies of scale are not without risk. Each subsequent generation of containership faced a shrinking number of harbors able to handle them. Containerships above the third generation require deep water ports (at least feet of draft) and highly efficient transshipment infrastructures, as well as efficient hinterland access, which are often costly. Containership speeds, which peaked at an average of to knots, are unlikely to increase due to higher energy consumption, which accounts for about percent of containership operational costs. The deployment of a specialized class of fast containerships has remained on the drawing boards because it is perceived that the speed advantages they would confer would not compensate for the much higher shipping costs. Supply chains have been synchronized with container shipping speeds. Although economies of scale would favor the construction of larger containerships, there are operational limitations to deploying ships bigger than , TEU. Containerships in the range of , to , TEU appear to be the most flexible in terms of number of port calls since using larger ships along trade routes would require fewer calls and thus be less convenient to service specific markets. Still, in , sixth generation containerships came online when the maritime shipper Maersk introduced a new class with a capacity of about , TEUs. This generation will take the new specifications of the expanded Panama Canal, which is expected to open by ; so the term New Panamax can properly define it. It remains to be seen which routes and ports these ships would service. They are limited not only by port infrastructure, but also by the logistical challenge of inland transportation. For example, moving , TEUs could fill or more -car double stack trains.
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Containerization and Trade In addition to containerization becoming a dominant component of the physical infrastructures of global trade, the array of goods being carried in containers has also changed. By lowering the cost of shipping, containerization enabled global trade and permitted a higher level of reliability of global freight distribution systems. Completely new practices emerged, namely global supply chain management. A variety of finished and intermediate goods could be easily traded, which enabled many supply chains to be securely expanded to low labor and material cost locations with their integrity and reliability readily maintained. The impact on maritime shipping has been astounding; while in containerships accounted for about percent of the total tonnage, they carried about percent of all the ton-kms handled. For manufacturing parts and finished retail goods, containerization can be considered as essentially complete, with the bulk of this trade being containerized, particularly in sectors related to retailing, intermediate, and consumption goods. Containerization has largely achieved a phase of maturity where its market potential has been mostly captured. For instance, commercial trade between China and the United States is almost completely containerized. Future containerization growth is thus more likely to be linked with business cycles than with market diffusion. A new segment of containerized transportation, commodities, has experienced a spectacular growth in the last decade. While commodities have always been containerized to some extent, particularly with the usage of refrigerated containers in the food sector (reefers), there are many types of commodities where containerized niche markets are being established. Grains, wood products (e.g., paper, pulp, paperboard, lumber), scrap materials (e.g., recycled paper and waste iron), produce and processed food products are particularly suitable for this transition, but require the setting of specialized supply chains. Containerization has indeed profoundly improved trade in almost every sector. From a mode that virtually did not exist in the s, global transport systems have adapted to containerization, which has become the vector of international trade as well as strengthening its efficiency and security. Jean-Paul Rodrigue References and Further Reading Cudahy, B.J. Box Boats: How Container Ships Changed the World. New York: Fordham University Press, . Levinson, M. The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, . Rodrigue, J-P, C. Comtois and B. Slack. The Geography of Transport Systems. London: Routledge, . Rodrigue, J-P and T. Notteboom. “The Geography of Containerization: Half a Century of Revolution, Adaptation and Diffusion.” GeoJournal , no. (February ): –.
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D
DIVING Diving is a method of human submersion under water. Evidence in ancient literature reveals tales of sponge divers often severely disabled or killed by the hazards of repeated dives. The significant ventilation challenges of diving continue today and result in deep oceans remaining relatively unexplored, an issue reflected in the limited knowledge of the species living in the sea. Exploration below feet is both difficult and expensive, but technological advances have transformed human opportunity to experience life under water. The recreational diver confined to depths of about meters can discover much amongst coastal waters, and consequently diving is one of the fastest growing hobbies. An estimated one million people qualify to dive each year, allowing them access to diving throughout the world. There is archeological evidence that man has been diving for food and treasure since ancient times. Early breath-hold or skin diving activity found in Chile reveals ,year-old human remains with the additional bone formation, now known as surfer’s ear. Unencumbered by equipment, free diving can be a satisfying activity for the diver, encouraging physical challenges and allowing freedom. Breath-hold diving continues to be used for competitive sport in spear-fishing and by professional divers. The U.S. Navy uses breath-hold diving for coastal reconnaissance or for clearing objects, as do the pearl divers of the South Seas and the Ama, as well as women of Korea and Japan who dive for food. By receiving payment for diving activity, these people are classified as commercial divers. Even with improved capability through practice, breath-hold diving always limits the time under water and restricts depth, requiring repeated descents and ascents. Limitations are reduced in breath hold diving by using a snorkel, a short breathing tube to
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Woman scuba diving in Cozumel, Mexico. Dreamstime.com.
aid efficiency. Again there are early records that using a short hollow reed as a crude breathing apparatus allowed cruising along the surface, saving repeated returns to the surface for air. Continued experimentation in ways of exploring the deep have resulted in the development of diving chambers, but the major breakthrough came during the mid-th century with the discovery of the aqua lung, which made it possible for divers to stay under water longer than they could hold their breath. The development of this type of equipment and with the lowering of costs, especially during the s, provided a boom-time opportunity for others apart from the experts to pursue an interest in the underwater world. Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) diving requires a range of equipment. This includes masks, fins, an air tank and air, a regulator or demand valve to breath through, and a contents gauge to show the level of air in the tank. There also should be a depth gauge, a watch with a timer device, a buoyancy aid, plus a weight belt and weights, and a full wet suit. This type of diving allows underwater photography where time is needed to descend, frame, and shoot the picture and then ascend to the surface. While breathing compressed air underwater, both nitrogen and oxygen enter and dissolve in the bloodstream. The regulator provides denser air and the deeper the diver goes, every breath is loaded with more nitrogen molecules accumulating in the tissues of the body. If an ascent is too quick from depth, excess nitrogen may form bubbles inside the blood and tissues of the body, creating decompression sickness (the bends); thus, dive
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JACQUES COUSTEAU Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau was born in St. André de Cubzac, France, on June 11, 1910. He is well known for creating, with Emile Gagnon, the first self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) in 1943. Prior to their invention, divers were confined to working in bulky suits that were attached to a boat on the surface of the water by a line of oxygen. SCUBA provided the freedom to swim underwater without this confinement, and allowed divers to see and experience parts of the ocean that were previously unknown. He also designed a submersible vessel for scientific research and filming, and a camera that could be used underwater. Captain Cousteau was honored throughout the world. He held prized positions in marine science and conservation. He advised the United Nations and the World Bank to help them develop the oceans in a sustainable manner. Also, Cousteau was one of the few foreign members of the United States National Academy of Sciences and served as Director of the Musèe Ocèanographique of Monaco for 31 years. He co-authored more than 50 books and produced more than 100 films. He was responsible for a very popular television series, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, which was produced from 1968 to 1976. During this time, he worked on his ship, the Calypso, traveling all around the world documenting marine ecosystems. Cousteau’s legacy is more controversial now. It has since been discovered, as reported in the Canberra Times, that “he held anti-Semitic views and enjoyed friendly relations during the Second World War with the Germans and the Vichy regime.” Further, there have been allegations that have been confirmed by his son Jean-Michel that Cousteau mistreated sea creatures during the filming of his series. This was a result of older documentary practices of staging animals in films, some of which died in the process. Still, Cousteau was a staunch advocate for ocean conservation and is credited with helping to launch modern environmentalism. Sylvia Earle eulogized him in Time, quoting Cousteau as saying, “We must explore! The greatest threat to the oceans is ignorance. Permanent mistakes are being made by good people who do not know what they do not know about the sea.” In 1973, he founded the Cousteau Society, an environmental non-profit organization that fights for marine preservation. This society is still an important player in international ocean management and policy.
tables are provided to advise divers to calculate the nitrogen build up and dissipation rate so that they can safely ascend. The range of opportunities for diving has burgeoned and there are many resort-based dive operators that will offer a series of dives for visitors. Live-aboard holidays offer a more intense holiday diving experience. These holidays offer the opportunities to visit more inaccessible places and provide non-stop diving. Divers also investigate wrecks and excavate marine archaeology, seek more evidence of the natural world, and work on the conservation of the marine environment. Diving also takes place at night, in
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caverns, or in ice, and there are also technical experiments in the achievement of greater depths. The increase in diving activity around the world is having an impact on the environment as well. Fisherman in the Cayman Islands claim diving scares fish away and may ruin their livelihoods. Despite there being no evidence to support these claims, the Cayman Island government has designated zones along its coastline where all diving is banned. Concern for the underwater environment is increasingly widespread and divers are now informed by training organisations like PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) of how they can help protect the underwater environment by being responsible and respectful. Julia Fallon References and Further Reading Halls, M., and M. Krestovnikoff. Scuba Diving Eye Witness Guides. London: Dorling Kindersley, . Srauss, M.B. and I.V. Aksenov. Diving Science Essential Physiology and Medicine for Divers. Leeds, U.K.: Human Kinetics, . Wood, L. Dive Guide: The Cayman Islands Over Top Dive and Snorkel Sites. London: New Holland publishers (UK) Ltd., .
E
ECOTOURISM Ecotourism, an abbreviation of ecological tourism, is tourism that assists in the conservation and well being of communities, stressing the principles of sustainability in developing forms of responsible visitation to natural areas. Ecotourism began to become popular in the s, when suppliers began promoting an experience that is naturefocused, includes learning outcomes, and an understanding of sustainability. Excursions are primarily in lesser-developed parts of the world where the natural and manmade have been changed very little to accommodate a visitor, ideally preventing disruption to ecosystems and the natural order. If any development takes place, it is to be small-scale and locally controlled. Building should complement the existing architecture and infrastructure, and negotiations should be inclusive with all stakeholders equally involved. Advocates stress balance, but this is very subjective, especially when economic growth is the primary concern. Inevitably there will be a tension between economic growth and environmental protection. Before becoming widely popular, early ecotourism destinations—like Kenya, the Galapagos Islands, and Thailand—experienced negative impacts from an increased number of visitors, and the developments to accommodate their visits often caused damage to fragile ecosystems. This is clearly the case in Spain where the Coto Doñana, a publicly owned national park, was established to conserve the wetland area home to many species of wintering birds. Nearby mass tourism and more intensive agriculture is adversely affecting ecotourism, even when there has been outright purchase of the land by conservation groups. Locations such as Fiji are considered a success in regard to the goals of ecotourism. The inland location of Abaca Village has a traditional lodge built to accommodate
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Sign for the Rivers Eco-Lodge, an environmentally friendly retreat near Dominica’s wild east coast. AP/Wide World Photos.
twelve visitors, and in the Abaca Ecotourism Cooperative Society Limited was registered to formalize the participation and ownership structure of the venture. The model advocated is such that communities will give a fraction of their communal land to the national park, and in return receive shares in a company that promotes ecotourism in the area. Aside from the ecotourism revenues, other tangible benefits include the formation of a medicinal plant arboretum, a tree seedling nursery, and the use of the tourism vehicle to transport children to school. Because these Fiji destinations are nearby the more mainstream mass tourism developments, and often an add-on to the existing mass tourism resort product, transferability to other potential locations is questionable. Attaining balance and a synergy between different types of developments is not an easy mix, and the close proximity for different land uses often creates undesirable tradeoffs. As interest in ecotourism has grown, a major greening trend has begun within the tourism industry starting in the late s. While some suppliers have initiated public relations driven eco-initiatives that are little beyond reusing towels, there have also been significant initiatives to establish best practices, such as those put forth by Green Globes, an environmentally-oriented assessment system for businesses and building owners. The following are Green Globes’ nine benchmarking performance areas:
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ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT (1973) EXCERPT Also known as the Environmental Species Conservation Act, this law was enacted on December 28, 1973, and became a milestone in the environmental conservation movement in the U.S., offering federal protection to a broad range of animals and plants threatened with extinction due to past environmental carelessness. The purposes of this Act are to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species, and to take such steps as may be appropriate to achieve the purposes of the treaties and conventions set forth in subsection (a) of this section. … The Secretary shall designate critical habitat, and make revisions thereto…on the basis of the best scientific data available and after taking into consideration the economic impact, and any other relevant impact, of specifying any particular area as critical habitat. The Secretary may exclude any area from critical habitat if he determines that the benefits of such exclusion outweigh the benefits of specifying such area as part of the critical habitat, unless he determines, based on the best scientific and commercial data available, that the failure to designate such area as critical habitat will result in the extinction of the species concerned. … The Secretary of the Interior shall publish in the Federal Register a list of all species determined by him or the Secretary of Commerce to be endangered species and a list of all species determined by him or the Secretary of Commerce to be threatened species. Each list shall refer to the species contained therein by scientific and common name or names, if any, specify with respect to such species over what portion of its range it is endangered or threatened, and specify any critical habitat within such range. … Whenever any species is listed as a threatened species…the Secretary shall issue such regulations as he deems necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of such species. … The Secretary shall develop and implement plans (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as “recovery plans”) for the conservation and survival of endangered species and threatened species listed pursuant to this section, unless he finds that such a plan will not promote the conservation of the species. The Secretary, in development and implementing recovery plans, shall, to the maximum extent practicable… give priority to those endangered species or threatened species, without regard to taxonomic classification, that are most likely to benefit from such plans, particularly those species that are, or may be, in conflict with construction or other development projects or other forms of economic activity… incorporate in each plan… a description of such site-specific management actions as may be necessary to achieve the plan’s goal for the conservation and survival of the species; objective, measurable criteria which, when met, would result
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in a determination, in accordance with the provisions of this section, that the species be removed from the list; and estimates of the time required and the cost to carry out those measures needed to achieve the plan’s goal and to achieve intermediate steps toward that goal.
Greenhouse gas emissions; Energy conservation and management; Fresh water resource use; Ambient air quality protection; Wastewater management; Waste minimization, reuse, recycling (including hazardous substances); Ecosystem conservation and management (including biodiversity impact, particularly on habitats); Environmental and land-use planning, particularly in areas of high social and environmental value; and Local social, cultural, and economic impact, in particular, respecting local culture and generating maximum local employment. Many ecotourism implementation problems are the result of travelers’ lack of awareness. In response, tourism suppliers have begun to inform their clients about environmental issues at destinations. The United Kingdom’s Travel Foundation, which was set up with donations from the travel industry, promotes responsible tourism and has even produced a short film about the breeding problems of turtles in the Mediterranean affected by mass tourism. Critics call ecotourism “ego tourism” because they feel that any attempts at responsible travel are futile, and that it is simply feel-good travel. Tourism Concern, a U.K. group that fights exploitation in the global tourism industry, has responded by pointing out that million people around the world are dependent upon tourism for their livelihoods, and since tourism can be a significant force for change, ecotourism practices can make a difference. Julia Fallon References and Further Reading Harris R., T. Griffin and P. Williams. Sustainable Tourism: A Global Perspective. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann, . Page, S.J., P. Brunt, G. Busby and J. Connell. Tourism: A Modern Synthesis. London: Thomson Learning, . Shaw, G., and A.M. Williams. Critical Issues in Tourism: A Geographical Perspective. nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, . Williams, S. Tourism Geography. London: Routledge, .
F
FISH AND SHELLFISH FARMING Human attempts to farm fish and shellfish, in pools, ponds, even the ocean, reach back many thousands of years with the origins of the many specialized practices lost in the mists of antiquity. Although the ancient Egyptians farmed fish in artificial ponds perhaps as early as the Old Kingdom, and the Greeks and Romans farmed shellfish, and the later even ocean fish in protected inlets and in cool houses with tanks designed for that purpose, the earliest systematic fish and shellfish farming was probably a Chinese invention. Chinese practices subsequently spread to much of the world, along with varieties of the domesticated carp, the preferred fish for faming in early China. Although the first fully reliable indications of systematic fish and shellfish farming date only from the Han Dynasty ( rd century b.c.e. to the rd century c.e.), the practices involved were clearly much older at the time, and fish farming, nearly always associated with wet rice agriculture, and its carefully developed rice paddies, probably had its origins in the early rice agriculture of the Yangtze Basin. Rice was introduced relatively early in the Neolithic Period, and was among the first grain cultivated anywhere in the world. The cultures involved used a great variety of aquatic resources (including the various water chestnuts as a gathered, then cultivated resource) and then, as today, fish and shellfish were important parts of the dietary intake. The wet rice system of the Yangtze eventually spread to other parts of China, with some traditions coming from other centers of rice cultivation, principally in northern Southeast Asia, and possibly Korea, and with it the farming of fish and shellfish usually in the irrigated paddies themselves. By the Song Dynasty (th–th centuries), the entire south had adapted to this system whereby fish, and even shellfish, were taken and introduced into the paddies at the times that they were flooded, and then harvested
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when the paddies were drained, sometimes as live animals for restaurant use where the emphasis, as traditional in China, was on absolutely fresh seafood. Modern carp, and the present commercial varieties, are all more or less ancient Chinese domestications particularly adapted to such conditions, and actually thrive in muddy environments with lots of organic particulate in the water. In the water, the carp can consume organic matter of various sorts as well as insect larvae, including mosquito larvae, making them extremely useful in rendering the swampy Chinese south fit for human habitation. The swamps served the dual function of fish cultivation and grain production, and provided the means for the Chinese population to swell. By the time of the Yuan (–) and Ming (–) dynasties, such practices had even been extended to other kinds of fish, including shellfish. Under the Ming Dynasty, the government made systematic efforts to encourage all forms of aquaculture, including marine aquaculture. Some of the earliest Chinese written descriptions of such practices come from the Ming period, including some works attributed to Fan Li, a man who is supposed to have lived nearly , years earlier and to have invented Chinese fish farming. Alas, Fan Li, if he ever existed, is a mythical figure and the attribution of works on the topic to him is pious forgery, of a type well known in other areas of Chinese development, possessing a tendency to assign certain key inventions of sages of the past, even when there was no logical reason to do so. Under the Mongol Yuan, Chinese-style fish farming spread west, along with the domesticated carp, which became the most important farmed fish in late-Medieval Europe. Monasteries were particularly involved in its production, both for profit and also to meet a growing demand specifically for fish, as the tradition of eating fish on Fridays and fish for Lent spread in Europe, to the benefit of the Church itself and the northern cities with their fishing fleets. This was not actually an old practice, but a Medieval innovation for obvious commercial reasons. In Europe, introduced carp farming existed alongside older practices, stemming from Rome. Charlemagne, for example, encouraged fish farming in his estates, and the Carolingian Empire included parts of formerly Roman Italy, largely in the Roman pattern. Modern aquaculture drew on these early practices but really only emerged as such in the th and th centuries with the first experiments at the captive breeding of fish to replenish the stocks of fishermen, and also for the direct, captive production of fish like salmon, for example. Nonetheless, it has only been in the last to years that fish and shellfish, along with marine vegetable farming in places such as Korea, have really taken off. There are a number of reasons for this. The most important one is technology. More in known today about fish, shellfish, marine vegetables, and other consumable resources than in the past, and growers are far better able to farm them productively, and to produce a healthy and marketable product, sometimes even a live product where the preferred Asian consumption of fish is concerned (the live fish being stored in tanks in supermarkets and restaurants, to be harvested as needed to be eaten within hours of their demise, the old Roman practice too). People now know how to raise fish and other aquatic products entirely under human control or in captivity, even intensively, and also
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know more about fish biology and medicine, and understand the environmental factors active in aquaculture and how fish and shellfish farming, for example, affect other economic activities or are affected by them. A second reason for the popularity of aquaculture today is resource depletion throughout the world affecting most species of fish, shellfish, and other aquatic resources. Inland fisheries have long been in decline, particularly in countries such as China where the natural bodies of water are highly polluted at best, and toxic at worst, and many once plentiful species are all but extinct. Although not strictly an inland fish, since it lives both in fresh and salt water, salmon, for example, is particularly sensitive to altered ecosystems: The massive destruction of salmon streams is making salmon a diminishing resource, in spite of its popularity as food. Even the lowly catfish, once a staple of poor southerners in the United States, can be in short supply in many areas where the fish was once abundant (thus it is now farmed). Other popular species are all but extinct and the Caspian sturgeon is now considered an endangered species in spite of its popularity for caviar. Aral sea fisheries are entirely gone and may never be restored, even if the Aral gets much more water, which is itself an unlikely event. In the oceans, most major fisheries are over-fished or sadly depleted and some once common varieties of fish are now rare. One example is the North Atlantic cod, relatively abundant as recently as the s, but now nearly extinct in much of its former ranges, this in spite of the best efforts of men and institutions to control its fishing and help stocks to recover (misconstrued official efforts in fact were part of the problem). Cod are now farmed in Iceland and Norway, but this is an expensive undertaking and highly unlikely to ever restore the position of cod as a major food fish and source of income for all those involved in its fishing. Fishing in the st century appears to be reaching the limit of what can be caught in the oceans. Further gains from fish and shellfish and other capture of aquatic resources can only be had through a careful coordination of resources, reducing waste (which is still too large, including fish and shellfish unintentionally caught), and utilization of a few remaining unexploited aquatic possibilities. However, most likely these gains will not be substantial; they will be expensive and will not by any means put capture fisheries into a position whereby they can respond to growing demand. The fact is that fish and shellfish, along with other key aquatic resources such as seaweed, in Asia, are vital components of human nutrition, either directly, or indirectly through such things as fish meal fed to animals. There is a growing demand for cheap aquatic protein throughout much of the world, as well as specialized fishery products such as luxury fish and sushi to meet expanding markets. The problem is that the demand is up for fish, shellfish and other aquatic products, and as living standards rise, more people are able to pay the premium prices that many products command, but population growth is now likely to continue, up to perhaps billion people by . If the role of aquatic foods in meeting human nutritional needs is to remain constant (seafood as a percentage of total nutritional intake), this means that the total output of aquatic products will have to rise even if demand for individual, including luxury products, remains constant.
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In order to meet this growing need for aquatic products, and supply the specialized markets (given the limitations inherent in capture fisheries), an expanded aquaculture of various kinds will need to be created. Thus, in recent decades, aquaculture has grown rapidly and in provided approximately percent of the world’s total aquatic product and, if the present trends continue, will soon be providing percent or more. Despite the demand, there will be limits slowing or even preventing the development of aquaculture in many areas because it competes with other economic uses of water and can be a major source of pollution, and itself can be affected by pollution. In the case of carnivorous fish, it is dependent upon capturing fish to provide the fish meal (twice the weight for a given weight of most of the fish raised in this category) needed to raise the fish in question. Fishmeal is in short supply in part because it is used to feed land animals such as chickens, which also compete with farmed fish as protein sources. There is also the age-old problem of subsistence versus luxury. Why should the world devote valuable marine resources to raising fish to make sushi for the rich or even luxury meals? Although aquaculture has the potential for great growth, its space-intensive nature (high output in a small area) is not as environmentally friendly as advertised. In any case, it seems to work best when producing basic protein from fish, shellfish, and other aquatic food sources located as far down the food chain as possible. That is to say, carp work very well, but farmed salmon or cod may not be such a good choice given limited resources although, as always, local conditions do mandate certain approaches and make a given approach more productive in some places than in others, such as cod farming in Iceland and Norway. In fact, given the coastal environments of both these countries, farming of major fish varieties seems the proper approach. Today, in fact, most farmed fish and shellfish are produced by Asian countries and most of these are for subsistence, although exporting of farmed fish and shellfish and other marine foods is lucrative for many Asian countries as well. Appropriately, China, the homeland of fish and shellfish farming, and the originator of many of the world’s current aquatic practices, is today’s greatest producer as well as the greatest exporter of aquaculture products, and not all of it to the Asian market. China’s aquaculture functions along two lines. On the one side, today as in the past, Chinese farmers and large numbers of Chinese are employed in all aspects of the fishing industry, including aquaculture, and are directly involved in fish and shellfish production largely for their own use. As for many thousands of years, carp of a number of varieties are raised in paddies, along with some shellfish, and occasionally new fish varieties have adapted to this environment as well. Most fish are eaten locally, which has been done from time immemorial, but some are sold to markets and distributors. In some cases, more prosperous farmers, agricultural cooperatives, and agribusinesses control ponds where they practice aquaculture, are in direct competition with other farmers badly needing the water, thus creating friction. In addition to such practices, on the other side, there are a number of formal enterprises of various sizes doing both inland and marine aquaculture, some of considerable scope. The largest part of their product goes to meet the domestic market, but exports from this source are considerable too.
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A worker loads a basket of freshwater fish imported from mainland China fish farms at the wholesale fish market in Hong Kong. AP/Wide World Photos.
Chinese farmed shrimp, for example, although a recent innovation, is a major moneymaker in today’s China. A great deal of other aquaculture products are exported as well, including seaweed, widely eaten by Asians throughout the world, and by some non-Asians directly or in other products. In their enterprises, the Chinese have been experimenting with alternative feed for carnivorous fish, ones not based upon fishmeal but other locally-based products. As in times past, efforts are made to combine regular agricultural production, of pigs, for example, whose excrement can fertilize marine resources, with aquaculture. This is clearly the wave of the future and, if such efforts are successful broadly, particularly alternative feeds, China will be able to greatly increase its aquaculture even if the supply of fish meal and more directly used fish products declines. Nonetheless, China’s environmental problems, which loom larger and larger as Chinese development accelerates to keep the lid on dissent by providing rapid economic growth, will certainly exert a negative influence on the development of Chinese aquaculture even if technology pushes it forward. Given China’s growing population and rising material levels, it will have no choice but to push its aquaculture efforts. Such efforts, in any case, have long been a part of the Chinese system of agriculture and thus are natural to China.
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Elsewhere in Asia the patterns are similar except there is less pressure to grow the industry, and more concern for the environmental impact. In Thailand conflict exists between aquaculture and other use of scare water resources, including keeping coastal ocean water resources unpolluted. In Korea, which probably has the most extensive aquaculture in non-Chinese Asia, seaweed and relatively easy-to-grow shellfish are dominant, yet they are cultivated labor-intensively along with cheap fish, such as the traditional carp, and luxury fish. Japan by contrast, is particularly interested in luxury fish and in controlling the production of fish for sushi, a national dish, and one that Japan has now exported to many parts of the world. In impoverished Bangladesh, by contrast, the Grameen Bank has taken over a failed government attempt at aquaculture and, by careful attention to biology and environmental conditions, has turned it around, using Chinese and Indian species of fish. Aquaculture in North America is varied, with salmon farming a particular focus since salmon is a favorite food, the trade is relatively lucrative, and salmon has become a symbol of environmental decline, or recovery in many areas. Salmon is also a political fish. A certain part of the harvest is guaranteed to Native Americans in the United States, in the Pacific Northwest in particular, where the Native American populations once lived on salmon as a staple food, and this has created controversy in an area of declining salmon runs. Also creating controversy is a continued conflict between Canadian and U.S. fishermen and authorities regarding who is really responsible for the collapse of the salmon runs in many areas and what is to be done about it. These controversies are likely to continue, and with them, U.S. and Canadian government interest in farmed alternatives to wild salmon. The alternative would be a highly expensive program to restore the streams and rivers once used by salmon, but where they are extinct now; a program that, carried to a logical conclusion, would probably be impossible to achieve given major human development in an entire region stretching back now nearly years. In the author’s own home area, for example, the local salmon stream barely exists any more, and most of the water in it flows down into a sewer and is more or less lost. Thus, farmed salmon is now an important symbol, but results have been mixed and more research and a larger coordinated effort will be necessary to achieve any real success and avoid pollution problems in particular. In this regard, division of the catch between Native Americans and non-Natives, as well as between Americans and Canadians may be an insolvable problem since it will be impossible to please everyone. Native Americans may not be interested in investment in farming since they get the lion’s share by treaty and have a limited incentive to conserve stocks, at least less so than commercial fishermen with far more at stake. In South and Central America, there is considerable modern aquaculture today with Chile and Brazil among the leaders in development. Growth continues to be high in both regions, with production ranges similar to other places. Peru is another candidate for developing aquaculture since it has the resources of the upper Amazon system, in particular, and is a major home of fisheries. If it hopes to continue to be a major producer, given the realities associated with marine resources, it will have to develop
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aquaculture. As in Europe, and for that matter, in North America, aquaculture is, in and of itself, nothing new. The Aztecs, for example, came close to farming fish in their floating chinampas located on the great lake that is now Mexico City. In North America, Northwest coast Native Americans did attempt to stock streams, mostly those in which native salmon runs had died out. This was probably done elsewhere for other fish too, particularly in tropical areas located in or directly on the sea where knowledge of local fish and shellfish is usually extensive. In Europe, aquaculture has been extremely localized given the many countries active in it, and demand and production regionalized. Some countries, such as Spain and Portugal, where salt cod is a national food, are heavier fish consumers in general than others, although cod is not farmed in those countries. In the Mediterranean region, Spain, France, Italy, and Greece are the leaders in aquaculture. Of the first three, probably reflecting old Roman traditions and local environmental realities, mollusk production is the highest, while in Greece production is highest of freshwater fishes. There is also now a substantial production of diadromous fish in Spain, France, and Italy. These basic relationships are unlikely to change but production continues to grow. The Middle East has also had its old traditions of fish and shellfish farming. Today, Egypt is the major producer, mostly of freshwater fish. Other countries in the area have much smaller programs. Although water resources are limited in many parts of the region, this may change in the future since there is nothing really preventing the further development of aquaculture; Iran is increasingly a major player in aquaculture and its role may grow with rapid development at present. One would expect Iraq to begin fish farming too, given its marshes and substantial river flow. Aquaculture is also relatively underdeveloped in sub-Saharan Africa, and there has been little investigation of indigenous traditions. Australia follows European and American patterns, and there is considerable potential for future development. Given the importance of fish, shellfish, and other marine and inland products as food, aquaculture has a considerable history in the world, even if this history has not always been chronicled. Even with the decline of marine fisheries of every kind, and the strict environmental limits now placed on all future development, aquaculture is sure to grow in importance to feed a rising world population, particularly in areas traditionally dependent upon aquatic resources as major sources of calories. Aquaculture will eventually account for at least half of all aquatic protein produced. This is a welcome development, but it must not be forgotten that today’s aquaculture can have its own highly negative impact upon the environment, an environment where conditions continue to worsen with little likelihood of any real improvement any time soon. In particular, an aquaculture that requires marine resources, even less desirable fish, to provide fish food on a two-to-one basis (e.g., two pounds of fishmeal and fishmeal products for every ton of farmed fish), does not seem viable over the long term. By contrast, aquaculture focused on lower parts of the food chain or on vegetables, seems the wave of the future. As in other areas of nutrition, there is a compelling need to follow older Asian patterns. China’s traditional aquaculture has proven highly productive and, based upon carp and
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other marine and inland aquatic life, able to withstand rice paddy conditions. Shellfish such as oysters and the like make relatively few adverse environmental demands. Such fish also produce a superior product, given China’s traditions of fresh fish, even live fish, which can be easily transplanted. This, and not the fattening of tuna in special pens, or raising luxury fish for sushi, seems the most sustainable path to follow, and this reality is one primary reason why so much of today’s aquaculture, even European and American, has Asian roots Paul Buell References and Further Reading Anderson, E.N. The Food of China. New York: Yale University Press, . Costa-Pierce, Barry A., ed. Ecological Aquaculture, The Evolution of the Blue Revolution. Malden, MA: Blackwell Science, . Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, FAO Fisheries Department. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, . Watanabe, Tatsuya. The Ponds and the Poor, The Story of the Grameen Bank’s Initiative. Bangladesh: The Grameen Bank, .
FISHING METHODS AND TECHNOLOGY, TH CENTURY There are few activities that have not felt the increased pace of technical change, particularly since the mid-th century; and although fishing is one of the oldest activities known to mankind, it too has been subjected to extensive change in a modern age dominated by technology and computers. The modern age in fishing is often thought of as beginning with the installation of engines on fishing craft, and especially with the method of open sea trawling in which a power-driven vessel could tow a bag-shaped fishing net over the seabed. Although the installation of motive power in fishing boats was in itself a signal advance, a longer perspective also includes other technical changes that have certainly greatly increased the efficiency of finding and catching fish: there is now a virtual armory of equipment and fishing aids available to those with the money to pay for them. However, it is arguable that developments in the organization of fishing has not kept pace with technical advance. Fishing is still largely based on a common property resource, and the techniques of fishing, although potentially (and often actually) of greatly enhanced efficiency, have very often produced a train of adverse consequences. Further, efforts to develop organizational measures and regulations have often gone very poorly; and as a result fisheries have been problem-ridden and in crisis in many parts of the world. In practice, there have been many awkward compromises in management arrangements as the full deployment of modern fish-finding and fish-catching techniques has been restrained in the interests of conservation; and this has been not infrequently in favor of traditional fishermen who are relatively numerous but of limited means and
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Fisherman hauling trawl nets full of cod. Corel.
often at best can make only restricted use of the range of modern methods. However, the management regimes adopted have often not been looked upon favorably by economists, who in general wish to see minimal restraints on the full use of capital and labor as well as the use of the most effective catching methods. Since the s, the extent of the open international sea for fishing purposes has been much restricted as the modern legal doctrine of -mile wide fishing zones has become accepted. There are still many problems within national fishing zones and in the share-out of the yield of straddling stocks on the boundaries between national zones. Another modern problem is that the living standards of fishermen have frequently lagged behind the rest of the population, and this has often led to demands for special arrangements in the form of aid from public funds. Fishing has also become more marginal to the economies and in the employment structures of the majority of nations: formerly fishing was of considerably greater importance in countries like Norway and Canada, but now it is only in a country like Iceland, which is very scarce of other resources, that fishing has a major place. However, when viewed against this background, fishing tends to have an anomalously high political profile in international affairs.
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The Development of Fishing in Modern Times Fishing is an age-old activity that can be traced back to the earliest beginnings of human cultures. Yet for the great part of prehistory and history, sea fish have been exploited at levels that have rendered natural fluctuations the main determinants of any changes in availability; and threats to the continuance of fish resources were in the pre-industrial age almost unknown. Although there is a long and colorful history of fishing in different parts of the world, it was not until the employment of power-driven fishing vessels and the use of power-hauled gear that there was a spectacular rise in catch rates; and these advances date from the later th century. Another important (if less spectacular) advance that has come in the last half-century, is the use of artificial rather than natural fibers for making fishing gear. These artificial fibers have the properties of being stronger and rot-proof, and as well as in general allowing gear to be bigger. This development has saved a great deal in terms of maintenance and renewal. Such fibers as nylon have become normal in fishing gear throughout much of the world. There has also been the application of the computer to fishing gear and to fish finding equipment that has added efficiency and precision to fishing methods. The deployment of what might be termed modern fishing techniques began effectively in the North Sea to help provide cheap protein-rich food for the then expanding cities of northwest Europe, especially those of the United Kingdom; but they were also taken up in North America, Japan and elsewhere, and since the middle of the th century have become virtually world-wide. At the same time, there has been a prominent acceleration in the development of fishing equipment and of fish finding and position fixing at sea; and although powerful forces of modernization have prompted these changes, the long-run result is that the fishing industry has become, in an important sense, too efficient. Fish are caught at rates that are in excess of those that they can replace themselves by spawning and growth. Although fishermen and fishing interests have been all too aware of the problem, there have been inadequate organizational restraints to prevent resource depletion. Thus there is an intractable problem: even on the best fishing grounds, fish are in the main rather thinly scattered, and to finance adequate systems of scientific monitoring, surveillance and management have not proved economically or politically possible. Although satellite tracking of vessels is possible, this does not always help in getting legal proof of violation of regulations. An additional modern complication has been the rise of the environmental political lobby. This tends to campaign for the maintenance of, or return to, the natural food web and to view accepted fishing practices as ecologically damaging, wasteful, or indeed cruel.
The Modern Development of Fishing Methods Fishing methods have improved especially rapidly in developed countries, above all in the past half-century; and to an extent this has been encouraged by governments, both to promote modernization and to give higher living standards to fishermen. In general, fishing has been an activity that has tended to develop too slowly relative to other
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activities, and living standards of fishermen have often lagged behind those of other professions. The remedy for this, especially for about two decades after the mid-th century, was seen as the improvement of boats and equipment, which allowed fishermen to increase their incomes by catching more fish. While this had some success, one of the side effects was that fishing pressure increased along with raised incomes, thus successful fishermen re-invested more rapidly in better boats and gear to minimize their tax liability. Several countries, especially the (at that time) Soviet Union, also built fleets of big vessels that had the range to fish thousands of miles from base. The most elaborate organization ever undertaken in fishing ensued as these fleets were supported by floating factories, tankers, tugs, and even hospital ships. These ventures also had incentives in the sense that deep-sea fishermen were paid considerably more than was usual for workers on shore. While this did allow them to exploit fishing grounds more or less anywhere, its economic viability was questionable: the additional costs of building such fleets and operating them at long distances from base were substantial. In Japan, the modern consumption of fish has far exceeded that of nearly all developed countries, and as well as taking up advances made elsewhere, Japan itself has played an important role in the development of more efficient methods. Throughout the s and s, Japan vied with the Soviet Union to be the leading fishing nation. A secondary objective of the Soviet Union was building a reserve of trained seamen as a necessary accompaniment to the development and assertion of naval power. While such developments had proven success (as can be seen in the FAO Fisheries Yearbooks, which themselves were an innovation after World War II), it inevitably meant that exploitation rates were increased and that intensive fishing became widespread. A result of this was to provoke in the s a major change in the International Law of the Sea, which resulted in national fishing limits being extended miles from the coasts of states with a maritime frontage. Almost all the main fishing grounds, which are largely on the continental shelves, then came within national jurisdictions. This, in turn, has seriously limited the operations of distant-water fleets, and made an impact on the balance of catches between the nations of the world. As recognized above, in the period since the late th century a basic advance has been in the installation of power aboard fishing boats. However, the extra expense of additional power meant that, in most situations, fishing boats continued to rely on the power of sail and oar; and indeed during much of the th century the installation of power aboard fishing vessels was seen as idealistic and economically impossible. Yet the great increase in catching the power of steam-powered trawlers (see below) from about was a fundamental breakthrough, and it was enhanced by the ability of such trawlers both to handle bigger nets, fish at greater depths, and (most important) haul the gear from the seabed by steam winches. While this was the basic advance, much of the work was still done on exposed open decks, and to justify the capital investment in trawlers, fishing was often done in weather conditions and during seasons that involved not only hardship but also considerable danger. However trawling became a mass method of catching, replacing hook-and-line fishing as the main catching method: a trawl might
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be dragged over the seabed for several hours, and when hauled, might contain a catch of several tons. While undoubtedly more productive in producing large quantities of fish, the transition from line to trawl fishing was protracted and bitter around the North Sea and in the wider world; and indeed it has produced controversies virtually everywhere (such as Malaysia and India), where traditional fishermen have seen their livelihoods threatened by a new and more productive technique. This technique, however, was inexorable in the catching and delivering to growing markets of demersal (or deep water) fish, such as cod, haddock, and hake. While steam power was less decisive in its impact of the main traditional method of the drift net in catching pelagic, or shallow water fish species like herring, mackerel, and sardines, despite its much greater expense it did make some headway in the early th century. In the common drift-net method employed in taking pelagic species in the open sea, steam power did aid the hauling of the main rope to which nets were attached, but its main advantage was in allowing a quicker and more reliable return to port with the catches. In situations were this was linked to the establishment of auction markets (as in the United Kingdom) it was especially advantageous helping a vessel with installed power get back to port more quickly and reliably than a vessel under sail. In more recent times, the use of monofilament drift nets in catching tuna, while proving effective, have been the focus of many criticisms from conservationists because of the by-catch of other species. Trawling Arguably the development of the trawl was the greatest single advance in fishing methods. Trawling over the last century and a half has grown to become a major method world-wide; and it was well suited to the ability that has developed since the advent of power-driven fishing vessels to pull a bag-shaped drag net through the sea or over the seabed to catch fish. Since the middle of the th century, trawling has been developed to take fish at intermediate depths; and with modern aids in fish finding it has become a versatile and powerful technique. The idea of a drag net pulled behind a boat was not in itself new, and indeed had been deployed, along with other methods for centuries; but its use had been restricted to particular situations that were largely inshore. However the power of the trawl, when worked from power-driven vessels that could tow gear through the sea or over the seabed, increased greatly and moreover could be used all over the continental shelves and indeed beyond, on the continental slopes. The development since World War II has accelerated and has been diffused on a global basis. The proof of the efficacy of the trawl method is the crisis in conservation of fish resources that has resulted in many parts of the seas of the world. However, the development of trawling is a very late chapter in the development of fishing gear and fishing methods, and is essentially related not just to the availability of inanimate power to drive fishing boats and operate their gear, and is not an unmixed blessing. It has what is an advantage in most situations of being labor saving. In contrast, as a rule, earlier fishing methods did demand knowledge and expertise that came from generations of experience but depended much more on human muscle power; and although these methods were associated with
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lower living standards, they also put less pressure on resources and over-fishing was seldom a danger in the open sea. The effects of the trawl have been enhanced by a series of innovations and improvements. Early trawls were all beam trawls: the beam along the headline was necessary to keep the mouth of the trawl bag open when the trawl was being towed through the sea. However the beam was necessarily heavy and awkward as well as limited in size. At the end of the th century a better way of keeping the mouth of the trawl bag open was found with the otter trawl, which used otter boards (or “doors”): when suitably rigged on the warps (or cables) that were attached to the trawl (and to the trawler on the surface) this used the pressure of water as the trawl was dragged through the sea to force the otter boards outwards and keep the trawl bag open. While the otter trawl has become the most used device, the beam trawl still has value in some fisheries, especially those for flat fish in shallow water. In Holland and Belgium, it is still much used in the sole and plaice fisheries in the shallow southern North Sea. An important advance from the s was the stern trawler, which hauled the net over the stern, and was made possible with an effective guard on the propeller to prevent the net fouling it. This made hauling of the net easier; and to this was added the shelter deck, which made working conditions for the crew less hazardous. Yet the shelter decks were not an unmixed blessing as it meant that the crew members could no longer see waves approaching the vessel and could be more easily thrown off balance. Another important advance was the use of synthetic fiber nets, which were stronger and longer lasting. More important still was the innovation of freezing the catch at sea. When trawlers started going to distant waters at the end of the th century, they preserved their catch aboard in ice, and even in temperate climates their maximum time at see was three weeks at the most. Freezing at seas removed this restraint and allowed fishing trips to be of indefinite length. The trawl, when first employed, had to be used only on smooth sea bottom: as well as making towing easier, this avoided excessive damage caused by snagging on rocks or other obstructions. However by putting steel spheres on the trawl footrope, damage to the trawl itself could be minimized and rougher ground could be fished. A later invention was the rockhopper trawl that contained rubber or plastic wheels on the footrope and could lift from the seabed when it met obstructions. Even with netting wings attached to the trawl there was a limit to the breadth of sea bottom that could be swept by the trawl. One solution to this was to employ the two-boat trawl in which one warp is attached to each boat, which can in turn set their courses at a distance apart when trawling; with the power of two boats rather than one it was easier to tow at a greater speed and increase the catch rate. This sort of arrangement also made it easier to trawl at intermediate depths; two boats operating in this way could pay out a known length of warp and for a given speed governed the depth at which the trawl fished. The method was used early on by pareja, or pairs of trawling boats in Spain, and was much used in the s and s in western Sweden, and in Denmark in the herring fishery for fishmeal. It later became commonly used in Britain and elsewhere for bottom trawling for
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demersal fish. With more powerful engines in boats, another development was the use of twin-rig trawls by which a single boat could use two trawls at the same time. There were subsequent improvements that enhanced the efficiency of trawling further. Installed engine power kept increasing, which meant that it was easier to tow at greater speeds and to handle bigger trawls; electronic aids attached to the trawl itself meant that it was possible to ascertain its precise depth, and set it to catch fish shoals located by an echosounder. Other Techniques of Demersal Fishing While the trawl has been subject to more innovations and elaborations than any other form of fishing gear, it has not entirely displaced older and traditional techniques, although these have often been developed and refined. While line fishing does not generally catch fish in the same quantities as trawling, it does avoid compressing the catch in the trawl bag, and the line catch can have a premium quality. In some case this is simplified when species like mackerel will take an un-baited hook. However the traditional techniques of lining were very labor intensive and various methods have evolved to make them less so. Traditionally each hook had to be individually baited by hand, but systems of automatic baiting have been developed that can be used aboard. It is also possible to operate several lines off one winch, and to rig them so that they jig (rise and fall) automatically in the seas to attract the fish. Squid jigging has been extensively employed by boats from Japan and other East Asian countries in the South Pacific. While the drag net has become the main modern technique of fishing, it has not always been used with steel warps. A technique that developed first on an extensive scale in the open sea in Denmark is that of the ground seine, which catches demersal fish on the sea bed. In this technique, ropes are attached to the net and when putting it out, the boat encounters a wide sweep so that the ropes enclose a big area of seabed. It is then winched in, and with the ropes closing under tension, stirring up the sand or mud on the sea floor, the fish swim inward and are taken in by the net. This gear can be worked with less engine power than the trawl and it was, for several decades, especially popular in Scotland. In Denmark it has been used mainly for catching plaice and sole, which are more abundant in the southeastern North Sea. In Scotland it was widely adapted more to catch other species like haddock and cod. Later refinements have included automatic coilers for the ropes, rope bins, and rope reels, all of which have been labor saving. Developments in echosounding have also been beneficial to demersal fishing as it has been possible to produce a magnified echo from near the seabed that reveals concentrations of fish. The total impact of modern methods on demersal fisheries has been harmful; and the reduction in catch of the major species around the North Atlantic—especially the cod, which for centuries was a leading species—gives rise to profound disquiet, and not only among fishermen. Although major commercial species are now subject to management regimes in the interest of conservation, the limited success—or indeed failure—of these regimes can only be a matter for concern. The fact that these demersal species have been
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the main species consumed in North America and Europe, raises big questions for the future. While in many countries the trend in the consumption of demersal fish was, for much of the th century, downward in favor of more animal protein from meat, pork, poultry, and eggs, in recent years red meat has become less popular in modern diets while fish has regained some popularity as a source of unsaturated fats. Pelagic Fishing In pelagic fishing, there were attempts to render the traditional drift net less labor intensive by automatic hauling and shaking, but these were of limited effectiveness. The development of the mid-water trawl proved more effective especially when towed with more powerful boats, and made it more difficult for fish to avoid the net; and when these boats were equipped with an echosounder and sonar to locate the fish, they proved more effective than the drift net. The more recent improvements in sonar means that the biomass of a shoal may be estimated before the shooting of any fishing gear. The successful deployment of the mid-water trawl meant that it became more difficult to recruit crews for the drift net, despite the fact that it had been the main method of pelagic fishing in the open sea for centuries. An important development was that of the purse seine net. The basis of this technique, which involved surrounding a shoal or part of a shoal with a net that was then closed off below to prevent escape, had been previously used in various places, particularly in the herring fisheries of the Norwegian fjords and the salmon fisheries of Western Canada. However, traditional methods of operating this gear necessitated relatively calm water; and it could involve several boats and much manual hauling that could be most strenuous and demanding. A great advance originally made in the North American salmon fisheries was the hauling of the net mechanically by a big power-driven pulley termed the power block. This was also able to handle a bigger net, and could be made stronger with synthetic fibers. Such nets could be made big enough to cover several football fields, and in favorable circumstances could catch several hundred tons of fish at once. There were other important advances in purse net boats: the installation of variable pitch propellers made them more maneuverable, while bow thrusters and side thrusters added to this maneuverability. While the success in fishing with the power-hauled purse net could be spectacular, the problems of effective conservation escalated. It is an outstanding fact that the herring fisheries of the North Sea of the Norwegian fjords, which had been among the world’s biggest, had to be suspended for a number of years largely due to over-exploitation with the purse net. The extensive deployment of the purse-net hauled by the power block was also responsible for the over-fishing of the important herring stock at Iceland. It was an important advance in some tuna fisheries, including those of California, in allowing shoals of tuna to be ringed, although the porpoises that were an indication of the presence of tuna were often caught as by-catch and this became an important conservation issue; but the most spectacular effects of the purse net with the power block were seen in the Peruvian anchovetta fishery in the s. The great dimensions of the anchovetta shoals made it the greatest fishery resource, by tonnage, on the
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globe: the weather off the Peruvian coast is very stable because of the prevalent high pressure atmospheric cell so that fishing was rarely interrupted by weather and could be pursued most of the year. With a rapidly expanding world market in fish meal used to provide for intensive stock rearing on land, the use of the purse net aided by the power block made this by far the world’s single greatest fishery by volume of catch, even if the relative value of fish meal is low. However, despite efforts to monitor this scientifically, the demand for cheap fish meal allied to the catching power used led to a spectacular crash in this fishery in the early s. While the purse-seine ruled for some two decades in the pelagic fisheries, it has actually proved less reliable in many circumstances than the mid-water trawl when operated from big vessels of adequate engine power and equipped with sonar to locate the shoals; and currently in Western Europe, such vessels catch most of the pelagic fish. While there remains a market niche for pelagic fish, their great importance in the Western World, and certainly in Europe must be seen as over: for centuries herring was a staple food in much of northern Europe, and as recently as the early th century the market for herring was larger than for any other fish. However, later generations with higher living standards are deterred by the number of bones and by the smell of an oily fish, and much of the modern catch goes to the low-value outlet of fish meal and contributes to the intensive rearing of pigs and poultry; and much fewer herring now go directly for human consumption. Shell Fishing Shellfish currently play a prominent role in the modern seafood marketplace. While there have been modern developments in the catching of these fish, in general they are less suited to mass catching methods than pelagic and even demersal species, as they show limited shoaling behavior. Additionally, the modern methods of echolocation used for pelagic and now for demersal species cannot be employed with shellfish, and there tends to be more use of trial and error methods in locating new fisheries. However, as a rule shell fish are (or have become) generally considerably more valuable by unit weight, and catching them in relatively small amounts, and often with relatively small boats, can be economically viable even in developed countries. Not a few of these shellfish species are located close inshore and small vessels are often better for catching them. With the rising incomes of many countries there has been a big expansion in the market for shellfish: and although they are more liable to rapid spoilage when out of water, modern techniques of freezing and transport have made them widely available as well as fashionable. Oysters have long been important in various parts of the Western World, and at one time were a source of cheap food in London; and in Chesapeake Bay were some of the best oyster resources anywhere, and were capitalized early on in the development of the states around the bay. Oysters, like other sessile species, have often been caught by dredges, although the vulnerability of the resource to over-fishing have often led to restrictions on catching methods, such as limitations of the engine power of dredge boats
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or even the prohibition of engines altogether. Lobsters are the other shell species that made an early impact in the West, but they usually inhabit rocky shores and have to be fished by a different method. A substantial advance in lobster fishing was the development of traps that could be baited and left in the sea; and in modern times these have often been linked by connecting ropes and can be hauled mechanically. This has been especially important in the fisheries of maritime Canada and New England, and has also been important in Northwest Europe. A shellfish species that is fairly widely distributed off the coasts of the British Isles is nephrops (known to the fishermen as prawns) and this can be caught along with white fish species in trawl nets: they have become extensively fished around the North Sea. Although of lower value than lobsters, various species of crab have also become important in the modern seafood market and tend to be caught by the same method of traps. The dredging method has also been utilized to take various species of scallop. Other Modern Developments Although the rolling and pitching of fishing boats continues to be inevitable, and continues to add an element of uncertainty and danger, there have been various innovations that have made life at sea more comfortable. At one time it was not incumbent on fishing boats to carry lights, although much of the work could be done in the dark. When lights did come in they were originally in the form of paraffin or acetylene lanterns, but in the last half century it has become usual for boats to have generators that make electric light available: this has clearly enhanced convenience when lights (including navigation lights) can be turned on in any part of a boat by a switch, as well as serving to power the various aids and gadgets that boats now generally carry. Another great aid that began in the inter-war period was radio, at first in the form of radio receivers, but in the last half century also radio transmitters. The advantages of these for emergencies is profound. Until the post-war period, position finding was based on course and distance, allied to the accumulated experience of wind and drift. However position finding has become a precise science: there was originally radio direction finding, and then the finding of position by the intersection of radio beams, and now the GPS (Global Positioning System), based on satellite navigation, allows a new level of precision in position fixing. As well as being an enhanced safety measure this does allow for the ability to return to precise spots where fish have been found. Another welcome innovation in many climates where fog can be a hazard is that of radar. In developed countries, fishing boats (especially the larger ones) now often have various other refinements: crews may be spread through several cabins or even have individual cabins, whereas even in the early steam trawlers and drifters all the crew (apart sometimes from the skipper) shared one big cabin. They may have separate mess rooms, and facilities like refrigerators and deep freezes for food are common place, and facilities like satellite television, shower baths and fitted carpets are not unusual. Such is the elaboration of facilities on even mid-sized boats of perhaps meter length. The
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auxiliary engines to power the generators can be as powerful as the boat’s main engine of a generation ago, although fuel bills are necessarily much higher. However if the best crews are to be attracted and retained, such modern facilities and amenities become essential. Modern Developments in the Third World While the greatest deployment of modern fishing methods has inevitably tended to be in developed countries, there have been significant changes in the Third World as well. In some cases Third World countries like South Korea and Thailand have developed fleets of bigger boats that have all the range of modern equipment. These boats are capable of fishing at long range and Korean boats, for example, work in the South Pacific, and even if under the modern -mile law of the sea regime they may have to pay for the privilege. However, most fishermen have been impacted by a number of smaller scale developments. The foremost of these is the installation of engines aboard traditional small crafts, which obviously aids mobility, reduces arduous manual work, and increases catching capacity. Another important advance has been the use of synthetic materials in ropes, nets, and other fishing gear: although these tend to be more expensive, their durability has been attractive even to fishermen of limited means. The distribution of fish through improved road transport has helped, and of great significance has been the provision of shipping facilities making ice by refrigeration: in warmer climates this has been a big asset in the distribution of fresh fish. How Far Will Fishing Be Displaced by Fish-Farming? The big question facing fishing now is how far the market of the future will be supplied by farmed fish rather than fish caught in the wild. The yield of fish from the sea by traditional methods has reached an apparent global ceiling, and fish farming is an activity into which considerable research and investment has been made for several decades now. Fish farming in fresh water has had a history of thousands of years in China; and while there is some tendency for fresh water fish farming to expand, fresh water has become increasingly scarce in many parts of the world, and water for fish farming comes into conflict with the rising demand of other water uses. In the recent past, there has been a rapid increase in the production from salt water, so that in recent decades the output of farmed fish has been rising at a rapid pace while the output of fish from conventional fishing has stagnated. While fish farming is capable of giving more controlled and regular supplies to the market, in the developed world it adds greatly to production costs and has largely been limited to more valuable species. As well as the cost of production there is also the great danger of pollution and disease of fish concentrated in cages rather than freely swimming in the wild. Japan, a highly developed country in which the per capita consumption of fish is considerably higher than in nearly all Western developed countries apart from Iceland, leads the world in the development of salt-water fish farming, and it has made enhanced efforts in this direction since its open sea fishing
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was constrained by the general extension of national fishing limits to miles in the s. The big success story in fish farming in Western countries is the raising of Atlantic salmon. Here the juveniles (up to the stage of smelts) are raised in fresh water, but the main growing phase of this anadromous species is in salt-water cages in sheltered water. This has been developed extensively in Norway, Chile, and Scotland. Yet its very success has led to a difficulty in conducting an economically viable enterprise in that competition has driven the price of one of the formerly most valuable fish down to the level of species like haddock and cod. Farming of salt water species is also being developed, although few have reached the stage of making a significant market impact. The modern scarcity of cod has helped to stimulate efforts to farm it and some of these are on the verge of the commercial stage. The farming of halibut, one of the most valuable of demersal species, is also proceeding and it is making an entry on the commercial market; and sole is another valuable species that has been featured in research efforts. A big development in the warmer parts of the world has been that of farming penaeid shrimp for distribution to widely spread markets: and this has been aided both by more rapid growth in warm conditions and by lower labor costs. While there is growing knowledge of the potential and problems of fish farming, to forecast its future contribution to the commercial market at the present juncture can only be a matter of speculation. There are promising indications for fish farming, and conventional fishing has a constrained future, but there are still many problems to be solved in regard to the future of fish farming. James R. Coull References and Further Reading Gabriel, Otto and Andres von Brandt. Fish Catching Methods of the World. Oxford: Blackwell, . Millus, Don. Wading South: Fishing in the th Century, Part II. Ocala, FL: Atlantic Publishing Co., . Sahrhage, Dietrich and Johannes Lundbeck. A History of Fishing. Hamburg, Germany: SpringerVerlag, . Schultz, Ken. Fishing Encyclopedia: Worldwide Angling Guide. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, .
FISHING METHODS AND TECHNOLOGY, UP TO THE LATE TH CENTURY Fishing for food is one of the world’s oldest professions. Cave art depictions and effigies of marine species, found especially in Spain and France, reflect the importance of fish to early humans. Ancient literature from Rome, Egypt, and China also includes descriptions of the methods employed by early civilizations. Most of the fish catching
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Egyptians hunt with boomerangs and spear fish from the Nile River in this scene from the tomb of Nakht. Corel.
innovations throughout the centuries can be attributed to trial-and-error experimentation, which have led to techniques that are both widespread and enduring. The basic technology has changed little over the millennia, and many types of gear is still in use— hooks and lines, rods, nets, and traps—would be recognized by ancient anglers. Yet these early pioneers certainly would be in awe of the sheer scale and efficiency with which these basic methods are now employed. The growth in scale and advances in sophistication of vessels are just as impressive. From hollowed-out log canoes and rafts, fishing vessels progressed by stages to forms such ships as the open-decked Norse (Viking) longships, to the early-modern era vessels like the cog, and then on to the th century specialized fishing crafts like schooners, which in some cases remained in use well into the th century—long after steampowered ships became dominant. Advances in vessels and fishing equipment made it possible to continue to increase the catch. Throughout history the advantages of increasing the fish harvest and creating a food energy surplus, benefitted society immensely. The discovery of late Stone Age lakeside settlements indicates that fish protein was vital to some of the world’s first settled peoples. So, even though Neolithic fishing eventually declined in importance relative to agriculture and raising of livestock, in countries like Norway, Japan, Iceland, and Portugal, marine resources continued to provide much of the protein and lipids for
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the populations. Thus, advances in fishing productivity—harvesting marine resources more efficiently—can be credited with playing a major role in driving population growth and spurring economic development because, as the fishing labor force became more efficient, the larger the food surplus created. Societies could then store surplus seafood for future consumption, or engage in trade, exchanging the marine surplus for goods and services. Well into the th century, over percent of the workforce was still engaged in food production or processing (as opposed to less than percent today in the developed world), so increased fishing productivity also had the benefit of freeing up an ever greater percentage of the population to work elsewhere, further accelerating economic progress. Ancient Technologies Some form of fish harvesting may have been practiced by pre-humans like the Neanderthals, who often lived near trout rivers and by coastal salmon stocks. According to William Radcliffe (), the earliest fishing was likely done by using one’s hands to catch fish stranded in shallows. The first fishing tools were probably spears much like those used in hunting, a technique that developed into the barbed spear harpoon; bows may also have been used to shoot fish in the shallows. Humans later progressed to fishing by hand-lines and finally by using nets (meshes nets made by knotting thin thread) of hemp and flax. Evidence of netting, sinkers, and floats go back at least to b.c.e., but the first fishing implements appeared much earlier. Modern humans produced fishing tools as early as , years ago, initially from stone. With the end of the last Ice Age, about , years ago, people began permanently settling areas adjacent to fish resources including rivers, lakes, and the sea itself. It was also around this time that one of the most enduring of fishing technologies appeared—the hook. Used in line fishing, the curved hook was meant to catch in a fish’s mouth, holding it fast to the line. Produced in one piece from bone, horn or wood, early fishhooks were widened on one end for attachment to a rope but were not barbed. Later developments included the compound hook, constructed from more than one piece of material, and the use of metal. Hooks replaced an earlier tool, the gorge. Straight, with points on either end, baited gorges were meant to catch in a fish’s gut when swallowed. Apart from their enduring nature, the most remarkable trait of these early fishing technologies was their wide diffusion. The true curved hook was known in early Europe, China, and Japan; it later appeared in both Polynesia and the Americas. Fishing spears, hand-lines and nets developed as far afield as southern Africa and North America; starting in the late th century, fascinated Europeans would chronicle Native American fishing technologies, which were comparable to those of their own ancestors. The first fisheries were certainly shore-based operations, but people were using primitive boats made of wood or skins to pursue fish by the Mesolithic period (– b.c.e.), if not earlier. The oldest traces of these vessels are paddles found in northwestern Europe, while slightly younger dugout canoes, dated from about b.c.e. have been unearthed in the Netherlands. These primitive vessels were cut from various tree species,
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especially oak and beech; a major limitation was the size of trees available in any given area. As time progressed the ancients’ vessel technology grew more sophisticated. In North America, the Inuit, or Eskimo, were using a type of one-person canoe known as a kayak for fishing and sealing more than , years ago and also employed larger-skin vessels called umiaks for whale hunting. Our knowledge of fisheries like those of the pre-contact Inuit is limited by the fact that such societies left no written record. With the emergence of literacy our understanding of ancient fisheries naturally increases. Fish were an important part of the diet of many ancient civilizations like the Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese. The Egyptians, for example, disdained sea fish in favor of freshwater varieties found in the Nile River. Likewise, the Chinese enjoyed certain types of fish such as the cuttlefish not popular in western cooking. For preservation, salt was widely used, as were the techniques of smoking and pickling. In the Roman Era (ca. st century b.c.e. to th century c.e.) fish products were preserved using the guts of species like mackerel and tuna in a strong spice sauce known as garum. As of b.c.e., the Sumerians employed barbed hooks fashioned out of copper (the barb was a small, backward-facing spike that prevented a hook from slipping out of a fish’s mouth). The Egyptians were early pioneers of the fishing rod. Egyptian rods used lines attached to the tip, although the fishing reel, an axle-mounted spool used to take in the line, was unknown to the ancients. In regard to lure development, Roman literature describes fishers constructing cloth or feather replicas of fish prey species to use as bait—the artificial fly—from the first century c.e., a technique probably wellestablished even then. Although, like many cultures before and since, the Greeks did not consider fishing a glamorous occupation, though the pursuit had a long tradition there as well. Homer’s epics, Iliad and Odyssey (th century b.c.e.) mention fishing with nets, rods, hand-lines, and spears. Indeed, one type of fishing spear, the three-pronged trident, became the symbol of both the Greek’s and the Roman’s sea god. Nets, constructed of various materials, including flax in Greece, and bamboo in China, were developed by most early civilizations, and showed great variety depending on function. In-shore Mediterranean fishers, for instance, could observe fish schools from high vantage points and employed the cast net, which was thrown out over the water and drawn in by hand (the modern cast net is circular and ringed with lead weights). Egypt provides some of the oldest depictions of using nets for fishing, dating from the Old Kingdom period (– b.c.e.), and almost all net types then known were in use there. Aside from such familiar technologies as nets, many ancient civilizations developed a variety of fishing techniques that are less well known today. Classical literature mentions the use of music to attract skates, although the practical application of this technique might be doubted. A more proven method of attracting fish was by the use of torchlight, a technology still used in the Mediterranean. The Chinese were especially innovative, pioneering kite fishing. By attaching a hook and line to a kite, one could fish greater distances from shore without using a boat, or over waters like shallows that were unsafe for vessels. Kite fishing was also practiced by Pacific Islanders, who may have invented the
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method independently. The Chinese also used specially trained cormorants in fishing, a proven method, though one that never caught on in the west. Along with the Romans, the Chinese are also credited with inventing fish breeding. Most of the ancient fishing technologies were well-suited to a fisherman standing along a riverbank or shoreline. In time, however, fishermen realized that more food was to be had by moving farther out into the sea or inland waters. To do this, one needed some form of boat. The long pedigree of the prehistoric dugout canoe and skin vessels were already in use, while the flat, floating platforms known as rafts were not far behind. All of the ancient maritime civilizations developed some form of seagoing vessels, but in general those used for fishing were small and often employed close to shore. Sumerian shipbuilding never evolved to a very sophisticated level, but the Egyptians developed the technology more fully. They built vessels of reed and later wood that may have been propelled by poles, paddles, and ultimately sails. As in the case of their actual fishing techniques, the Chinese were innovators as shipbuilders as well. The boxy, flat-bottomed Chinese vessels called junks (likely descended from rafts) may be humanity’s first true planked boats. First employed on inland waters, the junk has been used for coastal fishing and transport by the Chinese since about b.c.e., and it was later adopted by the Japanese. Medieval Developments Unlike China’s literary and cultural tradition, which continued in an almost unbroken chain from ancient to modern times, in Europe the fall of the Roman Empire and the subsequent barbarian invasions witnessed a temporary decline in learning, which is why information on fishing in the early middle ages is sparse. Nonetheless, fish from both freshwater and oceans remained an integral part of the European diet. As early as the sixth century, western Europeans developed a herring fishery in the English Channel and the North Sea. Though better known as warriors and general traders, the Scandinavian Norse also employed their versatile and seaworthy vessels for fishing. The suitability of these opendecked longships for such tasks is reflected in the fact that Scandinavian fishing boats resembled their Viking ancestors until the th century. According to Mark Kurlansky (), it was no coincidence that the Norse voyages to North America took them along the exact range of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). The codfish, preserved by wind drying, was a staple food of Viking explorers. Aside from cod, the Norse also fished for, and traded, species such as herring (Clupea harengus), pike (Esox lucius) and perch (Perca fluviatilis), while the use of salmon nets is mentioned in the Icelandic Sagas. The Norse were not Europe’s only early Mediaeval fishers. England’s Domesday Book () lists numerous fishing settlements. La Rochelle, France was a center of the sardine fishery from the th century, and an early fishery arose in Brittany inspired by the Norse. In this period one of the most prolific fishing peoples were the Basques, who still inhabit a homeland straddling the French and Spanish borders. As early as the year c.e., the Basque fishery, and their markets, were wide-ranging. Unlike the Norse,
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the Basques employed the ancient technique of salting to preserve their catches, a process especially suited to cod. Salt cod was, and is, a hardy product that made a durable trade good. Salting allowing Basque fishers to range further in pursuit of their prey. The mediaeval Basque fishery, and that of their contemporaries, was also boosted by the Roman Catholic Church injunction against eating meats, though not fish, on Fridays and certain fast days. In the medieval era, an important source of fish protein came from the stocking of fish ponds, a practice favored by certain monasteries, but a rising population fish-ponds and freshwater harvesting could not meet Europe’s food requirements. In the later Middle Ages, new fisheries developed in the north of Europe under the aegis of a German trade federation, the Hanseatic League, founded in . Along the southern Baltic coasts, the Hanseatic cities founded an important herring fishery that Dietrich Sahrhage and Johannes Lundbeck () consider the first fishery to develop to the level of a true industry. The grounds were largely inshore and fishers worked from small open boats. Baltic herring fishers employed a variety of gear such as seines, a simple form of net without a bag in the center that was deployed by a group of fishers. Much of the catch was preserved with imported salt and the finished product was exported in wooden barrels. Trade in fish became a pillar of Hanseatic success, and the Hansa were further aided by their shipbuilding technology. Their preferred vessel was the cog. Originally constructed for use in shallow waters, the cog was flat bottomed, with a clinker-build and mounting square sails. Able to carry up to tons of fish (or other goods), as a trader it was far superior to older forms, like the Norse vessels that were limited to no more than tons. In time the cog was itself superseded by new vessel types. An important development was the Dutch buss. Like the cog, the buss was a flat-bottomed craft originally intended for use in shallow seas. Busses first appeared in the early th century and were generally larger than cogs. Using busses, the Dutch were able to sail over much wider areas and fish for longer periods than competitors like the English. By , a Netherlands’ fleet of around busses was in existence. At the time, much of the regional herring fishery was concentrated at Nieuwpoort, Ostend, and Flanders, the only centers with the infrastructure to handle the large busses. Fishing from these busses was often carried out using drift nets, a long barrier of mesh about meters long and five meters deep. A vessel would be connected to the net at one end, keeping it vertical, so as to drift along snaring its quarry. The most suitable sizes of herring were selected by varying the openings in the net’s mesh. The drift net remains in use today. Herring might also be fished with hand-lines carrying one or two hooks. Long lines, a form of gear with multiple baited hooks attached to one main line, were used to catch cod and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) once the herring season ended (by the th century long lines of -miles length and up to , hooks were in use). Despite such advances, European fishers generally continued using technology their ancestors would have recognized, though the geographic range of their activities was about to greatly expand.
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New Horizons Prior to , European fishing was largely confined to local waters. Apart from the Norse Greenland settlements, which failed in the th century, European vessels probably ventured no farther than Iceland. With the European re-discovery of North America () the situation changed completely, and merchants had brand new fishing grounds to which to dispatch their crews. The New World’s fishery wealth was first noted by explorer Giovanni Caboto, or John Cabot (–), who reached Newfoundland in in the service of England’s Henry VII (–). Cabot reported that Newfoundland’s fish were so plentiful they could be taken not just in nets but also using weighted baskets lowered into the sea. Soon after Cabot’s voyage Bretons, Normans and Basques were actively fishing North American waters (by the early th century they were joined by fishers from the English counties of Devon, Cornwall, and Dorset). At first, the North American fisheries were inshore dry fisheries. In the early s, the larger fishing vessels, at around – tons, were not specialized. The mother ship played the role of transport and storage facility while the actual harvesting was carried out by men in small boats. Once caught, fishers carried their catch ashore for processing. In the early North American fishery, the shore station consisted of a wharf and a flake. The wharf was a wooden structure projecting out over the water on which the catch was processed, and the flake was a wooden platform covered with evergreen boughs on which the cleaned, gutted, and salted catch was placed to dry. The flake may have descended from Norwegian drying racks or from techniques pioneered by Native American fishers like the Mi’kmaq. The station also included accommodations for the workers and sometimes a separate cook room for meals. At the end of each fishing season, in the fall months, crews would sail back to Europe with their dried and salted catch, typically cod. By the late th century a new type of fishery developed, the green or wet fishery. Starting in early spring and lasting for around five months, the wet fishery involved vessels of no more than tons and small crews of a dozen or so (compared to upwards of men employed in the dry fishery). Harvesting was carried out offshore on the continental shelf, where cleaned fish were preserved in salt without drying and stored onboard the ship until it returned to port in Europe, a process similar to that utilized in the old North Sea-based Dutch herring fishery. In contrast to the dry fishery, crews normally never saw land, being based on their vessels through the entirety of the fishing season. In the early th century, the green fishery gave way to the bank fishery in which small vessels fished the banks but frequently returned to shore to clean and dry their catches. The popularity of the bank fishery largely prompted the growth in settlements in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and parts of New England.
Conservatism and Change Despite the acquisition of new North American grounds, the basic structure and technology of the North Atlantic fisheries changed very little from the mediaeval period
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through the th century. As late as the s, some fishers still pursued cod from small ( foot) flat-bottomed skiffs called dories, powered by oars or sometimes a sail. Based on a larger craft, the dory fishery was essentially the same as the old bank fishery of years prior. As Kurlansky () notes, a distrust of new technology has long been a trait of fishers worldwide, although Europe, with a long history of fishing and a great deal of competition, has tended toward innovation. From the th century onward, if not earlier, advances in fishing techniques followed one upon the other, even though their widespread adoption was often gradual. The continued development of shipbuilding was especially important, with specialized fishing vessels making their first appearance. The older buss was modified by reducing the number of masts from three to two and making the mainmast reversible. By the late s, a more efficient and seaworthy type of craft, the lugger, was introduced and eventually replaced the buss, although the latter did not disappear entirely until the s. Other forms like the smack, which the British employed for coastal trawling, also appeared. In , a Scarborough builder developed a new type of partially decked two-masted vessel that, at just over feet, became known as the Yorkshire yawl (later versions were larger and fully-decked). About the same time Yorkshire builders also developed smaller, open-decked craft specifically for the herring fishery. The schooner, one of the most important types of sail fishing craft, originated in America. First appearing around , schooners were fore-and-aft rigged with generally two to four masts. Starting off at around tons, schooners evolved to upwards of tons and crews of around by the early s. Schooners were often used in tandem with the dories that first appeared in the s. Piled onto the schooner’s deck, dories were rowed from the mother ship where their crews of one or two men fished by long lines, hand-lines and jigging (pulling a hooked lure, traditionally made of lead and often shaped like a small fish, up and down in the water to attract cod). Aside from the actual forms of vessels, new on-board technologies also appeared. In the Netherlands and Britain, the well, a compartment in which seawater circulated through holes, was introduced on cod fishers. The well allowed the transport of live product, permitting the marketing of fresh fish in the days before refrigeration. The well could also be plugged and used as a hold for the herring fishery. Gear was also improved in this era, though such developments had been long in the making. Formerly, herring drift nets had been constructed of hemp but from the s onwards, this material was replaced by a lighter, machine-made cotton product. Another development of the period was trawling, a technique that involved dragging gear behind a vessel. Originally, most trawling was done with long lines, and with the end of the Napoleonic wars in , the French took the lead in promoting the longline fishery. Used mainly in catching cod, this method required tremendous amounts of baitfish like herring and capelin, which the French found in abundance off the shores of Canada. Although dating to the th century, the widespread use of long lining was controversial, especially as the French paid subsidies to their long-line fishers, something
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Anglo-Canadian fishers considered unfair. Nonetheless, realizing the efficacy of the technique, they eventually joined in the long-line fishery. The next development in trawling came with the use of bag-shaped nets dragged behind one’s vessel just above the ocean floor (see Later Development of Fishing Techniques, Including Trawling). Like long lining, bottom trawling as it was known, was not a new idea. Shrimp had been caught in the English Channel for hundreds of years using horses to pull the nets along the shoreline. With the discovery of a new ground south of the Dogger Bank in , sail draggers began net trawling in the North Sea. Still, it was not until the end of the th century that the true revolution in trawling occurred with the appearance of steam-powered draggers, first used in the Port of Hull. A remarkable feature of fishing technology prior to the steam era was an apparent lack of concern about the impact new techniques might have on the resource. The debate over long-lining probably had more to do with Anglo-French rivalry than any fear of depleted fish stocks. As Kurlansky () notes, technology like long lines improved catches over the course of the th century and most observers were blinded to the fact that greater yields were not caused by abundant resources but simply by increased efficiency. There were some hints of things to come, however. In , Newfoundland enacted a law to regulate the mesh size of herring nets, while an British commission investigated complaints from driftnet fishers who complained that diminished herring catches were caused by the increased use of long lines. The fishers were ignored. Official judgments made in the s reiterated the Victorian belief that the sea’s bounty was limitless, something reflected in the enormous quantities of fish taken annually off the eastern seaboard of North America. Such attitudes were combined with the introduction of even more new technology for fish capture, like the gillnet. Similar to a tennis net in design, the gillnet was anchored off the ocean floor and literally strangled fish by catching their gills as they tried to swim through. Occasionally slipping their moorings, gillnets might continue to fish on their own, becoming what are today called ghost nets. With the modern introduction of indestructible fibers like monofilament, these nets can go on harvesting fish that simply rot, for years. Still, on their own, techniques like gillnets were not enough to devastate fish stocks, and the judgment that the resource was inexhaustible held firm for the time being. However, this would not last. The introduction of steam power, refrigeration, and mechanization from the s onwards laid the foundation for the worldwide fisheries crises that mark the industry in the early st century. David J. Clarke References and Further Reading Cook, Earl. Man, Energy and Society. New York: W.H. Freeman & Company, . Davis, Ralph. The Rise of the English Shipping Industry in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Newton Abbot, U.K.: David & Charles Publishers Ltd., . Holm, Paul and David J. Starkey, eds. Studia Atlantica, . Technological Change in the North Atlantic Fisheries. Reykjavík, Iceland: Icelandic Centre for Fisheries Research, .
FISHING, SPORT Kurlansky, Mark. Cod. A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. Toronto, Ontario: Alfred A. Knopf, . Labree, Benjamin W., et al. America and the Sea. A Maritime History. Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport Museum Inc., . Radcliffe, William. Fishing from the Earliest Times. New York: Burt Franklin, . Robinson, Robb. A History of the Yorkshire Coast Fishing Industry –. Hull, U.K.: Hull University Press, . Sahrhage, Dietrich and Johannes Lundbeck. A History of Fishing. New York: Springer-Verlag, . Starkey, David J., Paul Holm, J. Thór and Bertil Andersson, eds. Studia Atlantica, . Politics and People in the North Atlantic Fisheries since . Reykjavík, Iceland: Icelandic Centre for Fisheries Research, .
FISHING, SPORT Fishing as a sport has been popular for centuries, and is usually defined as fishing done for recreational purposes where the primary aim is the challenge of finding and catching the fish rather than eating it or selling it. Obviously there are many instances where sportsmen will eat their fish, but as this is not the main objective, it allows them to catch many fish that are less easy to eat, or regarded as largely inedible. Historically, most sportsmen bring their catch back to the shore to be weighed and often to be preserved as trophies. However with genuine concern over the lower fish stocks, and also pressure from the conservation movement, many sportsmen release their catch alive and largely unharmed. Competitions are often held where sportsmen have to catch fish from a particular area during a specified time period. The scores are then awarded for the fish that are caught, with a different ones accruing depending on the weight of the fish and its species. Sometimes the fishing line used is taken into account with the use of weaker lines being given more points. There are also competitions known as tag and release, where competitors are given a score depending on the number of different species of fish they catch. In , the English ironmonger Izaak Walton had his book The Compleat Angler published. It drew much inspiration from the anonymous Arte of Angling (), and subsequently inspired many other writers to describe their fishing exploits. The North Country Angler, published anonymously in led to renewed interest in fishing in England, with Thomas Tegg’s The Angler’s Guide () and Thomas Salter’s The Troller’s Guide () also became popular as did James Rennie’s The Alphabet of Scientific Angling (). In England, two separate angling interests emerged. One, around trout fishing, was closely connected with fly-fishing and fly-tying. W. Blacker’s The Art of Fly Making () popularized fly-tying leading to competitions for making artificial flies as well as competitions involving catching trout. This became popular with schoolboys and as
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MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION ACT (1972) EXCERPT Enacted on October 21, 1972, this law set out to establish a federal policy regarding the declining species of marine mammals. The act mandated the establishment of a Marine Mammal Commission, called for consultation between the commission and the secretary of the interior, and decreed the issuance of reports on the condition of marine mammal habitats. …it is unlawful— (1) for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States or any vessel or other conveyance subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to take any marine mammal on the high seas; (2) except as expressly provided for by an international treaty, convention, or agreement to which the United States is a party and which was entered into before the effective date of this title or by any statute implementing any such treaty, convention, or agreement— (A) for any person or vessel or other conveyance to take any marine mammal in waters or on lands under the jurisdiction of the United States; or (B) for any person to use any port, harbor, or other place under the jurisdiction of the United States for any purpose in any way connected with the taking or importation of marine mammals or marine mammal products; and (3) for any person, with respect to any marine mammal taken in violation of this title— (A) to possess any such mammal; or (B) to transport, sell, or offer for sale any such mammal or any marine mammal product made from any such mammal; and (4) for any person to use, in a commercial fishery, any means or methods of fishing in contravention of any regulations or limitations, issued by the Secretary for that fishery to achieve the purposes of this Act. (b) Except pursuant to a permit for scientific research issued under section 104 (c) of this title, it is unlawful to import into the United States any marine mammal if such mammal was— (1) pregnant at the time of taking; (2) nursing at the time of taking, or less than eight months old, whichever occurs later; (3) taken from a species or population stock which the Secretary has, by regulation published in the Federal Register, designated as a depleted species or stock or which has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969; or (4) taken in a manner deemed inhumane by the Secretary. (c) It is unlawful to import into the United States any of the following:
FISHING, SPORT
(1) Any marine mammal which was— (A) taken in violation of this title; or (B) taken in another country in violation of the law of that country. (2) Any marine mammal product if— (A) the importation into the United States of the marine mammal from which such product is made is unlawful under paragraph (1) of this subsection; or (B) the sale in commerce of such product in the country of origin of the product is illegal; (3) Any fish, whether fresh, frozen, or otherwise prepared, if such fish was caught in a manner which the Secretary has proscribed for persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, whether or not any marine mammals were in fact taken incident to the catching of the fish. (d) Subsections (b) and (c) of this section shall not apply— (1) in the case of marine mammals or marine mammal products, as the case may be, to which subsection (b) (3) of this section applies, to such items imported into the United States before the date on which the Secretary publishes notice in the Federal Register of his proposed rulemaking with respect to the designation of the species or stock concerned as depleted or endangered; or (2) in the case of marine mammals or marine mammal products to which subsection (c) (1) (B) or (c) (2) (B) of this section applies, to articles imported into the United States before the effective date of the foreign law making the taking or sale, as the case may be, of such marine mammals, or marine mammal products unlawful. (e) This Act shall not apply with respect to any marine mammal taken before the effective date of this Act, or to any marine mammal product consisting of, or composed in whole or in part of, any marine mammal taken before such date. Section 103. Regulations on Taking of Marine Mammals (a) The Secretary, on the basis of the best scientific evidence available and in consultation with the Marine Mammal Commission, shall prescribe such regulations with respect to the taking and importing of animals from each species of marine mammal (including regulations on the taking and importing of individuals within population stocks) as he deems necessary and appropriate to insure that such taking will not be to the disadvantage of those species and population stocks and will be consistent with the purposes and policies set forth in section 2 of this Act. (b) In prescribing such regulations, the Secretary shall give full consideration to all factors which may affect the extent to which such animals may be taken or imported, including but not limited to the effect of such regulations on— (1) existing and future levels of marine mammal species and population stocks; (2) existing international treaty and agreement obligations of the United States; (3) the marine ecosystem and related environmental considerations;
FISHING, SPORT
(4) the conservation, development, and utilization of fishery resources; and (5) the economic and technological feasibility of implementation. (c) The regulations prescribed under subsection (a) of this section for any species or population stock of marine mammal may include, but are not limited to, restrictions with respect to— (1) the number of animals which may be taken or imported in any calendar year pursuant to permits issued under section 104 of this title; (2) the age, size, or sex (or any combination of the foregoing) of animals which may be taken or imported, whether or not a quota prescribed under paragraph (1) of this subsection applies with respect to such animals; (3) the season or other period of time within which animals may be taken or imported; (4) the manner and locations in which animals may be taken or imported; and (5) fishing techniques which have been found to cause undue fatalities to any species of marine mammal in a fishery. (d) Regulations prescribed to carry out this section with respect to any species or stock of marine mammals must be made on the record after opportunity for an agency hearing on both the Secretary’s determination to waive the moratorium pursuant to section 101(a) (3) (A) of this title and on such regulations, except that, in addition to any other requirements imposed by law with respect to agency rulemaking, the Secretary shall publish and make available to the public either before or concurrent with the publication of notice in the Federal Register of his intention to prescribe regulations under this section— (1) a statement of the estimated existing levels of the species and population stocks of the marine mammal concerned; (2) a statement of the expected impact of the proposed regulations on the optimum sustainable population of such species or population stock; (3) a statement describing the evidence before the Secretary upon which he proposes to base such regulations; and (4) any studies made by or for the Secretary or any recommendations made by or for the Secretary or the Marine Mammal Commission which relate to the establishment of such regulations. (e) Any regulation prescribed pursuant to this section shall be periodically reviewed, and may be modified from time to time in such manner as the Secretary deems consistent with and necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. (f ) Within six months after the effective date of this Act and every twelve months thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the public through publication in the Federal Register and to the Congress on the current status of all marine mammal species ad population stocks subject to the provisions of this Act. His report shall describe those actions taken and those measures believed necessary, including where appropriate, the issuance of permits pursuant to this title to assure the well-being of such marine mammals.
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a country pursuit, and this in turn led to G.E.M. Skues and others writing a number of books on the topic. By contrast to trout fishing, salmon fishing became fashionable for country gentlemen in Victorian Scotland, and also in the north of England, Ireland, and Wales, gradually spreading to Canada and the United States. With interest in fly-tying in the mid-th century, Major J.H. Hale wrote How To Tie Salmon Flies (), leading to a Yorkshire lawyer, Alfred Chaytor, and other authors writing about various aspects of the topic. William Senior popularized fishing in Tasmania, Australia, and also New Zealand. By the early th century, big-game fishing had become increasingly common with U.S. writer Zane Grey writing his Tales of Fishing () about his experiences off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. At around the same time sportsmen became increasingly common in The Bahamas and off Key West, Florida, where there are now many holidays which combine big-game fishing with snorkeling and beach resorts. In , the U.S. novelist Ernest Hemingway settled in Cuba and wrote The Old Man and the Sea (), leading to his winning the Pulitzer Prize in the following year, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in . Hemingway’s novella did more than any other to help popularize big-game fishing. With many sporting fishers around the world, there has been a veritable industry in providing rods: boat rods, float rods, fly rods, leger rods, spinning rods, and surf and shore rods. There is also a variety of reels and a range of tackle and bait allowing for the catching of either a range of fish or a particular species. Tackle boxes, wading boots, fishing jackets and vests, and various forms of headwear have also been manufactured. In places such as Main Street in Nassau, The Bahamas, there are rows of shops selling fishing gear, with regular tournaments such as The Bahamas National Bonefish Championship held each July, the Annual Staniel Cay Bonefish Tournament held every August, and the Annual Bahamas Bonefish Bonanza, each October. Elsewhere in the world, sporting fishers have also increased in number. Japanese writer Yukio Mishima made it a theme in his book The Sound of Waves (), and biggame fishing has long been popular off the coasts of South Africa and parts of West Africa. Although most countries do not keep statistics on sports fishing, toward the end of the th century, significant sport fishing industries developed in many parts of the world, especially the Caribbean, off the southern and eastern coasts of the United States, and the northeastern coast of Australia. In the United States alone, it is estimated that there are some million people involved in sports fishing, spending $ billion, and supporting , jobs. Because of the high cost of chartering boats, the industry is largely considered ecologically sustainable; but with some species of fish, the system of catch-and-release is encouraged. In some ways the threat to the environment from sports fishing has come from areas where limits on catches are not enforced, or where hotels or jetties for charter boats have resulted in destruction of the shore ecosystem, often leading to pollution. Environmentally sound management of the industry in a future of
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increasing disposable incomes and greater leisure time will likely be very challenging but achievable because the industry realizes it is vital for self preservation. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Paugh, Tom. The Sports Afield Treasury of Fly Fishing. New York: Delta, . Preble, Dave. The Fishes of the Sea: Commercial and Sport Fishing in New England. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Sheridan House, . Wood, Ian, ed. The Dorling Kindersley Encyclopedia of Fishing. London: Dorling Kindersley, .
F UELS, TRANSPORTATION Since the introduction of the railroads and steam ships in the early th century, fuels needed to be transported to fuel steam engines. Both England and the United States, with coal reserves, were at a distinct advantage. Because the low energy density of coal, and steam ships and locomotives operated much less efficiently than modern diesel engines, it was not possible to efficiently transport coal by ship. For example, when the paddlewheel steamship Royal William (actually a sailing ship with a steam engine aboard) attempted the first Atlantic crossing from Quebec to London in , it was widely believed that it could not carry enough fuel for such a long journey. Thus, industrial development was stunted in countries that had limited coal resources. The potential for oil as an industrial fuel was developed during the s and s. Oil, which has a higher energy density than coal, could be much more efficiently transported over long distances. A Prehistory of River and Maritime Transportation (Until World War II) By the turn of the th century, there were several major producers of crude oil. Aside from Texas and California in the United States, there were distant discoveries in Europe (Rumania) or Asia (Baku in Russian Azerbaijan), and also in the Dutch Indies (Indonesia), and in Persia (through the Abadan refinery and harbor facilities). Europe needed to rely on efficient river and maritime transportation to fuel its need for an energy source that marked the Second Industrial Revolution, either for vehicles, or for power plants. The United States was also involved in maritime transport as soon as oil fields were exploited by American firms abroad, mainly in Mexico and Venezuela. Even though production and consumption were not large and progressed slowly until the s, transportation was still an issue. The most important (or, at least, the most famous) breakthrough was achieved by Marcus Samuel, who founded Shell Transport & Trading to transport oil from Asia. Launched in with a capacity of , deadweight tons, its urex was the first tanker to carry oil in bulk through the Suez Canal. Despite this innovation, the majority of oil tankers still carried their load of mineral oil
F UELS, TRANSPORTATION
in barrels, and it was only in that oil tankers, as we know them today, made their way regularly via Suez. In , British Petroleum began to use general purpose tankers, which could be used to haul crude oil from the Middle East via the Suez Canal to European refineries or, more commonly, to ship refined products from Abadan to Western Europe. The discovery of oil in Borneo and Sumatra boosted the south-north traffic, and even though the refinery at Suez refined oil coming from Curaçao, and the Shell Line sold oil to the Far East, the north to south traffic hit rock bottom. British interests in the area grew rapidly, mainly in Persia where the Anglo-Persian Company was established in and produced its first million tons in ; its subsidiary, British Tanker, turned into a major client of the Suez Canal for oil and allied products from Abadan Port. Petroleum traffic jumped from , tons in to four million tons in , and reached five million in . Oil Transportation from Asia and the Middle East to Europe The discovery of oil fields in the Middle East completely changed the Suez Canal’s economic environment, at first from Persia, then from Iraq, through the harbor at Bassorah, and then through the Iraq petroleum pipeline linking the new oil discoveries at Mosul to the Mediterranean ports of Tripoli and Haifa in . Over the course of the interwar years and after World War II, the Suez Canal emerged as a vital hub of the world’s oil trade. Starting as a mere trickle in the s (with three to six million tons in the years –), the oil trade saw an eight-fold increase between and and a doubling between and . Oil tankers inundated the Suez Canal, with percent of the total tonnage passing through in , and percent in , up from only percent in . The development and exploitation of the Middle-Eastern oil fields took off after World War II. By , the transportation of oil was shared almost equally between the Suez Canal and the oil pipelines, that of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) to Banias in Syria, and to Tripoli in Lebanon; and that of Aramco, the U.S. owned TransArabian Pipeline reaching the port of Sidon in Lebanon. About two-thirds of Western Europe’s oil imports from the Middle East were shipped in from the Persian Gulf via the Suez Canal, and oil coming from Indonesia also crossed the Isthmus. A revolution then occurred when oil firms decided
TABLE 1. Transit of Oil Products through the Suez Canal in 1954 (million tons) Fuel oil
2.771
Petrol
1.599
Kerosene
1.082
Diesel oil and gas oil
0.584
Total
6.084
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to set up market-located refineries, and to supply them with raw oil tankers. At the start of the s, British Petroleum (BP) committed to the transition by ordering six , ton supertankers capable of crossing the Suez Canal. The entry into service of these vessels was a watershed, marking the beginning of the end of the generalpurpose tanker and the ascendancy of specialized crude carriers of ever-larger sizes. British Petroleum, which produced most of its oil in the Middle East and sold most of it in Western Europe, was a heavy user of the canal and the Iraq Petroleum Company pipelines: in , percent of its total crude oil shipments were moved westwards from the Middle East through the canal in tankers operated by itself or its customers, and these movements represented percent of all the oil shipments passing through the canal from east to west. Kuwait was the first client of the Suez Canal in , with million tons—out of the million tons sent northward that year—far ahead of Arabia (with million tons), Qatar, and Iraq. Britain and France were the most reliant on the canal, as they were the main importers of such products, far ahead of other countries. Fueling North American Consumption Fleets of tankers, either for refined products or crude oil, started to link Venezuelan and Caribbean ( Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago) harbors to the United States to complement national production (and Texan flows from Houston to the East Coast), and to provide different types of oil. Refineries were located along the California, Texas and Northeastern coast. Even when networks of pipelines crossed the area, tramping helped spread products efficiently dictated by demand and trading flows. Tankers sailing up the
TABLE 2. South-North Transit of Oil Products in 1954 (million tons) Crude oil
54.395
Fuel oil
1.031
Diesel oil and gas oil
0.667
Total
56.978
TABLE 3. Origins of Oil Transiting through the Canal in 1954 (million tons) Kuwait
41.257
Arabia
6.321
Qatar
4.133
Iraq
2.526
Malaysia and Sonde Islands
1.016
Bahrain
1.000
Iran
0.477
Total
56.978
F UELS, TRANSPORTATION
The Exxon Baton Rouge, the smaller ship, attempts to off load crude oil from the Exxon Valdez after it ran aground in the Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling more than , barrels of crude oil. AP/ Wide World Photos.
Mississippi or St. Lawrence rivers and the Great Lakes, and even through the Panama Canal. When the Second Industrial Revolution expanded consumption, oil imports grew to satisfy greater demand and make up for declining U.S. production. Alaska also became involved in production, which paved the way for one of the gravest oil slicks in modern history when the tanker Exxon Valdez was wrecked in .
The Apex of the Oil Maritime Economy In the s, when consumption reached summits all over developed countries, refineries were built at harbors or transported to the hinterland by pipelines (from Marseille, Genoa, Le Havre, etc.), while fleets of railway wagons, riverboats, or trucks dispatched refined products. The combination of the closure of the Suez Canal in –, the growth of Asian shipyards ( Japan, South Korea), and the pressure of economies of scale, special ,+, ,+ and eventually ,-ton supertankers were introduced in the s to travel around Africa (or pick up oil in new producers like Nigeria, Central Africa, or Angola), or to cross the Pacific. Tanker size peaked at , tons in the s because of the difficulty in navigating these huge loads and the risks
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of enormous accidental oil spills, which meant much higher costs for insurance, and eventual clean up and litigation. Double-hulled tankers, which are mandated in European Union waters by and U.S. waters by , will continue to mitigate much of the risk. Supertankers—powered by cheap diesel fuel, small crews, and quick turn-around time —virtually eliminated distance as an important variable for purchasing decisions. Crude oil, deliverable from anywhere, became a truly global commodity. However, such giants also needed special deep-water off-loading facilities, generally artificial ones, supplying hinterland refineries through either pipelines or smaller ports serviced by smaller and lighter ships. Japan erected refineries in large polder-like harbors, and welcomed the tankers managed by its companies. Mitsui OK Lines, Nippon Yusen KK, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha attained large market shares because the relatively small fleets of the oil firms could only carry a minority of hydrocarbons cargoes. However, non-national fleets began to swallow large parts of the market because several countries instituted a policy of low-taxed pavilion (flag of convenience), allowing oil firms to outsource transportation to independent shippers (from Liberia, Panama, etc.) with a much lower-wage workforce from developing countries. Beyond the large tanker and large port model, from the s, Greek ship owners (Onassis, Niarchos, etc.) had become specialists in tramping, primarily throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, using middle-sized tankers to deliver refined products. The unequal reliability of fleets, as demonstrated by several wrecks of oil tankers in Brittany, from Torrey Canyon in to Amoco Cadiz in , raised the risks within transit corridors like the northeast Atlantic and the English Channel. The trend was for more outsourcing and the unbundling of the chain. The Prestige shipwreck in November off the coast of Galicia was a relevant case study of globalization: the single-hull, -year-old ship was built in Japan, owned by a Liberian company, belonged to a Greek shipping family, bore the Bahamas pavilion, chartered by a Swiss company, affiliated with a Russian firm, operated by a crew of Romanians and Philippines, led by Greek officers, and transporting Russian oil in route from Latvia to Singapore. The chain of security control has become complicated, making fuel transportation a risky challenge. Oil and Gas Transportation and Geopolitics Globalization, the growth of Russia and the hegemony of the Middle East has intensified the push to more efficiently transport oil as well as liquefied gas (at – degrees)
TABLE 4. Oil Maritime Flows in 2000 (million tons) Out of the Middle East to Africa, Europe, and Asia
240
From the Middle East to Asia
550
From Sub-Saharan Africa west or northwards
165
From Latin America northwards
135
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that began in the s. A process of thorough integration prevailed, with instant management of ships, through an informal digitalized world exchange platform, to get lower costs on ships or cargoes, rented and even oriented on call. Maritime transportation evolved to include submarine pipelines from the off-shore fields to the coast (North Sea, Angola, Latin America, etc.), and also to short-circuit land connections. Examples include the Nord Stream project from Russia to Germany under the North Sea, from Vyborg to Greifswald, and from Russia or South-Central Asia to Europe under the Black Sea (Russian and Italian South Sea project, versus the European Union and Turkey Nabucco project from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Iran through Turkey to the Ceyhan Terminal, south of the Bosphorus detroit, where the intense transit of oil tankers has become a heavy risk. This explains the continuous geopolitical contests to hold control over pipelines and to balance the mighty Russian group, Gazprom’s, ambitions. Another important development has been the emergence of Asian countries as high consumers of oil. There has been a scramble for oil ships since the s to maintain maritime transport as a leverage to growth (China, India, etc.). Hubert Bonin References and Further Reading Bamberg, James and R.W. Ferrier. History of the British Petroleum Company. vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, –. Freeman, Donald. The Straits of Malacca: Gateway or Gauntlet? Montréal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, . Gillham, Skip. Imperial Oil Tankers of the Great Lakes. Vineland, Ontario: Glenaden Press, . Horwarth, Stephen. Sea Shell: The Story of Shell ’s British Tanker Fleet, –. London: . Loyen, Reginald, Erik Buyst and Greta De Vos, eds. Struggling for Leadership: Antwerp-Rotterdam: Port Competition between –. New York: Physica Verlag, . Solly, Raymond. Tanker: The History and Development of Crude Oil Tankers. London: Chatham, . Williams, Mari. “Choices in oil refining: The case of BP, –.” Business History, no. (): –.
Index
à la Diego Garcia Port, Abaca Ecotourism Cooperative Society Limited, Abadon Port, Aden Port, , , , Adige River, , Admiralty Law, Adriatic Sea, – ; coastal flooding, , ; offshore structures, ; ports, ; shipping control, – Aegean Sea, –; Black Sea connection, ; Bosphorus Strait connection, ; international relations/trade, ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , ; oil and natural gas, ; piracy, ; trade/transportation, Africa, , , , , , , , , , , , ; agriculture and trade, ; aquaculture, ; dams and locks, –, ; desalination, ; exploration, , –, , –; fishing issues, , , ; fuels and transportation, ; Indian Ocean connection, –, , ; international security, , , ; Lake Victoria, , –; maritime networks, –; Mediterranean Sea connection, , , ; ocean thermal energy, ; oil and natural gas, , ; piracy, , , , ; pollution, ; ports, ; privateering, ; Red Sea connection, ; research missions/vessels,
, –, ; research organizations, , , ; rivers, –; Rivers War, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; slave trade, , –; Strait of Gibraltar connection, –; Suez Canal and, ; trade/transportation, –, , , –, , – , – , – , ; whaling, , The African Queen (Forester), African Rivers War, After the Flood (Weingartner), Agriculture: ancient, ; Atlantic Revolution and the First Industrial Revolution, , ; Caribbean economies and, ; China, , ; cruise vs. cargo industry, ; dams and locks, , , , , , , ; EPA, ; FAO, ; food commodities, –; fruits and vegetables, – ; Indian Ocean, ; inland shipping services, ; plantation, ; rice, ; Russia, , ; Second Industrial Revolution and, ; tourism effects on, Air Pollution Control Act (), Ajaccio Port, Akosombo Dam, Al-Mina Port, Alaminos, Antonio, Aland Sea, Alaska: Outrage at Valdez (movie), Alaskan Peninsula, , , Albatross (research vessel), ,
I-
INDEX Alboran Sea, Alexander the Great, , , , , , , , , , , Alexandria Canal, Algeria: coastal urban development, ; dams and locks, , ; international security, , ; Law of the Sea, ; oil and natural gas, –, , ; piracy, ; privateering, ; research missions/ vessels, ; research organizations, ; trade/transportation, Alicurá Dam, All-American Canal, Alle River, Almagro, Diego de, The Alphabet of Scientific Angling (Rennie), Alpheus River, Altamira Port, Alvin (research vessel), Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, Amazon River, , , , , , , , , Amboina Port, Amer Lake, American landbridge, America’s Cup, Amite River, Amnisos Port, Amou Daria Canal, Amsterdam Port, , , , , Amu Darya River, Amundsen, Roals, Amur River, , , Anadyr Peninsula, Anatolian Peninsula, Angel Falls, , The Angler’s Guide (Tegg), Anglo-Boer War, Angrand, Charles, Antarctica: Atlantic Ocean connection, ; Drake Passage connection, ; exploration, ; Indian Ocean connection, ; Law of the Sea, ; ocean pharmaceuticals, ; pollution, ; research missions/ vessels, , , , ; sea levels, Antofagasta Port, Antwerp Port, –, , , –, , , , Anvers Harbor, Anvers Port, Apurímac River, , Aqtau Port, Aquarium industry, –
Arabian Gulf, Arabian Peninsula, , , , Arabian Sea, –; early civilizations, ; Indian Ocean connection, ; Persian Gulf connection, ; research vessels/ missions, ; trade/transportation, , Aral Sea, , , , , , , Archaeology, underwater, – Arctic Bridge, Arctic Circle, Arctic Ocean, –; Atlantic Ocean connection, ; Bering Sea connection, ; exploration of, ; Nansen’s discovery of, ; North American rivers flowing into, ; research missions/vessels, , –, , ; Russia and, , –, ; sea levels, ; Siberian River flow into, ; and trade routes, ; whaling, , Arctic Sea Route, Argentina: agriculture and trade, –; Beagle Canal dispute, ; customs, ; dams and locks, – ; exploration, ; oil and natural gas, ; rivers, –; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; Straits of Magellan connection, ; trade/transportation, , Arica Port, Arkansas River, Army Corps of Engineers (U.S.), , , , –, Arno River, Arroyito Dam, The Art of Fly Making (Blacker), Arte of Angling (Anonymous), Arthur Port, , , Arzew Port, Asia: agriculture and trade, , , , , , –; Arabian Sea and, ; Bering Sea connections, , ; Bosporus Strait connections, ; dams and locks, –; Dardanelles connections, ; dredging, ; early aquariums, , ; English Channel and, ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, , , ; fuels and transportation, , – , ; and globalization, , ; Indian Ocean connections, –, , , –, , , ; international security, , , ; landbridges, , , , , , – ; maritime exports/imports, ; Mazatlan connection, ; Mediterranean Sea connection, ; and North American
INDEX ports and harbors, , ; ocean pharmaceuticals, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , , , ; Pacific Ocean connection, , –; Panama Canal and, ; passenger shipping industry, ; piracy, ; pollution, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, –, , ; Red Sea connection, , –; research missions/vessels, –; research organizations, , ; river/ maritime transportation history, – ; rivers, – ; Russia and, , ; Sea of Japan connection, – ; shipbuilding/ shipping, , , ; shipowners, , ; Suez Canal connection, ; trade/ transportation, , , , , , , , , , , –, , ; underwater archaeology, ; whaling, Asmara Port, Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, Astrakhan Port, Astrolabe (research vessel), Aswan Dam, , Aswan High Dam, , , Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal, Atatürk Dam, Atchafalaya River, Athens Port, Atlantic-North Sea maritime zone, Atlantic Ocean, , , , , , , , , , , , , ; agriculture and trade, , ; Arctic Ocean connection, , ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, –; Baltic Sea connection, , ; Black Sea connection, , ; cargo shipping and, ; Caribbean Sea connection, , –, ; coastal tourism, , ; containerization, ; English Channel connections, ; exploration, , , , , ; fish issues, , , , , ; freighters sustaining growth (s–s), ; fuels and transportation, , ; globalization (s), ; Great Lakes connection, , , –; Gulf of Mexico connection, ; Hudson Bay entrance from, ; international security, , , , ; Irish Sea connection, ; Lachine Canal connection, ; landbridges, , ; and Lost City of Atlantis, ; military shipping challenges of, –; th–st centuries, –; North American rivers
flowing into, ; North Sea connection, , ; Panama Canal connection, , , , ; passenger shipping industry, , , ; piracy, , ; port operations, –, ; ports and harbors, , , , , , –, , , , , , , , ; privateering, ; research expeditions, , ; research missions/vessels, , , , , , , , , , , , ; sailing/ yachting, ; sea levels, , ; seaweed cultivation, ; Second Industrial Revolution, –; shipowners, , , ; St. Lawrence Seaway connection, – , ; Strait of Gibraltar connection, , , ; Strait of Magellan connection, ; trade/transportation, , , , ; transatlantic shipping (s–s), –; transpacific trade across, ; underwater archaeology, ; whaling, , , Atlantis, Lost City of, , , , Atlantis (research vessel), Atlantis II (research vessel), , Atyrau Port, Aude River, Aufidus River, Australia: agriculture and trade, ; artificial marine habitats/reefs, ; dams and locks, –; desalination, ; exploration, , , ; fishing issues, , ; Geographic Society, ; international security, , ; lighthouses, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, – ; research missions/vessels, , , , , –; research organizations, ; sea levels, ; trade/transportation, , , ; underwater archaeology, Awash River, Azov Sea, , Baffin Bay, , Bahamas: fishing issues, ; ocean pharmaceuticals, ; offshore structures, ; piracy, ; ports and harbors, ; research missions/vessels, , ; sea levels, Bahia Port, Baja California Peninsula, , Bakhma Dam, Baku Port, Balbina Dam, Balboa, Vasco Nunez de, , , Balearic Sea,
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INDEX Balkan Peninsula, , Ballard, Robert, Ballin, Albert, Baltic Sea, – , , ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, ; end of Cold War, ; ferry industry/ passenger shipping, , , – ; Finlow Canal connection, ; fishing issues, ; Hanseatic trading ports, , , , ; Isthmus of Kiel connection, ; Kiel Canal connection, , ; landbridge, , ; lighthouses, ; Middle Age connections, ; modern Europe trade, ; oil and natural gas, ; and Russia, , , ; Stecknitz Canal connection, ; submarine gas pipe construction, ; trade/transportation, , , ; vs. Hudson Bay, Baltimore Harbor, Baltimore Port, , , Banda Sea, , Bandar Port, , Bangka Port, Bangladesh: coastal urban development, ; fishing issues, ; research organizations, ; rivers, ; sea levels, Barbados Harbor, Barents Sea, , Barlow, Roger, Basque civilization: fishing issues, –, ; whaling, , Batavia Port, Baton Rouge Port, – Battle-fields of Paraguay (Burton), Bay of Bengal, Bay of Pigs, Beagle Canal, Beauharnois Canal, Beauharnois Power Canal, Beaumont Port, Belfast Port, Belgium: dredging, ; ferry industry/passenger shipping, , ; Law of the Sea, ; and North Sea, ; oil and natural gas, ; ports and harbors, , –; research organizations, , ; trade/ transportation, , ; trawling, Bélime, Émile, Belize, , , Bell Port, Bell Rock Lighthouse, Belo Monte Dam, Ben Hai River, ,
Benguela Current, Bering, Vitus, , – , , Bering Sea, – , , , Bering Strait: Arctic Ocean connection, ; Bering Sea connection, , , ; exploration, ; landbridges, , ; Pacific Ocean connection, ; research missions/ vessels, ; whaling, Berwick-upon-Tweed River, Bhagirathi River, – Bhakra-Nangal Dam, Big Tunnel, Bío Bio River, Biscay Bay, Bishop Rock Lighthouse, Black Sea, –, , , ; Bosphorus Strait connection, , ; and Byzantine Empire, ; early geography of, ; grain transport, ; Mediterranean Sea connections, –, ; methane hydrate discovery, ; Nord Stream project, ; oil transport, ; and Ottoman Empire expansion, , ; Rhine-MainDanube Canal connection, –; Russian control of, , ; Sea of Marmara connection, ; seaside resorts on, ; as Silk Road terminus, ; trade/transportation, , Blackbeard, , Blackpool Port, Bligh, William, , , , Blue Danube (Strauss), Blue Nile River, , , , Board on Geographical Names, Bogue Falaya River, Boh River, Bolivia, , , , , , Bonaparte, Napoleon, , , , , , , , , Bonnet Carré Spillway, Bonneville Dam, , Bordeaux Port, , , , , , Border Industrialization Plan (BIP), Borgese, Elizabeth Mann, , , , – Bosphorus Straight, , , – , , , , , Bostochyni Port, Boston Harbor, , Boston Lighthouse, Boston Port, , – , , Botany Bay, , , , Botton’s Bay,
INDEX Bourgas Port, Boussolle (research vessel), Brahmaputra River, Bratsk Dam, Brazil: agriculture and trade, ; Amazon River, , , , , , , , , ; aquaculture, ; Atlantic Ocean and, ; bridges, ; customs, ; dams, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; hydropower/water management, , ; Iguazu Falls, ; international security, , , ; Law of the Sea, ; naval blockade by, ; ocean thermal energy conversion, ; oil and natural gas, ; ports, ; Portuguese connection, , ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, –; seaweed cultivation, ; trade/transportation, , , , Brazil-Argentine War, Brazza, Pierre Savorgnan de, Bremen Port, , , , Bremerhaven Port, , , Brenta River, Brest Port, Brezhnev, Leonid, Bricktown Canal, The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Wilder), The Bridge on the River Kwai (Boulle), A Bridge Too Far (Ryan), Bridgetown Harbor, Bridgewater Canal, A brief Summe of Geographie (Barlow), Bristol Bay, Bristol Port, , British East India Company, , , , , – Broome Port, Brunei: connection to South China Sea, , ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, ; ports and harbors, , ; research organizations, Brunei City Port, Brunel, Isambard Kingdom, , Brunswick Peninsula, Buenos Aires Port, Buffalo Port, Buffalo River, Bug River, Bujagali Dam, Bukoba Port, Bundaberg Port, Bureau of Lighthouses (U.S.), Burkina Faso River,
The Burning of the Houses of Parliament (Turner), Burrinjuck Dam, Burton, Richard, , , , , BYMS- (research vessel), Cabot, John, , , , Cabot, Sebastian, , , , Caesar, Julius, , , , , , Cagliari Port, Cahora Bossa Dam, Cairns Port, Calais Port, Calcutta, , Calcutta Port, Calicut Port, Calypso (research vessel), , , – Cam River, Camará Dam, Cambodia, , Cameroon, , Campeche Bay, Campeche Gulf, Campos Novos Dam, Canada, , , , , , , , ; agriculture and trade, ; canals/rivers, , , , ; exploration, –, , ; fishing issues, , , , , ; Great Lakes connections, , ; hydropower/water management, , , , ; international security, ; Niagara Falls, , , , , – ; passenger shipping industry, ; pollution, ; ports and harbors, , –, , ; privateering, ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, ; sand and gravel, ; seaweed cultivation, , ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; shipowners, , ; St. Lawrence Seaway, , , , , – ; tidal energy, , ; trade/transportation, , . See also St. Lawrence River Canal du Midi, , Canal Royal, Canbral Pedro Alvares, Canning River, Canso Strait, Cape Ann, Cape Bojador, , Cape Bon, Cape Cod, , , Cape Cross, Cape Ecnomus,
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INDEX Cape Horn, , , , , , , , Cape Matapan, Cape of Good Hope, , , , , –, , , , –, Cape Padrone, Cape Skagen, Cape Spartel, Cape St. Vincent, Cape Trafalgar, Captain Kidd, Caracas Port, Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM), Caribbean Current, Caribbean Sea, –; cruise/tourism industry, , , –, , –; desalination, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; fuels and transportation, ; Gulf of Mexico connection, ; international security, , , ; North American laws and treaties, ; ocean thermal energy conservation, ; oil and natural gas, ; piracy, , , , ; port operations and, ; privateering, ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, –; trade/ transportation, , ; underwater archaeology, Carnarvon Port, Caroní River, Carson, Rachel, , Cartagena Port, Carthaginian civilization, , , , , ; artificial reefs, ; international security, ; research missions/vessels, ; trade/transportation, Carthaginian Port, Cartography and hydrography, – ; cartography, ; ECDIS/GIS, –; electronic chart/navigation system, ; geodetic datum, –; hydrography/ nautical charts, – Casiquiare River, Caspian Sea, , – , , ; fishing issues, ; oil and natural gas, ; research missions/vessels, ; restoration of, ; sea level changes, ; trade/transportation, , Castile Port, Castillo, Ramón, Cataract Dam,
Catherine the Great, Cavendish, Thomas, Cayaocachi River, Cayman Islands, Cayo Arcas Port, Celtic Explorer (research vessel), Celtic Voyager (research vessel), Central America: agriculture and trade, ; aquaculture, ; canals, – ; Caribbean Sea connection, , ; exploration, , ; gold and silver resources, ; isthmus, , , ; ports and harbors, –; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, ; rivers, – ; trade/ transportation, ; travels of Columbus, – ; William Walker’s move to, Ceyhan Port, Chah Bahar Port, Chama River, Changani River, Chao Phraya River, , Charleston Harbor, Charleston Port, , , , , Chatham Port, Chef Menteur Pass, Chesapeake Bay, Chesapeake Canal, , Chicago Canal, Chicago Port, , Chicago River, Chile: agriculture and trade, , , , ; desalination, ; diving, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , ; international security, ; research organizations, ; sea levels, ; trade/ transportation, China: agriculture and trade, , , , – , , , ; aquarium industry, ; and Arabian Sea, ; artificial waterways, – ; coastal urban development, , ; containerization, ; customs, ; dams, canals, terrace construction, , ; dredging, ; exploration, , , ; fishing issues, –, , –, –, –, , ; fuels and transportation, ; Hoang Ho, Yangtze rivers connections, ; Hong-Gou Canal, ; hydropower/water management, , ; international security, , , , ; landbridges, ; Law of the Sea, ; lighthouses, ; migration from, via Pacific Ocean, ; ocean pharmaceuticals, –, ; oil and natural gas, ;
INDEX opium trading/Opium War, , , , ; overland trade routes, , ; piracy, , ; pollution, , ; and Port of Manila establishment, ; research missions/vessels, , , ; research organizations, , , ; sand and gravel, ; sea levels, ; shipbuilding/ shipping, , , , ; South China Sea, –, , , , , , ; surfing, ; tea trading, ; Three Gorges Dam, , , , , , ; tidal energy, ; trade/transportation, , , , –, , , , ; and Treaty of Nerchinsk, ; treaty ports of, , ; wave energy, ; wind energy, ; Yangtze River, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ; Yellow River, , , , , ; Zhu Jiang River, , Chinese Civil War, Christie, Agatha, Chu Yai Port, Chunnel (English Channel Tunnel), , Churchill, Winston, , , , Churchill Port, Churchill River, Cincinnati River, Civil War (U.S.), , , , , , , , , , , , , Clark, William, Clean Air Act, , Clean Water Act (U.S.), , Cleveland Port, , Clyde Canal, Coastal tourism industry, – Coastal urban development, – Coastal Zone Management Act (), Coatzacoalcos Port, Cobequid Bay, Cod Wars, , COFC (Container-on-Flatcar), Cofu Channel, Coinga-Herald National Reserve, Cold War, , , , , , Coliban River, Colombia, Colombo Port, Colonia del Sacramento Port, , Colonia Port, Colorado River, , , –, Columbia Basin Irrigation Project, Columbia Lake, Columbia River, , –, , , ,
Columbus, Christopher, , –, , , , , , , , , , , , , , Coming Down the Seine (Gibson), Coming down the Wye (Gibson), Committee for the Oceans (U.S.), The Compleat Angler (Walton), Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, The Confessions of a Beachcomber (Banfield), Congo River, , , , , Containerization, –; agriculture and trade, –; containerization and trade, ; containerships, –; for fruit/ vegetable trading, Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefish Tuna, Convention on the North Sea, Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea, Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (), – Coode Canal, Cook, James, , , , , , , , , , , , , Cook, Thomas, , Cook Inlet, , Cooktown Port, Copenhagen Harbor, Copenhagen Port, Coral Sea, –, Cordouan Lighthouse, Corfu Port, Cork Port, Cornwall Canal, Corsica Port, Cortés, Hernando, , , , , Côte-Saint-Catherine Lock, Cotter Dam, Council of European and Japanese National Shipowners’ Association (CENSA), The Count of Monte Cristo (Dantes), Cousteau, Jacques, , , , , , , , , , , , The Cousteau Odyssey (TV), Cousteau Society, Cowlitz River, Crimean War, , , Croatia, , , , , Cuba: fishing issues, ; piracy, ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, ; trade/transportation, Customs, –
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INDEX Cuxhaven Port, Cycladic civilization, –, Da Gama, Vasco, , , , , , Dadu River, Dammam-Dhahran Port, Danger Port, Danger Port Lighthouse, Danube River, , , –, –, , , , , Danzig Port, Dardanelles Strait, , –, , , , Darwin, Charles, , , , , , Darwin Port, , David Strait, Davis Strait, , Dead Sea, , Death on the Nile (Christie), Deep Sea Drilling Project (U.S.), Delaware Canal, , Delaware River, Delores River, Delos Port, Denmark: fishing issues, ; international security, ; lighthouses, ; trade/transportation, ; trawling, Department of Energy (U.S.), Department of the Interior (U.S.), , , –, Derwent River, Desalination, – Detroit Port, , Detroit River, Deva Lighthouse, Devils River, Devonport Port, Dezhnyov, Semyon, , Dholavira Port, Diadochi War, , Dismal Swamp Canal, Diving, – Djibouti Port, Dnieper Dam, Dnieper River, , , , , , Dniester River, , Dolores River, Domesday Book (), Dominican Republic, –, Domoto, Akiko, Don River, , , , Dordogne River, Dortmund-Ems Canal,
Dos Bocas Port, Douro River, Dover Port, Dover Strait, , , Drake, Francis, , , , , , , , , , , , , – Drake Passage, Dredging, – Dubai Port, Dublin Port, , Dubrovnik Harbor, Dubrovnik (Ragusa) port, Dukan Dam, Dulce River, Dunkirk Port, Dutch East India Company, , , , , Dutch Harbor, Dutch West India Company, Dwight D. Eisenhower Lock, Dzhubga Port, Earle, Sylvia, , East China Sea, East Indies: trade/transportation, , East River, , , Eastern Mediterranean Sea, , , , , , –, , , Eastmain River, Ebro River, , , , EC (electronic chart), ECDIS (Electronic Chart and Information System), – Ecotourism, – Eddystone Lighthouse, Edea Dam, Eden in the East (Oppenheimer), Edo Bay, Egerton’s Travellers Crossing the Brook (Thomas), Egypt, , , , , , ; agriculture and trade, , , ; dams and locks, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , , , , ; Indian Ocean connection, ; international security, , ; landbridges, ; Law of the Sea, ; lighthouses, ; Mediterranean Sea connection, ; Nile River and, , , ; offshore structures, ; piracy, ; Red Sea connection, , , ; research missions/vessels, , –, ; research organizations, , , ; sea levels, , ; trade/transportation, –,
INDEX , ; underwater archaeology, . See also Suez Canal Eider Canal, Eisenhower, Dwight D., El Cajón Dam, El Carrizal Dam, El Chocón Dam, El Niño, , , Elbe River, , , , , , , Elbe-Seitenkanal Canal, Elizabeth River, EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency): European directives, Endangered Species Act (), –, , England, , , , , , , , , ; Asian trade routes, ; Caribbean Sea and, –; cruise/tourism industry, , , ; dams and locks, ; exploration, –; ferry industry/passenger shipping, , ; fishing issues, , , , , ; fuels and transportation, ; hydropower/water management, , –; international security, , ; Irish Sea connection, – ; lighthouses, ; Nine Years War, ; offshore structures, ; piracy, –, ; pollution, , , ; ports and harbors, –, , , , ; privateering, , ; research missions/vessels, , , ; research organizations, , ; rivers, , , ; sailing/ yachting, ; sea levels, ; shipowners, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, , ; tidal energy, , ; trade/transportation, , , , – , ; whaling, –; wind energy, . See also Strait of Gibraltar English Channel, – ; bridges, ; conservatism and change, ; European/Mediterranean ports/harbors, , , ; exploration, ; ferry industry/passenger shipping, , , , – ; fishing issues, , ; fuels and transportation, ; laws and treaties, , ; and North Sea, ; oil and natural gas, ; privateering, ; and Sea of Japan, ; trade/ transportation, , English Civil War, , The English Pilot: The Fourth Book (Thornton), Enipeus River, Enoggera Dam,
ENS (Electronic Navigation System), , , Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), , , , –, , Enz River, Erie Canal, , , , , , , Erikson, Leif, , , Erkan Dam, Esbjerg Port, Esperance Port, Euphrates River, , , , , , , , Eurasian landbridge, Europe, , , , , , , , , , , , , ; and Aegean Sea, , ; agriculture and trade, –, , –, ; aquariums, , , , ; and Asian rivers trade, – ; Atlantic Ocean connection, –, , , , , ; Baltic Sea connection, – , ; Black Sea connection, , –; Bosphorus Strait connection, , , ; canals, –; Caribbean Sea and, –, , ; coastal tourism, , , ; coastal urban development, ; cruise/ferry/passenger/ shipping industry, , , , , , , , ; customs, –; dams and locks, –; Dardanelles connection, ; English Channel and, , ; exploration, –, , , , , , , , , –, , , ; fishing issues, , , , , , , , , –, –; fuels and transportation, – , , , ; hydrogen fuel, ; hydropower/water management, –; and Indian Ocean, , , –; international security, , , , –; landbridges, , , , , , ; Law of the Sea, ; laws and treaties, – ; collective efforts, – ; directives, – ; proactive decisions, – ; maritime strategy, – ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , , ; North Sea connection, – , , ; ocean pharmaceuticals, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , –, –, ; and Pacific Ocean, , , , , –; and Panama Canal, , , ; piracy, , , ; pollution, , ; port operations, , , ; ports and harbors, –, , , , –, , , , , ; privateering, ; research missions/vessels, , , , , ,
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INDEX , , ; research organizations, , , ; rivers, –, , ; sailing/ yachting, ; and Sea of Japan, ; shipbuilding/shipping, , , ; shipowners, –, , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; and South China Sea, , ; storm and flood control, ; Strait of Gibraltar connection, , ; and Suez Canal, , , , , ; tidal energy, – , ; trade/transportation, , , , , , , – , , , , , , , , ; wave energy, ; whaling, , , ; wind energy, , , , , European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO), , European Shipowners’ Association (ESPO), Eurotas River, Everglades Port, Evita (movie), Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), , , , , , , , , Exploration, – exploration, Explorer (research vessel), Faifo Port, Falcon Dam, Falklands War, The Family Aquarium (Butler), Faro a Colón Lighthouse, Farran’s Point Canal, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (), Federal Water Pollution Control Act (), Federal Water Quality Administration (U.S), Fei River, Felixstowe Port, Fiji: coastal tourism, ; Coral Sea connection, ; ecotourism, –; Indian Ocean connection, ; Pacific Ocean connection, ; research missions/vessels (pre-), ; research organizations, Finland: Baltic Sea connection, , ; ferry industry/passenger shipping, , ; Law of the Sea, ; lighthouses, ; research organizations, ; wind energy, Finow Canal,
Fish and shellfish farming, – Fish and Wildlife Act (), , Fishing, sport, – Fishing methods and technology: ancient technologies, –; conservatism and change, –; demersal fishing, –; farm fish vs. wild fish, –; mediaeval developments, –; modern development, , –; modern methods, –; new world expansion, ; pelagic fishing, –; shell fishing, –; third world fishing developments, ; trawling, –; th Century, –; up to late th century, – Fleet River, Flinders, Matthew, , Fly River, Food and Agriculture Organization, fish capture trend (FAO), Forth Canal, Forth River, Fouad Port, Foyle River, Fram (research vessel), France: aquariums, ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, , , ; hydropower/water management, ; international security, , , ; lighthouses, , ; piracy, , , , ; port operations, ; privateering, , , ; research missions/vessels, , , , , , ; research organizations, , , ; trade/transportation, , , , , , , , , , Franco-German War, Frankfurt-am-Main River, Franklin, John, Franklin River Dam, Fray Bentos Port, Freedom of the Seas Convention, Freeman, Edward A., Freemantle Port, French and Indian War, French Revolutionary War, , , Fuels, transportation, – ; from Asia, Europe, Middle East, – ; North American consumption, –; oil maritime economy apex, – ; prehistory (until WW II), – Fundy Bay, , Furnas Dam,
INDEX Gabon River, , Gaillard Cut, , , Galapagos Islands, Galilee Sea, Gallipoli Peninsula, Galops Canal, Galveston Port, Gama, Vasco da, , , , , , Gambia River, , , Gandhi, Mohandas, , , Ganges-Brahmaputra River, Ganges River, , , , , Garagum Canal, Garonne River, Gäta Älv River, Gatun Dam, Gatun Lock, Gauss (research vessel), Gedney Channel, Geelong Port, General Dam Act (U.S.), General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates (Defoe), General Survey Act (U.S.), Genoa Port, , , Geographe (research vessel), Geographical Society of London, Geological Survey (USGS, U.S.), , – , Georgetown Port, Georgian Bay, Geraldton Port, Germany, , , , , , , , , , , , ; agriculture and trade, ; aquariums, , ; Baltic Sea connection, ; canals, , ; Danube River and, , ; dredging, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; Frankfurt-amMain River, ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, , , ; ITLOS, ; lighthouses, ; North Sea connection, ; oil and natural gas, , , ; pollution, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, , , , , , ; research missions/vessels, , , , ; research organizations, , ; Rhine River, ; ship design and construction, , ; shipowners, ; whaling, ; wind energy, ; World War I, , , , , , Gesoriacum Lighthouse, Gesoriacum Ostia Lighthouse, Gila River,
GIS (Geographical Information Systems), Glacier Bay, , Gladstone Port, Glasgow Harbor, Glasgow Port, , Glen Canyon Dam, , Glomar Challenger (research vessel), Goethals, George Washington, , Gokasho Bay, Gold Creek Reservoir, Golden Bay, The Golden Fish (movie), Gorbachev, Mikhail, Gordon Dam, Gorgas, William, – Göta Canal, Gothenburg Port, Goulburn River, GPS (Global Positioning System), , , , , Grand Canal, , , Grand Coulee Dam, , , , Grand Inga Dam, Grande River, Grande Rivière River, Granicus River, Grass, Günter, Great Amer Lake, Great Barrier Reef, , –, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act (), Great Britain, , ; aquariums, ; Atlantic Ocean connection, , , ; and Bering Sea, ; coastal tourism, ; conservatism and change, ; desalination, ; English Channel connection, , ; exploration, , , , ; fishing issues, ; international security, , , , , , , ; lighthouses, , , , ; offshore structures, ; Opium War and, ; piracy, , , , , ; pollution, , ; port operations, , ; ports and harbors, ; privateering, –, , ; research missions/vessels, , , , , , , ; research organizations, , , , ; sea levels, , ; ship design/construction, , , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, , , ; storm and flood control, ; trade/ transportation, , , , , , , , ,
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INDEX Great Lakes (U.S.), –; and Atlantic Ocean, , ; dams/canals/locks, , –; fuels and transportation, ; Lachine Canal connection, ; North American laws and treaties, , , ; oil and natural gas, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, , ; research organizations, ; and St. Lawrence River, –; and St. Lawrence Seaway, , , – Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Association, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, Great Nordic War, Great Salt Lake, – , Great Salt Lake Desert, Greece, , , , , , , , , ; Aegean Sea connection, , –, , ; agriculture and trade, , , , ; Black Sea connection, , ; Dardanelles connection, ; desalination, ; and European rivers, , , ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, , , ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, –; landbridges, – ; Law of the Sea, ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , , , ; offshore structures, , ; oil and natural gas, ; passenger shipping industry, ; piracy, ; ports and harbors, ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, ; sea levels, ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; shipowners, , ; trade/transportation, –, , ; underwater archaeology, – Green Globes program, – Green River, Greenpeace, , , Grotius, Hugo, , –, Guadiana River, Guangzhou Lighthouse, Guayaquil Harbor, Guayaquil Port, Guide (research vessel), Guinea Gulf, , , , Gulf at the Rigolets, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Gulf of Aden, , , Gulf of Alaska, , – , , , Gulf of Aqaba, Gulf of California, – , , Gulf of Carpentaria, Gulf of Guinea, , , , , , Gulf of Maine,
Gulf of Mexico, – ; Atlantic Ocean connection, ; Caribbean Sea connection, ; Lake Pontchartrain connection, , ; landbridges, , ; North American laws and treaties, ; North American rivers flowing into, , , –; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, –; ports and harbors, ; research vessels/missions, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, Gulf of Ob, Gulf of Oman, , Gulf of St. Lawrence, Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Tonkin, Gulf St. Vincent, Gulf Stream, , Gunnison River, Guri Dam, Gwydir River, Hachi Falls, Hagatna Port, Hague Convention, Hai River, Haifa Port, Haiti, Hakluyt, Richard, Hale, J.H., Halifax Harbor, , Halifax Port, , , Hamburg Harbor, , Hamburg Port, , , , , , , , , , Hampton Port, Hampton Roads Harbor, Hampton Roads ports, Hansa civilization, Happy Valley Reservoir, Havana Harbor, , Havel Canal, Havel River, Hay-on-Wye River, Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (), Heart of Darkness (Conrad), Heath River, Hedland Port, Heligoland Lighthouse, Hemingway, Ernest, Hepburn, Katharine, Heyerdahl, Thor, , , , , ,
INDEX History of the Norman Conquest (Freeman), HMS Adventure (research vessel), HMS Beagle (research vessel), HMS Carcass (research vessel), , HMS Challenger (research vessel), HMS Discovery (research vessel), , HMS Endeavour (research vessel), HMS Erebus (research vessel), HMS Investigator (research vessel), HMS Racehorse (research vessel), HMS Resolution (research vessel), HMS Terror (research vessel), HMS Titanic, Hoang Ho River, Hobart Port, Hoi An Port, Holland: agriculture and trade, ; dredging, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; international security, , ; piracy, , ; port operations, , ; ports and harbors, ; privateering, ; research organizations, ; shipowners, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; trade/transportation, , , ; trawling, ; whaling, , ; wind energy, Honduras, Hong-Gou Canal, Hong Kong Port, , Honiara Port, Honolulu Port, Hooghly River, , Hoover Dam, , , , , Horn of Africa, , , , , , Horsburgh Lighthouse, , House of the Royal Geographical Society, Houston Port, , , , How To Tie Salmon Flies (Hale), Hu Lou Falls, Huatanay River, Hudson, Henry, , , , Hudson Bay, – , , , , , Hudson Bay Company (HBC), , , Hudson River, , , , , , , , , , Hudson Strait, Hue River, Hull Harbor, Hull Port, , Humber River, , Hun He River,
Hundred Years’ War, , , Hunter River, Huntington Tristate Port, Hydaspes River, Hydro-Québec dams, Hydrogen, –; marine applications, –; production research, – Hydropower and water resource management, – Iberian Peninsula, , , Iceland, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , , , , , , , ; hydrogen fuel, ; international security, ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, ; ports and harbors, ; research missions/ vessels, , ; research organizations, ; sea water and, ; trade/transportation, , ; wave energy, ; whaling, , ; whitewater rafting, , Iguacu River, Iguazu Falls, Illinois River, , Illinois Waterway, Imjin River, , Imperial Canal, Imperial Dam, India: coastal tourism, ; coastal urban development, ; exploration, , , ; Indian Peninsula, Indian Ocean, , , –, , ; agriculture and trade, ; Arabian Sea connection, , ; coastal tourism, , ; exploration, , , , ; international security, ; offshore structures, ; Pacific Ocean connection, ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, ; piracy, , ; ports and harbors, , , ; Red Sea connection, ; research missions/vessels, , , , , , , ; research organizations, , , ; trade/transportation, , , , , , Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System, Indian Southwest Monsoon Current, Indochine (movie), Indonesia, , ; exploration, , ; fuels and transportation, , ; Indian Ocean connection, –, , ; international security, ; oil and natural gas, ; Pacific Ocean connection, , , ; piracy, ; pollution, , ; ports
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INDEX and harbors, ; research organizations, ; sand and gravel, ; seaweed cultivation, ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; and Suez Canal, ; trade/transportation, , ; transatlantic shipping, ; wave energy, Indus River, , , , Indus Valley civilization, , Industrial Canal, Inga (I, II, II) Dam, Ingeniero Ballester Dam, Inguri Dam, inland-waterway system (U.S.), Inside Passage, Institute for Water Resources (IWR), Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO), International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Convention (IAMSAR), International Boundaries Water Treaty, International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (IWC), , , , , , , International Convention of Bills of Lading, International Court of Justice (ICJ), , , International Energy Agency (IEA), International environmental laws and treaties, – International Hydrographical Organization, International Joint Commission, International Law of the Sea, International Maritime Committee, International Maritime Organization (IMO), , , , , , , , , , International Mercantile Marine (IMM), International Ocean Institute, International Regulations for Avoiding Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), International Seabed Authority, International security, – International shipping, trade laws and treaties, – International Straits Commission, International Surfing Association, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), –; caseload, –; history, –; international environmental laws and treaties, ; legal principles, ;
membership and participation, –; procedure, –; staffing, International Whaling Commission (IWC), , , , , , , , , Ionian Sea, , Iquique Port, Iran-Iraq War, Iraq, Ireland: fishing issues, ; Irish Sea, – ; ports and harbors, ; research vessels/ missions, ; seaweed cultivation, ; tidal energy, ; trade and transportation, ; whaling, ; wind energy, Irish Sea, – Irish Sea Glacier, Irkutsk Dam, Iron Gate Dam, Iron Gate passage, Iroquois Dam, , Irrawaddy River, , Irtysh River, , Islands ports and harbors, – Ismailia Port, ISO (International Standard Organization), Israel, Isthmus of Central America, , , , Isthmus of Kiel, , Isthmus of Panama, , , , , , , , , , , , Isthmus of Suez, , , , , , , Isthmus of Tehuantepec, , , , Istrian Peninsula, Itaipú Dam, , Italian Peninsula, Italy, , , , , ; Adriatic Sea connection, ; agriculture and trade, ; European rivers and, , , , ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, , ; hydropower, ; international security, , , , ; Law of the Sea, ; lighthouses, ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , , ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , , ; passenger shipping industry, ; piracy, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, , ; research organizations, ; sea level change, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; storm and flood control, ; trade/transportation, , , , , –
INDEX Jackson Port, Jamaica: Caribbean Sea connection, ; fuels and transportation, ; offshore structures, ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, ; piracy, ; ports and harbors, , , , ; privateering, ; research organizations, ; sea levels, Jamaica Channel, James, Thomas, James Bay, , , Japan: agriculture and trade, ; artificial marine habitats/reefs, ; diving, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , , , , , , ; hydrogen fuel, ; international security, , , , , ; port operations, , ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, , ; sea levels, ; shipbuilding/ shipping, , , , , ; shipping/ trade laws/treaties, ; trade/transportation, , , , , Jason Jr. (research vessel), Jebel Ali Port, Jinja Port, John Murray Expedition, , Johnson, Lyndon, Jolly Roger, Jones, Indiana, Jordan River, , Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (Speke), Jucar River, Just So Stories (Kipling), Jutland Peninsula, , , Kainji Dam, Kalabagh Dam, Kama River, Kamchatka Peninsula, Kanawha River, Kansu Dam, Kariba Dam, Karlesfni Thorfinnr, Karun River, Karwar Port, Katsamba Port, Katse Dam, Kenya, Kerep River, Khan, Genghis, , Khone Falls, Khrushchev, Nikita, Kiel, Isthmus of, ,
Kiel Canal, , , Kiev Port, Kingdom of Mataram civilization, Kingsford-Smith, Charles, Kingston-upon-Hull River, Kingston-upon-Thames River, Kipling, Rudyard, Kiribati, , Kirkwall Port, Kislaya Bay, Kisumu Port, Kitchener, Horatio, Kobe Port, Kocher River, Koh, Tommy Thong Bee, , Kootenay River, Korea: dams and locks, , ; diving, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , , , ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, , ; Law of the Sea, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , , ; Pacific Ocean connection, , , , ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, ; research organizations, ; rivers, , , , ; sea levels, ; Sea of Japan connection, , ; seaweed cultivation, ; shipbuilding/shipping, , , , , ; trade/transportation, , , ; underwater archaeology, Kossou Dam, Kotor port, Kotri Dam, Koyukuk River, Krasnoyarsk Dam, Krishna River, Kvalsund Channel, Kwai River, , Kyoto Protocol, La Gran Sabana Falls, La Grande-Rivière, La Paz Agreement, La Rochelle Port, , Laanecoorie Dam, Lachine Canal, , Lachine Rapids, , , Lacombe Bayou, Lagos Port, Lake Albert, Lake Albert Nyanza, Lake Atlin, Lake Baikal,
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INDEX Lake Bigler, Lake Bonneville, Lake Borgne, Lake Chad, , , Lake Champlain, Lake Erie, , , , , , , , Lake Eyre, Lake Furnas, Lake Gatun, , , Lake Huron, , , , , , Lake Itasca, Lake Maracaibo, Lake Maurepas, Lake Mead, Lake Michigan, , , , , , Lake Nasser, Lake Okwata, Lake Ontario, , , , , , , , , , Lake Pedder, Lake Pontchartrain, – Lake Saint-Pierre, Lake St. Clair, Lake St. Francis, Lake St. Louis, Lake Superior, , , , , , Lake Tahoe, – Lake Tana, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Teslin, Lake Titicaca, – Lake Tonle Sap Lake, Lake Ukerewe, Lake Van, Lake Vänern, Lake Victoria, , – Lancaster Sound, Landbridges, – ; early times, – ; modern era, – Lanterna of Genoa Lighthouse, Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs), Laudot River, Launceston Port, Laurentian Great Lakes, Lausanne, Treaty of, Law of the Sea, , – Lázaro Cárdenas Port, Le Havre Port, , , , Lea River, Leakey, Mary, Leakey, Richard, Leakey, S.B., Lemos, Gaspar de,
Lena River, , , Lend-Lease Agreement, Lesseps, Ferdinand de, , , , , , Levant Sea, Levering, Miriam, Lewes River, Lewis, Meriwether, Libyan Sea, Lighthouse of Alexandria, , Lighthouse Society, Lighthouses, electricity and lighting, – Ligurian Sea, Lihou Reef National Reserve, Lilla Edet Falls, Lima Port, Limay River, Limon Bay, Limpopo River, , , , Lindbergh, Charles, Linnaean Society, Lisbon Port, , , , , Little Colorado River, Liverpool Port, , , , , , , , Livingstone, David, , , , Livorno Lighthouse, Loire River, , Lombok Strait, London Harbor, London Port, , , , , , , , , , , , Long Beach Port, , , , , The Longest River (movie), Long Island Sound, Long Sault Dam, , Lopez, Francisco Solano, – LORAN (Long Range Aid to Navigation), Los Angeles Port, , , , , Los Molinos Dam, Los Molinos River, Los Quiroga Dam, Los Reyunos Dam, Lost City of Atlantis, , , , Louis XIV, King, , Louisbourg Port, Lower Rhine River, Lower Rio Grande Regional Seawater Desalination Project, Lübeck Port, , , , Lusatian Neisse River, Luxembourg,
INDEX Maastricht, Treaty of, Mabahiss (research vessel), , , Macao Port, Macassar Port, Maccabee War, Mackay Port, Mackenzie River, Macquarie Lighthouse, Macquarie Port, Madagascar: Indian Ocean connection, ; piracy, ; ports and harbors, , ; research missions/vessels, ; Russia Pacific fleet, Madeira River, Mae Ping River, , Magdalena Channel, Magellan, Ferdinand, , , , , , , , , , Magellan, Straits of, , , –, , , – Magnuson-Stevens Act, Mahajanga Port, Mahakam River, Main River, Malacca Port, Malacca Strait, , , Malay Peninsula, Malayan Peninsula, Malaysia: cartography/hydrography, ; fishing issues, ; fuels and transportation, ; laws and treaties, ; lighthouses, ; oil and natural gas, ; piracy, ; pollution, ; research organizations, ; rivers, ; South China Sea connection, , ; trade/transportation, Maldives: Arabian Sea connection, ; Indian Ocean connection, , , ; research organizations, ; sand and gravel, ; sea levels, ; wave energy, Mamanguate River, The Man with the Iron Mask (Dumas), Manaus Port, , Manchac Pass, Manchester Dam, Manchester Port, Manicouagan River, Manila Port, , Manzanillo Port, , maps, ; Adriatic Sea, ; Aegean Sea, ; Arabian Sea, ; Arctic Ocean, ; Bering Sea, ; Black Sea, ; Bosphorus Strait, ; Caspian Sea, ; Coral Sea, ; Gulf of Alaska, ; Lake Pontchartrain, ; Lake
Victoria, ; Panama Canal, ; Persian Gulf, ; Red Sea, ; Sea of Japan, ; South China Sea, ; Suez Canal, Maputo Bay, Maputo River, Maracaibo Gulf, Maranón River, Marine Mammal Protection Act (), – , Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (), , – Maritime Administration (MARAD), , , – Maritime Commission (U.S.), , , Maritime Industrial Development Areas (MIDAS), Maritime Pollution Regulations (MARPOL), , , Maritsa River, Marmago Port, Marmara Sea, , , , Marne River, , , Marseille-Fos Port, Marseille Port, , , , Marshall Islands, , Massalia Port, Matanzas Bay, Matson Port, Maumee River, Maye River, Mazandaran Sea, Mbidizi River, Measurement of Pollution in the Troposhere (MOPITT), Mediaeval trade, , Medical Waste Tracking Act (), Mediterranean Sea, , , , , , , , , , –, ; Adriatic Sea connection, ; Aegean connection, , ; agriculture and trade, , , , ; Bosphorus Strait connection, , ; coastal tourism, ; coastal urban development, ; Dardanelles connection, ; ecotourism, ; European canals and, ; European rivers and, ; exploration, , ; ferry industry/passenger shipping, ; fishing issues, , ; fuels and transportation, , ; international security, , –, ; landbridges, – ; oil and natural gas, , ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, , , ; piracy, , , , ; ports and harbors, –, ; research missions/
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INDEX vessels, , , , , , , ; research organizations, ; sand and gravel, ; sea levels, , ; seaweed cultivation, ; ship design/construction, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; storm and flood control, ; Strait of Gibraltar connection, , , , , ; Suez Canal and, , , ; trade linkages, , ; trade/transportation, , –, , , , , ; underwater archaeology, , Meiji Restoration of , Mekong River, , , , , , , , , , Melbourne Port, Melford Port, Meloria Lighthouse, Mendoza, Pedro de, , Merchant Marine Act, Merchant Marines (U.S.), , , , Mersey River, , Mesopotamia, – , , , , , – Metauro River, Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act (), Methane hydrates, –; hydrate research history, – Methuen, Paul, – Meuse River, , Mexican War, , , Mexico, , , , , ; agriculture and trade, ; Caribbean Sea connection, , ; coastal tourism industry, , ; dams and locks, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; fuels and transportation, ; Gulf of California connection, ; Imperial Canal, ; landbridges, , ; oil and natural gas, ; pollution, ; ports and harbors, , , , , ; privateering, ; research organizations, ; Rio Grande River, –; trade and transportation, ; trade/transportation, ; underwater archaeology, ; whaling, Mhlatuze River, Miami Canal, Miami Port, Miami River, Micronesia: Pacific Ocean connection, ; reefs/marine habitat, ; research organizations, Middle East: desalination, , ; dredging, ; fuels and transportation, – ,
– ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; trade/ transportation, , , Middlesborough Port, Milford Haven Port, Miljacka River, Millbrook Dam, Miller Freeman (research vessel), Milwaukee (research vessel), Ming Valley Dam, Mingechaur Dam, Minoan civilization, , , Miraflores Lock, Mishima, Yukio, The Mission (Bolt), Mississippi River, , , , ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, ; dams and locks, , , ; fuels and transportation, ; Great Lakes connection, ; Gulf of Mexico connection, ; international security, ; Lake Pontchartrain connection, , , ; landbridges, , ; North American canals, , ; North American laws and treaties, ; North American rivers, , , , ; oil and natural gas, ; ports and harbors, , , , , Mississippi River Commission, Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, Missouri-Mississippi confluence, Missouri River, , Mittellandkanal Canal, Mobile Port, , Modder River, , Mohawk River, Mona Passage, Monongahela River, Monroe Doctrine, Montego Bay, Montevideo Port, , , , Montreal Harbor, Montreal Port, , , , , Montreal-Quebec Channel, Montreux Convention (), Moorehead, Alan, Moresby Port, , Morgan, Henry, Morgan, J.P., Morocco, , , , Moscow-Volga Canal, Mosel River, Moses-Saunders Dam, Moskva River, Motlawa River,
INDEX Möwe (research vessel), Muar River, Mulberry Harbor, Mumbai Port, Mundaring Dam, Muntok Port, Murray Bridge Port, Murray River, Muscat Port, Musi River, , Mutiny on the Bounty, Mwanza Port, , My Tropic Isle (Banfield), Myanmar, Mycenaean civilization, – Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, Nagasaki Bay, Nagasaki Port, , , , Nagoya Port, Nakhodka Port, Nam Theun Dam, Nampo Dam, Nansen, Fridtjof, , , Nantes Port, Napo River, Napoleonic Wars, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Narmada River, Narrows Strait, Nassau Harbor, Nasser, Gamal Abdel, , National (research vessel), National Energy Laboratory (NELHA), National Environmental Education Act (), National Environmental Policy Act (), National Environmental Policy Act of (U.S.), National Geographic Society, , National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, , , , National Pollution Control Administration, National Shipping Authority (U.S.), The Naturalist on the River (Bates), Naturaliste (research vessel), Navy Ports, –; Berbera-type, ; Bombay-type, ; Cochin-type, ; Pure-type, – Ncome River,
Neckar River, Neman River, , Neptune Group, Nerchinsk, Treaty of, Neretva River, Netherlands: desalination, ; fishing issues, , ; research organizations, ; sea level change, ; storm and flood control, Neuquén River, Neva River, , , A New Account of the East Indies (Hamilton), New Basin Canal, New Bedford Port, New Caledonia, , New Orleans Port, , New York Harbor, , , , New York Port, , , , , , , , New York State Barge Canal, New Zealand: agriculture and trade, ; customs, ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, ; Gallipoli Peninsula and, ; international security, ; Law of the Sea, ; Pacific Ocean connection, ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, , ; sailing/ yachting, ; trade/transportation, ; whaling, Newcastle Port, Newcastle-upon-Tyne River, Newfoundland, ; conservatism and change, ; fishing issues, ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, Newport News Port, , Newport Port, NGO (Nongovernmental Organizations), , Niagara Falls, , , , , – Niagara River, Nicuesa, Juan de, Nieuwe Waterweg (New Waterway), Niger River, , , , , , –, Nigeria Dam, Nile River: agriculture and trade, ; dams and locks, –, ; Egyptian civilization and, –; Egyptian control, ; exploration, –, –; fishing issues, , ; Lake Victoria connection, , , ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, ;
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INDEX research organizations, , ; sailing/ yachting, ; sea levels, ; trade/transportation, Nine Years War, Nixon, Richard, Nixon Administration, , Nootka Sound, Norfolk Port, , , , Normandy, , ; port operations, Norse civilization, , , , , , North America: agriculture and trade, , ; Alaska land connection, ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, –; canals, –; coastal tourism, –; conservatism and change, ; containerization, ; customs, ; dams and locks, –; exploration, , , , ; fishing issues, , , , , , , , ; Great Lakes, – ; Great Salt Lake, – ; Gulf of Alaska, – ; Gulf of Mexico connection, ; Lake Ponchartrain, – ; Lake Tahoe, – ; landbridges, , , , , , ; lighthouses, ; North-Atlantic maritime track connection, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, ; pollution, ; ports and harbors, – ; privateering, ; research missions/vessels (pre-), , , ; sand and gravel, ; ship ownership, ; shipbuilding/ shipping, ; tidal energy, ; trade/ transportation, , , , , , , , , , ; transatlantic shipping, ; wave energy, ; whaling, , North America rivers, , –, . See also Colorado River; Columbia River; Mississippi River; Rio Grande River; Saint Lawrence River; Yukon River North American Inland Waterways Map and Index (Weems and Plath), North American laws and treaties, – ; Army Corps of Engineers, , , , –, ; Department of the Interior, , , –, ; Environmental Protection Agency, , , , –, , ; Maritime Administration, , , – ; U.S.Geological Survey, , – , North Atlantic Marine Mammals Commission (NAMMCO),
North Atlantic Ocean: Baltic Sea connection, ; fishing issues, , , ; Great lakes connection, ; North Sea connection, ; privateering, ; research missions/ vessels, , , , ; seaweed cultivation, ; shipowners, ; trade routes, , ; whaling, , North Channel, , The North Country Angler (Anonymous), North Magnetic Pole, North Pacific Ocean, , ; Bering Sea connection, ; Gulf of Alaska connection, ; international security, ; Japan and, ; ports, ; research missions/vessels, ; Russia and, – North Pacific Sealing Convention, North Pass, North Pole, , , , North River, North Sea, –; Atlantic-North Sea maritime zone, ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, ; Baltic Sea connection, ; conservatism and change, ; English Channel connection, ; European canals and, , ; European laws and treaties, ; ferry industry/passenger shipping, ; fishing issues, , , , , , , , ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, ; landbridges, ; lighthouses, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , ; ports and harbors, , , , , , ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, ; transatlantic shipping, ; trawling, North Sea Canal, , Northern Equatorial Current, Northern Sea Route, Northwest Passage (NWP), , , , , , , , , Norton Sound, Norway: exploration, , , ; fishing issues, , , , , ; international security, ; pollution, –, ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, ; trade/transportation, , Norwegian Sea, Nova Scotia: exploration, , ; fishing issues, ; ports and harbors, , , ; privateering, , ; research or-
INDEX ganizations, ; tidal energy, ; trade/ transportation, Novosibirsk Ob’ Dam, Nuclear Waste Policy Act (), Nurek Dam, Oahu Port, Oakland Port, , , Ob River, , , Oc-Eo Port, Ocean Dumping Act (), Ocean Dumping Ban Act (), ocean pharmaceuticals, Ocean thermal energy conservation, –; commercialization challenges, –; history, – Odense Port, Oder Canal, Oder-Havel Canal, Oder River, , , Offshore structures, – Oglio River, Ogooué River, , Ohio Canal, Ohio River, , , , , , , , , , , Ohio River System, Oil and natural gas, –; African maritime networks, –; Asian maritime exports/imports, ; European maritime strategy, –; globalized maritime/ trading economy of oil/gas, ; Russian maritime energy dominance, ; U.S. oil and gas dominance, – The Oil Rig (Roderus), Oil Rivers Protectorate, Ojeda, Alonso de, Okanogan River, Okhotsk Sea, , , , The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway), Olinda Port, On the Waterfront (movie), OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), , Opium War, , , , Oporto Port, Orange/Sengu River, , Oregon, Treaty of, Oreille River, Orellana, Francisco de, Øresund Strait, , , , Orinoco River, , , ,
Osaka Port, Oslo Port, Ostia Lighthouse, Oswego Canal, OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion), – The Other Side of the River (Snow), Ottawa River, , Outardes River, OWC (oscillating water columns), The Ox Cart (Post), Pacific Islanders, Pacific Northwest (U.S.): agriculture and trade, , –; fishing issues, ; hydropower/water management, , ; North American laws and treaties, Pacific Ocean, –; agricultural and trade, ; Arctic Ocean connection, ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, –, ; Bering Sea connection, , ; Columbia River connection, ; containerization, ; Coral Sea connection, ; dams and locks, ; desalination, ; exploration, , , , , , , , ; fishing issues, , , , ; fuels and transportation, ; globalization and, ; Gulf of Alaska connection, ; international security, , , , ; landbridges, , ; Law of the Sea, ; North American Laws and Treaties, ; North American rivers and, ; oil and natural gas, , ; Pacific War and, , , ; Panama Canal and, , , , , , , , ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, , ; Philippine Sea connection, –; pollution, , ; port operations, , , ; ports and harbors, , , , , , , , , ; research missions/ vessels, , , , , , , , , , ; research organizations, , ; Russia and, , , ; sailing/ yachting, ; sea levels, ; Sea of Japan connection, – ; Seven Years War and, ; shipbuilding/shipping, , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, , ; South China Sea connection, , ; Straits of Magellan connection, ; Suez Canal and, ; surfing, ; tidal energy, ; trade routes, ; trade/transportation, , ; transatlantic shipping, ; vs. Indian
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INDEX Ocean, –; wave energy, ; whaling, ; World War I and, Pacific War, , , , , , , , PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), Padirac River, Pajaritos Port, Pakistan: connection to Arabian Sea, ; dams, , ; research organizations, ; rivers, ; trade/transportation, Palembang Port, Palermo Port, Palestine, Panama, Isthmus of, , , , , , , , , , Panama Bay, Panama Canal, –; Caribbean Sea and, ; Central/South American economic growth and, ; containerization, ; containerships, ; dams and locks, ; Ferdinand de Lessups and, , ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, ; landbridges, , – , – , ; ports and harbors, , ; research missions/vessels, , ; shipping/military, , ; shipping/trade laws/ treaties, , , ; trade/transportation, ; vs. St. Lawrence Seaway, ; vs. Straits of Magellan, , ; vs. Suez Canal, , , Panama Canal Authority, , , –, , Panama Canal Convention, – Panama Canal Railway landbridge, Panama River, Panthalassa Ocean, Paolo Verde Dam, Papua New Guinea: Coral Sea connection, , ; diving, ; Great Barrier Reef connection, ; research missions/vessels (-present), ; research organizations, Pará River, Paradeep Port, Paraguay, , , , , ; exploration, ; hydropower/water management, , , ; international security, ; shipping/ trade laws/treaties, , ; trade/transportation, , Paraguay River, , , Paramaribo Port, Paramore (research vessel),
Paraná River, , Pardo, Arvid, Paris, Treaty of, , Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law, Paris Port, Park, Mungo, , Parker Dam, Parry, William, Pasquotank River, Passamaquoddy-Cobscook Bay, Passenger shipping: cruise industry, –; ferry industry, – ; passenger industry, – The Paulo Alfonso Falls (Schutte), Pearl Harbor, , , Pearl River, , Pecos River, Pedro Miguel Lock, Peiho River, Pelly Rivers, Peloponnesian Wars, , , Penang Harbor, Penang Port, Pend River, Peron, Juan, , Persia, , ; fuels and transportation, , ; international security, ; lighthouses, ; oil/natural gas, ; piracy, ; trade/transportation, , , ; wind energy, Persian Gulf, –; Arabian Sea connection, ; desalination, , , ; fuels and transportation, ; Indian Ocean connection, , , , , ; lighthouses, ; maritime jurisdictional zones and, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , ; piracy, ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, ; trade/transportation, , , ; World War I and, Persian Wars, Perth Port, Peru: agriculture and trade, ; customs, ; El Nino, ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, , –; Lake Titicaca and, –; research organizations, ; seaweed cultivation, ; trade/transportation, , , Peter the Great, , , , , Peter the Hermit, Pharmaceuticals from the sea, – Philadelphia Harbor,
INDEX Philadelphia Port, , Philippine Sea, –, Philippines: agriculture and trade, ; Coral Sea connection, ; exploration, , ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, ; Pacific Ocean connection, , ; Panama Canal, ; ports and harbors, , ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, ; rivers, ; seaweed cultivation, ; South China Sea connection, , ; Suez Canal, ; trade/transportation, Phillip Bay Port, , Phoenicia: agriculture and trade, ; exploration, , ; research missions/vessels (pre-), ; trade/transportation, , Pichi Picún Dam, Piedra del Aguila Dam, Pillars of Hercules, , , , Pinarus River, Piracy, –; ancient pirates and their successors, – ; Blackbeard, , ; golden age, –; modern piracy, –; th Century, Pirates of the Caribbean (movie), Plamschleuse Lock, Planet (research vessel), Plate River, , , , , , , Plymouth Port, Po River, , , , , Pola (research vessel), Polarstern (research vessel), Pollution, –; air pollution, –; marine pollution, – Polo, Marco, , Polynesia: exploration, ; fishing issues, ; Pacific Ocean connection, , , , , ; research missions/vessels (pre), –; research organizations, ; surfing, , ; trade/transportation, A Popular History of British Seaweeds (Landsborough), Porcupine River, Port-au-Prince Harbor, Port Newark-Elizabeth, , , Port Operations: cargo containerization, –; economic analysis, –; First Industrial Revolution and, –; global containerization/terminals, –; pre Age of Steam, ; Second Industrial Revolution/bulk cargo shipping, – Port operations, –
Port Royal, , Port Royal Harbor, Portland Port, Portsmouth Port, Portugal: exploration, , , , , ; international security, , , , ; piracy, ; research missions/vessels, , , , , ; research organizations, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; trade/ transportation, , , , , , Post, Fran, Potomac River, Prince Rubert Port, Prince William Sound, The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation (Hakluyt), Privateering, – Protection of Wrecks Act (), Providence Harbor, Prudhoe Bay, Prussia, , , , –, Puerco River, Puerto Rico, , Puget Sound, , , Punic War, , , , Qiantang River, Qiantang River Lighthouse, Qingdao Port, Quebec Port, , , Quebrada de Jaspe Falls, Quebrada de Ullum Dam, Quiberon Bay, And Quiet Flows the Don (Sholokhov), Raleigh, Walter, Rapide Platt Canal, Recife Port, , Red River, Red Sea, –; agriculture and trade, ; Arabian Sea connection, ; coastal tourism, ; Indian Ocean connection, , , ; landbridges, – ; piracy, ; ports and harbors, ; research missions/ vessels, , , , , ; seaweed cultivation, ; Suez Canal and, , , ; trade/transportation, Reed Sea, Reefs and building artificial marine habitat, – Reeves, Peter, Reilly, Sidney,
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INDEX Research missions and vessels: before , –; –present, – Research organizations, – Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (), Revolutionary War (U.S.): Atlantic Revolution and the First Industrial Revolution, ; Battle of Lake Erie, ; Battle of the Saints (Hudson Bay), ; British naval supremacy, ; control of Caribbean Sea, , ; piracy, ; privateering, ; shipowners, ; Three-Mile Limit and, ; underwater archaeology, Rey, Jacobus H. de la, Reykjavik Port, Reza Shah Dam, Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, – Rhine River, , , , , , , , , Rhodesia, Rhodian Sea Law, Rhône River, , , , Rideau Canal, , Ridgeway Dam, Ring Cycle (Wagner), Río Atrato River, Rio Chagres Dam, Río de Janeiro River, Río de la Plata River, , , , , , , Río Espolón River, Río Futaleufú River, Río Gauya, Rio Grande River, –, Río Gualeguaychu River, Río Magdalena River, Río Paraguay River, , , Rio Parana River, , Río San Francisco River, Río San Juan River, , Río Uruguay, , Rios Chagres River, River Ilissus, River Styx, The River War (Churchill), Rivers and Harbors Acts, , , Robe Port, Robert H. Saunders Dam, Robert Moses Dam, Rockhampton Port, Rogun Dam, Roma Port, Rome, , , , ; agriculture and trade, , –; artificial marine habitats/
reefs, ; desalination, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , , , ; hydropower/water management, ; international security, ; lighthouses, ; offshore structures, ; piracy, , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; storm and flood control, ; Tiber River, , ; trade/transportation, , , , , Rønne Port, Roosevelt, Franklin, , Roosevelt, Theodore, , , Roosevelt Dam, Roskilde Port, Rostov-na-Don River, Rotterdam Port, , , , , , , , Rouen Port, Rovuma River, , Rubicon River, , Rufiji River, Rupert River, Russia, , , , , , , , , , ; Amur River, ; Baltic Sea connection, , , , ; Bering Sea connection, , , ; Caspian Sea connection, , ; dams/canals/locks, ; Dardanelles and, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; fuels and transportation, – ; hydropower/water management, ; international security, , , , ; maritime energy dominance, ; Northern Sea Route, ; oil and natural gas, , ; Opium War, ; privateering, ; research missions/vessels, , , ; research organizations, ; Sea of Japan connection, , ; shipbuilding/shipping, , ; trade/transportation, , ; waterways, – ; whaling, Ryan, Cornelius, Safe Drinking Water Act (), Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), , , Sag Harbor, Saguenay River, , Said Port, , , , , , , , , , Sailendras civilization, Sailing and yachting, – Saint Ferréol Dam, Saint-Lambert Lock, Saint-Laurent Canal, Saint-Laurent Waterway,
INDEX Sakata Port, Salamis Port, Salem Port, Salina Cruz Port, Salt Springs Dam, Salto Aponguao Falls, Salto el Sapo Falls, Salto Grande Dam, Salton Sea, Salvage, – Salween River, , , Samoa, , , San Bernardino Strait, San Francisco Bay, , , , , San Francisco Port, , San Gabriel Dam, San Juan River, , , , San Martin, Jose’ de, San Roque Dam, San Roque Lake Falls, Sand and gravel, – Sandy and Beaver Canal, Sanmen Dam, Sansanding Dam, Santa Marta Port, Santiago Falls, Santo Domingo Harbor, Sany Hook Lighthouse, Sao Francisco River, Saragossa, Treaty of, Sargassum Sea, Saudi Arabia, , , , Sault-Sainte Marie Canal, Savannah Port, Saxon civilization, , , , , , Scandinavia: fishing issues, ; piracy, ; pollution, Scandinavian Peninsula, Scheldt Port, Scheldt River, Schlüse zu Bockhorst (aka Plamschleuse Lock), Scotia (research vessel), , Scotland: fishing issues, , , ; research missions/vessels, , ; trade/ transportation, SCUBA (Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), , , The Sea Around Us (Carson), Sea-Bed Disputes Chamber, , , Sea level changes, – Sea of Cortéz, ,
Sea of Japan, – , Sea Peoples, , , , , Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, , , , Sea water, – Seaside resorts and tourism, – Seattle Port, , Seawater Desalination Plant (Tampa Bay), Seaweed and other plants, – Seawitch (Maclean), The Seine at Courbevoie (Angrand), The Seine at Night (Virgil), Seine Port, Seine River, , , Senegal: dams and locks, , , ; Law of the Sea, ; research vessels/missions, ; rivers, ; trade/transportation, , Senegal River, , , Senji port, Seven Years’ War, , , , , , , , Severn Port, Severn River, , Seward’s Folly, Shakespeare, William, Shanghai Port, , Shari River, Shatt al-Arab Waterway, , , , , , , Shawinigan Falls, Shepody Bay, Ship design and construction, – Shipowners, – ; ship owning, –, – ; shipowner emergence, –; shipowning organization, – Shipping and shipbuilding, government policy impact, – ; conclusion, – ; nurturing capitalism, – ; underdevelopment and, – ; war and depression, – Sholokhov, Mikhail, Shore Protection Act (), Shoreline Erosion Control Demonstration Act (), Shoreline Erosion Protection Act (), Shout at the Devil (Smith), Sierra Leone River, , Silent Spring (Carson), , The Silent World (Cousteau), , Silver River,
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INDEX Simonstown Port, Sinai Peninsula, Singapore: coastal urban development, ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, , ; Law of the Sea, ; lighthouses, ; oil and natural gas, ; Panama Canal, ; piracy, ; pollution, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, , ; research organizations, ; sand and gravel, ; shipbuilding/ shipping, , , , ; shipping/ trade laws/treaties, ; South China Sea connection, ; trade/transportation, , Singapore Port, Sino-Japanese War, , Siraf Port, Six Day War, Skagerrak Strait, Slim River, Smith, Wilbur, Snake River, , , , , Snowy Mountain Hydroelectric Scheme, Sobradinho Dam, Socotra Port, Solid Waste Disposal Act (), Solis, Juan de, Solomon Islands: Coral Sea connection, ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, Somali Current, Somme River, Son La Dam, Soo Lock, Soulange Canal, The Sound of Waves (Mishima), South America: agriculture and trade, ; customs, ; dams and locks, – ; early exploration, ; exploration, , , ; Lake Titicaca, –; landbridges, ; lighthouses, –; Mazatlan connection, ; and North America migration, ; Panama Canal connection, , ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, , ; Philippine Sea connection, ; piracy, ; pollution, , ; Polynesian migration to, ; ports and harbors, –; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, ; rivers, –; Straits of Magellan connection, ; trade/transportation, , , ; whaling, ; wind energy,
South Asia Network On Dams, Rivers & People, International River Network, South Atlantic Ocean, , South China Sea, –, , , , , , ; Indian Ocean and, , , ; international security, ; oil and natural gas, ; Pacific Ocean connection, ; piracy, ; pollution, ; ports and harbors, ; research organizations, ; trade/transportation, , , , , South Louisiana Port, , South Pacific Ocean, , ; fishing issues, , ; Law of the Sea, ; research missions/vessels, ; whaling, South Seas, , , , , , Southampton Port, Southeast Asia: agriculture and trade, , ; aquariums, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; international security, ; offshore structures, ; pollution, ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; trade/transportation, , Southern Equatorial Current, Southern Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, , Southern Sea, SP- (research vessel), Spain: coastal tourism, ; ecotourism, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; international security, , ; lighthouses, ; piracy, , , ; privateering, , ; research missions/vessels, , , , , ; research organizations, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, , ; trade/transportation, , , , , , , , ; trawling, Spanish-American War, Speke, John Hanning, , , , Split port, Spokane River, Sri Lanka: Indian Ocean connection, , , , , ; ports and harbors, ; research organizations, ; shipbuilding/ shipping, , Sri Lanka Port, St. Clair River, St. George’s Channel, St. John Bayou, St. Johns Harbor, St. Lawrence: Stairway to the Sea (movie),
INDEX St. Lawrence River: exploration, , ; fuels and transportation, ; Great Lakes and, , , ; International Rapids, ; Lower Estuary, , ; Middle Estuary, ; North American Ports, , ; Quebec Lowlands, –; research organizations, ; St. Lawrence Seaway connection, , ; Upper Estuary, , St. Lawrence Seaway, , , , , – St. Lawrence Seaway Bill, St. Louis Port, St. Mary’s Falls Ship Canal, St. Maurice River, St. Petersburg Port, Stalin, Joseph, Standards for Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW), Stanley, Henry Morgan, , , , Stecknitz Canal, , Stewart (research vessel), , Stockholm Harbor, Stoke-on-Trent River, Storm and flood control, – Strait of Florida, Strait of Georgia, Strait of Gibraltar, –; and Black Sea, ; and Caspian Sea, ; exploration, ; international security, , ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , , , ; ports and harbors, ; research missions/ vessels, , ; sea levels, ; shipping and military and, ; trade/transportation, Strait of Melaka, Strait of Messina, , Strait of Otranto, , , Straits of Magellan, , , –, , , – Stratford-upon-Avon River, Strauss, Johann, Subic Bay, Suez, Isthmus of, , , , , , , Suez Canal, – ; Egypt and, –, ; Ferdinand de Lessups and, , , ; freight shipping and, ; fuels and transportation, – , ; international security, , ; landbridges, , – , , – ; Mediterranean Sea connection,
, , , , ; oil and natural gas, ; ports and harbors, ; Red Sea connection, , ; salvage and, ; ship salvage, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; trade/transportation, ; vs. Panama Canal, , ; vs. Strait of Gibraltar, Suez Canal Authority, , Suez Crises of , Suez Harbor, Suez Port, , Sukki Dam, Sumerian civilization, , , , Surabaya Port, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (), Surfing, – Susquehanna River, Suva Port, Swansea Port, Sweden, , , Sweet Thames Runs Softly (Gibson), Switzerland, , Sydney Port, Syr Darya River, Syracuse Port, , Tacoma Port, , Taedong River, , , , Taganda Bay, Tagus River, , Tahiti, , , , Talas River, Talbot Port, Tales of Fishing (Grey), Tampa Bay, Tampa Port, Tanana River, Tanaro River, Tangipahoa River, Tapti River, Tarbela Dam, Tarentum Port, Tarn River, Tasman, Abel, , , Tasmania, , , , Tatu River, Tauber River, Taz River, Tchefuncte River, Teach, Edward (Blackbeard), , Tehri Dam, Tehuantepec, Isthmus of, , , ,
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INDEX Tehuantepec Gulf, Tennessee River, , Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), , Tethys Sea, TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent), Tevere River, Tewfik Port, Thailand: agriculture and trade, ; coastal tourism, ; coastal urban development, ; ecotourism, ; fishing issues, , ; Indian Ocean connection, ; research missions/vessels (pre-), ; research organizations, ; rivers, ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; South China Sea connection, ; underwater archaeology, Thames estuary, Thames River, , , , , , , , , Third Anglo-Dutch War, Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Thomas Washington (research vessel), Thorndon Park Dam, A Thousand Miles Up (Edwards), Three Gorges Dam, , , , , , Three Saints Bay, Thresher (research vessel), Thunderball (Fleming), Tianjin Port, Tiber River, , , , Ticinus River, Tickfaw River, Tidal energy, –; tidal mills, – ; tidal power, – Tigris-Euphrates water system, Tigris River, , , , , , , , , , Tijuana River, Tikrit River, The Tin Drum (Grass), Tobol River, TOFC (Trailer On Flat-Car), Tokyo Bay, , , Tokyo Harbor, Tokyo Port, Toledo Canal, Toledo River, Tonga, , , , Tonle Sap River, Tordesillas, Treaty of, , , , , , Torres Strait,
Tower of Hercules Lighthouse, Townsville Port, Toxic Substances Control Act (), Trade and transportation: communities of interest, – ; economics of, ; th–th Century, – ; harbor facilities, – ; logistics, –; modernization of, –; th–th Century, –; Panalpina, –; pre-th Century, –; safety/ security, –; trade houses, – ; trade houses/shipping, Trans-Polar Current, Travels in the Interior of Africa (Park), Treaty of Lausanne, Treaty of Maastricht, Treaty of Nerchinsk, Treaty of Oregon, Treaty of Paris, , Treaty of Saragossa, Treaty of Tilsit, Treaty of Tordesillas, , , , , , Treaty of Utrecht, Treaty of Versailles, Trebia River, Trent-Severn Waterway, Tres Marias Dam, Trieste port, Trinity House Lighthouse, Tripoli, Tripoli Port, Tripolitan War, , Troikas (research vessel), , Trojan War, , , , , The Troller’s Guide (Salter), Trollhättan Falls, Trollhättan Lock, Tullumayo River, Tunisia, , Tunuyán River, Turkey: agriculture and trade, ; international security, , , ; trade/ transportation, , ; underwater archaeology, Turkmenbashy Port, Tuvalu, Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Verne), Twickenham Ferry (Theophilus), Tynemouth Port, Tyrrhenian Sea, , ,
INDEX Uatumä River, Ubanui River, Ulanga River, Ulverstone Port, Umm Qasr Port, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau (TV series), , Underwater Studies and Research Group, UNESCO World Heritage site, , , United Kingdom, , , , ; canals, , ; coastal/ecotourism, , ; customs, ; ferry industry, ; fishing issues, , , , , ; ITLOS, ; North Sea and, –; passenger shipping, , ; port operations, , ; research organizations, ; trawling, ; wave energy, , ; wind energy, United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), , , United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UNCLNUIW), United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS): cartography and, ; coastal state shipping rules and, ; environmental concerns and, , , ; International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and, –, ; Koh, Tommy Thong Bee and, ; North Sea territorial claims, ; part twelve excerpt of, – ; piracy and, United States: aquariums, , , ; artificial marine habitats/reefs, ; coastal tourism, ; coastal urban development, ; dams and locks, ; desalination, ; diving, ; exploration, , , ; fishing issues, , ; global food trade, , , ; hydrogen fuel, , ; hydropower/water management, , , , ; international security, –, , , ; landbridges, ; laws and treaties, ; lighthouses, ; ocean research schools, ; oil and gas dominance, –; piracy, , , , , , ; pollution, , , , ; port operations, , , , , , , ; ports and harbors, ; privateering, , , ; research missions/ vessels, , , , , ; research organizations, , , ; sea levels,
; shipbuilding/shipping, , , , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, , ; storm and flood control, ; trade/transportation, , Upper Bay, Upper Plenty River, Upper Volta River, Ural River, Urquiza, Justo José de, Uruguay River, USAID, USS Tuscarora (research vessel), Ust-Kamenorgorsk Dam, Utrecht, Treaty of, Vaca, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de, Valdez Port, Valdivia (research vessel), Valparaiso Port, Vancouver Port, , , Venetian civilization, , – , – Venezuela, Venice Port, Veracruz Port, , , , , Versailles, Treaty of, Vespucci, Amerigo, , , , , , Victoria (research vessel), Victoria Port, Victoria Reservoir, Vienna Port, Vienne River, Vietnam: agriculture and trade, , ; coastal tourism, ; dams and locks, , ; exploration, ; Indian Ocean connection, ; international security, , ; oil and natural gas, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, ; research organizations, ; rivers, , , ; sea levels, ; seaweed cultivation, ; South China Sea connection, , ; trade/ transportation, , , ; underwater archaeology, Visakhapatnam Port, Vistula River, Vitoria Port, Vladivostok Harbor, Vladivostok Port, Volga River, , , , , , , Volta reservoir, Volta River, , Von Humboldt, Alexander, Vøringen (research vessel),
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INDEX Wabash River, War of , , War of Austrian Succession, , , , , War of Spanish Succession, , , , , War of the Pacific, War of the Triple Alliance, , Waranga Reservoir, Warren Dam, Warrnambool Port, Wars of Independence, Water Hygiene and Solid Waste Management (U.S.), Water Music (Handel), Watson, Charles, Wave energy, – Wei River, Welland Canal, , , , , Weser River, , West Desert Pumping project, West Indies, , , , , , ; international security, ; passenger shipping/ cruise industry, ; ports and harbors, , , ; research missions/vessels, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; trade/transportation, West Norwegian Current, Western Heights Lighthouse, Western Mediterranean, , WGS- (World Geodetic System-), Whaling: before , – ; Modern, – White Nile River, , , , White Sea, , , White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal, Whitehorse Rapids, Whitewater Canal, Wiley-Dondero Ship Canal, Willamette River, William Scoresby (research vessel), Williamstown Port, Wilson Dam, , Winchelsea Port, Wind energy, offshore and coastal, – Windward Passage, Wolf Creek Dam, Wollongong Port, World Canals (Hadfield), World Health Organization (WHO), World Lighthouse Society, World War I: African Rivers War and, ; Atlantic Ocean and, ; Australian dams
and, ; Baltic states and, ; Battle of Midway, ; Bosphorus Strait and, ; Caspian Sea and, ; cruise/passenger shipping disruption, ; Dardanelles and, –; English Channel and, ; European shipping and, ; food blockades and, –; Great Lakes and, ; Hague Convention and, ; Hamburg Port and, ; hydroelectric power and, ; Lake Victoria and, ; Meiji Restoration of , ; North Sea and, ; Pacific ports and, ; Philippine Sea and, ; privateering, ; research missions/ vessels, , , ; research organizations, , , ; Rhine River and, ; salvage operations, ; sand usage, ; Sea of Japan and, ; seaweed usage and, ; ship design and construction, , , ; ship owning sector and, , ; ship salvage, ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; St. Lawrence Seaway and, ; Suez Canal and, , ; Tigris River and, ; Treaty of Versailles and, World War II: Asian export/import growth, ; Atlantic Ocean battles, ; Australian coastal engineering, ; Baltic states and, ; Caribbean Sea and, –; Caspian Sea and, ; Chinese Pacific coast and, ; containerization of cargo, , , ; Coral Sea and, ; Danube River and, ; Dardanelles and, ; desalination and, ; English Channel and, ; ferry industry advances and, , , , ; food blockages, –; German European river control, ; Gulf of Alaska and, ; Hamburg Port and, –; hydropower and, , ; Indus River and, ; international security, ; Lake Titicaca post-war expansion, ; LendLease Agreement and, ; maritime shipping/trade disputes, ; North Sea and, ; offshore structures, ; Pacific ports and, ; Panama Canal and, , ; Philippine Sea and, ; Plate River battle, , ; post-war coastal development, , ; post-war cruise/passenger shipping growth, , , ; post-war fishing advancements, , ; privateering, ; Red Sea and, ; research missions/vessels, , , ; research organizations, , ; river fortifications, ; Rotterdam Port and, ; ship owning sector and, –; ship salvage,
INDEX ; shipbuilding/shipping, , , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; South China Sea and, ; St. Lawrence Seaway and, ; Suez Canal and, , , , ; underwater archaeology and, , ; warship construction, World without Sun (movie), Wyse, Bonaparte, , Xingu River, Xiushui River, Yacyretá Dam, Yakima River, Yakutat Bay, Yalong Jiang Dam, Yalu River, , , , Yamuna River, Yan Yean Dam, Yangon (Myanmar),
Yangtze River, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Yarra River, Yellow River, , , , , Yellow Sea, Yenissei River, , Yichang-Ghezouba Dam, Yokohoma Port, Yorke Peninsula, Yucatan Channel, , Yucatan Peninsula, , Yukon River, Zambezi River, , Zanzibar Port, Zara port, Zedong, Mao, , Zhu Jiang River, , Ziemo-Avtchal Dam, Zulu civilization,
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seas and waterways of the world
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seas and waterways of the world An Encyclopedia of History, Uses, and Issues VOLUME
John Zumerchik and Steven L. Danver, Editors
Copyright by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Seas and waterways of the world : an encyclopedia of history, uses, and issues / John Zumerchik and Steven L. Danver, editors. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN ---- (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN ---- (ebook) . Waterways—Encyclopedias. . Seas—Encyclopedias. I. Zumerchik, John. II. Danver, Steven Laurence. HE.S .'—dc ISBN: ---- EISBN: ----
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Contents
Introduction by John Zumerchik and Steven L. Danver The Editors and Contributors I.
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History of the World’s Seas and Waterways
Adriatic Sea Aegean Sea African Dams and Locks African Rivers Arabian Sea Arctic Ocean Asian Dams and Locks Asian Ports and Harbors Asian Rivers Atlantic Ocean (TH–ST Centuries) Australian Dams and Locks Australian Ports and Harbors Baltic Sea Bering Sea Black Sea Bosphorus Strait Caribbean Sea Caspian Sea Central and South American Ports and Harbors
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CONTENTS
Central and South American Rivers Coral Sea Dardanelles English Channel European and Mediterranean Ports and Harbors European Canals European Dams and Locks European Rivers Great Barrier Reef Great Lakes Great Salt Lake Gulf of Alaska Gulf of California Gulf of Mexico Hudson Bay Indian Ocean Irish Sea Island Ports and Harbors Lake Pontchartrain Lake Tahoe Lake Titicaca Lake Victoria Mediterranean Sea North American and Central American Canals North American Dams and Locks North American Ports and Harbors North American Rivers North Sea Pacific Ocean Panama Canal Persian Gulf Philippine Sea Red Sea Russian Waterways Sea of Japan South American Dams and Locks South China Sea St. Lawrence Seaway Strait of Gibraltar Straits of Magellan Suez Canal
CONTENTS
II.
Uses of the World’s Seas and Waterways
Agriculture, Food Commodities Agriculture, Fruits, and Vegetables Archaeology, Underwater Coastal Tourism Industry Coastal Urban Development Containerization Diving Ecotourism Fish and Shellfish Farming Fishing Methods and Technology, th Century Fishing Methods and Technology, Up to the Late th Century Fishing, Sport Fuels, Transportation Hydrogen Hydropower and Water Resource Management Landbridges Methane Hydrates Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Oil and Natural Gas Passenger Shipping, Cruise Industry Passenger Shipping, Ferry Industry Passenger Shipping, Passenger Industry Pharmaceuticals from the Sea Sailing and Yachting Sand and Gravel Sea Water Seaside Resorts and Tourism Seaweed and Other Plants Ship Design and Construction Shipowners Surfing Tidal Energy Wave Energy Whaling, Before Whaling, Modern Wind Energy, Offshore and Coastal
III. Issues Pertaining to the World’s Seas and Waterways Aquarium Industry Cartography and Hydrography Customs
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Desalination Dredging Electricity, Lighting, and Lighthouses European Law and Treaties Exploration International Environmental Laws and Treaties International Security International Shipping, Trade Laws and Treaties International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Law of the Sea North American Laws and Treaties Offshore Structures Piracy Pollution Port Operations Privateering Reefs and Building Artificial Marine Habitat Research Organizations Research Vessels and Missions (before ) Research Vessels and Missions (-Present) Salvage Sea Level Changes Shipping and Shipbuilding, Government Policy Impact Storm and Flood Control Trade and Transportation (pre-th century) Trade and Transportation (th–th centuries) Trade and Transportation (th–th centuries)
Chronology
Glossary
Index
Introduction
If there is one substance that is impossible to separate from the course of human history, it is water. From a purely economic perspective its value is immeasurable, as over twothirds of the earth is covered by it. Aside from our bodies requiring water to survive, we need water as a resource to clean ourselves and our belongings, irrigate the crops we eat, transport ourselves and the goods we consume, generate the electricity we demand, and as a medium to enjoy some of our favorite leisure activities like swimming, sailing, and surfing. However, water is just as important on social and political levels as it is on an individual basis. The world’s seas and waterways have served an ever-evolving importance to the development of civilizations around the world, activities surrounding resource acquisition (fish, energy, minerals) as well as the transportation of people, energy, commodities, and manufactured goods. Reflecting the title of this work, there are approximately entries covering the oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, and waterways. Each entry outlines important geographical and geological features, and unites the historical significance of the body of water to the economic development of the region. Whenever an important resource was discovered, or an important new product or agricultural commodity became popular, it resulted in the development of lucrative new trade routes that trading companies, often backed by navies, went to great extents to control and extend their power. A detailed approach to all the important explorations undertaken through history, which is covered extensively by many other sources, was beyond the scope of this work. Rather, the approach throughout this work is to focus on the evolving motivations, and the risk-reward dynamics, behind the efforts of nations and business interests to embark on exploratory missions to discover valuable new imports, and to establish new or alternative trade routes such as the coveted Northwest Passage.
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The early explorers had multiple goals, one of which was scientific. Considering the large number of shipwrecks, and the cargo lost, missions of early explorers included efforts to reduce navigational risks with cartography and hydrography efforts. Beginning in the th century, basic scientific exploration missions gained prominence. As governments realized the potential profitability of science, the balance between patronizing the arts vis-à-vis science began tilting towards science, which continues today. Early scientific missions operated with very limited budgets and used retrofitted cargo vessels, but by the latter half of the th century, vessels were designed specifically for scientific missions, equipped with advanced technology for deep water marine life studies and archeology. The largest private sector investment has been in geophysical prospecting vessels, primarily searching for new sources of offshore petroleum. The energy and mineral resources of the ocean, largely unknown until the early th century, have contributed a growing share of overall crude oil reserves because of advances in the science of exploration and production. Oil exploration, which was largely confined to coastal areas until the s, was taking place in the harsh North Sea by the s, and in the open ocean at depths exceeding , feet by the s. Vast untapped resources of methane hydrates, discovered deep below the ocean surface, may some day become an important energy source, and electrolysis to separate hydrogen from oxygen may someday be the main driver of the hydrogen economy. The gravitational flow of water itself is responsible for much of the energy we use. Harnessing the flow of water for energy production, as well as irrigation, dates back over , years. Hydroelectric facilities provide approximately seven percent of all electricity production in the world. Generation of electricity from flowing water has fallen from favor in modern times because it requires the use of dams, which has been discovered to have detrimental environmental effects. Thus, dam-less water turbines were developed in the early st century as a much more environmentally friendly means of capturing energy from the flow of water. Because winds are stronger and more consistent at sea, offshore wind turbine developments were introduced in the s, but aesthetic objections from the local populations, and the difficulty of engineering turbines that can withstand storms, make the future of offshore wind power uncertain. Future development depends on the future price of fossil fuels. Development of other electric energy generating alternatives— indirectly harnessing the energy of the wind by harnessing the energy of wave and ocean thermal power plants—may someday be an important provider of electricity production as well. However, research funding for these alternative technologies has declined after fossil fuel prices peaked and began declining in the s. Fossil fuels—crude oil, natural gas, and coal—are also the major commodity transported down rivers and across oceans. Before the emergence of the railroads in the early th century, water was the preferred choice to transport people and goods. During the vast migration triggered by the California gold rush of , many a fortune seeker chose the much longer Cape Horn route (or the portage across Panama) rather than
INTRODUCTION
the much shorter, but far more arduous and dangerous journey over land. Yet in an era where fresh Alaskan halibut can reach your table overnight, super-sized container ships delivering Asian electronic equipment cross the ocean in less than days, and oil tankers longer than a football field arrive from the Persian Gulf in less than seven days, it is easy to forget the tremendous advances in transportation that have made products so convenient and readily available. Transportation of people and goods along rivers and canals was extremely prevalent in ancient China, and throughout Europe and the United States up until the th century, because of the high cost of ground transportation. In much of the world, it could cost more to move goods miles inland than across the Atlantic Ocean. However, after the first steam locomotives began running in the early th century, rail became a formidable competitor to canals featuring horse-drawn barges. Whereas a horse could pull far more goods on a barge at slow speeds, at high speeds much more could be pulled by rail since water resistance increases much faster with speed than air and rolling resistance. Although water resistance resulted in the slow demise of the canal system for highvalue goods, canals and waterways have remained a vital means of transporting agricultural, coal and raw materials. It is likely the marine mode will always have an energy advantage at transporting large volumes of freight at slow speeds, but inland rivers and waterways will continue to be pulled in several competing directions. The need for dams to provide hydroelectric power and irrigation must compete with the need for transportation and sustaining fish populations. Much of human history has taken place either on the water, or at the water’s edge. Water draws us near, but also serves as a natural border between cities, states, and countries. Access to the waterfront has always had a significant influence on local and national economies, with landlocked nations such as Bolivia in South America, Afghanistan in Asia, and several African nations at a significant disadvantage to their neighbors in terms of trade and economic development. Therefore it is not surprising that many wars have been fought over control of water, and favorable international commerce was largely dictated by gunboat “big stick” diplomacy until the th century when “dollar diplomacy” became dominant. In modern times, the recreation and leisure aspect of the coast has gained in prominence. Going to the beach has been a favorite past time for decades, but population growth, more affordable jet travel, greater leisure time, and more diverse choices have significantly increased interest among the populace and coastal developments have responded to attract tourists, including cruise lines. The desire to escape harsh winter conditions has led to the growth in travel to beautiful coastal beaches in Mexico, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. The number and popularity of sporting activities also has increased. Whereas rowing, sports fishing, and sailing have a long history, surfing, water skiing, wind surfing and kite sailing have been introduced in more modern times. Finally, there are the environmental aspects to consider. There is widespread disagreement whether the oceans and rivers are ecologically resilient or fragile—fragile in the sense that detrimental development does irreversible damage. According to the United
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Nations, by the turn of the th century more than half of the world’s population lived within miles of the shoreline. Although coastal development has lead to erosion, destruction, and pollution of habitat used by many ocean species, the greater scientific understanding of the impacts of coastal development has resulted in remediation and well-planned growth that has resulted in dramatic improvements in water quality and the improved habitats for many species in the United States and other developed nations since the s. Many commercial entities have successfully altered their operations to comply with environmental regulations, proving that development and environmental protection are not conflicting goals. Fishing methods have not only changed drastically through the centuries, but the innovations that made possible over fishing have, in turn, spurred the scientific work regarding how to increase fish populations, and the increase in fish farming to supply world markets. Moreover, from an international relations perspective, competing interests have given rise to diplomatic measures (treaties, international laws, and regulating bodies) that try to equitably manage the use of the seas for shipping, fishing, mining, and energy exploration. The seas and waterways were an integral aspect of world history, and are certain to remain so. But as the incomes and leisure time of a growing world population rises, there will be ever greater pressure to increase trade, transportation, and economic development along the rivers, lakes, and coast lines of the world. Hopefully, prudent policy and advances in science and engineering will make this development sustainable development.
The Editors and Contributors
Editors JOHN ZUMERCHIK, director of planning, Mi-Jack Products Inc. Mi-Jack Products is a highly diversified leading freight transportation service company, credited with numerous major innovations for intermodal transportation. Aside from being the leading manufacture of rubber tire gantry cranes for intermodal terminals, Mi-Jack and the Kansas City Southern Railroad jointly rebuilt and mechanized the Panama Canal Railroad (Panama Canal Railway Company), which has become a high-volume container land bridge and cruise ship tourist railway. Before joining Mi-Jack Products Inc., Mr. Zumerchik was an editor for the McGraw-Hill Company and the American Institute of Physics. Mr. Zumerchik has authored Newton on the Tee: A Good Walk through the Science of Golf (Simon & Shuster, ), and has been an author/editor of two awardwinning titles: the two-volume Macmillan Encyclopedia of Sports Science ( Booklist Editor’s Choice) and three-volume Macmillan Encyclopedia of Energy, which was an American Library Association Outstanding Reference Source (), Library Journal Best Reference (), and Reference and User Services Association’s Outstanding Reference Sources (). STEVEN L. DANVER is visiting assistant professor of history in Seaver College at Pepperdine University and a general partner at Mesa Verde Publishing. He earned his doctorate in history at the University of Utah, specializing in water and environmental policy, and has taught history at numerous colleges and universities, including National University, Front Range Community College, Westmont College, Santa Barbara City College, and the University of Utah. He has worked in the publishing industry since , and has been managing editor of Journal of the West since . Dr. Danver has worked as an editor and a writer on over historical reference books. His dissertation, “Liquid Assets: A History of Tribal Water Rights Strategies in the American Southwest,” to be published by the University of Oklahoma Press, examines the long history of one of the most important issues of modern relevance to American Indians in the
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THE EDITORS AND CONTRIBU TORS
West. He is also coeditor of The Great Depression and New Deal: A Thematic Encyclopedia (), Water Politics and the Environment in the United States (forthcoming), and editor of the four-volume series Popular Controversies in World History (forthcoming). Contributors Lars-Fredrik Andersson, University of Miami Hubert Bonin, Université de Bordeaux Jesse E. Brown Jr., Mississippi State University Paul Buell, Western Washington University David J. Clarke, Memorial University (Canada) Eleanor Congdon, Youngstown State University Justin Corfield, Geelong Grammar School (Australia) James R. Coull, University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom) Kerry Dexter, Tallahassee, Florida Elizabeth Elliot-Meisel, Creighton University Julia Fallon, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (United Kingdom) William F. Felice, Eckerd College Vivian Louis Forbes, University of Western Australia Cheryl Fury, University of New Brunswick (Canada) Abby Garland, Bob Jones University William Glover, Canadian Hydrographic Service (Canada) Stefan Halikowski Smith, Swansea University (United Kingdom) Ingo Heidbrink, Old Dominion University Charles E. Herdendorf, Ohio State University Peter Jacques, University of Central Florida Pinar Kayaalp, Ramapo College of New Jersey Stephen Marshall, East Tennessee State University Jay Martin, Claremont McKenna College Kenneth McPherson, East Fremantle, Australia David E. Newton, Ashland, Oregon Lee Oberman, Catonsville, Maryland Ayodeji Olukoju, University of Lagos (Nigeria) Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Hofstra University James Seelye, University of Toledo Bryan Sinche, University of North Carolina Zachary A. Smith, Northern Arizona University Eva-Maria Stolberg, University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) Robert Lloyd Webb, University of Virginia Jann M. Witt, Deutscher Marinebund (Germany) Richard Wojtowicz, Montana State University
H
HYDROGEN Hydrogen, as the third the most abundant element on Earth and the most abundant in the universe, is widely regarded as the fuel of the future. The idea of using hydrogen as a fuel is not new. In the United States, the Department of Defense, NASA, and the National Energy Laboratories have been active in hydrogen application research dating back to the s. In the s, the European and Japanese governments began direct sponsorship of Ballard—the leading manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells. Iceland, with an abundance of geothermal energy, has taken the lead in the hydrogen energy transition by subsidizing the implementation efforts of Norsk Hydro Electrolysers, DaimlerChrysler, and British Dutch Shell. Nevertheless, significant technological breakthroughs will be needed before widespread replacement of fossil fuels with hydrogen takes place; that is because very little free hydrogen exists. Hydrogen has to be produced from hydrogen-containing compounds, either steam reforming the hydrocarbon compounds of oil, natural gas and coal, or separated from oxygen by the process of water electrolysis. Whatever the method to produce hydrogen, it requires energy in the form of heat, light or electricity. The cost is significant. Over percent of hydrogen is produced by processing hydrocarbons (mostly carbon-poor, hydrogen-rich natural gas: CH) in hightemperature chemical reactors to make a synthetic gas, which then undergoes further processing to increase the hydrogen content before pure hydrogen is separated out from the mixture. In the case of water electrolysis, the seas of the world could be looked at as an inexhaustible hydrogen mine. If an inexpensive and environmentally benign way existed to generate great quantities of electricity, a hydrogen economy featuring electrolysis would look far more promising.
HYDROGEN
Currently, nine million tons of hydrogen are produced each year for use in the chemical, refining, metallurgy, and electronic industries. Due to the energy-intensive nature of water electrolysis, it is only cost competitive in regions where low-cost electricity is available. However, as fossil fuel reserves decline, water electrolysis and direct conversion methods are likely to come to the forefront.
Marine Applications Hydrogen can be substituted for any fossil fuel. It can heat homes, produce steam for electricity, and with minor changes to the internal combustion engine, it can even power vehicles. Most promising of all, fuel cells using hydrogen can convert chemical energy directly into electric energy. Marine applications are just one of hundreds of applications under research. In the s, interest in hydrogen grew for tugs and other port vessels because hydrogenburning engines, which are easily converted from diesel or gasoline engines, can be made more efficient and only emit water vapor with traces of nitrogen oxides, thereby eliminating any need for post-combustion clean-up systems. The brightest future is in the development of direct conversion of hydrogen with fuel cells, which would produce no harmful emissions and would convert hydrogen into propulsion at an average efficiency twice that of a ship’s gas turbine or diesel engine. There eventually may be a market for hydrogen as a fuel in ports, where creating a single hydrogen refueling station is far less daunting a task than building the necessary infrastructure to service millions of vehicles. Nevertheless, the small size and volatility of the hydrogen molecule, which makes it an extremely leak-prone gas, will necessitate special care in developing a large-scale refueling infrastructure. Aside from the cost of building a refueling infrastructure, another major disadvantage of hydrogen is the low energy density of the gas (hydrogen’s low energy density per unit mass and per unit volume), particularly when compared to the high energy density liquid fuels that hydrogen would be replacing. Unfortunately, much of the efficiency gains of the fuel cell are offset by the need to carry heavy, bulky storage tanks, and the significant energy needed to compress or liquefy hydrogen. Although there is far less of a concern about weight for large barge and oceanic vessels, as drag only very marginally increases due to the density (buoyancy) of water, bulky fuel tanks are another matter; thus, efforts are being directed toward developing on-board reformulators. The U.S. Office of Naval Research took the lead in the early s by authorizing a $ million research effort to examine ways to reformulate diesel fuel (a high density liquid fuel) into hydrogen, so that fuel cells can provide distributed auxiliary power—power located throughout the ship to improve survivability. A major technical challenge remains the discovery of a way to separate out the sulfur present in diesel fuel during reformulation to prevent life threatening corrosion of the fuel cell’s electrodes and seals. On the small vessel front, a fuel-cell-powered water taxi was introduced in by a consortium led by Millennium Cell, and funded by a U.S. Maritime Administration
HYDROGEN
program, exploring the use of hydrogen fuel to power ships and port facilities. For this San Francisco Bay water taxi, there are no fossil fuels involved. Sodium borohydride is dissolved in water and releases pure hydrogen after passing through a metal catalyst chamber. The downside is the high price of sodium borohydride and the refueling problem, namely storing sodium borohydride on the boat. Another small craft application was introduced by Ontario-based Hydrogenics Corporation in . Using a -kilowatt fuel cell, and hydrogen provided by water electrolysis, the fuel cell provides the power to turn the propeller as well as electricity for the boat’s lighting, galley appliances, and navigation equipment. The electricity for electrolysis is provided by on-board photovoltaic solar panels, a wind turbine, and when necessary, a backup generator.
Hydrogen Production Research Producing hydrogen by water electrolysis was first accomplished in by the English chemist William Nicholson. He discovered that when the leads of batteries are placed in water, the water breaks up into hydrogen and oxygen. Only months later, German physicist Johann Wilhelm Ritter was able to duplicate Nicholson’s work, but then went a step farther by positioning the electrodes so that the two gases could be separated and collected. Later it was found that adding salt made the process more efficient. Up until the s, water electrolyzers were widely used for hydrogen and oxygen production, but the problem for large-scale production is the energy intensity involved. To produce standard cubic feet of hydrogen would require electrolyzing seven gallons of water, and consuming approximately -kilowatt hours of electricity. That is why water electrolysis faded when it proved more economical to reformulate inexpensive natural gas. However, this is likely to change again as natural gas prices rise and reserves dwindle. There is still much debate about the best hydrogen refueling infrastructure. The major advantage of on-site water electrolyzers for refueling stations is that hydrogen could be created on demand, thereby eliminating the danger of transportation and on-site storage of compressed hydrogen, and of equal importance, largely offsetting the higher production costs. Despite the promise of a hydrogen economy, hydrogen as a fuel will remain problematic as long as it is produced directly from finite supplies of fossil fuels, or by electrolysis using fossil fuel-produced electricity. Thus, in the s the U.S. Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency launched research efforts on direct conversion hydrogen generation systems as a more efficient alternatives to water electrolysis. Promising research efforts underway in the st century include solar electrolysis, nuclear breeder reactors, and hydrogen-producing biological processes. The biological processes being researched to free hydrogen take two divergent paths: photosynthesis requiring light, and fermentation requiring darkness. Fermentation efforts, which have more near-term commercial potential, center around finding micro-organisms that can best break down a variety of biomass feedstocks into hydrogen. Photobiological hydrogen production is more long-term; nevertheless, research has already discovered an enzyme in the pigment of certain algae that acts as a catalyst in splitting water molecules
HYDROPOWER AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
when absorbing sunlight. The problem remains that during the photosynthesis process in algae, this fast-acting enzyme stops hydrogen production very quickly once oxygen is present. So, using genetic engineering techniques, researchers are attempting to design O-tolerant green algae that can sustain H-production in the presence of oxygen. Of equal importance is finding ways to control the metabolic switch so that cells can switch back and forth from the photosynthetic growth phase to the hydrogen producing phase. If efforts to achieve a hydrogen producing system that is self-sustaining and scalable to large-scale production are successful, someday the seas, rivers, and lakes of the world could serve as the home to a new hydrogen-producing aquaculture industry. John Zumerchik References and Further Reading Greene, David. Transportation and Energy. Lansdowne, VA: Eno Transportation Foundation Inc., . Rigden, John. Hydrogen: The Essential Element. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, . Romm, Joseph. Hype about Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate. Washington DC: Island Press, .
HYDROPOWER AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Hydropower, a form of solar energy, uses the hydrological cycle and the falling flow (gravitational) of water, to generate mechanical and electrical energy. The hydrological cycle encompasses the movement of water from the oceans to the atmosphere and back to the oceans again. Hydropower installations generate energy as this runoff, in the form of streams and rivers, flow back to the ocean. The first uses of waterpower dates back to around the first century b.c.e. when the power of the stream lifted bucketed water that was then dropped at a higher level into a channel for irrigation. The introduction of the Roman water mill that followed brought water power beyond irrigation. Using an undershot waterwheel connected to a vertical gear shaft, the mill would turn a stone to grind grain; it was the first time a machine was able to transmit power through gearing. The use of waterpower grew in importance as it spread through most of the Roman Empire. In the b.c.e. siege of Rome, Barbarians tried to starve the city more quickly by destroying the aqueducts that brought water to the grain mills. Rome quickly responded by constructing waterwheels and mills on barges in the Tiber to continue to supply flour. Before and during the Middle Ages, as geared water mills spread from Rome throughout Europe, the number of applications proliferated. Besides grinding grain, water mills were used to crush metallic ore, saw wood and marble, and make mash for beer. Rivers and streams served a dual function. Sites along rivers and streams not only
HYDROPOWER AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
produced the goods, but the economics of transportation favored locations near waterways for the transportation of those goods. Agricultural, forest, and mineral products were milled at river and stream sites, and then economically transported by boat or barge to markets down stream. Streams, rivers, and the sea were the preferred means of transporting products up until the development of the railroad; thus, industry and commerce largely grew along the banks of rivers. This is reflected in the population densities of the th century being heavily clustered around the seas and waterways of Europe. Another advantage of being locating waterside was the ease of disposing of, or dumping, industrial waste. Established millers, using man or animal, resisted the introduction of water mills because they were either reluctant to move to sites with water power, invest in a new facility, or depart with what would be surplus slaves, animals, and old mill. Thus, it took until the th century before hydropower, and later steam, began displacing muscle power on a wide scale. The advantages of waterpower were substantial. Because a four-horsepower grist mill could produce bushels of flour a day, the equivalent to the work of men, water power substitution freed men for other tasks, and allowed mill managers much greater control over production. Nevertheless, water power expansion was limited for geographical, economic, and technical reasons: Power produced at the mill had to be used at the mill (thus potential sites were finite), only one type of material could be processed per site, and there needed to be nearby water transportation. By the th century, all of the best sites in Western Europe were largely taken, so despite abundant resources and a growing demand for products, industrial expansion was limited. It took the technological advances of the turbine, a th century invention that allowed for the generating of electricity from falling water—and the steam engine to accelerate economic development again. While in England the steam engine drove industrial development, in the United States, water remained a prime mover, made possible by advances in turbines. When Benoit Fourneyron won the Société d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie Nationale competition for a new water-powered design, it marked the transition from the vertical waterwheel to the much more efficient turbine design. In , two Fourneyron turbines—curved blades driven by its radial outward flow design—generated -horsepower at the Saint Blaisien textile mill to operate , spindles and looms. Because the Fourneyron design only performed well under specific flow and pressure conditions, great efforts were undertaken to develop better and more flexible designs that would evacuate the water with the lowest possible loss of potential energy. Efforts resulted in an inward-flow turbine design. Patented by James B. Francis in , it used spiral casings of decreasing diameter to accelerate the water onto submerged angled blades, with the evacuating water flowing through the center outlet. Fixed angle blades were ideal for sites with large natural storage reservoirs that experienced small differences in water elevation, and thus created reliable year-round steady flow. For the majority of sites without a large reservoir, the introduction of the Kaplan turbine in was welcomed because the pitch of the blades could be adjusted to best match the flow and pressure conditions at any given time.
HYDROPOWER AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
The great turning point for waterpower occurred when turbines were coupled with electricity generators in Godalming, England in , and Appleton, Wisconsin in . Electric transmission advances and the introduction of alternating current that followed made it possible to decouple industry from water power, and begin a trend to locate industrial sites far from water power resources (the steam turbine for electricity also began in ). Switzerland built over small-scale installations by the early s, and on a larger scale, a .-megawatt, -unit plant in Niagara, New York began generation in . With railroads also gaining prominence for freight transportation, industrialists, no longer constrained by a need to be near navigable water and waterpower sources, could now locate near urban areas with large labor sources. Because hydro and coalfired electric power developed concurrently, hydro was more attractive in regions where fossil fuels were not available or expensive and waterpower was nearby. Abundant and cheap energy was coveted since it lured energy-intensive industries with a competitive advantage—energy making up a smaller fraction of manufacturing costs. Good sites for hydroelectric power depend on pressure (high water falls), volume (high flow rate), a large storage area, and proximity to load centers. Both high head and high flow rate are ideal, yet a low head can be compensated for by a high flow and vice versa. The dam is constructed to create a reservoir that will accumulate water that can be released through pinwheels as needed to meet demand. A facility with a second reservoir at a higher elevation is also ideal for storing large quantities of energy. When baseline power plants (e.g., coal-fired) generate more electricity than needed by customers, this electricity can be used to pump water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir. Secondary storage serves as a valuable reserve of energy that can be released through turbines to the lower reservoir when demand rises unexpectedly or under exceptional weather conditions (e.g., peak air conditioning demand). Led by power companies looking to profit from a growing industrial, municipal and residential demand for electric power, the United States took the lead in developing hydroelectric power. Yet as fledgling power companies began building dams that threatened navigation, the U.S. Congress stepped in to regulate dam construction with the Rivers and Harbors Acts of requiring dam builders to make changes, at any time, to facilitate navigation. In the early th century, hydroelectric power was envisioned as a tool in developing a comprehensive plan for waterway improvement, which was incorporated in a amendment to the General Dam Act. The concern was not only how hydroelectric power for commercial purposes would affect navigation, but also lower the overall costs of construction that included navigational improvements. In essence, the hydroelectric power component became instrumental in financing the navigation and flood control aspects of dams. Development was strictly private until World War I. Since the military needed to produce nitrates to manufacture ammunitions, the Tennessee Valley Authority began construction of a Tennessee River power facility at Muscle Shoals in . This facility, along with the Wilson Dam (largest masonry structure at the time) further down river, began operating in , with the navigation locks opening the following year.
HYDROPOWER AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
A huge American flag hangs over enormous turbines inside Hoover Dam. These turbines are located hundreds of feet beneath the surface of Lake Mead under many tons of concrete. The plant produces an average annual . billion kilowatts. iStockPhotos.com.
Proponents of publically and privately-produced power continued to battle over regional development. A shift to public development of large projects occurred during the s with the New Deal. Development of hydroelectric power began to be viewed as an important job creator during the Great Depression, and a means of providing cheap power to the masses. Thus, the Bonneville Power Authority in the Pacific Northwest was established in , not only to build a dam, but also to operate the generators and deliver power to the substation. Power was to benefit the rural and residential customers, which in turn led to the construction of high voltage transmission lines to bring power great distances from the rivers to urban centers. By , hydropower supplied about percent of the power consumed in the Pacific Northwest, and around percent of the total U.S. electricity supply. The Grand Coulee Dam was the grandest project when it began operating in , with an installed capacity of megawatts, which was eventually expanded to over , megawatts. After World War II, development of multi-purpose hydro projects accelerated. From –, installed capacity increased by , megawatts as Congress authorized major development of the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Pacific Northwest. Although flood control was the primary goal of the initial authorizations plans of the
HYDROPOWER AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Missouri and Arkansas rivers at that time, penstocks were often installed to keep open the option of future hydroelectric power. Whereas development was a mix of public and private investment in the U.S., hydroelectric development in the Soviet Union, which was of great political importance, was solely a function of the central planning state. Lenin believed hydroelectricity was vital to the success of the Soviet system. Hydroelectric power output continued to rise during the s as power was added to multi-purpose facilities and new sites were developed. However, as the number of attractive sites waned, awareness and scrutiny of the detrimental environmental impacts of dam building and turbines grew, resulting in the requirement of an environmental impact statement (National Environmental Policy Act of ) that applied to relicensing as well. On the Columbia and Snake rivers, the dilemma was how to save endangered salmon and at the same time maintain the immense power production. Although fish ladders proved effective in the movement of salmon past the dam upstream to spawn, getting the fingerlings downstream after spawning proved much more difficult. Solutions such as fish screens and lowering the reservoir have been effective, yet they have been resisted because they also reduce power production, thus driving up the cost of electricity. After the Electric Consumers Protection Act passed in , tightening requirements for relicensing (power and non-power uses of water resources weighted equally), existing facilities were forced to reduce their generating capacity. Another major problem with hydroelectric power production on a large scale is that facilities have a limited life to produce power, as eventually sedimentation builds up behind the walls of the dam, curtailing power production by clogging the turbines’ entranceway. Moreover, the absence of silt downstream makes downstream riverbanks more vulnerable to flooding and prevents deposition of sediments downstream, which reduces the fertility of agricultural lands and the production from fisheries. Dams also adversely affect water quality because stagnant water behind the dam tends to warm, promote algae growth, and raises the mineral content due to heightened evaporation. Because small hydro facilities produce fewer environmental impacts than large facilities, they have grown in favor in the developed world and in rural areas of developing countries where very little power is needed. China is the leader with over , small hydro facilities producing , megawatts, followed by Sweden with , facilities producing , megawatts, the United States with , facilities producing , megawatts, Italy with , facilities producing , megawatts, and France with , facilities producing , megawatts (see Table ). Nevertheless, large-scale projects continue to be developed because of the enormous electric power that can be produced. Beginning in , Hydro-Quebec began diverting the flow of three rivers, reversed the flow of another, and then channeled the flow from the four rivers into La Grande-Rivière, which flows into James Bay. By , they had completed three large hydroelectric plants producing over , megawatts. Although the Le Grande project has negatively impacted plants and wildlife, it has not experienced the silting problem of other major hydro projects.
HYDROPOWER AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TABLE 1. Leading Hydroelectric Energy Production Nations
Country
Annual Hydroelectric Energy Production (TWh)
Installed Capacity (GW) 145.26
Load Factor
People’s Republic of China
486.7
0.37
Canada
350.3
88.974
0.59
Brazil
349.9
69.080
0.56
USA
291.2
79.511
0.42
Russia
157.1
45.000
.42
Norway
119.8
27.528
0.49
India
112.4
33.600
0.43
Japan
95.0
27.229
0.37
Sweden
61.8
France
61.5
25.335
0.25
The largest hydroelectric site in the world is the Itaipú facility on the Paraná River, completed in . Jointly owned by the bordering countries of Paraguay and Brazil, the capacity was , megawatts from generators. When completed, it provided over percent of Paraguay’s total energy, and much of the energy needs of western, southern, and central Brazil. In , two new generators were installed, boosting capacity to , megawatts. Large-scale hydro projects like Itaipú, which flooded over square miles of forest, had major negative environmental impacts for wildlife and plants. Despite attempts to migrate endangered plants to other areas, several plant species became extinct. Even larger than Itaipú will be the Three Gorges Dam hydroelectric project on the Yangtze River. When completed in , turbines will be producing , megawatts of power, making it the largest hydroelectric facility in the world. The site for the dam was first identified in the by an American team, which lead to Chinese engineers being sent to the United States for training in . The takeover by the Communist regime halted development until Mao Zedong decided in the late s that the Chinese should start development themselves from the experience they had with other small dams, particularly with silt control. Aside from power, and unlike Itaipú and Hydro-Quebec projects, the dam has also been designed to improve navigation since the Yangtze is a vital freight route. Big ships will be able to navigate to cities much farther into the Chinese interior because of traditional ship locks, and there will be a faster -foot elevator that will lift the tray, the water, and the ship (up to , tons). Without good highways or a freight rail network, this much needed year around navigation, made possible with controlled water retention and release, will help make possible economic development away from the coastal ports
HYDROPOWER AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
where almost all manufacturing now takes place. The locks are expected to increase river shipping from million to million tons annually, reducing transportation costs by over percent, and eliminating what has been a notoriously difficult river to navigate. However, some scientists feel, based on dams with similar geology, that Three Gorges will create heavy sedimentation that will make these navigation goals unattainable. To create the reservoir for the dam, more than . million people needed to resettle, as over towns were submerged. Despite the enormously disruptive nature of the dam for man and ecosystems, proponents felt it was an environmentally superior alternative to the construction of to coal-fired power plants that would be needed to produce a similar quantity of power. Continued growth in the development of energy production from water resources is a certainty. In , over percent of global electricity supply came from large hydro projects (> MW), which was percent of the renewable energy share. With an estimated spending of $ to $ billion on large hydro projects in , waterpower is still perceived as an important renewable resource, particularly in the developing world. Since advances in technology keep improving the use of water resources for power production and navigation, and also help mitigate negative environmental impacts, largescale production of electricity from falling water is thus likely to remain economically and politically attractive. John Zumerchik References and Further Reading British Petroleum Co. BP Statistical Review of World Energy. London: British Petroleum Co., . Cook, Earl. Man, Energy, Society. New York: McGraw-Hill, . Dowling, John. “Hydroelectricity.” In The Energy Sourcebook, ed. Ruth Howes and Anthony Fainberg. New York: American Institute of Physics, . Nye, David. Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,. Smil, Vaclev. Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, . Smil, Vaclev. Energy in World History. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, .
L
LANDBRIDGES In lieu of a maritime only segment, a landbridge is the movement of freight by rail or truck, with both prior and subsequent maritime moves providing a speedier sea-land-sea route than its all-water counterpart. Originally, the term meant the shipment of goods from one country to another by passing overland across a third country, but in recent times, the term has been broadened to include mini-bridges (foreign origin with the destination port reached from another port of the same land mass), and micro-bridges (foreign origin but an inland destination via an entry port). Thus, the term landbridge is now being used to refer to the wide variety of overland routing options used to complement maritime routes. Therefore, the landbridge serves as an alternative to the all-water route, either as an option to the Panama Canal and Suez Canal, or before these canals, to the much longer routes, respectively, Cape Horn and Cape of Good Hope. The most notable examples include: the North American landbridge as an alternative to the Panama Canal for Asia to Europe traffic; the mini-bridge for traffic between Japan and Europe via the Trans-Siberian railroad; and the micro-bridge for Asian container trade destined for Chicago. Early Times Landbridges, which are essentially quicker and more economical overland trade routes than sea only routes, have long been a pursuit to cope with discontinuities. Before the times of the Silk Road, perhaps the first landbridge can be attributed to Eudoxus, a Greek, who made the first direct voyage between Egypt and India in around b.c.e., but to get his goods back to Greece, it required over land transportation from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea (some channels along the Isthmus were dug as far back
LANDBRIDGES
as b.c.e.). The difficulty of land travel, coupled with the task of unloading Red Sea ships and reloading ships in the Mediterranean Sea to sail on to Greece, eventually led the Romans to complete the first -mile Suez Canal. After several cycles of disuse and restoration—the Canal was deliberately filled in by the Abbasid caliphs for military reasons in c.e.—the Isthmus of Suez remained an overland route until the modern Suez Canal was completed by the French in . The Vikings also used a landbridge by rolling ships across the nearly -mile long Isthmus of Kiel. The Isthmus linked the Baltic Sea to the North Sea, and was several hundred miles shorter than sailing all the way around Denmark. In the Americas, commercial interests were continually in search of faster and safer trade routes. Early navigators—Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Francis Drake, and Henry Hudson among them—were determined to find a more direct navigable route from Europe to Asia. Because ice doomed any viable Northwest Passage, and the trip around Cape Horn was extremely long and treacherous, keen interest turned toward finding a viable overland crossing in the th century. Whereas rail travel was in its infancy and horse-drawn wagons and poor roads presented serious limitation, water—in terms of speed, safety and cargo load—remained the most favored mode of transportation well into the th century. With all water’s advantages, the logical focus was on limiting the overland route, with geography favoring the -mile crossing of the Isthmus of Panama. A Panamanian railroad, the first intercontinental railroad, was started in and completed on January , ; unfortunately, it proved shortsighted in its focus on achieving the shortest distance. With little consideration of floods, mud slides, and the high mortality rates from tropical diseases (malaria, cholera, and yellow fever), the result proved perilous for those conscripted. In all, the human toll during construction was enormous, with fatalities estimates as high as ,. Even though the route was a mere . miles long, swamps, mountain climbs, and over bridges and culverts presented enormous engineering challenges. Costing over $million, eight times the original estimate, it was the most expensive railroad ever built to date. Yet the demand for a transatlantic crossing was so great that after only six miles of track had been completed, the railway began servicing hoards of eager Californiabound travelers who would go by mules the rest of the distance. The railway was charging an astronomically high $ per person for the train ride, and an additional $ for the walk or mule ride the remaining miles across the isthmus. By the time of the railway’s completion, these steep fares made it possible to pay for more than one-third of its construction cost. Several other wet and dry canals were proposed as well, some dating back as far as the th century. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico was a favored transoceanic crossing since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, and a Nicaraguan route was proposed in during the reign of King Philip II of Spain. Yet the primary focus for a crossing remained Panama. When the Panama Canal was proposed by the French in the s, James Eads, an American engineer who built many of the Union’s big ironclad gunboats during the
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Civil War, and the St. Louis Bridge across the Mississippi River shortly thereafter, proposed construction of a true landbridge. Foreseeing the human toll in terms of disease and death in building a canal across the Panamanian jungle, Eads instead proposed building a -mile-long railroad across Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It was a grand proposal, an enormous engineering challenge, featuring a plan to slide a -meter-long flat bed under ships in a -meter dry dock, with three parallel double locomotives pulling the ships on to dry land and across Mexico on three parallel sets of railroad tracks. Proponents felt constructing a railroad to move ships across the much drier -milelong Isthmus of Tehuantepec would be easier than trying to build a canal in the very wet, disease-and mud slide-prone tropics. Neither Eads proposal for a ship moving landbridge nor an interoceanic canal were ever built. Instead, after multiple contractor failures, in Mexico finished building a -mile long transoceanic railway across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, linking Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf of Campeche to Salina Cruz on the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Following the French abandonment of the Panama Canal project in , prospects for the rail route seemed bright. However, deficient roadbeds and port facilities made it impossible for the landbridge to service heavy traffic. This prompted the Mexican government to contract with the London firm of S. Pearson & Son, Ltd., to rebuild the system. Work began in and formally opened for traffic in . For New York to San Francisco traffic, the route was approximately , miles shorter, and cut overall steamer-railsteamer travel time by three or four days compared to a crossing by way of the Panama Railway. The route saw significant use for both passenger and freight traffic, but because of the labor intensive and time-consuming nature of loading and unloading, traffic quickly dwindled after the Panama Canal opened in . Despite adding several hundred miles of distance to the journey, the Panama Canal proved the far preferable transcontinental crossing. After completion, the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal quickly established themselves as the two most strategic artificial waterways in the world. In the United States, the Panama Canal shortened an East Coast to West Coast trip by , miles (by , miles from Asia to the East Coast of North America), and the Suez Canal saved over , miles for the journey from Asia to Europe. As expected, the United States benefited the most from the Panama Canal. The heaviest freight traffic route proved to be between Asia and the East Coast of the United States, with Europe to the West Coast of the United States ranking second.
Modern Era Through the first half of the th century, landbridges faded into obscurity as the Panama Canal and Suez Canal exerted a tremendous and far reaching impact on economic development and trade throughout the world. Nevertheless, the landbridge would reemerge in the s because of the limitations of the Panama Canal.
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The foremost problem was the inability to expand capacity to accommodate the rising traffic demand. On average, only to ships a day were making the passage through the canal. Although passage through the -mile long canal could be accomplished in to hours, growing congestion began to create bottlenecks, with average passage time climbing to hours due to waiting time. Compounding the problem was the fact that profits from operation were drying up. Up until the early s, the Panama Canal was quite profitable, but the cost of maintaining and modifying -year-old equipment, just to sustain the present rate of traffic, began to significantly cut into profitability. Secondly, although shipping economics favored ever larger ships, they were too large for passage through the Panama or Suez Canal (Panamax capacities of around , metric tons). Nevertheless, Post-Panamax ship construction was tempered since any economy of scale advantage was largely offset by the additional distance required to round, respectively, South America or Africa. Responding to the increasing size of ships, the Suez Canal was deepened and widened from feet to feet in , and again between and , but it was still unable to handle the largest vessels. Because the Panama Canal was not a sea-level crossing—operating with a series of six locks—the options for expansion were prohibitively expensive. Restrictions of a maximum draft of feet, widths of no more than feet, and a maximum length of feet, meant that Panamax and smaller ships moved an ever shrinking share of freight. Moreover, as tolls continued to increase (average toll reaching a $, average by ), shipping economics favored building Post-Panamax ships anyway, and using a North American landbridge. Finally, automation and the specialization of vessels was helping make the landbridge more attractive as well. The establishment of international standards for containers in the s, the development of advanced cranes to move containers quickly through port and rail terminals, and the moving of freight intermodally—the nearly continuous movement of containerized goods using ship, rail and truck—gave shippers far more options. The extremely labor-intensive port and rail terminal operations were increasingly becoming automated and specialized by containerization, which reduced handling time, labor costs, and packing costs—in all, permitting a better optimization of time and money. If the American landbridge for Yokohama to Rotterdam cut transit time by , miles and days, compared to a sea-only route through the Panama Canal, a multimodal shipment was well worth the premium price to shippers; that is because money is invested in inventory, and most freight is perishable or requires prompt delivery. The greater the value per ton of freight, the greater the cost of having that cargo tied up in transit. In other words, if freight is moving slowly—whether by ship, barge, train, or truck—it is losing money for someone. Thus, shippers were increasingly looking to shift their valuable shipments to faster and more expensive modes of transportation (rail, road, and air) to ensure that goods did not spoil, that they arrived on time, and the payment for delivered goods could be received sooner. Landbridges helped improve efficiency by the West Coast terminal serving as a distribution hub. Very large container ships needed to only make one stop. There was no need to make a stop in Long Beach and then travel through the Panama Canal for a
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second stop in Houston or New York City. With the building of the U.S. interstate highway system and railway terminal equipment, by the late s moving freight by sea only through the Panama Canal was no longer the fastest means, yet it still remained the least expensive. The landbridges that made the most sense were not necessarily the shortest routes, but the ports that could efficiently handle the greatest volume of freight and had the best arteries to distribute that freight across the continent as well as to Europe. Intermodal solved much of the Panama Canal capacity problem: the Canal could handle Panamax and smaller vessels bound for the East Coast of North America, and West Coast ports and intermodal transportation could service the Post-Panamax vessels. By , the trend was for the larger container ships to service the Asian-American route, calling on a limited number of Asian and American deep-sea ports, with smaller container ships offering feeder services to the smaller ports. By , the largest container ports were handling percent of the traffic. Whereas containerized freight accounted for percent of all cargo in , it grew to percent by (excluding raw materials, energy, and agricultural products). In the s and s, in response to a lack of capacity at the Panama Canal, new landbridges, or dry canals, were proposed for Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Columbia, and Nicaragua. One prominent proposal called for a modern -mile, highspeed railroad for moving double-stacked containers across Southern Nicaragua. Despite greater distance than competing transoceanic crossings, it received serious consideration because of two distinct geographical advantages: a maximum climb of only meters (flattest transoceanic crossing in all of the Americas) and a natural deep water Caribbean port at Monkey Point. Yet to relieve a major shipping bottleneck, neither a new transoceanic canal nor an expansion of the Panama Canal could be economically justified. Environmental opposition and the dauntingly high cost of a new or rebuilt canal shifted focus to improvements in land-based intermodal operations to cross the continent as a way to handle greater cargo volume. While construction of new dry canals or landbridges languished, major rebuilding projects did occur. In the late s, the Mexican government authorized $ million to begin rebuilding the Isthmus of Tehauntepec line and the two ports: Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz. Unfortunately, the prospects for traffic growth are currently limited since the port of Salina Cruz is too small for Post-Panamax containerships, which can carry between , and , -foot containers and require a channel depth of to feet. The other landbridge that was rebuilt was the -mile long Panama Canal Railway running parallel to the canal. Last rebuilt in on higher ground to accommodate the canal, the -million dollar joint venture between Kansas City Southern Railway and Mi-Jack Products—a leading crane builder and operator of intermodal terminals for the U.S. railroads—included a change in the track gauge from . meters to the standard . meters, the installation of continuously-welded rail, and two new intermodal rail terminals, one at each end. These modern terminals permit containers unloaded from a
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ship at the Pacific port to be taken by rail to the Atlantic port for transit points east in about minutes. After completion of the first phase of construction in , the -hour capacity was for trains to travel in each direction carrying , containers on double-stacked railcars. Aside from being designed for transporting containers from Post-Panamax ships, the railroad also transported some of the containers of fully loaded Panamax ships so not to exceed the maximum draft of the canal, and to also give canal pilots the two-boat length visibility they desired. The landbridge option parallel to the canal improved profitability for shipping companies because it permitted them to leave fully loaded, knowing that if they drew too large a draft, containers could be economically transported by rail through the Canal Zone. Prior to the railroad’s construction, containers could only be trucked across the Isthmus. Because the majority of freight began to be moved in containers intermodally, it became clear that the prospects of shipping were directly dependent on the prospects for rail and trucking; likewise, rail and trucking were dependent on shipping. For the Post-Panamax container vessels, the -mile Panama Canal Railway or the crossing at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec may or may not develop into a major route for containers to reach ports on the U.S. East Coast and Europe. Much depends on whether North American rail infrastructure is upgraded. For instance, if a multi-railroad Thruport Transfer Terminal was constructed in Chicago (a dry port—the third largest in the World) for western and eastern railroads to interchange containers to eliminate container drayage—the trucking of containers across town—moving containers across North America would be much more efficient, and thereby make the North American landbridge even more attractive. The impact of improved efficiency of North American railroads extended to non-containerized freight as well. With about percent of all U.S. exported agricultural commodities passing through the Panama Canal—usually down the Mississippi, leaving Gulf of Mexico ports, and on through the Panama Canal in route to Asia—better rail transportation made the option of freight trains across the Great Plains for loading at Northwest Ports more attractive during periods of greater trade volume. By the st century, the Panama Canal Authority had been able to modestly boost capacity to about ships a day, or , a year, but this modest growth could not keep pace with the growth in world trade. The value of world trade took years to double between and , yet took only years more to double again, going from $ to $ trillion dollars. Thus, the percentage of world trade dependent on the Panama Canal continued to shrink as containerization grew and landbridges increasingly became more attractive options. Deregulation of U.S. railroads in the s, which included permitting joint ventures between the maritime and railway sectors, followed by massive investments in North American intermodal operations, were largely responsible for the growth in overland traffic. By the late s, it was obvious that demand for the North American landbridge began to outpace supply too, forcing shippers to
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innovatively seek attractive alternatives. Luckily the flexibility of intermodal resulted in new routes receiving more interest. For example, because the boom in Asian trade created severe congestion at Long Beach and Los Angeles, which became especially apparent during the Ports’ labor slow down in the fall of , more container vessels started coming through the Panama Canal, and unloading at Gulf of Mexico and East Coast ports. Yet the problem for these ports was a lack of accompanying intermodal infrastructure—rail and highway links—to move an increased volume of freight to its final destination. Without this infrastructure, it forced shippers to begin to experiment with reloading containers on barges for delivery to final destinations throughout the inland river and waterway systems. Rail is about three or four times more energy efficient than trucks at moving containers, yet barges are even more energy efficient than rail. Thus, when rail is suffering from congestion problems because of a lack of infrastructure or work slowdowns, barge service can offer similar transit times. Nevertheless, without a rebuilding of waterway infrastructure, long-term volume increases are questionable given the neglected condition of many locks and the need for costly dredging (see North American Rivers, part I). By the end of the th century, shippers were well accustomed to the flexibility of intermodal: cargo could not be held hostage to any one route or any one mode of transportation. When the Panama Canal or Suez Canal became major choke points, Southern California ports and micro-bridges became more attractive. Likewise, when containers backed up at U.S. West Coast ports during the labor slow down of , Asia-to-U.S. traffic found relief through the Panama Canal or Suez Canal, docking at a port on the East Coast for transportation westward either by rail or waterway was an option. Intermodal shippers found innovative solutions in the short term when the entire system began to reach full capacity in , yet they were desperate to secure dependable capacity alternatives to Southern California ports. A promising development was the Mexican port at Lázaro Cárdenas and Manzanillo where new infrastructure investments allowed capacity to increase to almost one million containers a year by . Although still far below the million containers coming through Long Beach and Los Angeles, an upgrade of the Mexican rail network—particularly between the ports and Guadalajara—has the potential to relieve some of the congestion-related delays plaguing Southern California ports and rail links out of the ports. The Canadian National Railway also began offering direct rail service through the port of Prince Rupert BC as an alternative landbridge—advertised as the shortest and least congested route to Chicago from Asia. Another reason multi-modal movement of containers increasingly made more sense was that the energy advantage of sea over rail began to close quickly after . Freight transportation decisions are a compromise between speed and energy costs. Improved technology resulted in a percent improvement in locomotive fuel efficiency between and . Add to that another percent improvement from lighter equipment
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and the use of double-stacked cars, and there was no longer any significant energy efficiency advantage (per ton-mile of freight) for ships over railways in transporting containerized freight (remains for slow-moving bulk freight). Since the late s, intermodal transportation in North America advanced at a much faster pace than the rest of the world. However, if world cargo traffic continues to grow as expected, and peace, stability, and a spirit of cooperation prevail among nations in Asia and the Middle East, intermodal traffic using landbridge routes—as alternatives to the Suez Canal—could someday rival North American crossings in terms of importance. The Eurasian landbridge using the Trans-Siberian Railway through Moscow and on to Europe, which in formed the first mini-bridge to Baltic and Atlantic ports, is considerably faster than marine container transport (, miles by land versus approximately , miles by sea), yet theft, damaged freight, late trains, exorbitant fees, and deteriorating infrastructure at rail terminals adjacent to the Pacific Ports of Vladivostok, Nakhodka, and Bostochyni all contributed to freight volume declining to only about percent of capacity by . Exporters from Japan, Australia, and Hong Kong all stand to benefit from improvements in this rail corridor, with Japan exploring the possibilities of providing direct assistance to improve Russian train operations and rail terminals. In , Australia also developed a more direct micro-bridge with FreightLink’s Darwin (North Coast port) to Adelaide railway to points south and east. After the break-up of the former Soviet Union in , land-locked Central Asian countries were interested in developing the Silk Railway route as well, which would be about miles shorter than the Trans-Siberian railway for containers leaving Japan bound for Rotterdam. In , the east-west routes of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan were linked to the railways of China, and in the railway of Turkmenistan was extended and connected to the Iranian rail network. To complete the Central Asian railway route to Europe, it still requires track to be laid at Lake Van in Turkey, and a rail tunnel under the Bosphorus Strait, which is an enormous project. Although a considerably shorter overland route for China-to-Europe freight, this route involves significant delays because of two track gauge changes, and three to four burdensome border crossings; in comparison, the Trans-Siberian railway encounters only one major border crossing, and one track gauge change (both when entering Poland). Freight flows and the use of landbridges will continue to evolve because the containerization of goods (and a growing volume of commodities ) gives transportation managers tremendous modal flexibility. The scheduled addition of a third lock for the Panama Canal in , capable of accommodating mega container ships, is certain to decrease landbridge traffic through the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach. Further, ocean costs began rising much more slowly than rail costs in and as fuel prices spiked, and thus transportation managers began looking to ports that offered the shortest land routes to their major markets to lower their inland freight costs. In the future, cost, reliability, and speed will all be major factors determining the growth of current landbridge
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routes and the development of new landbridges, with reliability trumping speed because of the growing sophistication of supply chain planning and advanced technology for freight tracking. John Zumerchik References and Further Reading DeBoer, David A. Piggyback and Containers: A History of Rail Intermodal on America’s Steel Highway. San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, . Kuby, M. and Reid. “Technological Change and the Concentration of the U.S. General Cargo Ports System: –.”Economic Geography , no. (): –. Muller, G. Intermodal Freight Transportation. rd Ed. Washington DC: Eno Transportation Foundation, . Otsuka, Shigeru. “Central Asia’s Rail Network and the Eurasian Land Bridge.” Japan Railway and Transportation Review (). “Panama Canal in Transition: Implications for U.S. Agriculture.” United States Department of Agriculture ( January ). Rodrigue, J-P. The Geography of Transport Systems. New York: Routledge, . United States Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Economic Impact of Shipment Choice. http://www.bts.gov/programs/freight_transportation/html/ship ment_choices.html.
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METHANE HYDRATES Lying beneath the ocean bottom is a vast untapped natural gas energy resource called methane hydrates. Looking much like ice, methane hydrates form under certain low temperature and high pressure conditions when water molecules form cage-like structures that then encapsulate guest methane gas molecules. At degrees Celsius ( degrees Fahrenheit), insufficient energy exists to prevent water molecules from bonding together and the phase transition from liquid (water) to solid (ice) occurs. However, there is an exception: the temperature for this phase transition can be altered by pressure; in particular, the tremendous pressure of the deep sea environment causes water molecules to form solid clathrate compounds (ice-like cages that entrap gas molecules) at temperatures considerably higher than the normal freezing point. These chemical structures, unlike ice, are unstable because of their large open cavities, but once these cavities cage methane (CH) at depths greater than meters, the result is a stable methane hydrate compound. Methane comes from one of two sources: bacterial ingestion, which occurs in swamps, landfills, rice paddies, and the sea floor sediments (tiny bacteria breaking down the remains of sea life), and the vast organic matter found offshore that produce oil and natural gas (which is primarily methane). As methane rises from the ocean bottoms due to its buoyancy relative to water, it combines with water to form methane hydrates. Although exploration for methane hydrate resources is still in its infancy, some petroleum geologists believe, worldwide, there is more methane trapped in hydrates than can be found in the entire proven natural gas reserves. Based on current world natural gas consumption, estimates range from a -year supply to a ,-year supply. A major reason for such vast estimates is that the volume of methane becomes times greater
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Delicate flange actively venting heated hydrogen and methane-rich fluids. NOAA.
once methane is dissociated from its hydrate form. Despite the promise, methane hydrate is not yet considered part of the world’s energy reserves because of the uncertainty as to whether recovery can ever be accomplished safely, economically, and with minimal environmental impact
History of Hydrate Research The first known discovery of clathrate compounds can be traced to the work of Michael Faraday and Humphrey Davy in the early s. While allowing chlorinewater mixtures to cool, the scientists observed solid material forming at temperatures above the freezing point of water. Other scientists continued the work, experimented with numerous mixtures of materials so that by the end of the century scientists had developed an understanding of how larger open framework host molecules trap smaller guest molecules without bonding. Although much work was done cataloging the conditions when these host and guest molecules became stable, the work was generally regarded as an academic curiosity since natural occurrences were unknown. That changed in the s when E. G. Hammerschmidt identified hydrates as the culprit responsible for plugging natural gas pipelines, a particularly prevalent problem in frigid regions of the world. Over the next years, the physics of how methane hydrates formed began to be modeled and preventative
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measures, such as chemical additives, were developed by the oil and natural gas industry to prevent hydrate formation. It took until for a naturally-forming methane hydrate to be discovered by Soviet Union scientists at the Siberian gas field in Messoyakha. This discovery, and a similar discovery by Americans on the North Slope of Alaska, led to scientific speculation: considering the abundance of methane and water, and the extent of low temperature/high pressure environments, theoretically methane hydrate resources should exist extensively worldwide. The permafrost regions held great promise, yet they concluded that the largest resources should be found in the deep oceans. The problem now was how to explore the seas for methane hydrates. An obvious avenue was in conjunction with oil and gas exploration. As part of the U.S. Deep Sea Drilling Project going on in the early s, scientist wanted to find out the cause of anomalous seismic reflectors at Blake Ridge off the coast of North Carolina. Anomalous seismic reflection readings often occur when something prevents or reduces the ability of bottom sediments to propagate sound waves. In this case, from the analysis of drilling samples, scientists concluded that the readings recorded the depth of stable accumulations of methane hydrate—its unique acoustical properties triggered the unique readings. Knowledge of naturally occurring hydrates continued to progress, but methane hydrate remained unseen until when Russian scientists, working at a Black Sea location, pulled up a methane hydrate core sample. The sighting was a long time in coming because, much in the way ice melts into water, methane rapidly dissociates from water when moved from its inaccessible temperature-sensitive and pressurized environment. The Glomar Challenger, a United States research vessel that traveled the world collecting cores of ocean bottom sediment in the early s, also discovered chemical evidence of hydrates in samples. A particularly noteworthy sample was a one-meter long core consisting almost entirely of methane hydrate that was found off the coast of Guatemala. Government, university, and industrial labs analyzed portions of this core, and this resulted in great interest in basic methane hydrate research. The U.S. Department of Energy alone spent nearly $ million on basic methane hydrate research from –. By the early s, with indigenous natural gas supplies seeming plentiful, U.S. methane hydrate funding dwindled. Unlike the United States, India and Japan possessed very limited indigenous energy resources, and consequently launched oceanic methane hydrate research programs in the mid-s to improve their long-term energy supply outlook. With an eye toward commercial production, the efforts of the Japanese government and commercial entities focused on the deep ocean trench off their southeastern coast called the Nankai Trough. A test-well dug in , feet of water resulted in a vast find of methane hydrate. Shortly thereafter, as U.S. utility companies began to overwhelmingly choose gas-fired power plants to meet the growing electricity demand, the United States showed renewed interest by passing the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of , authorizing $ million in funding over five years. The areas identified for research included resource characterization (how hydrates form and dissociate), production technology,
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assessing the risk of sea floor collapse for oil and gas drilling rigs, and assessing potential environmental risks (atmospheric release of methane during production, the interaction of methane hydrate with sea-bottom life forms, and the global carbon cycle). Obviously, production of methane hydrate only will proceed once gas prices rise to make production economically feasible. Until that day, research needs to determine the characteristics of hydrate accumulations that will permit feasible production, and the production technology that will best result in environmentally benign and cost-effective recovery. Estimates of methane hydrate resources are indeed exceptional, yet how much of this methane can be recovered cost effectively is still largely unknown. Ocean deposits, which make up the vast bulk of hydrate resources, pose tremendous technical challenges because the resource is largely diffuse and located in very deep waters. Therefore large-scale economic production, much like conventional oil and natural gas offshore exploration, will require significant seismic and remote-imaging work to locate specific areas with unusually high concentrations of methane hydrate. Another technical hurdle is the nature of the sediment enclosing the hydrate. Many of the known deposits will pose significant technical and financial risks for conventional well drilling because the ocean-bottom sediment is mud-like—lacking the permeability to allow gas and fluid to flow. That is why using conventional drilling technology, the best early prospects for hydrate production are likely to be areas like the Nankai Trough with more coarsely-grained sediments. Dissociation and recovery methods currently being researched either involve increasing the temperature, reducing the pressure, or injecting an inhibitor into the accumulation. Thermal recovery entails piping hot water or steam down into the well so that hydrate dissociates and the methane gas mixes with the hot water and is returned to the surface for separation. Although simple in principle, the major problem is the inherent inefficiency: the hot water will experience significant cooling as it travels down the well; more importantly, generating tremendous amounts of hot water and pumping it down to great depths drives up production costs (requires tremendous energy input for the energy output). Dissociation by reducing the pressure inside the well should entail far less energy input than thermal recovery, but here the dilemma is that depressurization inside the well will not necessarily result in depressurization of the entire methane hydratebearing layer. The third option, the injecting of an inhibitor, such as methanol, does not entail changing the temperature or pressure, but whether a method can be developed to inject the inhibitor evenly throughout the methane hydrate-bearing layer to trigger dissociation is still questionable. As natural gas reserves dwindle, methane hydrate might one day account for a significant fraction of worldwide energy production, yet it will require significant progress in overcoming the many technological challenges involved in harvesting hydrate from the world’s deep seas. John Zumerchik
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References and Further Reading Boatman, Mary C. Oceanic Gas Hydrate Research and Activities Review. Washington D.C. U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS. Gas Technology Institute. http://www.gastechnology.org. United States Department of Energy. National Energy Technology Laboratory. http://www.netl. doe.gov. United States Geological Survey. Gas (Methane) Hydrates—A New Frontier. http://pubs.usgs. gov/fs/gas-hydrates/. Zumerchik, John F. “Methane.” In Encyclopedia of Energy, ed. John Zumerchik. New York: Macmillan Reference, .
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OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is the use of technology to convert the solar radiation that heats the oceans into electric power. OTEC plants—located on-shore where the seafloor drops steeply into deep ocean, off shore on large floating platforms, or grazing (drifting)—creates electric power by taking advantage of the temperature difference between surface and deep water. While surface water is warmed by the sun, and mixes to depths of about meters by wave motion, water found at greater depths is much colder, anywhere from to degrees Fahrenheit in tropical and subtropical oceans. This temperature differential makes it possible for engineers to build heat engines to transform thermal energy into electrical energy. Considering that over percent of all incoming solar radiation reaching Earth enters the atmosphere above oceans, as well as water’s exceptional ability to absorb radiation (four times that of the continent), there is an enormous potential to convert solar radiation into electric power. On a typical day, tropical oceans alone absorb the energy equivalent of billion barrels of oil, over eight times the world’s annual oil consumption. The problem, however, is that this energy is spread out over million miles of ocean—providing an enormous volume of slightly heated water. There are three different types of OTEC systems: open-cycle, closed-cycle or a hybrid system. An open-cycle system takes advantage of the fact that water, when under lower than normal pressure, boils at a lower temperature. Warm surface water is flashevaporated in a vacuum chamber. The created steam expands to drive a very large lowpressure turbine that is coupled to a generator to produce electricity. Cold seawater is piped up from great depths to condense the steam. Since the low-pressure steam is at a low power density, the turbine size must be immense, creating enormous design and
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material challenges if electric power production is to exceed five megawatts. On the plus side, if the salt-free condensed steam remains separate from the cold seawater, the opencycle system also provides desalinated water appropriate for drinking and irrigation. In a closed-cycle system, warm surface water passes through a heat exchanger to vaporize a low-boiling point fluid, such as ammonia. As the vapor expands at moderate pressures, it turns a turbine to produce electricity. Cold deep water is pumped up from the ocean’s depths to condense the vapor before it is returned to the heat exchanger to repeat the cycle. The heat exchanger is the most critical component, accounting for close to half the construction costs. Hybrid systems use both technologies, producing electricity with a closed-cycle system and fresh water with an open-cycle system. History Aware of the vast solar absorption of the oceans, and convinced that there must be a feasible way to convert a fraction of the ocean’s thermal energy into electric power, French physicist Jacques-Arsene d’Arsonval first proposed the concept of an OTEC system in . His closed-cycle concept was to use the relatively warm surface water ( to degrees Fahrenheit) of the tropical oceans to vaporize pressurized ammonia through a heat exchanger, and with the resulting vapor, drive a turbine-generator. Cold ocean water ( to degrees Fahrenheit) would be pumped up from to meters in depth to condense the ammonia vapor through another heat exchanger. Nearly years later, Georges Claude, a student and friend of d’Arsonval’s, and better known for the invention of the neon sign, built the first open-cycle OTEC system in at Matanzas Bay, Cuba. In waters with a degree Fahrenheit temperature difference between surface and deep water, the shore-based open- or Claude-cycle system was able to operate for several weeks and generate kilowatts of electricity before losing its cold water pipe to heavy seas. However, because of the small size of the turbine and the less than ideal temperature difference of degrees Fahrenheit, his system consumed more energy than it produced. Claude later designed and constructed a .-megawatt floating plant upon a ,ton cargo vessel moored miles off the coast of Brazil. In a time when household refrigeration was rare, the goal was to produce , tons of ice for the city of Rio de Janeiro. The system never became operational because Claude failed in numerous attempts to install the long cold water pipe from the ship to the ocean’s depths (ocean engineering and the offshore oil industry were in their infancy). Eventually, weather and waves destroyed the vessel, forcing Claude to abandon the project in . With the end of Claude’s second experimental attempt, OTEC research remained stagnant until when French researchers designed a -megawatt closed-cycle plant for the Ivory Coast of Africa. However, the plant was never built because of technological and financial concerns, particularly the difficulty in installing a .-mile long and -feet in diameter cold pipe and the attractiveness of constructing a less risky hydroelectric plant nearby.
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In the mid-s, American James Anderson and his son formed a company called Solar Sea Power Inc. and proposed another closed-cycle design for the Caribbean. However, unable to secure sufficient investment capital, construction never went forward. Two more closed-cycle design studies were funded by the National Science Foundation in the early s, and from this work two industrial teams produced a floating design with a net capacity of megawatts. OTEC research and development became a much greater priority following the Oil Embargo of . As a response to the energy crisis, in the United States established the National Energy Laboratory (NELHA) at Keahole Point on the Kona coast of Hawaii to serve as the leading laboratory and test facility for OTEC technologies. On a converted U.S. Navy barge moored approximately . miles off Keahole Point, NELHA completed construction of its first demonstration plant in . Known as “Mini-OTEC,” the design produced kilowatts of gross power, and kilowatts of net power, giving it the dual distinction of being the first closed-cycle plant ever built, as well as the first OTEC system to be a net power producer. OTEC-, a closed-cycle system built on board a converted U.S. Navy tanker, followed in . With this system, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) made major strides in determining the optimal physical arrangement and operation for large-scale heat exchangers (the most expensive component of a closed-cycle system, and much larger than for an oil-fired power station due to the relatively low temperatures and large flows of ocean water), but because the project was terminated abruptly in , there was insufficient data to yield conclusive results concerning corrosion, biofouling, and fouling countermeasures. Nevertheless, testing found that deeply suspending cold water pipes from slowly moving ships was feasible from an engineering perspective, and of equal importance, did not detrimentally impact the ecosystem. Another major development in was the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry commissioning the construction and operation of a shore-based -kilowatt, closed-cycle plant on the pacific island of Nauru. The degree Fahrenheit surface water was used to evaporate Freon, with the resulting vapor driving a turbine generator; the degrees Fahrenheit water, pumped up from , meters, condensed the vapor; and the liquefied Freon was returned to the heat exchanger to continue the cycle. In the realm of shore-based plant sites, the conditions were rare and ideally the sea dropped off quickly to great depths: with only meters of pipe, cold sea water was being brought up from a depth of meters. Operating intermittently from October of to September of , including a -hour period of continuous operation, the plant generated a net power output of kilowatts that was fed into the island’s commercial power grid. Ideal conditions for OTEC—favorable ocean currents and intense solar radiation that create the needed temperature difference between the surface water and deep water—are in tropical and subtropical areas. Only a few sites exist where on-shore plants make sense. That is because few potential sites have a near shore-deep drop off, and a much longer pipe is needed—it must first cross the surf zone as well as reach depths of
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approximately , meters—resulting in lower efficiency because of greater friction loss and warming of the cold water before reaching the heat exchanger. Most of the ideal OTEC conditions exist over the million square miles of ocean that lie between ° South and ° North, which are areas far from land and human habitation. Because of the expense and inefficiency of transmitting electric power great distances from the deep tropical oceans (where it is best produced) to distant lands (where it is consumed), in the mid-s a consortium of U.S. labs and industry produced a design for a floating factory that would use OTEC produced energy to convert seawater and air into ammonia. This ammonia, which serves as a safe and effective carrier of hydrogen, either would be used as fertilizer in tropical countries located near ocean waters attractive for OTEC, or shipped in a liquid form to a land-based plant to charge fuel cells for electricity. Unfortunately, fossil fuel prices remained too low for the OTEC factory proposal to be competitive. With oil and gas prices on the rise again in the late s, and with forecasts of $ per barrel oil prices by , it seemed that OTEC was on the verge of a promising future when the United States enacted two laws in to promote the commercial development of the technology: Public Law – (later modified by PL –) establishing targets for federally sponsored OTEC demonstration plants of megawatts by and megawatts by , and the accompanying incentive law, PL –, to make OTEC investment attractive to industry. The hope was that OTEC would be sufficiently attractive to industry by specifying plants and plant-ships as vessels, qualifying both for Federal mortgage loan guarantees, and including OTEC power production in the Public Utilities Regulatory Act (utilities would have to pay OTEC electricity producers the same rate they would have to pay for electricity generated from oil). However, once oil and gas prices began to fall again throughout the s, the risks were too great to attract industry investment, and rising Federal budget deficits and energy supply complacency dried up funding for any new OTEC demonstration plants. It was not until that another OTEC facility was constructed, an open-cycle, land-based experimental facility at Keahole Point. With a surface water temperature of degrees Fahrenheit and a deep water temperature of degrees, a turbinegenerator was designed for an output of kilowatts. It actually achieved gross power of kilowatts, and net power of kilowatts, both of which are OTEC world records. The system also was designed to divert percent of the steam to a surface condenser to produce five gallons per minute of desalinated water. Since the plant ceased operations in , component research has continued (in particular, economic viability of competing types of heat exchangers for a closed cycle plant), but there has not been any new commercial or experimental OTEC construction.
Commercialization Challenges Research and development into OTEC has been driven by the desire to meet the world’s future electric power demands with an abundant renewable energy source. Unlike solar
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and wind energy, OTEC power plants can produce power hours a day, days a year. From a utility perspective, this makes OTEC very attractive for alternative baseline demand. The problem is, however, that extracting a little bit of heat from an enormous volume of water is inherently inefficient. The maximum theoretical efficiency of an OTEC system is seven percent (a fossil fuel steam turbine can reach percent). Worse yet, the actual efficiency drops to around two and a half percent because an OTEC facility consumes considerable energy itself to run electrical devices, particularly in pumping enormous amounts of cold water from great depths—roughly four cubic meters per second for each megawatt of power output. Since OTEC derived electricity production costs anywhere from two to five times that from fossil fuels, it is most likely that commercial development will not be feasible until oil prices rise. When they do, industry is most likely to invest in small OTEC plants first in the small island locales that rely on imported oil for electricity. Without any indigenous fossil fuel energy resources, the cost of electricity production for these small islands is significantly greater than for heavily populated mainland nations. If oil prices rise to $ to $ a barrel, near-shore open-cycle plants in the range of one-and-a-half to two megawatts would be economically feasible for many small islands, especially if the secondary production of desalinated water is considered in the investment return. These plants would also be viewed as less risky since a two-megawatt design would require only a slightly greater scale design than the successfully operated experimental system at Keahole Point. The investment return improves even more if the production of fish and shellfish with pathogen-free and nutrient-rich (nitrates and phosphates) cold seawater is part of the OTEC operation. Further, in the case of onshore OTEC facilities, cold seawater also could provide air conditioning for inhabitants of nearby buildings. These multi-functioning capabilities of OTEC has led some energy researchers to propose huge floating tropical cities capable of providing inhabitants with electric power, fresh water, air conditioning, and a mariculture operation for the food supply. Unless fossil fuel costs skyrocket, OTEC cities or plant ships will need to be located near shore since an underwater cable is the only way to economically transport OTEC energy. The hope of fleets of far offshore OTEC plants producing hydrogen—as a way to store and transport energy—is unlikely since the estimated production cost is times that of present fossil fuel production costs, or the equivalent of a $ to $ barrel of crude oil. Whether OTEC will ever become competitive with other sources of electricity is questionable. Despite the benefit of no fuel costs and the success of small-scale experimental plants, industry has been hesitant to pursue OTEC power plants for several reasons: Foremost is the initial high cost of an OTEC facilities, facilities that are far more capital intensive than fossil fuel plants. Secondly, there remains considerable uncertainty regarding durability, reliability and maintenance costs, especially for the largescale plants (- to -megawatt) that are on a far grander scale than the experimental plants operated to date. Finally, the risk of storm damage to expensive coastal or offshore
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facilities will add considerable risk for energy investors accustomed to a -year return on investment outlook. More experience in construction and standardization of plant designs are likely to bring OTEC costs down in the future. Yet whether this will be enough to spur investment and make OTEC a major contributor of electrical power—part of the energy solution when the world begins to transition from fossil fuels—is yet to be determined. John Zumerchik References and Further Reading Avery, W.H. and C. Wu. Renewable Energy from the Ocean, A Guide to OTEC. New York: Oxford University Press, . Bequette, F. “Harnessing Ocean Energy.” UNESCO Courier , nos. - (): –. Claude, G. “Power from the Tropical Seas.” Mechanical Engineering , no. (): –. d’Arsonval, A. “Utilization des forces naturelles. Avenir de I’electricite.” Revue Scientifique : –. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. What is Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion? http:// www.nrel.gov/otec/what.html. Penney, T.R. and D. Bharathan. “Power From the Sea.” Scientific American , no. (): –. Sanders, M.M. “Energy from the oceans.” In The Energy Sourcebook, ed. Ruth Howes and Anthony Fainberg. New York: American Institute of Physics, . State of Hawaii. http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/ert/otec.
OIL AND NATURAL GAS Despite the enormity of the industry and its infrastructure, the maritime history of oil and gas is a rather recent one, largely beginning at the turn of the st century. Worldwide oil consumption, which was only about million barrels per day in , rose to over million barrels per day by . Moreover, during that time, the United States became less and less able to meet its needs from indigenous sources. As demand increased, so did the distance between sources of production and consumption, as petroleum sources also had to be found offshore. United States Offshore and Overseas Hegemony due to U.S. Oil and Gas Consumption The high energy intensity of the American way of life, driven with its own gas and oil supplies, thanks to North American fields, fostered the success of many oil companies, such as Texaco, Shell, Gulf, Chevron, Exxon, Amoco, and Tenneco. Since the mid-s, these companies have operated along the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico (Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, with outflows through Houston, Port Arthur, Beaumont or Baton
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Rouge). Some offshore developments were also located in California. Because of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, the development of a capital-intensive infrastructure was required, which later was used on other continents, namely Africa. U.S. firms developed key projects in geoscience, prospecting, and logging, seismology (Geophysical Services, Western Geophysical, Petty-Ray Geophysical), and drilling skills in their Gulf of Mexico developments. Kerr-McGee delivered the first offshore platform in , and Shell created the first floating drilling platform, Blue Water I, in . Because of a space-framed structure consisting of three large columns on each side and a submerged hull, it did not have to sit on the sea bottom. Offshore oil service firms quickly developed expertise. The Schlumberger group, created in , gathered a broad portfolio of technology in both logging and sea drilling. Ray McDermott, Brown & Root, Dresser, and Halliburton became leading offshore engineering firms. Tidewater and petroleum helicopters provided local transportation from the coasts to the platforms and pits facilities. This in turn led to numerous players diversifying into maritime transportation with larger and larger types of tankers. Besides inland pipelines, tramping along the coasts (for refined products) and through the rivers (Mississippi Basin, St. Lawrence, and Great Lakes system, also distributing Alberta oil), energy delivered to power plants or industries was transforming hydrocarbons (petro-chemicals, from naphtha, with DuPont or Dow firms). New York harbor
An oil tanker is docked at a Marathon refinery along the Mississippi River outside New Orleans. AP/Wide World Images.
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redistributed oil throughout the northeast region of the United States. The Panama axis supplemented this inland market, sustaining the development of the Californian area. Meanwhile, the building of a more open market stirred research efforts in Latin America, where U.S. companies led a financial and technical offensive, often coupled with imperialistic methods to ease getting contracts from local authorities, sometimes through graft. As Venezuela, with . percent of world production in , and . percent in , and Mexico (from the s, with Shell and Standard Oil of New Jersey as leaders) developed into major producers, chains of oil tankers linked Latin American harbors to northern ones, setting up a maritime interdependence between both areas. Venezuela, thanks to the giant oilfields around the Maracaibo Gulf, remained a key supplier to the North American economy. Even after Mexico nationalized U.S. (and European) firms in , and merged them into Pemex, it did not alter its interdependence, and exports to the U.S. remained strong.
Maritime Flows Sustaining U.S. Third Industrial Revolution The diminishing returns of U.S. production—decreasing from . percent of world production in to percent in and . percent in —and the high costs of traditional field production, accelerated the demand for new geophysical prospects. In June the U.S. government ended protecting the market from imports, as had been practiced since the mid-s through quotas, and in it deregulated oil prices, thus spurring prospecting. Demand grew much faster than U.S. production, so imports climbed rapidly in the s. The United States itself offered fresh opportunities when oil was discovered in Alaska. Beginning in , leading companies extracted submarine oil there (for instance at Prudhoe Bay, in exploitation since ) despite the enormous costs of infrastructure, and harsh natural and environmental conditions. Beyond the Trans-Alaska pipeline, oil tankers joined the U.S. Pacific coast, thus able to fuel its rapid growth from Washington State to California. Meanwhile, the United States became net importers of hydrocarbons, which explained the drive of U.S. firms to explore abroad, and also their amalgamation in the name of economies of scale and greater investment leverage for prospecting. But, abroad, conversely with the s–s, times had changed because an antiimperialist mood had led production countries, even favorable to capitalism and a market economy, to join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in the early s. Accounting for four-fifths of world’s oil exports in , members often took ownership of oil fields and production firms, from Brazil (Petrobras), Argentina ( Ypf ) or Venezuela (Pvdsa) to Iraq, Arabia (Aramco), Algeria (Sonatrach), Libya, and Iran. Western companies had become suppliers of technologies, engineering solutions, and purchasers who had to share returns along more balanced patterns. New prospecting investments were financed through contracts with the producing countries, in exchange for shares in the future production. The maritime economy was deeply involved because
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specialized cargo ships transported the equipment necessary for prospecting, production, and even occasionally refining. Terminals for liquid methane were also set up. In some areas, platforms for production were floated from U.S. or European shipyards to the offshore fields, either in the Persian Gulf or along African coasts—for instance in Algerian port Arzew. U.S. firms (Exxon-Mobil, etc.) or else British firms (BP absorbing several U.S. ones: Sohio in , Amoco in and Arco in ) became thus able to fill the gap of production and to supply the U.S. market, where consumption of energy went on growing strongly because of a growing economy and incomes: the number and size of cars, and the greater demand for mass or luxury entertainment (resorts, golf courts, cruises, etc.). Therefore new flows of tankers fuelled U.S. supplied harbors. Many U.S. fleets were henceforth surpassed by ships bearing flags of convenience from Panama or Liberia, staffed with low-cost crews, and built in Asian shipyards (mainly South Korean). The U.S. also became a large purchaser of liquid natural gas (lng), from either Africa (Algeria, Nigeria) and Qatar, or Latin America—in particular Trinidad and Tobago, which reached the status of the first liquefied natural gas (lng) supplier of the United States (four-fifths, with million metric tons per year), and which established one of the largest methane terminals in the mid-s (through a consortium made of BP, Repsol, Tractebel, and British Gas).
Europe Inserted within a Hydrocarbon Thalassocracy Europe attempted to follow the American model, but before North Sea developments in the s, Europe lacked the equivalent petroleum resources, even though a few barges could transport Romanian oil on the Danube, or from the Black Sea from the s. An overseas strategy was therefore conceived, and a business model was shaped by an Anglo-Iranian oil company, later on Anglo-Persian and British Petroleum. The strategy entailed using imperialistic influence over Persia then Iran, leveraging their engineering skills for prospecting, production refinery engineering, and transportation. Since , the Abadan platform became the first worldwide refinery ( million tons in ) and a huge export platform, sending tankers from the Bandar Mashur port to Europe through the Suez Canal. Success fostered a scramble for Middle East oil Germany concentrated in the Mesopotamian part of the Ottoman Empire (Deutsche Erdöl ). Then after its defeat from an alliance, Germany joined with France (Compagnie française des pétroles-Total and its subsidiary Compagnie navale des pétroles), Britain, Portugal, and the United States worked to develop the Iraq Petroleum Company from the mid-s. The first exports took place at the end of the s from ports on the Mediterranean coasts reached by pipe-lines (Kirkuk-Haifa, , closed in when Israel was created; Kirkuk-Tripoli in Lebanon, doubled in ; also Kirkuk-Bassis in Syria, ), or directly from Bassorah, which emerged as a key oil harbor. The model was reproduced in Kuwait (since ), and Bahrain, Arabia (through a consortium was set up in and named Aramco in ), which was equipped with a huge deep-water port at Dammam-Dhahran on the
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Persian Gulf, and with a pipeline reaching Lebanon in (Trans-Arabian Pipeline or Tapline, , miles) and Qatar (since ). European consumption could thus be met even though American companies took a large part through their European affiliates and networks. The Middle East grew from . percent of world production in to . percent by (Arabia .%, Iran .%, Kuwait %, Iraq .%). Because of their needs, European companies contributed to the center of gravity for oil shifting from the Caribbean area to the Middle East, even though American firms became the strategic and influential leaders in such a geopolitical region as British influence dwindled throughout the s. These American groups first exported more to Europe and Asia than to the United States, which was then selfsufficient. Iraq exports through the port at Bassorah or pipelines increased with production (. million tons in , . million in ). A chain of oil transportation was built from the Middle East to European refineries, served by tankers, then supertankers. Special ports were constructed with offshore platforms from which pipe lines or, more often, smaller tankers distributed oil inland. Britain (Milford Haven and Llandarcy in Wales, Fawley-Southampton, Shell Haven on the English Channel, Grangemouth-Scotland), Belgium (Anvers), the Netherlands (Rotterdam-Europoort), Germany (Bremerhaven, etc.), Italy (Genoa) or France (Dunkerque, Le Havre, Marseille-Berre-Fos) became hubs and leverage to the Second Industrial Revolution, comprising of hydrocarbons transformation (naphtha, petrochemicals, etc.), the car (and airplane) economy, and thermal power plants. Western Europe succeeded in adopting the so-called American way of life because it became inserted within a maritime network: it imported about million tons in (against a worldwide production of . million and its own production of only million), far ahead of North America ( million) and Japan ( million). Such a dependency on maritime inflows was proven when the OPEC Arabian countries imposed their embargo on oil exports in , which almost put a halt to European daily life. Fortunately, Western Europe thought for a while to alleviate such a dependency because North Sea fields were exploited precisely from the turn of the s (with % of world reserves). Discoveries occurred from BP and its partners in , on the Forties field, off Scotland, which had been delivering oil since ; the fields of Ekofisk () or Frigg () were linchpins for such a revolution. Pools of oil firms shared interests in several concessions off Britain and Norway (Statoil, Norsk Hydro), and also on a smaller scale, Denmark and the Netherlands, which in the wake of the Netherlands, rich with their inland Groningen gas fields, became European emirates. Maritime platforms either in metal or concrete were spread offshore, stimulating shipyards and engineering in harbor facilities (Aberdeen, Stavanger, and Bergen) and maritime services through fleets of boats and helicopters, while pipelines connected fields and land-facilities. The apex of North Sea oil production (Ekofisk for Norway; Brent, Ninian, Piper, Forties, for both Norway and Britain)was reached in Britain in , which at that time was ranked eighth as a world producer. Gas production still progressed thanks to the large dimension of the Troll fields and to new discoveries off the Norwegian coasts.
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Far East Asia Balancing between Maritime Exports and Imports Beginning in the first decade of the th century, Asian fields joined worldwide expansion as exporters to Europe. Dutch firms (mainly Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell) started exploiting fields in Indonesia (Dutch Indies) and smaller neighboring states like Borneo and Brunei. As these flows towards Europe progressed, Japanese economic growth drew larger cargoes, mainly after World War II. During the s–s, Japan equipped itself with huge near-shore polder platforms (Nagoya-Yokkaido, Yokohama, Kobe, etc.) with refineries and petrochemicals. Supplied by maritime vessels shuttling from ports in the Middle East and Pacific (Brunei, Indonesia), this fostered the development of national shipping firms and shipyards before South Korea replaced Japan as the leading manufacture of commonplace supertankers from the s-s. Japan moved ahead of Europe and the United States as the main customer of Middle East petromonarchies, but without its own hydrocarbons firms. Its import of liquefied natural gas from Indonesia also became a key activity during this period. The turn of the st century rekindled the issues of oil availability for growing Asian economies. India and China—which became a net importer of oil starting in —could no longer rely on self production. After growing imports of equipment and engineering technologies for oil exploration, development and production, their firms started establishing bridgeheads on overseas oil fields. Local offshore exploration had to first face contests over border limits on sea development, most notably China confronting Vietnam in the South China Sea about the control of a few archipelagos, and Russia and Japanese disputes over the Okhotsk Sea and Kurile islands. Throughout BorneoKalimantan (Indonesia), Brunei and Malaysia (lng), prospecting and production were stimulated by such demand. The delta of the Mahakam River in Borneo emerged as a key offshore resource beginning in the s (around Balikpapan), with Total, Chevron and Japanese Inpex sharing exploration and production (gas), Indonesia was the largest lng exporter until Qatar surpassed them in . Meanwhile, maritime platforms became hubs for the redistribution of oil all over Southeast Asia. The Singapore facilities at Jurong or Panjang, strategically located just after the Straits of Malacca between Sumatra and Malaysia, as well as the facilities in Hong Kong and downstream Shanghai, all developed into major facilities.
Africa at the Core of Maritime Networks Early oil development in African countries by European companies is directly attributable to their status as colonies. However, while colonization had begun to decline by the mid-th century, French firms still hold control on the Françafrique area (Gabon, Cameroun, Congo) and Shell is much more influential in southern Nigeria where production has climbed from million tons in to million in . Africa was conveniently located to fuel European needs, and French firms started exploring and developing Algerian fields in the mid-s. Such dependency has been curtailed because of nationalization (Algeria in ) and competition as American or other European
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firms (Italian ENI, etc.) invested massively in Africa in the latter half of the th century. The result has been a double maritime circuit. On one hand, shipping shuttles (either crude oil or liquefied natural gas-lng tankers), and now also undersea pipelines (from Tunisia to Italy and from Morocco to Spain), connected Africa and western Europe; on another hand, the United States had become important purchasers of African Algerian lng and of African crude oil. At the turn of the st century, the prospects for Africa further brightened with internal peace in Angola, and discoveries in Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, and Chad, which intensified maritime transportation and the creation of port terminals. A linchpin for such an African breakthrough was the success of the French Total company in Angola (with Exxon, BP, Statoil, Norsk Hydro), which became its first supplier thanks to two offshore fields having benefitted from huge investments: Girassol () and Dalia (). The Dalia barge, which could activate up to exploitation fields and store oil until tankers picked it up, had been trailed from South Korea over , nautical miles (, km).
A Globalized Maritime and Trading Economy of Oil and Gas Oil and gas was at the core of the economic growth in the latter half of the th century: globalization concerned maritime flows, either intercontinental through tankers and lpg carriers, or through tramping. It also involved new exchanges of petrochemicals because upstream transformation of oil into naphtha and sub-products commenced and were established in the Middle East due to the low cost of energy there, and the investments from sovereign funds rich with oil dollars. Hydrocarbon markets led to robust trading on commodities exchanges (e.g., Rotterdam, London, New York Mercantile Exchange), which facilitated instant redeployments of maritime shipments, resulting in distribution towards more profitable market outlets. Financing of this trade, and the leases on ships, fostered large banking activities, the hub being Geneva through discreet desks from globalized banks and commodities trading houses, including Russian firms in the s).
TABLE 1. Oil Flows in 1997 (million tons) Imports
Exports
United States
536
121
Latin America
77
246
Western Europe
466
Middle East Japan
80 901
284
Sub-Saharan Africa
154
North Africa
133
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Russia’s Recent Energy Dominance over Maritime Ways Beginning in the s, French, Swedish, and British firms were active in Russia, as Russia emerged as a main oil producer along its coasts of the Caspian Sea, around Baku (present-day Azerbaijan). Yet the Soviet revolution blocked such an international integration. Far later, in the s-s, huge fields were discovered throughout northern central Siberia, and the Soviet Union started clearing western engineering technologies and exports of gas and oil. Inland transportation prevailed through pipelines joining Germany, then France and Italy. Since the turn of the st century, the Caspian Sea has become an economic and geopolitical issue: Iranian, Russian, and other neighboring states claimed offshore exploration rights, and then the export of oil and gas through a mix of sea tankers, pipelines, harbor facilities, and undersea pipelines. Russian authorities, since the mid-s under Vladimir Putin, began using energy as a geopolitical leverage to exert influence on Europe: they pushed Russian energy firm Gazprom to control oil, and moreover gas pipelines, exporting either Russian or South-Central Asian production to provide greater returns on transit fees, and perhaps greater leverage over prices, and even for political pressure. Beginning in the second half of the s, a scramble for the access to Central-Asian oil and its transportation burst out (pipeline diplomacy). Since , the pipeline BTC (Baku, Tbilisi, Ceyhan) has delivered oil from the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan (two countries bent to a balance between Russian influence and western alliances) to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Russia, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan agreed in to unroll a pipe northwards along the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea. After having established the submarine Blue Stream gas pipe in (from the Russian port Dzhubga to the Turkish Samsun, then in connection to networks to western Turkey), Gazprom designed a special gas pipe (South Stream) for completion in from the Russian port of Dzhubga to the Bulgarian Bourgas port and reaching Alexandropoulos on the Aegean Sea, with an agreement between Russia, Greece, and Bulgaria signed in March —against another project (Nabucco: , miles), which will be less maritime and more terrestrial, across Turkey, but that will reach the Dardanelles detroit to cross into the Balkans, and that is supported by the European Union to alleviate the might of Gazprom all around the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. In these cases, the key aim is also to short-circuit the Bosphorus and Dardanelles detroits because transit through the Istanbul metropolis runs an increasing risk of collisions, and the resulting oil spills and gas tanker explosions. A parallel move benefitted north central Europe when Russians (Gazprom) and Germans (Wintershall-Basf-Eon) decided to build a submarine (under the Baltic Sea) gas pipe (North Stream) from Vyborg in Russia to the Greifswald terminal in Germany. Russian economic power and influence is likely to grow as Europe becomes increasingly dependent on gas. Russia will remain the leading gas supplier, as gas consumption is projected to rise from . percent annually until (versus .% for oil), even if lng maritime deliveries from other countries are intensified throughout the world. Hubert Bonin
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References and Further Reading Bamberg, James and R.W. Ferrier. History of the British Petroleum Company. vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, –. Bonin, Hubert. “Business interests versus geopolitics: The case of the Siberian pipeline in the s.” Business History , no. (): –. Boué, Juan Carlos and Gerardo Luyando. U.S. Gulf Offshore Oil: Petroleum Leasing and Taxation and Their Impact on Industry Structure, Competition, Production, and Fiscal Revenues. Oxford: Oxford University Press, . Luiten van Zanden, Jan, Joost Jonker, Stephen Howarth and Keetie Sluyterman. A History of Royal Dutch Shell. Oxford: Oxford University Press, . Pratt, Joseph, Tyler Priest and Christopher Castaneda. Offshore Pioneers: Brown & Root and the History of Offshore Oil and Gas. Houston: Gulf Professional Publishing, . Wall, Bennett, Gerald Carpenter and Gene Yeager. Growth in a Changing Environment: A History of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), Exxon Corporation, –. New York: McGrawHill, .
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PASSENGER SHIPPING, CRUISE INDUSTRY Although the cruising movement has its roots in the th century, it took until the post-World War II period before the industry emerged as a distinctive segment of the tourism industry. Growth began to accelerate in the early s as jet lines made ocean liners obsolete for most passenger traffic, forcing ship owners to convert many passenger liners into luxury cruise ships to recapitalize their investment. The ship owners were further helped by the increase in demand for pleasure travel on cruising ships as real incomes rose during the post-war period. Demand continued to grow, necessitating the development of ships specifically designed for cruise travelers. Cruise lines responded by introducing larger and more luxury ships with stabilizers to ensure comfortable travel. Entering the st Century, cruise ships had reached , gross tons (grt) with a capacity of more than , passengers, more than quadrupling the size of a vintage cruise ship. As opposed to passenger travel, cruises attract vacation travelers seeking ocean voyages to one or more ports of call. The marketing of cruises continues to grow in sophistication, featuring ever more exotic locations, exciting activities, lavish services, and ample amenities. With vacation time limited, the cruise industry’s ability to deliver a consistently outstanding onboard product, reflected in high passenger satisfaction ratings and return rates, is largely why the transport function—the primary function of the passenger liner—has become a secondary concern. The onboard ship experience itself has become the major draw. Although the principle appeal of cruise ships, like vacation travel in general, is the pleasure to visit new places and cultures in luxury, the cruise is especially appealing for those who desire pre-packaged pampered travel. In addition, the urge to escape to temperate climates, especially in the midst of a cold winter, has become
PASSENGER SHIPPING, CRUISE INDUSTRY
A cruise ship in Glacier Bay, Alaska. Alaskan cruises are immensely popular for those who love natural beauty and are looking to escape the hot and humid summer weather. PhotoDisc.
ever more important. Cruise enthusiasts can enjoy a Caribbean cruise in February, then escape the hot and humid weather with an Alaskan cruise in July. Because flying to the port and powering the ship have made cruising an energy-intensive vacation choice, growth in the modern era has benefited from rising disposable incomes and relatively low energy prices. This combination is why cruise travel has evolved into a popular and affordable vacation for the affluent and middle-class alike. A History of Cruise Shipping The modern cruise service, with the ship being the destination, is not an entirely new concept. On the contrary, we find that the idea of embarking on a sea voyage for pleasure, rather than transport, was invented in the th century. Although the cruise experience has existed since the first time Cleopatra traveled down the Nile on a lavish barge, it is more appropriate to credit Arthur Andersson as the inventor of the cruise concept. As one of the founders of Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) in , Andersson proposed a cruise from England to the waters of Iceland and the Faeroe Iceland, and suggested a potential for cruising under the warm Spanish sun during the winter months. In line with this ambition, P&O introduced the occasional cruise to the Mediterranean in the s. Later in the s, a global service was offered by the first passenger ship, the Ceylon, capable of a round-the-world voyage.
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Cruise service growth accelerated in the late th century. From the United States, the first cruise voyage to the Mediterranean took place on the paddle-wheel steamer the Quaker City. Later the Orient Line of London, together with Pacific Steam Navigation Company, were the first regular line operators to offer a cruising program, with cruises made to the Norwegian fjords and also to the Mediterranean. In addition, the Hamburg-American line introduced cruising voyages to the Mediterranean during the off-season months. Offering cruises during the winter season when the passenger liners on the Atlantic Ocean went only half-full, provided a more attractive and dependable year-round revenue stream. A significant milestone in this early era of cruising was Prinzessin Victoria Luise ( grt), the first purpose-built cruising vessel. Great notoriety followed from the success of her first cruise voyage in , yet this vessel unfortunately was wrecked after being stranded on an uncharted reef off of Jamaica in . She was soon replaced, first by a second-hand ship, but later with the Hamburg-American express liner Deutchland, which was refurbished and put into services in . The cruise services in the late th and early th centuries were affordable only to the affluent—a small number of people in the upper class. Consequently, cruise line traffic was far more limited than ocean passenger liner traffic. Better capacity utilization made possible the generation of higher profits to warrant investment in new ships; without the cruise business, the cost would have been too high. World War I proved equally disruptive for both passenger liners and cruise operations. After the war, passenger liners suffered from the U.S. immigration acts issued in the s, which was then followed by the Great Depression. Financial pressure was placed on liners to move into cruising to stay in business. Surprisingly, as the supply of cruising berths increased, demand did as well, despite the Great Depression. One reason might have been the growing popularity of booze cruises during the prohibition era, and other promotions targeted at the affluent. The increase in demand could be partly attributable to the higher quality of vessels. One of the best-known vessels in the s was the Blue Star Line’s Arandora Star. Built by Cammell Laird at Brikenhead, she was one of five sister ships completed in the later s for Blue Star’s refrigerated cargo and passenger services between London and South America. As she was originally built for refrigerated cargo, when the world market for agriculture products slowed down she was rebuilt as a cruise ship. The Arandora Star had quite a successful operation as a cruising vessel. With a white hull and green band on the sheer, she became known as the chocolate box. Between and she made cruises; one on the Baltic, one on the Indian Ocean, six to the West Indies, and to the Canaries, but by the far most popular were the voyages to the Mediterranean and the Norwegian fjords. After her success on the oceans, the Arandora Star was requisitioned for government services, and in she was torpedoed by a German U-boat. After World War II, the cruising industry entered the modern era or, the initial stage, which took place in the late s and early s. The dynamics of transoceanic travel were forever altered once the first passenger jets began flying the Atlantic, and
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the service quickly grew in popularity. During the s, ocean-going passenger service went into a sharp decline. Travelers quickly realized that air travel could save both time and money. Passenger liners, who were earlier quite successful, suddenly began to experience great difficulties. Some passenger liners were converted for other purposes, but many ships were scrapped. Of those passenger liners saved from extinction, many were rebuilt for cruising purposes. Vessels not very well designed for cruising—many were not air conditioned and had minimal open deck space—were converted to what was for them an entirely different role. On the majority of these vessels, passenger complement was reduced due to the necessity of offering only a two-class system and the need to find space for additional on-board facilities. These ships were built prior to the emergence of today’s modern cruise industry, which necessitated extensive modernizing and refurbishment through the years to remain attractive. To ensure good financial returns, owners saw the need to invest in ships specifically designed for the cruise industry. The robust demand and rosy forecast of growth for cruising made possible the investment in the first generation of modern cruise vessels. Many of the first-generation modern cruise vessels were operated by new entrants into the industry. Already existing ocean transportation companies, such as P&O, Cunard and Chandris Lines, were few. The new entrants, mostly Scandinavian and European companies, focused primarily on the Caribbean market from ports on the east coast of the United States. This legacy continues today in companies such as Norwegian Caribbean, Royal Caribbean, Royal Viking, and Holland America. U.S. companies like Carnival Cruise and Princes Cruises entered the market at the same time as well. Some of the advantages of designing ships expressly for cruising included shipboard amenities, sleek images and right carrying capacity. One example is the ship Ocean Princess, earlier Italia, which measured tons, with a length of . meters and had a breadth of . meters. She could carry passengers and maintain a speed of knots (kts). This ship has provided services in the Caribbean and South America. Similar to other ships in this generation, the major new design feature, in addition of the necessity of shipboard amenities favorable for cruising, was the sleek image that was also popular in the design of ferries in Europe during the s. This first generation of ships was also smaller and more intimate than their liner predecessors. The latter characteristic was a problem when the demand for cruising operations increased, since the available tonnage attractive for conversion was limited. In this situation, a common solution was to increase carrying capacity by adding hull midsections. As the cruising industry flourished in the s, predictable profitability and growing demand created opportunities for new investment in tonnage. Along with the need for additional ships, shipping companies also upgraded the carrying capacity and the equipments onboard. These new vessels, considered the second generation, not only reached the liner predecessors in terms of scale and size, but moreover provided comfort and luxury far beyond the first generation of cruisers. The first ship or prototype of this second generation was the Tropicale, operated by Carnival Cruise Line. She measured
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, gross tons, with a length of . meters and a beam of . meters. She could carry , passengers and maintain a speed of knots. The ship operated along the U.S. and Mexican Pacific coast. After the introduction of Tropicale, a number of vessels of comparable size and quality followed, Sky Princess, New Amsterdam, Royal Princess, and Song of America are some notable examples. Notable features of these newer vessels are the maximization of the number of outside cabins, and moreover, a propulsion switch from steam turbines in favor of slow-speed diesels due to the lower operating cost. During the s, the cruising industry managed to keep up a very high passenger satisfaction rate and profitability, which further encouraged investments in new tonnage. In the early s, even larger ships were introduced. Characteristic for this mega-ship generation was additional carrying capacity. These vessels exceeded the , passenger capacities of previous ships. Of this mega ship-generation, one notable example is Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas, which was followed by Monarch of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas. These tree ships can carry the largest berth passenger complements and they are the biggest cruise ships built to date, except for Norway (the ex-transatlantic liner France). All tree ships are dedicated to the Caribbean cruise market. The most distinctive feature, other than size, has been the inclusion of multi-deck atriums. This feature, along with exterior boxy designs and luxury hotel-type interiors, has led many cruise passengers to remark that these ships are truly a destination unto themselves. Because of the fierce competition for passengers, the mainstream cruising ships of today have turned into floating resorts. Economics of Cruising The cruising industry has a strong element of shipping. However, it also incorporates elements of tourism and leisure. Fundamentally, the market structure of cruising is comprised by three different parts or elements; transport, tourism, and travel. Transport is typified by the ship; tourism and leisure is what attracts the passengers; travel is what forms the cruise itinerary. In terms of demand, the cruise industry is part of the market for maritime tourism and leisure. In terms of supply it is part of the shipping market, as its supply requirements are invariable satisfied by shipping assets. By brining together parts from different markets, the cruising industry can offer a service that includes accommodation, meals, daytime activities, evening parties and entertainment, plus transportation to and from the ship. In that sense, cruising may be defined as any fare paying voyage for leisure onboard a vessel whose primary purpose is the accommodation of guests and not freight, to visit a variety of destinations rather than to operate on a sea route. The cruising service is moreover divided into different market segments. From a geographic point of view, the cruise market can be sub-divided as international or regional. This division reflects the way that cruise ships operate. Considering this side, it is clear that international cruising is an important section of the business. As such the business can be defined as, any international voyage of leisure, normally to a variety of
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destination, lasting two or more nights on board a seagoing passenger carrying vessel that can accommodate fare-paying guests. An additional point worth noting on the cruise market is the division between segments of passengers. Three classes of cruise can be distinctively identified; first the standard quality (mass), second the premium quality (middle) and thirdly the high quality class (luxury). This division into quality classes are also partly reflected by the duration of voyage, as the latter affects the total cost associated with cruising. In line with these definitions of the market and the operation within the market, it is also important to consider what constitutes supply and demand. Supply may be defined as the amount of a commodity or services that is offered for sale at a given price. In cruising, the commodity offered is normally available berths, assuming consistency of shipping operation. Demand may be defined as, the amount that will be brought at any given price per unit of time. In the case of cruising, demand is measured by the numbers of berths that will be bought at any given price per unit of time. In addition to supply and demand, the output is measured by the number of passenger days. Taken together, these measures form the basic economics underlying the cruise industry. North America constitutes the largest market and greatest growth in the cruise industry—capacity of supply increased at a rate of eight percent between and . Based on contracted capacity it may increase by an average . percent in the coming four years. The supply growth has matched the growth of passengers (from . million in to . million in ) and the capacity utilization seems to have remained high; recent figures on capacity utilization report that it has been close to percent. Because the American cruise industry has expanded rapidly in comparison with other industries, cruise lines now have access to capital markets, which have allowed them to continue to increase capacity to keep pace with demand. From an economic viewpoint, the matching of supply and demand is especially important in the cruising industry, as the flexibility is limited in the short run. It takes significant time to design and build a new ship, and the fixed costs associated with ship maintenance are high, including the vessel and its depreciation, administrative costs, and wages for the crew. As a vessel cannot be subdivided, there are limited options to quickly change the supply profile. In addition, voyage costs are incurred when the ship is operated regardless of the number of passengers. In that sense, the cruising industry cannot compensate on the supply side in the short term; thus the preferred business model is to maintain passenger numbers by using special promotions and discounts to keep up the demand. One method used to widen the scope of potential customers is to offer an everexpanding range of activities that passengers can take part in. Besides these activities, the meals onboard are often of very high quality and an important element in attracting passengers. The passenger growth rate reflects the success the industry has had at satisfying a wider demographic population. The mass-market and economics of scale provided by large cruising ships has made cruising an affordable vacation for much of the middle class. The incentives for larger ships are twofold: One incentive is recognized
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in the increasing economies of scale in operating large-scale vessels. Another incentive is that a larger ship can accommodate a wider spectrum of activities that might attract a greater number of passengers. This has become especially true since the cruise industry has moved into a mass market, and a wider supply of activities can meet a more diversified demand. Cruise Ship Markets and Marketing Although cruising is a footloose industry with wide opportunities for internationalization, the Caribbean is the most favored market in the world. A combination of a mild climate and easy accessibility by air from the United States provide the perfect conditions for cruise holidays. Also, distances to and within the Caribbean, with the islands in reasonably close proximity to each other and their different attractions, have stimulated the growth of Miami and Port Everglades as embarkation ports. The Caribbean market still remains the largest section of the cruising industry, with percent of the world market, followed by Europe with percent., Alaska with eight percent, the west coast of Mexico with seven percent, and finally Hawaii with four percent. In recent years, the growth in the Caribbean and Alaska markets has contributed most to the expansion of cruise capacity across the world, while the European market has undergone a recession. Figures for the U.S. market show a highly concentrated structure of companies. By the early s, the market share of the top seven cruise companies reached percent. Since then, a process of consolidation has resulted in an oligopolistic market structure where the top five companies control the majority of the cruise market. As a consequence of the stiff competition within the cruising industry and the desire to capture larger shares of the tourist market, cruise companies today differentiate their products by niche marketing. One strategy is to focus on attracting passengers from a well-defined region. In such a marketing approach, it may also be important to find common interests among the passengers. An additional feature is to employ a socio-economic marketing effort directed towards an identifiable section of the population. Niche marketing has become a vital tool in an intensely competitive industry. This competition is due, in part, to the result of the maturing of the cruise industry beginning in the s. Yet by becoming more streamlined through mergers and consolidation, the remaining players can still rationalize the multimillion dollar investments in new mega ships—with the ability to carry more than , passengers—to further expand the cruise industry supply. However, one crucial prerequisite to reach high capacity utilization of this expansion is to meet the fear of terrorism that escalated after the attacks of September , . Thus, valid security plans are crucial to the modern-day cruise industry. The cruise industry is said to be well-prepared for outside attacks, but safety experts have also expressed a concern of possible threats emanating from within a ship. Although the cruising industry is vulnerable to potential threats, cruising still remains one of the safest and most popular vacations that tourists can engage in. Lars-Fredrik Andersson
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References and Further Reading Bull, A. “The economics of cruising, an application to the short cruise market.” The Journal of Tourism Studies , no. (): –. Cartwright, R. and C. Baird. The Development and Growth of the Cruise Industry. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, . “The Cruise Industry.” Economic Summary . International Council of Cruise Lines. Gardiner, R. The Advent of Steam: The Merchant Steamship before . London, Conway Maritime, . Gardiner, R. The Golden Age of Shipping: The Classic Merchant Ship –. London, Conway Maritime, . Hader, A. The World Cruise Market. Bremen: Institute of Shipping, Economics and Logistics, . Hobson, P.J.S. “Analysis of the US cruise industry.” Tourism Management (December ): –. “The Overview Spring .” Cruise Lines International Association. Stopford, M. Maritime Economics. nd Ed. New York: Routledge, . Wild, O. and J. Dearing. “Development of and prospects of cruising in Europe.” Maritime Policy & Management , no. (): –.
PASSENGER SHIPPING, FERRY INDUSTRY The ferry is defined as a ship specially designed and constructed for the carriage of passengers and/or vehicles on a regular scheduled service of short duration. As part of an infrastructure system, the ferry industry supports the functions of the land-based road system, transporting passengers and vehicles across water barriers. Open to all vehicles and passengers, it may be regarded as the bridge span, with the terminals serving as bridge abutments. Ferries vary significantly in size and in quality of accommodation. Some on longer runs offer overnight cabins and even, such as on the Baltic Sea, come close to the quality of cruise ships. Notwithstanding differences in quality, all modern ferries typically load vehicles aboard one or more decks via low-level side doors or by stern or bow ramps, much like those found on roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) cargo ships. The introduction of modern ro-ro ferries had a great impact on the scope of ferry services. On the main routes in Japan and Western Europe, the application of ro-ro technology on ferries, together with the overall growth in passengers and vehicles, contributed to a rapid expansion of the ferry market. Since the s, the ferry industry has developed from a small-scale activity into a capital-intensive operation of great significance for the transport system, where water barriers obstruct the land-based transport system. Although bridges and tunnels have reduced the role of ferry services across the English Channel and Øresund, the ferry services in Western Europe still transport more than million passengers, million cars and million trucks, annually. The Japanese
PASSENGER SHIPPING, FERRY INDUSTRY
Steam ferry boat in England, . The Illustrated London News Picture Library.
counterpart carries close to million passengers annually. In the United States, the .-mile Staten Island Ferry carries million commuters and tourists between Staten Island and New York City annually. The First Ferries Although the introduction of the modern generation of multi-purpose ferries began in , the use of boats to ferry passengers across water barriers goes back to prehistoric times. The first train ferries were introduced in the th century. One of the first ferries dates back to , and was used for the Lake Huron crossing. Another began around for the Øresund crossing between Denmark and Sweden. At the turn of the th century, a number of train ferries, which had a few garages to accommodate a small number of cars, entered the Dover-Dunkirk route. In, the wooden hulled vessel Motor Princess, owned by Canadian Pacific Railways, was capable of accommodating vehicles for crossing the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver, Nanaimo, and the Gulf Islands. In , the Danish ferry Heimdal, of about the same capacity,
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was introduced in the traffic on the Great Belt. During the s, a number of ferries such as the Kronprinsessan Ingrid and Peter Wessels entered services between Denmark and Sweden. The ferries employed up until World War II were loaded and discharged by cranes in a lift-on/life-off style of operation. This time consuming handling did not change until , when the first drive on cross ferry was introduced for the route across the North Channel between Stranraer and Larne. Although the handling operation significantly improved, the first purpose built ferry, Lord Warden, was not constructed until . Carrying , passengers and cars, British Railways operated her on the English Channel sailings. The ro-ro concept was boosted by the use of ramps in the landing crafts during World War II. Although it had already been put in practice in , the technique was not taken into full commercial practice until the mid-s, when the first ro-ro ferries on the English Channel and on Nordic routes started running. The great advantage of the ro-ro technique is the high speed of terminal throughput and short cargo handling time in relation to the actual sailing time. This has made the ro-ro vessel by far most popular type of vessel. An additional reason for the spread of the ro-ro technique has been the increase in private car ownership and long distance truck transport during the post-war period. These factors have together outweighed the disadvantages, such as passenger driver damages, and mechanical features that make the ship less seaworthy. The technological and organizational improvements lowered transport costs. For the ferry industry, ro-ro technology reduced handling costs by percent or more, and due to the convenient loading procedure, the time necessary for entering and clearing shrank to a minimum. Faster transit times resulted in greater demand, which in turn lead to the investment in larger ferries with greater loading capacities for both cars and trucks. Modern Ferry Development The ferry industry has developed in different ways depending on the commercial, political, and geographical factors, as well as demographic factors. The length of the ferry route has had a major impact on ship design, on-board features, and services. A short trip of less than minutes does not warrant additional investments for on-board sales. The time is simply too short to generate significant on-board sales revenues. On the contrary, a long trip of more than one hour could provide significant sales revenues. Besides food and beverage sales, the demand of hotel accommodations has also proved profitable, especially on nighttime crossings. For international routes, another source of revenue is duty-free sales; however, the potential for duty free sales is also affected by the type of passenger, local laws, and local tax systems. This has resulted in the construction of customized ferries that are more attractive to potential passengers, and in turn generate greater on-board revenue. One of the most spectacular features of these customized ferries is the super cruise ferries on the Baltic Sea, which are offering entertainment facilities beside the usual restaurants and ships. In the Baltic Sea, ferry travel has combined a cruise-ship environment with transport
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services between the cities of Stockholm and Helsinki. The English Channel traffic, on the other hand, exists mainly for the purpose of transporting passengers from one country to another. Unlike the Baltic experiences, where tax-free sales generate significant revenue, the English Channel service has been dependent on ticket revenues. The first generation of modern ferries was introduced in the s. On average, they measured from four to five thousand gross tons, and carried some , passengers and cars. During the s, a second generation of ferries significantly grew in size. On the English Channel, there were ships up to , gross tons, and in the United Kingdom, vessels of up to , gross tons operated across the North Sea. On the Baltic Sea, the size of ferries developed slower, reaching , to , gross tons by the s. Ship size increased more on the English Channel and the North Sea compared to the Baltic Sea due to factors such as sea keeping in harsh weather, weatherproofing the ship, increasing passenger comfort by reducing the rolling and pitching, avoidance of cargo damage, and the ability to maintain a schedule in difficult weather conditions. The strong demand for greater capacity dominated the design stage, and extensive model testing was used to improve passenger comfort and fuel economy. To achieve better fuel economy and comfort, various types of body forms and propulsion measures were tested over the years. However, real-world performance did not always match expectations of the ship’s designers. On the Baltic Sea, ferry companies focused primarily on quality and images of cruising, although special measures due to weather conditions were also was considered. Winter operations without icebreaking assistance demanded a stronger hull, and the narrow routes through archipelagos also put strains on the development of the ferry system. Nevertheless, ferries were growing in size on the Baltic Sea. However, as the draft was limited, vessels had to grow upwards and athwart ship. In the archipelagos, lower environmental disturbance wave patterns were demanded, but at the same time, higher standards of comfort were set in order to attract potential passengers. These objectives had an impact on the design. The modern ship design of the s largely reversed traditional priorities. The modern procedure begins at the passenger or customer end, which then sets the standards for architects to develop. The so-called cruise ferries operating on the Baltic since the early s are a prime example. Cruising has become an integrated part of the business. The introduction of cruise ferries upgraded not only the carrying capacity, but also the quality of services onboard. An additional step was taken in s, when the super cruise ferries were introduced. One extravagant ship from this generation is the Silja Serenade. She measures , gross tons and carries , passengers and cars. This ship can certainly be labeled as a super cruise ferry, offering high-quality accommodations and a broad range of entertainment. However, this cruising ferry philosophy has led to an intense competition between Swedish and Finnish ferry companies striving to stay at the top of the market. As a result, many of the less extravagant, but still good ferries, were sold prematurely. A large number of these ice-breaker class vessels found new homes servicing passengers along the Mediterranean and on sub-tropical routes.
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In the traffic across the English Channel and around Japan, the main objective of the design has been to provide swift and comfortable crossings in the shortest amount of time. Competitive pricing has resulted in low passenger loyalty, with the departure time and duration of the crossing usually being the most important element influencing passenger choice. These objectives have most clearly been seen in the growing demand of high-speed ferries. To compete against declining airfares in the s, the British company Stena introduced a wide range of high-speed ferries onto a number of different routes to and from the UK. One example is Stena Carisma. She was built in and carries passengers and cars at a speed of knots. The technology has been spreading to other markets, and it has been identified as a successful innovation in the ferry industry. Although high-speed ferries have played a role in the latest development on the English Channel and in other markets, the conventional ship is still the most important. One reason is size. On the English Channel, the largest operator, P&O, well illustrates the growth of ferries. From the s to the s, the size has expanded from , gross tons to almost , gross tons. One example of the present generation of ferries is Pride of Burgundy. She measures , gross tons and carries , passengers and cars at a speed of knots. Ferry Traffic Routes The far-reaching changes on the transport market in Western Europe have been illustrated by the expansion of private cars, long-distance truck transport, business, and tourist travel. Due to the combined conveyance of passenger and vehicles, the ferry industry not only challenged the role of traditional general carriers, but also integrated transport across water barriers. After World War II, the car ferry services emerged on short sea markets across Western Europe. The core of this development was between Denmark and Sweden on the Øresund, and between Britain and France, Belgium and Netherlands on the English Channel. An important offshoot appeared between Finland and Sweden on the Baltic (and Åland) Sea. Across these markets, passenger travel gathered strength during the s and s. However, the timing and the scope of these short sea markets were not uniform as the Swedish-Finnish market lagged behind and was small in comparison to the English Channel and Øresund. The ferry industry took-off between and . On the largest market, across Øresund, passenger traffic expanded from . million to million; while the Baltic Sea traffic increased from . to . million during the same period. The English Channel routes between England and France/Belgium developed more slowly, with the passenger traffic expanding from . to . million. After this period of explosive growth, the expansion moderated. In the s, the oil price crisis hampered development. However, during the s and s, a rapid expansion took place on the European ferry markets as oil prices fell. The Baltic Sea was the most progressive market. Although the Øresund and the English Channel still outnumbered the Swedish-Finnish routes in the mid s, the differences in relative terms had decreased. The traffic between Finland and Sweden includes million passengers at present. In , the number of passengers
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conveyed across the Øresund was close to million, and million for English Channel crossings. Since the late s up until the present, the completion of the Channel Tunnel and Øresund Bridge have obstructed the ferry industry. By , traffic had dropped to only million passengers across the Øresund and million for the English Channel. Similar to the travel pattern, great expansions have taken place in vehicle transport. Cars carried across the Øresund rose from . million in to million in , and for the English Channel, the number of cars jumped from . million to million during the same period. However, due to truck conveyance, both the English Channel and the Swedish-Finnish market were outnumbered by the remarkable growth on the routes between Denmark and Sweden in the period to . The scope of these markets clearly changed over time. By , the number of trucks carried in thousand was the following; the English Channel ,, Øresund and Sweden-Finland . The ferry services operating on the channels are clearly of a different magnitude in terms of passengers, cars, and trucks. In the context of the west European ferry industry, the Japanese counterpart can hardly be neglected. The growth and design have not been as spectacular as in Europe, but as an industrialized maritime nation consisting of a large number of islands, it is only natural to have a substantial amount of ferry shipping. Not surprisingly, the Japanese ferry network is one of the most extensive. Since many cities and towns are located on the coast and surrounded by mountainous countryside, the ferries form an important means of transport. In , a ferry network consisting of , routes and , vessels transported million passengers, . million cars, and . millions trucks. Operations and Safety The ferry industry operates in markets with great differences in terms of traffic intensity, mixing both vehicles and passages, and the scope of onboard services. In contrast to west European trades, the Japanese ferry industry focuses more on transporting vehicles. Financial statements show that the main income receipt in order of significance is; freight at around percent, compared with passenger fares at only percent, and sales onboard without the benefit of international duty-free sales, only a mere six percent of the revenue in . During the s, a shift in the philosophy has become apparent in trying to attract more domestic passengers away from train and air travel by introducing cruiseassociated operations, and the introduction of high-speed ferry service for Tokyo Bay. In contrast to the Japanese development, ferry operations in Western Europe have been more so associated with the tourist industry. This is especially true on the Baltic Sea, as the ferry function became integrated with tourism and leisure activities. Since the s, the major operators have moved towards cruise activities by introducing new ships designed for cruise purposes and inventive marketing approaches. However, in contrast to other markets, the Baltic traffic benefits the most from international dutyfree sales because of the preventive national alcoholic policies of the Nordic states. The shipping companies have taken great advantages of this situation through special offers
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and the utilization of high quality vessels. A significant proportion of this passenger traffic is so-called produced traffic, where passengers are not concerned with the destination. This focus on on-board activities is clearly seen in the income accounts. For one of the major companies, Silja Line, restaurants and shops accounted for percent of revenue in , compared with ticket and freight incomes at only and percent respectively. In that sense, the Baltic ferry service is more dependent on cruise than transport activities. However, as seen from other markets, the ferry industry, as a whole, is mainly supplying transport services of significance for the functions of the land-based transport system. Ferry operations are, similar to shipping in general, dependent on high safety standards. However, due to the large number of passengers on ferries, safety is of greater importance in ferry services compared to other shipping services. Ro-ro ships in particular, because of special design requirements associated with the broken stow, have come under scrutiny in this regard. As seen by the number of ferry losses since the s, and especially after the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster outside Zeebrugge in Belgium, detailed safety measures have come into force. Although safety regulation and protection of the passengers have been applied, the risk of ferry losses has not been eliminated. The loss of Estonia on the Baltic Sea in , is a reminder of the potential dangers at sea. Not to be forgotten is also the number disasters and deaths caused by inferior and overloaded ships trafficking in parts of the world where safety measures are less prominent. Stricter design priorities will probably be put into force in the future, and the bow door feature could be eliminated for good. However, as with all equipment handled by man, all the safety measures are only reliable when people handle them correctly. Lars-Fredrik Andersson References and Further Reading Andersson, L.F. () Bilateral Shipping and Trade, Swedish-Finnish Experiences in the Post-war Period, PhD Dissertation. Umeå University. Baird, A.J. “The Japan coastal ferry system.” Maritime Policy Management , no. (): –. Baird, A.J. “A comparative study of the ferry industry in Japan and the UK.” Transport Reviews , no. (): –. Dunlop, G. “The European ferry industry, challenges and changes.” International Journal of Transport Management, no. (): –. Gardiner R. The Shipping Revolution: The Modern Merchant Ship. London: Conway Maritime, . Peisley T. “Ferries, short sea cruises and the Channel Tunnel.” EIU Travel and Tourism Analyst, no. (): –. Wang, J. and S. McGowan. “Fast ferries and their future.” Maritime Policy and Management , no. (): –. Yercan, F. Ferry Services in Europe. Farnham, U.K.: Aldershot Ashgate, .
PASSENGER SHIPPING, PASSENGER INDUSTRY
PASSENGER SHIPPING, PASSENGER INDUSTRY Technological developments in transporting people by ship played a significant role in shaping social and economic history from antiquity until the early th century. Over the centuries, the discovery of new lands and technological advances in ship construction and the art of navigation have steadily expanded the role of water transportation. Prior to the th century, at the time when sail was the most important form of propulsion, gains came from improvements in ship construction, hull form, and sail capacity. Adoption of the steam engine, the propeller replacing the paddle wheel for propulsion, and steel-hull construction all helped revolutionize passenger travel. These rapid technological advances made it possible for the industry to cope with the economic growth, and thus the demand for passenger conveyance. Fares fell as much smaller crews could navigate much larger ships with far more passengers. The passenger shipping industry proved very adept at continually reducing the travel time and cost of coastal and transcontinental passenger service. Up until the mid-th century, the ship was the fastest and most efficient passenger transportation mode. The only competition came from the horse-drawn carriage traveling over rough roads. It was more convenient to invest in ships than developing road systems for carriages. However, as new forms of transportation developed, passenger ships began to lose their supremacy. For coastal routes, railroads quickly began to siphon traffic beginning in the s in the United Kingdom, and for transcontinental traffic, air travel became more attractive beginning in the s. Coastal Passenger Services At the time when travel on land was dominated by horse-drawn coach, the foremost alternative for passenger conveyance was coastal sailing vessels. Along the east coast of the United Kingdom, economic growth accelerated during the late th and th century in conjunction with the development of a fast coastal passenger vessel—the sailing smacks. As service became faster and more frequent, the volume of passengers and goods transported increased rapidly as the economy continued to grow. In time, the smacks were replaced by schooners in order to compete with the early steamships of the th century; however, the greater efficiency of steamships led to a gradual adoption of the latter starting in the s. Schooners are sailing ships with at least two masts (foremast and mainmast) with the mainmast being the taller; and smacks are ships with a single mast. Coastal shipping developed rapidly in the second half of the th century, and by , the United Kingdom was served by a considerable network of coastal passenger services. However, the early th century marked the peak of this service. Faced with growing competition from improved rail and road systems that offered faster service, traditional coastal shipping gradually declined up until World War II. As demand waned, the industry focused on expanding ferry and cruise service. The development of handling technology, especially the roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) technology, efficiently met the growing demand of passenger and truck ferry transportation across water barriers.
PASSENGER SHIPPING, PASSENGER INDUSTRY
In countries such as Australia, the United States, and Canada historical records indicate that the passenger industry closely mirrors technological change and patterns of domestic economic and demographic growth. Unlike the U.K. experiences, the long distance of transport required larger and stronger vessels with more dependable and efficient machinery. In the United States, the first generation of coastal steamship—ships such as Robert Fulton and New York, which supplied an important service between major ports at New York, Boston, and Philadelphia—entered service in the early th century. The success of these early steamships provided the initiative for a later generation of coastal vessels. Technological advances rapidly increased the carrying capacity and speed in the second half of the th century. One of the first turbine steamers was built to service the passenger traffic between Boston and New York and in the s, the large express steamers were introduced on the routes along the east coast. However, despite the lowering of transport costs, the coastal steam companies could no longer match the advantages of road, railroad, and air transportation by the s. The coming of World War II put an end to the U.S. coastal services. As the coastal passenger traffic dwindled in the United Kingdom and United States, the coastal passenger ships found niches elsewhere. Ships constructed in the U.K. were employed in services in other parts of Europe and in East Asia, especially in parts of the world where land communications were complicated by geographical features that made rail and road building a difficult or impossible mode of transportation to develop. One example is the Norwegian Coastal Express Services (Hurtigruten). This service linked Bergen with the ports and settlements of the west coast. Since the inception of service in , the steam and later motor ships have been an efficient means to integrate the Norwegian economy. This also holds for experiences in other parts of the world. In the Mediterranean Sea, the island-strew and mountainous coasts of countries such as Italy, former Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey, made coastal passenger steamers the most competitive alternative. In South East Asia, coastal services by steamers also supplied important functions. Despite the railroad system in India, the steam vessels made a significant contribution to the coastal movement of people. In spite of the technological and organizational developments following the shipping revolution in the post-war period, coastal shipping is still maintained by lines faced with limited competition from aviation and railroads. The traditional coastal passenger services came to end in the s and s. Faced with the growing competition of roads, railroads, and airlines, the coastal services ceased or turned into cruising or ferry business. Nevertheless, ferries have proven to be an efficient mode of passenger and goods conveyance across geographically-challenging water barriers, where the construction of road or railway bridges and tunnels are too complicated and costly. Ocean Passenger Liners The rapid growth of world trade that took place in the th century spurred the development of cost efficient and dependable ocean passenger liners. This, in turn, lead to the spread of steel-hulled steam ships, which greatly increased capacities and decreased
PASSENGER SHIPPING, PASSENGER INDUSTRY
travel times, further accelerating economic growth starting in the s. In addition, the demographic transition following the industrial revolution and the opportunities for settlement overseas contributed to the growing mass market. Between the Napoleonic Wars and the Great Depression of the s, more than million immigrant were transported across the Atlantic Ocean by the large passenger liners. In the first half of the th century, the expansion of the Canadian timber trade and the U.S. cotton trade with Europe contributed to the growth of passenger travel. Because of ship owners’ desire to maximize revenue by operating at full capacity, and the desperation of poor immigrants, ship owners had the incentive to use the large unused space on the return trips to accommodate immigrants. As this population grew in size, the competition between shipping companies led to lower prices on fares, thus making immigration even more attractive. On the line between Liverpool and New York, the fares decreased percent between and , and on other lines across the Atlantic Ocean, comparable reductions occurred. Although the cheaper transport made access to the United States more affordable for a larger part of the population, it came at a great price: namely, the terror and hardship associated with overcrowded and badly provisioned ships. The harsh conditions onboard were not considered by the British government until the s, when regulations were issued to secure better treatment of passengers. Despite government interest, comfortable travel did not become a reality until the introduction of ocean steam liners in the second half of the th century. The adoption of the steam engine, screw propulsion and the use of iron and steel hulls in the second half of the th century substantially reduced the travel time and the comfort onboard. The advance of steam due to transport time was also recognized in postal services. Due to postal subsidies, the rise of the British steamship industry was hastened in the second half of the th century. Although large steam ships such as Brunel’s Great Britain () entered operation, sailing vessels still handled approximately one half of the passenger conveyance across the Atlantic until the early s. The principal barrier to innovation at this time was that carrying coal fuel decreased the payload. Nevertheless, as technological improvements reduced coal consumption, the ship-owners increasingly moved over to the use of steam so that by , less than four percent traveled on sailing ships. The faster and cheaper travels, as well as the companies advertising, encouraged people to emigrate. In their effort to ensure full loads on the ships, the liner companies’ ticket agents combed Europe for migrants, conducting extensive propaganda campaigns in favor of settlements overseas. An additional source of information was the knowledge of conditions provided by relatives living in the United States, or from those who had returned home. As the number of immigrants increased, so did the volume of information about the opportunities for improvement overseas. In conjunction with government regulation and competitions between liner companies, this development resulted in continuous improvements in passenger facilities. While the comfort onboard increased and the purchasing power increased, the cost of travel varied little in the second half of the th century.
PASSENGER SHIPPING, PASSENGER INDUSTRY
Although the technological innovations and the advertising campaigns contributed to the growing numbers of passengers, it should be noted that the age of mass migration was not limited to advances in shipping. Behind the emigration movement, operation factors such as economic and demographic changes were important. Due to the adverse economic and social conditions, migrants were driven from their homeland rather than attracted by vague expectations from a foreign country far away from home in the first half of the th century. The general causes behind the mass emigration from Europe between and the s were the demographic and technical revolution that changed the economic and social life in Europe. However, as the industrialization process accelerated in Western Europe, employment opportunities and wages increased too. This development resulted in a shift in the migration patterns when people living in eastern and southern Europe migrated overseas. However, this age of mass migration came to an end in the s, when the U.S. government issued two immigration acts and introduced quotas, which primarily limited immigrants from eastern and southern Europe. In addition, the Great Depression of the s also discouraged immigration from Europe. The end of the mass migration put pressure on the shipping companies to attract new groups of passengers. During the s, the steerage accommodation was gradually replaced by cabin class in a new generation of liners. The more efficient turbine engine, introduced in , was replaced by an increasing number of motor-driven and turboelectric liners. The switch from coal to oil not only added to speed but also the loading capacity. This new generation of liners also marked the return to racing spurred by growing nationalism in Europe. In this same period, a rise in popularity of cruising, following the introduction of air conditioning and stabilizers, contributed to the switch of focus from immigration towards business and tourist traffic. After World War II, new liners were built with the new tourist class occupying relatively more space as the first-class travel declined. This paved the way towards one-class ships. Passenger comfort was assisted by fin stabilizers that had been invented in the s. In that sense, the future of ocean liners looked rosy as passenger numbers gathered strength in the s. However, the clouds once again gathered over the business. A growing proportion of passengers were turning to jet liners. The introduction of the long-distance jet aircraft, the Boeing being the most prominent example, rapidly changed the business opportunities for passenger conveyance across the Atlantic Ocean. Although the number of passengers crossing the Atlantic Ocean was steadily increasing in the s, and those going by sea reached a peak of one million passengers in , the advantages of air travel were unmatchable. This peak was bettered in , and years later the jet airline had all but cornered Atlantic travel. The same was soon to apply to other routes, and the traditional passenger liners were consigned to history. With the development of the modern cruise industry beginning in the s, some of the over capacity in the passenger liner industry could be absorbed by cruise operators. Lars-Fredrik Andersson
PHARMACEU TICALS FROM THE SEA
References and Further Reading Gardiner R. The Advent of Steam: The Merchant Steamship before . London: Conway Maritime, . Gardiner R. The Golden Age of Shipping: The Classic Merchant Ship –. London: Conway Maritime, . Hyde, F.E. Cunard and the North Atlantic –: A History of Shipping and Financial Management. London and Basingstoke, U.K.: Macmillan, . Kenwood A.G. and A.L. Lougheed. The Growth of the International Economy –. New York: Routledge, . Koninckx, C. Proceeding of the International Colloquium “Industrial Revolutions and the Sea.” Brussels: Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, . Rowland, K.T. Steam at Sea: A History of the Steam Navigation. Devon, U.K.: Newton Abbott, . Vile, S.P. Transport and the Development of the European Economy –. London: Macmillan, . Williams, D., ed. The World of Shipping. Aldershot: Ashgate, .
PHARMACEU TICALS FROM THE SEA While pharmaceuticals naturally derived from the plants, animals, and minerals of the land have long been in universal use, pharmaceuticals from the sea have found a more restricted use in times past. Even today the field is little developed. Leaving aside the obvious fact that seas and oceans have not been universally accessible for much of human history, there are also technical issues involved with harvesting pharmaceuticals. Unless it has washed up on beaches, or was easily visible in shallow waters just off shore, only a small fraction of potential pharmaceuticals were accessible. Deep seas, which humans have explored only within the last hundred years, have only truly begun to be exploited recently using advanced technology. Thus pharmaceuticals from the sea are relatively unrepresented in ancient and medieval works on materia medica or medicine in general. In addition, more often than not, marine products appear in a dietary rather than a purely medical context in early sources. This is clearly the case with Galen (circa –), for example, where fish looms larger as a dietary supplement to treat various conditions than as medicine per se, for example, in his De Alimentorum Facultatibus, (On the Properties of Foods). In this work, section treats many “firm-fleshed fish,” and section discusses mollusks. Later, in Medieval times, the Tacuinum Sanitatis, a work of Arabic origin, has its own dietary recommendations for seafood including crayfish, fresh, and salted fish. Nonetheless, there are marine medicinals, such as sea urchin used by Dioscorides, and these are taken over by and added to other medical writers, including the Arabs. In contrast with the Western world, pharmaceuticals from the sea were a far more significant tradition in China. There, to be sure, the use of marine products, also similar products from rivers and lakes, was well-established in Chinese dietary texts such as the Yin Shan zheng yao (Proper and Essential Things for the Emperor’s Food and Drink) of ,
PHARMACEU TICALS FROM THE SEA
which has medicinal recipes (for Mongol emperors and their courts) utilizing carp; although this a freshwater domesticate, and assigns specific medicinal properties not only to carp, but to a number of other fish. Some are riverine, but there are also references to purely ocean fish, birds, and seaweed. However, there is an even greater tradition of marine pharmaceuticals in the Chinese herbal tradition. Most works describe at least a few marine pharmaceuticals but more and more were added as time passed, resulting in the rich tradition present in the Bencao Gangmu (General Outline of Materia Medica) of . In this work, an entire chapter is devoted to fish “with scales” and another to fish “without scales.” This is in addition to many other non-fish pharmaceuticals from the sea in other parts of the great compendium, including a large section on animals with shells, such as turtles and tortoises, shellfish, snails, crabs, and starfish. In the Bencao Gangmu nearly every marine pharmaceutical is illustrated and most are described in great detail with general biological and medicinal properties given for the scaly or scaleless fish or other organism in question, sub-products, including prepared dietary supplements or medicinals, references in previous collections of materia medica, and specific applications, including many detailed recipes with full indication as to how each is supposed to work according to the author of the Bencao Gangmu, Li Shizhen (–). There is no comparable source of information about marine medicinals coming from early Europe or anywhere else in the world. Because of China’s extensive trade networks, networks within which the trade in medicinals played a key role. The repertory of medicinals was particularly rich and bears witness not only to the use of pharmaceuticals from the sea produced near or on the coasts of China, but those found a considerable distance away, for example, around the islands and on the coasts of Southeast Asia. Such information is often undocumented elsewhere, which makes the Chinese sources particularly valuable. Modern efforts to use known medicinals from the seas only date from the th century to any substantial degree, and efforts to carry out broad research to find new, unknown products go back to the most recent decades only. This effort has only just begun and today comparatively few natural substances derived from the sea are in formal use as pharmaceuticals, and even fewer have been fully chemically investigated and medically active substances synthesized. Basically, our knowledge of the organic world below the surface of the seas has evolved in distinct stages as our ability to access deeper and deeper parts of the ocean in a comparatively unrestricted manner has developed. In stage one, our access was limited primarily to relatively shallow waters on foot and with snorkels. Later, depths of up to meters became easily attainable using SCUBA gear, and now depths of up to meters can be explored using still more sophisticated apparatus based on the closed-circuit exchange of mixed gases. Reliance on remote vehicles is also becoming more and more sophisticated, and thus more useful in the exploration of the deeper oceans. Today exploration of the oceans for pharmacological purposes concentrates, out of perhaps two million marine species known, on eight main types of organisms primarily: marine bacteria, marine microalgae, seaweeds, sponges, Cnidaria, Bryozoans, Mollusks,
PHARMACEU TICALS FROM THE SEA
Ascidians, as well on various miscellaneous categories of marine organisms such as echinoderms, also fish, such as the dogfish shark, a source of a new potentially highly effective class of antibiotics, crustaceans, and marine worms. In general, the focus has been on less developed organisms since they are more likely to rely on chemical defenses against predators and environmental dangers instead of physical ones, including the ability to simply run away or otherwise physically avoid threats. Here, a careful examination of an organism’s chemical ecology and evolutionary background is key, thus the need for sophisticated and long-term research on as many fronts as possible. In general, the longer an organism has had time to evolve while retaining its fundamentally simple biology, the likely the more effective its chemical defenses. Tens of thousands of potentially useful substances have now been identified and their number grows each year. Some are directly useful in treating tumors and other diseases; others, by contrast, are useful in research, on account of their special properties, as chemical probes, for example. The marine substances being investigated are particularly interesting because, unlike often highly similar substances from terrestrial species, the marine substances exist in organisms that live their whole lives in salt water and thus exhibit properties unique to it. In most cases, the substances of the greatest importance are those evolved by marine organisms as part of their own self-defense mechanisms, including against various diseases, many of them similar to those afflicting humans. One famous example is the poison known as tetrodotoxin (from the group aminoperhydroqunazoline), produced by the puffer fish, and one of the most potent nerve conduction blockers known. Although a poison, it can be used medically to relax muscles, to block pain and for local anesthesia. Particularly sought are the many products derived from marine organisms that are able to exert a selective action against mammalian tumor growth. One new substance used in this way is ARA-C, derived from research focused on the West Indian sponge (Tethya crypta), and now used in chemotherapy. Another area of success is derivation of natural prostaglandins from red alga. Otherwise, such substances are difficult to synthesize cheaply. One of the best-known examples of the exploitation of marine organisms to practical therapeutic aims has been the development of cephalosporin antibiotics from a marine fungus. Likewise, kainic acid (-carboxy -isopropenyl -pyrrolidine acetic acid) found in red alga can be used as an antihelminthic with low general toxicity except for the target parasites. Also important are Prialt, derived from the venom of the Pacific cone snail, a more effective painkiller than morphine, Acyclovir, used to treat herpes infections, and AZT, used in the treatment of AIDS. Many more important pharmaceuticals are still being researched and tested but many, such as Yondelis, from the tunicate Ecteinascidia turbinate, being developed into a drug for use against cancer, show great potential, and likewise Inflazyme, also from E. turbinate, for use against asthma. One factor limiting the use of marine organisms for pharmacological purposes is the rarity of many of the species involved and difficulty in securing and maintaining sufficient quantities for test purposes, leaving alone the question of the use of species that may be endangered. Deep marine environments must often be duplicated to carry on
PHARMACEU TICALS FROM THE SEA
Tetrodotoxin, a powerful poison produced by the tiny puffer fish, is often used as a muscle relaxer as well as anesthesia. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
research but this is becoming less and less a problem. The future, in any case, lies mostly in artificial synthesis of the substances found useful, although many can be extracted from living or once living organisms in sufficient quantities to be useful; this practice will continue. The problem with artificial synthesis is that the chemical analysis to support it is expensive, as may be the process of synthesis itself, particularly when there is more than one medically active substance in a given source and when medical synergisms are involved. Thus, the need for a continued supply of most natural sources of the medically active substances, be these farmed or free, when supplies of free materials allow regular harvests. This is often not the case. The issue is thus a complicated one, but in any case, the use of materials formerly considered useless for industrial purposes, mostly gained from shallow areas of the seas or as a by-product of deep-sea fishing, is an area of potentially great future importance or even directly as new resources (e.g., Antarctic krill) are harvested. Aquaculture may be particularly useful in this area and the organisms involved may prove cheap to produce and easily maintainable. One focus of successful marine harvesting has been the gorgonian Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae, which live at a depth of between and feet. Some , pounds have been collected along the Bahamas without harming native stocks in part because harvesting has been
PHARMACEU TICALS FROM THE SEA
confined to a depth of only feet. Sought from this gorgonian are pseudopterosins, some of which possess anti-inflammatory and analgesic qualities, although such substances have only been utilized so far in cosmetics. The association of such materials with coral reefs is one more reason to conserve them, thus the particular importance of such harvesting. The connection of coral reefs with the supply of natural substances strongly underscores the sensitivity of the supply issue for most potential products. Synthesis is not always an option if for no other reason than lack of research and preparation. Some day this may be possible, but in the meantime coral reefs must be preserved to protect these valuable resources. In sum, man has relied of foods from the sea since time immemorial and, in many cases, they have been assigned particular dietary values, values in many cases reflecting the real medicinal effectiveness of many of the species involved (e.g. salmon). Later, and this aspect was particularly developed in China, marine organisms and their products have been harvested as specialized medicinals and made regular parts of medical treatment. Finally, in the last years in particular, above all thanks to changes in technology allowing greater access to deep oceans, we have gone over to a systematic study and exploitation of a marine environment, in a field of virtually constant expansion. The question now is whether or not we will destroy the larger biological potential of the oceans before we can fully exploit it. After all, one reason for turning to the oceans for pharmaceutical resources in the first place has been the diminished potential of endangered or reduced terrestrial species. Paul Buell References and Further Reading Buell, Paul D., Eugene N. Anderson, and Charles Perry. A Soup for the Qan: Chinese Dietary Medicine of the Mongol Era as Seen in Hu Szu-hui’s Yin-shan Cheng-yao. London and New York: Kegan Paul International, . Carté, Brad K., “Biomedical Potential of Marine Natural Products.” BioScience , no. (April ): –. Faulkner, John D. “Marine Pharmacology.” Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (): – . Grant, P.T. “Technology in the s: The Sea.” Organic Resources of the Sea, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences , no. (October ): –. Read, Bernard E. Chinese Materia Medica, IX. Scaly and Scaleless Fish. Peiping: Peking Natural History Bulletin, . Read, Bernard E. Chinese Materia Medica. VIII. Turtle and Shellfish Drugs. Peiping: Peking Natural History Bulletin, .
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S
SAILING AND YACHTING Sailing and yachting have evolved well beyond their basic transportation roots to become increasingly popular leisure activities. Holiday cruising, with the advent of the fly-cruise in s, marked the start of an increasing number of holidays being taken on the rivers, seas, and oceans of the world. Advances in technology, along with increasing disposable incomes, have made the sea more accessible, a democratization of activity afloat. Previously seen as elitist, sailing and yachting opportunities are now available in different forms from sailing courses in dinghies at a local reservoir to fully-crewed yachts at sea, as well as highly competitive ocean and inland lake racing. The lure of play in and on water, and the enduring appeal of the sea, the attraction is continually drawing more and more people to participate in activities afloat. Because the important elements for good sailing—fair winds, good weather, and a pleasant stretch of water—are plentiful throughout the world, and the sport can be enjoyed inexpensively, there is abundant opportunity. For small crafts, open water does not have to be in large stretches; narrow stretches of water will suffice, like lakes and rivers; but since surrounding hills and trees affect wind strength and direction, and thus the overall sailing experience, sailors develop skills and tactics to cope. In addition, codes of conduct are often in place for sailors on the restricted space of inland waters. However, inland water sailing does have certain advantages. Although fresh water is less buoyant and colder than the sea, there is no salty stinging and the need to regularly wash off salt. Coastal sailing within two miles or so of the coastline, on the other hand, offers the freedom of an unlimited space, but the tidal nature of the water brings its own challenges. Open ocean sailing is the least popular form because of the increased hazards of weather and sea conditions.
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Sailboats in Puget Sound, Pacific Northwest. Dreamstime.com.
While leisure drives many of the technological developments today, survival was the main driver of sailing skills and advances in boat designs and performance. Fishing, warfare, and the transporting of people and goods were vital, and consequently the ability to sail has been a key skill for over four thousand years. The challenge of keeping afloat and coping with the elements meant experimentation with different materials, but early on it was realized that wood was best. Navigational skills were also developed using the sun and stars, and were demonstrated by the Vikings who, surrounded by water, living amongst islands, lakes and fjords, developed ships using animal skins and wood, which were fitted with a single mast, but could also be rowed. The Viking design of sail and hull reflected their particular coastal conditions, and this can be said of the many different designs evidenced in ancient history. Before the Vikings, square-sailed Roman ships were powered by teams of men rowing below deck so that the boat could be rowed when the wind shifted against it. Although the Vikings are credited with successfully sailing at an angle to the wind (up to degrees, not solely downwind) with sails that pivoted, development of the lateen rigged Arab dhow (triangle sail) around the seventh century, was particularly noteworthy because it could sail closer than degrees into the wind. Royal patrons have contributed to advancing recreational sailing. Cleopatra is said to have cruised the Nile River in what would be described as a Royal Yacht. The word yacht, it is believed, originates from a German description of a jaght schip used for pleasurable sailing in . The Dutch East India Company, which bought a yacht for Charles II (who perhaps enjoyed the freedom of the water while in exile), is attributed with bringing yachting to England and encouraged the first race ever recorded in . The first
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recorded regatta was in Ireland, however, where skills in maneuvers were displayed at given signals by the members of the Water Club of Cork in . The challenge and physical endurance needed to sail the oceans was shown by the American, Joshua Slocum, who took three years to sail around the world by himself, completing his trip in . Without any form of mass production at this time, the boats used for such excursions would either be very small, or converted working vessels that offered bunks, headroom, and a galley. This changed when racing enthusiasts began advancing the design of yachts. The competitive spirits of wealthy men led to the encouragement of design changes for speed, but required large crews to manage. The Atlantic, a three-masted schooner, entered the Transatlantic Race in and held the record for speed for years, with a crossing time of days, hours. This achievement was representative of the activity during what has been described as the golden era for yachting when new clubs were forming—especially in Europe—and many regattas were being held. Lack of commonality in rules caused difficulties in international racing, which led to the formation of the International Yacht Racing Union (IWRU) in to establish rules for the measurement of racing yachts and codes acceptable to many European countries. In , the IWRU was renamed the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). Back in , the , , and meter rules were decided, establishing a formula of waterline length, beam, draught, freeboard, and sail area for meter-class low profile boats with no accommodation and cover for their crew. As yacht designs advanced early in the th century, so did the interest of famous celebrity owners, who began getting involved in the America’s Cup. The America’s Cup is a premier racing event, attracting teams from around the world, which in the s began using J-class yachts. These J-class yachts, up to meters long, would dwarf modern America Cup yachts. Although America’s Cup yachts are smaller and less costly (to make entry easier), advances in design and materials have continued. New Zealand boat designers, using much lighter materials and smaller jibs (reducing the need to change headsails) for easier handling, have been the leaders since the late s. The different types of boat available can be categorized as dinghies, catamarans, keelboats, and yachts. These each come in many and varied shapes and sizes. Dinghies have lightweight hulls and are easily carried, making them ideal for sailing in a variety of places and for use in clubs. They are small open boats that are very responsive to sail, relying on crew weight and skill to keep afloat in the wind giving an immediate experience of the elements. Most dinghies are crewed by one or two and can be as small as two to three meters in length. Every change in the water and wind impacts upon the movement of the boat and this provides very good grounding for anyone learning to sail. Catamarans are similar to dinghies except that they have two hulls separated by a mesh platform. They are seen to be good fun to sail but while they are more stable and faster, they also need strong winds to move. A very fast and challenging sail is also possible in a keelboat. These are larger than dinghies and are fitted with a heavy lead keel that prevents any capsizing. They are made in a range of sizes from six to nine meters and typically have a two, three or five-person crew.
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Yachts are keelboats with cabins and accommodation. There are cruising yachts and racing yachts and there is also a hybrid of these two. A yacht is generally larger and offers a more comfortable experience and can accommodate a number of people without capsizing because it has a heavy keel underneath to prevent this from happening. While the technology has advanced to such an extent that much of the skill in predicting and managing the elements is no longer needed, there are still some skills needed to sail successfully. Sailors must know how to coil and throw rope in order to secure their boat. In addition, they should know basic knots that never fail. The bowline is the key knot for sailing because it is secure but easy to undo. There are types of colored rope of different construction, fiber, and diameter available on board boats helping to identify where it is used on deck; and these new fibers provide very strong rope and such advances allow much greater confidence in the sailing vessel. There are some key events in the world of sailing and yachting. The America’s Cup is the longest running international sports competition and is held every three to four years. This is a race between the major yacht clubs of the world. The dual is the best of a series of day races and it is one of the pinnacles of the yachting year and a treasured challenge. Cowes Week is the most enduring regatta in the world, taking place in the Solent between the English coast and the Isle of Wight. The Solent is known for its strong double-tides and offers challenging sailing to the most experienced sailor. About races take place each day for a week, but Cowes Week is generally known as the social occasion for yachters. The Sydney-Hobart is probably the most famous race in the southern hemisphere. It began in and has become a national event in Australia. Sailing is of course one of the oldest sports in modern Olympics and was introduced in . The Olympic event is based on short, minute to minute races with a single design for the vessels, racing a course with a range of different challenges following the ISAF racing rules. Typical categories for the races are a one person dinghy, men (laser) Skiff (mixed), and keelboat (women) and this illustrates that the availability of a variety of boats has made sailing available to different groups and is now truly international. Julia Fallon References and Further Reading Cox, D. The Yachting Handbook. London: New Holland Publishers, . Evans, J., R. Heikell, T. Jeffery and A. O’Grady. Sailing. London: Dorling Kindersley, . Lavery, B. Ship. London: Dorling Kindersley Ltd, . Seidman, D. Sailing: A Beginner’s Guide. London: A&C Black Publishers, . Steward, S & A. Top Yacht Races of the World. London: New Holland Publishers, .
SAND AND GRAVEL Sand is a granular matter, which consists of finely divided rock and mineral particles, primarily the result of crashing surf on rocks and seashells. Sand comes from sandstone,
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which remains a popular building material on account of it being porous and easy to work. The fact that it is so common along beaches and in deserts has led to the term being used many times in the Bible and other works from ancient times, as denoting the presence of uncounted multitudes. Gravel, by contrast, is much larger and in geology is used to define any loose rocks that are larger than sand and smaller than three inches (. cm) long, with the term pebble being generally used to describe smaller gravel. Sand and gravel from beaches and from rivers have had many uses since ancient times. Both were important in making pathways and roads, with gravel heavily favored surface for roadbeds that might otherwise be muddy. The Romans, some of the most assiduous road-builders of the ancient world, went further and used gravel as a base for the stones laid in their major highways. They also used sand in many public places, with sand often becoming one of the terms synonymous with their games, such as in the Coliseum. Aside from ground covering, sand and gravel were important as ballast on ships, and for filling sandbags to prevent floods or protect people from gunfire. People from ancient times also used sand to cast objects in bronze or iron, make glass, and in ancient China, and later in Europe, fashion hourglasses to tell time. Punishments in some countries involved people being buried in sand, and either left to die from exposure, killed, or left to be taken by the sea. In some ways, it was recreating the horror faced by many people of being submerged into quicksand. With the development of concrete, there was a large demand for sand, a principal component in concrete. As well as its continued use in glass manufacture, it remains
Extracting beach sand for construction. Corel.
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used for making molds, as well as in the manufacture of bricks, sandblasting, and in the filtering of water. As per capita incomes rose during the th century, and with it the demand for leisure activities; sandy beaches started becoming popular in Europe, North America, and in Australia, and gradually elsewhere around the world. At first the lure was local, but then people began traveling distances—especially around the Mediterranean, and also to resort islands, such as those of the Maldives, or the Indonesian island of Bali. New generations of children started building sandcastles, with adults following. Eventually there were international sandcastle competitions, with the World Championship in Sand Sculpture being held at Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada each year since . For children living too far from the sea, sandpits became common in school playgrounds, and in many back gardens, with sandpits also being used for athletics: for long jump, triple jump, and high jump competitions (although they are no longer used for the latter). Gravel has remained in use for making roads, and to this day, far more roads are surfaced with gravel than with tarmac or concrete. There are also many roads that have the center made from tarmac, and the fringes are made from gravel. Gravel also has become popular in driveways of houses and around houses with it being promoted as an additional safety feature—intruders being easier to hear on gravel. Gravel is also heavily used in making concrete. As demand for gravel has increased, many river beds and creeks have been dredged for gravel, some of which is then crushed further to make it smaller and easier to use. Although there have long been areas suffering from desertification, this has become more pronounced and easier to measure from the th century with the encroachment of the Sahara Desert and other deserts—many plants finding it hard to survive in sand. Similarly it has also become easier to transport sand. During World War I, the Germans transported sand in barges from the River Rhine, for the sand was to be used to make concrete bunkers in Flanders. In more recent times, some countries have bought large amounts of sand, which has been useful for reclaiming land from the sea. Singapore has been involved in dredging large amounts of sand from some nearby islands in Indonesia, and Abu Dhabi bought vast amounts of sand to help with its land reclamation schemes. Much of the sand used in this way is taken from rivers and coasts—sand from some deserts being too fine for this work. This use of sand has led to concern being voiced by environmental groups about the devastation of the ecosystems from which the sand has been taken, as well as the cost in terms of energy of the dredging and transportation of sand and gravel. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Brown, A.C. Ecology of Sandy Shores. New York: Elsevier, . Davis, Richard A. and Duncan Fitzgerald. Beaches and Coasts. Malden, MA: Blackwell, . Lencek, Lena and Gideon Bosker. The Beach: The History of Paradise on Earth. New York: Viking, .
SEA WATER
SEA WATER Sea water is water from an ocean or a sea and has, on average, a salinity of three and a half percent, or parts per thousand. The salinity of the ocean has been stable for billions of years, but there have been many theories about its cause. Modern scientific theories about the salinity come from the British astronomer, Sir Edmond Halley who, in , suggested that salt and other minerals were carried out to sea by rivers. At sea they become much more concentrated by the hydrologic cycle involving evaporation of the water. This helped explain why lakes without ocean outlets, such as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea, both have a very high salt content. It had also been noticed in ancient times that seawater, such as that in the Dead Sea, is much denser than fresh water because of the weight of the salts. Indeed, in the Biblical books of Genesis, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, the sea is actually referred to as the Sea of Salt. Furthermore, Halley noted that the freezing point of seawater is lower than that of normal water, and this, in part, led to the experiments whereby Daniel Fahrenheit had what are now seen as an unusual scale for calibrating the boiling point of water (°F). Although many settlements of early man tended to be on coasts, allowing for the catching of fish, the vast majority were along rivers to allow access to fresh water. It was not long before man in the ancient world came to differentiate between lakes and seas—the former having fresh water, and the latter salt water. The Greek writer Herodotus suggested that the Caspian Sea was connected to the Indian Ocean by accurately
The Dead Sea region is famous for its salt deposits and other natural resources deriving from mineral springs. Photo courtesy of Zev Radovan, Land of the Bible Picture Archive.
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reporting the presence of sea water in it. Also in the ancient world, sea water seems to have been used by the Romans to destroy the agricultural production from land around their great enemy Carthage, with the sea water leading to increased salinity of the land, which prevented many crops from growing there. Indeed many plants do not grow close to the sea because of their aversion to salinity. From ancient times, salt from seawater has been used in the human diet, but also in preserving meat and other foods. On the other hand, sea water did lead to corrosion, especially on metals used on ships starting in the th century. Long before then, however, people had discovered that metal objects left exposed to sea air would also tend to corrode faster—seawater leading to salt being carried in droplets of air. The presence of salt in water has long led to some coastal communities collecting salt in commercial quantities, although in the th century this was often hindered by government regulations. When Mahatma Gandhi wanted to launch a poignant protest against the British government, in he embarked on a -mile walk to the sea where, in contravention of a British ban on doing so, he collected salt, an action that led to his arrest. For the British, it is also worth mentioning the association of sailors with seawater, with the nickname for a sailor in English being an “old salt.” Chemically, the composition of seawater by mass, is oxygen . percent; hydrogen, . percent; chlorine, . percent; sodium, percent; and smaller amounts of sulfur, calcium, potassium, bromine, and carbon. Sea water today often contains many other contaminants from oil spills and wrecks, as well as from decaying plants, animals or other things that have ended up in, or dumped into, the sea. Icebergs contain pure water—without any salt, and sea water has been found to have a cooling effect on islands in the summer, and a warming effect as shown in the relatively mild winter months in places such as Iceland. Where fresh water is scarce in places such as Hong Kong, there is a parallel plumbing system with one using sea water for sanitation, such as flushing lavatories. In spite of attempts to introduce it elsewhere, the cost of introducing a parallel system is high, and there is the possibility in instances of leakage, and the sea water could contaminate ground water. In recent years, with the proliferation of oceanaria, particularly those far from the sea, there have been problems manufacturing artificial sea water, making it hard for allowing killer whales, dolphins, seals, and other marine life to flourish. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Crompton, T.R. Analysis of Seawater: A Guide for the Analytical and Environmental Chemist. Berlin: Springer, . Pinet, Paul R. Invitation to Oceanography. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, .
SEASIDE RESORTS AND TOURISM Seaside resorts have developed as a result of coastal tourism. The meeting of the land with the sea creates an attractive environment forming a basis for tourism, and resorts
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comprise the mixture of infrastructure, accommodations, and attractions to enjoy this environment. The attractions, however, may vary from the obvious natural attractions in the form of cliffs, beaches, open sea, and sky to the specially built environment with its associated piers, promenades, and gardens. There is also the psychological attraction of escaping to somewhere different and experiencing a unique destination. These attractions have led to huge increases in coastal populations and continued growth. For example, the permanent coastal population density in the United States is substantially larger than in non-coastal counties, and seaside resorts have become popular places for the purchase of secondary (holiday) homes. Soon after the widespread discovery of new destinations, seaside accommodations are quickly built, such as is in Croatia, which is now widely regarded as attractive, cheap, and safe. Many such coastal destinations are popular with retirees, and large numbers of people who have chosen to holiday at a destination end up migrating permanently. The Spanish Coasts, for example, have seen considerable numbers of migrants from Britain intending to spend their retirement in the sun. Typical of the recent European developments offered is the Nesco Inmobiliaria in the Portuguese Algarve. Along . miles of beach, million Euros were spent near Albufeira on holiday flats, a golf course, two fivestar hotels, two aparthotels, a community center, and a medical clinic. In , these
Tourists lounge along the popular beaches of Dubrovnik harbor, Croatia. Dreamstime.com.
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extensive coastal developments spurred the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to voice their environmental concerns regarding impacts from pollution, tourism, lack of careful planning, and the growth of urbanization; yet they continue to be built. While impact awareness has been a recent phenomenon, the attraction of the seaside is an enduring one. Evidence of the appeal and attraction of waterside activities dates back to the Roman Empire, with the elite using the beach resort of Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee. It was not until the th century, however, that the same pleasures were appreciated more widely in Europe. Swimming in the sea has always been an attraction for local people, but travel to the seaside by groups of people from outside the area began in the th century for a number of reasons. Most prominent was the belief that the taking of the sea air and drinking sea water would improve health, as would bathing in the sea, and that these would be an effective treatment for certain illnesses. Perceived as eccentric elsewhere in the world, the publication of a treatise in by Dr Richard Russell on the curative role of seawater for the glands led to increased visits and Royal patronage. Initially, many resorts had a small and exclusive clientele, but this soon changed with seaside resorts like Brighton and Scarborough in Britain soon overtaking the previously popular spa resorts partly because there was an unlimited amount of sea water and also because there was room for expansion along the coast. Other reasons were the changes in society as a result of the Industrial Revolution. The shift from a rural to an industrial society, with clear hours of work and leisure, plus a view by employers that holidays were good for their workforce, led to a previously unknown democratization in tourism. The desire for recreation away from the city, for scenic tourism and health, was also a reaction from the growth of cities, encouraging both day-trippers and longer stays. There was a social change in the Victorian Era also that led to an emphasis on the family unit, and the seaside lent itself to family holidays and time spent together. This led to the development of family entertainment like Punch and Judy shows, donkey rides, and the playing of barrel organs. The domestic seaside resorts met these demands since they were now accessible by train from the main conurbations. Later in the th century, as a result of legislation mandating the closure of entire factories for a week to allow workers a holiday, led to the success of purpose-built resorts like Blackpool, where money saved all year was spent on the seaside attractions. The facilities and infrastructure that characterized a seaside resort in the Victorian and Edwardian heyday would include ways of getting around the resort in the form of horse-drawn buses and tramway systems. Cliff railways were also popular connecting the town with the beach below. There were usually grand hotels, which are still in evidence today, along with elegant crescents for those wanting to live in these resorts and esplanade where holiday makers were allowed to stroll along the sea front, a pavilion, a pier, a tower with recent additions often including miniature railways, theme parks, arcades, restaurants, nightclubs, souvenir shops, and theatres. By , some percent of the population of England and Wales took at least one trip to the seaside.
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Elsewhere in the world, the Industrial Revolution prompted the development of seaside resorts with Nice and Cannes becoming established from the late s, and French ports like Calais also showed signs of popularity. By the early part of the th century, seaside resorts spread across Europe as far as the Black Sea and the coast of Russia. In North America, summer visitors to fishing villages on the coast have been recorded since s, but it was not until the s that seaside religious camps began and became the forerunners of mass coastal tourism. Coney Island became a large successful commercial resort in the s because it was a tram ride from New York. It pulled the crowds with the lights of Luna Park, amusements, ballrooms, and spectacular buildings. Cheap and easy transport by rail connected the cities with the coast. The growth of Atlantic City can be directly related to the rail link from Philadelphia. The origins of tourism in Atlantic City can be traced back to the s when the Leeds family lived in Absecon Island and opened a boarding house. Its isolation was a problem, but the railroad introduced rapid change. Hotels and amusement parks were soon built, and in , the most famous landmark, the six-mile Atlantic City Boardwalk was built, thus beginning a trend for all seaside resorts. The late s and early s saw the boom time for Atlantic City, but this was concentrated in the summer months and therefore the city suffered from the seasonality of tourism. The solution to the much quieter winter period was to introduce the Miss America Pageant in , which attracted attention from all over the world. The period after World War II saw a change in tourism activity, and the traditional seaside resorts were seen as dated in comparison to more glamorous international destinations. The growth in automobile ownership, and then the development of the interstate highway system no longer restricted seaside tourism to destinations that could be reached by train. By , Atlantic City needed a revival, and the Casino Gambling Referendum made this possible in . This led to reinvestment and a new clientele, but a dependency on one type of tourist is problematic, especially when the money spent goes to outside investors. For sustainability, alternatives must be sought. The idea that the requirement for a holiday should comprise sun, sea, and sand led to the development of resorts along the Riviera in Europe and the Sunbelt of North America, with Australia’s Gold Coast and Japan’s Okinawa Island also following the same pattern. The continuation of developments of this kind has continued throughout the world, stretching from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean and also to parts of the less developed world. Rising incomes and affordable jet transportation has led to the notion of a pleasure periphery where marginal areas, both in the developed and less developed world, are included, and is especially apparent in small island states like Fiji and the Seychelles. Every resort development eventually becomes outdated, forcing seaside resorts to adapt to change, as well as cope with issues of seasonality—the peaks and troughs in visitor numbers. Television, car ownership, and jet aircraft have all contributed to the choices available to the consumer, with a vigorous competition from countries seeking tourism growth. For many Caribbean islands, seaside tourism has become the largest
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and most important sector of their economy. There is, however, still an awareness of the early seaside resorts. A survey undertaken by English Heritage revealed that two-thirds of those surveyed recognized resorts like Blackpool and Weymouth as representing an English identity, and whose historic assets have prompted regeneration and economic expansion. The key is for seaside resorts to develop a sustainable plan based on their distinctiveness. The United Nations Earth Summit in produced a blueprint for sustainable development entitled Agenda that has encouraged the examination of the impacts of tourism and over-development for adoption towards a more sustainable future. While concern about skin cancer is most prevalent in Australia, awareness is increasing elsewhere in the world. Seaside resorts will not only need to demonstrate their sustainability, but also have multiple attractions and activities for those seeking shelter from the sun when it is at its peak, as holidays spent solely basking in the sun are no longer considered beneficial to one’s health. Julia Fallon References and Further Reading Beech, J. and S. Chadwick. The Business of Tourism Management. Essex, U.K.: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall Pearson Education Ltd., . Holloway, J.C. The Business of Tourism. th ed. Essex, U.K.: Addison Wesley Longman Ltd., . Page, S.J., P. Brunt, G. Busby and J. Connell. Tourism: A Modern Synthesis. London: Thomson Learning, . Thorpe, V. “We do like to be beside the tatty seaside.” The Observer, October , . Urry, J. The Tourist Gaze Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies. London: Sage, . Weaver, D. and L. Lawton. Tourism Management. rd ed. Australia: John Wiley and Sons Ltd., .
SEAWEED AND OTHER PLANTS The term seaweed is used to describe multi-cellular algae, and although these are often referred to as plants, they actually have been classified as belonging to the Plantae kingdom to differentiate them from aquatic plants such as seagrasses. Nevertheless, they have many similarities in appearance to plants found on land, often having a central stem and a leaf-like lamina. Seaweeds are then divided into three divisions: Phaeophyta (brown seaweed), Rhodophyta (red seaweed) and Chlorophyta (green seaweed). Humans have long realized the importance of seaweed to diet and it has been cultivated and eaten in many parts of the world, although for the most part it is collected from the wild, either from beaches or by divers. The most well-known consumers of seaweed are the Japanese. In most cases in Japanese cuisine, use is made of the dried Porphyra (or nori in Japan, and gim in Korea), which is black in color, collected on beaches,
SEAWEED AND OTHER PLANTS
and then cut and pressed into sheets, before being dried to help with preservation. The sheets are then moistened soon before eating, and used to wrap sushi or cut into strips for serving in soups. Small pieces are also used to flavor rice crackers. The Japanese also have a salad made from hijiki, a type of seaweed found off some of the coasts of Japan. It is usually taken from the water, shredded, and dried for preservation. Before eating, the seaweed is rehydrated by soaking it in water, rinsed and put in boiling water, which is then left to simmer for minutes so that the seaweed softens. It is often served with radishes as a Japanese salad. Other types of seaweed that are often eaten are arame, konbu and wakame. Konbu is known in Britain as kelp and has long been used as fodder for animals in Ireland and Scotland, being common off the coasts of the British Isles. A popular Chinese dish involves preparing seaweed for making into jelly, with grass jelly also being available as a drink. From the th century onward, the Japanese started cultivating a red alga called laver, which was found in the waters around Tokyo Bay, and this is also used for food. It is also used elsewhere in the world, and in Wales, laver is eaten as a food supplement or made into laverbread—the latter being made from laver and oats. It can also be eaten cold served with lamb or mutton, or heated and served with boiled bacon. Other countries
Woman harvesting seaweed, Japan. The seaweed will most likely be used with sushi, a Japanese delicacy. Dreamstime.com.
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that incorporate seaweed into their diet include Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Peru, coastal parts of Canada, and Scandinavia. The city of Joao Pessoa in Brazil has also established a small local industry in making seaweed products. Seaweed has often been used as fertilizer, and in many parts of the world coastal communities have collected seaweed, which is then washed, shredded, and fed to cattle or sheep. With some species being high in many nutrients, and as it can be plentiful on coastlines, these communities have found it an easy type of fodder. With the ease of finding it along beaches, and trouble over ownership of coastlines in many parts of the world, there has been little attempt to grow it as a crop. In addition to its culinary use, seaweed is also used in medicine. Some types of seaweed are used to dress wounds, with others used for the production of dental moulds. It has also been heavily used as a culture medium for microbiology research. In addition, because seaweed contains large levels of iodine, it has often been used to provide iodine supplements to people suffering from iodine deficiency, which, in severe cases, causes thyroid problems or goiter. In recent years there have also been tests carried out on types of seaweed to see whether they can be used effectively to treat people suffering from arthritis, influenza, tuberculosis, or tumors. There have been many references to seaweed in literature, with the word translated into English as “sea grasses” in the Biblical Book of Jonah (:) when it refers to Jonah submerging in water. Alexandre Dumas’s fictional character, Edmond Dantes, comes upon rocks covered with seaweed in The Count of Monte Cristo, and seaweed on the beach is also mentioned in Dumas’s The Man in the Iron Mask. The French surgeon Nicholas Le Blanc (c. –) used seaweed ash to help with the making of soda ash, a process that became known as the Leblanc process, which assisted in the making of paper, glass, soap, and porcelain. His initial results were discovered in with the French National Assembly giving him a -year patent on the invention in September ; although in they took over both his patent and factory—the latter was only finally returned to him in . The first major study of seaweed in the English language was by the Reverend David Landsborough (–) who wrote A Popular History of British Seaweeds, which was first published in . A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, and a minister in the Church of Scotland, he often spent time on the Isle of Arran, where he became interested in algae. After writing some articles about this, he was commissioned to write his history of seaweed, the first substantial work in the field. In he founded the Ayrshire Naturalists’ Club and two years later traveled around the western Mediterranean. Unfortunately, he caught cholera while visiting parishioners suffering from the affliction, and he died soon afterwards. By his history of seaweed was already in its third edition, and subsequently a number of other naturalists have also researched the field. The Canadian botanist George Lawson (–) advocated the use of seaweed as a fertilizer for crops along the Atlantic coasts of Canada. The U.S. plant physiologist Dennis Robert Hoagland (–) realized the potential importance of seaweed as a fertilizer during World War I. Up until then, the United States had been dependent on Germany as a source of potash. However, during the war, Hoagland met some
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success while experimenting with kelp. His research earned him the first Stephen Hales Prize in , and resulted in his election as president of the American Society of Plant Physiologists. Under water exploration, pioneered by the French diver Jacques-Yves Cousteau (–) and others, especially with underwater photography, and also with diving on shipwrecks, has allowed for a much greater study of marine life, including seaweed. There have been many studies of different types of seaweed, or the seaweed habitat in a particular location, such as the large kelp forests off the coast of California discovered by divers around Santa Catalina, near Los Angeles. In other places were scuba diving has become a popular tourist pastime, such as off the shores of Hawaii, in the Red Sea, in the Mediterranean Sea, and off the coasts of Australia, there has been increasing interest in the species of seaweed. However, the most well-known area with free-floating seaweed remains the Sargasso Sea, located in the North Atlantic Ocean, taking its name from the seaweed of the genus Sargassum. It was the large amounts of seaweed spotted by Christopher Columbus’s crew in his first voyage across the Atlantic in that led the crew to feel that they were close to land. Later navigators avoided the Sargasso, fearing that their ships might become tangled in the seaweed. Mention should also be made of photographers and artists who have used seaweed— actual or in image form—in their artwork. The U.S. teacher and abstract photographer Aaron Siskind (–) used patterns from seaweed in his photographs from the s, with later artists using it in a variety of ways. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Earle, Sylvia A. “Undersea World of a Kelp Forest,” National Geographic Magazine , no. (September ): –. Epton, Nina. Seaweed for Breakfast. London: Cassell, . Landsborough, Rev. D. A Popular History of British Seaweeds. London: Lovell Reeve, . Lewis, J.R. The Ecology of Rocky Shores. London: The English Universities Press Ltd., . North, Wheeler, J. “Giant Kelp: Sequoias of the Sea.” National Geographic Magazine , no. (August ): –. Sisson, Robert F. “Adrift on a Raft of Sargassum,” National Geographic Magazine , no. (February ): –. Zahl, Paul A. “Algae: The Life-givers,” National Geographic Magazine , no. (March ): –.
SHIP DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION Trial and error experimentation with buoyancy led to the development of rafts, dugout canoes and skin boats, which have been widely used since prehistoric times. Archaeological evidence indicates that humans arrived in New Guinea and moved across the
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Lombok Strait to Australia around –, years ago, almost certainly by sea from Southeast Asia during the Ice Age when the sea was lower and distances between islands shorter. Long-distance travel at sea has mostly taken place, however, in plank-built boats with hulls, of which the earliest date from the Bronze Age (– b.c.e.) Classical shipbuilding reached its height in the first century b.c.e., when ships that could carry four hundred tons or more of cargo were built. The best-known example is the wreck of La Madrague de Giens in southern France, which sank in b.c.e.; it was feet ( meters) long overall, with at least two masts and a square rig. Its deep keel and narrow underwater profile, together with its long waterline, point to a fast sailor.
Wooden Sailing Ships Following the collapse of the pax romana, northern and southern European practices of ship construction diverged. While the wreck of Culip VI, a coastal trader of c. a.d. manufactured in northeast Spain, was constructed following a carvel technique of flush planking, Viking longships developed from an alternate tradition of clinker-built hulls with overlapping joints fastened with leather thongs, although iron rivets had been used from Roman times in northern Germany and Scandinavia. The difficulty of strengthening and repairing their hulls must have been an important factor in causing them eventually to be superseded by flush-planked caravels by the Age of Discovery. Timbers incised with numerals suggest that Mediterranean shipwrights began to use formulas and templates to lay out the shape of the hull: thus abstract designs were now common. Sometime around the th century, northern European ships began to be built with the sternpost rudder, which was much more durable than a steering oar held over the side. Development in the Middle Ages favored round ships with a broad beam and heavily curved at both ends. The introduction of cannons on to ships encouraged the development of tumblehome, the inward slant of the above-water hull, for additional stability, as well as techniques for strengthening the internal frame. These considerations, as well as the demand for ships capable of operating safely in the open ocean, led to the documentation of design and construction practice in what had previously been a secretive trade, and ultimately led to the field of naval architecture. Even so, construction techniques changed only very gradually; the ships of the Spanish Armada were internally very similar to those of the Napoleonic Wars over two centuries later. Square-rigging of warships was one such continuity, which in itself represented a renewed synthesis of north European and Mediterranean ship design. The technique can be witnessed, for example, in the ships of the line and frigates of the early s. Next came two rapid revolutions in ship design: iron and steam, which rendered sailing ships technologically obsolete by the mid-th century. The first experiments with steam-driven vessels were carried out around the turn of the th century, and in the steamboat Charlotte Dundas was shown off on the Forth and Clyde Canal. The first commercially successful steamship was, however, the Clermont, which operated on the Hudson River in , and the first transatlantic voyage was made in . The problem with these early steamers was that the boilers had to be cleaned regularly, and when done with salt
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FRIDTJOF NANSEN Born on October 10, 1861, Fridtjof Nansen was a Norwegian Nobel Prize winner, Arctic explorer, scientist, and international diplomat who made remarkable inroads and lasting contributions in oceanography and other fields. As a result of his North Pole expedition, he discovered a deep Arctic Ocean surrounding the Pole, and also found that there was a strong Trans-Polar Current. He was one of the founding fathers of the International Council for the Exploration of Seas (ICES) in 1902, and his life’s work is continued through the Fridtjof Nansen Institute outside Oslo, a leading intellectual hub of ocean policy today. One of the more dramatic episodes of Nansen’s life is the adventures of the Fram (Norwegian for “Forward”), a ship designed specifically to withstand the pressures of ice. It is considered one of the strongest wooden ships ever made, with a round design to avoid pressure points. The ship was for Nansen and his crew (which included Otto Sverdrup, also of oceanographic fame), who were determined to sail north until it became lodged into the ice. The purpose of this trip was to let the ice sheet carry the ship north to the pole. The ship did not get carried far enough north, so during the trip, Nansen left Sverdrup to captain the ship while he and a few others attempted to make it to the North Pole by sled. While his trip did not reach the Pole, he had explored farther north than anyone else at the time, and upon return he received international fame. Nansen became a professor of zoology and oceanography at the university in what is now Oslo. However, in 1905, he was made an ambassador of Norway to Great Britain during the effort to separate Norway from Sweden. After World War I, he devoted his life to peace and humanitarian efforts. He made trips around the world to serve these causes, including a famous trip that brought relief to some parts of famine-ridden Russia. While millions perished in Russia at this time, Nansen is said to be responsible for saving at least seven million lives, most of whom were children. In 1921, he was made High Commissioner for Refugees in the League of Nations. His work in this position, which aided war victims, won him the Nobel Prize in 1922.
water at sea, this formed salt deposits on the heating surfaces. Condensers were introduced, but used cold salt water spray to convert the steam into water, which inevitably led to contamination. Samuel Hall solved the problem in with a surface condenser that kept the elements separate via copper pipes that condensed the steam in tanks of cold seawater. Paddle wheels were the initial locomotive technology (often as large as ft. diameter), but problems arose when the vessel had consumed its coal and the vessel rode high out of the water, reducing the efficiency of the paddle wheels. Better fuel efficiency came about with the development of the screw propeller, first introduced by the Bohemian engineer Josef Ressel in . The advantages of the screw propeller were convincingly demonstrated in Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s vessel The Great Britain in . Iron and Steel Construction The use of iron in shipbuilding was first introduced during the early th century, first to strengthen vital sections of the ship, but eventually replacing wood altogether. Again,
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Brunel’s The Great Britain was innovative in its design, replacing wooden construction with iron and creating numerous watertight compartments that would allow the ship to remain afloat despite much damage. During the late th century, the development of steelmaking infrastructure in the United States, Germany, and Great Britain led to the availability of large quantities of steel that quickly replaced iron as the primary material for ship construction, though problems with fracturing continued to plague welded steel ships through World War II (as evidenced by the problems experienced by many of the American Liberty Ships). The introduction of armor spurred the need for improved anti-ship ordnance. The shell-gun came into its own, thanks not only to more destructive shells, but also to the switch from muzzle-loading to breech-loading guns and from smoothbore to rifled gun barrels, and to the improved chemistry of propellants. By the end of the th century, the ship’s gun was reaching the acme of a -year development. By the end of the th century, entirely new weapons had emerged to threaten its primacy: the submarine boat, the mine, and the torpedo.
Nine huge Liberty cargo ships at outfitting docks of California Shipbuilding Corporation’s Los Angeles yards, nearly ready to be delivered to the U.S. Maritime Commission, December . Most present-day shipbuilding is exclusively done in low-wage nations. Library of Congress.
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Submarines The submarine made its operational debut during the American Civil War. The Confederate Navy’s submarine H.L. Hunley, managed to sink a surface ship using an explosive charge carried on the end of a long spar that detonated when placed along the ship’s hull, although the Hunley was also sunk in the attack. The first locomotive torpedo, driven by compressed air, was devised in . It was quickly realized that this new weapon was an expensive and potent threat to even the largest capital ships. Torpedoes could easily be mounted on purpose-built torpedo boats that were smaller and faster than their prey, and therefore difficult to hit with guns designed for other capital ships. Thus, ships had to be designed with smaller-caliber arms to counter these smaller boats, and an entirely new class of ship, the torpedo boat destroyer, was developed to protect the larger ships against this new threat. In time, ships of all sizes were armed with torpedoes, and by the th century, destroyers would become the primary defense against the ultimate torpedo boat, the submarine. Modern submarines were developed gradually over the th century. Robert Fulton built a submarine in , and some saw limited action during the American Civil War. During the last quarter of the century, Irish American designer John P. Holland built six submarines. Technological innovations led to submarines becoming more feasible. Although powered by diesel engines that required air, batteries were developed that allowed for extended submerged operation. German submarines during World War I used snorkels to allow their diesel engines to run just below the surface instead of coming all the way to the surface, where the submarine would be vulnerable to attack. Further development of submarine detection technology during the Cold War led to the corresponding development of more powerful batteries, which allowed submarines to run silently. Of course, the implementation of nuclear power during the s further revolutionized submarine design. Along with technology that extracted oxygen from seawater, it allowed almost constant extended submerged operation. Stefan Halikowski Smith References and Further Reading Casson, Lionel. Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World. rev. ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, . Dumpleton, Bernard. Brunel’s Three Ships. Venton Books, . McGrail Seán. Boats of the World from the Stone Age to Medieval Times. New York: Oxford University Press, . Paine, Lincoln P. Ships of the World. An Historical Encyclopedia. New York: Houghton Mifflin, .
SHIPOWNERS There have been persons whom we might call shipowners since prehistoric times. The first of these were those who constructed log canoes, skin boats, and rafts for their own
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use in activities like fishing and trading. Over the millennia, ship design progressed considerably from these early forms, and vessel ownership has been a typical component of all maritime societies. For the most part, though, shipowners were individuals like merchants and fishers who owned vessels (or shares in them) as an adjunct to their main livelihood. Generally, ship owning was a secondary occupation up until the th century, but this began to gradually change as ship owning emerged as an occupation unto itself. Enterprising individuals began earning a livelihood by owning and operating tonnage for the carriage of others’ goods. As steamships—more expensive to buy and operate than traditional sailing craft—became commonplace, companies gradually came to dominate ship owning, in place of investors buying vessel shares on their own or in partnerships. By the th century, ship owning had become a complex business in which multinational corporations operated large containerships, break bulk carriers, and supertankers. From small crafts reliant on oar or wind power, continually at the mercy of the weather, to modern ships the size of stadiums, ship owning has indeed come a long way.
Preindustrial Ship Owning Like their ancestors had done for generations, shipowners in major maritime nations like Britain and the Netherlands largely owned vessels as a sideline related to their other interests as late as the th century. Ralph Davis () noted that English shipowners considered themselves merchants. This synergistic association was present not only in Britain. Yrjö Kaukiainen () contends that the top echelons of preindustrial Finnish shipowners were largely drawn from the educated merchant class. Still, ship owning represented only a small portion of the merchant’s investment in both time and money. In fact, it was not until that the occupation of shipowner appeared in the city directories of the port of London. Many preindustrial shipowners bought vessel shares in partnership with a number of other individuals (often their relatives), or occasionally on their own. During the th century, it was common for British vessels to have or more investors. In fact, co-ownership was a common feature of sailing vessel investment in nations like Britain, France, Greece, Norway, and Spain into the th century. Co-ownership remained important among Spanish and Scandinavian investors through the s. In Britain, the actual management of the ship was generally left to one or two investors, often those who had initiated the purchase, or perhaps to a vessel’s captain who might not even own shares. The shares in any one vessel were often divided—invariably after —into sixty-fourths. The division of shares was not the same in all nations, however. The share breakdown for th-century Greek vessels, for example, usually ran from to . In th- and th-century Britain, it was uncommon for one investor to own a larger vessel outright, and many owners held a few shares in a number of ships. The tendency to own small numbers of shares in any one vessel did not mean that investors could not afford to do so. In an age before carrying marine insurance was common, this manner of investing protected shipowners against possible losses due to marine disasters, piracy, and war. It was better to own a small number of shares in many vessels than to own one
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ship that might be lost outright along with its cargo. In , the loss of a single vessel, with cargo worth £,, was enough to impoverish the American colonial settlement of New Haven, which lost about a fifth of its wealth. Despite such losses, the preindustrial shipowner did enjoy certain practical safeguards. As Davis reports, when buying vessel shares a person was investing in a tangible item of property, and before it sailed only had to incur the costs of fitting-out the vessel. Thereafter, the main expense was the crew’s wages. These did not have to be paid, even to survivors, if the vessel was lost. During routine voyages, some returns were likely to be earned, and in any case the value of the ship would usually outweigh any outstanding wages. Although the part-owner of a ship was responsible for debts, these would not likely be greater than his initial investment. A further attraction for investors was that members of a ship owning partnership were not liable under English law for the debts to their “last shilling and acre” (basically everything they owned), as were participants in ordinary partnerships. By the th century, nations like France and Greece had their own forms of limited-liability protection for shipowners. According to Gelina Harlaftis (), Greek owners were absolved from any further obligation to creditors by simply surrendering their craft and its cargo. British investors often had little in common other than their shares in a particular vessel, and people from all walks of life invested in ships. Still, these investors were often drawn from occupations like master mariners—also important Greek shipowners—that had some prior connection to seaward industry. Such persons had a comparative advantage through their insider knowledge of the business. Also, as Davis () contends, a master mariner with confidence in his own skills could do no better than investing in a vessel he commanded. Despite the presence of mariners and others as investors, merchants remained the most important British shipowners (as was the case in many other nations). As Davis () points out, this was not necessarily because merchants needed the vessels to carry their own goods. Ship owning made a good investment for merchants because of their connections in the shipping industry. These connections, they hoped, would give them an edge in representing a group of investors hoping to employ their ship at the highest possible freight rates. This contrasted to the merchant’s role as a trader, where he wished to ship his goods as cheaply as possible. In a few trades, like English coastal coal and Afro-Atlantic slaving, where entire cargoes were normally owned by a single investor or partnership, the role of shipowner and trader were complementary. In certain trades such as timber, iron, and West Indian sugar, owner-managers sometimes organized shipping groups to provide their industries with their own transport. Managing owners—often merchants—generally sent vessels out to places where their contacts were most likely to secure cargoes from other merchants, although they would naturally ship some of their own goods when practical. Davis contends that merchants became shipowners because their connections made the business potentially profitable, not because they needed to run ships for carrying their own commodities. By the early th century, the tradition of the merchant-shipowner had become well established in Britain, and in places like British North America (modern Canada), where an
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indigenous ship owning tradition grew up based on trades like Newfoundland fish and West Indian commodities. Overall, the structure of ownership changed little over the th century. The development of marine insurance did see a trend toward fewer owners per vessel, but Davis () feels that such shifts were not especially important in this era. With the th century, however, came a modern world economy and industrialization. This process started first in Britain before spreading gradually to the nations of Western Europe, America, and Japan. As the products of industry, like steamships, became more widely diffused, so too was ship owning transformed.
The Shipowner Emerges In Britain, the first great impetus toward specialization in ship owning came not from industrialization itself but from warfare, according to Simon Ville (). Government policies during the French Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars encouraged shipowners to operate tonnage as military transports, sometimes for years at a time. This process divorced ship owning from the sale of commodities, while taking up little of a person’s time. This allowed owners to pursue other economic opportunities, including the operation of cheap tonnage captured from the enemy (prizes). During the American Revolution, for example, some new owners had turned their prize vessels to whaling. Many of these shipowners came from merchant families like Liverpool’s Rathbones, already closely linked to the shipping industry. Further developments occurred around the time the Napoleonic Wars ended (). In this era, an integrated world economy began to emerge, spurred by developments like industrialization, and leading to greatly increased international trade. As the globe’s most economically-developed region, Europe stood at the center of this robust trans-national commerce. A central feature of world trade became the large-scale export of industrial products from Europe, with raw materials making up the bulk of imports from outside. To reach these new markets in either direction involved growing volumes of maritime transport. For the first time this increased need provided an impetus for Britons (and others) to specialize as shipowners. The shift from merchant-ownership to specialization was one of the most important changes marking Britain’s th-century shipping industry. The process was gradual, and not always straightforward, in practice. Still, it is fair to say that increased world trade produced enough employment for ships to make their operation a profitable venture in and of itself. From this point on, ship owning was no longer considered merely a useful sideline activity. For the first time individuals made their living solely by owning ships. In England’s second port, Liverpool, the percentage of new vessels registered by merchants—until then the city’s most important shipowners—declined fairly steadily after . At the same time the numbers of investors giving their occupation as “shipowner” increased dramatically. Many merchant-owners either opted to become full-time shipowners or concentrated solely on merchanting itself.
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This process did not happen at the same pace everywhere. For much of the th century, Atlantic Canada was home to the world’s fourth-largest merchant marine. Up until , the profile of the average Canadian shipowner was much the same as that in Britain, with significant numbers drawn from maritime occupations, but with the largest share of tonnage owned by merchants. Unlike those in Britain, Atlantic Canadian merchants never lost their place as the region’s most important shipowners, at least before the th century. Eric Sager and Gerald Panting () contend that the survival of merchant ship owning in Atlantic Canada may relate to industrialization. Had the region had become industrialized to the degree that Britain did, Atlantic Canadian ship owning might also have become dominated by specialists, or more particularly, ship owning companies.
New Forms of Organization The rise of company ship owning in Britain was a result of the nation’s industrial lead, especially its early development of the steamship. With the growth of steam shipping, company ownership became the preferred method of investment. In major ports like Liverpool and London companies were often associated with owning steamers, normally more expensive to purchase and operate than sail vessels, although offering shippers the benefits of speed and regularity. Comprised of large groups of shareholders, joint-stock (later limited-liability) companies may have offered the ideal solution for mobilizing the large capital resources needed to run steam services. These companies frequently owned their vessels outright, and by the late th century had come to dominate British ship owning. Such firms largely replaced the individual shipowner, who had likewise superseded the non-specialist (frequently merchant) owners who had been a mainstay of Britain’s and other nations’ traditional sail fleets. Writing in , Adam Kirkaldy noted that an important difference between the firms that now dominated vessel ownership and the old merchant investors was in the size of their operations. One of the most striking features of ship owning was the tendency for large firms to grow larger, and for companies both big and small to amalgamate. This process started around the turn of the th century, spurred by American financier, J.P. Morgan’s, attempt to dominate the North Atlantic trades with his giant shipping group, the International Mercantile Marine (IMM), which owned more than vessels in . Following IMM’s lead, vessel owners began merging their operations under parent companies, producing large ship owning groups including Royal Mail and Cunard (both established companies that absorbed other firms). Kirkaldy felt that in Britain this trend may have been a response to increased competition from nations like Germany, the United States, and Japan, each with their own expanding ship owning sectors. Another late th-century response to competition was the conference system. As rivalry among shipowners increased in the second half of the century, freight rates charged to shippers decreased, a trend also accelerated by technological improvements. Ship owning became subject to great earnings fluctuations, and companies often experienced
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a number of poor years before enjoying an upsurge in the freight cycle. From the s on, shipowners attempted to protect themselves from the worst effects of competition by forming conferences. In simple terms, conferences were founded by groups of shipowners in a particular trade, or region, who parceled out goods traffic to members on an agreed upon basis. The primary purpose of freight charges was to prevent crippling rate wars, at least in theory. Shippers were offered incentives to send their goods via conference vessels, and sanctions might be imposed on those using outside tonnage. First employed by owners in nations like Britain, Germany, and Japan, the conference system, which was criticized for creating monopoly situations and raising prices to shippers, remained an important feature of ship owning throughout most of the th century.
Modern Ship Owning Despite developments like the conference system, the years after marked the beginning of turbulent times for the ship owning sector. During World War I (–) the British merchant marine—the world’s largest at the time—was hard-pressed by Germany’s U-Boat (submarine) campaign. The U-boat war was aimed at destroying Britain’s crucial overseas trade by sinking national merchant tonnage—most famously the Cunard Company’s Britannia—and eventually contributed to the United States entering into the conflict. British owners were also impacted by the government’s requisition of vessels for wartime service. The war was followed by the Great Depression (–) in which the global shipping industry was adversely affected by the steep decline in trade. On the heels of the Depression came World War II (–). At the war’s conclusion Germany and Japan, along with many of the allied nations, had lost significant amounts of tonnage—about half the merchant fleets of Britain, France, Greece, Holland, and Norway—due to enemy action. The case was somewhat different for the United States that, despite being a target of German U-Boats, emerged from the war with around percent of all merchant tonnage. However, both the European and Japanese ship owning industries, noted for their low operating costs, were soon on their way to recovery (this revival was thanks in no small measure to an American decision to allow foreign nations to bid on its surplus wartime tonnage). In more recent decades, shipowners have faced new challenges. Some of these relate to the ship owner’s primary capital, their vessels. By the late th century, ships had become ever more specialized. Depending on their needs, owners could choose to run single- or multi-deck vessels, tango products carriers (ideal for liquid cargoes ranging from fuel oils to molasses), container ships, roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) vessels such as ferries, and those that combined the features of container and bulk cargo vessels (combi-carriers). In addition, there were specialized craft for the carriage of coal, fruit, and liquefied natural gas (LNG carriers), the latter being particularly task-specific and subject to high initial costs. The oil crises of the s saw a concern for maintaining schedules, as high-speed tonnage was replaced by an emphasis on increased vessel capacity. By the s, the industry was hobbled with a huge oversupply of ships, and the banks, which had been firm supporters, began to pull back from their commitment to
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shipping. According to James Gray (), ship owning since World War II has been marked by large building orders whenever demand for tonnage exceeds supply. This is despite the fact that the shipping industry is noted for its boom and bust cycles. Operating on a global playing field, owners also have to contend with protectionist shipping policies, plus the emergence of national fleets in developing and former Eastern Bloc countries. A further problem for an industry that transcends national boundaries is divergent transport and competition policies. Rules on business alliances or consortia differ in the United States and Europe, for example. Today nearly half of the world’s great liner fleets are controlled by Asian firms, but according to Mary Brooks (), some Asian governments ( Japan being a notable exception) take a hands-off approach to issues like alliances, encouraging monopolies and possible abuses. This is not to say that worldwide ship owning is generally unregulated. The contemporary industry is one in which operators are represented and monitored by numerous organizations like the International Maritime Organization (IMO is a United Nations body promoting cooperation on shipping issues like safety at sea and preventing marine pollution); Lloyd’s Register of Shipping (which inspects ships to ensure seaworthiness); the Corporation of Lloyd’s (maritime insurance) and the Council of European and Japanese National Shipowners’ Associations (CENSA). Despite the presence of such bodies, and the overall complexity of the industry, a longstanding division in ship owning is fairly straightforward: liner versus tramp operators. This division originated in the th century, and was well established on the eve of World War I. In the early th century, liner companies were often associated with important trades such as mail, passengers, and tankers. Although declining in importance, cargo tramps still represented around percent of the globe’s shipping tonnage in . The liner industry developed with the adoption of steam technology. For the first time, steam allowed shipowners to run tonnage according to fixed schedules, with vessels ideally sailing on time even without a full hold. This development provided customers with a previously unknown degree of reliability and regularity, though there were drawbacks for the shipowners themselves. As Brooks () notes, in the early years of the liner industry, too many owners with high fixed expenses ended up chasing too few cargoes, resulting in cutthroat competition and inadequate returns. In this context it was largely liner firms that originated the conference system, which remained the primary means of controlling competition into the s. Since that time, however, the market shares of conference members have fallen considerably, replaced by strategic alliances like that between Maersk and Sea-Land. As in the days of J.P. Morgan, company mergers and acquisitions remain a common feature of ship owning, now on an even grander scale. Modern liner companies tend to be as complex as any other multinational corporations. However, due to the risks inherent in ship owning (marine disaster being the most obvious) and the tendency toward family interests, it is one of the few modern industries where publicly traded companies are not especially common. Among the most important contemporary liner operators are Maersk of Denmark, and Sea-Land Services, which entered into a vessel sharing arrangement in the early s before forming their
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alliance in . Another important operator is P & O Nedlloyd, formed by the merger of Nedlloyd, a division of Rotterdam-based Royal Nedlloyd Group NV, with P & OCL, British shipowners whose roots go back to the Peninsular and Oriental (P & O) company in . There are also a number of influential Asian Lines such as Japan’s NYK (Nippon Yusen Kaisha). Between these companies, the major liner operators cover all the world’s principal, and minor, trade routes. The liner firms are organized around fleets of vessels. As Alan Branch () remarks, a primary concern is the efficient maintenance of their service, usually a fixed advertised schedule between named ports (for both passengers and freights). Liner companies seek their own cargoes–often fairly small consignments from many shippers who are necessitating capital-intensive infrastructure at each of the ports served. A liner company is often divided into departments like sales and marketing, accounting, and engineering. Another organizational strategy involves dividing up responsibility along functional lines, according to particular activities. Some shipowners employ a general manger, answerable to and often sitting on a board of directors, who executes all major policy decisions; certain companies have jettisoned this position in favor of a managing director. Directors normally oversee various aspects of company operations such as cargo and staff. According to Branch (), a liner company’s organizational structure is often determined by a number of factors, including its fleet size and the trade(s) involved. That portion of maritime goods traffic not carried by liners is conveyed in the holds of tramps, or general traders, which do not follow a set sailing schedule. Instead, tramps range the world’s ports, hoping to load with commodities, especially bulk cargoes like timber, grain, and ores, which are often transported by the shipload. Due to the flexibility this entails, modern tramps are normally unspecialized vessels, although some have facilities geared toward a particularly important bulk cargo such as phosphates. These cargoes are transported under the terms of documents known as charter parties, with charges set either per voyage or by the time involved. The structure of tramp firms is usually simpler than that of liner companies, with the former often smaller than the latter. Traditionally, tramp firms have been familyowned and are not known for having the specialized departments that are characteristic of liner companies. Specialized tasks are often farmed out to independent contractors, a practice also known (although less common) in the liner industry. Likewise, tramp company management boards tend to be smaller than their liner counterparts. According to Branch (), the tramp operator must possess an expert grounding in market conditions in order to compete. In recent decades, the overall numbers of tramp operators has tended to fall as established family firms have merged with rivals. Branch () feels that this is caused by a low profitability/high inflation scenario, making it difficult for such shipowners to raise funds for new vessels. During market downturns it is not unheard of for tramp owners to earn less than a three percent return on their investment. Thus, some of these firms have turned to means like government grants/loans or liquidating reserve capital to procure funds.
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Another hurdle faced by tramping companies is the practice of sister-ship arrest, in which authorities seize a vessel owned by a particular company after failing to arrest another of their ships for violations. Brooks () feels this has led some tramp companies to organize around only one particular vessel (single-ship companies), and to the practice of undisclosed ownership. With their regular advertized schedules, liner firms have been less inclined toward anonymity. The wish to keep vessel ownership anonymous is related to another aspect of contemporary ship owning, the so-called flags of convenience. All ships are considered as having the nationality of the country in which they are registered. Flags of convenience nations are those that provide tax incentives and relaxed regulatory regimes to encourage owners to register their vessels there. Every industry is subject to taxes but Branch believes that the need to lower tax expenses is especially pertinent to shipowners with their enormous, and rising, costs for vessel replacement (larger tonnage now running at over $ million to construct). The most well-known, and important, flag of convenience nations are Panama and Liberia. Another development has been the emergence of offshore registers that allow owners to hire foreign crews, often from developing nations. Lower paid than their North American and European counterparts, these crews are often exempt from certain taxes, permitting shipowners further savings. The use of flags of convenience and the sometimes anonymous nature of vessel ownership remain controversial issues in the ship owning industry. Nonetheless, ship owning, with its ancient pedigree, remains a vital part of the global economy. Today more than , vessels, totaling almost ,, gross tons, ply the world’s oceans carrying a full percent of world trade. In alone, shipping accounted for more than billion ton-miles (tons carried x distance traveled) of trade. Despite the emergence of airlines and the reemergence of railroads, the shipowner is likely to remain an important figure on the world economic stage. David J. Clarke References and Further Reading Bauer, Jack K. A Maritime History of the United States. The Role of America’s Seas and Waterways. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, . Branch, Alan E. Elements of Shipping. London: Chapman and Hall, . Brooks, Mary R. Sea Change in Liner Shipping. Regulation and Managerial Decision-Making in a Global Industry. Amsterdam: Pergamon, . Clarke, David J. Liverpool Shipowners, –. St. John’s Newfoundland: PhD thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland, . Davis, Ralph. The Rise of the English Shipping Industry in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. London: MacMillan & Co. Ltd., . Gray, James W. Financial Risk Management in the Shipping Industry. London: Fairplay Publishers, . Harlaftis, Gelina. A History of Greek-Owned Shipping. The Making of an International Tramp Fleet, to the Present Day. London: Routledge, .
SURFING “International Shipping–Carrier of World Trade.” IMO News, no. (): –. Kaukiainen, Yrjö. A History of Finnish Shipping. London: Routledge, . Kirkaldy, Adam W. British Shipping. Its History, Organization and Importance. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd., . Sager, Eric W., with Gerald E. Panting. Maritime Capital. The Shipping Industry in Atlantic Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, . Tolofari, S. “Flagging Out/In”: Some Economics and the Shipowners Dilemma. Portsmouth: University of Portsmouth, . Ville, Simon. English Ship Owning During the Industrial Revolution. Michael Henley and Son, London Shipowners –. Manchester: Manchester University Press, .
SURFING Surfing, described as the art of riding waves, is a strenuous activity requiring good health, swimming skills, an ability to ride waves in the sea. There is little equipment needed, and while it is possible to body surf, surfing is usually associated with special surf boards that allow an individual to glide across the surface of the sea water when it has swelled, risen, and then overbalances to break and form white water, crashing down towards the shoreline. Surfers wait in the water, and if they are in a popular place they will line-up, watch for waves to swell and paddle while lying on their boards with their hands either side of the board. If the timing is right and the wave is caught as it is peeling or beginning to form, the wave will lift the board for take-off and push forward towards the beach. The surfer moves with the wave and lifts themselves to a standing position on the board and balances to ride the wave. It is most likely that surfing originated in Polynesia and historical records show that European explorers in the th century found Tahitians riding waves on short wooden planks. It was an activity shared by all members of Pacific communities, but for a time, its popularity plunged because European missionaries’ arrival in the late th century discouraged Hawaiian sports as well as other cultural practices. However, the waves acted as a draw for the Hawaiian surfers, and many non-Hawaiians also became interested in the sport. Once hotels and tourism developed in Waikiki at around the turn of the th century, the first surf clubs started and with the help of Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku, the world’s fastest Olympic swimmer, surfing was brought to the attention of a much wider audience in Australia and America. The individual joy of riding the wave, offering a freedom well away from experiences on land, was soon appreciated by aspiring surfers around the world. To get to the standing position on the surfboard requires practice, as does maintaining balance to ride the wave, and the stamina to maintain the ability to ride numerous waves. There are various techniques to learn prior to successful surfing, so participants usually familiarize themselves by watching other surfers. It is vital that surfers wear a leash to prevent loss of their board and to keep the board from becoming a dangerous projectile.
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There are different types of boards available to surfers, and the variations affect the ride experience. The distinctions are in the length, width, thickness, and bottom shape. A longer wider board will help to catch waves but a shorter narrower one will be easier to turn. Most surfers ride shortboards as these allow the most radical maneuvers, but they are much harder to ride than longboards. Longboards are nine feet or more and can actually reach feet, they have a rounded nose (the point at the front), and are quite thick. Surfing terminology is extensive and often strays from its expected literal meaning. There are five basic moves: take off, bottom turn, top turn, floater, or cutback. The take off entails paddling hard to get the board moving, then as it starts to gain momentum with the wave, the participant pushes down on the forward deck of the board and lifts their feet up. The bottom turn refers to shifting the weight to the side to continue riding the wave rather than crashing down in front. The top turn is again a shift in balance to turn the board to move down the front of the wave to prevent falling off the back. The floater is where the participant manages to cope with a section of wave crumbling in front so that the surfer manages to float over the top to continue the ride. The board is shifted and pointing backwards to catch the wave again. There is also the cutback that helps if the surfer has gone too far ahead, and involves a hard turn back and then reversing forward to join the wave again. Surfing scores in competitions are allocated for the most radical maneuver (all based on the five described), maneuvers performed close to the breaking part of the wave, the size and quality of the wave being ridden, and the length of the ride and number of maneuvers performed. These international competitions take place in key surfing destinations like North Shore Hawaii and Malibu, California. Over the past three decades surfing has become a significant contributor to the economies of destinations with favorable coastal environments. Finding information about the value of recreational surfing is however difficult. It is estimated that three million people surf regularly in the traditional surfing locations of Australia and California, and the added value brought to the local economy is obviously economically significant. The global surfing population is estimated to be near to million. Studies undertaken in and saw that surfing was worth $ billion dollars annually, but more recent investigations find that this underestimates the true figure. One recent study on South Stradbroke Island, on Australia’s Gold Coast, calculated surfers spending approximately $,, per year. In , the International Professional Surfing Association was formed. An annual tour of events, with a points system for rankings, was devised. For surfing events to be successful the competition has to be intense and the competitors able to give of their best. One such example is the Margaret River Masters, which is a qualifying competition for the world surfing championship. The Salomon Masters was televised and distributed to international television networks. As large-scale events have made surfing more mainstream, professional surfers have begun making money from sponsorships and from photographs in magazines. Cash prizes from surfing events are often shared amongst the finalists, reducing the amount to be earned in this way. For example, O’Neill World Cup of Surfing Sunset Beach winners have to share the $, cash prize.
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Wind surfing is a combination of sailing and surfing. Legal battling about origins obscure the details, but it became an Olympic sport in because of its increasing popularity in the preceding years. Windsurfing is possible in a wide range of wind conditions and is possible indoors in winter. Kite surfing requires even less wind than windsurfing, making it more accessible. In the number of kite surfers was estimated at , with its popularity rapidly increasing. It works using wind power to pull a rider through the water on a small board and then the kite flies by opposing the force of the wind with a tension from a string held by the rider. It is described as a cross between windsurfing, wake boarding, and paragliding, and received its first media exposure in . While it appears very exciting and a way of achieving thrills in the st century, it is based on a form of transportation used in China and Polynesia dating as far back as the th and th centuries. Julia Fallon References and Further Reading Bizley, K. Surfing. Oxford: Heinemann, . Dixon, Peter L. The Complete Guide to Surfing. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, . Exadaktylos, A.K., G.M. Sclabas, I. Blake, K. Swemmer, G. McCormick, and P. Erasmus. “The kick with the kite: an analysis of kite-surfing related off shore rescue missions in Cape Town, South Africa.” British Journal of Sports Medicine , no. (). Lazarow, N., and C. Nelsen. “The value of coastal recreational resources: A case study approach to examine the value of recreational surfing to specific locales.” Proceedings of Coastal Zone , July – (). Mason, P. To the Limit: Surfing. London: Hodder & Stoughton, . Mason, P. Diary of a Surf Freak. Oxford: Heinemann, . O’Neill, M., D. Getz, and J. Carlsen. “Evaluation of service quality at events Coca-Cola masters Surfing Event at Margaret River, Western Australia.” Managing Service Quality , no. (): –. SBC Kiteboard Magazine (). www.sbckiteboard.com.
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TIDAL ENERGY Tidal energy, a form of hydroelectric power, uses the tidal flow of water in and out of bays and estuaries to drive turbines that generate electricity. Except for extreme wind and weather conditions causing tidal surges, tides are eminently predictable, the result of gravitational forces exerted on the earth’s oceans primarily by the moon, and to a lesser degree, the sun. These gravitational forces raise the sea level on both the side facing the moon, and the opposite side; thus, there are two high tides and two low tides a day, with the highest tides occurring when the earth, moon, and sun are aligned. Of the two high tides, the greatest bulge occurs when a given area is in line with the moon (water is pulled toward the moon), and the lesser bulge approximately hours and minutes later (solid earth pulled away from the water on the Earth’s backside). The tidal cycle is slightly longer than hours because the moon moves ahead slightly in its orbit around the earth. Rising and falling tides dissipate energy at the rate of about three million megawatts. Tidal energy is indeed abundant, yet unfortunately only around two percent of this total— , megawatts—is the useable potential for ocean tidal power. This is because economically viable tidal power requires unique geographical features: a large estuary that is connected to the open sea by a narrow channel, and areas that experience a significant tidal range—more than seven meters. In most coastal areas the tidal range is considerably less than seven meters, but in some locations, where the local geography acts as tidal amplifiers, it far exceeds seven meters. One such amplifier is the Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada, which typically experiences tidal fluctuations in excess of feet. Tidal power installations are quite simple, consisting of a barrage, with channels, constructed across the mouth of a bay or estuary. To regulate the flow of water through
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the channels, sluice gates open to allow the rising tide to enter the bay behind the barrage. These sluice gates close after high tide to prevent the water from escaping back into the open sea. Once the difference between the water levels inside and outside the barrage is great enough, the gates are opened and the captured water exits the estuary through the turbines, turning an electric generator that produces electricity. Unlike hydroelectric facilities, which generate electricity continuously -hours a day, tidal turbines can only generate electricity for eight to twelve hours a day. Out of the average tidal cycle, adequate water flow to drive the turbines occurs for only four to six hours, with the period of peak capacity limited to two to three hours. Although tidal plants constructed to date generate electricity only on the outflow, barrages can be designed to generate electricity during inflow as well. Tidal Mills Civilizations have been using small-scale tidal power for centuries, but whereas modern tidal energy efforts have focused on meeting the growing demand for electricity, the earliest uses were to grind grain into flour. Known as tidal mills, their origins can be traced as far back as Medieval Europe during the seventh and eighth century. By ,
A turbine prototype for a tidal power project is seen in in Eastport, Maine. Ocean Renewable Power Company has been testing various turbines with a generator mounted on a barge as they work to harness tides to produce energy. AP/Wide World Photos.
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the Domesday Survey recorded nine tidal mills, with the River Lea in England accounting for eight. Because of some of the most favorable tidal ranges, and a lack of suitable sites for wind and river power, England and France were the most reliant on tidal mills for milling. There is no certainty as to when and where the first tidal mill was built. A strong possibility exists that some of the English tidal mills sites could have begun operating as far back as Roman times, a.d. –, but confirmation will require extensive marine archeological work around the known barrage sites. To date, the earliest European archeologically-dated examples of tidal power for milling are found in Northern Ireland’s Nendrum Monastery on Mahee Island. A Northern Ireland coastal survey, which spurred a and excavation, discovered the remains of three seventh and eighth century tidal mills: the first built around a.d. , followed by another in the late seventh or early eighth century, and a final one in . Without any fresh water streams to grind corn by means of waterwheel, archeologists believe the monks turned to tidal mills to serve the monastic community. The evidence of an increase in cereal production in the early seventh century can be attributed, in some part, to these modest tidal mills. It has been estimated that the final waterwheel at Nendrum generated approximately seven-eighths of a horsepower at the start of discharge, and dwindled to less than half a horsepower as the reservoir neared empty. In total, this was enough power to theoretically mill about one ton of coarse grain per month. Although tidal mills were originally used to grind grain into flour, in the th and th century, they took on other tasks such as sawing lumber and hammering iron, and became a popular energy source for the new colonies along the northeast coast of North America in areas where river mills were impractical. An added bonus of these tidal mills was the maritime access of the coastal sites. Before the advent of the age of steam and railroads, water was the most efficient means of transporting agricultural goods, with grain arriving by either by sea, river, or canal. Despite the many benefits of tidal mills, there was a significant downside as well: The very predictable but constantly changing nature of the tides required that tidal mills operate at odd hours, with workers beginning and ending work an hour later each successive day, as well as working nights and days. This is largely why tidal mills quickly became obsolete with the development of steam toward the latter part of the th century. The large steam-powered roller mills generated far greater power, operated around the clock, and provided better maritime transportation access to more convenient docks. By the first half of the th century, all the tidal mills in England and America inevitably closed, unable to match steam’s multiple advantages. Tidal Electric Power Stations In the s, a resurgence of interest in tidal energy arose as developed nations looked at a variety of options to meet the skyrocketing demand for electricity. Fortunately, the tidal electric power developers were able to borrow technology developed in other industries—low head hydraulic turbines from the hydroelectric industry and
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prefabricated steel and concrete construction techniques from the offshore petroleum industry—to aid in the design and construction. Yet because ideal tidal energy sites require a large tidal range, and vast estuaries connected to the sea by a narrow channel (limits the length and enormous construction costs of the barrage), the number of economically feasible sites were small. Further, many potential sites happened to be far from the population centers that desire the electricity, thereby significantly increasing the electricity transmission construction costs. In the modern era, China was at the forefront of development when it began using small-scale tidal power plants to pump irrigation water in . By , forty small plants with a total capacity of kilowatts were generating electricity. Large plants— most significantly a three-megawatt plant at Jiangxia and a -kilowatt plant at Baishakou—were added by the s. Most of these plants have been decommissioned, primarily because of design faults, with the ones that remain having been rebuilt and optimized to improve their performance. Credit for the first large-scale tidal power plant goes to France. Construction of a plant on the La Rance Estuary, with an eight-meter tidal range, began in , but was not completed until . The project entailed a -meter-long barrage, which included a lock for passage of small crafts. Besides the enormity of the project, slowing construction was the need to build temporary dams on each side of the barrage to keep the work area water-free. Upon completion of the barrage, , -megawatt horizontal shaft turbines were installed, with the generators located in the large steel bulbs directly behind the turbines themselves. In order to address the variable velocity of the flow—to attain maximum efficiency—the pitch of the turbines blades were designed to adjust. It was designed for both flood and ebb tides, but after it was determined to be partially successful, power was only produced exclusively during ebb tides. During its first thirty years, La Rance was widely regarded as a technical success: operating percent of the time and achieving over percent of design output. From an economic perspective, the plant’s performance warranted enormous construction costs. Assuming an average French household consumed , kilowatts, La Rance provided enough electricity for almost , homes. Since the electricity was produced at around . cents per kilowatt hour, it compared favorably with nuclear plants at . cents and thermal plants at . cents. Advances in technology allowed the plant to be completely automated in , with a refurbishing of the turbines beginning in . By then, besides serving as a vital electric power producer for Brittany, the barrage itself, which cut the drive distance from St. Malo to Dinard from miles to less than miles, had developed into an essential roadway for over , vehicles a day. The Soviet Union followed with a much smaller -kilowatt generating system in . Located in Kislaya Bay, on the Barents Sea north of Murmansk, it also used a horizontal shaft bulb-type turbine. This system was built more economically than La Rance because the concrete and steel components were prefabricated onshore and then floated
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to the site and sunk. Although plans were developed in the s to build a couple more plants around the White Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, the enormous capitalization costs and financial problem associated with the breakup of the Soviet Union made construction unfeasible. Annapolis Royal, located on the Bay of Fundy, was the next tidal plant built. Despite the proven track record of the bulb-type design, designers of the -megawatt pilot plant decided against using the bulb-type turbine for two reasons: in order to accommodate the large-bulb generator, the hydraulic passageway had to be quite large for water to flow around the turbine, and maintenance of the system required it to be shut down, since the generator is surrounded by water. To overcome these drawbacks, designers chose the horizontal shaft Straflo turbine that featured a generator positioned around the circumference of the turbine rotor, sealed off from the water flow. With no bulky generator bulb obstructing the water’s horizontal flow path, the Straflo turbine delivered better performance and also eliminated the need for service and maintenance shutdowns. Completed in , the intent of the Canadian government, as well as the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, was for Annapolis Royal to be studied in regard to the environmental impact, and to determine if better technology improved the technical and economic feasibility of developing large-scale tidal power plants in the Bay of Fundy. In all, the Bay of Fundy Tidal Power Review Board examined potential sites during the s and identified three sites as the best prospects for development: Cobequid Bay at . gigawatts, Shepody Bay at . gigawatts, and Cumberland Basin at . gigawatts. At the same time, on the west coast of England, near Wales, extensive studies were conducted for developing mammoth tidal power systems on the Severn Estuary. Although as much as gigawatts of power could be generated from an installation, it was determined that the most economically feasible development was a .-gigawatt facility. In the United States, two prominent sites were considered: the PassamaquoddyCobscook Bay area in eastern Maine with a potential for a -gigawatt facility, and the Cook Inlet, near Anchorage, Alaska, with a potential for a .-gigawatt installation. Compared to other energy technologies, proponents advocated for tidal power as a renewable energy source, a proven technology that offered long lifetimes as well as low maintenance and operation costs. However, the combination of multi-billion dollar construction costs and growing environmental opposition prevented any of these proposed facilities from being built. Environmental objections included concerns about the delicate estuarine ecosystems, to altering the natural tidal flow in the basin, the migrating fish killed in the turbines, and the negative consequences on navigation and recreation. Environmental and fishery groups continue to decry the La Rance installation, which they claim has damaged the estuarine habitat and changed water circulation patterns over miles from the barrage. In the s, interest in tidal fences grew as a less problematic alternative for generating large amounts of electricity from tidal flows. Spaced along the fence would be
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large vertical-axis turbines, resembling revolving doors, with the generators and transformers housed above the waterline, safely above the highly corrosive sea. Because tidal fences—like the barrage-type system—completely block a channel, environmentalists raised many of the same objections for proposed sites across the mouth of an estuary; thus, consideration turned to installations in channels between islands, or islands and the mainland, where swift currents flow. Once again, the narrow channel is vital not only because it limits the length and construction costs of the tidal fence, but also because it creates a funnel effect—streamlines of water coming together increase the speed of the water flow (Bernoulli’s Principle). The Asian Pacific region was identified as the most promising region for tidal fences, and in , the Philippine government came to an agreement with Blue Energy Engineering Company of Vancouver, Canada to construct a $ million pilot plant in the San Bernardino Strait to generate up to megawatts of peak power, and megawatts of average power from a tidal current that reaches a peak of eight knots ( meters per second). Eventually, with full development, the -turbine installation would cost $. billion, and generate up to . gigawatts of electricity. Since the turbines would spin at only revolutions per minute, advocates perceived no threat to fish populations, yet large marine life and shipping would be adversely effected. The large capital costs and environmental objections did not bode well for the future of tidal fences, and is probably why more recent efforts have turned to water turbines— underwater windmills. Given the extensive research that went into wind turbine technology starting in the late s, and the advances made in material science to prevent corrosion, it was only logical that eventually the technology would be adapted for tidal flows. Further, considering that tides are much more consistent and predictable than the wind, likewise would be the electricity generated from tides. The first installation came in when a Norwegian consortium anchored water turbines to the deep floor of northern Norway’s, Kvalsund Channel. The -meter-long blades on the water turbines rotate at seven revolutions per minute as the swift tidal current flows through the channel at around four knots (. meters per second). Since water is times denser than air, there is potentially much more kinetic energy available from a four-knot current than, say, a -knot breeze; and because tidal turbines rotate like wind turbines, electric power generation occurs during both the incoming and outgoing tidal flow. Early estimates are that the Kvalsund Channel installation will produce megawatts of electricity a year for the nearby town of Hammerfest. In the summer of , Verdant Power placed six underwater turbines in the East River of New York City to provide power for Roosevelt Island, an island sandwiched between the city’s boroughs of Manhattan and Queens. If these turbines work as designed, a $ million expansion to to East River water turbines could generate to megawatts of electricity. Water turbines are widely viewed as the least objectionable way to generate electricity from the tides. Since the slowly spinning blades rotate well below the surface, they are safe from adverse weather, and neither harms marine life, hampers navigation, nor
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blights the visual horizon. Nonetheless, the very corrosive nature of seawater brings into question long-term reliability—the durability of the materials, and the ability of the seals to keep the generator dry. If fossil fuel costs rise, the tidal turbines prove reliable, and manufacturing cost decline, tidal turbine installations will grow as the demand for emission-free energy, which is highly likely considering the commitments of European countries to curtail carbon dioxide emissions. Should tidal turbines indeed prove to produce electricity at a comparable cost to wind turbines, and nations show the resolve to continue to heavily subsidize renewable energy, the outlook for more electricity being generated from submerged water turbines is likely. John Zumerchik References and Further Reading Fraenkel, P.L. Tidal Currents: A Major New Source of Energy for the Millennium. London, U.K.: Sustainable Developments International, . Greenberg, David. “Modeling Tidal Power.” Scientific American (November ). McErlean, T.,R. McConkey, and W. Forsythe. Strangford Lough: An Archaeological Survey of the Maritime Cultural Landscape. Belfast: Blackstaff Press, . Sanders, M.M. “Energy from the Oceans.” In The Energy Sourcebook, ed. Ruth Howes and Anthony Fainberg. New York: American Institute of Physics, .
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WAVE ENERGY Waves, created by the interaction of the wind with the surface of the sea, represent a transfer of energy from the sun to the sea. The energy transferred to waves depends upon the wind velocity, the duration the blowing wind, and the distance over which the wind interacts with water. Worldwide, the energy from waves breaking along the world’s coastlines is estimated at over two thousand gigawatts. Tapping into such an enormous energy resource is alluring to many nations, particularly those with the most favorable geography— to degree latitudes and west coasts facing open ocean. Off the western coast of the United Kingdom alone, over gigawatts of wave power—five times British electrical demand—is dissipated. Although there has been great interest in developing energy conversion devices to turn waves into useful mechanical energy, which, in turn, can generate electricity, engineers face several daunting challenges. To begin with, because wave energy is not concentrated, but spread out over many miles of coastlines, and often requires favorable geography, the number of economically feasible coastline sites are limited. Equally challenging is the need to engineer devices that can operate economically under a variety of conditions since wave height can vary from a few feet to in excess of feet. Finally, the wave energy of the open ocean dissipates as the water depth decreases—first upon encountering the continental shelf, and then continuing to degrade approaching the shoreline. In other words, most of the best sites are far offshore, creating a bit of a mismatch between where the energy is best produced and where the energy is needed. Therefore, before far offshore production can become economical, it will require devises that are inexpensive, simple, and reliable—able to withstand
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punishing waves while at the same time producing sufficient power to justify the costs of the long distance connection to the utility grid. Deep sea or near shore, there are many types of systems for generating useful energy from waves, yet for simplicity sake, devices can be categorized as one of four types: a generator turned from the up and down or rocking back and forth motion of waves, a surge device (usually tapered-channel) where breaking waves are concentrated to fill an elevated reservoir for release through a low-head hydraulic turbine, oscillating water columns (OWC) that turn generators when air is displaced by waves, or a series of cylindrical sections connected by hinged joints. Called a pelamis device, as rolling waves move against the cylindrical sections, oil is pumped at high pressure through a hydraulic motor to generate electricity. All of these systems produce electricity at a higher per kilowatt cost than that derived from fossil fuels, but with improvements in the technology, and the engineering out of costs as greater numbers are manufactured, wave energy may someday become an important niche producer of emission-free electricity. History Proposals for obtaining useful energy from ocean waves date back more than years. The first patent was procured in Paris on July , by the Girards, a father and son, who proposed attaching a long lever to a floating ship that would be pushed to the shore by incoming waves, able to power pumps, saws, mills, or other mechanical devices. Although never constructed, it did not dampen worldwide enthusiasm for wave power. Since then, thousands of patents for wave conversion devices—including buoys for whistling and lighting—have been issued in Europe, Japan, and North America. The first effective wave energy conversion device for electricity production was built in to light lamps on California’s Huntington Beach Wharf. The experiment ended when a storm destroyed the device. Better luck was had by M. Bouchaux-Praceique, a Frenchman, who built a small-scale system to deliver one kilowatt of power to his home in . As far as large-scale systems go, it was not until , on the island of Mauritius, that a proposal by Walton Bott received considerable attention. Taking advantage of the natural corral reefs that surrounded the island, Bott’s design called for a concrete wall so that waves above a certain height would break over the wall, with the water captured in a reservoir. The rather small hydraulic head then could be released through a turbine to generate electricity. Part of the plan included hydraulic ram pumps that would use the action of draining the small reservoirs to pump seawater to a larger, higher elevation reservoir. This was a means of improving the economics: one high head turbine in a large higher elevation reservoir could be installed, instead of several low head turbines in small reservoirs. Unfortunately, because of a drop in oil prices to the island in the mid-s, this five-megawatt system was never built. Another development at that time was the -watt air turbine-powered buoy designed by Y. Masuda. The buoy, which looked like any conventional buoy, contained an air column sandwiched between an oscillating water column and an air turbine placed
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atop the buoy. When waves caused the buoy to bob, the water column oscillated up and down so that the air above either would be compressed or decompressed. By using a system of flap valves, the air turbine atop would spin in one direction, regardless of whether the air was entering or exiting the top of the cylinder. Patented by the Ryokuseisha Corporation of Japan, over , of these buoys were manufactured as navigational aids. Not surprisingly, the energy crisis of the early s triggered the first serious effort of governments to support wave energy research and development, with two of the strongest efforts occurring in the United Kingdom and Norway, countries situated at higher latitudes with western coasts facing the open ocean. The British government spent over $ million from to on the parallel development of four distinct designs: a pitching device called the Salter’s Duck, a hinged device called the Cockerell’s Wave Contouring Raft (Sir Christopher Cockerell was also the inventor of the Hovercraft), a Rectifier, and a Breakwater-Oscillating Water Column. All of these designs proved to be costly, and resulted in a shift in the s to designs that held greater promise of delivering cheaper power. One of the more cost-effective designs was the Bellamy SEA Clam, an oscillating water column design. The Clam would be positioned at an angle of degrees to the wave crests. The impact of the oncoming waves on the Clam’s air bags would draw and expel air through a turbine that would spin in one direction regardless of the airflow direction. Commercial installations have been few, but this began to change at the turn of the st century. In , Wavegen, of Edinburgh, Scotland installed a -kilowatt Oscillating Water Column off the island of Islay, Scotland. It was the first commercial system connected to the utility grid, with another plant planned in for the Faroe Islands, midway between Iceland and Norway. In , another installation of note was Portugal’s -kilowatt shoreline OWC plant for the Azores Island of Pico, which is projected to provide eight to nine percent of the island’s power for the next years. In October , the experimental Dutch Archimedes Wave Swing (oscillating waves push air through a series of connected air chambers powering a flywheel) followed off the coast of Portugal. Finally, off the northern coast of Scotland, near the Orkney Islands, a prototype Pelamis device, constructed by Ocean Power Delivery, began providing electricity to homes in August . In Norway during the s, government and private sector collaboration resulted in the construction of two experimental installations: a -kilowatt tapered channel and a -kilowatt oscillating water column. Although these systems operated successfully for a prolonged period, both were shut down as government support for wave power development declined. Nevertheless, a Norwegian consortium, relying on experimental work done during this program, won approval for . megawatt tapered channel power plant in Indonesia that began operating in . Using a bay to act as a natural basin at Baron, on the south coast of Java, waves enter a seven-meter wide mouth, rise to greater heights as they flow down a narrow channel, and then overflow into a reservoir. Norwegian efforts have been less ambitious within Norway itself. A recent direction has been the development of small-scale power systems to efficiently pump seawater for the rapidly expanding salmon farming industry.
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Sea Power International of Sweden has also signed agreements to provide their technology—a reservoir and low-head hydraulic turbine system—for plants to be constructed offshore from the Shetland Islands of Scotland as well as the island of Maldives. Based on a fully functioning demonstration system built in Gothenburg Sweden, this floating system is unique in that it can be moored anywhere, near shore or far offshore because ballast tanks adjust the basin up and down relative to the surface, with an electronically controlled ramp at one end optimizing the height and direction to best fill the reservoir. In the Asian-Pacific region, Japan, Australia, China, and India all have made a concerted effort to develop wave energy technology. Japan first began experimenting with wave energy in the s, which was followed by a significant effort starting in the late s. Thus far, the major focus has been the construction and deployment of OWC prototypes. Systems of note include a -kilowatt system for research at Sanze in , a five-chambered -kilowatt system built as part of the harbor wall at Sakata Port in , a -kilowatt system mounted in a breakwater of the Haramachi coal-fired power station in , and a -kilowatt floating column called the Mighty Whale, the largest floating oscillating water column in the world, positioned just outside the mouth of Gokasho Bay in . Aside from producing power, the Mighty Whale was designed to serve as a breakwater to study the benefit to fisheries and other marine activities. Despite minimal government support for wave energy in the United States, an innovation of note is a computerized PowerBuoy® System developed by Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. with help from a grant by the U.S. Navy. This smart buoy, submerged more than a meter below the water’s surface, entails a piston-like device driven as the buoy bobs, with an electrical generator anchored to the ocean floor. Sophisticated electronic sensors optimize power for varying wave conditions, and also shut down the system when dangerously large waves occur, but once the storm passes, the system automatically reconnects and commences to convert and transmit. Each buoy is capable of generating up to kilowatts of electricity. The first installation, eventually to reach as many as buoys, was constructed off the coast of Victoria, Australia in , which was followed in by two .-megawatt installations: one at the Marine Corps base at Kane’ohe, Hawaii and another off the northern coast of Spain, midway between Santander and Bilbao. By , Ocean Power Technologies hopes to scale-up the technology (buoys four times the size producing up to kilowatts each) for a -megawatt wave farm. Wave energy conversion devices, despite their capital-intensive nature, will continue to be looked at favorably as an environmentally benign renewable energy source with several attractive advantages over solar and wind energy. A foremost advantage is around-the-clock production. Unlike solar or wind, wave energy is not restricted to daylight hours, nor does it need to contend with light morning and evening winds; it is the least intermittent, most predictable and dependable renewable energy (storm waves can travel many miles with minimal energy loss). Secondly, wave energy conversion technology also tends to be simpler and more reliable (fewer moving parts) than wind turbines.
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Finally, because water is times more dense than air, small and inconspicuous wave energy devices can generate greater power than giant wind turbines. To date, the availability of inexpensive and abundant fossil fuels has made it difficult for the wave energy industry to attract investment capital. However, if the price of crude oil and natural gas increase significantly, wave energy could quickly become the most promising electricity-producing option for many island states and coastline communities. John Zumerchik References and Further Reading Duckers, L.J. and F.P. Lockett. . The Clam Wave Energy Device. Workshop on Wave Energy R & D. Cork, Ireland. Falnes, L. and J. Lovseth. “Ocean Wave Energy.” Energy Policy , no. (): –. Sanders, M.M. “Energy from the Oceans.” In The Energy Sourcebook, ed. Ruth Howes and Anthony Fainberg. New York: American Institute of Physics, . Thorpe, T.W. “Economic Analysis of Wave Energy Devices.” World Energy Council Survey of Energy Resources. http://www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/publications/reports/ser/wave/ wave.asp.
WHALING, BEFORE Exactly where and when whaling began, no one knows for sure. Archaeological evidence confirms a recent history of whale utilization, beginning from , to , years ago, particularly in northern coastal regions around eastern Asia, northwestern North America, and Europe. Not all whales were considered equal in prehistory. Humans favored species that exhibited certain behavioral and physiological characteristics determined by the tastes, customs, and religious beliefs of their society. Most important to human hunting was the proximity of whales to the shore. The species that spent at least part of each calendar year near land, within reach of relatively small rowed watercraft, which were the norm for most civilizations, were the species that were most hunted. The swimming speed of whales also impacted upon the hunters’ opportunity. Some species were too powerful and fast to be harpooned. For this reason, blue, finback, humpback, sei, and minke whales were seldom taken successfully by early small-boat whalemen. These whales often sank to the sea floor after death, making their recovery nearly impossible. Hunters therefore selected the kinds of whales whose carcasses floated, which meant they could be towed to a nearby beach for rendering and the subsequent distribution of meat, blubber, and bone could be distributed to an entire community. These preferential characteristics singled out the right whale (Eubalaena sp.), which became the correct one to hunt, and the gray whale (Eschrichtius sp.), which feeds in shallow waters and migrates long distances following the shoreline. These two species
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were so much hunted that the their population in the North Atlantic may be limited to a few hundred animals today, and the gray whale became extinct across the Atlantic portion of its range during the th century. Hunting pressure also reduced the number of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus), a cousin of the right whale, which was hunted heavily by commercial whalemen between –, and is still taken in small numbers by the First Peoples of the Arctic Ocean. There is little doubt that shore-dwelling people became aware of whales by observing them breathing, swimming, and breaching near shore. The earliest specimens they examined are likely to have been dead whales washed up on beaches, or stranded groups of live animals who later died. By physical examination, early peoples would have learned of the oil-rich blubber under the thin skin, as well as the digestibility of the meat of some species, and the utilitarian value of their large, porous bones. Such discoveries convinced humans of the whale’s importance, so it became a worthwhile cause to venture out in small boats to try to obtain them. It was not so very far from discovering whales on the beach to the beginning of hunting with harpoons, spears, and drag-floats fashioned from the bladders of smaller marine mammals, such as seals. The passage of time has likewise obscured the origins of commercial whaling, but most historians credit the Basques living along the Bay of Biscay as the first to provide whale products beyond their own local communities. However, other groups did so as well: the Japanese must be acknowledged, having begun many hundreds of years ago to hunt and distribute whales in an organized way. When local whale populations were reduced in number, whale hunters were obliged to take their search ever farther from home, until, in the th Century, the French author Jules Michelet could write that “it is the whale which emancipated [fishermen], and led them all over the world … and ever pursuing their prey, [they] ventured from one point to another, until without being aware of it, they found they had passed from the Old World into the New” (Michelet , ). The first truly commercial whale-hunting nation was the association of Dutch states. Beginning in about , Dutch whalemen sailed as far as Iceland and the Svalbard Archipelago in the Arctic Sea in search of whales. They had little experience in the business, so they hired qualified whalemen from the Basque region to teach them how to find and kill Leviathan. Most of the blubber they desired was cut into blocks at sea and stowed aboard ship in casks. On return home, rendering factories heated the fat into oil, principally for illumination in lamps, and as candles. In the third quarter of the th century, after the Dutch lost a series of wars against the English, commercial whaling was exported directly to the British Isles. Whalemen from Holland soon found themselves in competition with their British counterparts, who came to control the business. During the following century, England became the principal commercial whaling nation, seeking out the whale in all the seas to the north and northwest of the European continent.
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Humans living along both the east and west coasts of North America also made use of the whale. The First Peoples from modern-day Washington state to the Gulf of Alaska hunted gray, right, and some humpback whales, finding success by using several wooden boats whose crews worked in consort. On the eastern seaboard, the right whale was hunted in small boats from several locations, notably Long Island, New York and the islands of Massachusetts, including Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Eventually, the right-whalemen, sailing out of Nantucket, discovered another species of whale in the deep water beyond the Continental Shelf. The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) provided an oil of superior quality, which burned cleanly in lamps and proved viscous in extremes of temperature. Beginning in about , Nantucketers converted from a right-whale to a sperm-whale fishery. They established a model for the first worldwide whaling enterprise, a business that peaked during the period from – when nearly , American whale ships joined smaller fleets from other industrializing nations, principally France, Germany, Holland and England, to seek the sperm whale around the globe. Just as the Basques had taught the Dutch and English how to hunt right whales, so did the Nantucket whalemen teach others how to take the sperm whale. Before , Nantucket harpooners sailed in both British and French ships, opening up the South Seas whaling business, which in those times meant sperm-whaling in waters anywhere south of the European continent. Sperm-whaling began in the mid-Atlantic, and then moved to waters off South America and western Africa. The Pacific grounds were discovered during – by a London-based whale ship employing Nantucket harpooners. Thereafter, whalemen worked their way westward across the South Pacific to Australia and New Zealand, and northward to the Equator. Once across the equatorial line, they reached the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands in about , and from there opened the Japan Grounds in , the northwest coast of America in about , and the seas of Kamchatka and Okhotsk during the late s to early s. In the far northern Pacific, the sperm-whalemen again encountered right whales, and in a whaling crew from Sag Harbor, New York sailed north of the Bering Strait to find a population of bowhead whales that had previously been hunted only by the First Peoples of the Arctic Sea. The discovery of additional right and bowhead whales fueled a trend in the fashion industry. The filter-feeding plates in their mouths, which in bowhead whales could be as long as feet, had come into demand for the manufacture of flexible apparel items, such as corset stays, shirt-collar stays, and the ribs of lightweight umbrellas. Eventually, demand for baleen outstripped the market for whale oil, resulting in a few whaling fortunes being made in the western Arctic in the s without bringing home any oil at all. During the s, new methods of refining kerosene from ground oil led the world away from its dependency on whale oils. At the same time, improvements in ironshipbuilding, steam power, and munitions, and the availability of refrigeration gradually
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shifted whaling from an oil and baleen-based economy to one providing edible meat, margarine, and industrial fertilizer. The new technologies also transferred the hunting pressure from the depleted right and sperm whales to other species, particularly the blue, finback, and humpback whales that had evaded whalemen through the centuries. Robert Lloyd Webb References and Further Reading Allen, E.S. Children of the Light: The Rise and Fall of New Bedford Whaling and the Death of the Arctic Fleet. Boston: Little Brown and Co., . Ashley, C.W. The Yankee Whaler. New York: Dover Publications, . Bennett, F.D. Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the Globe from the Year to , Comprising Sketches of Polynesia, California, the Indian Archipelago, etc., with an Account of Southern Whales, the Sperm Whale Fishery, and the Natural History of the Climates Visited. vols. New York: Da Capo Press, . Bockstoce, J.R. Whales, Ice, and Men. The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic. Seattle: University of Washington Press, . Chatterton, E.K. Whalers and Whaling: The Story of the Whaling Ships up to the Present Day. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., . Church, A.C. Whale Ships and Whaling. New York: Bonanza Books, . Ellis, R. Men and Whales. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, . Francis, D. A History of World Whaling. New York: Viking Penguin, . Jackson, F. The British Whaling Trade. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, . Michelet, Jules. The Sea. Translated by W. H. Davenport. London: T. Nelson and Sons, . Stackpole, E.A. Whales and Destiny: The Rivalry between America, France and Britain for Control of the Southern Whale Fishery -. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, . Stackpole, E.A. The Sea Hunters: the New England Whalemen during Two Centuries -. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, . Starbuck, A. History of the American Whale Fishery, from its Earliest Inception to the Year . Washington, DC: U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries,.
WHALING, MODERN Whaling is a controversial issue because some nations have a historical and economic reliance on whaling and whale products whereas others have embraced the whale as an environmental icon to be protected. Currently, a moratorium on all commercial whaling is in place. However, the struggle over this issue is not settled because whaling nations want to resume commercial hunting. Currently there is a revised management procedure that may be employed to reinstate commercial whaling at some point in the future. Whaling is managed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The IWC was created in by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. The convention was originally thought of as a fishery agreement that would essentially
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Two minke whales are seen before dismantlement at a fishery processing factory in Kushiro, Japan in . Japanese ships hauled into port the first of whales they plan to catch along the country’s northern coast, in an offshore research program that critics denounce as commercial whaling. AP/Wide World Photos.
manage itself by setting total allowable catch (TAC) limits. Global limits were necessary because whales migrate great distances and are a common-pool resource that is vulnerable to overharvesting by one or more nations at the expense of others. According to the IWC, “the purpose of the Convention is to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.” This goal has remained the same over time, but the way it is implemented has changed. At the start of the convention, the IWC enacted a plan to simply reduce whaling in order to make it sustainable. However, in , enough non-whaling nations had entered into the convention that all commercial whaling was paused. This moratorium on commercial whaling is, according to the IWC, a temporary management plan to allow whale stocks to recover from overharvesting. Non-whaling nations have installed the moratorium on commercial whaling by becoming members
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INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE REGULATION OF WHALING (1948) EXCERPT The 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling entered into force on November 10, 1948. The treaty created the International Whaling Commission. The Contracting Governments agree to establish an International Whaling Commission, hereinafter referred to as the Commission, to be composed of one member from each Contracting Government. … Notwithstanding anything contained in this Convention, any Contracting Government may grant to any of its nationals a special permit authorizing that national to kill, take, and treat whales for purposes of scientific research subject to such restrictions as to number and subject to such other conditions as the Contracting Government thinks fit, and the killing taking, and treating of whales in accordance with the provisions of this Article shall be exempt from the operation of this Convention. Each Contracting Government shall report at once to the Commission all such authorizations which it has granted. Each Contracting Government may at any time revoke any such special permit which it has granted. Any whales taken under these special permits shall so far as practicable be processed and the proceeds shall be dealt with in accordance with directions issued by the Government by which the permit was granted. Each Contracting Government shall transmit to such body as may be designated by the Commission, in so far as practicable, and at intervals of not more than one year, scientific information available to that Government with respect to whales and whaling, including the results of research conducted pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article and to Article IV. Recognizing that continuous collection and analysis of biological data in connection with the operations of factory ships and land stations are indispensable to sound and constructive management of the whale fisheries, the Contracting Governments will take all practicable measures to obtain such data.
in the IWC and voting to end the practice. At the beginning of the IWC, only nations were members, and they all hunted whales. By the moratorium, however, the membership stood at over , with most being nations that did not hunt whales. Since each country has a single vote in the IWC, the whaling nations were easily outnumbered in their own organization, and they lost control of the management plan. Non-whaling nations joined the International Whaling Commission under the influence of environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Nongovernmental organizations, including groups such as Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, are often credited with pushing non-whaling states to
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end the practice of whaling; and since those nations did not have economies or constituencies that depended on whaling, they did not have much to lose when NGOs asked them to join the IWC. NGOs have even been known to pay delegations to attend the IWC’s annual meetings. Thus, NGOs and NGO members have played a large role in ending commercial whaling. This is one example of the way in which citizens at the local level, who are a part of an NGO, can affect global politics and ocean management. The IWC has been recognized as a very successful international regime because its member nations do not violate the whaling convention’s agreement. Further, the IWC has implemented the plan it agreed to when the moratorium was placed on commercial whaling. One reason the organization has been successful is because it has defined the scope of international whale management as truly global. Thus, unlike many other international ocean agreements, IWC regulations pertain to “all waters in which whaling is prosecuted,” including waters in the territorial seas (Birnie , ). Since whales are protected in all ocean waters, one nation is not permitted to spoil the efforts of the rest by hunting the animals as they pass along its sovereign coastline. If the territorial seas were exempt from the IWC rules, conservation of the species would suffer and there would be an incentive for each nation to rush to harvest as many whales as possible in its own waters before the animals passed into another nation’s territory. Consequently, whale management in all waters is an important factor in the success of the IWC. There are two exceptions to the moratorium on commercial whaling: scientific hunting and aboriginal hunting. A permit for scientific hunting is issued by the state of an expedition’s flagship, and prior approval from the IWC is not required. However, a minority of states, among them Japan, have been accused of using scientific research as a facade for commercial whale hunting. Patricia Birnie noted that “this loophole had recently been abused by states to keep a minimal industry alive in the face of the current moratorium on whaling” (, ). Inherent in the moratorium is the expectation that scientific expeditions will use the carcasses in some manner so the whales are not wasted, and commercial disposal (that is, selling of whale products) is allowed. However, whaling ships have been known to waste up to percent of a carcass and dispose of this portion at sea to make room onboard for more whales. Currently, Japan kills over minke whales per year. Minke whale meat can bring as much as U.S. $ per pound in Japan, where it is used for sashimi. The second exception to the moratorium is for aboriginal hunting, which allows for limited, subsistence-based hunting by indigenous peoples recognized by the IWC. An exception of this type must be approved by the IWC prior to the taking of the whales, and it is subject to an algorithmic formula that considers the available whale stock in determining how many whaling tribes can be permitted to hunt. Indigenous peoples have fought hard to pursue their traditional practice by lobbying governments and participating in national delegations to the IWC, but aboriginal whale hunts are heavily protested by environmental activists. One group that has been at the forefront of the whaling issue is the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The society believes that no exceptions to the moratorium should be allowed. For their part, indigenous people
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argue that the hunts are a vital part of their history, livelihood, and cultural heritage. Ending these hunts, they say, would damage a significant aspect of their cultural existence. This claim is supported by the experience of the Makaw people: by the time they were permitted to resume whale hunting, no living Makaw had ever hunted a whale or even knew how to do so. Infractions of the IWC agreement are relatively rare, but whaling nations are attempting to reinstate commercial whaling under the revised management plan. This plan takes a scientific wildlife management approach to whaling. According to the plan, strict limits will be observed by whalers, who will agree not to take more than a certain percentage of the estimated population of a given species. Because the estimates are not very accurate, the plan uses assumptions of low whale populations to ensure a more confident guess about whale numbers. This plan was approved by a scientific committee and by the larger IWC in . However, environmentalists say that it is based on the desire for profit and that whaling itself is the cruel and unnecessary killing of another sentient (feeling) being. In fact, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which advocates this view, is blamed for sinking nine Norwegian whaling vessels because Norway continues to kill over minke whales per year. Nonetheless, in the meeting of the IWC, the group agreed to expedite the implementation of the revised management plan, and it has slated that goal as a priority for future meetings. There are two reasons why the revised management plan has recently become a tangible option for the IWC. First, Japan has made alliances with some cash-poor island nations. These nations, which include Saint Lucia, Dominica, and other eastern Caribbean nations, are suspected of selling their votes in the IWC for large amounts of money. Although none of these countries has a whaling industry, they regularly vote in line with Japan, which gives them a great deal of financial support as well. Second, the North Atlantic whaling states have created their own international whaling regime, which threatens to resume whaling if the revised management plan is not implemented. The North Atlantic Marine Mammals Commission (NAMMCO) was established in and includes Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. Japan, Mexico, Russia, Ireland, and South Africa are sympathetic to NAMMCO’s goal of reclaiming commercial whaling under scientific wildlife management models. The existence of NAMMCO is a powerful incentive for the IWC to implement the revised management plan because the IWC depends on the whaling nations to voluntarily honor the moratorium. If the whaling nations chose to ignore the IWC, the moratorium would become irrelevant, since non-whaling nations already observe the moratorium by default. Thus, whaling conservation has had a history of unexpected turns, and the complex issues it entails have not been resolved. Indeed, some challenges to the NGOs and nonwhaling states are well organized and gaining momentum. If the IWC continues to maintain a hard line on the whaling moratorium, the organization may be abandoned by the whaling nations—the only nations that really matter when it comes to regulation. However, if the IWC decides to adopt the revised management plan, non-whaling
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member states will face a powerful backlash from environmental groups that have successfully made the whale an emblem for environmental protection. Peter Jacques and Zachary A. Smith References and Further Reading Andresen, Steinar. “The Making and Implementation of Whaling Policies: Does Participation Make a Difference?” In The Implementation and Effectiveness of International Environmental Commitments: Theory and Practice, ed. David Victor, Kal Raustiala, and Eugene Skolnikoff, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, . Birnie, Patricia. “Regimes Dealing with the Oceans and All Kinds of Seas from the Perspective of the North.” In Global Environmental Change and International Governance, ed. Oran Young, George Demko, and Kilaparti Ramakrishna. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, . Givens, Geof. “Multicriterion Decision Merging: Competitive Development of an Aboriginal Whaling Management Procedure.” Journal of American Statistical Association , no. (): –. International Whaling Commission (IWC). . http://www.iwcoffice.org/ (accessed November , ). Prideaux, Margi. “The Complex Game of Protecting Whales.” Habitat Australia (August ): .
WIND ENERGY, OFFSHORE AND COASTAL Winds are horizontal movements of air, a result of pressure differences in the atmosphere. The greater the pressure difference between two adjacent regions, the faster the wind blows between them. Differential pressure results from temperature differences that are created by the nonuniform abilities of the earth’s surface features to absorb solar radiation. When the sun heats an asphalt parking lot, the air above the parking lot heats and expands more than the air above an adjacent forest. As heated air rises, a low-pressure zone is created in its wake, drawing cool air from the high pressure zone of the adjacent forest. This unequal heating, called convection currents, create wind. Sea breezes that make coastal sites more attractive for wind turbines are the result of small-scale convection currents. On a clear sunny day, the temperature on land rises rapidly as Earth’s thin surface layer is heated. Nearby, sunlight is also striking the sea, but only results in a tiny change in water temperature because the incoming solar radiation is heating more than just a thin top-surface of the sea, and also because water requires very large amounts of energy per kilogram, per degree Celsius, of temperature rise. Once the air over the warm land begins to rise by convection, the sea breeze is created as cooler denser air from the sea is drawn in to replace it. Once land and sea equalize, the sea breeze stops. For coastal sites with frigid water temperatures, which also experience plenty of sunshine, sea breezes are stronger and last longer. The sea breeze effect, taken
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in combination with the benefit of unobstructed sites, is why coastal installations are very prevalent. Offshore, near the coast, has become another favorable option. The major drawback, however, is that foundation costs increase rapidly as water depths and wave heights increase. Even for shallow water sites, construction is significantly higher, but this disadvantage is in part offset by greater energy production due to stronger and steadier breezes. Because offshore winds are more consistent and less turbulent, wind turbines also experience less stress, promising a longer life span. Nevertheless, for offshore to be cost competitive with land sites—to offset the higher construction and transmission costs—ideal conditions are a close proximity to coastal communities, shallow water, and strong winds. Excellent coastal and offshore locations can be found in China, along some coasts of South America, several countries in Europe, and all islands subject to trade winds.
Early History The earliest evidence of man using wind to provide mechanical power—other than for sailing vessels—comes from th century travel accounts of horizontal wind-powered mills grinding grain in east Persia. Called horizontal, because the plane of rotation of their sails was horizontal, the rotors were two-stories in height, and surrounded by walls. There would be an opening in the direction of the prevailing wind so that the wind could pass through, strike the sails, and exit through an opening in the backside. It took considerably longer before windmills began to appear elsewhere. The first clear reference from China occurs in . Diffusion to Western Europe occurred slowly as well: first France in , followed by Yorkshire England in , and finally reaching the Low Countries by . Despite the delayed introduction, by there were over , windmills in Holland alone, with comparable numbers to be found in England, France, Germany, and Finland as well. Windmills, as well as watermills, marked the first significant step in breaking beyond the power output of man (and his domesticated draft animals) using basic technology such as the wheel, the gear, and pulley. All animals, including man, have a limited ability to sustain power. Even the most fit human can only sustain an effort of around . horsepower. Obviously, gathering great numbers of men together—concentrating manpower to pull ropes in building pyramids or man oars for trade ships—was only possible because of a labor surplus. It also took planning and was costly to ensure sufficient food and time for rest. That is largely why the proliferation of windmills (as well as watermills) in Europe is thought to have been the result of a labor shortage. Early windmills were rather primitive and inefficient, but by , post windmills (a whole structure built over a large pivoting post) were generating up to eight horsepower, and by , tower mills (only rotor axle and brake wheel mounted above tower rotated) had reached horsepower. Compared to manpower, wind afforded far greater power production with a minimal investment of man and materials. Because the major functions
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were part-time tasks of grinding grain and pumping water, the intermittent nature of the wind was not a major drawback. Unlike inland, where the combination of elevations and swiftly flowing water made watermills the energy source of choice, coastal and port towns that were not located close to swiftly flowing rivers turned to windmills. Developers obviously knew coastal sites offered access to unobstructed winds, and they probably had an anecdotal feeling that offshore breezes seemed stronger. It was likely only anecdotal since this was well before a scientific understanding of convection currents and the nature of offshore breezes. Considering the sheer number of windmills that had already been built, development was almost completely driven by trial and error experimentation, and not through any firm scientific understanding of wind and aerodynamics. It was not until , shortly before James Watt and Matthew Boulton began to successfully market the steam engine, that Swiss-German mathematical physicist Johann Heinrich Lambert first described the conditions necessary for the initiation of convection currents in the atmosphere. On a micro level, a better understanding of aerodynamics also led to several major improvements in windmill design by th- and th-century European inventors and engineers. Instead of the blades being at fixed angles, it was discovered that efficiency improved by twisting the blade a bit from root to tip and cambering the leading edge (much like modern propeller blades). Another important development was the fantail. In , Edmund Lee developed a fantail that would rotate the blades back into the wind during a change in wind direction. About the same time, to improve milling, windmills began to include devices to regulate the milestone’s pressure on the grain. In , John Smeaton, a great British civil engineering scientist, published a set of experiments modeling the natural power of water and wind to turn mills. In regards to wind, two of his most important findings were the benefit of giving the blades a twist, and calculating an optimum blade pitch of to degrees, far less than the prevailing theory of degrees. Despite improvements in windmill designs and a better theoretical understanding of aerodynamics and the nature of wind, the useable energy from winds proved too intermittent, unpredictable, and limited (too light to generate sufficient power) to compete against steam engines in the early th century. Steam engines could be located anywhere that could be supplied by coal, providing inexpensive, dependable, and consistent power hours a day, seven days a week. The steam engine became the quintessential prime mover for any kind of stationary application. Except for small windmills in the Great Plains of the United States, and the grinding of grain in developing nations, wind energy applications quickly declined. Hope for a revival arose anew as demand for electricity was growing in the s. Charles Brush constructed a massive wind powered wheel (over meters in diameter) to test the economic feasibility of generating dc electricity from wind energy. Shortly thereafter, Poul La Cour, a Danish engineer, developed wind energy devices using wind tunnel experiments and new materials such as steel. By several hundred of his devices were operating in Denmark, generating dc electricity for charging batteries.
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However, the reality of inexpensive fossil fuels and advances in steam turbine technology doomed any future for competitively priced wind-generated electricity. Modern History In the mid-s, a reexamination of wind-generated electricity began in reaction to the energy crisis and environmental concerns about emissions from burning fossil fuels. Significant subsidies, especially in the United States, supported research into both traditional horizontal-axis and vertical-axis designs, and resulted in the construction of wind turbine farms in a few very favorable locations. By , in three California mountain passes alone (Altamont, Tehachapi, San Gorgonio), there were over , wind turbines in operation. First generation wind turbines experienced significant component and material failure due to a lack of knowledge about the range of different winds, and the ability of designs and materials to withstand stress caused by wind gusts. However, by the late s, government-supported research and development dramatically improved the performance of second-generation wind turbines. A series of advances in airfoils, designed specifically for wind turbine applications, resulted in a percent increase in annual power production. Although most first-generation wind turbines were designed to rotate at a constant speed, sophisticated electronics were developed to make it possible to adjust to variations in wind speeds, increasing the range of wind speeds that the turbine could operate, and thereby improving performance. Energy production proved even more competitive when advanced blades were used on taller tower installations with larger rotor diameters, and advances in material science made it possible to manufacture lighter and more flexible blades. Without sacrificing strength, the more elastic material reduced loads, limited fatigue damage, and thus dramatically extended the life of the blades. Despite notable successes, local residents began to voice objections to the noise and the visual blight of wind turbines. Environmentalist were pleased with the success of a promising renewable energy source, yet were deeply concerned about the mortality rate for migratory birds flying into blades. Fear of “not in my backyard” objections, and considering the limited number of favorable sites away from population centers, several European countries began feasibility studies for offshore wind turbines in the early s. These studies were followed by a comprehensive study, the European Wind Energy Programme (Task VII, –), by the International Energy Agency (IEA). At a practical level, Europe realized that their countries were too densely populated, and total energy demand too great, for wind energy on land to ever provide a major share of electricity production. However, many countries do have favorable offshore winds and long coastlines where the addition of offshore turbines could dramatically increase overall wind energy production. The areas of study included wind data, foundations, and the need for an understanding of combined wind and wave loading, and the options for construction and maintenance. The first offshore wind farm was built in by the utility company SEAS a few miles off the north coast of Denmark’s, Lolland Island. Located near the town of
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Vindeby, the wind farm consisted of ,-kilowatt, three-bladed wind turbines. To study offshore wind conditions (particularly turbulence), and improve designs for future installations, two anemometer masts were erected at the site. SEAS was confident of superior wind conditions, but surprised by electricity production that turned out to be percent greater than for comparable land sites due to stronger and steadier winds. A second offshore wind farm followed in . Constructed by the utility company, Midtkraft, three miles off the Jutland peninsula and approximately two miles from the small island of Juno, it consists of ,-kilowatt pitch-controlled wind turbines with two marine-specific design features. Each wind turbine was equipped with an electrical crane so that major parts could be replaced without a floating crane, and each used a higher velocity gearbox that allowed for a percent higher rotational velocity—resulting in five percent greater electricity production. Without noise emission constraints, blade tip speeds could be higher, which makes smaller transmission ratios and lighter drive trains possible. The Netherlands made its first offshore commitment to build two wind farms in shallow freshwater sites. The first was a very small wind farm at Medemblik, Isselmeer in (four, -kilowatt turbines), and a second much larger wind farm followed in just outside the dike in Droten, Isselmeer (twenty-eight, -killowatt turbines). In , Sweden began offshore wind production with a small wind park in Bockstigen. Biologists conducting an environmental impact study at Bockstigen in discovered an unexpected benefit to offshore wind turbines: they promote marine diversity. The foundations developed into excellent artificial reefs, creates thriving new homes for fish and mollusks. Because offshore sites were performing better than expected, construction costs kept dropping, and as opposition to land-based sites was growing, by the late s offshore wind turbine farms were on the verge of tremendous growth. Borrowing from experience in the offshore oil and natural gas industries, developers were bringing down the cost of the undersea foundations and cabling necessary for offshore installations. A – study by Danish utility companies and three ocean engineering firms concluded that steel was more competitive than concrete for large offshore wind farms, and that constructing turbines in depths of up to meters of water was still economical. It was also determined that lower towers were warranted because of the very smooth surface of the water. Denmark proved most enthusiastic about expanding offshore energy production. A executive order from the Danish government instructed Danish utility companies to build five demonstration wind farms, totaling megawatts of electrical power. The decision to forge ahead with the world’s largest investment ever in wind power was partially based on a study drafted by the Danish utility companies for the Ministry of Environment and Energy that identified , megawatts of potential power from four suitable sites within Danish territorial waters. Prospects were so promising that there was talk of an interconnected Europe and Denmark becoming a net exporter of electricity.
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The first demonstration wind farm was constructed in at Horns Rev, . to . miles off the coast of Jutland, the most western point of Denmark. Using megawatt turbines, the total capacity of megawatts made it the largest offshore wind farm in the world. The second, Nysted Offshore Wind Farm, followed in . Located approximately six miles south of the coast of Lolland, the installation consisted of eight rows of nine turbines. Each of the wind turbines had a capacity of . megawatts, for a total of megawatts. Despite greater capacity, electricity production actually proved slightly higher at Horns Rev because of better wind conditions. Despite electricity production at Horns Rev and Nysted turning out to be better than expected, fiscal concerns led to the Danish executive order to scale back to only two wind farms in . The United Kingdom, with the best wind resources in Europe, also began subsidizing wind as well as other renewable energy sources beginning in the early s; but out of the wind turbines in operation by , only were offshore. The small proportion of offshore sites is certain to change as coastline sites become scarce and opposition continues to mount against the unsightly look of wind turbines. It is likely that hundreds more offshore wind turbines will be needed for the British Government to meet the commitment of percent of electrical power coming from renewable energy sources by . Several other offshore projects are in the works as well. In , in response to commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the government of Ireland approved the largest offshore wind park in the world. Along the -mile long Arklow Sandbank, six miles from the coast, the Irish government granted approval for up to turbines to generate up to megawatts of electric power— percent of the country’s needs. The first seven, General Electric’s .-megawatt wind turbines (also the largest in the world) were installed in . Arklow continues the trend of fewer and larger (multi-megawatt) offshore wind turbines. This is based on the fact that higher capacity comes with only a marginal increase in offshore foundation construction costs. Ironically, only a decade earlier, many governments abandoned research and development of multi-megawatt turbines because the costs of manufacturing, installing, and maintaining these turbines were extremely high. For example, after the Growian turbine was built in , and shortly thereafter, it developed cracks in its -meter rotor. Thus, the German government decided to dismantle rather than spend an estimated $ million repairing it. However, thanks to advances in materials—materials with better elasticity as well as strength—multi-megawatt wind turbines became more economical per kilowatt of generating capacity than smaller turbines for offshore installations. Unlike Europe, the United States does not have many ideal offshore sites. An exception is off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. In , Cape Wind Associates, LLC of Boston proposed developing an offshore wind farm generating of up to megawatts with wind turbines—enough electricity to supply a half million homes. Cape Cod is one of the few ideal offshore sites for the United States because
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the water is shallow and the area receives some of the strongest offshore winds in the United States. The problem, however, is the fierce opposition from local residents and vacation homeowners who loath the thought of seeing hundreds of wind turbines mar their scenic view, even though they would be virtually out of sight at five miles offshore. If Cape Wind Associates can attain the necessary Federal permits (favorable Environmental Impact Statement), the wind park might start generating power as early as . Despite continued advances in wind turbine technology, the future for offshore installations is uncertain. The growth in offshore wind turbine farms that started in the s can be credited to the decision to subsidize renewable energy as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is questionable whether this commitment will continue. If the subsidies end, it would take significant increases in fossil fuel prices for offshore wind turbine technology to stay competitive. Yet if fossil fuel prices increase dramatically, as some energy analysts project, even deep water installations—large wind farms on floating constructions—could eventually become viable. John Zumerchik References and Further Reading Cook, E. Man, Energy, Society. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, . Chapman, J. “Wind as a utility generation option.” In The Energy Sourcebook, ed. Ruth Howes and Anthony Fainberg. New York: American Institute of Physics, . Golub, R. and E. Brus. The Almanac of Renewable Energy. New York: Henry Holt and Company, . Nye, D. Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, . Otway, F. . “Offshore wind energy: Comparisons of British, Swedish and Danish Studies,” Central Electric Board, IEA, London. Smil, V. Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, .
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III Issues Pertaining to the World’s Seas and Waterways
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AQUARIUM INDUSTRY For thousands of years, people have reacted strongly to the ocean. While some feared the ocean because of its mystery, danger, and inaccessibility, and others merely viewed it as a resource for food and other commodities or means of transportation, it was those enraptured by the sight of beautiful and colorful creatures effortlessly propelling themselves through water who drove efforts to bring the ocean’s wonders to where they could easily be seen and enjoyed. Aquariums, whether on a small, home-scale, or on a large, institutional scale, became places where people could see or keep fish, along with many other types of marine invertebrates, amphibians, mammals, and plants. Whereas maintaining a large aquarium is challenging regardless of the circumstances, salt-water aquariums require the most maintenance and expense. However, they remain the most popular, as the greater diversity and colorful nature of saltwater species continues to draw great admiration from visitors. Early Aquariums From the earliest Sumerian times, people have kept fish as curiosities. Pliny the Elder records in the first century a.d. that people kept fish as oracles and in large marble ponds as decorations. In China, the first record of goldfish-keeping occurred about the year , and Japan took up the tradition in the s. As Europeans established trade with Asia, goldfish came back to Europe in the s. For centuries, with only a rudimentary knowledge of how to sustain sea life, people experimented with the best way to keep saltwater fish alive outside of their natural habitat. In the s, scientists delved in earnest into the problem of keeping saltwater fish alive in tanks. It seemed evident that the fish needed to have circulating water in order
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FISH AND WILDLIFE ACT (1956) Signed into law on August 8, 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, this law created the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which held the status of a federal bureau and the responsibility of two new departments: the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. The Congress declares that the fish, shellfish, and wildlife resources of the Nation make a material contribution to our national economy and food supply, as well as a material contribution to the health, recreation, and well-being of our citizens; that such resources are a living, renewable form of national wealth that is capable of being maintained and greatly increased with proper management, but equally capable of destruction if neglected or unwisely exploited; that such resources afford outdoor recreation throughout the Nation and provide employment, directly or indirectly, to a substantial number of citizens; that the fishing industries strengthen the defense of the United States through the provision of a trained seafaring citizenry and action-ready fleets of seaworthy vessels; that the training and sport afforded by fish and wildlife resources strengthen the national defense by contributing to the general health and physical fitness of millions of citizens; and that properly developed, such fish and wildlife resources are capable of steadily increasing these valuable contributions to the life of the Nation. The Congress further declares that the fishing industry, in its several branches, can prosper and thus fulfill its proper function in national life only if certain fundamental needs are satisfied by means that are consistent with the public interest and in accord with constitutional functions of governments. … The Secretary of the Interior, with such advice and assistance as he may require from the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife, shall consider and determine the policies and procedures that are necessary and desirable in carrying out efficiently and in the public interest the laws relating to fish and wildlife. The Secretary, with the assistance of the departmental staff herein authorized, shall develop and recommend measures which are appropriate to assure the maximum sustainable production of fish and fishery products and to prevent unnecessary and excessive fluctuations in such production; study the economic condition of the industry, and whenever he determines that any segment of the domestic fisheries has been seriously disturbed either by wide fluctuation in the abundance of the resource supporting it, or by unstable market or fishing conditions or due to any other factors he shall make such recommendations to the President and the Congress as he deems appropriate to aid in stabilizing the domestic fisheries; develop and recommend special promotional and informational activities with a view to stimulating the consumption of fisher products whenever he determines that there is a prospective or actual surplus of such products; take such steps as may be required for the development, advancement, management, conservation, and protection of the fisheries resources; and take such steps as may be required for the development, management, advancement, conservation, and protection of wildlife resources through research, acquisition of refuge lands, development of existing facilities, and other means.
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to have enough oxygen, as saltwater stagnated quickly, but aquarists needed a way to get the oxygen into the water with minimal stress to the fish. In , Jeannette Power de Villepreux devised a type of tank that stayed in the ocean most of the time but could be lifted up for several hours for observation of the fish inside. This laboratory device was a breakthrough in captive observation of sea creatures, but most people did not have the luxury of the seashore to keep their tanks close by. In , Anna Thynne discovered that if different types of organisms, such as seaweed, snails, and fish, were placed in a tank together, they were able to maintain the water’s balance without too much external stress. Although she is credited with having found the proper aquarium balance, Robert Warington accomplished the same thing around the same time. As the idea of aquariums became popular in the s, Philip Henry Gosse started the trend of using the term aquarium. He also created a large, successfully balanced aquarium, about which he wrote a book, but in the book he did not articulate how other people could simulate his aquarium, so the aquarium industry still had no definite answers for how to maintain an aquarium properly. Gosse actually put things together in his aquarium that would not normally have gone together in the wild, yet his aquarium survived quite well. The London Fish House in Regent’s Park, London, was the home of the world’s first public aquarium, opened in . Most early public aquariums were constructed within or in conjunction with a zoo. Since aquariums on their own did not draw enough money to fund their astronomical upkeep costs, many aquariums also had to have a sideshow to get the people to come in. The aquarium movement, which had been wildly popular in Britain in the s, had somewhat died out by the end of that decade, and both public and private British aquariums were abandoned. However, in continental Europe and in America, experimentation continued. In Germany, Emil Adolf Rossmässler tested a freshwater aquarium, which proved to be easier to maintain than the saltwater version. Freshwater aquariums did not have as much visual interest as saltwater aquariums because freshwater life is not as colorful; but freshwater tanks had the advantage of greater convenience. Some, in an attempt to combine the two options, tried to teach saltwater fish to live in fresh water, but such experiments always resulted in disaster. In the United States, aquariums were popular because of a book by Henry Butler titled The Family Aquarium, published in . In , the Smithsonian Institute unveiled an aquarium, and Butler himself was instrumental in starting the Boston Aquarial Gardens, one of the first public aquariums in the United States. The Boston Aquarial Gardens were the brainchild of P.T. Barnum, who had exhibited aquariums in his American Museum in New York City. With backing from Barnum, James Ambrose Cutting, a marine scientist, and Henry Butler opened the gardens in . From the beginning, the backers of the gardens argued over the purpose of the aquarium. For Barnum, everything was entertainment—the stranger the fish, the better (including one in his American Museum, which was a monkey and a fish sewn together to
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make a “mermaid”), and good treatment of the sea creatures was important only because they had to be kept alive so people would come. Cutting appreciated the entertainment that sea animals could provide: he trained two seals to perform, one of which could play musical instruments on demand. However, Cutting believed that an aquarium’s primary purpose was to educate the public about the sea and its inhabitants. Because of Cutting’s belief, lectures were given at the gardens from its opening. This disagreement about the purpose of aquariums is one that continues to be debated today. A new development in public aquariums occurred in , when the Jardin d’Acclimatation opened in Paris. This aquarium was radical in its goal to simulate an underwater experience: tanks were embedded in the walls, instead of standing in the middle of the floor, and the only lighting came from within the tanks, so the water and its inhabitants were the main object. Aquariums all over Europe and America followed this trend in the s, attempting to make their decor look grotto-like for an underwater feel. This desire for realism continues in many aquariums today, especially with the use of dim external lighting. In the s, Hugo Mulertt popularized personal aquariums in the United States. Around the same time in Germany, the first societies dedicated to aquariums were formed. The increased interest in aquariums led to people wanting to own more exotic fish.
Illustration of late th-century public aquarium. Public aquariums were a wildly popular form of entertainment in the United States during the late s. Library of Congress.
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The importation of exotic fish was a major ethical dilemma during the late th century. The major difficulty in getting exotic fish was in arranging for their transport. Very often, successful transport required a large investment, so some of the fish merchants chose instead to ship the fish in bad conditions. Many people viewed this treatment as cruel to the fish, and so they protested against exotic fish importation. This dilemma also continues to the present. As technology about water oxygenation and filters progressed, more and more cities began to build aquariums for public entertainment. However, by this time, new aquariums were built near the ocean’s coast to facilitate research about the ocean and its dwellers, which were only secondarily meant for public viewing. For example, in –, when Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was built, the institute built an aquarium for study, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography came soon afterward in . Since the early th century, more improvements have been made in aquariumkeeping. Oceanariums, large tanks that simulate the ocean in the number and variety of fish, as well as in the habitat, became popular in the s and remain popular today. Modern oceanarium tanks appear in aquariums along with specialized fish tanks; the current trend in many public aquariums is to separate exhibits by ecosystem, as well as to have a large ocean tank. Larger windows create a greater sense of realism for the spectators. Major concerns for today’s public aquariums include conservation and observation. Conservation efforts span as large as housing whale sharks, which the world’s largest aquarium, the Georgia Aquarium, has the capacity to house and observe. Personal aquariums have matched the trend of public aquariums. Today, more than $ million annually is spent on personal aquariums in the United States, and more than million sea creatures are sold annually in the United States and Europe. Aquarium species have become both a benefit and a detriment to wild species. In Southeast Asia, where many of the tropical aquarium fish are harvested, the aquarium industry is fueling some islands’ economies. However, because of aquarium dumping into public water sources, non-native aquarium species such as water hyacinth are taking over certain water ecosystems. As the st century begins, the aquarium industry continues to struggle to find the balance between conservation, fascination, and education. Abby Garland References and Further Reading Brunner, Bernd. The Ocean at Home: An Illustrated History of the Aquarium. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, . Doordan, Dennis. “Simulated Seas: Exhibition Design in Contemporary Aquariums.” Design Issues , no. (Summer ): –. http://www.jstor.org/ (accessed January , ). “From Cauliflower Corals to Clown Fish.” September , . http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/ Archive//Oct/-.html (accessed January , ). “NEAq History.” New England Aquarium. http://www.neaq.org/about_us/mission_and_vision/ aquarium_history/index.php (accessed January , ).
AQUARIUM INDUSTRY Padilla, Dianna K. and Susan L. Williams. “Beyond Ballast Water: Aquarium and Ornamental Trades as Sources of Invasive Species in Aquatic Ecosystems.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment , no. (April ): –. “The Nation Builds an Aquarium.” Science News , no. (April , ): . “US Dept of State—Trade in Aquarium Fish Becoming Sustainable Industry.” http://usinfo.state. gov/gi/Archive//Oct/-.html (accessed January , ).
C
CARTOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY The production of modern, accurate, up-to-date nautical charts, as well as facilities and processes for the progressive updating of these charts, is the primary task of the Hydrographic Office of a maritime nation. That office may be affiliated with the naval component of the armed forces of the country, such as in Malaysia, or a commercial enterprise, in the instance of Australia, which is tasked to be profitable. The work associated with the office is to ensure that nautical charts of a sufficient scale are available for all ports, harbors, and their approaches, roadsteads, and anchorages for the entire country. These graphics may depict sea lanes and recommended tracks, especially in the vicinity of convergence areas of marine traffic such as those adjacent to light-vessels in traffic separation zones, and to offshore installations such as oil rigs, oil-producing platforms, and other artificial islands. The surveying and charting of less-densely navigated areas close to shore and offshore, and to bathymetric (depth) and marine scientific surveys, including investigations of the oceans and seas surrounding the coastline must also be a task handled by the organization. Ideally, where the scale of the chart permits, maritime jurisdictional zones— international as well as national—should be delineated so as to avoid any disputes that may arise if there is an actual or perceived encroachment into territorial waters of the state. Such a situation arose off the coast of Iran on June , , when it was alleged that a patrol boat from the Royal Navy entered an Iranian territorial sea in the northern sector of the Persian Gulf in the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which divides southern Iran and Iraq. Where appropriate, and within the confines of the chart, this premise would include the depiction of delimited maritime boundaries between states. Coastal and island states could maximize the benefits obtained from the potential wealth on the land, and in the adjacent seas and its legal continental shelf and substratum,
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by utilizing the information contained on the nautical chart, the bathymetric, and the topographic maps. The last two named concepts, in many instances, are the responsibility of a national mapping authority. Not surprisingly, cartography and hydrography of land and coastlines of countries was a primary goal of early exploration. With good maps, shipwrecks could be avoided and land claims firmly established. Amerigo Vespucci, who would later have a continent named in his honor, used his cartographic skill to prove that Christopher Columbus’s discovery was not the eastern coast of Asia, but rather a continent in its own right. Captain James Cook’s voyages through the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans also vastly increased cartographic knowledge and laid the basis for the claims that would become the British Empire. Cartography Cartography may be defined as the art and science of compiling, fair-drawing, and printing a map or series of maps that display spatial information and the regional terrain through the use of colors, patterns, and symbolism. Such information is portrayed, at a pre-determined scale on a variety of mediums—paper, plastic, and in the contemporary sense, in a digital format electronically. The concepts of generalization, rules for layout, balance, and color combination as well as precise prose in a distinctive font are combined to ensure that the graphic is not only aesthetically pleasing but also easy to read by the user. The cartographer is tasked with producing a map that requires assembling the data, then classifying and selecting those items that will be displayed and incorporated on the graphic. Cartography has evolved over many centuries and is evident in the fine rare maps of an earlier period, and also apparent in the contemporary atlases, national maps, and commercial enterprise products that are readily available. Maps may be classified as topographic or thematic. The latter, as implied, may portray a single theme of a particular subject, for example, demography, geology or vegetation; the former, displays the nature of the terrain and human-induced infrastructure, such as bridges, roads, and built-up areas of cities, towns, and villages. Hydrography and the Nautical Chart A chart is a graphic specifically designed to meet the requirements of marine navigation. It portrays the depth of water, the nature of the seabed, elevations (heights) of structures, for example, lighthouses and towers, and terrain—hills and mountains—(conspicuous to the mariner from the sea), configurations and characteristics of the coasts and potential dangers. Accurate tidal data, tidal streams, seabed data, and magnetic variation would be shown as well. The nature and shape of the seabed in all essential details are accurately portrayed on the nautical chart; each item of data must be portrayed and maintained with the highest degree of accuracy, and must be compatible with all other charts in the series. The nautical chart, Sailing Directions or Pilots and List of Lights and other related publications are informative documents that complement the information contained therein.
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A nautical chart is one of the end products of a hydrographic survey, and is compiled into a natural scale depicting such information as the depth, underwater dangers, and hazards of the seabed that may endanger the ship and lives of its crew. A chronometer, magnetic, and gyro compasses, parallel ruler and pair of dividers, radar, satellite navigator and sextant (as with the nautical chart) are practical instruments and tools that aid marine navigation. A chart, like a map, is also a legal document. Under the SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) Convention, Chapter Regulation , a ship is required to have on board, charts that are “… adequate, up-to-date and necessary for the intended voyage.” The provision does not state that the charts to be carried are to be made of paper, but until recently it has been assumed that this is what is meant. The chart may be tabled as a document in the Court of Marine Inquiry following an accident or collision at sea. Thus, the paper chart should continue to be the primary product of the national Hydrographic Office. Provisions in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which entered into force on November , , require coastal and island states to deposit with the United Nations, copies of the large-scale charts, upon which are delineated the territorial sea baseline system that the country employs. The baseline or datum is used by that state to measure the seaward limits of its maritime jurisdictional zones; for example, the territorial sea (at most nautical miles), contiguous zone (a belt extending at most nautical miles over which a nation has more limited jurisdiction), and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) (extending at most nautical miles, over which a nation may claim rights over the use of marine resources). These charts must be officially recognized by that state. The nautical chart is more than an aid to navigation; it functions as a legal document. Potential Users of Nautical Charts The most likely user of the nautical chart is the mariner. Mariners, which include fishers, commercial boat/ship owners, weekend sailors, and other private boat-owners, use charts to navigate their vessel from an initial departure point to a destination. Many mariners are experienced sailors and good navigators, yet there remain a few who, although they have a sound understanding of seamanship, do not possess knowledge of offshore navigation, especially when their vessel is beyond sight of land. Other potential users of the nautical chart include shore-based authorities such as search and rescue centers, customs and excise personnel, surveillance agencies, government instrumentalities, offshore exploration companies, oceanographic institutions, port authorities, and offshore civil and engineering and construction companies. Now more than ever, the marine sciences are dependent on the information contained on nautical charts. The concept of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) has brought to the fore the need for spatial and temporal information as layers are built upon a database to enable a geographical analysis of events and phenomena and for urban, regional, and coastal zone planning. The same argument would apply to any electronic chart and electronic system that was intended to replace the paper chart.
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Electronic Chart/Electronic Navigation System The Electronic Chart (EC) was conceived in the early-s. Global Positioning Systems (GPS), other radio navigation techniques, computer technology, and electronic charting introduced a whole new intelligent ship Electronic Navigation System (ENS). The concept of combining information of the ship’s position derived from a LORAN-C (LOng Range Aid to Navigation) DECCA radio navigation system with an image from the radar on a computer screen whose backdrop is comprised of a vector, or rasterized image, of a chart of a particular geographical region has developed since . An added potential of the electronic chart is that it can correct and /or update information by via a USB drive or CD-ROM (which can be inserted into a computer) containing relevant information, and hence eliminate the tedious process of manually correcting all the charts that are required during a voyage. For an officer in charge of such a task, correcting thousands of charts that were held on board the ship was a daunting process. The GPS is now available for marine use -hours a day and is providing -meter accuracy of positioning anywhere in the world, which increases to about five meters when used in the differential mode (DGPS). Differential corrections can be accessed from INMARSAT satellites.
Geodetic Data All geodetic data is individually identified. The GPS system employs the WGS- datum, which covers the entire world. Other datum may also cover the entire world, or just a small portion of the planet. By default, GPS units will depict the ship’s position on the chart using WGS- (World Geodetic System-) data, but they can also depict the ship’s position using any one of about different geodetic data. Charts and maps that are compiled using different datum will show the same numerical value of latitude and longitude in slightly different locations. On most GPS units, the WGS- label is highlighted, however, it is a simple task to change it on the system by selecting the data of one’s choice to suit the geographical region. There is a position correction factor (PCF ) in the GPS that facilitates the capability to move or offset the position on the display to match the one on the chart. In general terms, the PCF should only be used if the chart on board the ship indicates what the possible error might be, and should always be reset at zero when the task is completed. Whenever data is converted from one form to another, there is the risk of over- or under-interpretation. For example, errors may result in the conversion process when data from an ENC is used by the manufacturer of an ECDIS system (define). Specifications and standards have been established in S- Edition and other IMO and IHO publications. Caution is required when deriving data from an ENC. Discrepancies may result through inappropriate scaling of the chart data caused by survey errors, horizontal datum errors, and uncertainties, unreported changes, and obsolescent survey technology.
CARTOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY
A variety of reasons may be offered for survey errors—environmental, human, and instrumental. Changing mediums are particularly problematic. Three-dimensional realworld data obtained from the survey is neither easily depicted on a two-dimensional flat piece of paper, nor when information contained on that paper chart is depicted on a monitor. From the late th century, Blind Navigation Aids have been used, as they are devices capable of guiding a vessel into a channel and towards the intended berth by employing the Electronic Navigation System (ENS) in conjunction with DGPS and keying-in or entering the ship’s intended track numerically without reference to the paper chart. In principle this is acceptable, however, the unknown factors are cause for concern. Problematic unknowns include eddies, appreciable changes in wind strength and direction, or the onset of a sandstorm. If another vessel is approaching but changes its intended action at the last moment, as is often witnessed in confined waterways such as harbors or approaches to a navigation channel, these actions can be problematic. There is no substitute for local knowledge. Any unreported changes may result in instances where an ENC has not yet incorporated new features, such as reclaimed land, a new jetty or a drifting buoy. The Notices to Mariners publications play a vital role in offering safety to navigation and to the processes of updating the charts in a folio, or in digital media. The process of digitizing charts began in the mid-s. It will take some time to produce and integrate into the ECDIS; in the meantime, rasterized charts (scanned images of existing paper charts) are being used quite successfully. IMO has revised the ECDIS standards to incorporate raster-scanned images of charts. ECDIS, a Back-Up and Paper Chart The ECDIS is one part of a bridge system that combines technology, procedures, and operators through an efficient human-machine interface. ECDIS is a robust information system containing sailing directions, tidal information, and data derived from the radar, echosounder, and other aids to navigation. It can provide real-time tide, ocean current, and marine environmental information, and at the same be a real-time intelligent piloting system. Safety increases for single decision-makers on a one-person navigation bridge because it permits quick access to more navigational information. However, unless there is a backup system, there is an increased vulnerability, particularly during critical passages in confined waterways in the event of a system failure and/or a total blackout due to software problem or a loss of electrical power. Thus, there remains a need to retain a stand-by paper chart version to cover the planned voyage. ECDIS and GIS ECDIS is an effective tool for safe navigation. The application of ECDIS on commercial ships, ECS (Electronic Chart System) for yachts, and ENS (Electronic Navigation System) using current technology with GPS (Global Positioning System) benefits both mariners and shipowners by offering real-time display of the vessel’s position, and in turn may improve safety.
CARTOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY
The exceptional qualities of ECDIS make it an ideal tool for Geographic Information System (GIS). Additional layers of environmental information could be overlaid on the electronic chart, for example, in the unlikely event of an oil spill resulting from a marine accident such as a grounding or collision of a ship(s). However, when this data is overlaid on the base data provided by ECDIS, there are considerable copyright concerns among hydrographers and navigators. There also are implications if non-mariners use the electronic chart. Many are not conversant in the use of paper charts, especially when it comes to applying magnetic variation or measuring distances other than in a north/ south direction. Besides, without the aid of a list, or book of the chart abbreviations and symbols, they are left to a game of guessing as to what some of the alphabets and icons indicate when portrayed on a chart. There is a fear that such users will also be baffled by similar symbols when they view the electronic version of the hydrographic chart. ECDIS has been universally adopted. It has demonstrated, particularly in times of reduced visibility, its cost-effectiveness to shipping, as delays in berthing can be reduced or eliminated. Mariners must ensure that they do not depend solely on one system without some means of occasional cross-referencing or verification. They must heed audio and visual alarms. ECDIS must not be seen as a substitute for the observance of good seamanship nor for neglect of an effective watch-keeping throughout a voyage. The system and the paper chart, together, must be seen as more than an aid to navigation, However, it must not lull the mariner into a false sense of security. The misuse or wrong interpretations of the data are the same in the current regime as they apply for the electronic media and there are legal implications. There are many more entities that must share the responsibilities when ENS is employed. For the nonmariner, archivists, and researcher it is hoped that the paper chart will be made available long after ECDIS is introduced. Vivian Louis Forbes References and Further Reading Andreasen, Christian. “The IHO, Electronic Charting and the Changing Relationship to Ports.” International Hydrographic Review , no. (): –. Forbes, V.L. The Maritime Boundaries of the Indian Ocean Region. Singapore: Singapore University Press, . Grabowski, Martha and Steve Sanborn. “Smart Charts, Smart Bridge: Observations of the Shipboard Piloting Expert System.” International Hydrographic Review , no. (): –. Keer, A.J. “A Worldwide Database for Digital Nautical Charts.” International Hydrographic Review , no. (): –. Keer, A.J. “International Perspectives on ECDIS.” International Hydrographic Review , no. (): –. Knight, Peter. . Chartmaking by the Private Sector. Proceedings of the Hydrographic Surveyors Association, Fremantle, Australia. Weeks, C.G. “ECS or ECDIS—or ENS.” The Hydrographic Journal ( July ): –.
CUSTOMS
CUSTOMS The customs services around the world were established to help regulate goods to and from a location, but more importantly, to collect taxation from these goods. Although they now serve to protect national boundaries, including sea boundaries and rivers, against restricted or banned imports, in the past their major role was to collect tariffs from goods coming from one part of a country to another, or over international boundaries. As a result, the customs services of most countries serve three roles: () Prevent the importation of certain items. Such items may include narcotics, banned literature, and pirated material. () Regulate items that only can be imported in a particular manner, such as prescription drugs and medicines, firearms, pornography, and animals or livestock— the latter being because the result of quarantine restrictions for particular countries (e.g., the United Kingdom in response to Foot and Mouth Disease and Rabies, and Australia regarding a large number of diseases, and also bacteria and microbes). () Collect revenue from items that can only be imported—excluding duty free allowances such as alcohol and tobacco products —by payment of taxes. Although historically this was the major role of customs, by the late th century these aspects had become minor. The British Customs Service, H.M. Customs and Excise, operated from medieval times, with King John centralizing the system in the Winchester Assize of –. He ordered that customs dues were to be paid into the State Exchequer (Treasury), and the Magna Carta of noted that “Ancient and Rightful Customs” were to be collected by the Crown. King John’s grandson, King Edward I, enacted legislation to regulate it, by which time the duty was levied on one-fifteenth of all goods brought into the country and exported overseas. However, it was not until that the first customs officers were appointed. Two of the people who worked for the Customs Service in medieval times, Geoff rey Chaucer and Richard “Dick” Whittington, became famous in other fields, the first as a writer, and the second as Lord Mayor of London, celebrated in the folktale, “Dick Whittington and His Cat.” During the reign of King Charles I, there were problems mounting over taxation, with the King anxious to discover new ways of raising taxes without calling Parliament. Finally, on January , , after the English Civil War had begun, a Board of Customs was created and a Board of Excise was established by the Long Parliament in . Under Prime Minister Robert Walpole (s and s), the government was keen to keep Britain out of war, and used the customs duties to eradicate the land tax. However, the British involvement in the War of Jenkins’ Ear (or the War of the Austrian Succession) led to the government having to raise land tax, and the subsequent resignation of Walpole. By the middle of the th century, the customs service was heavily resourced, and served a major role in British history, with famous Excise officers of this period including the Scottish poet Robert Burns and the radical political agitator Thomas Paine. The collection of taxation by the Customs Service regularly brought customs officers into conflict with coastal smugglers, especially off the south coast of Britain where goods
CUSTOMS
would be smuggled from France. The cost of the Seven Years War (–) led to new taxes, and the payment of taxes to the customs also became highly controversial in North America leading to the Boston Tea Party of , when locals objected to paying taxes in the form of a stamp duty on certain imported items. During the Napoleonic Wars in , the British Customs Service was able to form a maritime force, and took over control of the Water Guard in . In , the Board of Customs and the Board of Excise were merged, and were able to call on the services of the Royal Navy to stop and search vessels at sea. During the Great Depression in the s, an excise tax was levied on nearly all imports and exports, and provided the government with its biggest single source of revenue. However, when Britain joined the European Economic Community (now the European Union) in , the role of the customs service was changed. They were now responsible for levying the Value Added Tax (VAT), with refunds for tourists when they left Britain. In , they were merged with Inland Revenue to form H.M. Revenue & Customs. Based on the British model, the U.S. Customs Service was established in . It operated from all the ports of entry into the United States, and was under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department. As a major source of funds for the U.S. government until the late th century, collected dues helped finance the Louisiana Purchase and also the purchase of the Oregon Territory. Gradually, other forms of taxation managed to increase, and with a greater move towards free trade, there was less emphasis on customs dues. Following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September , , the Homeland Security Act resulted in the U.S. Customs Service being placed under the control of the newly formed Department of Homeland Security. In South America, during the Spanish colonial period (late th century through the latter half of th century), laws enacted in the region meant that all imports from Europe had to pass through Lima, in modern-day Peru, and from there be transported to many other cities. Because it was much faster to transport goods directly from Europe to Buenos Aires, it was not long before the settlements of Colonia del Sacramento and Montevideo became the center of smuggling to Buenos Aires. Even though they knew where the smugglers were, the Spanish Customs Service was never able to effectively curtail smuggling. As Spanish colonies in South America gained their independence early in the th century, each country began imposing their own rules. One that tried to do so in a seemingly idiosyncratic manner was in Paraguay, where the government of President Francia insisted that all goods taken to the country had to be approved of in advance. Failure to do so led to customs officials in Asunción arresting a number of Britons and others, many of whom languished in prisons for several years until they were released in . Paraguayan customs officers had also been responsible for the arrest of the famous French botanist Aimé Bonpland in , earning them more criticism from the European press. During the th century, other countries started establishing their own customs services, with the Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs Service being set up in . It was controlled by the foreign consuls in Shanghai and this allowed for customs dues to be gathered throughout the Taiping Rebellion, when Chinese officials were unable to
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easily carry out that task. Although the British dominated the customs service, headed by Sir Robert Hart from until , they also employed French, Germans, Italians, Japanese, and U.S. citizens. Following the failure of the Boxer Uprising in China in , the Western powers who invaded the country imposed a massive indemnity on the Chinese government and to pay this, the Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs Service had to hand over its revenue. Among the many foreigners employed by the Chinese Customs were Bertram Lenox Simpson (later the writer and journalist Putnam Weale), the Sinologist J.O.P. Bland, and the writer H.B. Morse. In it was renamed the Chinese Maritime Customs Service and remained in existence until , being the only Chinese government agency to operate continuously from the s to the s. The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency operated in Canada until when it was amalgamated with border personnel and other agencies to form the Canadian Border Services Agency. The Australian Customs Service has operated since the establishment of Australia in and now employs , people in Australia and also overseas. The New Zealand Customs Department started in , being renamed the New Zealand Customs Service in . In , the Customs Cooperation Council was established with the aim of allowing customs organizations around the world to pool their knowledge of smugglers, and standardized descriptions of items. In , it was renamed the World Customs Organization. Alongside them, the World Trade Organization deals with tariff and trade issues. In recent years there has been the emergence of customs unions where two or more countries agree to allow goods to pass freely between them. The European Union, covering countries in Europe, is the largest, but there are other major unions such as Mercosur, which covers Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela, as well as five associate members. These Customs Unions have massively reduced the demands placed on national customs services, while ensuring that the same levels of service and border enforcement are carried out throughout all the countries that are members of the union. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Carson, Edward. The Ancient and Rightful Customs: A History of the English Customs Service. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, . Day, David. Smugglers and Sailors: The Customs History of Australia –. Canberra: A.G.P.S. Press, . Day, David. Contraband & Controversy: The Customs History of Australia from Canberra: A.G.P.S. Press, . Settel, Arthur. A Pictorial History of the United States Customs Service: From Colonial Times to the Present Day. New York: Crown Publishers, . United States Customs Service: A Bicentennial History. Washington DC: United States Government Printing, . Wright, Stanley Fowler. Hart of the Chinese Customs. Belfast: William Mullen and Son, .
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D
DESALINATION Desalination, desalinization, or desalting refers to processes that remove salts from saline water—oceans, seas, or brackish waters—thus making it available for human consumption (potable water), industrial, agricultural and other uses. Chloride, sodium, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, and potassium make up a large proportion of these salts, with many other trace elements present to lesser degrees. As human populations and demand for fresh water grow, limited fresh water resources must be supplemented from other sources through water purification, recycling, and ultimately desalination. Purity requirements for industry often exceed that which satisfies the health needs of human beings, adding to costs of treatment. Among other examples, Tampa Bay’s recent venture into desalination with its Seawater Desalination Plant demonstrates how large urban centers can depend on this technology for fresh water at a reasonable cost. Many other large desalination facilities have been built along the coasts of the Middle East and other places. Presently there are more than , operating desalination facilities worldwide. Water covers about percent of Earth’s surface. Of this, . percent is salt and . percent is fresh water. With percent of the fresh water in glaciers, icecaps, and bound as soil moisture, this leaves only about . percent for use by humans and ecosystems. Pollution has further reduced this usable proportion and forced nations to turn to the world’s oceans to meet the deficit. Water with salinity levels greater than , to , milligram /liter (mg/L) total dissolved solids (TDS) is too salty for drinking or irrigating most crops. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notes that many people find water with a TDS of more than milligram/liter unpalatable, making many sources unacceptable. More than percent of seawater salinity falls between , and
DESALINATION
Joe del Rio, Lower Rio Grande Regional Seawater Desalination project pilot facility operator, holds two graduates of water June , at the Brownsville Shrimp Basin. The one on the left is treated water and on the right is raw seawater. According to a recent report by Global Water Intelligence, the worldwide desalination industry is expected to grow percent over the next decade, entailing $ billion in capital investment by , or $ billion by . AP/ Wide World Photos.
, milligram/liter with brackish water falling somewhere between sea- and fresh water. The Persian Gulf, where many desalination plants are located, has an average TDS of , milligram/liter because of the higher evaporation rate. In general, water with a salinity greater than seawater is called brine. Coastal aquifers form another zone of brackish water may be made denser through groundwater pumping. As it is too salty for most direct uses, it is necessary first to remove excess salt through desalination processes. Desalination is an ancient concept, appearing in Exodus (:–) and in Aristotle’s writings. In the Bible, the people under Moses complain about the bitterness of the water available in the desert. Yahweh directs Moses to a species of wood growing in the vicinity, which Moses takes and mixes with the bitter water, which in turn becomes sweet and pure. In his meteorological work, Aristotle noted how evaporated seawater, when it is re-condensed, becomes sweet, drinkable water that does not revert to its salty, undrinkable state. Ancient Romans also used evaporation and condensation to provide fresh water for their sailors. During the Renaissance, Giovanni Batista Della Porta (–) detailed an apparatus that used solar energy to freshen brackish water through distillation.
DESALINATION
The British Empire constructed the first seawater plant using distillation in Aden (Yemen) as a provision for its ships sailing to and from India in . The first patent for distillation of salt water was also granted by Britain in the same year. By the following year, the U.S. Patent Office granted the first patent for solar distillation to Wheeler and Evans. The year witnessed the first large solar distillation plant, built for a saltpeter mine in Chile. In , the Netherlands built the first large-scale desalination plant in its Antilles possession. Interest in desalination grew further during World War II, fueled by the paucity of drinking water found by allied troops in North Africa, the Pacific, and other isolated posts. Through the s, distillation provided the only practical means of purifying saline waters, but since then government and private researchers have made major advances in desalination technology. In , the U.S. Secretary of the Interior established the Office of Saline Water to fund basic research. U.S. agencies made major research investments from the s through the s. During the s, researchers developed other methods of desalination, including electrodialysis, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, liquid extractions, and freezing processes, stimulated by the need for fresh water in arid and densely populated regions. Between and , four solar distillation plants were built on four Greek islands to supply water to local communities. The largest ever built, on Patmos, provided , cubic meters/day. The energy crisis of the s and the increased costs of shipping fresh water provided stimuli for energy-rich countries in the Middle East and North Africa to increasingly examine and invest in desalination systems. Major commercial facilities were built in the Persian Gulf using cheap energy for thermal evaporation and distillation. During this period, reverse osmosis and electrodialysis became more accepted, dependable, and favored as alternatives. By the s, reverse osmosis had become an important challenger to distillation. Sixty percent of operating global desalination facilities are in the Middle East, with only about percent in the Americas (mostly Caribbean and Florida). Presently, world desalination capacity surpasses million cubic meters, but represents only about . percent of fresh water use. The majority of plants in the United States convert lower salinity brackish water. In Perth, Australia, a , cubic meters/day plant, operating since , uses power that is fed into the power grid from the Perth wind farm, making it the first large-scale operation to use alternative energy. Small communities with sufficient wind energy use wind turbines to operate reverse osmosis installations. Desalination facilities primarily use thermal and membrane processes, which depend on large amounts of energy. Thermal approaches employ principles of heat transfer and phase changes of water–evaporation and condensation; reverse osmosis uses special plastic membranes to selectively separate pure water from salts through the use of differential pressure; distillation, which includes multistage flash, multiple effect, and vapor compression distillation, evaporates and re-condenses water with the salts left behind as a very salty brine. Another method, called ion exchange, replaces ions of dissolved salts with H+ and OH- ions, which bond to form water. Electrodialysis, not used to the extent of distillation and reverse osmosis, uses an electrical current to attract salts and other solids through a membrane, resulting in pure water.
DESALINATION
Present and potential problems accompany the promises of widespread desalination as a solution to worldwide fresh water demands. Limited long-term research presents significant uncertainty concerning the environmental effects of desalination. Thermal methods with auxiliary boilers may emit CO, NO x, and SOx, concentrated brine, and heated effluent. Reverse osmosis facilities might discharge concentrated brine and sludge. Additionally, desalination may result in impingement and entrainment of marine organisms. Impingement is the trapping of fish and other large organisms against the intake structure screens, causing injury and death. Through entrainment, plankton, fish eggs, larvae, and other organisms are drawn into the intake pipes and die when exposed to high temperatures and crushing high-pressure membranes. One large power plant alone may destroy the biological equivalent of thousands of acres of habitat productivity through direct destruction and deoxygenation. Presently, to percent of membrane desalination feedwater is converted to concentrate from brackish water and to percent from seawater. Other naturally occurring elements, such as selenium and copper, may also be concentrated, which could cause harm to aquatic ecosystems. Biocides, antiscalant substances, antifoaming additives, oxygen scavengers, cleaning agents, and anticorrosion chemicals may also be present in waste streams. Membrane systems may require additional detergents and biocides. This waste must be disposed of or eliminated through removal, neutralization, dilution, and use of diffuser technologies and pretreatment filtering. Reverse osmosis chemicals tend to be less hazardous than those resulting from thermal processes, which may contain excess metals and chlorine. However, boron and bromide may prove to be a problem with single-pass reverse osmosis. Increased salinity of the concentrate, about . times that of seawater and its proper disposal must also be further researched. Increasing salinity is already a serious problem in the Persian Gulf, affecting large marine habitats. Increasingly, costly hydrocarbon fuels and their contribution to climate change stress the need for alternative energy resources. One alternative recently advocated is nuclear energy, which offers its own sets of problems. Rising ocean levels could increase saltwater intrusion into coastal water tables, further exacerbating the need for desalination. Storms of increasing frequency and intensity might result from local climatic changes. Cleaning up discharges and improving technologies will add costs to desalination processes that battle to become cost effective against alternative water sources. Reverse osmosis already uses times more energy than traditional treatment. If desalination is to provide a relatively limitless source of fresh water for human needs, further site-specific research is needed to mitigate any untoward effects on people and the environment. Some authors argue that desalination actually takes demands away from traditional sources. Improved technologies in membrane and other processes are lowering the cost of desalination compared to the rising costs of traditional sources, making it more attractive as an alternative. Combining efficient power and desalination plants should help to mitigate the negative effects of either on regional environments. Richard Wojtowicz
DREDGING
References and Further Reading Committee on Desalination Technology, Water Science and Technology Board, Division on Earth and Life Studies, National Research Council of the National Academies. Forthcoming. Desalination: A National Perspective. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. http:// books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id= (accessed July , ). Delyannis, E. “Historic background of desalination and renewable energies.” Solar Energy (): –. Hisham T. El-Dessouky and Hisham M. Ettouney. Fundamentals of Salt Water Desalination. New York: Elsevier, . Sommariva, C., H. Hogg, and K. Callister. “Environmental Impact of Seawater Desalination: Relations between Improvement in Efficiency and Environmental Impact.” Desalination (): –. Thompson, S.A. Water Use, Management, and Planning in the United States. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, .
DREDGING Dredging, the deepening of natural or artificial waterways by removing sediments, is done to guarantee certain depths in navigational channels for ships. As the drafts of ships continue to deepen, so has grown the importance of dredging. While drafts were rarely greater than feet up until the s, st century post-panamax container ships have drafts close to feet, and the largest oil tankers reached nearly feet by the s, often requiring off-shore pipeline loading and unloading. Artificial waterways, which were dredged through dry land by the use of manual tools like spades and blades, date back to ancient China (e.g., Hong-Gou Canal in the th century; on the other hand, b.c.), dredging operations in natural waterways, or off the coasts, which entail the handling of wet sediments in huge quantities, did not come along until the steam age. Early dredging techniques usually took advantage of river or tidal currents for removing the sediments. For example, early dredgers for tidal areas used rake-shaped devices to loosen the sediment at high tide so that the outgoing tides would relocate the sediment. Although effectively relocating sediments, this particular technique did not result in the removal or controlled repositioning of sediment. Removing of sediments out of the waterways and/or controlled reposition became available with the introduction of steam-powered chain-and-bucket excavators or ladder excavators during the second half of the th century, which have been used for nearly every marine construction since that period. The typical chain-and-bucket excavator design consisted of a self-powered steam engine atop a pontoon-shaped ship (with or without its own propulsion). An endless chain of steel buckets—which serve at the same time as the excavator shovels—were mounted on an adjustable rig that could be lowered to a certain depth. While circulating the chain, the bucket-shaped shovels removed the sediment from the ground and lifted it to the surface where the buckets were emptied automatically into barges. These barges were towed away to a depository area.
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Chain-and-bucket excavators could be easily used in calm areas like port entrances or inland waterways, and achieved the best results when the sediments were neither in suspension nor too hard to loosen from the seabed. If the sediment is in suspension, a chain-and-bucket excavator will remove mainly water with only a low percentage of sediment; if the seabed is too hard and/or too rocky, there is a permanent potential risk of breaking the bucket-chain. Nevertheless the chain-and-bucket excavator proved a very successful design that was used for nearly every canal-dredging or deepening of waterway throughout the th century. While the chain-and-bucket excavators were mainly used in sheltered areas, like ports or inland waterways, various other dredger-types have been developed during the th century for special purposes or operations in less sheltered areas. Notably, the concepts of combined hopper and suction dredgers, or combined cutter-suction dredgers, have enabled marine dredging companies to expand their areas of operation throughout the th century. Suction dredgers, first introduced in the s, use pumps to dislocate the sediments from the seabed. While the ordinary suction dredger uses only the pump to remove the sediment, the cutter-suction dredger uses a cutter-head to loosen the sediment from the seabed before pumping it to the surface. Instead of pontoon-shaped vessels, most suction dredgers have a standard hull, which provides better seaworthiness, and consequently dredging operations can be extended out from off the coastlines. Furthermore, many suction dredgers have been designed as hopper dredgers, meaning the hull of the dredger itself can be used for transportation of the sediment to the depository area. Parallel to dredging operations for deepening waterways, floating dredgers were used for winning mineral building materials like sand or gravel. Although the main technical principles for dredgers used for mining minerals and deepening waterways are the same, dredgers of the former were mostly smaller and less technologically sophisticated because they were used mainly outside navigable waterways. Another purpose for the use of floating dredgers is the construction of artificial areas or land reclamation, especially since the s following the introduction of the container to the maritime trade, which required additional land in port areas instead of berths. To fill older port basins with sediments for use as container-storage-areas, enormous amounts of sediment could be relocated most economically with hopper-dredgers. Concurrent with the need for container storage at ports, the average size of crude oil tankers, bulk carriers, and container ships also grew. The proximity of dredging to increase depth and nearby depositing for port reclamation made the economics of dredging more attractive as well. Only very few ports in the world can be used by such vessels of feetdraft or more without dredging operations. As the seabed is a dynamic system influenced by tidal or other currents, dredging navigational channels, to guarantee a certain possible draft in a navigational channel, is not a one-time business, but a continuous duty. Because of the permanent input from sediment from upstream-regions, the same problem appears on natural inland waterways like rivers. Sophisticated survey and mapping techniques for the seabed have been very effective at controlling the cost of a dredging operation.
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High-resolution sonar systems have allowed operations to minimize the areas to be dredged to effectively achieve the needed water depth. Although floating dredgers became more and more efficient throughout the last century, active dredging is still a very cost-intensive business. In addition, the depository of dredged sediments has become increasingly problematic, especially if the sediments have been dredged in port areas and bare the risk of pollution. Consequently, many waterways authorities have started to reduce dredging operations to a minimum by using passive systems of sediment-relocation instead of active dredging. Passive sediment relocation uses natural currents concentrated in the navigational channels for relocation and prohibits the sediment from settling down in the channel. Unfortunately, passive dredging is mainly limited to rivers and waterways with a permanent one-way current. Beside the question of technological practicability, marine dredging operations are problematic for environmental reasons. Dredging operations, like deepening navigational channels, causes permanent increases of currents, and consequently not only changes ecosystems, but increases tidal ranges as well. Another problem is where to deposit the dredged sediments. Thus, to minimize the environmental impact, many modern dredging operations try to avoid the removal of sediments out of a particular marine system by filling natural troughs close to the underwater hills to be removed. Up until the s, most marine dredging operations were owned and operated by waterway authorities, but the cost of large floating dredgers and the need for expertise resulted in industry consolidation and privatization. Dutch and Belgium companies, in particular, have become famous for their knowledge and experience in marine dredging operations and operate their vessels all over the world. One of the largest marine dredgers today is the hopper-suction dredger VASCO DA GAMA built in , with a total length of feet and a hopper capacity of , cubic yards. Designed for large-scale land reclamation projects like the building of artificial islands, the VASCO DA GAMA normally works in water depth of to feet when gathering sediments. Although marine dredgers were designed for dredging purposes, some of the hoppertype vessels are also equipped for oil-spill recovery. The combination of their hopper capacity and the fact that their pumps are able to handle water in crude-oil emulsions, made them an ideal tool for immediate action after an oil spill. For example, the hopper dredger NORDSEE, owned by the German government, is equipped with two sweeping arms with a combined capacity of to , tons oil-water emulsion recovery per hour. Although hopper dredgers are normally not as efficient as specialized vessels in removing oil from the sea surface, they are widely available and excellent tools for immediate oil recovery after an oil spill. Although detailed comprehensive figures for global dredging operations are not available, the global annual turnover of the private and public dredging companies was around , million Euro (), compared to a little more than , million Euro in . Although a large share of the additional turnover is related to the creation of artificial islands and other projects in the Middle East, nearly all other markets (except America and East Asia) grew by over percent between and . This trend
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is likely to accelerate as enormous post-panamax container vessels with , TEU capacities or even more (draft > feet) require port authorities all over the world to deepen waterways again, as more or less no port of a major commercial center can be reached permanently with feet draft without dredging. Ingo Heidbrink References and Further Reading Conradis, Heinz. Die Nassbaggerung bis zur Mitte des . Jahrhunderts. Berlin: VDI-Verlag, . Dredgers of the World. Ledbury, U.K.: Dayton’s, Oilfield Publications, . Herbich, John B. Coastal & Deep Ocean Dredging. Houston: Gulf Publishing Co., . Miller, John H. Dredging on the Pacific Coast. San Francisco, CA: Press of H.S. Crocker Co., . Scheffauer, Frederick C. The Hopper Dredge. Its History, Development and Operation. Washington DC: U.S. Government Print Office, . Turner, Thomas M. Fundamentals of Hydraulic Dredging. New York: ASCE Press, .
E
ELECTRICITY, LIGHTING, AND LIGHTHOUSES Lighthouses, which originally alerted ships by fire, have been an important navigational aid for shipping since ancient times. The earliest surviving references to lighthouses are in the Iliad and the Odyssey in about the eighth century b.c.e., The most famous lighthouse in the ancient world was the Lighthouse of Alexandria on the island of Pharos in Egypt, built around b.c.e. during the reign of Ptolemy II, or Philadelphus. The Lighthouse of Alexandria was believed to be about – feet (– meters) tall, making it one of the tallest manmade structures of the ancient world, and writers have long since identified it as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. This led to the term Pharos, being the Latin term for lighthouse and the close derivation in Greek (f£roj), Italian and Spanish ( faro) and French ( phare). Similar terms also are used in Bulgarian, Romanian, Albanian, Catalan, and even Swedish. The English word pharology still denotes the study of lighthouses, and the lighthouse at Alexandria lasted until at least the th century (by it was in ruins). The Romans also built a number of lighthouses, with one at Ostia, the port of Roma, being built in about c.e. Another was constructed in France at Gesoriacum (Boulogne) when Caligula was planning an invasion of Britain; it was repaired in by the Emperor Charlemagne and was maintained until . The lowest feet of the existing structure are Roman, with the top feet being medieval, on top of which there was a large bonfire. There was another lighthouse at nearby Western Heights, and indeed others elsewhere in Britain including one at Deva (Chester), but these have not survived. The Tower of Hercules, located near Corunna, Spain, possibly dating from Phoenician times, was remodeled during the reign of the Emperor Trajan (– b.c.e.) and remains the only ancient Roman lighthouse still in use.
ELECTRICITY, LIGHTING, AND LIGHTHOUSES
Built in the third century b.c.e., the Pharos of Alexandria lighthouse was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This depiction, by Johann Fischer von Erlach, dates from around . Though the lighthouse (fire and reflective mirrors) fell in the th century, it has architecturally influenced buildings ever since. Historical Picture Archive/Corbis.
In China, one of the minaret on a medieval mosque at Guangzhou served as a lighthouse, and the Liuhe Pagoda at Hangzhou, built in , was a lighthouse for sailors using the Qiantang River. Chinese medieval writers also refer to the Persians using minarets as lighthouses at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The Lanterna in Genoa, Italy, was built in about , and rebuilt in . Although it was important in its own right, in the “keeper of the light,” as he was known at the time, was Antonio Columbo, the uncle of the navigator Christopher Columbus. Another well-known lighthouse was at Meloria in Italy, built in and replaced by another at nearby Livorno in . Edward the Black Prince (–) had a lighthouse built on the Island of Cordouan in the estuary of the Gironde River near Bordeaux, France, in about . It was eventually replaced when the engineer Louis de Foix designed a much larger one in . By the time it was completed in , the Island of Cordouan was totally under water, making that lighthouse the first to stand in the open sea. With the increase in shipping in the th century, a number of countries started building lighthouses, with the Hanseatic League in the Baltic establishing up to by . During the early th century, many of these were rebuilt and enlarged. Britain already had a number of lighthouses, with Trinity House being set up to supervise them in . Denmark and Finland followed, establishing their national
ELECTRICITY, LIGHTING, AND LIGHTHOUSES
lighthouse services in and , respectively. The most famous of the early British lighthouses was the Eddystone Lighthouse, which was built on the rocks off Plymouth, on the south coast of England. The first wooden structure built in was totally swept away by a storm in , taking its designer and builder, Henry Winstanley, along with it. The second tower, also wooden, was built in , but was lost during a fire in , which led to the masonry construction of the third tower, designed by John Smeaton. It remained in use until it was replaced by another in , which still stands. The British also discovered a red brick lighthouse on the island of Heligoland in the North Sea when they occupied it in . Although the early lighthouses used fire, usually protected by a roof, since ancient times many had oil lamps or large candles protected from the elements by glass panes. While wood was still used in many lighthouses until , coal was the fuel of choice beginning around . Both were problematic because they required enormous quantities of fuel to be transported and lifted. Coal-fired structures could use up to tons of coal a year, and the smoke produced meant that the window panes would need to be regularly cleaned. The alternative, smokeless gas lamps, proved expensive due to the high cost of whale oil. Argand lamps, using up to concentric wicks, were later developed using mineral oil, but this too was cost prohibitive. The British inventor Arthur Kitson developed burners using petroleum as a fuel starting in , but by this time, electricity was being used more and more. In , the British at Dungeness had started using carbon arc lamps, and in the Heligoland Lighthouse, then occupied by Germany, used arc lamps with the light magnified by mirrors. It was not until the s that electric-filament lamps became used in most lighthouses around the world. These were found to be the cheapest and most reliable in all weather. The first lighthouse in the Americas was Boston Light, built on Little Brewster Island in . Unfortunately the first keeper, George Worthylake, was drowned along with his wife and daughter two years later. When the British left Boston in , it was destroyed, being rebuilt in –, and in was raised to a height of feet. The Sandy Hook Lighthouse in New Jersey, built in , is the oldest surviving lighthouse in the Americas, and the oldest still in operation. Because of the need for lighthouses along the East Coast of North America, the U.S. Bureau of Lighthouses was established in by the th Act of the st Congress. Placed under Federal control, the lighthouses were under the jurisdiction of the Department of Revenue until , the Department of Treasury until , and the Department of Commerce until when maintenance was taken over by the U.S. Coast Guard. Of the many famous lighthouse builders in the United States, one of the best-known is Lieutenant George Meade, commander of the Union Forces at the Battle of Gettysburg in , who designed lighthouses in the Delaware Bay when he was with in the Corps of Engineers in the s. Elsewhere in the Americas, there were a number of lighthouses in South America, the most famous being the Faro a Colón in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Do-
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minican Republic, built to commemorate the th anniversary of the landing of Christopher Columbus. The structure cost $ million, and in spite of its name, does not really serve as a lighthouse in the traditional sense, but to mark the burial place of Columbus, although even this is in dispute. In Britain, the famous Stevenson family was involved in building lighthouses over three generations, with Alexander Mitchell, a blind Irishman, devising a number that were constructed in the screwpile fashion where the piles form a screw to anchor the lighthouse into the river or sea bottom. The Bishop Rock Lighthouse, off the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, represented a significant civil engineering feat because it experienced the worst buffeting of any heavy sea in the world. After the first tower was swept away in , a new tower was built in with the lantern situated feet above high-tide level. The Bell Rock Lighthouse off the coast of Scotland was built in and has been described as one of the Wonders of the Industrial World. There are many lighthouses around the world. The Horsburgh Lighthouse was built in off the coast of Singapore, and was one of several that were maintained by Singapore during colonial times; its ownership was disputed by Singapore and Malaysia, with a government map in the latter country putting it within its own jurisdiction, but with Singapore exercising control over it. In Australia, a wood-fired iron basket light was established from about , with the Macquarie Lighthouse built at South Head, Port Jackson, for ships heading to Sydney. Repaired in , it was replaced in by which time there were lighthouses around the coast of Australia. The Captain Cook Memorial and Lighthouse at Port Danger sits astride the border of Queensland and New South Wales, having been built in . The number of lighthouses declined during the late th century, as on-board navigational tools replaced the main function of the lighthouse. Nevertheless, there are still around , operational lighthouses around the world. Additionally, many groups have formed to preserve the history of lighthouses, including the World Lighthouse Society, the U.S. Lighthouse Society, and the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society. Lighthouses are regularly featured in novels and films—for symbolism as well as historical significance—and the image of a lighthouse serves as the symbolic beacon for a number of organizations and community groups such as the U.S. Organization for the Blind. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Crompton, Samuel Willard and Michael J. Rhein. The Ultimate Book of Lighthouses. New York: Barnes & Noble, . Jones, Ray. The Lighthouse Encyclopedia: The Definitive Reference. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, . Jones, Ray and Bruce Roberts. American Lighthouses. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, . Phillips, Valmai. Romance of Australian Lighthouses. Adelaide: Rigby, .
EUROPEAN LAWS AND TREATIES
EUROPEAN LAWS AND TREATIES Although European laws and treaties regarding fishing date back to the th century, the commercial shipping industry remained largely unregulated. However, concerns about security and environmental protection led to more stringent maritime laws and treaties in the s, following a number of shipwrecks that occurred along European coasts. By shipping companies flying flags of convenience to hire cheap labor and minimize tax payments, large European shipping companies lost market shares to globalized and unbundled forms of outsourcing. These firms were less reliable in respect to security, social, and environmental standards (because of old, unchecked dumping ships). Further, the size and volume of shipping was also increasing. In particular, the increasing demand for crude oil by the developed world vastly increased the transit of oil. Before European authorities could take collective regulatory action, they had to take into account the global maritime economy and the right of the European community to assert a common stance in front of international stakeholders. Up until this time, imports to Europe were minimal; agriculture and inland shipping services prevailed for decades. Yet both the commission and public opinion—alarmed by the potential for a wreck of an oil supertanker, the social statutes of their crews, and the respect of rules about pollution offshore—demanded rules and action. Later, the terrorism issue was added because the U.S. government, following the September terrorist attacks, proposed inspection of shipping containers at their port of origin. Rules were established in July by the U.S. Congress that will not be fully operational until (with Southampton already testing it), because of the enormous logistical challenge considering the enormity of containerized world trade. Within arguments raised at the International Maritime Organization, at the European Seaports Organization (ESPO), or several shipping lobbying associations (European Shipowners’ Association or ECSA; International Chamber of Shipping; The International Association of Independent Tanker Owners; the Oil Companies International Maritime Forum, etc.), a few standards have been, or are being, defined since the turn of the st century. Europe has joined a worldwide code protecting the security of ships and ports, which was adopted in December and took effect in July . Lagging Collective Efforts When sovereignty over territorial waters was extended, it emboldened European nations to gain greater control over maritime shipping, on their own as well as collectively. In the first row of measures intended to promote safety and quality for shipping during the s, European authorities looked more as if they reacted a posteriori to maritime events in the name of environmental protection and for the safety of passengers. Spontaneous collective action was taken to forge rules of circulation across the maritime corridors, mainly through the English Channel, with impacts upwards or downwards to be respected. For example, air quality monitors in many nations began to check the emissions coming from ships, particularly as ships cleaned their fuel store.
EUROPEAN LAWS AND TREATIES
In December , security was the driver of the first European directive to regulate the compulsory pilotage of vessels in sensitive maritime channels such as the North Sea and the English Channel. Later, in June , Europe urged its members to adopt international conventions concerning passenger ferry safety and the prevention of marine pollution. This was followed in by a regulation that fixed mutual recognition of safety and pollution prevention certificates among EU members, and a text mandated modern radio navigation systems throughout European waters. A directive about state port control arrangements, posed the very first outlines for collective European action, but addressing maritime issues collectively was a slow process due to a historical tradition of respecting the sovereignty of nations and the lack of jurisdiction over international waters. Proactive Decisions Benefitting from the November Maastricht Treaty that replaced unanimity with majority rule, comprehensive common rules (or directives) were established, leading to a second wave of actions. The process gathered momentum during the late s, assisted by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which insisted on the rights of coastal states to impose shipping rules. This was further aided by the UN General Assembly resolution calling for a process of reinforcing the law of the sea. The European Union had to assume, by itself, initiatives to settle a specific code of standards based on the intensity of transit and the population density along the coasts and close to hub ports. Before the European Maritime Safety Agency (Emsa) was set up in to coordinate consultative processes and initiatives, huge wrecks (mainly Erika in December and Prestige in November ) created intense reactions. Two packages of measures were proposed in – (Erika I and Erika II) to prevent and mitigate future wrecks. The process of collective reforms was accelerated in the mids with several proposals about common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organizations (called “classification societies”), a traffic monitoring and information system, investigations of accidents, civil liability, and passenger rights. In the fall of , the European Union delivered a broad package of stringent measures to guarantee the safety of maritime transport with more proactive rules to assure better compliance among EU states. Several of the countries at the times still did not adhere to reliable practices. The aim was to reinforce state control of ports, to ban substandard ships, to impose double-hull oil tankers, and to require notebooks detailing regular checking inspections from well-recognized firms. The goal was to raise the proportion of regularly checked vessels entering ports from an average of percent to percent for high-risk ships. The commission demanded that states effectively monitored compliance with international high-quality standards (essentially the ISO / standard) because maritime transportation had to respect more seriously the “safety of life at sea convention” (SOLAS) and the convention regarding the prevention of pollution of marine environment (MARPOL) through new uniform criteria for gradually checking and stiffening sanctions. The goal was to end the common practice of delaying deadlines for budgetary
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savings. Rules defined by the International Maritime Organization had to become mandatory, and European databases had to be set up to collect information necessary for better cooperative action. More effective control of classification societies (to eliminate straw men for low-grade shipowners) and financial sanctions was the best means of reducing failures to comply. Actual European Directives The completion of such a program has been, and is still, a long-term process, but action took shape steadily: the Parliament adopted a resolution approving directives agreed to by the commission, but the first two programs remained somewhat hollow, even if, in November , rules were imposed on ports to create facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues. The key oil tanker reform, which specified that single-hull oil tankers carrying heavy fuel oil would be forbidden to enter or leave European ports by , was enacted in October . What has been called “the third maritime safety package” began in and the pace of policy implementation accelerated in the wake of the Joint Ministerial Conference of the Paris and Tokyo Memoranda of Understanding on Port State Control held in Vancouver in November . In September , fighting maritime pollution became a directive intended to prevent and repress shipsource pollution because of loopholes in MARPOL / rules (the convention for the prevention of pollution from ships of , updated in ): “Ship-source discharges of polluting substances should be regarded as infringements if committed with intent, recklessly or by serious negligence.” To improve monitoring of compliance, a better coordination of national coast-guard services was then scheduled. In October , port security measures were expanded to include threats of terrorism, and EU member states required assessment plans from seaport authorities and stakeholders to monitor their implementation. In April , common rules and standards for ship inspection, survey organizations, and maritime administrations were delivered. Even criminal sanctions have been prepared under the control of the European Court of Justice, which had to guarantee that the rights of defendants—even low-grade shipping companies—had to be protected. Throughout and , more packages of improvements for maritime laws were being negotiated, with final directives still pending, because of the importance of legal and financial issues. The general purpose of EU actions has been to address enduring weak points in the maritime safety system, and to guarantee that requirements for globalized competitiveness did not impede high quality sea transport and impose an economy that sacrificed safety for cost-savings measures. It is acknowledged that a zero-risk modern economy is unrealistic. Although European economic power has been on the decline since the early s, European maritime dominance persists (in particular since Malta and Cyprus joined the EU). Because the countries in Europe manage percent of the world fleet, and control about percent, it is imperative that global shipping passing through European ports and waters is regulated efficiently to ensure the safe transit of over one billion tons of oil and over million containers of high-value freight. The vision is
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toward a collective corporate responsibility, as Europe can take the lead toward sustainable maritime development, exercising their power through bargaining agreements with non-European states over common standards of maritime safety and reliability rules in reciprocal treaties. Hubert Bonin References and Further Reading European Union Transport and Services. http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport (accessed January , ). European Union. http://www.europa.eu/ (accessed January , ). Farantouris, Nikolaos, E., “Shipping in Europe and the Emergence of a Common Maritime Transport Policy.” Hellenic Maritime Law Association Publications (). Greaves, R. Transport Law of the European Community. London: Longman Group, . International Maritime Organization. http://www.imo.org (accessed January , ).
EXPLORATION Initial exploration by most civilizations was by land using horses, camels, and wagons. This limited the expeditions to their own continent or island, and these treks could also be dangerous on account of other people who could easily attack the explorers, especially at night in unfamiliar territory. Gradually exploration came to encompass going much further afield, and this involved ships. In the Mediterranean, ships belonging to the Greeks, the Phoenicians, and what were collectively known as the Sea Peoples, succeeded in connecting with, and trading with, every island in the region. Early surviving Greek books speak of the many islands in the eastern Mediterranean. The most wellknown book is the Odyssey, ascribed to Homer, which covers the adventures of Odysseus (Ulysses) who, after returning from the Trojan War, undertakes a series of voyages of exploration at the behest of the Greek Gods.
HUGO GROTIUS Hugo Grotius is famous in ocean management for popularizing the term “freedom of the seas” through his treatise Mare Liberum, which is the 12th chapter in de Jure Praedae. De Jure Praedae was written in 1604, but was not published until over 200 years later; however, the chapter on the freedom of the seas was published as a tract in 1609. Grotius is also recognized as one of the chief advocates for natural law, or laws that universally apply to everyone and are anchored in religion, morality, and simple reason. Grotius’ work on natural law has been very influential to such philosophers as Thomas Hobbes, who used it to help justify modern social theory. Natural law is one reason why Grotius applied mare liberum to all nations.
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Grotius was hired by the Dutch East India Company to argue on their behalf for access to trade routes controlled by the Portuguese. The Dutch were at war with the Spanish and also had tense relations with the Portuguese. Spain and Portugal had laid claims to vast areas of the ocean and were attempting to exclude others, including the powerful Dutch who eventually muscled their way into the waters by taking a Portuguese vessel. Grotius was then hired to defend this action under the principle that all nations had equal right to sea lanes of transportation and the riches beneath them. Grotius was a well-known person of his time and was even called the “miracle of Holland” due to his extraordinary life. Grotius began studying at the university in Leiden, the Netherlands, at the age of eleven. There he studied math, physics, Hebrew, and Arabic. At age 15, he was part of the Dutch embassy to France. While in France, he completed his doctorate in law at Université d’Orléans. From there, he began a promising law career, as well as becoming the Netherlands Historian at age 21. Three years later, Grotius accepted a position as the Advocate-Fiscal of Holland, which was much like Attorney General. In the year following his appointment, he wrote the Law of Prize, which continues to influence international thought today and contained a chapter called Mare Liberum. When this book was finally published in the 19th century, it was discovered that Mare Liberum, released as a separate essay in 1608 or 1609, was not an anonymous work. In his mid-30s, Grotius became embroiled in a debate about Calvinism. He eventually found himself on the losing side of the debate and spent two years in jail. While in jail he continued to read and write scholarly work. However, his wife, Maria, is said to have helped him in a daring escape in a trunk thought to be filled with books. Grotius would never be able to be a permanent resident of the Netherlands again, and would fulfill the rest of his life as an ambassador to Sweden in Paris. He died of exhaustion after a shipwreck in the Baltic, and completed his life with the words, “By understanding many things, I have accomplished nothing.”
The techniques used in the manufacture of ships improved, and the clear advantage of exploration by sea was that these vessels could not only take large numbers of supplies with them, and bring them back, but if carefully steered, could avoid many of the hazards associated with land travel. At night a small number of guards could alert a crew if a ship was about to be approached, and if the sails were set, much of the travel could be easily undertaken. There were problems in keeping a crew orderly, but the danger of desertion, except at ports, was minimal. One of the earliest major expeditions of discovery, for which evidence survives, was that ordered by Pharaoh Sahure from the th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt (about b.c.e.). He sent a number of Egyptian ships in search of the mythical Land of Punt. There were subsequent expeditions such as that in the reign of the Pharaoh Mentuhotep III (c. b.c.e.) with the most famous being launched by Queen Hatshepsut in the th century b.c.e.
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The Phoenicians are known to have sailed from their ports throughout the Mediterranean, and then as far as Cornwall in the southwest of Britain. In Britain they found tin, which they brought back with them spawning what became known as the Bronze Age. It was the Phoenician admiral Hanno who, in the early fifth century b.c.e., sailed beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, then known as the Pillars of Hercules, for an expedition around the west coast of Africa. The Phoenicians used large sails on their ships, which enabled them to cover long distances, and although most historians believe that they passed what is now the River Gambia, it is not known exactly how much further they went. The Greek sailor Pytheas, in about to b.c.e.. sailed around the west coast of Britain, and possibly as far north as Iceland, before sailing south to the west coast of Norway, and then through the English Channel, around the west coast of France and back to his home port of Massalia (modern-day Marseilles). His discoveries included not only the lands in northeastern Europe, but also references to a creature called “marine lung,” possibly a jellyfish; and “congealed sea,” and other descriptions believed to describe ice flows. Although the book by Pytheas about his exploration has not survived, there is an account by later historians, before his work was lost, and there must also have been earlier voyages to some of the region, with the fourth century c.e. Roman writer, Avienus, describing a voyage by the Greeks some three centuries earlier. Certainly it seems likely that there would have been many others for whom the records have not survived, or during which the explorers perished, and there is clear archaeological evidence of trade (and hence exploration) from the ancient world. Apart from the Mediterranean, already well-mapped by their time, the Romans generally kept to coasts, and do not seem to have embarked on major sea voyages of exploration. They used shipping for military purposes or for trade. The next period of exploration came from the eighth century c.e., when the Vikings started to sail from Norway and Denmark in search of new lands. They did reach the British Isles, but also went far beyond them to settle in Iceland and Greenland. Leif Erikson seems to have landed in North America—possibly the mainland or Newfoundland. With two chronicles describing “Vinland,” archaeological work by Helge and Anne Ingstad has confirmed that the Vikings did reach the North American mainland, and founded a hamlet at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. How much further they went, and whether they returned later and left various rune stones in North America remains a matter of intense historical conjecture. Later ship voyages in medieval times were primarily for trade or for military purposes. In the late th century, the Venetian merchant Marco Polo traveled along the Great Silk Road to China—though some scholars do claim that he never reached there. Nevertheless the stories of the wealth of Cathay (as China was known at the time) attracted great attention in Europe, with the growing power of the Ottoman Empire blocking any landward trading mission. For these two reasons, the Portuguese and other Europeans started to send ships around the African continent in search of a seaward passage to China. Indeed Marco Polo’s description of his return trip, which was largely by sea,
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further encouraged Europeans to embark on voyages of discovery. There remains some debate about where exactly Marco Polo visited, but Sir John Mandeville, an English explorer of the period, was definitely a fraud although tales of his travels did much to influence and encourage later explorers such as Columbus. The Chinese had long sent fleets to Southeast Asia both to explore and to trade. They had made contact with numerous political entities in the region, some of whom promised tribute back in return. The descriptions of these embassies, as they became known, provide some of the only written descriptions of early civilizations, such as that of Funan from the third and fourth century b.c.e. For the most part, the tribute came easily, but the Chinese did launch attacks on some of these countries, including Vietnam. The Mongols were also able to launch attacks on Japan, and Japanese pirates were involved in their own attacks on Korea and other parts of coastal northeast Asia. It was during this time that the Polynesians seem to have embarked on their own voyages of discovery and started populating the islands of the western Pacific Ocean. The Chinese Emperor, Yung Lo, funded a massive series of voyages by the Muslim Admiral Cheng Ho (Zheng He). These seven fleets, sent between and , were some of the largest naval expeditions dispatched outside of war. The first fleet involved or ships, some , crew, and accomplished the mapping of a large part of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. The soldiers he brought with him awed the peoples he met, making his expedition as much diplomatic as pure discovery. Evidence suggests the expedition was far-reaching, with ships from his fleets reaching Australia, New Zealand, and even possibly both the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts of the Americas. Evidence for the latter, based on maps and some archaeological finds, remains contentious. Soon afterwards, the major European voyages of exploration—beginning what was later called The Great Age of Exploration—started with the Portuguese under the patronage of Prince Henry the Navigator; Henry himself never led any of these voyages although he did spend some time in Morocco. These expeditions involved the Portuguese capturing many Moroccan ports, and then continuing southwards in search of opportunities for trade, and also a sea route to India. The legend of Prester John, a Christian King in Africa, also encouraged them, as he was thought to be a possible strong ally as most of the area they were exploring was dominated initially by Muslims and then by animists. By the Portuguese had reached the Gulf of Guinea, and in , Diogo Cao was able to lead an expedition to Cape Cross in modern-day Namibia. In –, Bartolomeu Dias managed to pass what is now known as the Cape of Good Hope, sailing as far as Cape Padrone. Although these voyages did involve trade, they were also very much concerned with exploration, with detailed maps made by the Portuguese who established contacts with the Kingdom of Kongo, and other African states. The next major series of voyages of exploration were by the Spanish. In , Christopher Columbus, a Genoese by birth, sailed in the Santa Maria with two other ships across
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the Atlantic Ocean, reaching the Americas. There is some doubt as to whether or not some earlier expeditions had reached the Americas, although it is now known for certain that the Vikings did. A British court record from the reign of King Edward IV (died ) mentioned “Brazil,” although some historians feel that it probably refers to Newfoundland rather than the place currently known as Brazil. The success of the first voyage of Columbus led to three others. By that time Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer, had sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, along the east coast of Africa to Quelimane and then to Mombasa and Malindi, and finally reached the Port of Calicut in southern India in . He was able to return with spices and confirm the sea route to Asia. Vasco da Gama found that there had been many Arab traders in the Indian Ocean—the Chinese had abandoned their fleet after the seventh voyage of Cheng Ho. Other Portuguese explorers went further, with Pedro da Covilha managing to explore the ports of northeast Africa, and the western part of the Indian Ocean. This left the Portuguese able to map more accurately the coastline of Africa, and also begin exploring throughout the Indian Ocean. As the Portuguese started exploring Africa and the Indian Ocean, and the Spanish the Americas, Pope Alexander VI negotiated the Treaty of Tordesillas in which the world was divided between the two powers. The Americas were given to the Spanish, and the eastern Atlantic to the Portuguese—Brazil being subsequently found to be east of that line. Many of the European countries closely guarded their maps, keeping their new discoveries and the full level of their exploration secret. Columbus himself referred to using other maps in his journal, and the surviving maps have managed to show the level of exploration. This led to a number of explorers going to the Americas in search of new lands, with Amerigo Vespucci giving his name to the continent. It was the Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa who crossed Central America and he and his men became the first Europeans to view the Pacific Ocean. Another Spanish explorer during this period was Antonio Alaminos, who traveled across the Atlantic Ocean in and discovered the Gulf Stream, in turn helping many later explorers. The Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral managed to locate Brazil, which he was able to claim for his king as it was quite clearly east of the line designated in the Treaty of Tordesillas. The division of the world did not stop Ferdinand Magellan setting out from Spain in , and he and his crew circumnavigated the world—sailing down the east coast of South America, discovering and mapping many places including the mouth of the River Plate. They then rounded Cape Horn and crossed the Pacific, reaching the Philippines where Magellan was killed, his crew returning to Spain without him. It was one of the most important early voyages of discovery. The great wealth that some of these explorers believed was available led to the Conquistadors sailing for the Caribbean, and conquering much of modern-day Mexico and Central America, with others— years later—making for the Inca kingdom of Peru. By that time Pedro de Alvarado had been involved in explorations in Central America, and Diego de Almagro had explored northern Chile. Other Spanish explorers started mapping parts of northern America, including the southern Caribbean coast of the
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Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who, while leading the first European voyage to circumnavigate the globe, encountered Argentina and gave names to both Patagonia and the Straits of Magellan. Ridpath, John Clark, Ridpath’s History of the World, .
country, and Florida, which were both explored by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca who then crossed the future Mexican-U.S. border by land, thus becoming the first European to cross North America. The English were keen on launching their own voyages of exploration, and to achieve this they had long aimed for achieving the Northwest Passage, failing to pass through Canada, or conversely travel through the Arctic Circle along the northern coast of Russia. John Cabot and his son Sebastian Cabot had been early English explorers, but neither managed to find much, and the son ended up working for the Spanish before returning to Britain. From until , the English buccaneer Francis Drake circumnavigated the world in his ship the Pelican, later renamed The Golden Hind. It sailed from Plymouth in England, south through the Atlantic, and then to the River Plate, through the Straits of Magellan, and up the west coast of South America, as far north as modern-day San Francisco. He then headed across the Pacific for the East Indies, straight across the Indian Ocean for the Cape of Good Hope, and returned to England up the west coast of Africa. As well as allowing the English to map parts of the world, it also established them as a potentially important maritime power. Drake himself attacked Spanish ships
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in his career, but it was the fortune that he made in his voyage that transformed the English seafarers from explorers to buccaneers. The booty that could be taken became far more important than significant geographical discoveries. The English interest in the Northwest Passage led to Martin Frobisher mapping part of the northern coast of Canada. By this time, Englishman Richard Chancellor had found a sea route to Archangel, and from there went to Moscow. Soon afterwards the Dutch seafarer William Barents sailed around the northern coast of Norway and managed to explore and map the islands of Novaya Zemlya and Spitsbergen. The Northeast Passage was deemed impossible, and the English explorer Henry Hudson, partly inspired by Frobisher, sailed to the east coast of the Americas. Hudson’s initial voyage in the Half Moon in was along the coastline of what is now the United States, from Jamestown, Virginia in the south, up to Nova Scotia in Canada in the north. His second voyage, in –, went much further north and involved the mapping of the north coasty of Labrador, and into Hudson Bay where he perished. William Baffin followed soon afterwards, exploring in the David Strait and going as far as Lancaster Sound, with Baffin Island and Baffin Bay both named after him. It was the French that then concentrated much of their voyages of exploration in modern-day Canada, with Jacques Cartier discovering the St. Lawrence River. Fellow Frenchman, Samuel de Champlain mapped the New England coastline, and set up what became the New France colony. By this time, the Dutch had also started exploring parts of the world, with mapmakers in the Netherlands being highly regarded for their skill. With the advent of printing in Europe, there became a demand for the works of some of these early explorers, with Richard Hakluyt publishing a number of them in a collected edition in English. His The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation (–) did much to continue to encourage exploration. Exploration continued around the world in the s and through the th century. The first change followed the death of the King Sebastian I of Portugal while on a forlorn expedition in Morocco, and his great-uncle Henry died soon afterwards with no children; thus the Crown of Portugal passed to Philip II, King of Spain, uniting the two countries. Although Philip II kept the administration of the two kingdoms separate, it did mean that there was no competition between the two countries from the Iberian Peninsula, as there had previously been. By this time also, the voyages were far more organized, with a number of mercantile companies established such as the (British) East India Company and the (Dutch) Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (East India Company). These were trading companies with shareholders to pay, and as a result exploration was very much a secondary operation to trade. However as the search for new markets and the need for different sources for raw materials, exploration did continue. The Dutch concentrated much of their efforts in the East Indies, previously the preserve of the Portuguese. In , Portugal managed to break away and establish its own monarchy again, and the Dutch used this as an opportunity to attack them. By the late s, the Portuguese colonial trading empire was in decline, and the Dutch were starting to dominate the
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East Indies. Portuguese and Dutch sailors had begun mapping the coast of Australia, and there were major attempts to start mapping the islands of the Pacific, although this did not really happen until the late th century, by which time the world situation had changed considerably. Alexander Hamilton’s book, A New Account of the East Indies (), was the first of many describing foreign ports, and served to encourage further exploration. Britain emerged from the Seven Years’ War (–) as the major seafaring power in the world, and embarked on a major program of exploring, claiming and then mapping much of the Pacific. Captain James Cook became famous as one of the major world explorers during this period, and his books about his exploration sold well. Cook anticipated that his book would sell well, so he tried hard to prevent other people on his ships from keeping journals. The money he made from his own books indicated widespread public interest, and marked the start of financing exploration missions through publishing. Not only in terms of his publishing, but also with the wider range of seafaring instruments available, Captain Cook was able to map his explorations far more accurately than had been the case with earlier explorers. Using the chronometer, he was better able to determine latitude, yet it was left to John Harrison to devise a machine for working out marine longitude. The loss of the American colonies led to renewed efforts in the Pacific, with the establishment of a convict colony in Australia in , and in Captain William Bligh faced the Mutiny on the Bounty in the Pacific. This focused British attention even more on the Pacific, and with the French exploration attempts frustrated by their revolution later that year, it was left to mainly British, but also some American explorers to map the Pacific. Prior to that there had been French explorers such as Jules Dumont d’Urville and Nicolas Baudin, the latter whose expeditions were funded after the French Revolution. Alexander Mackenzie, the Scottish-born Canadian explorer, crossed North America—the first expedition since that of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca—using boats to navigate some of the rivers. On many occasions these boats had to be carried long distances on land. There had already been a number of outstations and isolated settlements in remote parts of North America, but when the U.S. explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark crossed the United States using the rivers, and then crossing the remainder by land, the United States started viewing itself partly as a Pacific power, and this led to U.S. explorers becoming more active in mapping the Pacific Islands. It was, in fact, a U.S. sealer named Mayhew Folger who rediscovered Pitcairn Island in and located the last surviving mutineer from the Bounty some years later. By this time, there was a change in maritime exploration with various, mainly British, adventurers who travelled around Africa in their attempts to locate the sources of major rivers, especially the Niger and the Nile. To pay for the costs of these expeditions, several societies were established in Britain to assist explorers. The African Association, formed in London in , helped fund an exploration team headed by Mungo Park that proceeded, in , into the interior of West Africa to search for the source of the River
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Niger. His book, Travels in the Interior of Africa (), sold well, encouraging Park to return to Africa in January , where, on his second expedition, he died. In , James Bruce began his own search for the Blue Nile. Later explorers, such as David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley, went largely by land, whereas John Hanning Speke and Richard Burton eventually located the source of the River Nile— Speke claiming he did so when Burton was ill—by boat. Samuel Baker had his boat pulled overland by large numbers of Africans, leading to his discovery of Lake Albert. In France, the Geographical Society of Paris helped raise the money needed by the Franco-Italian adventurer and explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, who travelled along the Gabon and Ogooue rivers, and then the River Congo in . The city of Brazzaville was later named after him. As with Africa, a number of explorers started mapping the main rivers in South America, exploring parts of the Amazon, Orinocco, and the Paraguay and Uruguay rivers, which had previously not been well-mapped, with the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt being the most famous explorer in Latin America. Although explorers continued going to remote parts of the world throughout the late th century, the last remaining region then unexplored, often called the Last Frontier, was the Antarctic. The Arctic region had attracted U.S., British, Canadian, Norwegian, and Russian explorers, and these four countries, along with people from Australia, and occasionally from South America, started involving themselves in mapping the Antarctic, although the continent had been circumnavigated by Fabian Von Bellingshausen in . The changing climate, and moves in the ice flows, has meant that maps for the Antarctic have had to be regularly updated. By the early th century, the coasts of all parts of the world were well-mapped by explorers, with atlases having become far more accurate than ever before, although some inland parts of regions such as Borneo, New Guinea, and remote parts of the Andes remained largely unmapped until the s. There has always been an attraction towards exploring, both on land and at sea, but the Great Age of Exploration, coinciding with mapping, resulted in many more permanent changes than had taken place from previous voyages of exploration. One key change during this period was that the explorers of the early modern period named or renamed many of the places, thus changing their identity from then on. Some locations were named after what they represented: the Cape of Good Hope coming to symbolize the beginning of the end of the search for India. There are also places named because of their similarity to other places: Nova Scotia, New Amsterdam (later renamed New York after the Duke of York), New South Wales, New Zealand. The Amazon was named after the female mythological tribe (the Amazons), as some inhabitants of nearby islands were said to resemble these women. Because they felt that they were bringing Christianity to these regions, a large number of explorers gave locations names commemorating the day on which the place had been spotted or settled. Asuncion (Paraguay) and the Ascension Island (South Atlantic) were both named after the Day of the Ascension, Christmas Island (Indian Ocean), and Easter Island (now Rapa Nui, Pacific Ocean) for the days on which they were first spotted; and Columbus named Trinidad for the Holy Trinity. Amerigo Vespucci gave
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his name to two continents, and many other people had islands, settlements, and countries named after them. Sometimes the explorers named the places after their king or queen: the Philippines (Philip II of Spain), Virginia (Elizabeth I “the Virgin Queen”), the Carolinas (Charles I named by his son Charles II), and Maryland (Queen Mary) being obvious examples. Of those who had places named after themselves, Baffin Island (after William Baffin), Bermuda (after Juan de Bermudez), Colombia (after Christopher Columbus), Pitcairn Island (after Midshipman Pitcairn, who spotted the island), are examples, as are the Barents Sea, Bering Sea, and the Straits of Magellan. Certainly the desire to name places after themselves was one of the great desires of early explorers. Since World War II, technological innovation has made the oceans’ depths much more accessible. The development of the self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) has led adventurers, such as the French diver Jacques Cousteau, to explore the greater depths of seas and oceans. Also, such advances in technology have made it possible to explore to great depths for oil, natural gas, and minerals. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Cary, M. and E.H. Warmington. The Ancient Explorers. Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin, . Dodge, Ernest S. Beyond the Capes: Pacific Exploration from Captain Cook to the Challenger, –. London: Gollancz, . Dos Passos, John. The Portugal Story: Three Centuries of Exploration and Discovery. London: Hale, . Fuller, Mary C. Remembering the Early Modern Voyages: English Narratives in the Age of European Expansion. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, . Goodman, Jennifer R. Chivalry and Exploration –. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, . Herrmann, Paul. The Great Age of Discovery. New York: Harper, . Landstrom, Bjorn. The Quest for India. New York: Doubleday, . Parry, J.H. The Age of Reconnaissance. Berkeley: University of California Press, .
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I
International Environmental Laws and Treaties As seas and waterways cover more than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, most any international treaty or law regarding the protection of the environment necessarily has to deal with the world’s oceans, lakes, rivers, and other water features. Ocean problems such as pollution and overfishing can be local or regional, but are often (as in the case of vesselbased oil pollution or depletion of pelagic fisheries) global, or at least of concern to the entire world. Although most freshwater resources, including rivers, lakes, and aquifers, are local resources, waterways are indispensible parts of all ecosystems, and groundwater tables also figure into any environmental considerations. The interconnected nature of the world’s waterways and ecosystems means that environmental factors impacting a local waterway can have global ramifications. Under national environmental laws, protection of the ocean environment is problematic in that the oceans, outside the national waters of any state, are not governed by any state. Thus, along with local agreements developed to deal with water features, there exist many international agreements dealing with the world’s waterways. In 1971, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, which “provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources” was signed by 158 nations, protecting 1,832 wetland sites totaling 170 million hectares. The convention, which continues to meet periodically to refine its mission, is concerned with “the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, regional, and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world” (Ramsar Convention Secretariat 2005).
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ˉ moto (1932–) Akiko DO As a television producer, on-screen personality, member of Japan’s Diet, and regional governor, Akiko Doˉmoto has led the resistance to unfettered development in Japan, one of the world’s most highly industrialized and densely populated nations. Leading campaigns for ecological issues pertaining to both sea and land environments, Doˉmoto has used peaceful protest tactics to contend for the protection of both wildlife and the ecosystems of which they are a part. Already a celebrity, as well as Vice President and Regional Councilor for East Asia of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Doˉmoto had a reputation of taking on both human rights and environmental causes. She was tapped in 1989 to run for a seat in the House of Councilors (the upper house of Japan’s legislative body, the Diet), which she won. Her concern for progressive issues continued throughout her tenure, as she sponsored legislation banning domestic violence, gender discrimination, and child prostitution. In 2001, Doˉmoto left the Diet to run for governor of Chiba Prefecture, which is near the Japanese capitol of Tokyo. As one of the most densely populated areas of a crowded nation, Chiba has had more than its share of both toxic-waste dumping and problems stemming from overdevelopment of sensitive coastal regions. Dealing with the land reclamation projects that have endangered and destroyed much of the region’s tidelands has been her most important task as governor, seeking to include the area’s ordinary citizens in the fight to save their own environment while increasing its prosperity. In addition to her work on issues of concern to her Japanese constituency, she has become involved with global warming and biodiversity issues with the United Nations, which has led to her being named by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as one of “25 outstanding women who have made an important contribution towards the preservation of the global environment.” Steven L. Danver References and Further Reading “The Stars of Asia—Policymakers: Akiko Domoto, Governor, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.” Business Week (July 2, 2001). United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies “G8 Dialogue with Akiko Domoto and Ahmed Djoghlaf on Climate Change and Biodiversity.” Video presentation. http://www.ias.unu. edu/sub_page.aspx?catID=623&ddlID=684 (accessed March 9, 2009).
In 1972, the United Nations issued the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, better known as the Stockholm Declaration. Principle 21 of the Declaration states that nations have both the right to use their environmental resources in accordance with their own laws and the responsibility to ensure that those uses do not infringe on other nations’ uses; but the agreement that deals most specifically with the environmental protection of international waterways is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses
International Environmental Laws and Treaties
(UNCLNUIW), which was passed by the UN General Assembly in 1997. However, the UNCLNUIW has been criticized for not recognizing the special needs of developing countries that are upstream from more developed nations, valuing instead the protection of the pristine nature of the stream for the downstream user, thus preventing the lessdeveloped upstream country from fully utilizing its resource. The UNCLNUIW requires member nations to “take all appropriate measures to prevent the causing of significant harm to other watercourse States,” and “where significant harm nevertheless is caused to another watercourse State, [to] take all appropriate measures … to eliminate or mitigate such harm and, where appropriate, to discuss the question of compensation.” Other environmental laws and treaties that are not directly related to waterways also have an impact on their protection. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the proposed treaty to ban the testing of nuclear weapons underground, underwater, in the atmosphere, and in space, impacts the world’s oceans both directly and indirectly. The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its more famous supplement, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol deal directly with climate change by setting limits on the emission of greenhouse gases from industrialized countries. As climate change impacts the melting of the polar ice caps and the temperature of the world’s oceans, the connection is obvious. In recent years, controversy has surrounded the adoption of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Although more concerned with navigation than environmental protection, environmental concerns have come to dominate discussion of UNCLOS in recent years. In addition to UNCLOS, many other treaties touch on the protection of the world’s waterways, including the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the Convention on Migratory Species, the Vienna Convention to Protect the Ozone Layer, and the Montreal Protocol of the Vienna Convention. Most ocean-specific agreements, by necessity, either establish intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) to carry out enforcement or assign those functions to IGOs, like the United Nations, which are already in existence. For example, the Convention on Future Multilateral Cooperation in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries established the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization to carry out the enforcement of its provisions. As such agreements are constantly the source of international tensions, it is no wonder that the United Nations is the only body capable of establishing marine environmental protection protocols, though its enforcement of those rules, due to the nature of the UN itself, is often wanting. Steven L. Danver References and Further Reading Barberis, Julio “The Development of International Law of Transboundary Groundwater.” Natural Resources Journal 167 (1991).
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Schwabach, Aaron. International Environmental Disputes: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2006.
United Nations. Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. New York: United Nations, 1972.
International Security Throughout history, international security has relied on countries and states protecting their maritime boundaries—seas, rivers, and lakes—from attack. Many surprise attacks on other countries have come by sea, and as a result, countries with maritime boundaries have had to rely on their navies, or the navies of their allies, to prevent attacks. Until the 19th century and the development of the railroads, control of the seas to transport freight by water gave nations an enormous trade advantage. Usually the strong got stronger because the greater the trade by the cities and towns clustered around seas and waterways, the greater the taxes generated to pay for ever larger navies to further dominate trade. In about 1200 b.c.e., the Eastern Mediterranean, the “Sea People” succeeded in attacking Ancient Egypt and also Ancient Palestine, and either pillaging it, or occasionally, like the Philistines, settling in the land that they had conquered. To combat these attacks, the Pharaohs Ramses II and Ramses III established Egyptian navies that managed to protect coastal Egypt from attack. At around the same time, the Greeks launched their fleets to attack the city of Troy sparking the Trojan War. After this, the legends of Jason and the Argonauts and Odysseus (Ulysses) returning to his home island of Ithaca, recorded much about what is known concerning seafaring of that period. The next great naval assault of the period was the invasion of Greece by the Persians. The first seaborne attempt failed when the navy was wrecked during a storm near Mount Athos in 492 b.c.e. A second naval attack started under Xerxes, who marched his army on land, and sent his fleet to cover their advance. By this time, the Greeks had realized that their security depended on having a navy themselves, and thus they engaged the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis in 480 b.c.e., defeating the invaders and leaving Greece safe from attack by the Persians. The Greek navy, some 150 years later, was used by Alexander the Great to attack the Persian Empire. It was the lack of a major Macedonian fleet that resulted in most of the Diadochi Wars, over the succession to Alexander the Great’s Empire, being fought on land. By that time Rome had emerged as an important regional power. In the First Punic War (264–241 b.c.e.), a series of naval battles took place between the Romans and the Carthaginians. Recovery in 1971 of a Carthaginian wreck off the coast of Sicily near Lilybaeum (modern-day Marsala) shows that Carthaginian ships were being built on a mass production line, and battles such as that at Cape Ecnomus (256 b.c.e.) saw a
International Security
Roman fleet of 330 defeating a Carthaginian fleet of 350. It was the first time that battles of this size were fought at sea. The Roman victory in the war ensured their dominance in the Mediterranean for centuries to come. However piracy was also a problem: Pompey was heavily involved in fighting pirates, and indeed the young Julius Caesar was captured by pirates. During this period of the Roman Republic, the security of Rome was determined by the River Rubicon, and the crossing of it by any Roman general accompanied by his army signified an act of rebellion; Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 b.c.e. to take power. The Roman Empire’s push into Britain by Aulus Plautius in 43 c.e. required the building of a large fleet. By about 300 c.e., the coasts of Britain were being raided by Saxons, and because the Romans had no navy capable of repelling them at that time, they constructed forts along the east coast of Britain. The Saxons later settled, and in the eighth century were attacked by Vikings, necessitating the English king, Alfred the Great, to order the construction of the Royal Navy to protect the shores of Britain. The creation of the navy, before a standing army, made the navy the oldest of the services, and thus explains why the navy often marches in front of the army (and air force) at military parades in Britain and former British colonies. By the 11th century, the cost of maintaining a large navy for defense was too great, and the navies that were built were largely for conquest, such as those of Harold Hardrada of Norway and William of Normandy (later William the Conqueror) in 1066. The Normans also built navies to take Sicily, the Crusaders had navies that English knights used to conquer Lisbon, Portugal, in 1147, and Genoa emerged as a major naval power in the western Mediterranean. When King Richard the Lionhearted, from England, captured Cyprus in 1191, he did so by sea; and the establishment of Acre, a port for the Crusaders in the Holy Land, its capture by the Turks, and recapture by King Richard, showed the importance they attached to having a serviceable navy to ensure the security of their supply lines and channels of communication. The Fourth Crusade of 1202–1204, resulting in the sacking of Constantinople by naval attack, led to Venice emerging as the main maritime power in the eastern Mediterranean. With the outbreak of what became known as the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, the early English defeat of the French fleet at the Battle of Sluys in 1340, ensured that England could attack northern France unhindered; this took place in 1346, 1356, and under Henry V in 1415, which led to the French defeat at Agincourt. Similar naval advances were also taking place at the same time in Asia. The Khmer Empire centered on Angkor, in modern-day Cambodia, built a large fleet to protect themselves from attack by the Chams, with numerous battles fought on the Tonle Sap, the scenes recreated on bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat. The Mongols were also able to launch attacks on Japan, but these were largely hindered by the weather; and Japanese pirates were able to raid the Chinese, and especially the Korean, coastlines at will because neither China nor Korea had navies capable of guaranteeing them security from these attacks. The Ottoman Turks generally fought on land, but by the mid-15th century, they had established a sizeable navy that was used in the capture of Constantinople in 1453, then
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in their subsequent capture of Rhodes in 1522, and their attack on Malta in 1565. However, their navy was largely destroyed in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, when a combined Spanish-Austrian fleet was able to defeat them and ensure that Christian Europe would not be under attack from the Ottomans again. By that time, the Portuguese and the Spanish had built merchant navies along with military vessels of their own for establishing large colonial empires—the Portuguese in Africa, the Indian Ocean, and also Brazil, and the Spanish in the Americas. These empires relied solely on the ability of fleets to sail unhindered and attack other places, with the Portuguese taking Goa in 1510, and Malacca in 1511. This led to the Portuguese building large numbers of forts in modern-day Angola, Mozambique and also in their bases around the Indian Ocean, all close to the sea, and able to be reinforced by sea. The Conquistadors of the Spanish Empire, using their ships, were able to attack American Indian populations at will, and conquered a large part of the world relatively quickly. All of these developments led to the establishment of the Slave Trade in the Atlantic. Although colonial empires relied on their navies for their security, the enormous Spanish navy was still unable to protect all of its colonial holdings from attacks on particular ports by a number of English and Dutch sea captains, notably Francis Drake, who sacked Cadiz in Spain in 1587, and later Corunna. Because the size of the Spanish navy did not provide security for all its possessions all the time, the Spanish King Philip II launched the Spanish Armada in 1588, in the hope of capturing England and ending this threat forever. The English navy was able to defeat the Armada, thereby once again protecting England from attack, and firmly establishing British dominance of the sea. The success of Francis Drake managed to encourage the Pirates of the Caribbean who emerged, not just in the Caribbean but globally, during the 17th century. They managed to plunder places seemingly at will. The security of law-abiding people in the Caribbean was only secured when the various governments with possessions in the West Indies ensured that there was no place where the pirates could seek refuge to unload their booty. Concerted attacks on pirates by the European colonial powers effectively ended the era of piracy by the early 18th century. It was during the 17th century that the Dutch managed to take many Portuguese bases, seizing Malacca in 1641, and South Africa in 1652. Sir Francis Drake, and later bands of pirates, showed that many ports in the Caribbean and other parts of the world could be easily attacked; but the Dutch attack in the Thames estuary in 1667, showed the vulnerability of major European cities. By this time, the British had established bases at Tangier and Bombay, but these were largely for trading, and the holding of Tangier was so expensive that the British gave it up in 1684. With the security of Britain determined by her naval dominance, the War of Spanish Succession (1701–1713) and the War of Austrian Succession (1741–1748) both saw no enemy capable of attacking the British Isles, although the British could launch attacks at will on the Continent. The French did plan an attack on Britain in the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), but that ended with a resounding victory for the British, and the Treaty of Paris signed in 1763 guaranteed British control of the seas for many years to
International Security
come. However, because Britain had overstretched itself during the Seven Years’ War, cost cutting started soon afterwards, with the navy being a significant casualty. This left Britain unable to respond quickly to the War of American Independence in 1776 (the Revolutionary War), and the combined French and Spanish navies threatening British colonies in the Caribbean. During the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, there was the first concerted attempt to invade Britain by the French since 1066. Napoleon gathered his forces at Boulogne in 1805, but never proceeded with it. British dominance of the High Seas was confirmed by Admiral Horatio Nelson at the First Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, and more decisively at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The latter victory, resulting in the crushing of both the French and the Spanish fleets, was to set the stage for British naval dominance of the world for more than a hundred years. This certainly helped the British takeover of Buenos Aires in 1806, Montevideo in the following year, and the Portuguese court fleeing from Lisbon to Brazil in 1807. To cement Britain’s naval advantage, the British started establishing naval bases around the world. Isolated places such as Norfolk Island in the western Pacific, the Falkland Islands, Tristan da Cunha, and St. Helena in the South Atlantic, and the port of Aden, became crucial in the network of bases and later coaling stations that would ensure the international security system throughout the 19th century. The French also established and held onto remote outposts, but their fleet would never challenge the British again. Such power left the British able to attack Lower Burma with ease in 1823–1826, respond quickly to the Indian Mutiny of 1857, and to shell Zanzibar in 1896. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 made it easier for the British Navy to travel around the world protecting its colonial interests. The U.S. Marine Corps was able to land on the shores of Tripoli and later in Algeria in campaigns against the pirates of the Barbary States in the early part of the 19th century. By the middle of the 19th century, the United States had a large merchant navy, and was keen on exerting its commercial influence in the world. This saw Matthew Perry force an entry into Japan in 1854, leading to great interest in things Japanese around the world. It also, paradoxically, led to the Japanese deciding to copy Britain’s Royal Navy in establishing a powerful navy of its own. However, any threat that the United States posed to Britain’s dominance ended with the American Civil War, which saw a small number of Confederate raiders decimate the American merchant navy. With the advent of steam power, the war led to the development of armored gunboats on the Potomac, the Mississippi, and other rivers. The use of armed steamboats was also tested in the War of the Triple Alliance, which saw the Brazilian Navy capture the Paraguayan capital of Asunción in 1869. During the latter half of the 19th century, most of the major military powers in the world saw their security determined by powerful navies. The Japanese opened their naval academy and started to build up a large navy that was used to great effect against the Chinese in 1895. In 1900, the power of the navy of the European powers, the Japanese and the United States was thrown against China in the Boxer Uprising, resulting in the
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easy sacking of the Chinese capital, Beijing. The Japanese, now emboldened, launched an attack on Port Arthur in 1905, precipitating the Russo-Japanese War. After defeating the Russians at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, Japan was dominant in the north Pacific. The 1890s and 1900s saw a flurry of activity as the major European powers sought to build large navies, and the British developed the Dreadnought-class, leading to an arms race that was one of the major causes of World War I. The British Royal Navy held a review regularly at Spithead where large numbers of ships steamed past, with members of the British royal family, and also visiting notables, watching. However, times were also changing, and there was the development of submarines that, initially, the British First Lord of the Admiralty, Jackie Fisher denounced as being “dammed un-British,” but then later organized the building of many of these to combat the threat from the Germans. Even the Italian Navy proved useful in their taking of Libya in 1911, and an international fleet at the Port of Durrës made William of Wied into the Prince of Albania, although the outbreak of World War I caused them to withdraw. During World War I (1914–1918), the British government saw the importance of keeping the seaways open to ensure contact with the colonies—transport ships brought over many soldiers from Australia, Canada, India, and New Zealand, as well as elsewhere; and also to protect the trade routes. To endanger these, the Germans had developed a system of using merchant raiders having observed the effectiveness of the Confederate raiders in the American Civil War. The German raider Emden was able to sink a Russian ship in Penang Harbor, and shell Madras, tying up the entire Royal Navy in the region, and also Japanese ships, before being run to ground off the Cocos Islands. The remainder of the German East Asiatic Fleet was able to make for the Chilean coast where they defeated a British fleet at the Battle of Coronel on November 1, 1914, but were destroyed at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on December 8, 1914. In East Africa, there was also a major attempt to locate the Königsburg, which the Germans scuttled on July 11, 1915 in the Rufiji Delta, rather than let it be captured. After these engagements, the British felt that the German navy was unable to affect their international security, although mines such as that which sunk the HMS Hampshire and killed the British Minister for War, Lord Kitchener, on June 5, 1916, still presented a problem. It was also the British desire for ships that led to them seizing two ships being built in Britain under contract from Turkey, thereby precipitating Turkey entering the war. In February 1916, the Germans tried to use submarines to blockade Britain, and the German fleet had then tried to break into the North Sea, which led to the British destruction of the German fleet at Jutland on May 31, 1916. The later use by the Germans of extensive submarine warfare in the Atlantic changed the situation back in German favor, but their sinking of the Lusitania caused the United States to move closer to war, eventually entering the war in 1917. By that time the Panama Canal had been open for three years, and to ensure the security of the U.S. Navy in the Caribbean, in 1917, the United States government purchased the Danish West Indies, which became the U.S. Virgin Islands. Mention should also be made of the battleships Potemkin and Aurora in the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917 respectively; and the French naval mutiny in 1919.
International Security
In the Treaty of Versailles, signed at the end of World War I, the importance of waterways in terms of international security was shown by the fact that Germany, the main aggressor, had restrictions placed on its navy, and was banned from having any submarines that were regarded as being solely used for offensive purposes. From November 1921 until February 1922 the Washington Conference limited naval armaments placing restrictions on, amongst others, the Japanese Navy. However the British spy, diplomat, and naval expert Hector Bywater quickly realized that although the ratio of U.S., British, and Japanese ships had been set at 5:5:3, a European war would give Japan a large advantage in the Far East. His book alerting the world to this was keenly read in Japan, and ignored in the two countries where he had tried to raise interest. In the 1930s, the importance of the navy was recognized by all the major world powers, but budgetary constraints because of the Great Depression forced disinvestment, particularly for the British, who cut back on the size of the Singapore Naval Base being constructed to protect the British possessions in Asia. The Italians used their navy to transport troops to Asmara for the invasion of Abyssinia in 1935, and to Durre”es for the invasion of Albania in 1939; and the Spanish Republican government used their navy to prevent Franco’s forces from crossing the Strait of Gibraltar in 1936, sparking the first major airlift in history. With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the British once again aimed to rely on their World War I tactics of controlling the seas as quickly as possible, and to this end Winston Churchill was appointed as the First Lord of the Admiralty, a position he held until becoming Prime Minister in the following year. He immediately sought to locate and destroy German merchant raiders, and the Battle of the River Plate was the first great British victory of the war. Churchill also devoted much of Britain’s naval resources to the locating and destroying of the German ship Bismarck on May 27, 1941, but not before it had managed to sink the HMS Hood, which was lost with all hands. The British evacuation of Dunkirk showed the importance of small ships used to pull out most of the British forces in France; and the destruction of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir in Algeria, showed, once again, the importance that Churchill placed on Britain’s security being dominant at sea, preventing any possible German invasion. The retention of Gibraltar, and also the famous Malta Convoy to relieve the Mediterranean island of Malta, were important, as was the massive effort the Germans put into submarines in the War of the Atlantic. Churchill himself went by battleship to meet U.S. President Roosevelt off the coast of Newfoundland in August 1941, and indeed the British managed to get Iceland to declare independence from Denmark, and took the Azores, which were owned by neutral Portugal, to help secure the Atlantic shipping routes from the Germans. The British convoys to Murmansk and Archangel from 1941 helped keep the Soviet Union supplied; with Operation Torch and the subsequent invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland also involving extensive use of Allied navies. The D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, was obviously the greatest use of concentrated naval power in Europe in the entire war. In the Pacific War, the oil embargo on Japan, which would have crippled the Japanese Navy, has been blamed for forcing Japan into war, although the fighting had already
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begun in China. Japan tried the same tactic that it had tried in the Russo-Japanese War, utilizing the ideas of Hector Bywater, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Japanese relied heavily on their sea power for their invasions in Southeast Asia. The defeat of them in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, and at Midway on June 1942, caused a quick halt to some of Japan’s most ambitious plans, and would eventually lead to their defeat with the U.S. naval assaults on Guadalcanal in August 1942, Saipan in June 1944, and Okinawa in April 1945. Partly to emphasize the importance of the war’s naval battles, the Japanese surrender ceremony took place on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Harbor. During the Cold War, although most of the fighting in China, Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere was on land, naval power remained important for determining international security. The incident over the British ship HMS Amethyst on the Yangtze River served to emphasize the role of the (British) Royal Navy, as was the Corfu Channel Incident that was to cause much friction in British-Albanian relations. At the end of the Chinese Civil War, the U.S. fleet helped protect the island of Taiwan from attack; and the power of the U.S. Navy helped the United Nations forces launch the Inchon Landing in September 1950, which turned the tide in the Korean War. The seizing of the USS Pueblo in January 1968 by North Koreans was to become a major military clash between the two countries. In the fighting in Indochina, the French used their navy against the Vietnamese Communists at Haiphong in November 1946, and it was planes from U.S. aircraft carriers that some Americans hoped might be used to support the French at Dien Bien Phu. The U.S. naval shelling of the Ho Chi Minh Trail never proved crucial to the war, but the fighting in neighboring Cambodia did partially depend on the beleaguered forces of the Khmer Republic controlling the Mekong River to allow them to bring supplies to their capital of Phnom Penh. The end of British and French naval power was demonstrated by the war over the Egyptian nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956, leading to the canal remaining closed until the following year. This led to a decision by Britain to stop using the Singapore Naval Base, and also to close its naval base in Malta in 1979. By contrast, the U.S. Navy had a largely unchallenged dominance at sea, and the U.S. government used this in an attempt to blockade Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. By this time, the U.S. Navy had started establishing bases around the world with places such as Diego Garcia, Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, and Subic Bay in the Philippines. By contrast, the Soviet Union felt “hemmed in” in naval terms, although they were able to establish a base at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam. Although there was a move by both the United States and the Soviet Union, and also the British, to guarantee their international security through submarines, traditional navies were important for a number of actions such as the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974, the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975, the Falklands War of 1982, and the U.S. mining of Nicaraguan harbors in the early 1980s. Mention should also be made of Israel attacking the USS Liberty in 1967, and the USS Virginia and USS John Rodgers, which shelled bases of Shiite and Druze militia near the coast of Lebanon in 1983.
International Shipping, Trade Laws and Treaties
Other important recent developments involving waterways included the reopening of the Suez Canal by Anwar el-Sadat in 1975, the Iran-Iraq War over the Shatt el-Arab waterway, and the subsequent attempt by Iraq to buy Warbah Island, leading to the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The sinking of the Kursk submarine in Russian waters in August 2000; and the attack by supporters of Osama bin Laden on the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000, both continued to emphasize the importance of waterways in international security. From the 1980s, the environmental movement has also maintained ships of their own, with French agents sinking Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior in 1985; and the Farley Mowat trying to prevent Japanese whaling in the Pacific, an action that the Japanese have continued to condemn as interfering with the security of their scientific whaling operations. Some governments, such as that of John Howard in Australia, also have seen naval border security as important to prevent the arrival of illegal immigrants. Navies are still used by many countries to help maintain their defense, and support operations in other countries, and also to reduce piracy and smuggling. The problems over maritime pirates operating in the South China Sea, and in the Horn of Africa also remain, although they are now far less of a problem than in the past. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Busk, Hans. The Navies of the World. London: Routledge, Warnes & Routledge, 1859.
Dear, I.C.B., ed. The Oxford Companion to the Second World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. Friel, Ian. Maritime History of Britain and Ireland. London: British Museum, 2003.
Honan, William H. Bywater: The Man who Invented the Pacific War. London: Macdonald & Co., 1990.
Lewis, Michael. The History of the British Navy. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1957. Lloyd, Christopher. The British Seaman. London: Collins, 1968.
Rodger, N.A.M. The Safeguard of the Sea: A Maritime History of Britain. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997. Shepard, Arthur MacCartney. Sea Power in Ancient History. London: Heinemann, 1925. Sondhaus, Lawrence. Navies in Modern World History. London: Reaktion, 2004.
International Shipping, Trade Laws and Treaties International seas and waterways present a challenge in the sense that they serve as the borders between nations, while ships of all nations are required to enter or pass through them; thus the passage of effective laws and treaties to regulate shipping of many different kinds, with many different origins, is inherently challenging. Throughout history conflicts have arisen when nations claim sole jurisdiction over what they state are sovereign, and not international, waters. The financial stakes of the designation can be
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enormous. For example, the transit and pilotage fee for each ship passing through the Bosphorus Strait, or Panama and Suez canals can reach tens of thousands of dollars. Up through much of the 19th century, gunboat diplomacy reigned, as the nations with the most powerful navies dictated many of the terms. However, slowly, with the development of more effective international bodies during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, trade laws and treaties covering fishing, mining, sovereignty, and environmental issues were forged either between nations over specific bodies of water, or by international consensus on a global scale.
Panama Canal Convention (1903) Excerpt In 1903, the U.S. government fostered a rebellion on the Panama Isthmus after Colombia refused to allow a canal to be built linking the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, which the United States deemed extremely valuable for both economic and military purposes. Colombia’s inability to put down the rebellion resulted in the formation of a new country across the isthmus known as Panama. On November 18, 1903, representatives from the U.S. and newly formed Panamanian governments signed this convention concerning the building of the Panama Canal, which the United States technically owned until 1979, when it was returned to Panama. Article I The United States guarantees and will maintain the independence of the Republic of Panama. Article II The Republic of Panama grants to the United States in perpetuity, the use, occupation and control of a zone of land and land under water for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of said Canal of the width of ten miles extending to the distance of five miles on each side of the center line of the route of the Canal to be constructed; the said zone beginning in the Caribbean Sea three marine miles from mean low water mark and extending to and across the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific Ocean to a distance of three marine miles from mean low water mark with the proviso that the cities of Panama and Colon and the harbors adjacent to said cities, which are included within the boundaries of the zone above described, shall not be included within this grant. The Republic of Panama further grants to the United States in perpetuity, the use, occupation and control of any other lands and waters outside of the zone above described which may be necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of the said Canal or of any auxiliary canals or other works necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of the said enterprise. The Republic of Panama further grants in like manner to the United States in perpetuity, all islands within the limits of the zone above described and in addition thereto,
International Shipping, Trade Laws and Treaties
the group of small islands in the Bay of Panama, named Perico, Naos, Culebra and Flamenco. Article III The Republic of Panama grants to the United States all the rights, power and authority within the zone mentioned and described in Article II of this agreement, and within the limits of all auxiliary lands and waters mentioned and described in said Article II which the United States would possess and exercise, if it were the sovereign of the territory within which said lands and waters are located to the entire exclusion of the exercise by the Republic of Panama of any such sovereign rights, power or authority. Article IV As rights subsidiary to the above grants the Republic of Panama grants in perpetuity, to the United States the right to use the rivers, streams, lakes and other bodies of water within its limits for navigation, the supply of water or waterpower or other purposes, so far as the use of said rivers, streams, lakes and bodies of water and the waters thereof may be necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of the said Canal. Article V The Republic of Panama grants to the United States in perpetuity, a monopoly for the construction, maintenance and operation of any system of communication by means of canal or railroad across its territory between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. … Article IX The United States agrees that the ports at either entrance of the Canal and the waters thereof, and the Republic of Panama agrees that the towns of Panama and Colon shall be free for all time so that there shall not be imposed or collected custom house tolls, tonnage, anchorage, lighthouse, wharf, pilot, or quarantine dues or any other charges or taxes of any kind upon any vessel using or passing through the Canal or belonging to or employed by the United States, directly or indirectly, in connection with the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of the main Canal, or auxiliary works, or upon the cargo, officers, crew, or passengers of any such vessels, except such tolls and charges as may be imposed by the United States for the use of the Canal and other works, and except tolls and charges imposed by the Republic of Panama upon merchandise destined to be introduced for the consumption of the rest of the Republic of Panama, and upon vessels touching at the ports of Colon and Panama and which do not cross the Canal. The Government of the Republic of Panama shall have the right to establish in such ports and in the towns of Panama and Colon such houses and guards as it may deem necessary to collect duties on importations destined to other portions of Panama and to prevent contraband trade. The United States shall have the right to make use of the towns and harbors of Panama and Colon as places of anchorage, and for making repairs,
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for loading, unloading, depositing, or transshipping cargoes either in transit or destined for the service of the Canal and for other works pertaining to the Canal. Article X The Republic of Panama agrees that there shall not be imposed any taxes, national, municipal, departmental, or of any other class, upon the Canal, the railways and auxiliary works, tugs and other vessels employed in the service of the Canal, store houses, work shops, offices, quarters for laborers, factories of all kinds, warehouses, wharves, machinery and other works, property, and effects appertaining to the Canal or railroad and auxiliary works, or their officers or employees, situated within the cities of Panama and Colon, and that there shall not be imposed contributions or charges of a personal character of any kind upon officers, employees, laborers, and other individuals in the service of the Canal and railroad and auxiliary works. … Article XIII The United States may import at any time into the said zone and auxiliary lands, free of custom duties, imposts, taxes, or other charges, and without any restrictions, any and all vessels, dredges, engines, cars, machinery, tools, explosives, materials, supplies, and other articles necessary and convenient in the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of the Canal and auxiliary works, and all provisions, medicines, clothing, supplies, and other things necessary and convenient for the officers, employees, workmen and laborers in the service and employ of the United States and for their families. If any such articles are disposed of for use outside of the zone and auxiliary lands granted to the United States and within the territory of the Republic, they shall be subject to the same import or other duties as like articles imported under the laws of the Republic of Panama. Article XIV As the price or compensation for the rights, powers and privileges granted in this convention by the Republic of Panama to the United States, the Government of the United States agrees to pay to the Republic of Panama the sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in gold coin of the United States on the exchange of the ratification of this convention and also an annual payment during the life of this convention of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) in like gold coin, beginning nine years after the date aforesaid. … Article XXIII If it should become necessary at any time to employ armed forces for the safety or protection of the Canal, or of the ships that make use of the same, or the railways and auxiliary works, the United States shall have the right, at all times and in its discretion, to use its police and its land and naval forces or to establish fortifications for these purposes.
International Shipping, Trade Laws and Treaties
Since ancient times there have been unwritten laws concerning international shipping. These early efforts generally centered on vessels helping, whenever possible, other vessels in distress; and on the elimination of piracy. Pirates captured Julius Caesar as a young man, and his rival, Pompey was involved in vanquishing most of the pirates from the eastern Mediterranean. However, they continued to be a problem for many years. As a result, it was the Romans who first enshrined actual laws regarding the use of the sea. The existence of some earlier agreements known as Rhodian Sea Law are referred to in Roman legal codes, although no primary written example of it has survived. Roman rules, incorporated into Byzantine legal codes, and augmented by Islamic Law, helped protect the rights of sailors, and made a crucial distinction between voyages on the high seas and coastal navigation. Mention also should be made of the Cretan rules, which established ratings of ship capacities to prevent the overloading of ships. In the British legal system, maritime law, known as Admiralty Law, was introduced by Eleanor of Aquitaine during the reign of her son King Richard I, known as Richard the Lionheart (1157–1199). This involved the establishment of Admiralty Courts that would hear cases, primarily concerning the actions of sailors under the jurisdiction of the various parts of the British Isles. For other areas, a number of rules and laws emerged. For the ports of Flanders, particularly Bruges, there were legal enactments similar to those in England, and the ports of the Hanseatic League introduced their own similar rules, but with some variations owing to the multinational nature of the League. Genoa and Venice also developed their rules, with those in Spain taking some note of previous Islamic laws. The Venetian Republic, and later Genoa and the Hanseatic League, developed the system of the load line, a line painted on the ship to prevent overloading. It was enforced in 1880 as the Plimsoll Line after the Member of Parliament, Samuel Plimsoll (1824–1898). Sea lanes had developed to help take advantage of currents, but these were not enforced as it seemed unlikely that any ships would sail against the current on a regular or extended basis. During the late 15th and 16th centuries, the Portuguese and Spanish were claiming exclusive access to parts of the world they had discovered; the areas divided by the Treaty of Tordesillas, and from which they sought to exclude other nations. The Dutch were keen on breaking into the trading monopolies of other countries. Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), the Dutch philosopher and jurist, came up with the concept of mare liberum—“freedom of the sea”—whereby the sea could be used by vessels from any country, and could not be limited to those of any particular nation. However, the English lawyer John Selden (1584–1654) countered this with his view of mare clausum, or “closed sea,” which would serve to advance English interests as it “closed” areas of the sea to countries that could use them exclusively. According to Selden, the sea could be conquered as could land, and rights to it could be handed over in treaties in the same manner as land. It was not until 1702 that Cornelius Bynkershoek (1673–1743), in his book De Domino Maris, came up with a compromise, which effectively introduced what became known as the “Three-Mile Limit.” For waterways between countries, like the St. Lawrence Seaway, that were less than three miles across, sovereignty was jointly held between the nations.
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Connected with the possibility of maritime boundaries, although most countries could agree on the need to prevent piracy, there was a difficult related question, and that was not resolved until the late 18th century. It concerned the issue of privateers— privately owned ships that would carry a “letter of marque” and this would allow them to plunder ships of enemy nations. The English, in their wars against the Spanish, used it extensively during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It led to many problems between the English and the Spanish, as it was often some time before privateers were notified of the end of a conflict. Privateering was lucrative, which led many to adopt piracy as a way of making money and serving the crown at the same time. This in turn led to the emergence of major pirate attacks especially in the West Indies during the late16th, and throughout the 17th century. With pirates often being able to escape from one jurisdiction to another, the pirates were often able to escape justice. Occasionally shipping laws could lead to major problems, which seemingly had nothing to do with shipping. The use of ship money by King Charles I of England to raise money was one of the causes of the English Civil War in 1642; and making violators of the Stamp Act in America in the 1760s liable to be tried in Admiralty Courts meant that people could be tried without juries, leading to widespread anger among North American people, which in turn led to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1775. Under Napoleon’s Continental System, restrictions were placed on waterways around much of Europe. However, in 1815, the Congress of Vienna declared the freedom of all seas, but the Three-Mile Limit and the control of inland waterways was agreed upon by all nations. However, the Three-Mile Limit later posed problems for landlocked countries. During the 1830s and 1840s, Paraguay insisted on its rights to use the Rio de la Plata, but the Argentine government of Juan Manuel de Rosas blockaded the river to Paraguayan ships. In return the Paraguayan president during the 1830s, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, prevented ships from trading with Paraguay unless they gave prior notice and detailed their cargoes. Failure to do so landed a number of traders in jail in Asunción. It was not until the 1850s that there was a move to have an international treaty to end privateering, with the Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law being signed on April 16, 1856. However, although the U.S. government agreed not to use privateers in the American Civil War, the Confederate navy used its small fleet to great effect, although at the end of the war many of the Confederate sailors were worried that they might be charged with piracy. In 1897, the Comité Maritime International (International Maritime Committee) was founded with the responsibility of standardizing international laws and was involved in drawing up the International Convention on Bills of Lading (the Hague Rules) for commerce, the 1968 Visby Amendments to the Hague Rules, which adjusted the limits in the Hague Rules for inflation and created more modern definitions for terms in the rules, the Salvage Convention, and other issues. These were aimed at removing discrepancies in laws introduced by various countries, and this led to the formation of the International Maritime Organization in 1958, which was a part of the United Nations.
International Shipping, Trade Laws and Treaties
From about 1974, it began to implement many more measures, and this led to the introduction of major agreements, such as the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS), the Collision Regulations (COLREGS), the Standards for Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW), the Maritime Pollution Regulations (MARPOL), and the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Convention (IAMSAR). The most well-known treaty with the aim of defining maritime boundaries and protecting the marine environment was the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which entered into force in 1994, with 155 countries having signed. However these laws have not prevented a large number of disputes over shipping and international trade. Some are concerned about the maritime borders of countries; others are concerned over conflicting rules regarding jurisdictions. The registering of ships has led to some countries allowing lax rules, and their flags have become known as “flags of convenience.” One of the most well-known international cases, and the first brought before the International Court of Justice, was the Corfu Channel Incident during which mines placed by Albania were involved in damaging British ships at the end of World War II. This led to much studying of international maritime law, including high-level officials. Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the former Cambodian Prime Minister, lectured about maritime law for many years in French universities before entering politics. Other disputes have been concerned with the salvaging of wrecks and ownership of wrecks, especially goods found on these ships. Recent findings tend to belong to the insurers, usually Lloyds of London, but there have also been problems over sites with many dead bodies, or those that have been pronounced as war graves. Other major disputes involved resource ownership following major advances in deep sea oil exploration; micro-nations such as the Principality of Sealand located on a British World War II fort, lighthouses such as the Horsburgh Lighthouse, which was the subject of a dispute between Singapore and Malaysia in 1979, some isolated weather platforms, and also ships being used as the base for radio stations such as Radio Caroline. The Japanese have long maintained their right to kill whales for scientific purposes in waters around the world, an issue that has led to many disputes and serious queries about the nature of the scientific discoveries. There is still a question of international communities’ resolve to enforce maritime agreements. In the late 20th century, there have been enforcement problems regarding international sanctions against particular countries, such as the oil embargo on Rhodesia, restrictions on trade with South Africa and Iraq, and various military embargoes against other countries. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Boczek, Boleslaw Adam. International Law: A Dictionary. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005.
Brown, Edward D. The International Law of the Sea. Aldershot, U.K.: Dartmouth Publishing Group, 1994.
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Shaw, Malcolm N. International Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Simmonds, Kenneth R. The International Maritime Organization. London: Simmonds & Hill, 1994.
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) was established in Hamburg, Germany, in October 1996. The ITLOS represents an important component of the United Nation’s Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) compulsory procedures for dispute resolution among state parties. UNCLOS, Article 287, allows state parties to choose between four forums for dispute resolution: the ITLOS, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), an arbitral tribunal, or a special technical arbitral tribunal. The jurisdiction of the ITLOS over an interstate dispute depends on the consent of the parties involved, which is expressed through the acceptance and ratification of UNCLOS.
Arvid Pardo Dr. Arvid Pardo is the founder of the idea of common heritage, which declares that some resources should be commonly held and controlled by everyone on Earth, as opposed to private and open resources which are often controlled by the most powerful. This idea further argues that these commonly held resources should be developed and used to fund humanitarian work worldwide. Pardo was the United Nations’ ambassador for Malta, and first impressed upon the international community the common heritage idea in 1967. His speech to the General Assembly ultimately moved the UN to unanimously adopt UN Resolution 2749 (XXV) on December 17, 1970. This declared that seabed resources under the high seas are the “common heritage of mankind [sic].” However, it was unclear where the high seas started or stopped; thus, the third Law of the Sea Conference was called to settle the dispute. Pardo also advocated for an international agency to manage the leasing of the seabed and subsoil, and to reserve the resource uses for peaceful purposes. Both of these provisions were maintained in the final United Nations Oceans and Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) treaty, making Pardo the parent of at least three very important aspects concerning how the world interacts with the ocean. When he passed away, Dr. Pardo was remembered as the “father of the Law of the Sea” and a “visionary who had a decisive influence” on all contemporary work on the ocean regime. Ironically, mining deep seabed minerals, such as the manganese nodules, still does not occur because it is too expensive. Consequently, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has not passed on the windfall to developing nations that Pardo once imagined.
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
Part of the system for the peaceful settlement of disputes envisioned in the Charter of the United Nations, involves the ITLOS acting as a standing court consisting of 21 judges with recognized competence in the field of the law of the sea. It is accorded by UNCLOS the preeminent position in the resolution and settlement of law of the sea disputes. UNCLOS grants the ITLOS jurisdiction over a variety of international disputes between states involving fisheries, navigation, ocean pollution, and delimitation of maritime zones. The ITLOS has compulsory jurisdiction over the prompt release of arrested vessels and their crews (in certain circumstances and under certain conditions). The tribunal’s Sea-Bed Disputes Chamber has its own specialized jurisdiction over disputes arising out of pollution from seabed activities. History The ITLOS could not become operational until the UNCLOS entered into force. Although UNCLOS attracted 159 signatories in 1982, it did not gain sufficient ratifications to enter into force until November 14, 1994. The dispute settlement provisions of UNCLOS were not an obstacle to states’ acceptance of the convention. Since 1994, the ITLOS, the UN General Assembly, and the states parties to UNCLOS have made great progress in making the tribunal fully operational. At the Conference of the States Parties to UNCLOS, held at the UN in New York in August 1996, the 21 judges of the tribunal were each elected for a nine-year tenure (staggered to three, six, and nine years for each group of seven in the first election). Since the United States is not yet a party to UNCLOS, no U.S. citizens serve on the tribunal. In October 1996, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan inaugurated the new headquarters of the ITLOS in Hamburg, Germany. A flexible system for the settlement of disputes on the seas was established by the statute of the ITLOS (Annex VI to UNCLOS). To facilitate the work of the ITLOS, the statute establishes special chambers to help with the “speedy dispatch of business.” The Seabed Disputes Chamber, as explained in Article 35 of the statute, is composed of 11 members “selected by a majority of the elected members of the Tribunal from among them” for three-year terms. If the need arises, the ITLOS is given the power under Article 15, paragraph 1 to form special chambers, composed of three or more of its elected members, to deal with particular categories of disputes. As a result, in addition to the Seabed Disputes Chamber, the ITLOS has formed three innovative chambers: the Chamber of Summary Procedure, Chamber for Fisheries Disputes, and Chamber for Marine Environment Disputes. The statute also enables the ITLOS to form ad hoc chambers to hear a particular dispute submitted with the approval of the parties involved. Under the statute of the tribunal, a judgment given by any of its chambers is considered as rendered by the tribunal. The ITLOS has been accorded compulsory jurisdiction in respect to certain matters, and its jurisdiction extends to entities other than states. The ITLOS has special competence to hear applications for the prompt release of vessels and crews under Article 292 and to deal with requests for provisional measures under Article 290, paragraph 5 of UNCLOS. Furthermore, the Seabed Disputes Chamber of the ITLOS also enjoys
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compulsory jurisdiction in respect to certain disputes referred to in Part XI, Section 5 of UNCLOS. Legal Principles When hearing a case under UNCLOS, the ITLOS may draw on a variety of sources of law. UNCLOS Article 293 directs the ITLOS to apply “this Convention and other rules of international law not incompatible with this convention.” “Other rules of international law” applicable to disputes arising under UNCLOS, Part XV, include customary international law and other non-treaty sources of international law. This language could be interpreted to allow the ITLOS to go beyond UNCLOS and apply norms developed in other contexts. The ITLOS may, for example, refer to generally accepted human rights norms to determine alleged mistreatment of a flagship’s crew by another state. Other UNCLOS articles incorporate generally accepted “international rules and standards” governing the use of the seas. Such rules and standards apply to states parties that have not separately accepted them (Noyes 1998, 124–25). Membership and Participation As of January 2001, 135 states and one non-state entity (the European Union) ratified UNCLOS. The 24 ratifying states specifically expressing their choice of procedure for dispute settlement under Article 287 selected the following forums: •• Eleven chose the ITLOS as their first preference (Argentina, Austria, Cape Verde, Chile, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Oman, Portugal, Tanzania, Uruguay) •• Six preferred the ICJ (Algeria, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) •• Three selected the ITLOS and the ICJ without stating a preference between the two (Belgium, Finland, and Italy) •• Two decided on arbitration (Egypt and the Ukraine) •• Two rejected jurisdiction of the ICJ for any types of disputes (Cuba and GuineaBissau) The other ratifying states parties reserve their right to select their choice of procedure for dispute settlement at any other time, as provided in the mentioned article. It should be noted that many of the states parties to UNCLOS previously accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ in legal disputes concerning the interpretation of a treaty and any question of international law (through their acceptance of the optional clause of Article 36, paragraph 2, of the statute of the ICJ). Taking this into account, the total number of states parties to UNCLOS bound to the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ (either under the optional clause or under Article 287) rises to 43. Procedure UNCLOS expressly grants states’ parties’ access to the ITLOS and its chambers, clearly contemplating that states will be the primary users and beneficiaries of this
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dispute settlement system. The UNCLOS definition of “states parties,” however, is not limited to states. The definition includes international organizations with treatymaking competence and territories with full internal self-governance. The ITLOS may also exercise jurisdiction in some cases in which individuals or corporations are parties. UNCLOS allows for natural or juridical persons to have access to the ITLOS in at least two types of cases. First, Article 292, section 2 envisions individual access to the ITLOS to seek the prompt release of vessels and crews detained by a coastal state when such access is authorized by the flag state of the detained vessel. Second, Articles 187 and 188 allow natural or juridical persons to bring Part XI claims regarding the deep seabed to the ITLOS’s Seabed Disputes Chamber (Noyes 1998, 133). The statute of the ITLOS may also allow the ITLOS to hear disputes involving private parties. Article 20 grants non-state entities access to the ITLOS “in any case submitted pursuant to any other agreement conferring jurisdiction on the ITLOS which is accepted by all the parties to that case.” Article 21 authorizes jurisdiction over “all matters specifically provided for in any other agreement which confers jurisdiction on the Tribunal.” This “any other agreement” basis for jurisdiction could apply to a broad range of situations, including disputes over the application of international environmental rules of the seas (Noyes 1998, 134). Even when the disputing parties have not separately accepted the ITLOS’s jurisdiction, UNCLOS Article 292 grants the tribunal jurisdiction over applications for the prompt release of vessels and their crews. When a coastal state detains a vessel, and allegations can be established “that the detaining state has not complied with the provisions of this Convention for the prompt release of the vessel or its crew upon the posting of a reasonable bond,” the ITLOS may order the release of the vessel or its crew upon the submission of such a reasonable financial guarantee. To avoid delays, Article 292 grants compulsory jurisdiction to the ITLOS, rather than an arbitral tribunal, when the parties are unable to agree on a tribunal. There is general agreement among scholars that detentions of vessels for violating exclusive economic zone (EEZ) fishing regulations under Article 73, rules concerning pollution from vessels under Article 220, and investigations of foreign vessels for specified pollution violations under Article 226, fall within the scope of Article 292. These articles specifically refer to the release of those vessels on the posting of a bond or financial security (Noyes 1998, 134). The 11-member Seabed Disputes Chamber plays a central role in Part XI’s dispute settlement provisions, which concern seabed mining beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. This chamber has jurisdiction over the interpretations and application of Part XI, certain acts of the International Seabed Authority, mining contracts, and certain activities on the deep seabed. Staffing States parties to UNCLOS nominate and elect 21 judges to the ITLOS for renewable nine-year terms “from among persons enjoying the highest reputations for fairness and
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integrity and of recognized competence in the field of the law of the sea.” The ITLOS “as a whole” should represent “the principle legal systems of the world.” “Each geographical group as established by the General Assembly of the United Nations” is to be represented by at least three members. Every party in each case is entitled to have on the bench a member of its nationality of choice. The ITLOS statute emphasizes the importance of judicial impartiality and fairness. A judge may not have a financial interest in operations connected with oceans resources or act as legal counsel for one of the parties. The ITLOS’s first elected 21 judges included academics with expertise in the law of the sea and officials familiar with the lengthy negotiations drafting UNCLOS. Caseload The ITLOS has decided the following six cases: ITLOS Cases 1 and 2, M/V Saiga, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines v. Guinea The ITLOS deliberated on the arrest by Guinea of a Cypriot-owned, Scottishmanaged, and Swiss-chartered tanker flying the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and with a crew from Senegal and Ukraine. After provisionally reviewing the facts in December 1997, the ITLOS found that since Guinea arrested the vessel for alleged fishing violations committed within Guinea’s EEZ, Guinea was thus obligated under UNCLOS to release the Saiga and its crew upon the posting of a reasonable bond or other financial security. When a bond was subsequently posted, Guinea rejected it. The ship and crew were released only after Saint Vincent and the Grenadines pursued other provisional measures from the tribunal. After a full review of the facts, in 1999 the ITLOS found Guinea’s detention of the M/V Saiga, prosecution of its master, and confiscation of the cargo and seizure of the ship to be unlawful. The ITLOS awarded reparations to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the amount of U.S. $2,123,357 (Oxman and Bantz 2000; Murphy 2000, 338). ITLOS Cases 3 and 4, Southern Bluefin Tuna Cases, Australia and New Zealand v. Japan In 1999 Australia and New Zealand claimed before the ITLOS that the southern bluefin tuna was significantly overfished because of Japan’s failure to abide by limits set under the 1993 Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna. The southern bluefin tuna migrates between the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone, and the high seas of several states. Using an experimental fishing program, Japan had exceeded its previously agreed-upon limit for southern bluefin tuna. Australia and New Zealand requested that the ITLOS take interim measures of protection against Japan for the conservation of tuna. The tribunal issued an interim order calling upon the parties to maintain their catches at the annual national allocations last agreed upon by the
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parties and pursue negotiations with a view to reaching an agreement on measures for conservation and management of southern bluefin tuna (Kwiatkowska 2000; Murphy 2000, 338). ITLOS Case 5, the “Camouco” Case, Panama v. France This case concerned the fishing vessel Camouco, which flew the Panamanian flag. In September 1999, the Camouco was arrested by a French frigate, allegedly for unlawful fishing in the exclusive economic zone of the Crozet Islands (French Southern and Antarctic Territories). French authorities escorted the Spanish master to Réunion. Panama requested that the ITLOS order the prompt release of the Camouco and its master. France urged the ITLOS to reject the submissions of Panama, but in case the tribunal decided that the Camouco was to be released upon a bond, that the bond be no less than French francs (FF) 20 million. On February 7, 2000, the ITLOS delivered its judgment, ordering the prompt release of the vessel and its master on the deposit of a financial security of FF 8 million, approximately U.S. $1.2 million. The prompt release procedure, under Article 202 of UNCLOS, provides for a quick remedy, the speedy release of a vessel and its crew out of humanitarian considerations, and avoidance of unnecessary loss for the shipowner or others affected by the detention. This judgment does not include a determination of the merits of the underlying dispute (ITLOS/Press 35 2000). ITLOS Case 6, the “Monte Confurco” Case, Seychelles v. France The Monte Confurco was registered in the Republic of the Seychelles and licensed to fish in international waters. The French frigate Floreal apprehended the vessel for alleged illegal fishing and failure to announce its presence in the exclusive economic zone of the Kerguelen Islands. Seychelles requested ITLOS to order the prompt release of the Monte Confurco and its master. France asked the ITLOS to declare that the bond set by the French authorities was reasonable and thus the application was inadmissible. After unanimously finding that it had jurisdiction under UNCLOS Article 292, the tribunal decided in favor of Seychelles. In December 2000, the ITLOS ordered France to promptly release the Monte Confurco and its master upon the posting of a bond or other security equaling FF 9 million (ITLOS/Press 42 2000). Impact The ITLOS has effectively demonstrated in its first six cases that it is able to help states settle their maritime disputes. In a very short time, the ITLOS in its juridical role has contributed to the promotion of a stable international legal system on the seas. The “Southern Bluefin Tuna” cases revealed the ways in which this tribunal can adjudicate conflicts and enforce the rules of international environmental law against deviant states. In the “Saiga,” “Camouco,” and “Monte Confurco” cases, the ITLOS consistently applied international standards to the release of vessels and crews. Over time, it should be able to engage national courts over the integration of international standards into their national
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legal systems. Its work with the Seabed Authority should help advance a stable legal environment for the deep seabed. The ITLOS is thus poised to make a significant contribution toward effective international governance through international law in this era of rapid economic globalization. William F. Felice References and Further Reading ITLOS. “Tribunal Delivers Judgment in the ‘Camouco’ Case.” 2000. http://www.un.org/Depts/ los/itlos_new/press_releases/ITLOS_35.htm.
ITLOS. “Tribunal Delivers Judgment in the ‘Monte Confurco’ Case.” 2000. http://www.un.org/ Depts/los/itlos_new/press_releases. Kwiatkowska, Barbara. “Southern Bluefin Tuna (New Zealand v. Japan; Australia v. Japan), Order on Provisional Measures (ITLOS Cases Nos. 3 and 4).” The American Journal of International Law 94 (2000): 150–55.
Murphy, Sean D. “Conference on International Environmental Dispute Resolutions: Does the World Need a New International Environmental Court?” George Washington Journal of International Law and Economics 32 (2000): 333–49.
Noyes, John E. “The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.” Cornell International Law Journal 32 (1998): 109–82.
Oxman, Bernard H., and Vincent Bantz. “The M/V ‘Saiga’ (No. 2) (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines v. Guinea), Judgment (ITLOS Case No. 2).” The American Journal of International Law 94 (2000): 140–50.
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LAW OF THE SEA Since national and international security goals are at once military, economic, and resource based, the Law of the Sea is typically described as the embodiment of ocean security policy, since it addresses all of these dimensions. To some commentators, the Law of the Sea is ocean security; to others, it is a starting point—it is the root stock for future security. There are three main reasons why the Law of the Sea occupies this position. First, it is a cohesive and universal agreement that treats ocean governance and the ocean itself as a connected whole. In this way, ocean governance, security, and management are wrapped together and understood as affecting each other in important ways. Second, the Law of the Sea is one of the most widely agreed on international laws in the history of human organization. Third, the Law of the Sea has an extensive mediation component that requires nonviolent conflict resolution between the parties and the peaceful utilization of the seas. The Law of the Sea treats the oceans holistically; taken together, they form the World Ocean, which is globally connected both physically and socially to inland systems and various governance issues. Further, the Law of the Sea treats the World Ocean as a single ecosystem; as the preamble states, “The problems of ocean space are closely interrelated and must be considered as a whole” (United Nations ). This approach is important if ecosystem security is to be realized. It is possible within the Law of the Sea to manage ocean ecosystems as though the health of one part relied on the health of all others. The law also addresses both military and environmental security by designating rules and expectations for naval ships and environmental health. Military security is provided in several ways. The Law of the Sea was created by nation-states just as most regimes are, and it is no surprise that the treaty gives naval
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TOMMY THONG BEE KOH (1937–) Ambassador Tommy Thong Bee Koh is best known as the president of the Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which ran from 1980 to 1982. Throughout his tenure, he was widely acknowledged for aiding stalemates during critical moments of impasse in order to keep the Law of the Sea and the common heritage notion alive. Koh received graduate degrees in law and criminology from Harvard and Cambridge, respectively, with honorary degrees and awards from Yale, Columbia, Stanford, and Georgetown universities. He has received several awards from different countries and organizations, such as the 1996 Elizabeth Haub Prize from the University of Brussels, and the International Council on Environmental Law. Most of these awards reflect Koh’s public service on the international level for both the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, where he has helped to settle disputes and encourage ecologically pragmatic diplomacy. Koh first worked internationally as a permanent ambassador of Singapore. Currently, he is the director of the Institute of Policy Studies in Singapore, while still holding an “at-large” ambassadorship for the island nation. Ten years after his presidency of the Law of the Sea convention, he took on another role at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. At this Earth Summit, he presided over the negotiations for Agenda 21, perhaps the most important outcome of the conference. Peter Jacques
ships free access to the waters of the world, with the exception of inland seas and on the temporary conditions of closing national waters to foreign warships. More important, however, is the establishment of consistent boundaries. Boundaries in the ocean are not obvious or naturally derived; instead, they must be imagined, created, and drawn up by groups of people. Consequently, prior to the third Law of the Sea convention, and as the three-mile territorial sea norm began to break down, different nations had different claims and different boundary demands. The differences between nations created several militarized disputes, including the Cod Wars. One of the most important functions that the Law of the Sea fulfills in international law is the setting of widely agreed on and consistent boundaries, as well as guidelines for creating and claiming new boundaries. Although several boundary conflicts persist to this day (for example, between China and North Korea), unconventional claims that demand a -mile territorial sea are no longer entertained. Most of the contemporary boundary conflicts actually have to do with drawing the outer limits of exclusive economic zones or with disagreements about how to divide common bays. Environmental security is addressed by the Law of the Sea primarily in its restrictions on the mare liberum doctrine. These restrictions curb some of the international tensions between distant-water fishing nations and coastal nations, and they allow for
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UNITED NATIONS LAW OF THE SEA CONVENTION EXCERPT Part Twelve of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is devoted to environmental protection provisions, most of which are general in scope. In addition, Article 145 addresses pollution caused by mining and mineral retrieval from the deep seabed. Deep seabed mining was a significant concern in the drafting of UNCLOS; Part Eleven of the convention is devoted to it. In practice, as sometimes happens, the precautionary effort put into drafting provisions to regulate it appears to have been wasted. Deep seabed mining as an industry has not materialized. Yet the International Seabed Authority, with three dozen employees and an annual budget of over $4 million, continues to exist and to draw up regulations for a nonexistent industry.
Article 194: Measures to Prevent, Reduce and Control Pollution of the Marine Environment 1. States shall take, individually or jointly as appropriate, all measures consistent with this Convention that are necessary to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment from any source, using for this purpose the best practicable means at their disposal and in accordance with their capabilities, and they shall endeavour to harmonize their policies in this connection. 2. States shall take all measures necessary to ensure that activities under their jurisdiction or control are so conducted as not to cause damage by pollution to other States and their environment, and that pollution arising from incidents or activities under their jurisdiction or control does not spread beyond the areas where they exercise sovereign rights in accordance with this Convention. 3. The measures taken pursuant to this Part shall deal with all sources of pollution of the marine environment. These measures shall include, inter alia, those designed to minimize to the fullest possible extent: (a) the release of toxic, harmful or noxious substances, especially those which are persistent, from land-based sources, from or through the atmosphere or by dumping; (b) pollution from vessels, in particular measures for preventing accidents and dealing with emergencies, ensuring the safety of operations at sea, preventing intentional and unintentional discharges, and regulating the design, construction, equipment, operation and manning of vessels; (c) pollution from installations and devices used in exploration or exploitation of the natural resources of the seabed and subsoil, in particular measures for preventing accidents and dealing with emergencies, ensuring the safety of operations at sea, and regulating the design, construction, equipment, operation and manning of such installations or devices;
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(d) Pollution from other installations and devices operating in the marine environment, in particular measures for preventing accidents and dealing with emergencies, ensuring the [Page 206] safety of operations at sea, and regulating the design, construction, equipment, operation and manning of such installations or devices. 4. In taking measures to prevent, reduce or control pollution of the marine environment, States shall refrain from unjustifiable interference with activities carried out by other States in the exercise of their rights and in pursuance of their duties in conformity with this Convention. 5. The measures taken in accordance with this Part shall include those necessary to protect and preserve rare or fragile ecosystems as well as the habitat of depleted, threatened or endangered species and other forms of marine life. Article 195: Duty Not to Transfer Damage or Hazards or Transform One Type of Pollution into Another In taking measures to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment, States shall act so as not to transfer, directly or indirectly, damage or hazards from one area to another or transform one type of pollution into another. Article 196: Use of Technologies or Introduction of Alien or New Species 1. States shall take all measures necessary to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment resulting from the use of technologies under their jurisdiction or control, or the intentional or accidental introduction of species, alien or new, to a particular part of the marine environment, which may cause significant and harmful changes thereto. 2. This article does not affect the application of this Convention regarding the prevention, reduction and control of pollution of the marine environment. Article 207: Pollution from Land-based Sources 1. States shall adopt laws and regulations to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment from land-based sources, including rivers, estuaries, pipelines and outfall structures, taking into account internationally agreed rules, standards and recommended practices and procedures. 2. States shall take other measures as may be necessary to prevent, reduce and control such pollution. 3. States shall endeavour to harmonize their policies in this connection at the appropriate regional level. 4. States, acting especially through competent international organizations or diplomatic conference, shall endeavour to establish global and regional rules, standards and recommended practices and procedures to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment from land-based sources, taking into account characteristic regional features, the economic capacity of developing States and their need for economic development. Such rules, standards and recommended practices and procedures shall be re-examined from time to time as necessary.
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5. Laws, regulations, measures, rules, standards and recommended practices and procedures referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 shall include those designed to minimize, to the fullest extent possible, the release of toxic, harmful or noxious substances, especially those which are persistent, into the marine environment. Article 208: Pollution from Seabed Activities Subject to National Jurisdiction 1. Coastal States shall adopt laws and regulations to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment arising from or in connection with seabed activities subject to their jurisdiction and from artificial islands, installations and structures under their jurisdiction, pursuant to articles 60 and 80. 2. States shall take other measures as may be necessary to prevent, reduce and control such pollution. 3. Such laws, regulations and measures shall be no less effective than international rules, standards and recommended practices and procedures. 4. States shall endeavour to harmonize their policies in this connection at the appropriate regional level. 5. States, acting especially through competent international organizations or diplomatic conference, shall establish global and regional rules, standards and recommended practices and procedures to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment referred to in paragraph l. Such rules, standards and recommended practices and procedures shall be re-examined from time to time as necessary. … Article 210: Pollution by Dumping 1. States shall adopt laws and regulations to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment by dumping. 2. States shall take other measures as may be necessary to prevent, reduce and control such pollution. … Article 211: Pollution from Vessels 1. States, acting through the competent international organization or general diplomatic conference, shall establish international rules and standards to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment from vessels and promote the adoption, in the same manner, wherever appropriate, of routing systems designed to minimize the threat of accidents which might cause pollution of the marine environment, including the coastline, and pollution damage to the related interests of coastal States. Such rules and standards shall, in the same manner, be re-examined from time to time as necessary. 2. States shall adopt laws and regulations for the prevention, reduction and control of pollution of the marine environment from vessels flying their flag or of their registry. Such laws and regulations shall at least have the same effect as that of generally [Page 209] accepted international rules and standards established through the competent international organization or general diplomatic conference.
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MIRIAM LEVERING Miriam Levering, born in 1917, was the heart of an important non-governmental organization, the Neptune Group. This organization existed solely to aid the development and success of the third Law of the Sea Treaty by continually pressing for leadership and involvement of the United States. The Neptune Group was credited by Tommy Koh as one of the instrumental groups which kept the difficult and tenuous negotiations of the last United Nations Law of the Sea Conference, which lasted about a decade, viable through three contributions. They provided delegates to the conference, made available independent scientific experts to call on for specialized questions, gave aid to negotiators from developing nations, and supplied informal, unrecorded settings where delegates could talk more freely and negotiate comfortably, which often proved more productive than formal meetings. Miriam Levering was married to Sam Levering, who was the head of the United States Committee for the Oceans, a lobby group founded in 1972. Sam and Miriam, who met at Cornell, were both leaders in the World Federalist Movement, which desired a strong role for the United Nations in order to curb war. Both were very active in various peace movements and were associated with Quaker and other religious groups working to stem international violence. Sam was asked to head the U.S. Committee for the Oceans under the auspice of increasing a rule of law for nations, which would presumably help delegate more influence to a global governing body. Work for the Neptune Group started when the Nixon administration, through the work of Louis Sohn of Harvard University, published a draft Law of the Sea proposal in 1970. Under this draft, the United States proposed that revenues from mineral leases beyond 200 mile boundaries of coastal nations be shared to aid developing nations. Mining interests, through the American Mining Congress lobbying group, immediately mobilized bills in the U.S. Congress to unilaterally oppose this common heritage implementation. Miriam Levering was, for all practical purposes, an average citizen. Yet her fundraising efforts, her husband’s connections, and her willingness to get involved allowed the Neptune Group to enjoy occasional successes against larger and better-funded organizations opposed to the common heritage idea. Neptune is a name ascribed by Law of the Sea delegates to the Leverings and a group of other core peace advocates who continually opposed such efforts from the U.S. mining industry. It is hard to measure the success of civic groups in politics, but the Neptune Group’s organized information sessions and newspaper, The Neptune, are thought to have provided a bridge between divided interests clashing in the Law of the Sea meetings.
substantive conservation measures where none existed before, internationally. Tensions between distant-water fishing nations and coastal nations are reduced by placing a determined amount of resources with the coastal nation. This may have been the most important determination in the treaty because the potential for resource wars had escalated as distant-water fishing nations were running into more and more resistance from coastal nations. For their part, coastal nations were realizing that they were losing
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a terrific amount of revenue and natural resources to foreign fleets, and they were not willing to stand idly by much longer. Conservation and ecological security is served by the treaty for the same reasons. Prior to the third convention, coastal nations could not stop foreign fishing fleets from plundering their coastlines, and as a result, two important phenomena were experienced, both at the expense of the coastal ecosystem. First, because there were no rules or enforcement to which distant-water fishing fleets had to be subject, those fleets could, and often did, take more than a sustainable amount of fish stock. Second, because the coastal countries were witnessing their own resources being hauled off by someone else, they began to mobilize their own fleets and take the fish and other ocean goods before their competitors could. In this way, there was no community of nations guiding the use of a resource, and a tragedy of the commons scenario was experienced in several decimated fisheries. In sum, the restrictions placed on the freedom of the seas doctrine has served military and environmental security in multiple ways. The second reason why the Law of the Sea is considered an instrument of ocean security is because there are few nations that do not abide by it. The meeting at which the treaty was negotiated was, at that time, the most well attended international convention in human history. The Law of the Sea also modified and limited the rule of mare liberum, which was devised by a few colonial powers and imposed from that power relationship. The alteration of this colonial legacy appealed widely to newly independent states that had recently decolonized, and this fact allowed the negotiations to take a more just and incorporative approach than was seen in previous ocean agreements. For this reason, the Law of the Sea is one of the more widely held international laws. Finally, the Law of the Sea incorporates ocean security matters by requiring peaceful negotiations between the parties involved in conflicts related to oceans and ocean resources. It also includes a demand that the oceans be used only for peaceful purposes. It is worth mentioning here that expecting peaceful resolutions is a relatively new phenomenon in international relations. This is a significant contribution for ocean security specifically. The Law of the Sea sets out rules for behavior, and there is now an international expectation and norm (an important regime) that violence should be purposefully curbed and that the rule of several international peace laws should be observed. One of these rules would be a ban on first offensives. A norm against first offensives prohibits preemptive force—in a sense, banning the use of military strikes unless they are used for self-defense in response to a prior offensive. It appears that committing a first offensive is clearly understood as unacceptable behavior (though this is difficult to know with certainly). Even powerful states that have regularly engaged in such violence now usually justify their actions by reference to a prior offense that provoked their response. The Law of the Sea also establishes the expectation of peaceful usage, though this element of the treaty is somewhat unclear. The high seas, the exclusive economic zones, the seabed, and the seabed subsoil are said to be “reserved for peaceful purposes.” The concept of peaceful purposes may mean that nuclear weapons are banned from the area, as they are in the South Pacific. However, deterrence adherents argue that peaceful
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purposes may also mean the deterrence of war, which would require weapons and exercises. That being said, the convention set policy goals (albeit without definitions or mechanisms for practical application) in regard to nonviolent use of the ocean. Elisabeth Mann Borgese, who died in , was one of the world’s leading legal scholars on ocean governance as well as one of the most prolific writers on the topic. Borgese believed that the very nature of the ocean—with its physical, social, and biological properties—provides a metaphor for a different way of thinking about the world than that offered by traditional realist international law, which is built on nation-states. She called this emerging order “the oceanic circle” (a term borrowed from Mohandas Gandhi). In the oceanic circle, the World Ocean provides a way of seeing how the natural world and people are connected. Her point was that the mainstream view in Western cultures depicts the natural world and people (as well as nation-states) as individualistic. To her, this kind of thinking fostered institutions that envision a world that can be broken into parts, despite the fact that the environment and the ocean must be viewed as an interactive whole. Creating institutions, such as the Law of the Sea, that understand the connections not only within the natural world but between people is what she called the “barefoot revolution” or the “blue revolution” because it would happen on a grassroots level and at the level of the natural systems that exist above and below the nation-state (although that revolution would not ignore the nation-state). Borgese developed four institutional guidelines for peaceful ocean governance. Although she believed that institutions come from people and the cultures in which they operate, she thought the institutions created by the modern world were filled with gaps and failed to solve basic problems, such as overfishing and pollution. “The likely response of people to the appearance of an institutional gap is violence” (Borgese , ). Consequently, it is important, she argued, to create institutions that are () comprehensive, () consistent, () trans-sectoral or multidisciplinary, and () participational. Comprehensive institutions are global institutions that “reach from the local level of the coastal community through the levels” to important global organizations (Borgese ). Put another way, the oceanic institutions should be intergovernmental in that they should allow information and decision making to flow across governments of localities into global organizations. Consistent institutions are institutions in which the decision making across governments is compatible. This is a particular challenge for current international relations and ocean politics because compatible decision making across governments would mean that the decisions of one government are seriously considered and mostly adhered to by other governments. Although the norms of international law are changing so that nations must consider international norms, as in the case of first offensives, nations do not regularly make decisions that are compatible with the international community—this is why there is so much trouble involved in managing common-pool resources. Regarding the ocean, it has been difficult in the past to make the resource extraction decisions of one country compatible with those of other countries so that the resource is not utterly extinguished. However, Borgese’s point is that there are gaps in current institutions that
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must be closed, making governments more compatible with each other, if sustainability and peace are to ever be achieved in the international community. Borgese believed that the nature of the oceans can serve as a model for this type of governance, since the oceans’ functions are diverse but ultimately compatible. Multidisciplinary institutions are institutions that use and acquire knowledge from many different sectors of inquiry. Isolated knowledge is less useful, but brings sets and systems of knowledge together (for example, by combining physical and social sciences) and also allows for a new relationship between science and politics. Participational institutions do not impose regulations on localities. Borgese argued that institutions need to bring communities into the decision making process and co-manage resources. Again, this points to a current institutional gap because organizations often favor hierarchical structures and the accountability that goes along with this pyramid-type structure. Typically, organizations are structured with a leader or leadership group composed of people who have increasing responsibility as they move up the ladder—in other words, they are governed from the top down. International politics are also organized this way, with the elites of a nation-state at the top. The elite members bargain and wrestle with other elites in international organizations to make international law. Local demands, needs, and desires are currently strapped to the fates of the elites that come to power within the nation-state. If local demands can make the agenda of the national elites, it is more likely that such demands will receive attention than if they do not make elite agendas. Another gap in participation that is currently experienced stems from the fact that comanagement often results in one group of people dominating the decisions, while other groups are marginalized. The regional fishery management in the United States, under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, is one such example. The United States manages fisheries on a regional basis through boards that are responsible for instituting sustainable yields. However, most of the board members are from the fishing industry, and this group does not co-manage so much as it dominates the allocation of fish in this local setting. History and politics show that human beings often have difficulty ensuring that co-management does not become subject to asymmetrical power relationships, and this institutional gap will be a major challenge to overcome. That being said, Borgese’s point is that these power relationships often become institutionalized, just as in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and as a result, rules and policies are imposed on those with less power. Co-management would ultimately balance out these relationships so that those with less power are given more institutional sway and those with more current power are given a handicap, a result that powerful players would be unlikely to accept without a major revolutionary turn. The thrust of Borgese’s work on international law is clear—current institutions fall short of sustainability and peaceful governance by a wide margin. However, unlike many social scientists, Borgese went beyond deconstructing what is wrong with our current system by suggesting guidelines and goals for correcting inherent problems. Further, the four guidelines she offered for institutions can take inspiration from the ocean itself, as a model that metaphorically and practically demonstrates a new mode of thinking about
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international ocean politics. Borgese believed that Gandhi himself was working from this model and inspiration. She quoted a poem he wrote and titled her book after it; apparently, Borgese saw the world of her dreams just as Gandhi saw the India of his: In this structure, composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever-widening, never ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be an oceanic circle whose centre will be the individual, always ready to perish for the village, the latter ready to perish for the circle of villages, till the last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals, never aggressive in their arrogance, but ever humble, sharing the majesty of the oceanic circle of which they are integral units. Therefore, the outmost circumference will not yield power to crush the inner circle but will give strength to all within and will derive its own strength from it. (Gandhi ) Peter Jacques References and Further Reading Borgese, Elisabeth Mann. The Oceanic Circle. New York: United Nations University Press, . Gandhi, M.K. India of My Dreams. Ahmedabad, India: Navajivan Publishing House, . Jacques, Peter. Ocean Politics and Policy: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. .
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NORTH AMERICAN LAWS AND TREATIES In , the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Gibbons v. Ogden that the Federal government possessed the authority for interstate commerce, including riverine navigation. Congress quickly passed the General Survey Act, which called for the survey of roads and canals “of national importance, in a commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the transportation of public mail.” The first Rivers and Harbors Act soon followed, which included funding to remove sandbars, snags, and other obstacles. This marked the beginning of continuous Corps of Engineers involvement in navigation improvements. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring () spurred increased political and popular pressure to clean up decades of rampant and highly visible pollution, and to preserve the health of the environment, including waters. Activists in and out of government pushed the Federal government to enact regulatory laws addressing the damage, which threatened the wellbeing of humankind. Rather than spread out environmental protection activities among existing agencies and departments, U.S. President Richard Nixon decided to establish the Environmental Protection Agency as a strong, independent agency. From the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the EPA took on the functions of the National Pollution Control Administration, the bureaus of Water Hygiene and Solid Waste Management, some activities of the Bureau of Radiological Health, and the Food and Drug Administration’s control of pesticide tolerance levels. The Department of the Interior contributed the functions of the Federal Water Quality Administration and portions of its pesticide research responsibilities. The EPA gained functions respecting pesticide registration from the Department of Agriculture. From the Atomic Energy Commission and the Federal Radiation Council, the new agency gained responsibility for radiation criteria and standards.
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CLEAN WATER ACT (1977) Congress passed the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1977 as an amendment to the earlier Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Passed in response to the growing problem of water pollution in the United States, the CWA sought to limit the release of toxic pollutants into the environment. Water pollution in the United States had begun to affect the quality of drinking water, recreational waters, as well as the wilderness habitats of animals. In order to reduce water pollution in the country’s waters, the CWA required individuals and corporations to obtain permits before individuals and corporations could release pollutants into public waters, or before construction could occur on projects with the potential to impact these waterways. Overall, the regulations set forth by the CWA has significantly reduced the pollutants poured into the oceans each year. However, attempts to limit pollution in waters within the United States that have the potential for recreational activity has been less effective. Tens of thousands of rivers, lakes, and streams in the United States are still too polluted for recreational activities. The CWA and the concurrent monitoring by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been less successful in regulating less-direct methods of water pollution. Irrigation and stream run-off from farms frequently pours pesticides and other chemicals into local waters, along with salt and oil flowing from public roads. Significant progress has occurred in the cleansing of natural wilderness environments. Combined with the regulations of the Endangered Species Act, the CWA has helped limit the pollution affecting animals in marshlands, oceans, lakes, and rivers. This preservation has reversed years of environmental degradation of natural wildlife. The Environmental Protection Agency enforces the regulations of the CWA through a variety of judicial and criminal elements, with strict penalties imposed upon individuals and corporations in violation of the Act. Pollution has sharply decreased in many of the nation’s larger bodies of water, and thousands of acres of wilderness have returned to their more natural and unpolluted state.
The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) inherited many regulation and management duties from predecessor agencies. According to the Merchant Marine Act of , an independent agency ( U.S. Maritime Commission) was necessary for the development and maintenance of a merchant marine for American commerce and national defense; this included shipbuilding activities. MARAD meets the need for a ready source of ships for national emergencies, and assists in fulfilling its traditional role as the nation’s fourth arm of defense in logistically supporting the military when needed. It administers financial programs to develop, promote, and operate the U.S. Merchant Marines; determines services and routes necessary to develop and maintain American foreign commerce, and requirements of ships necessary to provide adequate service on such routes; conducts research and development activities in the maritime field; regulates the transfer of U.S.-documented vessels to foreign registries; maintains equipment,
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shipyard facilities, and reserve fleets of government-owned ships essential for national defense; operates the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York; and administers a Grant-In-Aid Program for federally operated maritime academies in California, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas. The Maritime Subsidy Board negotiates contracts for ship construction and grants operating-differential subsidies to shipping companies. The Maritime Administrator is vested with the residual powers of the Director of the National Shipping Authority, which was established in to organize and direct emergency merchant marine operations. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers In May Congress reestablished the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as the West Point Military Academy, separated from the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers (ca. ). Since its inception, many politicians have viewed the Corps as a potential resource for both military construction and civil works. It has also taken on the role of a regulatory agency and become deeply involved with water resources, waterway construction, and navigation issues. Water resources is one of five areas of USACE’s overall mission. It works to solve water resource issues at the national and international levels. The Corps’ Institute for Water Resources (IWR) seeks to address upcoming water resource issues and developments, and assist the agency to meet any challenges. The IWR offers practical solutions through technology transfer at national forums, through white papers and reports, software tools, and other information systems. It was recently joined (ca. ) with the Hydrologic Engineering Center (known for its research, development, training, and consultation), and the Navigation Data Center, which collects data on waterborne commerce, vessel characteristics, port facilities, dredging, and navigation locks. In the sphere of navigation, one of the earliest Corps duties involved the construction and maintenance of navigation channels on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and in certain harbors, directed by federal laws in . This entailed dredging, removal of obstacles, and marking of channels. Today, more than , miles of inland waterways and locks are maintained and operated by USACE. It also maintains commercial harbors and smaller ones. This interconnection of rivers, lakes, and coastal bays provides important highways for the movement of commercial, national defense, and recreational traffic. The Corps’ Navigation Information Center offers vessel locations on the Upper Mississippi and Ohio River System; lock conditions on the Lower Mississippi, Upper Mississippi, and Illinois rivers, and Great Lakes and Ohio River; and river conditions in various districts. Funding presently comes from the general fund (the majority), the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (fuel taxes), Special Recreation Use Fees, Disposal Facilities User Fees, Rivers and Harbors Contributed Funds, Coastal Wetlands Restoration Trust Fund, and Permanent Appropriations. The Inland Waterways Users Board has consistently opposed any increase in user fees, including fuel taxes.
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For Fiscal Year , the Administration proposes to collect lockage-based user fees for commercial barges on the inland waterways to address the declining balance in the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, and to phase out the existing diesel fuel tax for these waterways. The proposal would ensure that the commercial users of the Corps’ locks continue to cover their share of project costs. The Flood Control Act of added the USACE mission to protect the entire country from flood damage. This they addressed with levees, non-structural interventions, and large dams. Most of the Corps-built projects belong to local governments and agricultural districts. For flood control, USACE still operates and maintains dams and reservoirs. Through its Flood Plain Management Services, the Corps advocates that governments, industries, and individuals minimize flood damage by means of zoning regulations, flood proofing, and warning systems. The Corps of Engineers offers water level information through its Corps districts having civil works missions. USACE provides access to outdoor recreation at projects (mostly on lakes) and leases , sites to states and other interests as parks. It serves as a steward of lands and waters at its water resources projects. Many projects offer multiple-use advantages like hydroelectric power generation. Beginning in the s, the Corps now operates power plants. Additionally, USACE leads the nation in establishing criteria for safe dams. It regularly inspects its own and dams owned and operated by others. The Corps offers information on dams at its National Inventory of Dams. USACE reservoirs also supply water to millions of Americans and for arid land agriculture. Shore Protection, another mission of the Corps, addresses defense against hurricane and coastal storm damage. Solutions include hard structures ( jetties, seawalls, etc.) and sand replenishment. Project costs are usually shared with state and local governments. USACE claims that its involvement in shore protection projects has no measurable effect on shore development. Others claim that protection projects encourage unsustainable development. Environment is another area of the Corps’ mission. Besides the contentious issue of determining areas the nation should protect as wetlands, the USACE also focuses on the regulation of major wetland activities, with the control of minor disturbance activities left to local authorities. As part of its ecosystem restoration pursuits, the Corps collaborates in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the Estuary Habitat Restoration Strategy. Information on the USACE environmental programs is available through the Environmental Community of Practice. The Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center has continued the scientific engineering approach to water resource studies. Erosion control research addresses beaches, shores, harbors, reservoirs, dams, levees, and streambanks. Studies in sedimentation, turbulence, and river meandering have contributed to engineering design improvements of dams, levees, and locks. Dredging research assists in keeping waterways open to navigation with minimal environmental side effects. Research also concerns waves, flood damage and prevention, wetlands, estuaries, harbors, navigation channel design, rivers, sedimentation, and transport.
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Also of note is the Corps’ Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, which researches ice cover and ice jams on inland waterways. The Corps’ mission has greatly expanded during the past century. Today, the Corps regulates dams, dikes, and other structures, excavation, dredging, and disposal activities, stream altering activities, construction on the outer continental shelf, discharges of dredged or fill material, and transportation of dredged material, as each affects the navigable waters of the United States. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) The U.S. Congress and the President’s office established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in to consolidate federal research, monitoring, standard-setting, and enforcement activities for environmental protection in a single organization. Its mission is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment—air, water, and land. The EPA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. with regional offices and laboratories. Each regional office oversees programs in its assigned states and territories while the laboratories, located from North Carolina to California, conduct research related to the agency’s mission and goals. More than half of the EPA’s , employees are engineers, scientists, and policy analysts, with another large part serving as specialists in law, public affairs, finance, information management, and computer science. The U.S. President also appoints the EPA Administrator. The EPA is meant to lead in U.S. environmental science, research, education, and assessment efforts. It works to implement environmental laws by developing and enforcing appropriate regulations. Through its research, the EPA sets nationwide standards to meet the goals of legislation. States and tribes issue permits, monitor, and enforce compliance. To enforce the standards, the EPA can assist states and tribes by imposing sanctions and taking other actions. EPA furnishes budgetary support to individual state environmental programs, nonprofits and educational institutions to underwrite quality scientific research used in environmental decision-making. The agency awards research grants and graduate fellowships, funds environmental education projects, supplies state and local governments, and small businesses with information on financing environmental services and projects, and offers additional financial assistance through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, and the Brownfields Program. At several EPA laboratories, the EPA evaluates environmental status and seeks to appraise, comprehend, and resolve contemporary and prospective problems, such as agriculture run off, wetland loss, and the advantages and disadvantages of dredging. During their studies and deliberations, the labs also work to assimilate research from participating scientific interests in other countries, non-governmental organizations, academia, and other government agencies. Finally, they afford direction to confront developing environmental issues and for making progress in risk assessment and risk management.
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Some EPA-sponsored partnerships and programs directly address water and waterway issues. The Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program develops partnerships with pesticide users to encourage pollution alleviation approaches to improve public health and lessen environmental risks. Cooperation between the EPA and state environmental agencies permits rapid sharing of reliable environmental data and other information over the Internet through the National Environmental Information Exchange Network. Collaboration between Environment Canada and the EPA has created Binational.net, which provides a one-stop resource for information on joint US/Canada Great Lakes programs and reports. The Midwest Partnership for Watershed Management Decision Support Systems seeks to organize, publicize, and disseminate spatial decision support systems via the Internet to assist in the management of Midwestern US watersheds. EPA cooperation with states, through the National Environmental Performance Partnership System, has facilitated the focus of unique partnership resources and expertise on high-priority environmental problems. Joining with American Indian tribes in the OPPT (Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics) and Tribal Environmental Network, the EPA assists tribes in protecting the environment through funding grants, internal tribal issues training, interagency coordination, and stakeholder outreach. The EPA protects coastal environments through partnerships (National Estuary Program, Marine Transportation System, National Dredging Team, and Coastal America), habitat protection (U.S. Coral Reefs Task Force, invasive species, marine debris abatement, and Performance Indicators Visualization and Outreach Tool), ocean regulatory programs (ocean dumping and dredged material management, marine and ocean discharges, and vessel discharges), and assessment and monitoring (Ocean Survey Vessel Bold, air deposition in estuaries and coastal waters, marine and coastal geographic information, monitoring reports and guidance, and volunteer activities). It also uses various programs and partnerships in the protection of lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands. Environmental laws related to water resources that govern the enforcement and regulatory efforts of the EPA include, but are not limited to, the following: the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act ( ), Federal Water Pollution Control Act (), Clean Air Act (), Shoreline Erosion Protection Act (), Solid Waste Disposal Act (), National Environmental Policy Act (), Coastal Zone Management Act (), Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (), Ocean Dumping Act (), Endangered Species Act (), Safe Drinking Water Act (), Shoreline Erosion Control Demonstration Act (), Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (), Toxic Substances Control Act (), Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act ( ), Nuclear Waste Policy Act (), Medical Waste Tracking Act (), Ocean Dumping Ban Act (), Shore Protection Act (), and National Environmental Education Act (). U.S. Department of the Interior The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) began in when Congress and the President realized the need for a department of government to administer territories
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acquired through the Louisiana Purchase (), the Mexican War (–), and the Oregon Treaty (). The mission of DOI is to encourage and provide for the appropriate management, preservation, and operation of the nation’s public lands, and natural resources. Over subsequent years, the government has given the Department of the Interior additional duties dealing with water resource issues. These responsibilities are shared among some of the DOI bureaus and offices. The National Park Service (NPS) oversees the protection of millions of acres of wetlands, steams, rivers, and lakes. These biodiverse systems contribute to habitat, erosion management, water flow maintenance, and water quality improvement. Through its Fisheries Program, NPS cultivates procedures and counsel focused on the protection of aquatic biological resources, organizes policy review of environmental compliance documents related to fisheries and aquatic resources, offers advice and methodological support for fish and habitat restoration, assists with fishery management plans, and cooperates with other agencies in the regulation of fisheries and other aquatic resources. The Hydrology and Watershed Management Program administers programs in watershed condition assessment, surface hydrology, floodplain management/compliance, ground water use and protection, and stream and riparian management for the NPS. The Marine Resources Conservation Program addresses marine resource protection, helps direct the Ocean Park Stewardship Strategy, puts together NPS activities in Marine Protected Areas for coral reef conservation, advances NPS coastal watershed assessment and protection strategy, assists NPS units with marine resource management and planning, and liaises and cooperates with NOAA and the National Marine Sanctuaries Program. NPS also oversees coastal national parks, of which have submerged lands. The Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) works to protect and enhance fish, wildlife, flora, and their associated habitats. Through partnership efforts, FWS collaborates with other government agencies and citizens to work towards accomplishing its goals of marine mammal, freshwater, and anadromous fish conservation. Some of its programs include the Coastal Program, the Gulf of Maine Coastal Program, the Duck Trap River, the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund, and Partners for Fish and Wildlife. Fisheries and habitat conservation programs involve habitat protection and restoration; partnerships, grants, and financial assistance; assessment and monitoring; project planning, permits, technical assistance and review; and public awareness and education. In cooperation with other agencies, FWS detects harmful chemicals and addresses their effects, prevents harm to fish, wildlife and their habitats, removes toxic chemicals, and restores habitats. FWS’s Oil Spill Program stresses contingency planning and cooperation with various levels of national, state, and local government to minimize damage to waterways and wildlife. By means of maritime refuges, which include estuarine systems, coral reefs, and tropical lagoons, FWS works to manage and conserve ocean resources. The Minerals Management Service (MMS) researches the impact of outer continental shelf (OCS) oil and gas activities, and sand and gravel mining on human, coastal, and marine environments. MMS activities generate a large quantity of sand that is used
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for beach replenishment and wetlands protection. The department seeks to ensure that federally-sponsored offshore gas and oil production conserves resources and has minimal environmental effects. The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation serves as a water management agency for the western United States. It is known for its programs of constructing dams, reservoirs, power plants, and canals. Dams built by the bureau total more than , including the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, and the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River. The Bureau of Reclamation also supplies water for hydroelectric power, drinking, industry, and irrigation. The Fisheries Applications Research Group carries out research on sustainable fish communities related to their water development facilities and operations. Through its Flood Hydrology Group, the department studies potential flooding and its effects on dams and other structures. The River Systems and Meteorology Group partners in the Watershed and River System Management Program, providing a data-rich context for water resources decision making. U.S. Geological Survey The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), established in March , has been part of the Department of the Interior since its inception. It assumed much of the work previously done by the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Part of the USGS’s mission is to serve the United States with reputable scientific information about the earth; minimize losses from natural disasters; and manage water and biological resources. The survey’s diverse scientific expertise enables it to conduct large multi-disciplinary studies and provide impartial scientific information to its various constituencies. Several USGS programs concern physical and biological water resources and waterways. The Biological Informatics Program assists the survey to manage biological data through the use of new technologies and make them available to users. Through the National Biological Information Structure, the National River Restoration Science Synthesis Project links local and regional restoration databases and projects and analyzes stream river restoration projects. The USGS recognizes that coastal oceans serve a valuable role in transportation, commerce, and recreation, and acknowledges the negative effects of disturbances to coastal environments from hurricanes, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, flooding, and other damage from land and water use decisions. Its Coastal and Marine Geology Program conducts research to address problems of wetland loss, seawater intrusion, and nutrient contamination in aquifers, water pollution from runoff and dumping, coastal erosion, and rising sea levels. The program provides sound marine science research to assist governments and citizens in decision-making through regional studies in Alaska, central and southern California, the Caribbean, the U.S. East Coast, Florida, the Great Lakes, the western and central Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, the U.S. Pacific Northwest, the mainland of the United States, along with various international locations. Current investigations encompass coastal studies; marine/deep sea, and environmental issues; hazards, disasters, and other events; energy and mineral resources, mapping, technology, and data.
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With its Cooperative Water Program, USGS collaborates with non-federal agencies at the state, county, tribal, municipal, and other levels to fund water-resource monitoring efforts and investigative studies in U.S. states and several trust territories. Program cooperators plan and do the necessary scientific work to meet USGS and partner objectives in water resource management. Through such close collaboration, the program responds quickly to emerging water issues. Some recent accomplishments of the program include the development of new techniques to evaluate ground-water quality in North Carolina’s fractured rock systems; the creation of a network for real-time data on stream flow, ground-water levels, and precipitation in New Jersey to bolster the management of water resources management during droughts; and the development of a reservoir warning system in West Virginia. The Fisheries: Aquatic and Endangered Resources Program researches and studies fishes, fisheries, aquatic invertebrates, and aquatic habitats through the careful evaluation of factors that affect aquatic communities and ecosystems. Researchers examine aquatic organism health by focusing on molecular biology and genetics; pathogens, disease, and contaminants; invasive biological entities; human activities; and biology and genetics. They also consider aquatic species at risk; diversity, species interactions, and life history strategies; aquatic species and habitats; restoration science; and methods to underwrite research and provide technical assistance to partners. USGS’s National Research Program (NRP) conducts basic and problem-oriented hydrologic research. Its research concentration focuses on issues at the forefront of water science and covers diverse areas of inquiry, which also embody examinations of needed tools and techniques. NRP took advantage of the March release of , cubic feet of water from the Glen Canyon Dam to study its effects on vegetation and geological processes like sandbar development. Since , its research at San Francisco Bay investigated the invasive Asian clam, collected continuous data on air and water characteristics, and the longest continuous water-quality dataset for a U.S. estuary, and studied the effects of changes in sewage treatment on water quality. NRP has also developed hydrologic and geochemical simulation models to predict responses of hydrologic systems to changing stresses and to predict the fate and movement of solutes and contaminants in water. Presently, investigations cover acid mine drainage, aquatic habitat, hydroclimatology, estuaries, contaminant transport, hydrogeology, lakes, rivers and streams, reservoirs and dams, wetlands, and other areas of inquiry. The National Streamflow Information Program (NSIP) oversees about , stream gages to collect long-term, accurate information. A stream gage network includes federal, state, tribal, and local support. Critically important backbone stream gages, operated by USGS, are financed federally. More intensive studies take place during floods and droughts, while regional and national flow assessments allow USGS to provide data for the design and construction of bridges and other structures. NSIP continually examines new options for collecting and delivering data. The USGS Terrestrial, Freshwater, and Marine Ecosystems Program research the factors controlling ecosystem structure, functions, and conditions. This program seeks
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to provide information for ecosystem restoration and evaluate the results of short and long-term environmental change. Mitigation tools to address negative effects are developed and shared with other government and private interests. U.S. Maritime Administration The United States Maritime Administration (MARAD), a successor to the U.S. Maritime Commission, originated from the Department of Commerce reorganization in May . MARAD joined the Department of Transportation in August . MARAD’s mission encompasses several important responsibilities. It seeks to strengthen the U.S. maritime transportation system focusing on infrastructure, and labor and industry, to address national economic and security needs. MARAD encourages development and maintenance of an adequate, balanced U.S. Merchant Marines to meet the needs for domestic and foreign waterborne commerce. During war or a national emergency, the merchant marines can serve as a naval and military auxiliary. Finally, MARAD makes sure that there are sufficient shipbuilding and maintenance facilities, that ports operate efficiently, that sea and land-based transportation systems are well coordinated, and that the nation has sufficient reserve shipping capacity for use in the case of national emergency situations. MARAD seeks to meet several goals. For commercial mobility, it works to reduce congestion on the nation’s inland waterways and at marine and landside infrastructures. With the recurring emphasis on national security, MARAD strives to assure a supporting intermodal sealift capacity. It works to formalize and integrate environmental considerations in its own operations and in partnerships with public and private interests to consolidate environmentally friendly transportation improvements in its activities. MARAD envisions a future of a maritime system serving America with American ships and labor. In part to meet its regulatory duties, MARAD participates in several programs and initiatives. MARAD cooperates as a partner in the Marine Transportation System Initiative (MTS), which aspires to a world-class U.S. marine transportation system. MTS concentrates on issues involving waterways, ports, and their intermodal connections, vessels, vehicles, and MTS users. Environmental responsibility plays a large part in the MTS vision. Through its National Security Program, MARAD strives to assure the availability of merchant shipping during war or national emergency. MARAD, the federal disposal agent for obsolete merchant-type vessels of , gross tons or more, currently has more than vessels, expecting more from Navy transfers and other sources. Obsolete vessel locations include the James River Reserve Fleet, Ft. Eustis, VA; Portsmouth, VA; Beaumont Reserve Fleet, TX; Mobile, AL; and Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, Benicia, CA. The Maritime Security Program, overseen by MARAD, budgeted by the Maritime Security Act of , provides funding to support the operation of up to U.S.-flag vessels for U.S. foreign commerce.
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The Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement program provides the U.S. defense community with access to the commercial intermodal infrastructure for cargo movement and for initial deployment during war or national emergency. Vessels in the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) program can serve in a national emergency. Today these vessels are maintained mostly in Virginia, California, and Texas. They have been loaned to government agencies, used as museums, sunk as artificial reefs, and used for training. The -vessel Ready Reserve Force (RRF), a subset of the NDRF, transports Army and Marine Corps equipment and initial resupply during rapid deployment of forces before commercial shipping is available. In the Foreign Transfer program, MARAD approves / disapproves the transfer of ships of , gross tons and over to foreign ownership and / or registry. MARAD represents the U.S. on NATO’s Planning Board for Ocean Shipping, to develop and maintain plans for civil shipping to NATO in crisis and war. Finally, MARAD uses the Division of Reserve Fleet Ship Donation Program to make obsolete vessels from the NRDF freely available to public and non-profit groups as memorials or for other non-commercial purposes, at no-cost for obsolete ship disposal. MARAD assists in the development, promotion, and operation of the U.S. Merchant Marine through financial programs and American cargo preference laws and federal regulations compliance. The Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP) promotes commercial ship operations with the application of new methods, procedures, and technologies. The Cargo Preference program promotes and facilitates a U.S. maritime transportation system by administering and assuring the observance of U.S. cargo preference laws and regulations. This program is meant to support a U.S.-flag merchant marine by providing a more reliable revenue base and thus ensure essential sealift capability, a cadre of skilled seafarers, and the protection of U.S. ocean commerce from foreign domination. MARAD’s programs and initiatives in shipbuilding include its cooperative National Defense Tank Vessel Construction Program and the Title XI Program, promoting growth and modernization of the U.S. Merchant Marines and shipyards. The National Maritime Resource and Education Center assists the U.S. maritime industry with conferences and workshops, energy technologies information, MARAD guideline specifications for merchant ship construction, ISO information, a Marine Industry Standards Library, and Title XI information. By setting aside federal tax-deferred funds or property with the Capital Construction Fund program, U.S. flag-vessel owners and operators can more easily accumulate necessary capital for merchant marine modernization and expansion. MARAD also oversees the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) at Kings Point, New York. Though the USMMA is responsible for the training and education of officers in the U.S. Merchant Marine, graduates also receive their Bachelor of Science degrees and U.S. Coast Guard licenses and commissions in the Naval Reserve. All of MARAD’s initiatives and programs focus on a healthy and prosperous U.S. Merchant Marine. Richard Wojtowicz
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References and Further Reading Fiorino, Daniel J. Making Environmental Policy. Berkeley: University of California Press, . Gohn, Kathleen K. Celebrating Years of the U.S. Geological Survey. Reston, VA: The Survey, . Introducing the Maritime Administration. Washington, DC: The Administration, . Mazmanian, Daniel A. and Jeanne Nienaber Clarke. Can Organizations Change?: Environmental Protection, Citizen Participation, and the Corps of Engineers. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, . Prewitt, Jana and Victoria Voytko. A History of the U.S. Department of the Interior During the Clinton Administration, –. Washington, DC: Clinton Administration History Project, . Rabbitt, Mary C. The United States Geological Survey, –. Washington, DC: U.S. G.P.O., . Shallot, Tod. Structures in the Stream: Water, Science, and the Rise of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Austin: University of Texas Press, . Tomán, René De La Pedraja. The Rise and Decline of U.S. Merchant Shipping in the Twentieth Century. New York: Twayne Publishers, . Utley, Robert Marshall, and Barry Mackintosh. The Department of Everything Else: Highlights of Interior History. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, . Waterman, Richard W., Amelia A Rouse, and Robert Wright. Bureaucrats, Politics, and the Environment. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, .
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OFFSHORE STRUCTURES Since ancient times, offshore structures have been built for a variety of purposes. While the earliest structures were for fishing, later structures were built to assist with shipping, navies, and for protection against flooding. While some of these were built at low tides, it also became possible for people to make these in coastal waters where divers would start by laying foundations, gradually building them up to sea level. For fishing—both of fish and other sea creatures such as lobsters and crabs—offshore structures had to be made from wood of woven with reeds. Because these were all made from perishable substances—in the most part wood, usually lashed together by rope— these have not survived, although occasional evidence of their existence has been discovered by archaeologists. In addition, the paintings of Ancient Egyptians do show some of them with written descriptions, as well as drawings surviving from the Greek and Roman world. In most cases there are no real written descriptions of the structures, but the devices can be inferred from references to fishing techniques. Gradually the technology that was used to make fishing structures and also lighthouses, led to the construction of breakwaters, and then later still piers, not just for fishing but increasingly for recreation. Their locations became influenced by the emergence of beach resorts in England and other countries, mainly in Europe and North America. Of the English seaside locations for piers, the most well-known are the mile-long pier at Folkestone (planned from ), and piers in other British holiday resorts: Blackpool North Pier (), Eastbourne Pier (), Birnbeck Pier (), Brighton Pier () and Weston-super-Mare Grand Pier (–) being some of the more famous. As the technology to build larger breakwaters to protect seaside settlements improved, civil engineers came up with more complicated designs to protect cities at risk
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of flooding. Work began on sea and river barriers. The most famous city regularly suffering from floods has been the north Italian city of Venice, and there have been many attempts to try to control the water around it. The most recent has been a tidal barrier constructed from November , involving some , -ton steel flaps that were installed to protect the historic city. To get advance notice of possible floods, a weather platform was built in the Adriatic Sea, miles off the Venetian coast. Although the structures to prevent the regular floods in Venice are well-known, many other cities started having structures built as well. The Thames Barrier was constructed from until to protect London from flooding. In – an equally ambitious river barrier—the West Sea Barrage—was constructed near Nampho in North Korea to control the River Taedong and prevent Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, from being flooded. During the th century, with the need to collect important weather information, some weather stations operated on ships. As technology improved, it became possible to build offshore structures that could transmit information back to a relay station or the weather monitoring headquarters. There are also many small transmitting beacons placed inside them to guide ships and aircraft; and other devices to transmit or relay
Located km west of Nampho, North Korea, the West Sea Barrage is an -kilometer-long system of dams, lock chambers, and sluices. The dam closes the Taedong River off from the Yellow Sea, thereby raising the water level for shipping and preventing the intrusion of seawater into fresh water to increase the water supply for consumption and irrigation. AP/Wide World Photos.
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radio messages. The Indian Ocean tsunami of December , , led to the building of some small offshore structures to monitor the sea and give advance warning in the event of a future tsunami. In time of war, it has also been necessary for the construction of offshore structures to help with the defense of an attack on a coastline or port. Although the Greeks in the ancient world, and the Byzantines and Crusaders in medieval times, used siege towers mounted on ships, these were effectively using ships for a relatively limited operation, similar to the utilizing of boats to form a temporary pontoon bridge. On a larger scale, and with a totally different design, the Mulberry Harbor used in the D-Day operations in June , enabled the Allies to bring over large quantities of supplies and materiel to help reinforce the bridgehead for the Liberation of France. Mention should also be made of some World War II forts that the British built to protect access to the River Thames and the Mersey. These became known as Maunsell Forts after their designer Guy Maunsell, and involved making a concrete platform with two pillars, which was sunk into the sea, and a fort built on the top of the pillars. The most famous of these was H.M. Fort Roughs, which was built on a sandbar outside the three-mile territorial water claim exercised by Britain at the time. During World War II, it was occupied by between and members of the Royal Navy, and had a small garrison until , when it was abandoned. In , a group of people took it over and proclaimed it the Principality of Sealand, and operated it through a coup in . Radio Essex, a pirate radio station, operated from it for a while. There have also been other pirate radio stations, which have managed to operate by broadcasting off the British coast. Most of these, such as Radio Caroline, the best known of the unlicensed radio stations, operated from ships. Of the other Maunsell Forts, Sunk Head was destroyed in the late s, and Tongue Fort collapsed during a storm in . The rising demand for petroleum in the late s and s led to the economic viability of the use of oilrigs to extract oil from maritime oilfields. The Superior Oil Company, operating off the coast of Louisiana, constructed the first of these as early as , and indeed most of the early oil rigs and oil platforms were initially installed in places close to the shore, such as in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Mexico. For some of these, it was possible for the structure to rest on the sea bed. However with the oil price increases from , it became possible—and profitable—to build oil rigs for use in hostile environments such as in the North Sea. For these regions, the use of these oil rigs, along with accommodation areas, has been very expensive, but generally safe, with the exception of the Piper Alpha disaster in when the production platform sank, resulting in the death of men. At that time, the Piper Alpha made up about percent of the oil and gas production in the North Sea. As well as exploiting maritime oilfields, other similar structures have been used to tap into supplies of natural gas such as off the coast of Brunei, in southeast Asia, and there are currently hundreds of oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Most of these are floating, anchored to the seat bed, with oil being extracted using long drills and pipelines. The deepest individual oil platform is now located in the Gulf of Mexico.
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At Key West, Florida, a long railway bridge connecting the various islands and islets was constructed in , which was converted into an automobile highway in . Whether or not this counts as an offshore structure is open to debate. In addition to Sealand, there have been other offshore structures that have been turned into micronations—nations that are proclaimed as independent but lack recognition anywhere else. One of these nations was a small timber platform in international waters off the coast of Jamaica. Named the “New Atlantis” by Leicester Hemingway, brother of Ernest Hemingway, it operated in the s with a much larger platform made independent in , off The Bahamas. Mention also should be made of the numerous novels and films that have used offshore structures as locations where people often go to live in an attempt to get away from the urban world. The French writer Jules Verne started the trend with the character of Captain Nemo in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (), and it was continued perhaps most famously by Ian Fleming in his James Bond novel Thunderball (), later turned into a successful film, with the evil genius Ernst Blofeld living on a sea platform. Another fictional offshore structure was the oil platform named Seawitch in Alastair Maclean’s novel Seawitch (), with several novels such as Frank Roderus’s The Oil Rig () set on oil platforms. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Chakrabarti, S.K. Hydrodynamics of Offshore Structures. Southampton, U.K.: Wit Press /Computational Mechanics, . Gerwick, Cliff. Construction of Marine and Offshore Structures. Oxford, U.K.: Taylor & Francis, . Pelletier, James Laurence. Offshore Oil Platforms—Rigs—And Offshore Oil Support Vessels. Augusta, ME: Marine Techniques, .
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PIRACY One of humanity’s oldest occupations, piracy, is traditionally defined as violence and plunder on the high seas, especially illegal acts committed by the crew and passengers of one ship against people and property onboard another (the definition has been broadened to include aircraft). In some cases, amphibious raids against coastal communities and ports were also considered piracy. The roots of piracy lie in the earliest days of seafaring, and the practice often waxed and waned along with the rise and fall of seaborne trade. Although piracy often involved acts of extreme violence, the profession has been widely celebrated over the centuries. The so-called golden age of piracy, which ran from about –, has been most notably glorified in story, song and, more recently, in feature films such as The Pirates of the Caribbean. Most people only associate piracy with this bygone era, but the reality is that piracy experienced a significant resurgence in the th century, and in places like North Africa, its practice had continued unabated for hundreds of years. Even today, modern pirates prey on merchant shipping. Wherever and whenever practiced, piracy has generated a response from authorities who have wished to encourage or suppress it depending on whether it served or hindered their national interests. While piracy allowed some of the least fortunate to escape the bounds of a harsh existence, the disruptive and financially draining impact on regional maritime trade has continually triggered maritime communities to take political and diplomatic action to eradicate the problem.
Ancient Pirates and Their Successors Most maritime peoples have at some time turned to plundering ships as a way of making a living at sea. In ancient times, the coastline of the Persian Gulf from Qatar to Oman
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was one great center of piracy, as was the Mediterranean Sea. Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey tells of merchant crews who doubled as slavers, abducting women and boys in port. This worked both ways, and captured pirates were themselves a major source of slaves. As late as the fifth century b.c.e., piracy, especially when directed at others, was considered practically respectable, and as Henry Ormerod () notes, basically a form of production. Despite the ambiguity surrounding ancient piracy, it presented a real problem for trading nations who depended on the sea lanes for their prosperity. When the Minoan civilization of Crete (c. -c. b.c.e.) was a great maritime naval and trading power, legendary Cretan ruler Minos supposedly acquired a navy in part to protect his dominions, and his revenues, from pirates. The Egyptians, an important Minoan trading partner, first mentioned piracy in the reign of Akhnaton (c. – b.c.e.), when a complaint was made concerning destructive coastal raids by foreigners. Two hundred years later, Egypt was beset by a more serious wave of seaward incursions, by the cultures collectively remembered as the Sea Peoples. By the fifth century b.c.e., piracy was less accepted as a legitimate part of maritime commerce. During the chaos of the Persian invasions, pirates raided the Greek city-states for goods and slaves, in part leading to laws against brigandage at sea and renewed attempts to suppress the practice by employing navies. Eventually the Greek city of Athens emerged as the eastern Mediterranean’s greatest naval power, undertaking aggressive punitive measures against pirates operating in the Aegean Sea. As a maritime power, Athens could not suffer a disruption of its trade at the hands of pirates, and its leading statesman Pericles (c. – b.c.e.) convened a meeting of the Greek states to deal with this issue. Athens enjoyed real success in combating piracy, and many coastal communities were consequently left unfortified. With the Peloponnesian War (– b.c.e.) and the loss of the Athenian Navy, piracy once again became a real threat. Victorious against Athens, the city-state of Sparta was not a maritime power like its rival, and saw little value in protecting maritime trade against piracy. By the year b.c.e., the seas were reportedly full of pirates and it was unsafe to transport valuable goods by ship. In b.c.e., Alexander the Great (– b.c.e.) responded by launching a renewed campaign to root out piracy, but experienced limited success before he died. When the western Mediterranean city of Rome became a major maritime power, the disruptive and adverse impact on trade necessitated action. In fact, the last century of the Roman Republic witnessed a great outbreak of piracy centered in the eastern Mediterranean where the traditional maritime powers were in decline. Rome then had little interest in the region, not bothering to construct a fleet to protect trade and property. The Romans had another reason to look the other way as well: a slave economy was increasingly important to Italy. At ports like Delos, thousands of slaves, often provided by pirate attacks on merchantmen, were bought and sold. By the first century b.c.e., well-organized and funded pirates harried the entire Mediterranean, frequently offering their services to Rome’s enemies. During these years as many as four hundred cities were sacked. An emboldened pirate squadron even destroyed a Roman fleet at Ostia.
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Piracy was so pervasive that one of its victims was future Roman dictator Julius Caesar (c. – b.c.e.). Held by pirates for six weeks, he vowed to hunt down and crucify his captors, which was a promise he kept. Caesar’s rival Pompey (– b.c.e.) finally broke the pirates’ hold over Rome, when he systematically cleared pirate strongholds starting in b.c.e. Pompey was magnanimous in victory, realizing that many brigands took to piracy in response to miserable social conditions. Pompey had many survivors resettled, and their energies turned to more productive pursuits. Despite such efforts, in times of upheaval like the Roman civil wars, piracy was revived. By the first century c.e., however, the early Roman emperors established the first adequate response to piracy covering the entire Mediterranean. In the first two centuries of the Common Era, trade was generally safe from pirates. Temporarily banished from peoples’ daily lives, the pirate was already becoming a figure of legend, and the capture of characters by pirates became a stock theme in classical Latin literature. Roman naval control never extended beyond the Mediterranean. In the Red Sea, for example, attacks by Arab pirates were never effectively suppressed. In the South China Sea, piracy enjoyed a long pedigree, with the first documented attack occurring in c.e. In the Middle Ages, pirates continued their careers of plunder. Perhaps the most well-known mediaeval raiders were the Scandinavian Norsemen, or Vikings. Using their nimble longships, the Vikings terrorized Christian Europe from the th to the th centuries. King Alfred the Great (–) of Wessex established a fleet to deal with the invaders, but for the most part the Norse were bought off with enormous bribes, called Danegeld (Danish tax) in England. In Asia, pirate incursions also continued as regional trade increased. As the chaos of the barbarian invasions subsided and maritime trade increased throughout Western Europe, piracy experienced another resurgence. Prior to , pirates from locales like Normandy and Wales, who kidnapped travelers for ransom, threatened Anglo-French commerce. One interesting example of the mediaeval pirate was a Flemish cleric named Eustace the Monk (d. ) who attacked French shipping in the service of England’s King John (–). Later, Eustace and his associates turned on their master, fleeing England in . In Eustace sailed to England at the head of a large fleet in support of France’s Prince Louis, but he was thwarted by inclement weather. The next year, leading another French assault, Eustace was defeated at the Strait of Dover and subsequently executed. Unfortunately for civilization, Eustace’s tragic end did little to discourage the successive efforts to follow.
The Golden Age Another wave of piracy arose in the th century following Spanish and Portuguese conquests in the New World. To mariners from England, France, and Holland the Iberians’ exclusive claims to the sea and American riches were ridiculous. Considered pirates by the Iberian powers—the Spanish actually dubbed them piratas—these adventurers did
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not view themselves as such. English seafarers like Sir Francis Drake (c. –) frequently convinced Spanish colonists—by fear, force, or simple greed—to trade with him. In , Drake completed the first successful English circumnavigation of the globe, exemplifying the unprecedented expansion of European commerce, trade, and exploration into locales like the Indian Ocean. The European conquerors soon began branding native peoples as “pirates,” though the native groups were only defending their trade goods. The fine line between piracy and legitimate commerce remained the norm for many years. In Tudor England, many fishermen dabbled in piracy, and the formal licensing of privateers to attack enemy shipping actually originated in the s, although the activity itself was far older. The precursors of the golden age of pirates started out as a type of privateer, who called themselves boucaniers (buccaneers) or “smokers of meat.” Buccaneers originated with the Anglo-French efforts to forcibly open American trade. Incursions like those of Drake and later by Sir Henry Morgan (c. –), were naturally met with hostility by local authorities, if not always by the colonists themselves. In the New World, warfare with Spain was endemic in the th century. The buccaneers were a major component of English, French, and Dutch strategy against Spain. Strictly speaking, their activities were legal when practiced against the enemy, but England’s peace with Spain in left many of the buccaneers out of work. It was from these men that the first golden age of pirates sprang, although many others would bolster their ranks, including some women. The majority of these pirates—of whom some , to , were active at any one time in the decade to —were British and American. Whatever their origins, most pirates had had some prior connection to the sea, usually as mariners. The turn of the th century was a brutal period where a child might be hanged for stealing bread, and life for the poor meant a struggle to survive. Life at sea was no less brutal, especially aboard naval vessels where bad food, disease, and corporal punishment were a daily part of life. As Robert Antony () reports of piracy in late imperial China, the practice was one way marginalized seafarers could attempt to forge some kind of decent life for themselves and take a larger share of society’s bounties, such as they were. Perhaps these origins prompted attempts at creating a new kind of social order. Buccaneering codes gradually evolved into the pirate “articles,” essentially contracts under which crews set out on their illicit careers. According to Marcus Rediker (), a hallmark of pirate society was a kind of rough egalitarianism that saw captains elected by their crews. These captains often had few privileges not enjoyed by their men, maintaining their positions by leadership qualities, not by social status. Most of these pirates went “on the account,” as the phrase went, either by volunteering to serve aboard a pirate vessel when captured or, more rarely, by mutinying and seizing their vessel. One pirate who started his career this way was Howell Davis (d. ) who led a mutiny in . Life under the Jolly Roger— the skull and crossbones flag, which was a genuine feature of golden age piracy—was one for the young, and most pirates met an early end through combat, disease, or at the hands of the authorities. Very few made their fortunes and settled down to lives as gentlemen, a dream that persuaded many poor sailors to take up a life of high seas crime.
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Once the decision was made, obtaining a ship was a prerequisite. In the age of canvas and sails, pirates had their favorites, which depended on geography and their potential targets. At about tons, the three-masted square-rigger was valued for its intimidating size, potential firepower and seaworthiness. Two-masted brigantines might carry square and fore-and-aft sails, making them very versatile, while they were still large enough to mount an imposing array of cannons. Nimble and of shallow draft, both schooners and single-masted sloops were ideal for pirates who favored hiding places in shoals, channels, and coves. In many respects, both the pirates’ merchant prey and the naval vessels assigned to chase them down were fairly similar in design. These pirate vessels traversed the globe in search of plunder, with the Caribbean Sea and the Indian Ocean particular haunts. As Rediker () reports, hundreds of pirates made the lawless Bahamas their base in the years after , founding communities like Nassau. Another pirate enclave, Port Royal, Jamaica had a population of about , in . The Caribbean islands were ideally suited for piracy operations because of the plentiful shallow water remote anchorages that made it difficult for their greatest enemy, Britain’s Royal Naval, to navigate and find them. From their bases, the pirates could capture and plunder merchant vessels, whose crews were treated either with compassion or sometimes with extreme cruelty, depending on the whims of the day (the lash, broken bottles, and fire were all used at one time or another as instruments of torture on unfortunate mariners). The actual capture was accomplished by bearing down on a merchant vessel with guns firing, forcing the victim to heave to, though sometimes the merchantman resisted and a fight ensued. Once a surrender was effected, the pirates could then loot the vessel at their leisure. A dilemma for the pirate was finding a market for his or her plunder. Indeed, the problem of quickly disposing of stolen goods gave rise to the legends of pirates burying chests of treasure. One of the best markets was in colonial America, where a “live and let live” attitude generally prevailed concerning piracy. Restrictions imposed by the Navigation Acts created a virtual monopoly of trade for English vessels. For the colonists, aiding and abetting pirates became, along with smuggling, a lucrative alternative to the legitimate trades now denied them, although colonial elites themselves sometimes asked for protection against pirates. The tendency to aid pirates naturally created tensions with England, and was in its own way a commercial factor leading to the eventual break with America. The mother country’s attitude towards piracy was much less forgiving. The British received numerous complaints about pirates from legitimate traders. With the conclusion of peace with France in , Britain turned its full attention to combating this maritime scourge (the years from – saw a lull in piracy that ended with the Treaty of Utrecht). The British used a combination of tactics against pirates with great success. Rewards were offered for bringing pirates to justice, and pardons were issued to those willing to reform. The stern hand of th-century justice was also employed. Courts tried suspected pirates in England and, after , nearer the place of capture. Death by hanging was the usual punishment for piracy. Afterwards the condemned man’s body
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was often hung in chains from a gibbet and left to rot near the sea as a warning to others. Many of those tried were captured by the more frequent Royal Navy patrols. Particularly successful was Woodes Rogers’ (c. –) expedition to the Caribbean. Charged by the Crown with clearing the sea of pirates, Rogers’ efforts were successful enough that many of those not captured relocated their operations to the Carolinas and Africa (pirates had been active in Africa since the s, with the Sierra Leone River, and more especially Madagascar, favored as places to carouse, dispose of loot, or simply to rest and refit). Combined, these measures proved remarkably successful. As David Cordingly () reports, in the short period from – pirate attacks declined from as many as to only per year. About the same time, the number of active pirates dropped around -fold. Atlantic and Caribbean piracy was virtually ended as a major threat to commerce. The golden age was at an end. Yet in , before the last of these rogues had been ridden to ground, Captain Charles Johnson (possibly author Daniel Defoe, –) produced his General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates. A bestseller producing many editions, this collection of biographies started a trend, continuing today, of romanticizing these maritime brigands even while deploring their awful deeds.
Blackbeard Johnson’s (or Defoe’s) work introduced readers to the most notorious villains of a vanishing age, making household names of men like “Calico Jack” Rackham (d. ) and female pirates such as Anne Bonny (dates unknown), Rackham’s lover. Each had their own predilections and reasons for taking up piracy, but their popular archetype was Edward Teach—known as Blackbeard (d. ). Possibly born in Bristol, Teach served as a privateer during the War of the Spanish Succession (–). Like many others, he took up piracy once peace ended this legitimate pursuit. Around , Teach sailed from Nassau in his vessel, the forty-gun Queen Anne’s Revenge, to make war on commerce. His great beard earned Teach his familiar nickname and he braided it before battle, adding to the frightening effect by inserting lighted matches under his hat. Known for his fierce temper and capacity for drink, Blackbeard was aided by a friendly administration in North Carolina. In the span of months, Blackbeard’s fleet of four vessels cruised the waters between Honduras and Virginia, taking more than merchantmen as prizes. Virginia’s royal governor was not as enamored of the pirate captain as his counterpart in North Carolina, and in late , he organized a naval expedition under Lieutenant Robert Maynard (d. ) to hunt down Blackbeard. Coming to grips with the pirate in shallow water, Maynard’s vessel was boarded by the pirate crew. In fierce hand-to-hand fighting, the navy men succeeded in killing Blackbeard and his crew surrendered. With the pirate’s head severed and hung from his bowsprit, Maynard returned to Virginia as a hero. A few pirate captains, like Howell Davis and Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts (c. –), one of the most successful pirates, held out for a time but the great romantic days of piracy were over; the practice, however, would continue.
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The th Century North African pirates, the famous Barbary Corsairs, operating out of bases like Tunis and Algiers, had been in business since the seventh century. The capture of crews to sell as slaves was a prominent motive of Barbary piracy; slaves comprised over a quarter of the population of some Islamic Mediterranean cities. Occasionally, European powers took action against the Barbary pirates, as in when a British fleet attacked Tunis. Yet for the most part, occupied by its own wars and concerns, Europe could not be bothered to devote ships and money to eradicating North African pirates. Instead, nations such as Britain, France, and Spain all paid large tributes (or subsidies) to local rulers to keep their merchantmen safe. Up until the Revolutionary War, American vessels, protected by Britain’s tribute payments, did a brisk trade with North Africa; but after , American traders no longer enjoyed this protection and were a major target hit hard by Barbary raiders. In alone, American vessels were attacked and more than a hundred Americans were taken captive. The aggression of the Barbary pirates, plus British interference with U.S. vessels, led to the beginnings of an American navy in . By , American efforts had borne fruit in the form of heavy frigates like the President and Enterprise. Through , some of the Barbary rulers tried to extort tribute money from the Americans, and a number of inconclusive naval engagements were fought. In a fleet of American warships, including the famous Constitution, arrived in the Mediterranean under Commodore Edward Preble (–). Preble’s fleet defeated the Pasha of Tripoli’s forces, although the Tripolitan War lasted another three months. Largely due to Preble’s actions, the Pasha released the crew of the frigate Philadelphia, captured earlier, after being paid a small ransom. More significantly, the Americans also secured a pledge that their trade would no longer be interfered with. However, victory over Tripoli did not end America’s problems with pirates. Although for most of the th century, piracy was not a serious concern for most nations, the conditions were ideal for a general resurgence by the early s. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the War of , and a period of Latin American Revolutions, many privateers found themselves out of work. At the same time world trade was expanding, spurred on by the new products of industry. A new generation of pirates emerged, just as bloody as their forebears but with none of the romance. Striking from bases in Cuba and Puerto Rico, these brigands would steal practically anything, sometimes killing entire crews for a few dollars worth of goods. American vessels were the hardest hit, with crafts looted in . The loss of life, prices of commodities, and skyrocketing maritime insurance premiums, led to a predictable response. By , U.S. warships had swept the Caribbean region, capturing hundreds of pirates. The sweep was so successful that only a few isolated pirates operated in the Atlantic by the late s. One of the last cases of piracy in the region occurred in when the American brig Mexican was taken by pirates, who attempted to burn the crew along with their vessel. The pirates’ leader was later captured, turned over to an American court for trial, and hanged on the basis of evidence given by the escapees from the Mexican’s crew.
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Desperate conflict of American seamen, under U.S. Commodore Decatur, on boarding a Tripolitan Corsair. In May , Decatur sailed ships to the Mediterranean Sea to conduct the Second Barbary War, which ended the practice of paying tribute to pirate states. Library of Congress.
Modern Piracy In the minds of most Westerners, piracy ended with this last outbreak. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world piracy has continued. By the s, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) reported that attacks against shipping were growing at an alarming rate. A particular source of concern at the time was West Africa, primarily Nigeria. In the early s, about attacks were reported annually, mainly against vessels in port. Knife-wielding assailants who normally went on to loot cargo containers would overpower crews. The Nigerian government took vigorous enforcement action, and after , pirate attacks were fairly rare in Nigeria, although in , incidents were reported from West Africa. The Nigerian case was a success story, but modern piracy continued. In the s, the Malacca Strait, used by more than vessels daily, became another source of concern. In alone more than vessels were attacked in the strait. Using channels on the Indonesian islands as bases, these pirates employed fast crafts, often attacking their victims at night. Vessels would be approached from behind and boarded. Using the element of surprise, the crew (usually small in number) would be overpowered and forced to turn over any valuables and the contents of their safe. The attacks were often over in less than minutes, and the raiders would have returned to base before authorities
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could be alerted. More organized gangs might take over a vessel themselves, pretending to be a legitimate crew and selling off the whole cargo for an enormous profit. In some cases, like that of the Panama-registered Tenyu in , whole crews were murdered for their cargo. To combat the problem, coordinated patrols by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore resulted in a marked decline in Malacca Strait piracy by the late s. Amid widespread anarchy following the Somalia civil war that began in the early s, conditions were ripe for the growth of piracy from a country strategically location at the Horn of Africa. But unlike Malacca, the strategy was to hijack large vessels and hold the ship and crew for ransom since pursuit was not permitted once within Somali territorial waters. After piracy attacks more than doubled in , an UN-sanctioned multinational force began patrolling the region, which helped curtail the success rate from about percent in to less than percent in . Incidences of piracy continue in areas such as the South China Sea and in South America. In the former area, violence often occurs against vessels at sea, while South American attacks are more likely to happen in port. Both forms of piracy are marked by their brutality. Such cases have generated intense scrutiny from organizations like the IMO and its member states. In , the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) included a definition of piracy, which included the recognition that modern piracy often stems from age-old problems such as the economic conditions prevailing in affected areas. Likewise, piracy is more likely to occur in areas lacking any vigorous, coordinated response. The cases of Nigeria and the Malacca Strait prove that such responses can be effective. Many people continue to romanticize and celebrate the golden age pirates like Blackbeard. In the minds of some, they were not simple villains but rebels against unjust societies of the past. In the end though, it must also be recognized that piracy is not a strictly historical problem; neither is it a glamorous pursuit, but an issue that troubles maritime societies even today. David J. Clarke References and Further Reading Antony, Robert J. Like Froth Floating on the Sea. The World of Pirates and Seafarers in Late Imperial China. Berkeley, CA: University of California, . Botting, Douglas, et al. The Seafarers. The Pirates. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, . Cordingly, David. Under the Black Flag. The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates. New York: Random House, . Gruppe, et al. The Seafarers. The Frigates. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, . International Maritime Organization, Focus on IMO. “Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea, January .” International Maritime Organization. http://www.imo.org. Ormerod, Henry A. Piracy in the Ancient World. An Essay in Mediterranean History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, . Pennell, C.R., ed. Bandits at Sea. A Pirates Reader. New York: New York University Press, . Rediker, Marcus. Villains of All Nations. Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Boston: Beacon Press, .
POLLU TION
POLLU TION In the Scandinavian country of Norway, acid rain has become a major problem. About percent of the nation’s trout stocks have been completely eradicated, while another percent have been severely damaged. This is significant because much of Norway’s income comes from fishing. Norwegian industry, however, is responsible for only percent of Norway’s acid rain. The other percent is the result of pollutants released in other European countries that travel to Norway by wind. As the case of Norway illustrates, pollution today is rarely only a local problem. Pollution has now become a worldwide problem that affects every nation on the planet. Worldwide pollution even has its own symbolic eye in the sky that monitors and reports back on the origin, spread, and effects of pollution throughout the world. The U.S. MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere) satellite tracks the air pollutant carbon monoxide. In , MOPITT sent back its first data, showing that huge clouds of carbon monoxide from forest and grassland fires in Africa and South America were drifting as far east as Southeast Asia. Other clouds of the deadly gas produced in Southeast Asia were traveling across the Pacific Ocean to North America. Clearly, no one country or region owns the problem of carbon monoxide pollution. Pollution has never had much regard for national boundaries. Pollutants produced in one nation or region are carried by wind, water, and other natural forces across borders
Each day, thousands of gallons of raw sewage flow into the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. In some locations along the river, it is estimated that pollution has reached , times the permissible level. AP Photo/John McConnico.
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RACHEL CARSON Rachel Carson, an American marine biologist, is often considered one of the most influential people to the modern environmental movement. She is most famous for her book Silent Spring, which was published in 1962 and documented the unintended and farreaching consequences of chemical pollution on the living world. Her writing stressed interrelationships of living things and argued that the wanton use of pesticides would result in unintended but serious consequences that would eventually cascade through ecological systems. Carson was born on May 27, 1907 in Springdale, Pennsylvania, and educated at Pennsylvania College for Women. She received her master’s degree in biology at Johns Hopkins University and for a time taught zoology at the University of Maryland. She then accepted a position as an aquatic biologist at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries and later the Fish and Wildlife Service. She held this position from 1936 to 1952. After the success of her 1951 book The Sea Around Us, she was able to retire. Ten years later, she published Silent Spring. Carson died of breast cancer in 1964. Carson’s first three books focused on the ocean. The Sea Around Us won the coveted National Book Award and sold over one million copies. The Sea Around Us and Silent Spring continue to be an important part of environmental literature. Her writing is said to have moved a generation into environmental action, and former Vice President Al Gore credited her for inspiring and generating the demand for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. She is also largely credited for having the pesticide DDT banned in the United States in 1972 under the Nixon Administration.
to other nations and regions. Perhaps the best known example of transborder pollution in modern times has involved acid rain. Beginning in the late s, reports began to appear of damage to forests and lakes in Canada that could be traced to air pollutants released in the United States. At the time, the Canadian government claimed that , lakes and ponds had become so acidic that all aquatic life had died. It also claimed that large numbers of trees were dying because of pollutants released in the United States. Similar problems were being reported in Western Europe. In addition to the problems in Norway, more than , lakes in Sweden were no longer able to support aquatic life in the s. The damage was thought to be caused by smoke from factories in England and Germany that had drifted eastward over Scandinavia. Similar incidents were being reported for water pollution. In , for example, the Mexican government adopted the Border Industrialization Plan (BIP), a project to develop factories along the Mexican-U.S. border to produce goods cheaply for sale in the United States. One by-product of BIP was the production of huge amounts of solid and liquid wastes that were usually dumped untreated directly into rivers and streams. Along the western Mexican-U.S. border, these wastes were dumped into the Tijuana River, after which they flowed into the Pacific Ocean, traveled northward along the coast, and contaminated beaches in Southern California. For many years, transborder pollution
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was so severe that beaches in the San Diego area were regularly closed to swimming, fishing, and other recreational activities. Nations have struggled to find ways of dealing with transborder pollution. In some cases, they have devised regional treaties to limit the problem. In , for example, the United States and Mexico signed the La Paz Agreement, a treaty covering a stretch of land and water extending miles north and south of the border between the two countries. The treaty established six working groups to deal with air, water, solid waste, and hazardous waste pollution produced in one country that is transported to the other country. In other cases, international treaties involving dozens of nations have been developed. One of the best-known agreement is the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, signed in and since ratified by countries. That treaty placed restrictions on the production and use of chemicals that damage the ozone layer. In spite of such efforts, the problems of transborder pollution are becoming more severe. Two major factors account for this trend: population increases and industrialization. As population numbers increase, especially in developing nations, people burn down forests to make land for homes, farms, and factories. Destruction of forests and grasslands produces air pollution and causes soil erosion that travels across borders to affect many countries. Advances in technology result in the release of a host of toxic chemicals into the air and water that also spread out on air currents and waterways to regions far from their origin.
Air Pollution Taking a walk in the outdoors may seem like one of the healthiest things a person can do. However, this may not always be the case. The World Health Organization estimates that about three million people die worldwide each year as a result of breathing polluted air. In the United States, air pollution is responsible for about , deaths annually. By comparison, vehicle-related accidents kill about , people. Even sitting at home in your own living room can be a hazard to your health. Many homes, offices, and other buildings are poorly ventilated. Breathing the air in such buildings can expose a person to a variety of harmful substances, such as radon, carbon monoxide, and second-hand tobacco smoke. The American Lung Association estimates that radon trapped inside buildings is responsible for , to , lung cancer deaths in the United States each year. Air pollution has been a problem for human societies for hundreds of years. As far back as the th century, air pollution was so bad in England that King Edward I banned the use of coal for making fires, declaring, “whosoever shall be found guilty of burning coal shall suffer the loss of his head.” The problem became much worse with the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the early th century. The combustion of coal became the primary means of operating factories, running railroad engines, and heating homes and offices. This practice produced huge amounts of waste products, such as soot and ash, which filled the skies over most urban areas with clouds of smoke. People continued to
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complain about the inconvenience of polluted air, but governments usually accepted the problem as an unfortunate side effect of a growing prosperity. As industrial development continued through the th and th centuries, air pollution became a more severe and more widespread problem. By the s, parts of Earth that had once been pristine— like the skies over the Arctic—had also started to become polluted. The term air pollution refers to the presence of substances in the air at a level that can harm the health and survival of humans, other animals, and plants. The most common substances present in polluted air are carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), sulfur dioxide, ozone, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and lead. By far the most common source of these pollutants is the combustion of fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. Each pollutant has specific harmful effects on living organisms that vary depending on the amount of pollutant present and the time one is exposed to the pollutant. Carbon monoxide in small doses over short periods can cause headache, nausea, and disorientation; in larger doses, it can cause loss of consciousness and death. Long-term exposure to oxides of nitrogen or sulfur dioxide can produce bronchitis, pneumonia, emphysema, and other respiratory disorders. VOCs and ozone also act as irritants to the lungs, and can cause respiratory disorders as well as making the lungs more sensitive to other irritants. Particulate matter consists of tiny particles of unburned carbon and other solids that lodge in lung tissue, causing a variety of respiratory problems. Lead is a toxic material that can cause various physical and mental disorders, including reproductive and digestive problems and mental retardation. Air pollutants can also produce other harmful effects. Smog—a form of air pollution produced when sunlight acts on pollutants to form a smoky fog—is responsible for reduced visibility that may result in automobile or airplane accidents. Oxides of nitrogen and sulfur dioxide can attack plants, destroying leaves, flowers, and fruits. Most air pollutants also have health effects on domestic animals similar to those on humans. Mercury in the air dissolves in water, where it is ingested by aquatic plants and animals and becomes part of the food chain. The earliest legislation in the United States dealing with air pollution was the Air Pollution Control Act of , allocating $ million to the states to carry out research on air pollution. That act was followed by a series of Clean Air Acts and amendments in the s, none of which was very effective in reducing air pollution. The first successful piece of legislation concerned with air pollution was the Clean Air Act of . The act established National Ambient Air Quality Standards and New Source Performance Standards that form the basis of air pollution reduction programs even today. It also created standards for automobile emissions. The act has been amended and revised a number of times, most importantly in and . Efforts to combat air pollution in the United States have proved to be a real success story. The Environmental Protection Agency reported in that total emissions from six major air pollutants—nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and lead—had dropped by percent between and . The worldwide situation was not as promising. While developed nations were finally getting air pollution problems under control, developing nations were only beginning to realize
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the magnitude of the challenge they face. China was perhaps the most troublesome example. In the early st century, of the world’s most polluted cities were in China. As the nation continues to burn coal at a voracious rate to drive its burgeoning economy, air pollution is certain to become an even more serious problem for the giant, as it will for many other growing economies throughout the world.
Marine Pollution The Antarctic is one of the largest pristine environments on Earth. Yet, permanently garrisoned research stations in the Antarctic regularly dump untreated sewage directly into coastal waters off the continent. Microorganisms in the sewage survive for long periods of time in the cold ocean waters and are ingested by fish, marine invertebrates, sea mammals, and birds, posing the threat of disease and death for these animals. The discharge of raw sewage into the oceans in the Antarctic and other parts of the world is only one form of marine pollution. Other marine pollutants include oil spills, heavy metals, toxic chemicals, debris from marine vessels, and radioactive wastes. The release of these materials into the oceans causes disease and death among marine plants and animals as well as health problems for humans living on land. The practice of ocean dumping reflects an age-old philosophy that the open seas are a convenient and inexpensive repository in which humans can dispose of their unwanted garbage. Covering nearly three quarters of the planet’s surface, the oceans have traditionally been seen as a virtually boundless black hole into which wastes could be discharged without causing harm to humans or any other living organism. Governments began passing laws to restrict marine pollution only recently. In the United States, for example, the U.S. Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act of in an attempt to reduce the dumping of raw sewage into the nation’s lakes and rivers. It was the first piece of environmental legislation passed in the United States. Even then, the concept of marine pollution was essentially unknown until , when the tanker Torrey Canyon accidentally released more than , tons of crude oil into the ocean, miles off the coast of Cornwall, England. For the first time in history, the threat posed by human activities to Earth’s oceans became a topic of worldwide concern. Oil spills have long been the best-known example of marine pollution. Accidents like the Torrey Canyon incident have received widespread publicity, but such accidents account for only about five percent of all marine oil spills. The remaining percent come from runoff of municipal and industrial oil spills (about million gallons per year), routine maintenance on marine vessels ( million gallons), air pollutants that dissolve in water ( million gallons), seepage from natural underwater sources of oil ( million gallons), and offshore drilling ( million gallons). Heavy metals, toxic chemicals, and radioactive wastes from industrial operations, agricultural activities, home and garden projects, and trucks, cars, and other vehicles are sometimes dumped intentionally, or sometimes washed away accidentally, into the oceans. Marine debris includes glass,
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plastic, metal, and other materials that do not decompose readily and may pose a hazard to plants and animals, including humans. Marine debris may take a staggering variety of forms, ranging from fishing nets and plastic bottles to unexploded bombs and drums of toxic chemicals. The major risk posed by marine pollution is the toxic character of most pollutants, including petroleum, heavy metals, toxic chemicals, pathogens in sewage, and radioactive materials. These pollutants may kill marine plants and animals directly, or may be ingested and then passed on to higher organisms—including humans—who ultimately consume various forms of seafood. Forms of debris that are not toxic can still cause harm to marine organisms. Marine birds and mammals may become entangled in fishing nets or plastic bottle rings, or they may be injured by broken glass or sharp pieces of metal. A number of national laws and international treaties dealing with marine pollution have recently been adopted. These laws and treaties include the Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the Sea (), the Brussels Intervention Convention on oil spills (), the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (), the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution by Ships (), the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (), and the Convention of the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes (). A host of human activities still threaten the health of the world’s oceans. Huge new cruise ships now produce up to , gallons of sewage each day, most of which is dumped directly into the oceans. Companies in Indonesia are building new gold mines that will release , to , metric tons of wastes—containing cyanide, arsenic, and other toxic substances—into offshore waters every day. High concentrations of toxic chemicals in narwhals and belugas (whales that form an important part of the diet of people who live in Arctic regions) threaten both their survival and also the lives of humans who eat them. Many efforts have been made to solve the problems of marine pollution, but many more challenges remain. David E. Newton References and Further Reading Birkland, Thomas A. “In the Wake of the Exxon Valdez.” Environment (): –. Burger, Joanna. Oil Spills. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, . Clark, R.B. Marine Pollution. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, . Elsom, Derek M. Atmospheric Pollution: A Global Problem. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, . Keeble, John, and Natalie Fobes. Out of the Channel: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound. Spokane, WA: Eastern Washington University Press, . Kidd, J.S., and Renee A. Kidd. Into Thin Air: The Problem of Air Pollution. New York: Facts on File, . McMichael, Anthony J. Planetary Overload: Global Environmental Change and the Health of the Human Species. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, .
PORT OPERATIONS Park, Se Hark, and Walter C. Labys. Industrial Development and Environmental Degradation: A Source Book on the Origins of Global Pollution. Edward Elgar Publishing, . Turco, Richard P. Earth Under Siege: From Air Pollution to Global Change. New York: Oxford University Press, .
PORT OPERATIONS Ports developed along coasts and rivers as nodal points in trade and transportation routes, where goods and passengers could be transferred from one mode of transport to another. The arrival and service of ships, cargoes, and passengers generated a variety of economic activities, which contributed to the growth of towns and cities where the ports were located. Port city growth, in turn, generated increased transportation demands that led to larger port operations. Rotterdam, London, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Hong Kong, and other major urban centers are (or, in some cases, were) also major seaports. In order to attract ships, a port needed to provide suitable docks and marine terminals equipped with appropriate infrastructure and personnel for the loading and unloading of ships’ cargoes and passengers. In addition, the port must also act as an efficient interface for the transfer of cargoes and passengers between the marine terminals and landside transport systems. Some ports provide other ship-related operations such as repair, maintenance, supply provisions, construction, refueling, and launching, as well as the disassembly and
Containers are loaded onto a cargo ship at the Port Newark Container Terminal in Newark, New Jersey. AP/Wide World Photos.
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demolition of obsolete ships. Other transportation and commerce-related port operations may include temporary and long-term storage of cargoes; provision of food, housing, and recreation for ships’ personnel and passengers, as well as for waterfront workers; and, financing and sale of cargoes, marine insurance underwriting, and other financial services. Ports serving naval vessels (e.g., aircraft carriers and submarines) may also perform additional operations related to national security. For most of recorded history, the activities and associated technologies of these basic port operations remained extremely labor-intensive and virtually unchanged. Starting in the mid-s, however, ships and marine terminals began to experience inter-related technological development, which rather rapidly led to capital-intensive port infrastructure and operations on an extremely grand scale, which bore little resemblance to port operations of the past. Port Operations before the Age of Steam Traditional port operations involved the loading and unloading of wooden, sail-driven vessels, at marine terminals adjacent to the port city’s business area. Marine terminals consisted of wharves and quays constructed of stone or filled-in wooden cribbing with ships’ berths parallel to the shoreline, or, long and narrow “finger piers” erected upon wooden pilings perpendicular to the shore. Marine terminals and other port facilities were owned and operated by individuals, partnerships, or the port city’s municipal government. Cargoes were brought to waterfront warehouses and terminals by animal power; ships were loaded and unloaded by hand in a labor-intensive manner, by teams of workers using only cranes, slings, and hooks. Waterfront workers resided close to the waterfront, and were accustomed to sporadic employment—dependent largely upon the number of ships in port on any given day. Port Operations and the First Industrial Revolution New technologies were developed in the th century that revolutionized both water and land transport and altered port operations. The earliest important technological change was the evolution of the steam engine (powered first by coal, later by oil), and its application to ships and railroads. The second most important involved the transformation of ship construction, with the replacement of wood by iron and steel. These resulted in larger, faster, and more expensive ships carrying greater amounts of cargo and passengers. These larger ships also required deeper berths and longer terminals, as well as more workers to handle their loading and unloading. The volume of water-borne trade and the working waterfront areas of active ports increased tremendously, but the number of active port cities declined. The ever-increasing expenses of providing larger ships with deeper berths and longer terminals imposed a financial burden that only a small number of large port cities could fulfill. Traditionally, most coastal nations had numerous port cities, many serving relatively small hinterlands. The growing railroad networks
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extending out from the major port cities also increased their hinterland, at the expense of the nearby smaller, declining port cities of the pre-railroad era. Port administration also changed, as larger amounts of capital were required to construct and maintain the deeper berths and larger marine terminals. Corporations succeeded individuals and partnerships, and public trusts (a.k.a. port authorities) joined municipal governments in the collective ownership and regulation of a port city’s marine terminals.
The Second Industrial Revolution and Bulk Cargo Shipping The late th century saw the simultaneous technological development of the first bulk ships specially designed to carry specific cargoes, and the first bulk terminals designed to handle only these new bulk cargoes. The process began in the United States at ports in the Great Lakes, and in the Mid-Atlantic states where the predecessors of the U.S. Steel Corporation constructed ships and marine terminals specialized to handle iron ore and other metals, and the Standard Oil Corporation constructed the first oil tankers and pumped petroleum terminals. The combination of specialized ships and specialized terminals operating together in a planned and predictable manner constituted a new type of technological system, which resulted in very short turn-around time, more efficient utilization of facilities, and much lower unit handling costs. An oil tanker could be filled or emptied (with only a few workers tending the pumps) within a day, whereas a traditional ship carrying oil products in individual barrels would have required dozens of longshoremen working a week or longer to load and unload it. The enormous expense of constructing new specialized ships and specialized bulk terminals could only be borne by giant corporations with large cash reserves. The greater economies provided by the bulk ships and terminals, however, justified the large expenditures, and gave their owners a tremendous competitive advantage during the Second Industrial Revolution. The high rate of throughput attainable with the new bulk shipping systems was similar to, and a necessary requirement for, the simultaneous development of large, centralized plants using new continuous-flow processing and mass production technologies. Large corporations simultaneously adopted both sets of innovations to minimize uncertainty and associated costs by internalizing operations previously subject to market forces. Both were high volume, capital-intensive, energy-intensive and managementintensive technologies, whose high rate of throughput with a small labor force resulted in enormous output at extremely low unit costs. The new bulk shipping technologies (like the new centralized production and processing plant technologies) were soon adopted by the growing transnational corporations and cartels of northeastern Europe, and somewhat later, by the zaibatsu of Japan. By the early s, bulk ships and bulk terminals were a common feature in European and Japanese ports. The initial bulk ships and terminals were used exclusively by the individual companies (and corporate affiliates) that constructed and owned them. Some of the later bulk
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facilities, particularly those handling grain and coal, were operated by railroad companies, consortia, and other entities who allowed their use by outside companies with the necessary equipment to allow proper interfacing with the bulk terminal. The development of new technological systems for handling bulk cargoes divided the th century–shipping industry into two segments: bulk shipping and general, or break bulk, shipping. The former consisted of a relatively small number of very high-volume cargoes of raw materials and fuels. The vast majority of cargoes, including other types of raw materials, semi-finished materials, and manufactured goods, continued to be handled at ports in the traditional slow and labor-intensive manner as break-bulk cargoes. The new bulk cargo ships and terminals used a much smaller, but better trained labor force, and were usually located away from the traditional, business-district waterfront. The new petroleum terminals in the port of New York, for example, were not located on the traditional waterfronts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, but rather at Staten Island and New Jersey. Similarly, the bulk terminals serving the Port of San Francisco were located at Richmond, Oakland and other East Bay cities. This was because the bulk terminals, and associated processing facilities, required much larger amounts of land than was available at the traditional working waterfront. The new bulk terminals were usually constructed upon filled-in tidal wetlands at the outskirts of the port. This also resulted in physically separating the bulk terminals’ workers from the increasingly radical workers on the traditional urban waterfront. The decrease in the number of waterfront workers used by the new bulk carriers and bulk terminals was overshadowed by the fact that increasing numbers of workers were employed on the traditional working waterfront, near the port city business district, during the late s and much of the s. During this period, longshoremen and stevedores continued to use many loading and unloading practices that had been used in the pre-steam era. Mechanization of the operations on the traditional waterfront came slowly, with the introduction of steam engines (later electric motors) to power cranes to handle ship-to-terminal movement, and automotive forklifts to move cargoes between the terminal apron and warehouse. The larger ships could also carry larger amounts of cargo, but they also had to spend more time in port while break bulk cargoes were being loaded and unloaded by hand. A modern liner could cross the Atlantic in only a week, but it would then have to spend an additional week at berth, serving as a floating warehouse and not earning any revenues. Various shipping lines and other transport firms made occasional attempts to improve the process of loading and unloading break bulk cargoes. One line of experimentation considered the use of unitized packaging, in which numerous, variously-sized items were consolidated in larger, uniformly-sized boxes. These could also be easily carried by railroads, and were an early version of intermodalism. These efforts, however, were largely abandoned in the s, as a result of adverse rulings by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Another line of experimentation involved ships’ carriage of loaded land transport vehicles. Car floats carrying railroad cars became a common feature at a few ports, but
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were only used for short-haul trips (e.g., across the Hudson River at the port of New York, and across the San Francisco Bay). The only sustained voyages carrying railroad cars were made by Seatrain Lines, during the s and later, between New York and Caribbean ports whose railroads used the same track gauge. The postwar decades saw a revival of efforts to improve port efficiencies, particularly in response to the wartime amphibious operations in Normandy, Italy, and Korea. The successful use of landing ship tanks (LSTs) for carrying tanks and trucks prompted strong military and naval interest in the development of “roll-on /roll-off,” (ro-ro) vessels during the s. The U.S. military also revived attempts at unitization, based upon pallets and other new unitized boxes (particularly the Army’s ' ⫻ ' ⫻ ' Conex Container) developed during the war. The rise of the automobile and truck industries also resulted in various experiments with intermodal transport of trucks and trailers. Most of these efforts focused on carrying truck trailers on railroad flatcars, a practice called piggy-backing. In , a company purchased war surplus LSTs, renamed them trailerships, and began carrying truck trailers between New York City and Albany. It soon abandoned its efforts because of financing problems and hostility from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Many of the attempted waterfront innovations had a dual goal: Shipping lines wanted to decrease the time needed to load and unload ships, and they also wanted to reduce the growing amount of cargo losses from theft and damage. Break bulk cargoes consisting of easily hidden (and easily disposed) consumer goods would be piled on open wharves or stored in warehouses for days or even weeks. This presented a constant temptation for theft by longshoremen and other persons with waterfront access. The problem of cargo pilferage became more acute in the late th century, a period of steady expansion of crime and corruption in U.S. waterfront operations. Author, Malachy McCourt, worked on the New York waterfront and described how longshoremen helped themselves to expensive goods, such as fine Italian shoes, and other shipped items; while any cargo of alcohol meant “a day of accidents involving forklifts being drunkenly driven over the side of the pier,” as well as “men falling into holds, fisticuffs, arguments, and much simple rejoicing.” In the movie On the Waterfront, a corrupt union leader brags: “We got the fattest piers in the fattest harbor in the world. Everything moves in and out—we take our cut.” Insurance company studies in the s estimated that losses from theft and damage amounted to – percent of the value of cargoes handled at U.S. ports.
Port Operations and Cargo Containerization None of the initial experiments with intermodalism, or other attempts to increase the efficiencies of handling break bulk cargoes, were successful because they all involved only minor innovations in the traditional process of cargo handling. This situation changed during the late s and s, with the development of a new technological system of intermodal shipping. This new system employed the use of new types of specialized
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cargo containers, specialized land transport, specialized terminal equipment, specialized ships, and eventually, specialized container terminals. Cargo containerization involved the movement of cargoes packed in specialized uniform containers that were designed for easy and rapid interconnection with similar containers, and with container ships and container chassis. Once cargo was packed in its container, it was not unlocked and unpacked until it reached its final destination. This minimized the likelihood of cargo theft or damage. The unloading and loading of a container ship took only a few hours; while it took several days to a week to unload and load traditional ships with break-bulk cargoes. Loading and unloading break-bulk cargoes required dozens of longshoremen, whereas containers needed only a few workers. There was also minimal damage to, or pilferage of, cargoes. The rapid turn-around time of containerships at port meant they could be in productive use (sailing, rather than docked) nearly twice the time of traditional ships. In addition, intermodal shipment of containers provided its customers with door-to-door service, and eliminated the risk associated with the uncertain delivery dates characteristic of break-bulk shipping. There were many similarities between the new technology of containerized shipping and the earlier technology of bulk shipping. Both required complex technological systems composed of specialized ships, port equipment, and land transport infrastructure. Both were capital-intensive, management-intensive, and energy-intensive. Both allowed much more rapid and efficient transfer of cargoes between ship and port, and also between the initial and final destination. Both involved the construction of new port facilities, usually at the outskirts of a port city, rather than at the traditional central urban waterfront. The construction of bulk cargo terminals, which handled only a small percentage of cargoes, usually had minimal impact upon port operations. The construction of container terminals, however, eventually resulted in the migration of almost all non-bulk port operations away from the traditional urban waterfront. Shipping operations moved from the New York City waterfront to Port Newark-Elizabeth, from San Francisco to Oakland, from London to Felixstowe, from Marseilles to Fos, and from Sydney to Botany Bay. The use of uniform, standard-sized cargo containers was the most obvious (and best publicized) characteristic of the new technology; but the container was only one of several new types of artifacts developed for use in a new complex technological system. Successful cargo containerization also required the coordinated use of specialized ships, specialized port equipment, specialized trucks, and specialized marine terminals, as well as new organizational behaviors—many of which were adapted from the U.S. trucking industry. The development of containerization took place in three stages. The first stage took place during the late s and early s, and involved the use of containers and specialized ships and trucks using slightly modified marine terminals at a small number of U.S. ports. The second stage took place from the mid-s through the early s. This stage involved the use of specialized container terminals, initially only in United
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States, then throughout the world. The third stage began in the s, and involved the development and diffusion of specialized railroad infrastructure (e.g., double-stacked unit trains and landbridges) designed to interact with existing container systems. Containerization was first developed in the United States during the late s, initially by the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company on shipping routes serving Atlantic and Gulf ports, and by the Matson Steamship Company on routes serving Pacific ports. Malcolm McLean, the entrepreneur who pioneered containerization, initially founded and ran a major trucking firm prior to acquiring Pan-Atlantic, while Matson operated substantial trucking operations in California and Hawaii. McLean founded North Carolina-based McLean Trucking, one of the nation’s largest trucking companies, which hauled freight between the southern and northeast regions of the United States. Strict limits upon the weight and speed of trucks using highways in Virginia and Pennsylvania caused McLean to seek ways to by-pass these states in the early s. He initially explored the idea of having his trucks’ trailers carried piggy-back on railroad flatcars; then he explored the possibility of having them carried “fishy-back” on roll-on /roll-off (ro-ro) ships sailing between southern and northeastern ports. McLean eventually settled upon a plan using specialized ships designed to handle a new type of trailer developed by business associate Roy Fruehauf, a truck body manufacturer. The trailer consisted of two separate parts, the box-like van carrying the cargo, and a detachable chassis. The trailer would be driven to a port, the van would be detached from the chassis, and a specialized crane would load the van onto a ship specially designed to carry the vans. When the ship reached another port, the van would be unloaded with another specialized crane and placed upon a specialized chassis, thereby becoming a traditional trailer that would be driven to its final destination. The first ships used by McLean were converted oil tankers, with the vans fastened upon a large, flat metal grid constructed on top of the ship’s deck. These were soon superseded by newly-designed container ships, whose interiors contained a metal cellular grid resembling a matrix of empty elevator shafts. The detached vans (eventually renamed “containers”) were loaded into the cells and stacked seven or eight deep in the ship’s holds. Several other layers of containers could then be stacked on the hatch covers and on deck. The first shipment of containers sailed from Port Newark on April , , for the Port of Houston. That date is generally acknowledged as the beginning of the container revolution. Pan-Atlantic soon began sending containerships to ports in Florida and Puerto Rico. In , Matson Steamship Company began similar experiments with cargo containers and containerships, serving ports in Hawaii and California. During most of the first decade of containerization, Pan-Atlantic (renamed SeaLand in ) and Matson used traditional marine terminals. The container revolution entered a second stage in the early s, when both companies worked with local port authorities to design the first modern container terminals, at Elizabeth, New Jersey and Oakland, California. The Port Authority of New York purchased and filled-in a vast tidal wetland adjacent to Port Newark, and, working with McLean’s input, constructed the first marine terminal specifically designed to handle cargo containers. The container
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terminal covered almost acres, making it several times larger than any traditional marine terminal. In addition, traditional marine terminals had only one to three acres per berth, while the SeaLand Terminal had more than acres for each berth. Traditional terminals usually contained massive warehouses and numerous storage sheds, but most of the acreage of the SeaLand Terminal was empty pavement, dedicated to the pre-scheduled (and computer-monitored) placement of joined chassis and containers. Truckers would enter during the days preceding arrival of a containership, leave their trailers in a pre-determined parking slot, and, usually, drive out with a different trailer that had been unloaded from the last containership. Upon the next containership’s arrival, the trailer would be moved to the wharf, and the van would be detached from the chassis and loaded into one of the ship’s cells. Within several years, SeaLand expanded its operations to the Pacific coast, and constructed container terminals at the Port of Oakland and the Port of Long Beach. Matson, for a variety of reasons, chose not to expand aggressively, and limited its container operations to only a few ports.
Global Diffusion of Containerization and Container Terminals After a decade of experimentation and development involving the construction and operation of container terminals on both U.S. coasts, SeaLand announced that it would enter trans-Atlantic routes in . The announcement prompted most other major ocean carriers to offer container service and adopt container ships. A number of carriers shifted their operations from the Manhattan and Brooklyn waterfronts to Elizabeth, New Jersey; those carriers that attempted to offer container service at the now-obsolete terminals of Brooklyn and Manhattan rapidly lost customers, went bankrupt, and were absorbed by successful competitors. SeaLand’s trans-Atlantic operations were preceded by negotiations the firm began in with European port authorities and landside carriers, concerning their adoption of container-related infrastructure and processes. Initially, only the port authorities of Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, and Grangemouth worked with officials from the Port Authority of New York to construct new container terminals modeled upon Port NewarkElizabeth. When SeaLand’s trans-Atlantic venture proved successful, other major European seaports also began construction of new container terminals, usually (like Port Newark-Elizabeth) constructed on filled-in tidal wetlands a considerable distance away from the traditional city waterfront. Port Newark-Elizabeth served as a model for most of the new container terminals. Personnel of the Port Authority of New York actively promoted containerization, providing information and advice to port authorities interested in studying or adopting the new technology. Not all of the new container terminals were successful. The Port of London realized that its traditional Docklands did not have enough space for container terminals, so it constructed new container terminals half-way down the Thames River at Tilbury. Labor union protests, however, frequently halted operations at Tilbury, which were soon superseded by the non-unionized container facilities at coastal Felixstowe.
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The trans-Pacific diffusion of containerization and container terminals was prompted by SeaLand’s transport of military supplies to U.S. bases in Vietnam and Okinawa in the late s. Governments and shipping interests in Japan and other Asian nations fought a rear-guard action against the pending influx of container traffic for several years, while they studied American and European container terminals and containerships. By the early s, almost all Asian governments adopted policies that promoted, and usually subsidized, the construction of national container ships and new container terminals. The global diffusion of containerization required massive investments by shipping companies and port authorities in containers, containerships, and container terminals. Many shipping lines did not have the capital required to adopt the new technology, and either went bankrupt and /or were purchased and integrated into large corporate consolidations. The global adoption of containerization changed the structure of the shipping industry, as numerous small and medium-sized firms were consolidated into a small number of corporate giants. SeaLand itself was eventually purchased by the A.P. Moeller Group, and is now a component of Maersk Sealand.
Economic Analysis of Port Operations The global diffusion of container technology also prompted the application of economic analysis of port operations from the s onward. Economists and others had long acknowledged that port operations had economic aspects, and that investment in new marine terminals and other port infrastructure could have important consequences for a port city’s economy. Nevertheless, there were few intensive economic studies of any port through the s, and one commentator noted: “Large investments in harbors throughout the world appear to be made to a large extent intuitively and not on the basis of rational economic calculations.” Most ports were controlled by government agencies, so economic decisions concerning port investment and pricing were determined by the political interplay of port-related interests such as shippers, labor unions, and land owners. Two scholars on maritime policy, Edmond and Maggs, declared that economic decisions about port investments were “the result of representations of interested parties, and stem from vague and un-quantified considerations of public need, rather than from any explicit calculations of economic advantages.” Politics gave highest priority to maintaining (or increasing) the number of ships using the port and the number of port-related jobs, and the interested political players inevitably portrayed port development as beneficial to all. In such situations, detailed, scholarly examination of the economics of port operations—which might conclude that the potential benefits did not justify the costs of politically-mandated investment decisions—was unwanted and even actively discouraged. The global diffusion of cargo containerization and container terminals not only disrupted traditional port operations, but also reversed the traditional absence of any sustained economic analysis of port operations. Initially, the most interested parties were
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land and water carriers, whose profitability and livelihood were dependent upon the successful adoption and implementation of containerization. The onset of bankruptcies and corporate consolidations that accompanied the global diffusion of containerization heightened the interests of corporate economists in accurate analysis of port operations and all other aspects of containerization. The topic also gained greater interest among academic economists during the s, when de-regulation and globalization led to recognizable similarities between many sectors of the transportation and communications industries. “Hub-and-Spoke Network Analysis,” was initially developed by researchers at AT&T Bell Laboratories for use in the telecommunications industry; yet it was also applicable to the cargo container transport industry (with ports’ container terminals as “hubs” and the landside routes of individual containers as “spokes”). In addition, analytical tools developed in the area of Operations Research were directly applicable to port operations and other aspects of containerization. The binpacking problem was relevant to placement of cargo in individual containers, placement of multiple containers in the terminal stacking area and in the individual container ship, and placement of container ships in berths at container terminals. The vehicle-routing problem was applicable to optimal movement of container trucks to and from a port, the inter-port movement of container ships, and intra-terminal movement of containers between the wharf and the stacking area. Port operations, previously a specialized topic virtually unexamined by economists, was transformed into a well-studied aspect of traffic management and transportation network analysis, which, in turn, overlapped with logistics, chain-of-supply management, and just-in-time ( JIT) production. Stephen Marshall References and Further Reading Brebbia, C. and Sciutto, G., eds. Maritime Engineering and Ports. Boston: Computational Mechanics, . Broeze, F. The Globalization of the Oceans: Containerization from the s to the Present. St. John’s Newfoundland: International Maritime Economic History Association, . Campbell, S. “Increasing Trade, Declining Port Cities: Port Containerization and the Regional Diffusion of Economic Benefits.” In Trading Industries, Trading Regions: International Trade, American Industry, and Regional Economic Development, ed. Helzi Noponen, Julie Graham, and Ann R. Markusen. New York: Guilford Press, . Chandler, Alfred Dupont, Jr. The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Cambridge: Belknap Press, . Cudahy, B. Box Boats: How Container Ships Changed the World. New York: Fordham University Press, . Donovan, A. and J. Bonney. The Box that Changed the World: An Illustrated History. East Windsor, NJ: Commonwealth Business Media Inc., .
PRIVATEERING Edmond, E. D. and R. P. Maggs. “How Useful are Queue Models in Port Investment Decisions for Container Berths?” Journal of the Operational Research Society , no. (): – . Jackson, G. The History and Archaeology of Ports. Tadworth, U.K.: World’s Work, . Kummerman, H. and R. Jacquinet. Ships’ Cargo, Cargo Ships. London: McGregor Publications, . Levinsohn, M. The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, . Palmer, S. “Current Port Trends in Historical Perspective.” Journal for Maritime Research (December ). http://www.jmr.nmm.ac.uk. Pinder, D. and B. Slack, eds. Shipping and Ports in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Technological Change and the Environment. New York: Routledge, . Song, D., K. Cullinane, and T. Wang. Container Port Production and Economic Efficiency. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, . Steenken, D., S. Voss, and R. Stahlbock. “Container Terminal Operation and Operations Research—A Classification and Literature Review.” OR Spectrum : –.
PRIVATEERING Privateering was a term coined by the English in the th century to refer to statesanctioned, private maritime warfare against commerce, with privateer describing the vessel and the men who engaged in the activity. Although privateering originated in the Middle Ages, the practice flourished during the th through the th centuries because it proved financially lucrative for the privateer and the nation-sponsor, it could be mixed in with naval operations, and it was useful in disrupting the trade of enemies. Many nations effectively engaged in some form of private commerce raiding at some point during this period. It was, in effect, legalized theft. However, by the mid-th century, it became apparent to most nations that the chaos and costs outweighed the gains. The doctrine of reprisals dates from a time when maritime law was in its infancy. During the Middle Ages, it was very common for ships to attack one another: historian N.A.M. Rodger () has pointed out that “there were no non-combatants at sea.” Aggrieved parties might seek legal satisfaction and damages in the civil courts of the aggressor’s nation. Those who were not adequately compensated for their lost property could request a letter of reprisal from their ruler or government. This entitled the bearer to go to sea and seize goods from the countrymen of his aggressor. At their own expense, individuals and /or groups financed privateering voyages and vessels. Privateering vessels were given letters of marque that granted them the right to take prizes for a specific duration. Letters of marque usually served as a letter of reprisal and bonds for good behavior. The intention was that such conflict should remain private, not public. There would normally be some sort of payment made to the state for sanctioning such actions (either as a bond and /or a share of prizes taken). Privateers were to adhere to the existing international laws of the sea and to whatever specific rules were dictated
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by the government issuing their commissions. State-approval and regulation of privateering is an important distinction between privateering and piracy; however, in practice, wayward privateers could behave very much like pirates. When wars ended, privateers might continue their activities as pirates. This is most evident in the Caribbean where buccaneers or, Brethren of the Coast, attacked Spanish shipping vessels: in peacetime they were considered pirates but during times of war, they could obtain privateering commissions from Spain’s enemies. For the nation issuing the commissions, the guerre de course could be directly and indirectly profitable. The sanctioning and licensing of privateers could serve the state as an instrument of war as well as providing profit for those involved. Governments could impair the commerce and shipping of rival nations at little or no expense to themselves. This was particularly useful during periods when states had small navies. Sometimes privateering activity was mixed with merchant voyages and naval campaigns. Queen Elizabeth I of England tried to fund her offensive naval campaigns in the late th century by combining naval objectives and privateering. This was problematic, as the goals of the war-time state usually suffered because her seamen thought privateering much more enticing than achieving naval objectives. In later periods, Britain’s Royal Navy was more successful in its attempts to combine the two: the Royal Navy depended on prize money to pay the crews and to lure recruits. Although it was organized and regulated the same way for the Royal Navy and for British privateers, naval seamen were accorded much smaller remuneration for prizes captured. This is one of many reasons why most seamen preferred raiding commerce aboard private ships of war, rather than on naval vessels. Historically, privateers usually sailed for shares of prizes taken rather than wages, as they were able to benefit directly from their efforts. As a result, privateering expeditions had little trouble with manning their ships. One th-century commander commented: “As for the business of pillage, there is nothing that more bewitcheth them, nor anything wherein they promise themselves so loudly, nor delight in more mainly.” Unfortunately for the crews involved, their dreams of making their fortune were usually illusory. Furthermore, the average seaman ran the risk of not only coming home empty-handed from such an expedition but also incurring injury or death. Any type of seafaring has always entailed considerable risk of accidents, illness, and mortality but privateers ran the additional likelihood of engaging in combat without guarantee of any wages or compensation. There were some privateers who did quite well for themselves financially. One thcentury privateer, William Boats, allegedly greeted his prize with a cry of “Billy Boats, born a beggar, die a lord!” Success seems to have been based on a number of factors including the skill level of the crew, the capabilities of the ship and her ordnance, as well as good luck. Success was also tied intimately to the time, place, and circumstances surrounding a particular privateering expedition. Firm figures are rarely available, however, sometimes cautious estimates are offered in studies of privateering (which tend to be very limited geographically and chronologically). For example, in the th century,
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Queen Elizabeth I and her courtiers invested significant sums in privateering activities. It was estimated that the return on Drake’s voyage of circumnavigation and privateering (–) was £ for every £ invested. We can also postulate a fair return for those aboard American privateering vessels in the mid-th century. On a successful privateering venture, former merchant sailors could double their income and sailors could make six times more aboard privateers than in the navy. Returns of – percent for successful voyages were the norm. Whatever the reality, the hope of making a huge profit from privateering was a powerful motivator for investors and seamen. It becomes even more difficult to calculate what sort of returns privateers might have made on mixed voyages that were not exclusively dedicated to privateering. There were several armed traders that had license to privateer but were also on the hunt for illegal prize goods if the opportunity presented itself. These returns were based on legal and illegal seizures, and few were forthcoming about the latter. The infamous Captain Kidd was an English privateer who exceeded his commission and was hanged for piracy at Execution Dock in London in . Like Kidd and Francis Drake, there is a long history of privateers who were also pirates, explorers, and naval seamen. Sir Henry Mainwaring, a reformed pirate turned naval commander, commented that pirates and zealous privateers “are the most daring and serviceable in war.” Thus, there was considerable traffic between the various forms of maritime employment. Given that privateering was often a wartime activity and the cessation of the war would usually bring an end to it, most men were not career privateers. The efficacy of privateering, as a means to enrich investors and participants as well as a method of commerce-raiding, is much in debate. Even more uncertain is the impact on the economies of various nations employing privateers. The state would have claimed a percentage of every prize (although it is doubtful that it got its due as embezzlement was rife); economic spin offs of privateering are even harder to measure. In his study of British privateering, David Starkey () argues that profits made or resources invested had only a limited impact on the British economy in the th century. This is due, in part, to its sporadic nature. Yet, when it was employed during wartime, it was an important part of the maritime economy. Privateering, or “the sweet trade” as it was known, stimulated port economies, shipbuilding, the fitting-out of vessels, and drawing both landsmen and seafarers to this form of employment. It also had an impact on other areas: although Sir Walter Raleigh wanted to present himself as an empirebuilder, it was clear to contemporaries that the colony of Roanoke, Virginia was to be used an English privateering base against Spain. It would appear that privateering made a very significant impact on the economies of the New World. A recent study of trade, plunder and economic development in early English Jamaica argues that privateering actions against Spanish shipping were so successful that plantation agriculture was largely financed from the profits. Furthermore, Jamaica was unusual in that colonists had a ready supply of coinage on the island (as a result of Spanish silver and contraband) and did not have to trade in commodities as did other colonists. Daniel Conlin () maintains that Nova Scotia’s planter-privateers in
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British North American were extremely successful during the period –: these planters made excellent privateers, surpassing the earlier successes of the French privateers of Port Royal and later, of Louisbourg. With the important privateering port of Liverpool, Nova Scotia flourished accordingly as did nearby Halifax. Privateering was also an important economic stimulus when warfare disrupted peaceful trade. In general, Canadian privateers contributed in important ways to the many British wars during the th and th centuries. Nova Scotia (and later New Brunswick) played a key role, given the proximity to the North Atlantic and the American eastern seaboard. Privateering fleets did, on a number of occasions, contribute to the defense of their colonial towns in the absence of a strong naval presence. As well, they were vital in assisting the Royal Navy in destroying enemy shipping. Carl Swanson’s () work on pre-Revolutionary American privateers demonstrates that privateering was crucial to the colonial war effort. Privateers in the American colonies sometimes were as successful as the British Navy in capturing prizes. Generations of colonial families took to privateering in wars against France and Spain. Accounts of profitable privateering voyages in American, Canadian, and British papers boosted morale for the war effort: they encouraged others to participate or invest for profit and patriotism. There were literally thousands of accounts in colonial newspapers, which attest to a fair degree of monetary return. Colonists were very proactive. Conlin () claims such actions were a “bold response by small communities to an international crisis over which they seemed to have had little control.” Faye Kert () portrays thcentury colonial privateers as “well capitalized, law-abiding, business-like, generally well-behaved and moderately successful.” They were a far cry from some of the earlier sea dogs with little concept or care for maritime rules and regulations. Yet privateering was primarily a chancy business. Investors took significant financial risks, sometimes with great loss. Patrick Crowhurst’s () work on French privateering demonstrates that, while there is much favorable mythology surrounding French privateering, the reality was much grimmer, at least during the Napoleonic Wars. David Starkey () estimates that percent of the British privateers who sailed between – failed to seize a prize. Besides good luck, it also required a high degree of organization: obtaining strong sailing vessels, ordnance, victuals, and crews were arduous tasks. Overseeing the selling of prizes afterwards also required an experienced entrepreneur. Throughout the early modern period, privateering enterprises became more and more organized and required considerable expertise. The reign of Elizabeth I (–) is usually seen as the glory days for English sea dogs (Francis Drake being the most famous). While Elizabethan privateers are some of the most famous, Professor Mia J. Rodriguez-Salgado, of the London School of Economics, claims that French privateers, not English seadogs, were responsible for a dramatic upswing of maritime violence in the English Channel. The breakdown of royal authority in France during the Wars of Religion in the th century allowed some rather grievous violations in that major shipping route. While there were many complaints from both sides of the English Channel about privateers, the English and French also
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turned their attention to Spanish vessels as did the Dutch “Sea Beggars.” William of Orange had commissioned Dutch privateers in as part of the Revolt of the Netherlands against Spanish rule. At the same time, the mostly Muslim privateers of the Barbary Coast of North Africa (three regencies of Algeria, Tripoli, Tunisia) engaged in a very open warfare with a number of Christian powers; the corsa provided a financially lucrative outlet for Barbary troublemakers. Handsome profits could be made from ransoming captives or selling them as slaves. Some Europeans were employed as Barbary privateers and many thousands were held as captives. Families and merchant companies formed successful pressure groups in England in the s and forced King Charles I and Parliament into action. This resulted in “An Act for the relief of the Captives taken by Turkish Moorish and other Pirates and to prevent taking of others in time to come” (). The Crown officially accepted the responsibility of raising money to ransom captives of the Barbary privateers and to fight them. The official declaration did not solve the problem of the corsairs, however, the scope of the problem was so great that the Crown established an official mechanism in England to address the problem of attacks on English seamen, merchants, and shipping. It is also very telling “pirates” is a term given privateers by their enemies and victims. The Barbary “pirates” were opposed by counter-corsairs sponsored by the Knights of Malta, the Knights of St. Stephen, and other Christian powers. The French looked to the War of Spanish Succession (–) as one of great privateering opportunities for them. The French privateers of St. Malo and Dunkirk were especially skilled at taking prizes. The prime periods for American privateers were the Revolutionary War (–), the War of , and the Civil War (–). Historically, there have been a number of abuses by zealous privateers, such as breaking bulk before goods have been assessed and judged by officials. There have also been numerous violations of neutral interests, and there are voluminous depositions and accounts of wrongdoing. Consequentially, there have been concerted efforts to ban privateering in the modern era. In the United States and Prussia signed a treaty not to use privateers in the event of a conflict. The United States tried to negotiate similar treaties with Britain, Russia, and France in . The French Assembly tried unsuccessfully to ban privateering in . The United States did not issue letters of marque in the Mexican War (–) although Mexico did. During the Crimean War (–), none of the participants sanctioned privateers. This signaled a widespread recognition among European powers that private warships were not under sufficient control of the governments. This growing intolerance to privateering resulted in the Declaration of Paris in . Particular mention was made of the deplorable disputes that had arisen because of privateering (particularly in the matter of neutral parties). The first article of the Declaration reads: “Privateering is and remains abolished.” All the powerful states in Europe and America signed, except for Spain, Mexico, and the United States. Thus, privateering remained in use during the American Civil War.
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During the Franco-German War (–), Prussia authorized a volunteer navy to attack French shipping vessels. Ships were furnished by private individuals and bounties were offered. The French government believed this to be a violation of the Declaration of Paris. The main difference between this volunteer navy and privateers was that the former were to be subject to naval discipline. Thus, the guerre de course has continued. The Hague Convention of in Holland allowed for merchant vessels to arm for self-defense, which seemed like a step backwards from the Declaration of Paris. Armed merchantmen (under naval authority) and submarine warfare were used during both World War I and II (– and –) to raid the commerce of enemies. Thus, privateering is an intermittent maritime activity that has been used widely throughout the globe. It has undergone a very long transformation from a medieval means to gain compensation for individual losses at sea, to a legally sanctioned instrument of war. As large navies ruled the waves, many states regarded privateering as having less utility than in previous times. Some nations in the modern era have continued to make war on commerce but have eliminated or reduced the private aspect. From the perspective of the state, one of the negative aspects of privateering was that it competed with other forms of maritime enterprise. The lure of prizes could take skilled men away from the navy and the merchant marines. Its effectiveness as an instrument of war and impact on the economy varied. Yet, for many centuries, privateering has served as an investment opportunity, a diplomatic tool, the desperate hope of seamen, and a weapon of war. Cheryl Fury References and Further Reading Anderson, Olive. “Economic Warfare in the Crimean” in The Economic History Review , no. (): –. Andrews, Kenneth R. Elizabethan Privateering During the Spanish War, –. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Andrews, Kenneth R. The Spanish Caribbean: Trade and Plunder, –. New Haven: Yale University Press, . Conlin, Daniel. “They Plundered Well: Planters as Privateers, –.” In Planter Links: Community a Culture in Colonial Nova Scotia, ed. Margaret Conrad and Barry Moody. Fredricton, N.B.: Acadiensis Press, . Colby, James Fairbanks. “Privateering.” In Cyclopœdia of Political Science and the Political History of the United States, ed. John J. Lalor. http://www.econlib.org/library/YPDBooks/Lalor/llCy. html. Crowhurst, Patrick. The French War on Trade: Privateering –. Aldershot, U.K: Scolar Press, . Fisher, Stephen, ed. Studies in British Privateering, Trading Enterprise and Seamen’s Welfare, – . Exeter: University of Exeter Press, .
PRIVATEERING Kert, Faye. Prize and Prejudice: Privateering and Naval Prize in Atlantic Canada in the War of . St. John’s, Newfoundland: International Maritime Economic History Association, . Matar, Nabil. “The Barbary Corsairs, King Charles I and the Civil War.” Seventeenth Century , no. (): –. Rodger, N.A.M. “The New Atlantic: Naval Warfare in the Sixteenth Century.” In War at Sea in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, ed. John B. Hattendorf and Richard W. Unger. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, . Sechrest, Larry J. “Privateering and National Defense: Naval Warfare for Private Profit.” The Independent Institute. http://www.independent.org/publications/working_papers/article. asp?id=. Starkey, David. British Privateering Enterprise in the Eighteenth Century. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, . Swanson, Carl. Predators and Prizes: Privateering and Imperial Warfare, –. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, . Zahedieh, Nuala. “Trade, Plunder and Economic Development in Early English Jamaica, –.” The Economic History Review , no. (May ): –.
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REEFS AND BUILDING ARTIFICIAL MARINE HABITAT A reef is a ridge of rock, sand, or coral that rises to or near the surface of the water. Hosting a complex ecosystem that rivals that of a rain forest, reefs are perhaps the most important marine environments in the ocean. Naturally occurring, reefs can exist in both temperate and tropical water, yet, coral reefs, the most popular naturally occurring reefs, are formed in the warm water zone extending degrees north to degrees south of the equator. Coral reefs, composed of corals and calcium depositing animals, are usually found in shallow water on rocky ocean floors, and support a symbiotic relationship with the surrounding ocean life. Organisms in the reef community contribute their skeletal calcium carbonate, which is broken down into fragments by waves, grazing fish, urchins, and other organisms. Although located in nutrient-poor tropical waters, robust nutrients cycle between coral, zooxanthella, and other reef organisms, in turn permitting significant recycling to support the ecosystem. As science began to confirm the importance of reefs in sustaining rich coastal ecosystems during the s, many governments began to take action to protect the vast biodiversity of their reefs and create additional reefs. These artificial reefs are, by definition, a manmade underwater construct designed for mimicking the natural environment for the promotion of plant and fishery growth. The modern day idea of an artificial reef is to create a habitat that, over time, will resemble the natural habitat of reefs, thereby creating an increase in fish and plant growth in that area. However, artificial reef construction is thousands of years old. Not initially used as an ecological betterment idea, artificial reefs constructed by modern-day human predecessors were intended to promote political agendas through sea power. To
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MARINE PROTECTION, RESEARCH, AND SANCTUARIES ACT (1972) EXCERPT This legislation, enacted on October 23, 1972, was a groundbreaking effort in conserving marine wildlife sanctuaries, authorizing the Secretary of Commerce to designate certain areas as such. The act also mandated an environmental impact statement to assess the effects of sanctuary designation on the environment. (1) no person shall transport from the United States, and (2) in the case of a vessel or aircraft registered in the United States or flying the United States flag or in the case of a United States department, agency, or instrumentality, no person shall transport from any location any material for the purpose of dumping it into ocean waters. (b) Except as may be authorized by a permit issued pursuant to section 1412 of this title, and subject to regulations issued pursuant to section 1418 of this title, no person shall dump any material transported from a location outside the United States (1) into the territorial sea of the United States, or (2) into a zone contiguous to the territorial sea of the United States, extending to a line twelve nautical miles seaward from the base line from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, to the extent that it may affect the territorial sea or the territory of the United States. … (1) The Secretary of Commerce, in close consultation with other appropriate Federal departments, agencies, and instrumentalities shall, within six months of October 23, 1972, initiate a comprehensive and continuing program of research with respect to the possible long-range effects of pollution, overfishing, and man-induced changes of ocean ecosystems. These responsibilities shall include the scientific assessment of damages to the natural resources from spills of petroleum or petroleum products. In carrying out such research, the Secretary of Commerce shall take into account such factors as existing and proposed international policies affecting oceanic problems, economic considerations involved in both the protection and the use of the oceans, possible alternatives to existing programs, and ways in which the health of the oceans may best be preserved for the benefit of succeeding generations of mankind. (2) The Secretary of Commerce shall ensure that the program under this section complements, when appropriate, the activities undertaken by other Federal agencies pursuant to subchapter I of this chapter and section 1443 of this title. That program shall include but not be limited to— (A) the development and assessment of scientific techniques to define and quantify the degradation of the marine environment; (B) the assessment of the capacity of the marine environment to receive materials without degradation;
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(C) continuing monitoring programs to assess the health of the marine environment, including but not limited to the monitoring of bottom oxygen concentrations, contaminant levels in biota, sediments, and the water column, diseases in fish and shellfish, and changes in types and abundance of indicator species; (D) the development of methodologies, techniques, and equipment for disposal of waste materials to minimize degradation of the marine environment. (3) The Secretary of Commerce shall ensure that the comprehensive and continuing research program conducted under this subsection is consistent with the comprehensive plan for ocean pollution research and development and monitoring prepared under section 1703 of this title. (b) Action with other nations. In carrying out his responsibilities under this section, the Secretary of Commerce, under the foreign policy guidance of the President and pursuant to international agreements and treaties made by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, may act alone or in conjunction with any other nation or group of nations, and shall make known the results of his activities by such channels of communication as may appear appropriate. (c) Cooperation of other departments, agencies, and independent instrumentalities. Each department, agency, and independent instrumentality of the Federal Government is authorized and directed to cooperate with the Secretary of Commerce in carrying out the purposes of this section and, to the extent permitted by law, to furnish such information as may be requested. (d) Utilization of personnel, services, and facilities; inter-agency agreements. The Secretary of Commerce, in carrying out his responsibilities under this section, shall, to the extent feasible utilize the personnel, services, and facilities of other Federal departments, agencies, and instrumentalities (including those of the Coast Guard for monitoring purposes), and is authorized to enter into appropriate inter-agency agreements to accomplish this action.
illustrate, Rome built an artificial reef around their nemesis, Carthage, during the Punic Wars in order to blockade their port. Nevertheless, by the s, humans began to rudimentary understand the importance of reefs, leading to Japan creating possibly one of the first ecologically purposeful reefs by successfully using rocks and other building materials in order to promote kelp growth. Aside from the development of ecosystems, in the late s, experimentation began (El Segundo, California and Perth, Australia) with artificial reefs for wave reflection to create surfing reefs. However, this still remains a debated topic, as the ability for artificial reefs to slow erosion and increase surf size is in question by many scientists. Sometimes used as a guise for trash disposal, artificial reefs have been promoted as a beneficial way to reduce the pressure on trash dumps by dumping large materials into the sea, materials such as old cars, planes, boats and bridges, tire parts, discarded military equipment, docks, and obsolete oil rigs. Although seemingly a win-win situation, the
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Truk native diving on artificial reef, Micronesia. NOAA /Dr. James P. McVey.
environmental impacts of trash disposal have produced negative results in many cases, as pollutants seep out of mechanical devises, underwater scuba hazards develop, metals rust away, pieces break away or sink into the sand, and trash washes ashore. Although environmental laws are in place in many areas, these laws are frequently varying in degrees and are often specific to certain geographic areas. Currently, the best artificial reefs have been those designed and constructed for mineral accretion. In this process, a low current is applied to the surface to create limestone. This limestone then acts as a home for coral planulae that attaches to it and grows, thereby instigating the symbiotic process. Economically, artificial reefs provide a viable means of creating wealth for the local community because of the increase in fishing it can create, an increase in scuba scenery, and as an inexpensive way of stabilizing beach nourishment. Additionally, during the El Nino, many naturally occurring coral reefs around the world died because of an increase in ocean temperatures. Aside from warming oceans, natural reef development has been threatened by the continual development of coastal areas for tourism. Taken together, the economic and ecological importance of reefs cannot be denied. Much like the impact of the shrinking rainforests, the destruction of Earth’s reefs will negatively impact biodiversity. Thus, governments are likely to take greater steps in halting the decline in natural reefs, and science is likely to continue to experiment with designs and materials to improve artificial reefs. Lee Oberman
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References and Further Reading Carson, Rachel. The Sea Around Us. New York: Oxford University Press, . Darwin, Charles. The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, . Gibbons, Gail. Coral Reefs. New York: Holiday House, . Walker, Sally. Reefs. Minneapolis: Lerner Pub, .
RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS Throughout the world organizations are involved in waterway and sea research, collecting and collating information often for governments that fund them, often for the purpose of assessing fish stock, pollution, environmental damage, agricultural purposes, or for other agencies. Water level, salinity, coastal and riverine erosion, and changes in the water condition, such as from environmental pollution, are among the data monitored and collected. Border disputes, which at times have been complicated by changes in waterways, or inaccurate maps when initial borders were established, are also within the charter of research organizations because the positions of rivers determine international, state, and provincial borders. Additionally, there are also a number of independent research organizations that monitor these and other facets of changes in common waterways between countries, and in oceans beyond the jurisdiction of individual nation states. Some of these independent organizations were concerned with locating new species of fish or other forms of sea life, studying them, or filming them. Beginning in the early s, there has been heightened interest in the effects of global warming and climate change, and how it has affected the sea currents, including underwater currents.
ELISABETH BORGESE Elisabeth Mann Borgese was born on April 24, 1918 in Munich, Germany. Until her death in February 2002, she continued to be one of the greatest proponents of the common heritage idea (that portions of the ocean should be used to uplift the neediest in the world) and for using the ocean for peaceful purposes. She was a professor of political science at Dalhousie University in Canada. Her work consistently focused on using the ocean to decrease worldwide financial inequality, as well as the importance of protecting the marine ecosystems and resources. Professor Borgese worked directly with Arvid Pardoe in advocating the common heritage idea as the central principle of modern ocean management. By using the common heritage idea, Borgese and Pardoe essentially challenged the focus of world politics, which usually sees nations as the most important actors. To Professor Borgese, the state was important, but her work suggests that people, regardless of divisions between states, are more important. Specifically, Borgese argued for radical democracy, nonviolence, and material equity, which are essential to nonhierarchical relations. Importantly, by global equity Borgese
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meant that no one is deprived of basic needs. It does not imply equal shares of goods or wealth. Further, she argues that this social change can occur as societies develop a deepening relationship with the global ocean. She believed this “blue revolution,” a revolution informed by ocean principles of holism, requires grassroots empowerment to make global governance accountable. She also encouraged nonviolence, knowledge through interdisciplinary study (that no one discipline controls what is deemed to be true), and global North-South equity, some of which is articulated by Gandhi in his poem “Oceanic Circles,” which starts her book of the same title. She founded and organized the annual Pacem in Maribus (Peace in the Oceans) conferences, which focus on global governance and peaceful uses of the ocean. Peaceful uses of the ocean are uses that do not harm other people or ecosystems. Violent uses of the ocean would include nuclear bomb testing on islands or in the water. Borgese also founded and chaired the International Ocean Institute, which carries out independent research and advocacy for peaceful uses of the oceans and the uplifting of developing nations. Borgese believed that the oceans connect people to nature and to each other, but in order for this to occur, uses of the ocean must be non-violent and non-destructive. Borgese furthered the idea of peaceful uses of the ocean during her time as an advisor to the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and the World Bank.
In ancient and medieval times, there were no formal research organizations with the location of new discoveries. Details of the waterways and currents were largely exchanged by private traders, although the Ancient Egyptians did have some governmentfinance operations to Punt and elsewhere; and Herodotus, the Greek historian, detailed some of the early explorations around the Mediterranean and further afield. The work of Herodotus allowed later traders to follow the lead of others, and there were a number of both Greek and Roman writers who wrote about their journeys that provided governments, traders, and others with details for commerce and militarily purposes. In medieval times, there was also increasing knowledge of the waterways, and about marine life, especially fish. In some ways, the government-sponsored voyages of the Portuguese, encouraged by Prince Henry the Navigator in the s to the s, and the great Chinese voyages of the Zheng He in the first decades of the th century, led to governments—in these cases the Portuguese and Chinese—collecting information on the places discovered. With the Chinese, the Portuguese, and the Spanish, knowledge of trade routes was closely guarded to maintain a competitive advantage over traders from other countries. The pooling of resources by a government, and the use of material gained from earlier voyages were, essentially, the origins of the modern maritime research organizations. With the increase in literacy and in the publishing industry in the late th century, by the early th century, books detailing accounts of voyages to distant places were
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published and sold well. Many included details of pirates in the Caribbean, but some went a long way to inform readers of parts of the world hitherto largely unknown to Europeans. Alexander Hamilton’s A New Account of the East Indies () was one of the early books informing the greater public about the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. It became a valuable reference for later voyagers in the region. When the British seafarer Captain James Cook sailed to the Pacific in the s, he was keen to publish his own account, and was so concerned that other people on board his ship might be keeping notes (and hence write books that would compete with his), that he did have the ship searched. When William Bligh went on his voyage in the HMS Bounty, the subsequent mutiny in led to a number of books written by Bligh and others. The sales of Cook’s and Bligh’s accounts showed that sea captains could earn substantial sums of money from their memoirs at the end of voyages. However, by the time of Cook and Bligh, some of the European powers were anxious for accurate details of navigational routes around the world to help not only with trade but also with military and naval expansion. Indeed, James Cook himself had helped survey the St. Lawrence River for James Wolfe’s attack on Montreal in ; and in the French commander, Napoleon Bonaparte, took surveyors with him to Egypt to compile the most detailed records of the Nile River since those recorded in ancient times. War was clearly the impetus to better map making. For example, when the British government had trouble tracking the Jacobites after the Uprising of , it became apparent that the government had no details about many parts of Scotland. This led to the sending out of William Roy and artist Paul Sandby to survey the land, and also detail the coast and waterways. In , the British established the Board of Ordnance, which had the task of surveying the south coast of England in case of a French invasion. They then started producing detailed maps of various parts of England, with their model of establishing precise maps, updated at intervals, being adopted by other countries. Still the work of the British Ordnance Survey remained unmatched. During World War I, they precisely mapped Belgium and northern France, and by World War II, had produced accurate maps of much of Europe. With the start of the systematic mapping of Britain in the s and early s, it was not long before British and others started mapping other parts of the world, including extensive work on the oceans, seas, and rivers. In order to gain a competitive advantage in regard to military and trade, the British Royal Navy’s cartographic department was keen to map as much of the world as they could. During the th century, many atlases were published to show the various parts of the world, including remote islands, previously undiscovered lakes, and newly studied rivers. The Royal Navy and other navies went even further, dealing with the depth of water, and the viability of building ports, enlarging bases, and attacking forts held by rivals. Guides to ports started to be published, thus encouraging further trade. Mention should also be made of the special role of Greenwich, located on the River Thames, near London, with the meridian, and the subsequent mapping of the globe using lines of latitude, and more controversially, the various machines for assessing longitude.
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One of the first problems was over place-names, as they varied considerably in early books, and plans were routinely introduced to standardize them. Faced with such a wide variety of names in use in some parts of the world, especially in the Balkans, the British Admiralty’s Naval Intelligence Division started producing details on the various place names during World War I. With large numbers of treaties signed by various European powers, it was the British who were the first to recognize the existence of the Kionga Triangle—an area of about square miles left out of the German and Portuguese treaties regarding their boundaries on the Rovuma River, which became Portuguese in , and later a part of Mozambique. The role of the British map makers continued during World War II when the House of the Royal Geographical Society had a Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use. The Allied Geographical Section also operated during the war for the same purpose. After that conflict, the British continued the Permanent Committee, but by that time many people were also using the more extensive works published by the U.S. Board on Geographical Names, Department of the Interior, whose work had emerged from the Corps of Engineers Army Map Service of the U.S. Department of War. The Universal Postal Union also published a book listing place-names around the world, but in their case, as they dealt with the delivery of letters, they did not include rivers unless it appeared in the name of a city, town, or village. The desire to know more about remote parts of the world led to the founding of learned societies. The Linnaean Society, founded in London in by Sir Joseph Banks and the botanist James Dickson, to deal with taxonomy, was anxious to categorize all forms of flora and fauna, and to this end they carried out detailed work on fish and marine animals, as well as seaweeds, sea grasses, and other sea flora. This was done on a systematic basis and went alongside the establishment of natural history museums. In terms of exploration, the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa (the “Africa Association”), was also founded in to help with the exploration of West Africa, in particular to chart the course of the Niger River. This involved sending out explorers John Ledyard, Simon Lucas, Daniel Houghton, and finally Mungo Park, the latter finding the source of the Niger River. However, the preeminent society to deal with researching parts of the world was the Geographical Society of London, founded in “for the advancement of geographical science.” It absorbed the African Association, and also some other organizations, and started collecting and collating information on parts of the world, and then funding explorations and research missions all around the world. A result of their work was the desire by so many Britons to find the source of the River Nile, with David Livingstone, Henry Morton Stanley (who had moved to the United States), and later John Speke and Richard Burton all furthering knowledge of the Nile. The th century research voyages of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace vastly increased our knowledge of the natural world, and led to the two contributing to the theory of evolution. Gradually there were divisions in the research fields of various organizations. The Royal Geographical Society continued to have a major role, but this led to the formation
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of other groups such as the National Geographic Society in the United States, which became famous around the world with the publication of its monthly magazine. It was founded by Gardiner Greene Hubbard after a meeting held on January , when some scientists and travelers met at the Cosmos Club, Washington D.C. and on January , Hubbard was named President of the National Geographic Society (his fatherin-law was Alexander Graham Bell). The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington D.C., was followed by the establishment of geographical societies in other parts of the world, such as the Australian Geographic Society, which from , under Dick Smith’s control, started issuing a quarterly journal, leading to similar ones being produced for Africa, New Zealand, and other parts of the world. However, as well as knowledge about places, a number of specifically maritime research organizations were established. The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office was formed in with the first hydrographer of the Admiralty being Alexander Dalrymple. His office produced the first chart in of Quiberon Bay in Brittany, believed to be the French navy base for attacks on Britain. This again showed the military desire for research pushing ahead knowledge about waterways. Dalrymple died in and was succeeded by Captain Thomas Hurd who, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, decided to offer the charts for sale to the public, thereby generating revenue for his office. They were also issued free to all ships in the Royal Navy and they listed the depths of waters, maritime hazards such as rocks and shoals, and also a far more accurate mapping of the coastline than had hitherto been available. Many other countries followed the lead of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, and to reduce the overlap in research, and to standardize procedures undertaken in these expensive surveys, in an International Marine Conference convened in Washington D.C. There were also International Congresses of Navigation held in the Russian capital, St. Petersburg, in and then again four years later. After World War I, in , the government hydrographers in Britain and France planned another international conference that was held on July , , attended by people from countries. This in turn, led to the International Hydrographic Bureau being established in . Headquartered in Monaco, and representing maritime states, in it became the International Hydrographic Organization. In addition to hydrographers who have been largely concerned with studying the navigability of waterways, there have been a number of research organizations concerned with maritime fauna and flora. The fishing industry has long been important for humans, and in the ancient world and medieval times fish were plentiful. However, people soon realized that particular fish were more common in some waters than in other areas, and English fishermen were involved in fishing among the rich shoals off the coast of Newfoundland. Access to these shoals became important in international disputes and British control over them was stipulated in the Treaty of Paris in , at the end of the Seven Years’ War. This led to ichthyology—the study of fish—whereby countries sought access to important waterways, and later to a number of books written on amateur and sports fishing. Nowadays, ichthyologists have been concerned with the rapidly depleting populations of fish, and research by a number of organizations has led
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to restrictions placed on the methods (nets) that can be used, or the nature (length of season, restrictions on catch) and location of the fishing, although this has often been ignored leading to disputes between countries. The Cod War fought between Britain and Iceland in – was one example of the escalation of a dispute that started with a research report on the problems regarding the long-term viability of the British fishing industry. Although there has been worry about the reduced number of fish in the sea, there has been more worry about the killing of whales. During the th and early th centuries, whaling started seriously affecting the whale population. However, with the improvement in whaling ships, and the use of spotter aircraft and sonar, by the s many research organizations claimed that whaling would lead to the extinction of most of the whale species. On December , , the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling was signed in Washington D.C., and this led to the formation of the International Whaling Commission, which has met annually since . This has led to a greater focus on whaling, with a number of non-governmental organizations, such as Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, being involved in protests and campaigns against whaling. The moratorium on whaling has led to an increase in the population of whales, but the Japanese government has insisted on its right to continue whaling for scientific research purposes, although critics claim this is simply a ploy to continue whaling. Fish and whales are the most studied of marine life, but the work of Jacques Cousteau (–) and other oceanographers has led to interest in marine life in general, especially in coral reefs. Cousteau had served in the French Navy and he established the Groupement de Recherches Sous-marines (Underwater Research Group: GRS). This group was then transformed by the involvement of Philippe Taillez, Frederic Dumas, Jean Alinat and Marcel Ichac; thus a new group was formed called Groupe d’Études et de Recherches Sous-Marines (Underwater Studies and Research Group). Despite initial work being limited to underwater archaeology, and then a rescue of Professor Jacques Picard in a bathyscaphe, Cousteau’s role as an oceanographer vastly improved with the access to better and better equipment including more adaptable submersibles, and improved photography that led to his book The Silent World () and television programs that did much to increase people’s knowledge of underwater life. Although the development of better and more effective submersibles and improved diving methods and techniques came about over the desire for oceanographic research by Jacques Cousteau and others, the impetus for this came largely from the search for oil as governments and oil companies became keen to locate deposits of oil. By using oil rigs, it became possible to tap into oil supplies initially in relatively calm waters such as in the Persian Gulf, and later in the South China Sea, and then in much deeper and rougher waterways such as the North Sea between Britain and Norway. These submersibles have subsequently become important in locating the wrecks of sunken ships and underwater archaeology. Many countries maintain maritime colleges that, by training marines and sailors, have helped in the study of seaways from an academic and also a practical standpoint.
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French oceanographer and environmentalist Jacques Cousteau spent much of his life aboard his floating laboratory Calypso, exploring the marine world aided by equipment he helped invent. Library of Congress.
Not only are students at these institutions involved in research, but the colleges bring together lecturing staff and full-time and part-time researchers. Because of its seafaring tradition, there are many of these in the British Isles. In England, the government funds Fleetwood Nautical Campus, School of Maritime Operations, Blackpool and Fylde College; Greenwich Maritime Institute; Lairdside Maritime Centre at Liverpool John Moores University; Centre for International Transport Management, Guildhall University, London; South Tyneside College; and the Institute of Marine Studies, University of Plymouth; with Aberdeen College; Lews Castle College at the University of the Highlands and Islands; Glasgow College of Nautical Studies; and a department at the University of Glasgow; and maritime studies are also taught at the University of Ulster and the Kilkeel College of Further Education. In France, maritime studies are offered at the École Nationale de la Marine Marchande operated in Marseille and at Nantes Nautical Institute; the École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées (ENSTA); the Institut Portuaire du Havre (IPER); and the Lycée Professionnel Maritime at Le Portel and at Saint Malo. In Belgium, the government funds the Governmental Antwerp Maritime Academy (Nautical College);
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and in the Netherlands, maritime colleges include the Maritiem Instituut Willem Barentsz; and the Netherlands Maritime University Rotterdam: Master Shipping and Transport. German maritime colleges include the Department of Nautical Studies at Bremen University of Applied Sciences; and the Fakultat fur Ingenieur Wissenschaften AB Seefahrt at the University of Rostock. There are a very large number of maritime colleges in Scandinavia with the Aalborg Maskinmesterskole, the Århus Brandskole, the Danish Maritime Institute (DMI), the Danish Offshore Safety & Technology School, Odense Maskinmesterskole, and Svendborg Maskinmesterskole, in Denmark; the Åland Institute of Technology, the Helsinki Institute of Technology, and the Turku Institute of Technology in Finland; Ålesund College (Høgskolen i Ålesund), Bergen Maritime College, and Bodin Nautical College in Norway; the College of Applied Engineering and Maritime Studies at Chalmers University of Technology; and the Kalmar Maritime Academy at Kalmar University in Sweden. There are also many in Greece, Italy, Russia and Spain, with others operating in most other European countries with maritime borders. In North Africa, the Algerian government operates the Institut des Sciences de la Mer et de l’Aménagement du Littoral (ISMAL); and the Institut Supérieur Maritime (ISM); with the Alexandria University and Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Department in Egypt; the Academie Naval; and the École de la Marine Marchande in Tunisia. South Africa maintains the most maritime colleges in Africa, with others operating in the Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania. In the Americas, there are many maritime colleges throughout the United States with the federally-funded United States Merchant Marine Academy, and the statefunded California Maritime Academy (part of the California State University system); the Great Lakes Maritime Academy (a division of Northwestern Michigan College); the Maine Maritime Academy; the Massachusetts Maritime Academy; the State University of New York Maritime College (part of the State University of New York); and the Texas Maritime Academy (part of Texas A&M University). In Canada, there is the federally-funded Canadian Coast Guard College, Westmount, Nova Scotia; and various state-funded colleges: École des Pêches du N.-B., Shippagan, New Brunswick; the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador; the Great Lakes International Marine Training Centre, Georgian College, Owen Sound, Ontario; the Institut Maritime du Québec—Centre de Québec; and the Marine Centre, Holland College, Summerside, Prince Edward Island, to name the most prominent ones. In Latin America, the Chilean government runs the Centro de Instrucción y Capacitación Marítima, and the Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada; the Argentine government operates the Escuela Nacional de Naútica “Manuel Belgrano;” the Escuela Nacional de Pesca (National School of Fisheries); and the Escuela Nacional Fluvial. Others operate in Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and
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Venezuela; with the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) in Jamaica and the Caribbean Fisheries Training and Development Institute in Trinidad and Tobago. Throughout Asia there are also a number of maritime colleges that have conducted extensive research on waterways. In China, the Guangzhou Maritime College, Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Department of Maritime Studies; the Qingdao Ocean Shipping Mariner’s College, Shanghai Marine School, Shanghai Maritime University, and Wuhan Transportation University. In Japan, the government funds the Hiroshima National College of Maritime Technology; the Institute for Sea Training, Ministry of Transport; the Oshima National College of Maritime Technology; the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology; the Toyama National College of Maritime Technology; and the Yuge National College of Maritime Technology. Emperor Hirohito himself was an accomplished marine biologist. In India there are vast numbers of maritime colleges, and much research undertaken on many aspects of the Indian Ocean, with colleges in Pakistan and Bangladesh contributing to the knowledge about the coasts and seas off their respective countries. Other maritime colleges operate in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, North Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. In the Pacific, the Australian Maritime College, Launceston, Tasmania; and James Cook University in Townsville, are heavily involved in maritime research; and there are other institutions in New Zealand, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu. In addition, mention should be made of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that, as the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO), was founded in to coordinate maritime safety and related practices, and is headquartered in London. The idea arose after the sinking of the RMS Titanic in to address concerns about poorly designed ships. The organization was, therefore, established to direct boat design research and to prevent the construction of substandard vessels. In recent years, the increasing importance of the environmental movement has led to added impetus given to many of the existing maritime research organizations, as well as the establishment of several more. Many of these are aimed at reducing maritime pollution, especially concerning oil slicks and toxic waste. These organizations have led the way in assessing the level of toxins in maritime and river waters, and, on occasions, have enforced higher health and regulatory standards. Another recent change is the monitoring of factories both during construction and while operating; examples of these are the environmental groups that have studied pollution from the Ok Tedi Mine in Papua New Guinea, and the Argentine groups who fought to stop pollution from a Uruguayan pulp mill in , leading to widespread protests in the Argentine state of Entre Rios. The use of the courts by these groups has also led to many project delays, such as the campaign waged by the Blue Wedges Coalition that conducted independent studies into maritime damage in their campaign to prevent the Victorian government from dredging Port Phillip Bay in Australia.
RESEARCH VESSELS AND MISSIONS BEFORE
Another environmental concern is the lack of an international standard for the types of fuel used by ships or the amount and types of emissions. This conflicts with many national and state laws and creates problems when the ships pull into port. However, some ship lines are adapting, such as APL, a global container transportation company, who in December began testing new technology to limit ship emissions and vowed to use cleaner fuel on ships that are scheduled to port in California, due to the state’s strict emission laws. Other research organizations have been involved in raising concern over the effects of global warming and climate change; they point to how these environmental issues, combined with the mismanagement of water, are leading to the shrinking of Lake Chad, the Aral Sea, and the Caspian Sea. To monitor the problems of global warming and climate change, many countries have established their own research organizations to monitor the possible effects of rising water levels, and the role that their governments might have in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Others have been studying the increasing salinity of some harbor estuaries, and changes in important ocean currents such as the Benguela Current. Occasionally, a specific incident has led to a new research organization, such as the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System after the Boxing Day Tsunami wreaked havoc on the west coast of Sumatra and Thailand. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Cameron, Ian. To the Farthest Ends of the Earth: The History of the Royal Geographical Society. London: Macdonald and Jane’s, . Cousteau, Jacques. The Silent World. London: Hamish Hamilton, . Heazle, Michael. Scientific Uncertainty and the Politics of Whaling. Seattle: University of Washington Press, . Mill, Hugh Robert. The Record of the Royal Geographical Society –. London: Royal Geographical Society, . Philander, S. George, ed. Encyclopedia of Global Warming. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, . Sobel, Dava and J.H. William Andrewes. Longitude. London: Fourth Estate, .
RESEARCH VESSELS AND MISSIONS BEFORE From its origins, exploration has been a salient part of navigation. Presumably in the th to th millennium b.c., the sea was discovered as a way of transportation. Prehistoric navigators began exploring the seas and discovered new coasts, islands, and territories. Those early nautical achievements are most impressive since the subsequent European explorers only rarely discovered new territories not populated by Non-European cultures, with the exception of the Polar Regions. For instance, Polynesian seafarers had
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sailed the Pacific Ocean over great distances and settled on innumerable islands. However, there are no documents, at best only archaeological evidence or oral traditions that inform about these prehistoric events. One of the earliest historically chronicled maritime nations was ancient Egypt. Around b.c., maritime expeditions were sent out by the Pharaohs to Lebanon for commercial purposes. Later, Queen Hatshepsut (– b.c.) sent an expedition into the Red Sea to the land of Punt, presumably today’s Somalia. According to the Greek historian Herodotus (– b.c.), Pharaoh Necho II (– b.c.) also sent out an expedition of Phoenician seafarers to circumnavigate Africa. From the turn of the first millennium b.c., the Phoenicians, an enterprising people who originated from what is now Lebanon, had explored new sea trade routes in the Mediterranean and also in the Atlantic. Around b.c., the Carthaginian Himilco explored the coasts of Spain and France and probably also the British Isles. Likewise, around that time another seafarer named Hanno, in command of a huge fleet, was sent by the Carthaginians on an expedition to survey the African coast. In b.c., the Macedonian admiral Nearchus (– b.c.), on return from Alexander the Great’s Indian campaign, surveyed the Persian Gulf. At the same time, the Greek navigator and geographer Pytheas (– b.c.) explored the Northern Seas and eventually reached an island he called Thule, probably Iceland or Greenland. However, it was not until the early Middle Ages the Northern Seas came under scrutiny. Around a.d. , Irish monks established a sea route to Iceland, while Vikings from Norway in the th and th centuries explored the North Atlantic and settled in Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides, and Iceland. In a.d. , Erik the Red (–), who was exiled for murder by the Icelanders, discovered Greenland, where at least two Viking settlements were established. After the Icelandic seafarer Bjarni Herjolfsson had sighted an unknown coast on a journey to Greenland, Leif Eriksson (–), Erik the Red’s son, in set out on a journey of discovery. He landed presumably at Labrador and Newfoundland and named the newly discovered territory “Vinland,” as grapes grew there, which in fact might have been cranberries. Later, however, these discoveries were forgotten. In the late Middle Ages, attention turned towards the East. Since the days of the Roman Empire, silk and spices from China and India were in great demand in Western Europe, but the land route became increasingly unsafe due to the decline of the Mongol Empire. For this reason the Europeans tried to establish a sea route to Asia by circumnavigating Africa. The earliest, though ill-fated attempt to find a way around the African continent was waged in by the Vivaldi brothers from Genoa, who vanished without a trace. Later the Portuguese followed their footsteps. From onwards, Prince Henry of Portugal (–), named “the Navigator,” sent out numerous expeditions for this purpose, thus marking the beginning of the classical Age of Discovery. His motives ranged from curiosity over the prospect of commercial exploits to the hope of finding an ally against the Muslims in the person of a mythical Christian king named Prester John.
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For their expeditions, the Portuguese—by combining ship designs from the North Sea and the Mediterranean with the caravel—had developed a vessel ideally suited for this task, since it was capable of navigating safely on the high seas as well as in shallow waters. The Portuguese slowly explored the coast of Africa. In , they had discovered Madeira, the Azores following in , both soon becoming Portuguese colonies. Another important success was the rounding of Cape Bojador in , which was primarily important because for many years superstition had frustrated all attempts of passing beyond that point. Yet, not only the Portuguese, but the Chinese as well sent out maritime expeditions at that time. Between and , the Chinese admiral Zheng He (–), made seven voyages with huge fleets, consisting of up to vessels, exploring the Indian Ocean up to the coast of Africa and extending the Chinese maritime and commercial influence in these regions. After the return of the last expedition, however, the Chinese, due to a change in policy, gave up its maritime efforts. When Henry the Navigator died in , the Portuguese had explored the African coast up to Sierra Leone. Likewise, the products of the newly colonized Atlantic islands, namely sugar, as well as the African coastal trade soon had proved profitable. In the s, the Portuguese had also begun the slave-trade, which brought suffering to the African continent for centuries. In , Bartolomeu Dias (–) finally rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of the African continent, thus eventually opening the way to India. At the same time, the Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus (–) had developed an alternative concept of travelling to India by sailing westward over the Atlantic ocean. He forwarded his plan to King João II (–) of Portugal, who, after the success of Bartolomeu Dias, was not interested in a Western route to Asia. Yet in the end, Columbus found the support of King Ferdinand (–) and Queen Isabella (–) of Spain. In he set out for his first voyage and eventually made landfall in the Bahamas, on the island of Guanahaní, later discovering Cuba and Haiti. On his second and third voyages in / and , Columbus further surveyed the Caribbean and on his fourth voyage from to , he explored the coast of Central America. All his life Columbus was convinced that he had discovered a sea route to Asia. Only after his death in , did the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci (–) assert that the newly discovered territories indeed were not India or China, but a new continent hitherto unknown to the Europeans. Ironically it was named America after Vespucci and not after Columbus, its original discoverer. Nevertheless, Columbus still ranks among the greatest navigators in history. Despite the tremendous suffering to the American indigenous people, his achievements opened the way to the Spanish conquest of Central and South America. Regardless of the Spanish attempts to reach India on a westward route, the Portuguese had followed their way around Africa. In May , Vasco da Gama (–), after a voyage of months, landed near Calicut at the Indian Malabar coast. His success opened the way for establishing the Portuguese sea-borne empire in South East Asia.
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Two years later, another Portuguese fleet under the command of Pedro Álvarez Cabral (–) on its way to India, incidentally discovered Brazil. According to the Treaty of Tordesillas, concluded in by Portugal and Spain to divide their respective spheres of interests in the newly discovered territories outside Europe, Brazil became a Portuguese colony. Likewise, the treaty banned the Spanish from using the sea route around Africa, for which reason they sought to establish an alternative passage to Asia. In Ferdinand Magellan (–), a Portuguese navigator in Spanish service, set out with four ships on a journey to find a new route to India around the landmass of South America. In he discovered a passage between the island of Tierra del Fuego and the southern tip of South America, connecting the Atlantic with another ocean, which was named the Pacific Ocean by Magellan because of it’s apparent stillness. His discovery became known as the Straits of Magellan. After a journey of several weeks, Magellan and his men, exhausted by hunger and scurvy, eventually reached the island of Guam and later the Philippines, where Magellan was killed in a conflict with local inhabitants. After one of the most amazing voyages in the history of navigation, only one ship, the Victoria, returned to Spain in . Of a total complement of , only men had survived the first circumnavigation of the world. The Portuguese and Spanish now divided the world among themselves, which was completed with the Treaty of Saragossa. It was signed in , and specified the antimeridian demarcation line established in the Tordesillas Treaty. Jealously, both Iberian nations tried to withhold any information on the newly discovered parts of the world from the remaining European nations. Nevertheless, the English, as well as the Dutch and the French, had also started to send out voyages of discovery. In the Italian navigator Giovanni Caboto or John Cabot (–) led an expedition on behalf of King Henry VII and discovered Newfoundland. Cabot did not return from his second voyage in . His son, Sebastian Cabot (–), also made a voyage to North America, hoping to find the so-called Northwest Passage, a sea route to Asia around the northern tip of the American continents. With the same mission, the French seafarer Jacques Cartier (–), during several expeditions between and , explored the North American coast, as did the English navigator John Davis (–), who made three voyages to the Arctic between and . On his first expedition, Davis explored the coast of Greenland and on his second and third he explored the Davis Strait and the Baffin Bay. At the same time, the search for an East-West passage from Europe to Asia began. In William Barents (–), a Dutchman, surveyed the west coast of Novaya Zemlya and in discovered Björnöya (Bear Island) and Spitsbergen, which was later explored by Henry Hudson (–), an English navigator in Dutch service. Between and , Hudson also discovered the island now known as Jan Mayen, and in he surveyed the Atlantic coast of the North American continent. On his fourth and last voyage in , now in English service, Hudson explored the great inland sea in Northern Canada, which was named the Hudson Bay after him. During this voyage he met a tragic end, being set adrift by his mutinous crew.
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In , a Russian explorer, Semyon Dezhnev (–) surveyed the north coast of Siberia and between and , Vitus Bering (–), a Danish navigator in Russian service, made several voyages of exploration, chartering Kamchatka and the Anadyr Peninsula, also visiting Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. In the late th century, the English, Dutch, and French had started to openly challenge the Spanish and Portuguese shipping monopoly in Africa, America, and India. At the beginning, however, these voyages were more or less piratical enterprises in most cases, but as the Portuguese and Spanish power gradually declined, the other European nations also established trading forts and colonies of their own. A good example for the early English expeditions is the journey of Sir Francis Drake (–), who set out on a voyage of plunder against the Spanish in , which led him through the Straits of Magellan, into the Pacific and eventually around the Cape of Good Hope back to Europe. Thus, when he returned to England in , he not only brought with him an enormous prey, but also had completed the second circumnavigation after Magellan. Likewise, the English navigator Thomas Cavendish (–) circumnavigated the world from to . This voyage was also intended as a raid against the Spanish, as was the first Dutch circumnavigation by Olivier van Noort ( –) from to . Although the main object of these ventures was plundering the riches of the Spanish colonies, these voyages brought valuable new information about the distant waters as well. At the same time, the first real explorations of the Pacific were undertaken in search of a supposed southern continent, called Terra Australis Incognita. In –, the Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira (–) sailed on an exploratory voyage, and again in , together with the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernández de Quirós (–), went on another journey in together with his fellow countryman Luis de Torres (–), discovering the New Hebrides as well as the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea. Likewise, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman (–) made three voyages in , , and to the Pacific for commercial as well as exploratory purpose, discovering the island of Tasmania, Australia, the South Island of New Zealand, as well as the Tonga and the Fiji islands. However, most European ships sailing the Pacific in the th century were either Spanish vessels or pirates and privateers, primarily bent on plunder, although sometimes mixing greed with curiosity, as in the case of the English buccaneer William Dampier (–), who was the first person to circumnavigate the globe three times and is said to have been the first man to travel to satisfy his inquisitiveness. Although Spanish commerce in the Pacific suffered heavily from these raiders, only the successful circumnavigation of a British squadron, under Commodore George Anson (–) from to , who was sent out during the War of the Austrian Succession (–) on a mission to attack the Spanish Pacific colonies, marked the virtual end of Spanish sea power in these waters. This also opened the way for systematic exploration of the Pacific ocean. Thus, after the end of the Seven Years’ War (–), France and Britain sent several expeditions to the Pacific. Scientific research, however,
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was not the only mission of these voyages, since they were also intended to serve the economic and military interests of both countries. The British led the way, when in they sent an expedition commanded by John Byron (–) to the Pacific. In they also commissioned Samuel Wallis (– ) and Phillip Carteret (–) on an exploratory voyage to the South Sea. In return, the French in sent out an expedition led by Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (–). Yet the scientific outcome of these early expeditions was rather limited. This changed with the voyages of James Cook (–), who is still considered to be one of the greatest navigators of all times. On his first voyage on the HMS Endeavour ( to ), with the principal purpose of observing the transit of the planet Venus on the island of Tahiti, he surveyed New Zealand and the eastern coast of Australia, while a scientific team, headed by the famous naturalist Sir Joseph Banks (–), pursued intensive biological and zoological studies. Cook’s second voyage, from to , in the ships HMS Resolution and Adventure, was devoted to the search for the mythical southern continent Terra Australis Incognita; a location that many academics of the time believed to exist. Cook thoroughly examined the oceans between Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, providing ample evidence that there indeed was no unknown landmass in the South Pacific. From to , Cook set out for his third and last voyage in the ships HMS Resolution and Discovery, with the task to search for the Northwest Passage. After visiting Tahiti and exploring the coast of Alaska, in Cook became the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands. In the following year he surveyed the North American west coast from California to Alaska, but finding the Bering Strait to be impassable, he returned to Hawaii. There he was killed in a conflict with the islanders; however, the ships returned safely to England. On his three voyages of discovery, Cook had changed the map of the world in only years by exploring and surveying the coasts of East Australia, New Zealand, and Alaska, as well as by discovering innumerable Pacific islands. The main mission of these voyages was geographical exploration, but they also had proven the navigational value of the chronometer, recently developed by John Harrison, and likewise had revealed effective means of prevention for scurvy (citrus juices to address vitamin C deficiency), which hitherto had been the curse of long-distance sea travelling. In , the French navigator Jean-François, Comte de La Pérouse (–) with the ships Boussole and Astrolabe set out for an expedition to the Pacific. After visiting Easter Island, Hawaii, and the west coast of North America, he explored the coast of South China, the Philippines, the Sea of Japan, and Siberia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, from where he returned to the Pacific. After visiting Samoa, Tonga, and Botany Bay in eastern Australia, his ships were wrecked on the Solomon Islands in , the fate of the survivors still unknown. Parallel to the expeditions to the Pacific, in the British also sent Captain Constantine Phipps (–) with two bomb vessels, HMS Racehorse and Carcass on a scientific voyage to the Arctic, with Horatio Nelson (–) serving
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as a midshipman on board the Carcass. Although the main commission of reaching the North Pole failed, the expedition brought back some valuable data such as deep-sea soundings and temperature measurements. The period of wars between France and Britain from to did not entirely put a stop to exploratory voyages. From to , the British navigators George Bass (–) and Matthew Flinders (–) circumnavigated Tasmania. Also, in the French sent out the vessels Geographe and Naturaliste under the command of Nicolas Baudin (–) on an expedition to the Pacific and Australia. Both ships returned to France in , after having met Matthew Flinders in Australia. In Flinders, in the HMS Investigator, set sail for an expedition to Australia. He circumnavigated the continent, proving that it was a single landmass. Due to a streak of misfortunes and the confusions of war, however, Flinders returned to England in . The Russians continued their oceanic research as well, culminating in the first Russian expedition to explore the Pacific Ocean and to circumnavigate the world from to , commanded by Adam Johann Krusenstern (–), and the circumnavigations of Otto von Kotzebue (–) from to , and from to . After the end of the Napoleonic Wars in , oceanic exploration was taken up again but with a new focus on the polar regions. The first Arctic voyage, which was again in search of the Northwest Passage, was led by John Ross (–). Although this journey was undertaken in vain, his second voyage in resulted in the discovery of the North Magnetic Pole by his nephew James C. Ross (–), who later himself became a famous Arctic explorer, leading a major Antarctic expedition in the bomb vessels HMS Erebus and Terror from to . Between and , William Parry (–) and John Franklin (–) also ventured on several voyages to search for the Northwest Passage and to explore the Arctic ocean and the North American coast. At the same time, a survey of the Atlantic Ocean was carried forward. In the HMS Beagle, a brig sloop converted to a research ship, together with the larger vessel HMS Adventure, set out on a mission of hydrographic survey before the coast of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. The Beagle, however, became particularly famous for her second voyage from to . Part of her mission was a circumnavigation of the world to obtain a complete circle of longitude measurements. One of the members of the ship’s crew was a young naturalist named Charles Darwin (–), whose studies inspired him to form his theory on the evolution of species, which in turn exerted an immense influence on modern science. In , Sir John Franklin again started an ill-fated attempt to find the Northwest Passage in the HMS Erebus and Terror, the vessels and their crews being lost in the Arctic ice. Although numerous rescue expeditions could not bring to light the fate of Franklin and his crew, they made major contributions to the exploration of the Arctic. At the same time, oceanographic exploration intensified. Thus in , the USS Tuscarora made a journey of extensive sounding survey across the northern Pacific. The most important voyage in the history of oceanic research, as well as the origin of oceanography as a separate scientific discipline, was the circumnavigation of the HMS Challenger from to . During her voyage, the Challenger covered a distance of
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almost , nautical miles, while a scientific team headed by Charles Wyville Thomson (–) completed an elaborate program of taking measurements and collecting a vast range of samples at official stations. The results were later published in a -volume work, while the biological and mineralogical collections are still consulted by scientists. In the last decade of the th century, many European nations were engaged in oceanographic research. For instance the Norwegian vessel Vøringen explored the North Atlantic between and , while the Austrian ship Pola surveyed the Mediterranean and the Red Sea between and . Germany also started to explore the oceans at this time. In , a German expedition headed by the marine biologist Victor Hensen (–) in the vessel National examined plankton in the North Atlantic, and from to the first German expedition devoted to deep sea exploration in the steam vessel Valdivia surveyed the Atlantic, Indian, and Antarctic oceans with a team of scientists, led by the zoologist Carl Chun (–). Although the Portuguese had specially developed the caravel for their voyages of discovery, research ships until the end of the th century usually were not built for research, but instead were converted naval vessels or ships suited for special tasks, like the massive bomb vessels for Arctic exploration, or the merchant colliers Cook used as expeditionary vessels because of their sturdy build and capacious hold. Only from the end of the th century, were ships specially constructed as research ships, like the hydrographic survey vessels Planet and Möwe, built by the German Navy in and . One of the first purpose-built research vessels was the Fram, constructed in according to specifications given by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen (–) for polar exploration, with a special hull design to avoid being crushed by the pressure of the ice. At this time, the focus had shifted to polar exploration. On his voyage to the North Pole from to , Nansen was able to prove evidence of the polar drift, when he drove the Fram into the pack ice near the New Siberian Islands. After drifting with the ice for nearly three years, the Fram eventually emerged safely northwest of Spitsbergen. From to , the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (–) led the first expedition to successfully transit the Northwest Passage, which followed the Swedish scientist and Arctic explorer, Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (–) who traversed the Northeast Passage for the first time in –. From to , the first German expedition to the Antarctic, led by the geographer Erich von Drygalski (–) explored the southern part of the Indian Ocean in the ship the Gauss, which was also built as a polar research vessel. The ship was trapped in the ice for nearly months, but nevertheless discovered new territories in Antarctica, which was subsequently named Kaiser-Wilhelm-II-Land. With the outbreak of World War I in , research missions came to a halt for several years. Jann M. Witt
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References and Further Reading Beaglehole, J.C. The Life of Captain James Cook. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, . Bitterli, Urs. Die Entdeckung und Eroberung der Welt. vols. Munich: C.H. Beck, . Bitterli, Urs. Die Entdeckung Amerikas: Von Kolumbus bis Alexander von Humboldt. Munich: C.H. Beck, . Deacon, Margaret. Scientists and the Sea –: A Study of Marine Science. Menston, U.K.: Scolar, . Guillemard, F.H.H. Life of Ferdinand Magellan. London: George Philip & Son, . Hattendorf, John B., ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History. vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, . Kemp, Peter. The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, . Linklater, E. The Voyage of the Challenger. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday, . Love, Ronald S. Maritime Exploration in the Age of Discovery, –. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, . Parry, John H. The Age of Reconnaissance: Discovery, Exploration and Settlement, –. nd ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, . Sykes, Percy. A History of Exploration from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. rd ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, .
RESEARCH VESSELS AND MISSIONS PRESENT By the start of the s, explorers, scientists, and their vessels had collected extensive data and information on the world’s oceans and seas. Advances in research methods and instrument development contributed greatly to the tools used in oceanography, which accelerated the rate of data collection. Up until World War I, instruments were primarily mechanical, depending on springs, gears, clockwork, and messengers. Handmade instruments were deployed on stations at anchor. Researchers preferred expendable instruments, which automatically collected data as soon as a ship was underway and could be maintained by technicians, rather than use the valuable time of oceanographers. Cooperation with other government and civilian agencies and institutions assured the American Navy their ability to maintain some viability immediately after the war. Because vessel speed is far less critical for research missions than for freight and passenger transportation, some wooden ships still played a part in research efforts in the s, even as steam and other forms of power replaced sail. s By the s, scientists and explorers had delineated the larger ocean basins, discovered life in the ocean depths, documented ocean circulation patterns, and initiated research concerning atmosphere/ocean relationships. Increasingly sophisticated tools and
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Immediately after the Alaska Earthquake of March , , the U.S. Geological Survey’s research vessel, the Don J. Miller, sailed to Resurrection Bay in Prince William Sound to provide information on submarine slides. U.S. Geological Survey.
instruments pushed oceanographic research forward. Echosounders allowed more precise surveys for deep-sea cables. The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (C&GS) ship, Guide, fitted with a Hayes echosounder, compared the results of acoustic soundings with the older wireline method during a trip from the Panama Canal to the North Pacific, laying the groundwork for the accurate determination of sound waves in seawater. In , the Guide used its echo- sounder in its discovery of the Davidson Seamount, miles southwest of Monterey, California. Along with the echosounder, C&GS developed radio acoustic ranging (RAR), the first all-weather, -hour navigation system. After World War I, the U.S. Navy sought ways to prove its peacetime usefulness to a public and Congress exhausted by the war and its financial costs. The Navy used oceanography, in part, as a viable political survival strategy. With this new mission, it hoped to attract biological and physical scientists to its work and contribute significantly to human knowledge and the nation’s economic well-being. The Navy’s contributions focused on tangible contributions like improved transportation, faster communication, and sustainable fisheries. In , the destroyer Stewart made the first complete profile
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of the Atlantic during its voyage from Newport, Rhode Island to Gibraltar, using its sonic depth finder (SDF). Carrying one civilian scientist, the Stewart took soundings, some more than , feet. The following year, the light cruiser Milwaukee recorded a series of bottom profiles with the SDF on its way to Australia. During the Pan-Pacific Congress in Australia, the SDF presentation proved to be a high point of the conference. British scientists determined that Robert Falcon Scott’s three-masted wooden ship, the coal-fueled Discovery, would provide a good platform for research in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. During –, workers refitted Discovery as a Royal Research Ship with “new masts and rigging, decks, laboratories, [depth sounders], and outboard platforms.” The first ship built for purely scientific research since the Paramore (ca. ), the Discovery had up-to-date dredges, trawling equipment, reversing water bottles, and thermometers. Since it was stationed in the Southern Ocean, Discovery was re-registered from London to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, and in turn flew its flag. Concerned with the future of the southern whaling industry, the Discovery’s mission encompassed studies of the Southern Ocean’s ecosystems. This included measurements of chemistry, temperature, currents, available plankton, and whale-life histories. Scientists recorded water temperatures with the Nansen-Pettersson water bottle up to meters, and the Ekman reversing bottle at greater depths. During Discovery’s first cruise, the dissection of more than , whales provided data on color, parasites, stomach content, blubber condition, age, and mammary and genital glands. Data analysis gave a picture of breeding times, gestation period, growth rates, and age at maturity. Researchers also discovered existence of the Antarctic Convergence, where northwardflowing cold surface waters meet warmer sub-Antarctic waters. The William Scoresby, the Discovery’s sister ship built in , joined the second phase of the expedition, which focused on the environment of the whales and their migration behavior. William Scoresby marked , whales with disks attached to the blubber to study migration patterns. The Discovery also towed a Continuous Plankton Recorder survey (CPR), which revealed that plankton lived in different layers of the water during the day and night. It took five years to analyze all the data collected during the expedition, data that displayed a fuller panorama of the physical and chemical background upon which the community’s ecology flowed from plankton to krill to whales. Ultimately, these expeditions formed the basis for the first international conservation of whale stocks in : nations agreed upon rules and regulations through their acceptance of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, forming the International Whaling Commission as its decision-making body.
s In September , His Egyptian Majesty’s Ship Mabahiss (Arabic for “researches”) began the John Murray Expedition, whose mission was to collect data during explorations through the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the north-western Indian Ocean, and
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SYLVIA EARLE Dr. Sylvia Earle, born on August 30, 1935 in Gibbstown, New Jersey, is one of the world’s leading contemporary marine biologists whose work encompasses science, government, and exploration. Through over 6,000 hours of underwater diving and research, Earle is a world leader in her knowledge of the undersea world. Earle was the first woman to serve as the Chief Scientist of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the early 1990s. She also holds the world record for diving. In 1979, she walked on the bottom of the ocean floor off the shores of Oahu, at a depth of 1,250 feet. That depth was, and still is, the deepest a human being has ever wandered under the ocean without being in a submarine; Earle was therefore dubbed “Her Deepness” by the New Yorker and the New York Times. Earle first gained distinction in her field for her extensive cataloguing of plants from the Gulf of Mexico in her dissertation. However, she became well known to the general public after leading the Tektite II mission off of the coast of the Bahamas. Tektite, a program sponsored by the Department of Interior, U.S. Navy, and National Aero Space Administration (NASA), sent oceanographers to live 50 feet underwater for several weeks for direct ocean learning. Earle applied to be a part of Tektite I, and indeed, had more research hours underwater than any other candidate. During the two week mission in 1970, the four women involved had been the focus of so much media attention that they received a ticker-tape parade to the White House when they emerged from the water. This new found popularity led Earle to a life of public speaking and advocacy for marine research and pollution prevention.
the Gulf of Oman. Constructed along the lines of a large steam trawler, and used for fisheries research by Egypt, the ship had a steam trawling winch, a smaller winch for raising and lowering sampling equipment, a Lucas steam sounding machine, and specialized dredges for rough coral and rocky bottoms. Various sized plankton nets served for sample collections, as equipment and methods were still quite primitive at that time. Leather and wooden buckets were used to obtain water samples, which were immediately measured with onboard thermometers for regular monitoring. Scientists took regular readings of wind speeds with a cup anemometer and relative humidity and dew points with an Assman psychrometer. A recording thermograph kept track of temperatures at levels from six to eight feet, depending on ship displacement. Deciding that it did not possess the necessary expertise in scientists and naval officers to carry out a successful expedition, the Egyptian government instead offered the Mabahiss to organizers. In exchange, the expedition trained an Egyptian crew and two Egyptian scientists in oceanographic research techniques. All scientific equipment installed for purposes of the expedition stayed with the Mabahiss upon completion of the project, and ownership reverted to the Egyptian government. During its productive nine-month voyage, the Mabahiss occupied stations, collecting data and preserving specimens that provided materials for years of published
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scientific reports by the British Museum’s Natural History section. Additionally, the expedition inspired the establishment of the Department of Oceanography at the University of Alexandria and improvements in what would become the Egyptian Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries. By the time of her return, the Mabahiss had collected sounding records along most of her ,-mile route that contained major topographic features of the region, including the series of northeast-southwest trending ridges in the Gulf of Aden, now known as transform faults between the African and Arabian plates. The main physical oceanographic results addressed water flow patterns between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and the general circulation in the Arabian Sea. The John Murray Expedition’s major objective remained the study of Arabian Sea biology, especially of bottom living organisms. With many previously un-described deep sea species, the collection remains one of the most important from taxonomic and zoogeographic perspectives.
s World War II combat activities precluded non-war-related oceanographic research during most of the s. However, the war highlighted gaps in knowledge and encouraged a renewal of oceanographic exploration after hostilities ended. Wartime research also stimulated development and refinements in ocean study instrumentation including magnetometers, scanning sonar, and acoustic sounding devices. Development of the deep-sea camera during this period provided an additional sensory tool for scientists. In , the Broström Shipping Company lent the University of Goeteborg the use of their training vessel, the sailing and steam vessel Albatross, for a -month global cruise. Containing laboratories, cold storage areas, and equipped to manage heavy gear, the ship traveled the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, the Pacific, the South Sea islands, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and back to Goeteborg. Albatross’s mission focused on the study of bottom sediments to enable the reconstruction of the biological and geological conditions that existed during deposition, including a survey of the sea bottom, ocean water/sediment interactions, and sediment thicknesses. Related to the sediment studies, scientists analyzed water layers from the surface down for temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and biological activity. Through the examination of radioactive elements (uranium and radium), investigators also hoped to improve calculations of sediment ages and settling rates. The Albatross carried a newly developed piston core sampler capable of collecting continuous cores of to feet. Scientists sought to protect the expensive core sampler by first using the echosounder to visualize dangerous objects on the ocean floor before drilling. Several successful cores of to feet near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge represented about three million years. Close to the West Indies, workers obtained cores of feet. On the voyage to Madeira, the echosounder outlined portions of the north-south-oriented Mid-Atlantic Ridge, previously discovered during the laying of the transatlantic cable.
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During its time in the Pacific, the crew of the Albatross took soundings at , feet in the Emden Deep. An eight-foot core retrieval at about , feet was followed by a snapped cable and loss of the costly core sampler. Alternatively, they took water samples from the trenches to analyze concentrations of uranium and radium. The Albatross’s soundings measured relatively thick sediment layers in the Atlantic (, ft) and Tyrrhenian Sea (, ft), an arm of the Mediterranean. Investigations found less than feet sediment depth in the Indian and Pacific oceans. The Albatross took its longest Mediterranean cores of feet between Malta and Sicily, and returned to Sweden with over core samples.. By comparing analyses of all the core samples, scientists discovered that levels of radium decreased with increased depth. The Albatross was also the first to collect and analyze rich pollen samples in the Mediterranean. However, since no pollen key existed for the area, scientists could make no general conclusions based on their findings. In total, the Swedish Deep Sea Expedition revealed much more about the age of sediments, but without earlier records for comparison, there was no basis for broader conclusions.
s From World War II through , converted military vessels dominated oceanographic research. Relatively inexpensive and readily available, these ships played an important part in the growth of ocean studies. The U.S. government also increased its involvement in the planning and construction of vessels specifically designed for oceanography. Though not a converted military ship, the Scotia played an important role in research during this period. In , the Scottish Home Department acquired the ship and equipped it as a hydrographic-plankton research vessel. The Scotia expanded upon earlier hydrographic and plankton studies along the submarine ridge running from the Faroe Islands and Iceland to Greenland. Among the longest time-series of hydrographic investigations, the data has proven invaluable in the study of North Atlantic long-term oceanographic and climatic changes. From the Scotia, the Scottish Marine Laboratory scientists pioneered research methods on drifting flora and fauna in the waters around Scotland. Analysis of the data showed indicator organisms associated with water masses of particular fertility, temperatures, and salinity, which led to future studies using indicator species to follow the movement of water masses in the open sea. Scotia investigators used the echo sounding system to study shoals of herring beneath the ship and follow the vertical movements of plankton. New high-speed plankton nets permitted sample collections as the ship was underway. A World War II British minesweeper, BYMS-, underwent an extensive conversion to serve as Jacques Cousteau’s Calypso (meaning “water nymph”). During the conversion, builders included an observation chamber in the bow, referred to as a false nose, which permitted filming and viewing through eight integrated portholes. An observation tower served as a radar antenna mount, an upper navigation bridge, and a crow’s nest to study larger marine animals.
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Calypso made its special equipment available to scientists from around the world and became a unique floating base for oceanographic research and exploration. In addition to typical oceanographic studies, the vessel provided equipment and instrumentation to examine population patterns, the behavior of marine and coastal fauna, coral reef morphology, to test data-collecting instrumentation, and allow scientists to directly observe undersea geological structures and other phenomena. Along with its specialized diving-oriented technologies, the Calypso bore the usual oceanographic study equipment necessary for investigations in topography, acoustics, physics, chemistry, and geology. Calypso’s first mission in involved naval archaeology in its exploration of a third- century b.c. Roman shipwreck on the southern coast of Grand Congloué, about miles from Marseille. Here, divers first used a new air lift device to vacuum for artifacts, recovering, inventorying, and classifying many amphoras, pieces of Campanian pottery, and other items. During its expeditions, the scientists and crew often found the need for specially-designed equipment. Cousteau and a group of Marseille officials established the Office Français de Recherches Sous-Marines to conceptualize and develop prototypes of equipment as needs arose. By July , the Calypso crew had recovered more than , pieces of ancient pottery, adding to the Borély Museum collection and embellishing the Calypso’s reputation. After fulfilling an oil exploration contract in the Persian Gulf in early , the Calypso began its ,-mile voyage to film The Silent World in March of the same year. The expedition traveled from the Mediterranean, through the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, to Madagascar, and back to the Mediterranean. Cousteau, a visionary with a flair for promotion, saw photographic film as both a tool of oceanographic science and a way to popularize the study of the world’s seas, which in turn would foster greater support for conservation. In May , Calypso set sail again to explore the environment, flora, and fauna along the coasts of Guinea, Cameroon, Senegal, and the Ivory Coast. Developing and experimenting with new equipment was always a major part of its expeditions, the ship anchored in the Atlantic’s ,-foot deep Romanche Gap using a new anchoring system. Taking advantage of the Calypso’s steadiness at its Romanche Gap anchorage, photographic equipment was lowered on a nylon line to provide the first flash-photographs of marine organisms at such depths. A radar beacon-equipped launch assisted the crew to map the trench bottom, proving that the Romanche Gap was part of the rift valley of the central Atlantic. Assisted by French participation in the International Geophysical Year in , the Calypso investigators studied the characteristics of deep waters flowing westward through the Strait of Gibraltar, in opposition to the strong surface current moving east from the Atlantic. The following year, in keeping with its mission of testing and developing new oceanographic study equipment, the Calypso assessed the Cousteau-designed and Office Francais de Recherches Sous-Marine-developed unmanned photographic sledge, christened the “troika.” Capable of depths of more than , feet, and furnished with
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automatic cameras and flash lighting, troikas proved invaluable for collecting previously unattainable photographs. In , the Calypso surveyed a pipeline route across the Mediterranean from Algeria to Spain using the ship’s sonar system and a Decca tworange system to establish the ship’s approximate position during readings. The pipeline was not built, but the expedition had demonstrated practical uses for the troika and Decca plotting system. At the end of July , the Calypso launched the first practical two-person submarine. The SP-, called the “Diving Saucer” in French, carried a motion picture and still camera along with external hydraulic equipment for the collection of specimens. Now divers could actively explore at depths up to , feet. The Calypso continued its global research to add to the scientific basis of oceanography and to popularize the hidden world of the earth’s seas through TV series such as The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau (–), and The Cousteau Odyssey (); and films like The Golden Fish (), World Without Sun (), St. Lawrence: Stairway to the Sea (), and Alaska: Outrage at Valdez ().
s The National Science Foundation funded construction of three new oceanographic research vessels during the early s, including the -foot Atlantis II, built specifically for biological oceanographic studies in the category of ships termed the academic fleet. Considered Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s (WHOI) flagship, it served multiple worldwide research needs for years, beginning in , and received its name from WHOI’s first Atlantis (–). Atlantis II ’s main activity areas encompassed the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. The ship was one of the first research vessels to routinely carry female scientists and employ women as officers and crew. On its way to a Gulf of Maine biology cruise in April , Atlantis II diverted its mission to join the search for the nuclear submarine Thresher, which had sunk in , feet of water, miles east of Cape Cod. Although rescue was not an option, the Atlantis II photographed the sub’s remains for which the U.S. Navy presented the ship with a commendation. Atlantis II sailed on its longest voyage of more than , miles in October . As part of the Indopac Expedition, it contributed to the investigation of deep ocean circulation and the earth’s crustal nature below the sea bottom, along marginal basins of the western Pacific. Pressure-retaining traps permitted the first ever recovery of live benthic amphipods from , feet, successfully maintained in the laboratory. Along three legs of the survey, the ship assisted in the collection of valuable site data for the International Program of Ocean Drilling along the Philippine Sea. On another leg of the Expedition, Atlantis II joined scientists aboard the Thomas Washington to closely examine the structure of the Banda Sea and Sahul Shelf off Australia’s northern coast. Results from seismic refraction, reflection, heat flow, gravity, magnetism, and coring studies showed that the continental crust stretches from
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Australia to the Timor, Tanimbar, and Aru troughs. Scientists also discovered a possible seafloor spreading area in the central Banda Sea. During its mid-life at WHOI, the Atlantis II underwent major refitting. In , builders replaced the ship’s steam power plant with diesel, increasing its efficiency and cruising range. More worldwide port facilities could supply fuel and maintenance for diesel engines. In preparation for its years as the three-person submersible Alvin’s mother ship, Atlantis II added a deck hangar and stern A-frame for launch and recovery in . The following year the ship received the Alvin, which it tended until . In , Atlantis II used Alvin to participate in ocean archaeology with its dive on the HMS Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic. During dives, the Alvin tested WHOI’s remotely operated vehicle, Jason Jr., and other deep-sea imaging systems. The following year, Alvin explored the Loihi Seamount southeast of Hawaii, and the chemistry and biology of recently discovered hydrothermal vents west of the Mariana Islands. In the year before its retirement from the WHOI fleet, Atlantis II /Alvin explored the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Scientists studied fluid and gas composition released from the hot springs and sampled mineral deposits, biota, and surrounding basaltic rocks. Its final WHOI cruise examined benthic flow and sediment processes along the continental slope south of Wood’s Hole. Atlantis II had cruised more than one million miles on trips, spending , days at sea on marine research and engineering projects.
s The Glomar Challenger, managed by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography for the University of California, became synonymous with scientific deep-sea drilling. The first fully-automatic dynamically-positioned drill ship, its basic mission was to collect core samples of sediment and rock for further analysis and study. By , the success of the Deep Sea Drilling Project attracted participation and financial contributions from West Germany, France, Japan, Britain, and the Soviet Union. Glomar Challenger served as the principal tool of the International Phase of ocean drilling. For this International Phase, Glomar Challenger drilled in several sites, up to , feet, to explore passive margins created by continental mass separating and rifting. Examination of these sites provided data for understanding sediment accumulation and subsidence along passive margins. The Glomar Challenger traveled more than , nautical miles during cruises of the International Phase of the Ocean Drilling/Deep Sea Drilling Project. Its deepest penetration below the ocean bottom was , ft and it recovered , ft of cores. The ship contained a core-processing/study laboratory, a geophysics lab, and areas for photo processing, microscopic specimen preparation, gas chromatography, paleontological, magnetic, and chemical study. During this same period, the Hughes-built Glomar Explorer, ostensibly built for manganese module investigation and recovery, cast a shadow over the real purposes of the deep-sea drilling projects. It emerged that the Glomar Explorer had been specially constructed for a CIA operation (Project Jennifer) to recover
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a Soviet nuclear submarine that had sunk in at a depth of nearly , feet. Only three nuclear missiles, two nuclear torpedoes, a code machine, and code books were supposedly salvaged when the sub split in half as it was raised. The third Scotia, a diesel-electric fisheries research vessel launched in , has contributed significantly to the Atlantic Salmon fishery. Pioneering work by the Scotia and other vessels resulted in catch quotas in efforts to conserve and improve these fish stocks. Water pumped regularly from outside the ship’s hull enabled it to continuously monitor surface temperature, salinity and seawater chemistry in its laboratories. One of the first to do so, the ship used a hydraulic crane to directly tow plankton nets and other sampling instruments, rather than lifting equipment over the side as in previous vessels. In another first for the Marine Laboratory, the Scotia was the first ship to regularly include female scientists on its missions. Through its years of service, Scotia also extended studies of the circulation patterns of the waters around Scotland. Investigators incorporated a global positioning system (GPS) and an acoustic Doppler current profiler to measure current speed and direction. CTD probes measured conductivity, temperature, and depth, which was automated by electronically-triggered water samplers. Onboard computers permitted swifter analysis of data as well. The combination of more powerful onboard computers and electronic instrumentation allowed the collection of much more information on each cruise. From on, the Scotia additionally covered routine trawling and sampling cruises carried out previously by the Arctic trawler Explorer.
s to Present Commissioned in , the Polarstern serves the German polar research program, spending the northern summer in the Arctic and the southern summer in Antarctic waters. Owned and operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, the double-hulled, -foot icebreaker can safely overwinter in the sea ice. The ship contains nine laboratories and is capable of conducting research in biology, geology, geophysics, glaciology, chemistry, oceanography, and meteorology. Computers enable the constant collection of data when required. Equipment also includes sounding instrumentation, which can measure depths of over , feet, and core samplers capable of penetrating feet into the ocean bottom. Besides its crew, the vessel offers work facilities and accommodations for scientists and technicians, and two helicopters to shuttle staff to and from the vessel. It spends about days each year at sea. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Miller Freeman, a -foot fisheries and oceanographic research vessel, is among the largest research trawlers in the United States. Launched in and re-rigged in , the ship serves the primary mission of studying ocean biological resources. With -day endurance capability and a ,-mile range, the vessel accommodates scientists. Currently, it conducts hydro-acoustic fish estimation and groundfish stock surveys in the Bering Sea, Alaskan waters, and off the Pacific west coast; weather and seas monitoring; and deployment of
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surface and subsurface moorings. A -foot retractable centerboard allows directional positioning of detection devices located at the bottom of the centerboard for improved hydroacoustic data. The Marine Institute owns and manages Ireland’s first deep-sea research vessel, the -foot RV Celtic Explorer, which joined her smaller sister, the Celtic Voyager, in . The Celtic Explorer can cruise for days with a complement of scientists. Referred to as “the world’s quietest research ship,” its low noise diesel-electric engine emits a very low acoustic signature, especially valuable in fish behavior studies. The ship provides a chemical lab, wet lab/fish lab with connecting freezer, water lab, dry lab, IT room, and scientists’ office/meeting room. Only the third of its kind in Europe, the multi-purpose Celtic Explorer adapts easily to fisheries surveys, oceanographic work, environmental monitoring, acoustic research, and instrument deployment. Upon its completion, the Celtic Explorer immediately joined the National Seabed Survey, the Geological Survey of Ireland’s, and the Marine Institute’s program to map Ireland’s underwater territories. The vessel is also available to other research agencies and institutes. In February/March , the University of Hamburg, Germany, chartered the Celtic Explorer to collect meteorological and oceanographic data as part of LOFZY mission. This mission, in the West Norwegian Current around the Lofoten Islands area, examined formation, attributes, and effects of individual cyclones and air-sea relationships. World War II stifled much non-war-related investigations, but later supplied relatively inexpensive surplus vessels and technical advancements applicable to research. The U.S. government became increasingly involved in the construction of oceanographicspecific vessels. The National Science Foundation also began to fund the construction and operation of research ships in cooperation with universities and other institutions. Other countries, less well-known for their oceanography endeavors, increasingly became involved toward the end of the th century. Less-developed countries created programs as well, especially in their own waters when they perceived an economic opportunity and a potential large return on their research investment. Richard Wojtowicz References and Further Reading Canada Marine Sciences Branch. CSS Acadia: years of Service. Ottawa, Ontario: Queen’s Printer and Controller of Stationery, . Capurro, Luis R.A. Oceanography Vessels of the World; A Joint Publication of IGY World Data Center A for Oceanography and the National Oceanographic Data Center. Washington, DC: U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office, . Cullen, Vicky. The Research Fleet: University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System. Woods Hole, MA: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, .
RESEARCH VESSELS AND MISSIONS PRESENT Guberlet, Muriel L. Explorers of the Sea: Famous Oceanographic Expeditions. New York: Ronald Press Co., . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “History of NOAA Ocean Exploration: Breakthrough Years (–).” NOAA, July . http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/ history/breakthru/breakthru.html (accessed December , ). Nelson, Steward B. Oceanographic Ships, Fore and Aft. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy, . Rice, A.L. Deep Sea Challenge: The John Murray/Mabahiss Expedition to the Indian Ocean, –. Paris: UNESCO, . Savours, Ann. The Voyages of the Discovery: The Illustrated History of Scott’s Ship. London: Virgin Publishing, Ltd., . Treadwell, T.K., D.S. Gorsline, and R. West. History of the U.S. Academic Oceanographic Research Fleet and the Sources of Research Ships. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University, . U.S. Office of Naval Research. Oceanographic Vessels in the United States. Washington, DC: The Office, . U.S. National Research Council. Academic Research Vessels, –. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, . Wolf, Robert S. Research Vessels of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Seattle, WA: National Marine Fisheries Service, . Wust, Georg and Albert Defant. Translated by N.P. Date. Atlas of the Stratification and Circulation of the Atlantic Ocean, Vol. : Scientific Results of the German Atlantic Expedition of the Research Vessel “Meteor”, –. Netherlands: A.A. Balkema, .
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SALVAGE Rough seas, icebergs, equipment failures, fires, wars and groundings are a few of the many causes of shipwrecks. Because ships and their cargo have always represented comparable high values, maritime salvage operations are as old as navigation itself and an inevitable element of shipping. As long as navigation was dependent only on the power of wind or human-operated oars, salvage operations mostly focused on the cargo or particular parts of the vessels. An early example of a salvage operation is the cannons of the Swedish flagship, Gustav Wasa, which sank in the harbor of Stockholm in . While the ship itself remained on the ocean floor, between and all cast-bronze cannons were brought to the surface by the use of diving bells. Even if a vessel had run aground, most of the time salvaging efforts were limited to the cargo, even when lighterage, using barges to convey the cargo from the wreck to the shore, might have brought the ship afloat again. If it was not possible to re-float the ship, accessible cargo and reusable materials from the ship itself were brought ashore. Starting in the second half of the th century, the introduction of steam power dramatically changed salvage operations. Although steam-powered tug-boats were mainly introduced for towing ships into port or through difficult passages, salvage operations developed, with many towing companies expanding their business into marine salvage operations. Powerful salvage-tugs became invaluable, and were followed by equally vital special lifting crafts and diving support vessels at the beginning of the th century. Companies like the Dutch based L. Smit & Co., or the German Reederei W. Schuchmann built up fleets of ocean-going tugs, which were also salvage vessels. A typical example for such salvage tugs out of the first half of the th century is the Seefalke
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Early diving bell used by th-century divers during salvage operations. NOAA/OAR/National Undersea Research Program.
(built in ), currently part of the museum-fleet of the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven. No Cure—No Pay or better Lloyds Open Form (introduced in ) characterizes the most relevant and enduring structure of international salvage business. While salvage was more or less an unregulated business before , Lloyds Open Form was established to guarantee the interests of both the ship-owner and salvage company. After maritime conflicts like World War I and II, or the Suez conflict, all kinds of ships that were sunk during the conflicts had to be lifted for reopening the waterways, which was very lucrative for international operating salvage companies. While salvage traditionally was oriented on re-opening of waterways and ports, or the recovery of sunken ships, salvage operations gained a new focus since the introduction of large crude-oil-tankers or atomic-powered vessels. Even if there was no economic interest in a particular salvage operation, ecologic concerns required salvage of certain vessels, like the Russian submarine the K- Kursk, which was lost in . While salvage operations like the one of the Kursk receive a wide international audience, the everyday business of salvage operations is much less spectacular and remains very similar to those of the early days of steam-powered salvage tugs. If a vessel is in any kind of maritime distress, such as an engine or rudder failure or a leakage, it will send
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out an emergency call and a salvage tug on stand-by will set course to the vessel to assist with technical equipment or to offer towing into a safe port. Unlike other maritime industries, salvage is a business widely determined by unforeseeable events, and consequently many salvage companies use their vessels for other purposes, such as towing or off-shore oilrig assistance. Nevertheless, salvage remains a high-risk business: high earnings when successful, and zero-income in the case of failure. While professional salvage companies are mainly interested in the salvage of a ship in distress, or at least the cargo of such a vessel, the focus of maritime rescue organizations— the first responders—is on life saving related to distress at sea. The top priority will always be to rescue sailors and passengers, followed by the salvage of the ship and its cargo. Ingo Heidbrink References and Further Reading Forsberg, Gerald. Salvage from the Sea. London: Routledge and Kegan, . Milwee, William I. Modern Marine Salvage. Centreville, MD: Cornell Maritime Press, . Osterwijk, Bram, Smit : –. anderhalve maritieme dienstverlening. Rotterdam: Smit Internationale, . Williams, Mark. No Cure—No Pay. The Story of Salvage at Sea. London: Hutchinson Benham, .
SEA LEVEL CHANGES Beginning in the late s, there has been heightened concerns about changes in the sea level due to global warming, yet there is little evidence that the rate of sea level rising has accelerated during the th century. The report from United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicated an centimeter rise during the th century, but the range of uncertainty was to centimeters. Scientists neither know the rate of sea level change, nor the cause of the change. What is known is that sea levels have fluctuated throughout history, and are certain to continue to fluctuate. Moreover, receding or expanding coastlines are often incorrectly attributed to sea level changes. Coastal flooding and changing coastlines can be the result of rising sea levels, but more often have been the result of plate tectonics, sea floor shifting, storm erosion, or sinking land mass. Many ancient cultures have rich mythology about great floods and rising seas. The Aboriginal people of Australia told stories about floods and the Rainbow Serpent; the Great Flood, during the time of Noah, is recorded in the Bible; and a similar flood is told in the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Certainly there is abundant geological evidence that there have been sea level changes. The most significant marine flooding occurred when the Atlantic rose significantly and breached the Strait of Gibraltar around . million years ago (the Mediterranean Sea was believed dry around . million years ago due to
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geologic forces in the area of the strait). Charles Darwin, while was visiting Chile in and traveling in the hills near Valparaiso, found seashells that he felt indicated that the sea level must have been much higher at some stage in the distant past. It may have been one of the Ice Ages that lowered the sea level, and that gradually the waters have been rising as the polar regions have started melting. The Ancient Greeks talked of Atlantis, and some people have identified this with a possible great civilization in the Atlantic Ocean. Charles Berlitz, in his books on Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle, highlights the underwater pavement known as the Bimini Road in the Bahamas. Much earlier, James Churchward wrote about a possible lost continent in the Pacific that he called “Mu.” This was promoted by Stephen Oppenheimer in his book, Eden in the East (), in which he highlighted the stone steps and other similar objects located off the coast of Okinawa. Archaeologists have not entirely dismissed the concept of Atlantis as a place that has been submerged by the rising sea level—although they are generally more skeptical of “Mu.” Some writers point to the island of Thera in the Mediterranean, close to the island of Crete. Certainly underwater archaeologists have found clear evidence of a very advanced Greek civilization there, and much of it lies under the water. Yet this became submerged after a volcanic eruption in about b.c.e., not from rising sea levels. Off the coast of the city of Alexandria, in Egypt, divers and archeologists have also found a submerged civilization, but this also can be explained by a large inundation. In more modern times, there have been documented places that have also become submerged. The port of Dunwich, off the coast of Suffolk in England, has been under water for centuries. Most of the town was washed away in , and much of the remainder in . However, Dunwich was lost through a storm. Port Royal in Jamaica was, during the th century, the base for pirates and regarded by one contemporary as the “richest and wickedest city in the New World.” Most of it was destroyed in an earthquake, and although much is underwater, this again was not because of any change in sea levels. Thus, one is left with the recent changes in the level of the sea, and scientists and explorers have long been involved in charting the sea level. Scientists have calculated that the global sea level has risen about feet ( meters) since the end of the last Ice Age about , years ago, and stabilized about , years ago. Although Captain James Cook believed there was no sea level change during his lifetime, the scientific study of sea level changes did not begin until the th century. However, changes in coastlines cannot be attributed solely to sea level changes. The problem is complex. Receding coast lines can be the result of plate tectonics, sea floor shifting, storm erosion, sinking land mass (caused by dropping water tables) as well as rising sea levels. If sea levels rise in the future because of global warming, it will be through two main processes: thermal expansion of seawater and widespread melting of glaciers, ice sheets, ice caps, and sea ice. This has come about through ice melting in the Arctic, Greenland, ice sheets in the Antarctic, and also a number of ice caps in other places. The response has been plans involving retreat, accommodation, or protection. Although countries
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such as the Netherlands and Japan are particularly vulnerable, one of the areas that will be greatly affected will be the Nile Delta in Egypt. Furthermore, if the sea level continues to rise, some island nations such as Kiribati, the Maldives and Nauru might disappear entirely in the not too distant future. All these countries are very low-lying, and as such these countries (and many others) have been in the forefront of the United Nation’s campaign to attribute sea level rising to global warming. Already these islands have faced severe strains, and this is only likely to worsen. For cities like Venice and New Orleans, which have already suffered from floods for centuries, there is also likely to be severe problems. The rise in sea levels has also meant that because of periods of high tide, some cities have had to take drastic action. One of these places under threat was London, which led to the building of the Thames Barrier to prevent the British capital from being flooded. It was built between and at Woolwich Reach and is the second largest movable flood barrier in the world, the largest being the less well-known Maeslantkering in the Netherlands. The North Koreans also built the Nampho West Sea Barrage, built from to , to prevent the flooding of the Taedong River, as well as to generate hydroelectricity. It has been calculated that million people around the world live on land that is less than one meter above sea level. In Japan alone there are . million people in this category, and there are far more in the river deltas in China, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Vietnam. Therefore, if the sea rises by one meter for over years, the areas that are currently flooded by the -year storms will be inundated every years. As currently stands, there are million people in China, million in Bangladesh, million in India, and million in Egypt who are directly at risk from a higher sea level. Not only are the problems involved in resettling these vast numbers of people, but much of the land that would be lost is rich agricultural land, and the loss of this will also be dramatic on the food supplies in these countries. In Bangladesh, where there are already regular floods, the situation may well be getting a great deal worse. As well as with the loss of fertile agricultural land, there is also expected to be a consequent large loss in drinking water, making all the problems even more acute. This immediate effect on humans also does not take into account the problems that will be faced by marine life including freshwater fish, corals, and animals that rely on drinking water from rivers. As well as the level of the oceans, there has been even more concern about the falling levels of many of the inland seas. The Dead Sea has always been much lower than sea level, and overuse of water, as well as evaporation through global warming, has resulted in even more loss of water there than ever before. A similar situation is also noticeable in the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea and also many inland lakes such as Lake Baikal, Lake Chad, and Lake Eyre. The impact of these falling sea levels can be equally as troubling as rising sea levels. Justin Corfield
SHIPPING AND SHIPBUILDING, GOVERNMENT POLICY IMPACT
References and Further Reading Neuman, James, Gary Yohe, Robert Nicholls, and Michelle Manion. Sea-Level Rise and Global Climate Change: A Review of Impacts to U.S. Coasts. Arlington, VA: Pew Center on Global Climate Change, . Nursey-Bray, Melissa and Rob Palmer, “Sea Level Rising.” In Encyclopedia of Global Warming, ed. Philander, S. George. Vol. . Los Angeles: Sage Publications, . Oppenheimer, Stephen. Eden in the East. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, . Stern, Nicholas. Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. London: H.M. Treasury, .
SHIPPING AND SHIPBUILDING, GOVERNMENT POLICY IMPACT Shipping and shipbuilding have long attracted government intervention to achieve military, political and socioeconomic goals. The goals of government intervention are many, ranging from market access (bulk of international trade is sea-borne) and national defense, to leveling the playing field and job creation. Generally, the extent of government intervention—subsides, tax breaks, and protectionism—varies. A sharp contrast may be drawn between the more laissez-faire approach of the traditional maritime nations of Western Europe and North America, and the more state-interventionist patterns in the developing countries of the Global South. Yet, even in developed countries, governments have assisted ailing maritime industries during depressions and bolstered shipping and shipbuilding industries for national defense, especially in anticipation or prosecution of war. Shipbuilding has always been a labor-and capital-intensive industry, but as ships have grown in size and have become more expensive to design and build, the capital requirements needed to build and buy fleets to remain competitive has grown beyond the means of most companies. Global container traffic rose from million TEU (-foot equivalent units) in to million TEU in . The world fleet of container freighters increased during the same period from . million TEU to . million TEU. The number of passengers who traveled on cruise ships rose from . million in to million in , averaging an eight percent increase per year. The significant increase in fleet size has been matched by the sophistication of ship design and services. Some of the competitive advantages exploited by maritime nations include geographical (natural ports are generally less costly to develop than artificial ports), large coastal population (leading ports and shipping hubs adjoin urban conurbations, which represent labor reservoirs and markets) and high per capita income (deriving from high levels of industrial, technological and commercial development). Conversely, high levels of government corruption, business culture (prohibitive cost of doing business, caused by official and unofficial toll gates), transportation infrastructure (the lack of modern and efficient rail and road links between port and the hinterland) and slow turn-around times (emanating from red-tape and corruption) hamper the optimal development of shipping and maritime trade, especially in developing countries.
SHIPPING AND SHIPBUILDING, GOVERNMENT POLICY IMPACT
Government, Nurture Capitalism, Shipping and Shipbuilding Although the practice of direct state involvement in shipping and shipbuilding in the form of nurture capitalism has become closely associated with the maritime nationalism of countries in the modern Global South, Japan’s th-century experience proved extremely effective in the inherently unequal world of maritime business. Japan’s experience was the first in the non-Western world. At the political level, state intervention in the maritime and industrial sectors of the economy was meant to spare Japan from the Western quasi-colonization of China by the beginning of the century. At the technological level, government intervention was required to make up for Japanese backwardness, compared to the West, as a result of the policies of the Tokugawa regime (–), which restricted the development of shipbuilding technology. In addition, it was in the early th century that the technology of steam and steel were coming of age, so ship design and construction was making a quantum leap in sophistication. State intervention was the means by which Japan could catch up with the West. Before then, developing fleets of sails and wooden hulls, proven technology, did not require direct government intervention. However, the intrusion of American naval power in the Asia-Pacific region from – initiated a chain of events that culminated in the Meiji Restoration of . From that point to the eve of World War I, Japan underwent wide-ranging reforms in the economic, social, and political spheres with the aim of redressing glaring technological, military, and economic backwardness vis-à-vis the West. Not surprisingly, the Japanese government pursued economic policies that engendered rapid development. Shipping and shipbuilding were key to this program of rapid development in the context of the struggle for economic independence from the West. However, as the local maritime operators were weak compared to their Western counterparts, the government decided to nurture them. Hence, appropriate legislation was passed in – to provide the framework for government-private sector partnership, which was designed to grow embryonic indigenous enterprises such as the Mitsubishi shipping line. It was regarded as a matter of national security that the indigenous lines in the costal shipping industry were not displaced from the coastal routes by the better capitalized, technologically advanced Western lines. Accordingly, the government funded and assisted shipping lines, such as by providing vessels run by private operators under the supervision of state officials. Such enterprises suffered from the inexperience of the management and staff of those firms, especially in the face of stiff competition from powerful Western lines. However, Yataro Iwasaki, the energetic entrepreneur and founder of the Mitsubishi conglomerate, adroitly exploited government support to develop a Japanese shipping line that eventually drove Western lines—such as the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O)—out of Japanese coastal shipping as well as the Shanghai-Osaka route. From the last quarter of the th century, Japanese shipping and shipbuilding industries benefited from government assistance in various ways. Among these were the
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grant of subsidies, the sale of ships to favored indigenous lines, the financing of seamen’s nautical training, and the forced merger of small operators to create two formidable lines that could match their Western counterparts. World War II was a watershed for Japan as well as other countries of the world. Defeat and the ruin of their economic and social infrastructure affected shipping and shipbuilding, though not as severely as was once thought. Much of the shipbuilding infrastructure survived and was deployed in the post-war period. However, Japan’s postwar recovery owed much to internal and external factors. The major internal factor was government policy, epitomized by the Programmed Shipbuilding Scheme and the Interest Subsidy for Shipping Finance, which was highly protective of domestic industry. The latter was a loan scheme that relieved private operators’ burden of interest payment. In any case, the loans were repaid if the shipping companies exceeded a certain level of profits. From onwards, the Programmed Shipbuilding Scheme served to fund the building of new vessels, upgrading of equipment, and job security for Japanese seamen. Post-war development of the shipping and shipbuilding industries was boosted by the termination of Allied Occupation in (which gave the country elbow room for independent action), the Korean War (which generated massive demands for supplies by the United States and its allies), a global post-war boom as demands rose for raw materials required for reconstruction, advances in shipbuilding technology, and the overall spectacular development of the Japanese domestic economy and external trade. The s witnessed unprecedented growth in indigenous production fuelled by massive demand for Japanese products, which boosted the shipbuilding and carrying capacity of the maritime industry until the s. However, a depression in the shipping industry compelled the government to adapt its policies. It encouraged companies to amalgamate, and only those that met its requirements under the Programmed Shipbuilding Scheme continued to enjoy funding. Maritime policy fostered the construction of larger ships and tankers in response to global demands, but the oil crisis of curtailed further developments. While Japan had crossed the threshold in the state-led development of shipping shipbuilding as early as , other non-Western countries of the southern hemisphere had to wait until after World War II to embark on theirs. This was largely because they did not attain political independence until after the war. However, the impact of government policies on the maritime sector in various countries varied widely. Post-World War II, South Korea and Singapore used nurture capitalism to produce positive changes. Still, the respective governments ensured that official assistance to the private sector was hinged upon the performance of the latter. As in Meiji Japan, the government rewarded private sector operators, which cooperated with it to make a success of its strategic maritime/industrial policies. The South Korean government fostered merchant fleet development through a combination of various incentives: tax breaks, direct subsidies, funding of shipbuilding through the Keihek Zoseon program, cargo reservation, and the development of intermodal transportation. This program was executed within the framework of a -year plan of export-led industrialization, which ran from
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to . Although such strategies failed in many other countries, they succeeded in South Korea because adequate steps were taken to institute a system of accountability to reward compliance and penalize default. This arrangement was codified in the Shipping and Promotion Law of , which established a Shipping Promotion Fund with state funds. To ensure that the funds were expended on the stated objects, the ships to be purchased were held as security against loans taken. This forestalled defaulting, which was prevalent elsewhere. The scheme led to a steady increase in the size of the country’s mercantile marine from vessels with a gross registered tonnage (grt) of , in , to vessels with a . million grt in . The tonnage of the South Korean merchant fleet rose to . million grt in . Fleet development and shipbuilding developed apace as South Korean shipyards shared with the Japanese one-half of the of the . million new ship orders in . South Korea alone accounted for more than percent of total world orders in that year. Singapore too practiced state-led fleet development, but with a marked difference. The government supported a national flag operator on the condition that it became a self-sustaining enterprise operating under free market principles. Hence, the government guaranteed the funds for the take-off of the Neptune Orient Line (NOL) for which it collected a commission. The commission eventually surpassed the interest rates charged by commercial banks and the NOL consequently weaned itself off government subsidy once it had found its feet. Beyond such direct financial involvement, the Singaporean government took it upon itself to get NOL into the Far East Freight Conference (FEFC) in accordance with the UNCTAD Liner Code on Shipping. Yet, it did not impose additional protectionist restrictions against foreign shipping in favor of NOL. Other Asian countries, such as India and Sri Lanka, did rely on protectionist measures. Following its independence from Britain in , India employed state patronage to foster the development of the mercantile marines. Its government formulated the Dynamic Shipping Policy that reserved varying proportions of the country’s sea borne cargo for its national line: percent of coastal trade, percent of foreign trade, and percent of trade with its neighbors. To ensure the success of this policy, the country built a fleet of two million grt with loans to private operators for ship acquisition. By the s, India had the largest fleet of the developing countries in Asia, though it was superseded by Singapore by . Government involvement was also crucial to similar developments in Sri Lanka, another former British dependency, where the government took over in and established the Ceylon Shipping Corporation (CSC), a privatepublic sector enterprise. Following the passage of enabling legislation, the CSC became a public enterprise in and acquired a modest fleet of vessels by . As in other countries with similar experiences, the Sri Lanka shipping industry survived largely because of direct state assistance and protectionist policies, such as cargo reservation. To effect cargo reservation, in the government established the Central Freight Bureau, which monitored and implemented its cargo reservation policy and took part in freight rate negotiations in the interest of its nationals. Fortunately for Sri Lanka and other developing countries, the UNCTAD Code of Conduct for Liner Conferences became
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effective in October and strengthened the hands of national governments and their fleets in the competition with the shipping conferences. By the early s, the implementation of the UNCTAD Code and the national policy had guaranteed Sri Lanka’s CSC full loads in its homeport of Colombo and ensured that it carried an average of percent of the country’s exports to Europe, the Far East and the Middle East. China’s experience was strikingly similar. The government established the China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) in with a fleet of ships of , dead weight tons. Over the next years, COSCO was run as a corporation with the status of a ministry. Its fleet strength was increased through foreign purchases and local shipbuilding. Hong Kong served as the base of the container fleet and the source of much-needed foreign currency earnings. COSCO was also able to penetrate markets that were ordinarily shut against Chinese enterprise, especially as it operated through various subsidiaries. By , it was the world’s seventh largest container line operator with a fleet of vessels totaling , TEU. However, as part of its restructuring, the company reduced its fleet by percent and replaced many of its smaller vessels with container ships exceeding , TEU. The Chinese example illustrates how the government fostered shipping and shipbuilding through a flexible and judicious blend of state control and protectionism, and commercial practices in response to global dynamics. State ownership in that case has had a positive impact because of its flexibility and responsiveness to unfolding realities.
Government Policy and the Underdevelopment of Shipping and Shipbuilding While Japan, South Korea, and Singapore are government intervention success stories, the experiences of countries like Nigeria in West Africa, and Indonesia and Thailand in Southeast Asia demonstrate that, conversely, otherwise good policies can be counterproductive if not properly managed. Though the governments of these countries also formulated policies to promote fleet development through subsidies and tax incentives, they merely succeeded in enriching a few members of the ruling elite. The Nigerian government, for example, established in the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) following the lead of Ghana, another ex-British colony, which established the Black Star Line soon after its independence in . In both cases, the heavy investment in the acquisition of ships and the grant of subsidies to the national fleet did not produce the desired results. First, the lines—formed in the heat of intense maritime and economic nationalism—could not cope with the superior resources of the European lines. Second, and more importantly, the political elite of these countries, as well as those of Indonesia and Thailand, exploited this opportunity to enrich themselves and impoverish their countries by exercising their political power. In the Nigerian case, the Ship Acquisition and Ship Building Fund established under the Shipping Policy Decree of was rapidly depleted without a visible impact on the industry. Loan defaulters, having bought scrap or rust buckets, could not repay their loans and, in spite of a public outcry, have
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escaped retribution. Unlike in Japan, South Korea and Singapore, rampant corruption kept government policies from having a chance to succeed.
Government Policy, Shipping and Shipbuilding in War and Depression As a general rule, economic depression and war have tended to constrain trade and shipping, yet the upheaval has also created shifts in trade, and opportunities for shipping lines to reposition themselves. Whereas wartime requisition of vessels and personnel of the mercantile marines, submarine warfare during the world wars, and naval armament during the th century led to considerable losses of tonnage and personnel, and the depletion of the mercantile marines of combatant nations, at the same time it boosted production of shipping and ancillary industries within the context of the war effort and post-war reconstruction. This is aptly illustrated by the examples of Japan and the Western powers in the th and th centuries. Wars with Formosa in , China in –, and Russia in – redounded to the benefit of Japanese shipping and shipbuilding industries. In the case of the campaign to Formosa, the expeditionary ships were sold off to private operators once the war was over. In these instances, government’s militaristic policies paradoxically aided shipping and shipbuilding. Economic depressions also spurred governments to restructure and take advantage of global adversity—the reduced volume and altered nature of trade. During the Great Depression, the Japanese government took steps to save the shipping and shipbuilding industries by setting up the Scrap and Build Scheme (Senshitsu Kaizen Josei Shisetsu) in . Originally proposed by the Shipowners’ Association, new locally-built and more economical vessels replaced the fleet of aging imported vessels. In all, obsolete ships (, tons) were scrapped and replaced by new vessels (, tons) constructed in Japanese shipyards. Because of the increasing protectionist climate in the world and the escalation of Japanese military commitments during the s, government involvement intensified, leading to the adoption of additional policies. Under the Superior Shipbuilding Promotion Scheme of , the government made funds available to shipping lines at low interest rates to increase their fleet size. As conflicts began to escalate prior to World War II, the government also guaranteed preferential freight rates as a means to encourage the construction of tankers to ensure supply for the Japanese Navy. Because cutting off the oil supply of a nation was a major military objective, many of these tankers were lost during the Pacific War. To improve economies of scale, a significant step taken by the government during this period was the enforced amalgamation of shipping firms: the firms in existence in shrank to by . This began a widespread trend for post-war shipping. In shipbuilding, too, government policy stipulated a concentration on only six ship types. Although this engendered simplification of design and boosted output, it had a negative effect after the war, as Japanese ships tended to be comparatively inferior.
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War-induced demand, in a different context, was crucial to the massive growth of Canadian and U.S. shipping and shipbuilding between and . During the four-year period, the American shipbuilding industry produced some , Liberty ships, each of an average of , dead weight tons (, grt). To encourage buyers, the American government enacted the Ship Sales Act of , which provided credit to shipping firms for the purchase as long as their government guaranteed the loan. This permitted nationals of Allied nations, who otherwise lacked the means to acquire the ships, to purchase the Liberty ships on very favorable terms: Liberty ships were purchased for £. million, which was a third of the original price. Of this sum, £. million represented credit advanced by the U.S. government on Greek government guarantees. The majority of Greek ship owners, such as Aristotle Onassis, entered the business this way. In a similar manner, the spectacular post-war recovery of the Japanese shipping and shipbuilding industries was aided by the Korean War of the early s. First, the United States and its allies decided to aid Japanese economic recovery to recruit the country as an ally against the emerging Soviet Bloc in the first decade of the Cold War. Consequently, the development of Japanese shipping and shipbuilding industries was pursued to help Japan earn and save foreign exchange, and to provide tonnage for her foreign trade. Japanese industries supplied Allied war materials, the massive increase of which positively affected the shipping and shipbuilding industries. Accumulated capital was thus ploughed back into the maritime and other sectors of the economy. Second, when the war-induced boom came to an end by , the shipbuilding industry retained the capacity that had been acquired and this provided the springboard for long term development. Conclusion State intervention has had a mixed record in the shipping and shipbuilding industry. Aside from where corruption doomed investment, the benefits of intervention were not always worth the costs because it is impossible to predict the future. Wars, trade booms, trade busts, trade restrictions, and the rate of fleet replacement are just a few factors that add uncertainty to the benefits of subsidizing the industry. In general, it can be asserted that government policies toward the shipping and shipbuilding industries in both developed and underdeveloped countries were driven by maritime nationalism or the national interest. The need to catch-up with or surpass actual and potential competitors, or to conserve foreign exchange, was evident in the various policies enacted by the respective governments. Even in advanced countries, state intervention was the rule rather than the exception. Protectionism in various forms, most especially, subsidies and tax breaks, gave national lines and shipbuilding industries a decisive advantage over their rivals. Yet, government policies should be situated in specific contexts of war, peacetime and depression, each of which demanded appropriate responses. Post-war trade booms were always reflected in significantly increased demands for tonnage and raw materials, both of which boosted demands for ships. The governments then enacted new policies or amended existing ones in response to the exigencies
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of the moment. Conversely, global depression led to the collapse of the markets, and the contraction of the maritime industries. Either way, the government has had to intervene to save the industry from collapse. Moreover, maritime policies were generally a component or an extension of broader, strategic ones. For example, the promotion of fleet development and shipbuilding was accompanied by the commensurate development of ancillary infrastructure, such as ports and land transport. That said, a major drawback in government involvement in shipping and shipbuilding, especially in the developing countries, has been the undue dependence on state funds (subsidies, tax breaks and loans) by the national lines. This has made them less capable of competing under market conditions and has also created avenues for corruption and capital flight. Consequently, it could be concluded that government policy has worked for good or ill in the development of the maritime industries in both developed and developing countries, depending on the macroeconomic climate or global economic and political trends, the managerial capacity of industry operators, and the strength of the national regulatory frameworks in shipping and shipbuilding. Ayodeji Olukoju References and Further Reading Chida, Tomohei and Peter N. Davies. The Japanese Shipping and Shipbuilding Industries: A History of their Modern Growth. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: The Athlone Press, . Dharmasena, K. “The Entry of Developing Countries into World Shipping: A Case Study of Sri Lanka.” International Journal of Maritime History , no. (): –. Farris, Martin T. U.S. Maritime Policy: History and Prospects. New York: Praeger Publishers, . Harlaftis, Gelina. “Greek Shipowners and State Intervention in the s: A Formal Justification for the Resort to Flags-of-Convenience?” International Journal of Maritime History , no. (): –. Iheduru, Okechukwu C. The Political Economy of International Shipping in Developing Countries. Newark, NJ: University of Delaware Press and London: Associated University Presses, . Jantscher, Gerald R. Bread Upon the Waters: Federal Aids to the Maritime Industries. Washington DC: The Brookings Institution, . Lee, Tae-Woo. “Korean Shipping Policy: The Role of Government.” Marine Policy , no. (): –. Pinder, David and Brian Slack, eds. Shipping and Ports in the Twenty-First Century: Globalisation, Technological Change and the Environment, London: Routledge, . Williams, David, ed. The World of Shipping. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, .
STORM AND FLOOD CONTROL Throughout time man has attempted to control his environment, often with disastrous results. Dating back to ancient times, man has expended great efforts to control the storm surge of seas and gravitational flow of water along rivers and waterways. As a
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necessity for life, and perhaps the most precious natural resource, water has the duel condition for bringing both prosperity and ruin. Since the establishment of permanent settlements, man has engineered attempts to utilize this valuable resource while simultaneously protecting against its devastation potential. As the largest bodies of water being oceans, lakes, and rivers, man has devised a plethora of strategies to deal with these dangers, which often become hazardous following the aftermath of storms and floods. Currently, coastal areas encompass around percent of the earth’s surface but house over percent of the human population. These areas produce abundant natural resources, provide avenues for economic and industrial activities, and house the world’s political and trading centers. In terms of costal engineering, the Homo sapiens first attempted to manipulate this environmental condition coinciding with the rise and prominence of harbors. Archeological evidence exits that provide evidence that such maritime articles of docks and breakwaters existed as far back as b.c.e. These engineering contraptions were often built by hand with intensive physical labor, crude tools, and materials considered primitive by today’s standards. These ancient structures were designed with ports in mind, with only preexisting geographic defense from the ocean waters. However, it was the Romans, known for their engineering innovations, who first constructed grand engineering marvels in order to manipulate bodies of water. With limited knowledge of Mediterranean currents and wind and wave patterns, the Romans created revolutionary advances in harbor design. Using a water-resistant mixture of concrete, they created underwater constructs that allowed for solid breakwaters and wave reflection. They also created techniques for low water surface breakwaters, dredging, and are accredited for starting the concept of vacations at the beach. In fact, their ability to manipulate water was so extensive that they were able to flood their Colosseum with water in order to stage pitch naval gladiatorial contests. However, following the fall of Rome, these water engineering sciences and constructs went into disrepair in the West, and only survived in the East through the efforts of the Byzantium Empire. It was not until the Renaissance that the revival of water engineering occurred. Led by critical thinkers such as Leonardo da Vinci, improvements were made to harbors throughout the medieval European world using the Romanist style techniques. Even though little technical improvements followed, this revival created the bases for technological innovations beginning in the th century. The catalyst for the modern day revival of water engineering was the resurgence of sea trade. Initially starting in the Mediterranean during the Renaissance and expanding following European exploration, the use of water as a tool of transportation grew in importance, and as such the protection against it also grew proportionally. Often using the materials at hand, hard structures were created to protect against these natural dangers. These structures usually consisted of coastal protection using walls and revetments. Being built by local governances, these structures were usually constructed in an ad hoc manner providing for only the demands of the local citizenry, with results sometimes impacting negatively on the surrounding area and neighbors.
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Manmade breakwater off the coast of Maryland constructed to stop erosion and flooding. NOAA /Mary Hollinger.
However, as science and technology increased, a more unified approach for water control became apparent. Eventually, four general strategies emerged. These included abandonment, defend, attack, diverting, and ad hoc approaches. The abandonment approach maintains a strategy that does nothing for the protection against storms and floods caused by water. No protective construction is made or planning conducted. This is the most inexpensive strategy and evolves surrendering the land to the elements of nature. This approach is a policy that is used in less storm prone areas and in usually raised geographic areas of land. In contrast to this strategy, the defend approach protects the coastal land at all costs. This stratagem comes at a high economic price as large defensive structures have to be constructed in order to keep the sea at bay. There are two techniques in this approach: hard and soft. Soft techniques consist of using beach and shoreline nourishment and stabilization. It uses nature’s defense and reinforces it, thereby making it more inhibitive for flooding. In contrast, hard consists of using permanent structures such as walls, groynes, breakwaters, and revetments. These manmade and man-placed structures are designed to protect the inhabitants and property behind walls, break the incoming waves as they approach, and provide shoreline nourishment. Used in high value areas, where human infrastructure and inhabitation has already been developed, these approaches have many limitations. For example, the financial costs associated with the approach are often enormous, not only to create the structures but to continually maintain them as well. For local communities, the less
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expensive, soft approaches are also usually difficult to fund as state, federal, and private aid is often required. Also, these structures are limited in their ability to protect against severe storms. Often designed under fiscal constraints, they are built to protect against only the expected recurring storms, floods, and natural erosion, not against unpredictable and unusually massive natural events. To illustrate, the New Orleans flood of saw an unexpected storm surge that caused a plethora of breaches in the levees that were designed to hold back the water. As a result, large portions of the city were flooded. In contrast to this, the attack approach tries to utilize the initiative and moves forward against the shore, thereby adding an in-depth defensive network. It conducts this exercise by creating additional defenses, both hard and soft. In a move to protect already established structures, this strategy creates additional lines of defense going toward the water, in order to provide a more secure defensive ring. Usually cost prohibitive, this approach is rarely done, and only done in high value areas. The diverting approach is often a relatively inexpensive way of preventing excess water built-up. This approach involves constructing diverting runoff streams and estuaries for overflowing water. The major drawback to this is the geographic dependence on the surrounding land area. This is because land has to be cleared in order to build this network of runoff streams and lakes. Lastly, the ad hoc approach constructs defensives on an as-needed base. Often the most cost efficient approach, this technique maintains the status quo. Not designed to be a major storm protector, it protects against expected recurring weather activities. Usually heavily dependent on using sandbag barriers, this approach can also be labor intensive and may suffer under time constrictions. Additionally, another drawback is that it is usually done in a limited planning scope. As a result of this, future and unexpected weather patterns are not accounted for. Floods occur for a number of reasons. However, the two primary culprits are snowmelt and heavy precipitation caused by a storm front, with often the worst flooding resulting as a flash flood. A flash flood occurs after a rapid rise in the water table. Often forming unexpectedly, this type of flooding affects unsuspecting victims, creating panic, deaths, and massive amounts of property damage. For example, a flash flood in Willow Creek, Oregon killed people in . This type of flooding usually occurs inland around preexisting bodies of water. Nevertheless, the coastline areas also experience sudden expected flooding, in terms of storm-surge flooding. These floods occur when storms using strong gusts of wind push water past the shoreline. For instance, the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, storm-surge flood of is attributed to causing , deaths. Currently, the devastation caused by storms and floods are a realized danger for many governments. Because of this, many construction projects have been introduced to control the impact that such devastation brings. Construction projects producing levees, dams, flood plains, runoff streams, dikes, reinforcement of riverbanks, and reservoirs have been built in excess around the world. For example, in the Netherlands, following the devastating flood that killed almost , people and destroyed more than , buildings, the government decided to build what is arguably the best defensive flood protection system in the world, costing over eight billion over years of construction.
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In London, huge floodgates have been built on the Thames River with Venice also following suit on the Adriatic, and Japan has built super levees to protect its cities from flooding. Using modern technology, man has mitigated the effects of common day storms and floods. However, not to be undone by nature, whenever man’s technology fails, often disastrous consequences occur as a result in human lives, property damage, and money. Nevertheless, human efforts to control the effects of flooding has taken us one step closer to controlling our environment. Lee Oberman References and Further Reading Barry, John. Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of and How It Changed America. New York: Simon and Schuster, . Lauber, Patricia. Flood: Wrestling with the Mississippi. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, . McCullough, David. The Johnstown Flood. New York: Simon and Schuster, . McNeill, J.R. Something New under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World. New York: Norton, . McPhee, John. The Control of Nature. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, .
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TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION PREth CENTURY Exchanges of goods, and trade between settlements, have taken place since prehistoric times. A large numbers of trade routes were developed and many of them are maintained to the present day. Most of these were land routes, such as those across the Sahara Desert, through mountain passes, or from one settlement to another, using river fords. Small boats, coracles, and canoes, sometimes with outriggers, were some of the earliest forms of transportation. As the number and size of boats increased, so did the number of trade routes along rivers and across seas. The evidence for this trade comes not only from written records and archaeological remains, but also from the geographical fact that many of the larger urban centers, and the capitals of ancient civilizations and empires, were located on rivers or on coastlines. In the ancient world, although trade routes existed across the Sahara Desert, through the Middle East, between Europe and Asia, and in other places, the transportation of significant amounts of goods started to be undertaken by river and then by sea. This was often because it was easier to move heavy items by ship than on land (this remained true until the th century and the development of railroads), but also because many of the settlements in the ancient world—as today—were at ports or along rivers, making shipping the cheapest method for expanding trade and transport. There is clear written and pictorial evidence of this type of trade in surviving inscriptions and drawings from Ancient Egypt, and from writers from the Greek historian Herodotus, to many during the Golden Age of Rome, in which they appear to have used earlier sources for their research. Evidence gained through underwater archaeology on shipwrecks, as well as work on land-based sites around the world, confirm trade, and in some ways actually show
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that it was even greater than many historians had expected it to have been. In , the Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl sought to show that it was possible for both trade and migration across oceans with his Kon-Tiki expedition from Peru across the Pacific Ocean, and then through his second Ra expedition from Morocco across the Atlantic Ocean. In both these expeditions, great reliance was placed on the ocean currents, and the boats had small crews, but they did show that travel along these routes was possible. In the times of Ancient Egypt, ships were built that were capable of traveling not only along the River Nile, but also into the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean. Surviving wall paintings from Ancient Egyptian tombs, as well as carvings and friezes elsewhere, show boats loaded with goods traveling the river, and it is clear that there was extensive trade up and down the Nile, as in the expedition under Harkhuf in about b.c.e. However, the Egyptians had also managed to launch a number of expeditions to the fabled Land of Punt, the earliest of these being recorded as taking place in the reign of the Pharaoh Sahure from the th Dynasty (th century b.c.e.). Later expeditions were by Hennu in about b.c.e., during which he was able to locate some myrrh, and by Nehesi during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut in b.c.e. Some historians surmise that Punt could be located in the Horn of Africa, or possibly even further south. The mission was partly exploratory, but also in search of trade, with later expeditions being undertaken and also documented. Among the items brought back to Egypt by these expeditions were myrrh and frankincense, which were important to the Egyptians for the scented smoke created when burned. Demand for these two items was great because they became a vital aspect of religious ceremonies. Egyptian trading expeditions in the Mediterranean also involved trade with inhabitants of islands and coastal regions. There is evidence of the Cyprus Dwarf Elephant (Elephas Palaeoloxodon cypriotes) being brought back from one such expedition to Egypt. At the same time as the Egyptians, the Sea Peoples were noted by Egyptians to be involved in sea piracy, and it can be presumed that they were also involved in trade, especially in the eastern Mediterranean. It is also possible that the Egyptians conducted extensive trade through the Arabian Sea and via parts of the Indian Ocean. In connection with the invention of iron tools and weapons, historians theorize that this technology was transferred from Egypt by sea since archaeological remains in Africa show that the earlier use of iron started in coastal settlements before becoming common inland, and the spread of iron wholly skipped some land civilizations, such as in Buganda (modern-day Uganda), demonstrating that the transfer of technology by land from Egypt was improbable. Indeed, the Greek writer Herodotus recorded a story, which he himself did not believe, that some Phoenicians had sailed all the way around the African continent. The maritime trade from India does not seem to have reached the east coast of Africa until at least the seventh century c.e., or even later. For the Sumerians, and the later civilizations in Mesopotamia—those of the Babylonians, the Assyrians and the Achaemenid Persians—great use had always been made of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers for trade, and also in the Persian Gulf, with the mythical port of Magan somewhere on the southern coast of modern-day Iran. At about
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the same time, in China, the development of river trade and transport was also extensive, as it was in the Indus Valley civilization in modern-day Pakistan / India. In , the Tigris voyage of Thor Heyerdahl proved that it was possible for Sumerians from Mesopotamia to trade with the Indus Valley Civilization using boats made from materials available in the ancient world. The Greeks were involved in much trade throughout the Mediterranean, as were the Phoenicians. There are many references to trading vessels in Homer’s Odyssey, such as Odysseus returning from Troy at the end of the Trojan War and sails around the Mediterranean, and indeed that book remains heavily referenced regarding transportation in the ancient eastern Mediterranean. It is also likely that the city of Troy itself, largely because of its location, was involved in extensive trade between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. Certainly the Minoan civilization, on the island of Crete, developed much of its early wealth through trade. Egyptian wall-paintings depict Minoans carrying gold ornaments and ingots. Along with expensive items, there was a significant trade in grain and other foodstuffs, as well as wine that was transported in amphora. Although the maritime trade in the Mediterranean was relatively common, there was also some trade with places further afield. The Greek sailor Pytheas, from Massilia (modern-day Marseilles) managed to sail to the British Isles, and probably as far as Iceland, and both Phoenicians and Carthaginians ventured to the east coast of Spain where large silver quarries were established. They later went to the west coast of Spain, and France, and then to England. Certainly there were Phoenicians who sailed past the Strait of Gibraltar on to Cornwall in search of tin, and there were later a number of Carthaginian trade expeditions down the west coast of Africa. Although some historians believe they went as far as modern-day Nigeria, most agree that they certainly went as far as the west coast of Mauritania. While the campaigns of Alexander the Great were predominately by land, both the Greeks and the Persians had large merchant navies that led to the emergence of large port cities such as Sidon and Tyre, both Phoenician strongholds, and also Byblos, Ezion-Geber (modern day Elat) and in the Black and Caspian seas, as well as at Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. The Phoenicians were also able to establish the port of Carthage, which itself became the center of a great maritime trading civilization, generating enormous wealth for the Carthaginian ruling class. At the same time as the rise of Carthage, Greeks were establishing a number of ports in Sicily such as Syracuse, and in southern Italy such as Tarentum, for their trade. Fine pottery from Sicily and southern Italy was made and traded with Greece and other places, with amber coming from the Baltic, then brought by land to the Mediterranean, and from there by boat to many Mediterranean ports. Samian ware pottery made in southern Gaul and in Italy was transported to many other parts of the Roman Empire because attempts to make it in Britain not having much success. The Romans wanted to challenge the power of Carthage and this led to the construction of a large navy that, during the First Punic War ( – b.c.e.), destroyed most of the Carthaginian navy. As a result, the Romans started to play a far more important role in maritime trade in the Mediterranean, yet much of the trade was still carried out
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by Greeks. Problems from pirates were tackled when the Roman commander Pompey managed to destroy the pirates in the eastern Mediterranean, whereby he gained his title “The Great.” However, the problem continued intermittently, being a major hazard for some merchant vessels. With the Romans making great use of bronze, the main source of tin was Cornwall, and during the latter years of the Roman Republic, Phoenicians and Greeks certainly traded with Cornwall, taking over wine and other luxuries, and returning with tin from Cornish mines. The access to the tin has been cited as a reason for Julius Caesar’s interest in Britain, and certainly when Caesar first landed in Britain in b.c.e., trade between Britain and Gaul (modern-day France) was extensive, with ships plying the English Channel. As trade with Cornwall increased, some historians have suggested that Joseph of Arimathea, mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible, was one of the traders who sailed from the Middle East to Cornwall, and this has led to a spate of novels suggesting that the young Jesus may have visited Britain. Although this is undoubtedly wishful thinking on the part of early British writers, and part of the Glastonbury legends surrounding King Arthur, the trade in tin from Cornwall must certainly have been extensive. With maritime archaeologists locating and excavating submerged wrecks of Greek and Roman trading vessels, far more has been discovered than had previously been ascertained about trade from descriptions in the surviving written records. The Antikythera Wreck, located by sponge divers from Simi, in Greece, in , is that of a -ton wooden-hulled merchant ship that was going from Greece to Italy. Because it was made from elm, it seems likely that it was a Roman vessel dating from – b.c.e. On board were a large number of bronze and marble statues, which had been made in Greece, and were being taken to Rome. Although the bronze statues date from the fourth century b.c.e., the marble ones are from the first century b.c.e., and it has been suggested that they might have not been for sale but actually seized by the Roman General Lucius Cornelius Sulla (– b.c.e.) and were being taken back to Rome as part of his booty. Other wrecks revealed amphora, showing a significant maritime trade in wine. There also have been discoveries on land where goods, which could only have been taken by sea, have been located. This includes the discovery of Roman pottery from the European mainland being found in Britain, and also much evidence of Roman wine being imported to Britain with remains discovered at sites such as Tintagel in Cornwall, the legendary home of King Arthur. Even many of the animals sent to their deaths in the Coliseum in Rome were transported from northern Africa, brought to Rome by ship, as were many slaves. However, the most important trading vessels of the period, as far as most Romans were concerned, were those that were involved in transporting Egyptian grain to ensure bread remained inexpensive in Rome, which was important because it was the capital of the empire. Trade during the ancient world was certainly by no means restricted to the Mediterranean, or indeed to the Roman Empire. There was a certain amount of trade along the east coast of Africa, and also around ports in the Indian Ocean. The spread of Christianity
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to southern India followed along the maritime trade routes across the Arabian Sea, with St. Thomas, one of the apostles of Jesus, following, according to tradition, these routes to southern India, and the Nestorian faith continuing on from there to Sumatra and then to the South China Sea. The Chinese themselves maintained a large merchant navy that operated in what is now the South China Sea. Work in the early s at the village of Oc Eo, in southern Vietnam, has shown that the Empire of Funan, a precursor kingdom of the Khmer people of modern-day Cambodia, was involved in extensive trade with other countries, with archaeologists managing to find two Roman coins, one from the reign of Antoninus Pius, dated , along with another coin from the reign of Marcus Aurelius (reigned –). Although this does not prove a direct link between Funan and the Romans, trade certainly took place through intermediaries, and the location of Oc Eo near the coast, does point to this trade being maritime. Likewise, the Polynesian people were involved in trade around the various islands of that region, with Thor Heyerdahl proving in the Kon-Tiki expedition that wider trade was possible from a very early date. In Byzantine Empire, maritime trade continued to be extensive throughout the Mediterranean, although for Byzantium, trade with places on the Black Sea, the source of cherries and some other items then regarded as delicacies, and through rivers such as the Danube and the Dnieper, led to many luxury goods and money from taxes going to the city of Constantinople where great wealth was accumulated as the city of Rome declined. Furs from Russia were brought south along the River Dnieper to the Black Sea, and down the River Volga to the Caspian Sea, with some freight proceeding by land on the Silk Road. Grain and also wine remained staple products taken to Constantinople and other parts of the empire. Later the Sassanid Persians were also involved in trade missions to parts of modern-day Yemen. Later still, the spread of Islam followed many of the trade routes from Mecca and Medina, initially on land, and from modern-day Syria, by boat to the southern parts of Asia Minor and elsewhere. Indeed its much later spread to the East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) also followed these maritime trade routes. Jewish traders seem to have started to flourish in ports of Moorish Spain, and also what became known as Septimania in southeastern France. By the time of the Dark Ages in Europe, trade by boat continued, and seems to have remained important with the Angles and the Saxons attacking Britain, and then becoming involved in trade, and later the Vikings started to attack, but also trade with settlements along the British coast and the French Atlantic coastline. The Viking chronicles provide much evidence of a wider trade including Vikings traveling to Iceland and Greenland, and also to North America, the latter having been confirmed by archaeological remains uncovered by Helge Ingstad in . The ability of these Viking ships to cross the Atlantic also indicates that there was much maritime trade in northern Europe throughout the Dark Ages. Among the remains of Viking boats have been drinking vessels, silver cups, and other European produced products. Furthermore, the remains recovered at the sites of Viking burial sites also demonstrate the wide range of goods that the Vikings acquired.
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By the early medieval period, trade in the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic coast of Europe was common. When William the Conqueror sailed for England in , he took with him a large navy, and as Professor Edward A. Freeman showed in his book History of the Norman Conquest ( ), there were already many Normans, some wealthy, already in England. With one king ruling both England and northern France for a short period, trade across the English Channel and nearby waters became extremely common, with some of the Norman castles in England having clearly been made using stone from Normandy. Whether this was deliberately brought over for trade, or developed from its use as ballast in the ship, can only be a matter of conjecture. It was during this period that London became the unchallenged capital of England—the inland city of Winchester, and former capital of Wessex, having an important ceremonial role up to that time. The Crusades led to an increase in trade and transport throughout the Mediterranean with pilgrims, soldiers and wealth being taken to and from the Crusader kingdoms, and the Knights Templar developing their own navy and merchant ships. Demand for many Middle Eastern luxury items in Italy and southern France necessitated voyages from the Holy Land; and in the Baltic, the formation of the Hanseatic League signaled cooperation among previously rival city states that, beginning in , combined to help encourage trade in northern Europe. This Hanseatic League proved important for Baltic trade, and even trade from Denmark to Britain. They used cogs that could carry a cargo of about tons, with larger bucius ships having the capacity of about tons. However, the Hanseatic League did face problems in the late th century with numerous economic crises. Mention should also be made of the Black Death, which ravaged much of Europe in the s, and was undoubtedly brought from one port to another by traders. As Venetian traders came to dominate the eastern Mediterranean, those from Genoa controlled much of the trade in the western Mediterranean, with many moving to Spain, and Genoese merchant ships even reaching Flanders as early as . Large numbers of Genoese merchants were later to find employment in Spain and Portugal—Christopher Columbus being one of those who settled in Lisbon in and moved to Spain in (after some years trading off the coast of West Africa), by which time there was a sizeable Genoese trading community in Seville, Malaga, and also in Lisbon. For the traders themselves, many went on specific routes, but others were more adventurous. In the th century, the English customs official and poet Geoff rey Chaucer (c. –) wrote that his Dartmouth skipper knew all the “creeks from Brittany to Spain.” Certainly there were English ships, and indeed ships from many other countries engaged in trade throughout Europe. An account of a storm in the Baltic Sea in recorded that there were English ships taking refuge in the port of Danzig. This statistic alone provides concrete evidence of the emergence of England as one of the powers whose wealth lay in maritime trade. Much of this came from the wool trade, which developed in England after the Black Death ravaged the country, with English wool being in demand from places as far away as Venice.
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The Hundred Years’ War (–) between England and France saw the French fleet destroyed at the Battle of Sluys () towards the start of the conflict, and this allowed the English merchant navy to flourish. Weapons and mercenaries were brought to England during the Wars of the Roses (– ) with William Caxton (–) bringing with him the first printing press in the s. Surprisingly, during this period there is much less evidence depicting maritime trade in surviving pictures, and very few images of actual mechanics of the working of the docks. One rare picture from Hamburg’s State Archives, of the docks in the th century, shows a large crane being used to bring goods from the ship to the shore and vice-versa. It is also known that many ships unloaded into rowing boats at sea, an extremely time-consuming and costly business. Some trading vessels of the period are also shown on the stained-glass windows in the house of the French entrepreneur Jacques Coeur in Bourges, built in . By that time, there is much information from records compiled by customs officials documenting produce being traded between countries. Although there was trade between Europe and North Africa, the Barbary Pirates started to become an annoyance to European shipping in the Mediterranean from the th century. The Barbary States used large galleys for war, and when they were turned over to trade, these quickly proved uneconomic because of the need for regular stops to resupply food and water for a very large crew. In spite of the better and sturdier ships in medieval times than in the ancient world, there do not seem to have been many voyages to the west coast of Africa. The people in West Africa were, themselves, not heavily involved in river commerce, although ships did bring items for trade to the inland fabled city of Timbuktu. On the east coast of Africa, however, and in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, there were Arab dhows (noted for their superior upwind sailing) and Indian boats that generally remained close to the coastline, taking with them slaves, animals, ivory, spices, and gold and other valuables. They also had missionary goals, with the traders contributing heavily to the spread of Islam around the Indian Ocean and further afield to Southeast Asia. Trade from ports in China, Japan, and Korea also continued to grow, but there were often problems involving piracy flourishing in the South China Sea, and also with Japanese pirates ravaging the coast of Korea. Further south, in Southeast Asia, the Chams and the Khmers both developed extensive trade, the former becoming a major maritime trader in the region, allowing them to attack their larger and more populous opponents. In the Americas, although there seems to have been extensive trade in the Maya Empire, most of the goods carried long distances seem to have been a number of highly prized items, small in size, and easily transported by land. The Portuguese voyages of discovery, the Chinese expeditions, as well as the establishment of Spanish Latin America from the th century, were going to transform the nature of trade considerably. Many of the ships of the merchant navy had come from individual ports, often with one or a number of pilots. The Portuguese, and then the Spanish, used religion as a justification for their actions, and the division of the world
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between them at the Treaty of Tordesillas in , did little to prevent the general state of hostility—in spite of Portugal later being merged with Spain. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Barker, Felix. The Search Begins. London: Aldus Books/Jupiter Books, . Delgado, James P., ed. British Museum Encyclopaedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology. London: British Museum Press, . Fuller, Mary C. Remembering the Early Modern Voyages: English Narratives in the Age of European Expansion. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, . Goodman, Jennifer R. Chivalry and Exploration, –. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, . Landstrom, Bjorn. The Quest for India. New York: Doubleday, . Mair, Victor H., ed. Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, . Pickford, Nigel. The Atlas of Ship Wreck & Treasure. Surry Hills, N.S.W.: RD Press, . Spufford, Peter. The Merchant in Medieval Europe. London: Thames & Hudson, . Van de Mieroop, Marc. The Eastern Mediterranean in the Age of Ramesses II. Oxford: Blackwell, .
TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION thth CENTURIES With improvements in boat design, navigation, and navigating skills, from the th century, ocean and river transportation became faster and more reliable. This occurred in large part because more nations took to the sea, and they did so in bigger ships with improved sailing performance (particularly upwind). Although trade in the Mediterranean, along the coasts of China, and throughout the Indian Ocean continued, large government-sponsored expeditions changed the whole nature of trade and sea transportation because they led to the emergence of large trading companies, the most famous being the British East India Company, which dominated maritime trade in a particular part of the world, and later became a major landowner in its own right. The first of these large government-sponsored expeditions was undoubtedly that of Zheng He (Cheng Ho) (– ), the Chinese Muslim admiral who, during the reign of the Ming Emperor Yung-lo (reigned –), commanded a fleet that sailed around the South China Sea and into the Indian Ocean. In total, Zheng He was involved in seven expeditions. The first was from until when the Chinese fleet sailed from China to Champa, in modern-day central Vietnam, and then around the East Indies and westwards to India. The second voyage, from until , covered much the same ground, as did the third voyage, which lasted from until . In later expeditions, the fleets sailed to Yemen and to the east coast of Africa. Although the Chinese were eager to discover as much as they could about the world, these missions
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were also involved in trade, and in locating sources for future trade. Suggestions have been made, most notably by the writer Gavin Menzies, that the Chinese sailors could have reached Australia, and also the Americas. Although much is made of Zheng He’s expeditions, they were the first—and also the last—great Chinese-sponsored expeditions. The focus on them by historians tends to eclipse the large amount of more mundane trade that was taking place throughout the region involving Indian, Chinese, and Arab merchants taking goods from port to port. When Zheng He arrived in ports, there are descriptions of the many other ships already in the harbors. Arab dhows and Indian boats sailed the Indian Ocean, along with Chinese junks in the South China Sea, generally operating close to the coastline, taking with them slaves, animals, spices, and other valuables. Traders of the period also were involved in Islamic missionary work, contributing heavily to the spread of Islam throughout Southeast Asia. The emergence of the Mongol Empire, and the period of their rule in China from until , and the rise of the Ottoman Turks from the th century, reduced the use of the Silk Road and opened up maritime trade, but even after merchants were able to use the Silk Road again, bigger, faster, and more reliable ships favored maritime trade. Certainly Chinese junks were regular sites in most of the ports in the East Indies and their low-draft design helped them navigate the rivers of China and negotiate difficult conditions such as during monsoon rainstorms. Trade in the South China Sea and in the Indian Ocean saw a wide variety in products. From China, tea was always in demand, as was porcelain. Sandalwood from the East Indies—modern-day Indonesia—was long sought after, as were many spices such as nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, and turmeric. Many of the merchants in the region were Chinese, and this did lead to the emergence of Chinese trading communities in ports throughout Southeast Asia and further afield. Arab and Indian merchants, and the Bugis in the East Indies, and the Japanese traders with a small number of Japanese settling in Southeast Asia, such as at Faifo (modern-day Hoi An, in central Vietnam), were also heavily involved in maritime trade. Japanese trade came to an abrupt end in when the Japanese were forbidden to trade overseas, largely sealed to the outside world expect for small coastal vessels involved in trading in their own ports. However, before then, Japanese pirates terrorized the coasts of Korea and China. Up until about , activity was mainly in the north, but thereafter most of their major attacks were along the southern coast of China. The weakness of the Ming, and the failure to prevent attacks on the coasts of China, weakened the respect for the central government, leading to the Manchu invasion and the establishment of the Ching Dynasty in Beijing in . During the th century, improvements in European ship design led to increased trade with Italy, especially for Genoese, Spanish, and Portuguese traders. Although Genoese traders had already become important in many ports in the Iberian Peninsula, the capture of the Moroccan city of Ceuta by the Portuguese created closer trade ties to Africa, and prompted voyages of exploration to spur trade sponsored by Prince Henry “the Navigator” of Portugal (–). Portuguese sailors reached Cape Bojador in , to Senegal and the Cape Verde Islands years later, and Sierra Leone in
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. Two years later, Portuguese explorers and traders had reached the Gulf of Guinea, and in , Bartolomeu Dias (–) returned to Lisbon after having reached the Cape of Good Hope. With the Treaty of Tordesillas in dividing the world between Spain and Portugal, the Portuguese extended their influence with the Vasco da Gama voyage to India in , which returned in . The Portuguese caravels, as their boats became known, were rugged and also able to sail with a relatively small crew. Because caravels allowed them to bring back an abundance of goods that could then be sold, initially Portuguese exploration was more for trade than for conquest. However, to protect their trade flows, the Portuguese started establishing forts on the Moroccan coast, and gradually built more in Africa, capturing the ports of Muscat (in modern-day Oman) in , Goa (in modern-day India) in , and Malacca (now Melaka in modern-day Malaysia) in , the latter two by Alfonso d’Albuquerque (– ). The Portuguese traders brought back much in the way of produce from Africa and India. Initial interest was in spices, nuts and other produce, but it was not long before the Portuguese started establishing a lucrative slave trade. Some of the slaves were captured by the Portuguese and others were taken prisoner by rival tribes—although by creating the demand, the slavers were still responsible for the slave trade from whichever source. This led to the Portuguese having to establish safe bases for the transshipment of slaves. The Cape Verde Islands, and the islands of Sao Tome and Principe (now Sao Tome e Principe) became major bases for the Portuguese, with the Kingdom of the Kongo (modern-day Angola and Congo) being major sources. There was also trade in ivory, and some precious metals, but slavery provided most of the income for the Portuguese in Africa during this period. This was particularly true after significant numbers of Portuguese settled in Brazil starting in , and established a large slaveowning center. By contrast, the Portuguese at Goa captured a prosperous city and tried to take over the trade that had made it wealthy. While partially successful at Goa, they were much more successful in Malacca, which, after many years, gradually returned to its pre- glory. Further east, the Portuguese established trading bases in Macao and in East Timor. Trade with this part of the world centered around sandalwood from East Timor, gold and silver from Macao, and spices from Malacca. The spice trade was lucrative because spices weighed little and could be easily transported back to Europe. Occasionally there was a very different cargo. In , the Portuguese, to win influence with Pope Leo X (reigned –), brought an elephant from India, which became a much-loved addition to the papal menagerie. Later, in , there was an attempt to bring a Rhinoceros from Goa in India, but while the elephant was much celebrated in Rome, the small rhinoceros drowned when its boat grounded off the coast of Italy. In the s, the Portuguese even were able to trade with Japan, setting up a base in the port of Nagasaki. Demand in the Americas for many of the African slaves taken by the Portuguese and other European powers in Africa was for the development of a plantation-style economy. In accordance with the Treaty of Tordesillas in , the Spanish tried to take over as much of the land as they could, which was given to them by Pope Alexander VI. When
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Christopher Columbus (–) found the Americas in , trade was less of an imperative than it subsequently became. However with the cost of financing Columbus’s second and third voyages, and establishing a permanent presence in the Americas, trade was used as a justification. Apart from some golden ornaments, tobacco and potatoes— the latter two to become important parts of the history of world trade. The Spanish felt a need to establish silver mines while they sought out a way of making more money. After the crossing of the Isthmus of Panama and the discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Vasco Nunez Balboa (–), Spain realized they needed to accelerate their activities to stay competitive because the enormous potential for wealth accumulation from precious metals and trade was much greater than anyone imagined. However, there were two important empires in the region: the Aztecs and the Incas. The Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortes (– ) attacked the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán in and sacked it, bringing back much gold and silver to Spain. Francisco Pizarro (–) then sacked the Inca capital of Cuzco in , and also managed to bring back more gold to Spain, the wealth creating a major inflation in Western Europe. The Spanish then established mines in Mexico, the source of much of the silver in the region, with the Potosi mines in modern-day Bolivia also becoming important. The Spanish quickly started establishing forts throughout Latin America. Asunción was founded in , following the arrival of Pedro de Mendoza (c. – ) who led a fleet of ships to colonize Paraguay; Buenos Aires, which had first been founded in (by Mendoza), was then re-founded in . These two cities were to dominate the Spanish presence on the east coast of South America in the same way that Lima and later Valparaiso (the port close to the Chilean capital of Santiago) would dominate the west coast. It was not long before Buenos Aires became a great source of beef, but with no way of transporting it across the Atlantic before refrigeration, hides and leather became one of the major exports from that part of Latin America, later supplemented by yerba and other crops from Paraguay. Copper and grain were exported from modernday Chile, many medicines from Peru, and tobacco, cocoa, beans, and hides from New Granada (modern-day Venezuela and Colombia). Cochineal was exported from Central America, and the Spanish on Cuba and Santo Domingo (modern-day Dominican Republic) exported sugar and tobacco. To provide the much-needed labor for these flourishing societies, slaves were brought over from Africa. There would be a regular Spanish treasure fleet sailing from the Americas back to Spain, and after the Spanish colonized what became the Philippines in –, the famous Manila Galleon would sail every two or so years from until . The wealth of the Americas quickly attracted the other European powers and it was not long before English, French, and Dutch ships were sailing in the region. John Cabot (c. –c. ), born in Italy, and his son Sebastian Cabot (c. – ), born in either England or Venice, both explored the Americas for the English Crown, but sparked no real excitement for exploration in most of the British ruling class. It was only after Francis Drake (c. –) circumnavigated the world in the Pelican (renamed The Golden Hind ) in –, that there was much interest in England in trade, partly from the
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large profits made by Drake and those who had invested in his expedition. The Muscovy Company had already been dealing with the Russians, heavily involved in the fur trade, since , and were supported by the formation of a number of joint-stock companies whereby many investors would put up money to finance expeditions and companies. The success of some of these traders persuaded a number of merchants in London and elsewhere in England to form, in , the Company of Merchants of England Trading into the Levant Seas, otherwise known as the Turkey Company or the Levant Company. Its aim was to start up trade with the Ottoman Empire. This then led to the formation of the Honorable East India Company in , and the Royal African Company in (being re-founded in and operating until its dissolution in ). Mitigating the high risk involved for trade investors from piracy and shipwrecks was Lloyds of London, the maritime insurance center, which had its origins in a London coffeehouse run by Edward Lloyd (c. –). Because Lloyds made it easier to attract capital for voyages, the English had a distinct advantage over their European competitors. The English started colonizing parts of the North American continent with settlements in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New England (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut), New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. English goods were shipped to the colonies while whale products, naval stores, fish, grain, and tobacco were shipped back to England, and then often on to other destinations in Europe. There were also British settlements in the West Indies where a slave plantation economy based on sugar led to the three-way trade triangle: sugar shipped to England generated the wealth that paid for the transportation of more slaves, which in turn raised the yield of sugar. Other parts of the Caribbean were sources of other products such as logwood from British Honduras (modern-day Belize). The British did briefly try to encourage English and Irish contract laborers to move to the region, but few took up the opportunities offered. In Canada, there was an industry based around fur with both the English and the French involved in the trade, and also in fishing off the coast of Newfoundland, which had rich shoals of cod. The French also managed to occupy some Caribbean islands such as Saint-Dominique (Haiti), Guadeloupe, and Martinique where they also grew sugar cane. After the Dutch managed to gain independence by driving out the Spanish in , their ships started encroaching into West Africa and the Caribbean, as well as in Asia. By this time the British East India Company was making large profits from trade with India with tea, spices, exotic ornaments, silks, brocades, and other expensive cloth being brought back to sell in London at a great profit. It was not long before the East India Company, which initially only had settlements known as factories, took over land in Bengal and became a territorial power. Nevertheless, the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie: VOC) became a rival to its British counterpart by establishing a large base at Batavia (modern-day Jakarta), on the island of Java, under Jan Pieterszoon Coen (–), and in captured Malacca from the Portuguese, and then proceeded to take over
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much of the Portuguese trade with South Africa, Japan, and the East Indies. It was not long before the Dutch came into conflict with the British, and in , the Ambon Massacre saw the Dutch killing British merchants, an incident that was the center of a play by John Dryden to incite anti-Dutch passions during what became known as the Dutch War of –. Like their British counterparts, the VOC become wealthy and powerful. These trading companies, established by charters from their governments, were controlled by a board of directors who developed territorial authority over parts of Asia, raised their own armies, and even ran their own navies. Aside from trading as a company, they allowed their employees to undertake trade on their own behalf. Corruption became rife, and the employees used company forces and assets to enrich themselves. However, the British East India Company outlived most of its rivals: the French East India Company (founded in ; re-founded in ; dissolved in ); the Danish East India Company (founded in ; dissolved in ); and the Austrian East India Company (founded ; dissolved ); and the Swedish East India Company (founded ; dissolved in ). By this time there was great interest in Europe in chinoiserie and Japonica—items either made in China or Japan respectively, or in the style of both countries. Tea became a popular drink in Europe, as did the eating of chocolate made from cocoa grown in Latin America, and also later taken to Africa where it was also grown. Crops found in one newly discovered land were often cultivated in another that had the same or a better climate, and the first efforts towards globalization saw wealthy people in Europe having access to produce and goods from around the world. The great wealth made by these traders generated greed. This often resulted in wars, but more often in attacks by pirates. Pirate attacks in the Caribbean were common, although sometimes the pirates were operating as privateers nominally on behalf of their governments. From the s to the s, there were many stories of pirates who robbed trading vessels in the West Indies and further afield, and then sought refuge in uninhabited islands, or more often in the ports of friendly or neutral countries. While they were able to evade justice, they succeeded in terrorizing many traders, looting their ships of valuables and becoming celebrated in stories by Daniel Defoe (c. –) and other writers. Gold and silver coins were the currency of the period used for larger transactions, and it was not uncommon for people to buy and sell produce using coins from a variety of countries. Mexican dollars were some of the most commonly used because great store was placed in the pureness of the gold or silver in them. The pirates were still operating during the War of Spanish Succession that lasted from until . Britain joined with a number of other countries to challenge the son of King Louis XIV from acceding to the throne of Spain. Most of the fighting in this war was on land, but the British and the Dutch—now on the same side—were involved in harassing the French fleet, and they encouraged pirates to attack French merchantmen anywhere in the world. At the end of the war, with the southern Netherlands ceded to Austria, the Ostend East India Company was established to begin trade
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between the Flemish and India. Although it only operated from until , it had stopped sending out ships in . By this time, most of the European powers decided to work together to try to end piracy. International trade picked up from , and continued on to when the War of Jenkins’ Ear broke out between the British and the Spanish, and in the following year was transformed into the War of Austrian Succession, which saw Britain allied to Prussia against France and Austria. This war saw a jurisdictional dispute in South America, which would eventually lead to the establishment of Uruguay many years later. Initially this was planned to see Spanish-speaking populations on both sides of the River Plate, and hence control access to the river—the Portuguese handing over the smuggling port of Colonia in return for getting part of Paraguay, although this swap did not take place straight away and Colonia remained a Portuguese port from where goods were regularly smuggled to Buenos Aires, largely because the Spanish still insisted that trade from Europe had to pass through Lima in Peru on arrival in the Americas, and many traders, unwilling to pay the much greater costs for rounding Cape Horn, preferred selling directly to Buenos Aires. The Seven Years’ War, from until , transformed the world with Britain emerging as the most powerful country since the British Merchant Navy was able to control much of the trade outside Europe. This led to British merchants and financiers making large fortunes, which were further augmented by the large advances made in India by the East India Company. However, although the East India Company did enlarge its territorial holdings, the company was so rife with corruption and mismanagement that by the s it was in financial troubles, and William Pitt’s India Act of , following from the Regulating Act of , ensured government control and oversight of their operations. Although the British Merchant Navy briefly controlled much of the commerce around the world, the situation changed quickly with the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in , which ended with the formation of the U.S. Merchant Navy starting to challenge the primacy of the British by the s. Yet they would face some of their own problems resulting in the Tripolitan War in –, and later the Algerine War in . British trade with the West Indies continued after the Revolutionary War, with the British moving many loyalists to the Bahamas, and also to Canada. By that time the British Royal Navy, and also some other countries, notably France, maintained numbers of army transport ships or barges to help move their armies to places of combat. During the Napoleonic Wars, these were particularly important with the British doing as much as they could to prevent the French from transporting their soldiers as a way of preventing attacks on other countries, and also any possible attack on England, although the French were able to send some ships to Ireland to spark the Irish Rebellion of . Because Napoleon recognized the importance of world trade to the British economy—calling Britain a “nation of shopkeepers”—in with the Decree of Berlin, and in the Decree of Milan, Napoleon introduced his Continental Scheme by which all the countries of Europe had to sign agreements not to trade with the British.
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Portugal’s unwillingness to sign led to his invasion in . The boycott was effective. It was not long before the British economy started to stagnate, explaining why the British manufacturers were so keen to support the British capture of Buenos Aires in by John Whitelocke, thereby opening a new market for their goods. Justin Corfield References and Further Reading Bowen, H.V., Margarette Lincoln, and Nigel Rigby, eds. The Worlds of the East India Company. Woodbridge, U.K.: Boydell, . Boxer, Charles R. The Dutch Seaborne Empire –. Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin Books, . Boxer, Charles R. The Portuguese Seaborne Empire –. Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin Books, . Eltis, David, Frank D. Lewis, and Kenneth L. Sokoloff, eds. Slavery in the Development of the Americas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Hannay, David. The Great Chartered Companies. London: Williams, . Klein, Herbert S. The Atlantic Slave Trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . Menzies, Gavin. : The Year China Discovered the World. London: Bantam Books, . Robert, Rudolph. Chartered Companies: Their Role in the Development of Overseas Trade. London: G. Bell and Sons, . Starkey, David. British Privateering Enterprise in the Eighteenth Century. Exeter: Exeter University Press, . Thomas, Hugh. The Slave Trade. New York: Simon & Schuster, .
TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION thth CENTURIES Worldwide trade depends upon the speed and efficiency that the networks of transport, set up through the successive stages of modernization of the maritime fleets, created throughout centuries. Because the rate of exports was high for several industries and for several countries (Great Britain, France, Belgium and Switzerland, during the Industrial Revolution in the s, for example), traders betted on the speed and safety of sea transport: half of Swiss exports in the mid-th century were oriented towards America; and American “King Cotton” had to be supplied to Europe. The principle of international trade complementarity and multilateralism stimulated the need for transport to be safer, faster, more reliable, and efficient, and for entrepot trading ports to reach performing handling facilities. Traders also relied on auxiliaries to transport, which constituted a chain of relays in ports all over the world to manage the transit operations and the activities linked to the function of correspondence in the name of trade houses or their networks abroad.
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Revolutions in Trade and Transport: The Intensification of Capital International trade grew considerably in size and intensity because of the increase of the speed of ships, the speed they could be cycled through ports, and the intensification in the circulation of capital. The more quickly ships could circulate, the less trade houses had to mobilize cash to finance their operations: at the turn of the th century, the immobilization of capital required about one full year for trading, which explains the heavy dependency on credit. The trend toward a three-to-four months circulation of capital, thanks to the clippers (in the s–s) and later the steamers, even for transatlantic crossings, greatly improved trade economics, as did advances in port handling during the interwar period. The Suez and Panama waterways, which shortened many trade routes, further alleviated the load on the trading houses—all the more because the transport of information (by cables and telegraph) contributed to reduce the asymmetry of information and to somewhat reduce the risks. The insertion of new territories into the global economy contributed to the fall of the prices of commodities and raw materials, which fostered new outlets thanks to the growing purchase power of the population downstream—paving the way to mass consumption— and of industries upstream. Maritime trade took profit from such developments of exchanges in volume, and the three successive industrial revolutions of the th and early th centuries were each partly also caused by new stages in the availability of staples. Inventiveness among bankers to finance international trade—better systems of pledges, middle term credits, efficient markets for bills of exchange, inventive markets for on term speculation, and onwards—added fuel to such a growth, thus broadening the demand for transportation. Financial skills also contributed to better systems of maritime insurance and to the emergence of loans, which helped shipping to answer to such a demand. Even the short-term operations of wholesale trading houses, which speculated on gross cargoes, inserted impetus into maritime transportation. Ships had to respond quickly to fulfill successive sales of their cargo to different customers from different countries.
Harbor Facilities Supporting Trade Beyond the commonplace food and water supplies found for centuries in every port, the modern organization of transport required the development of a systematic network of auxiliaries to help the growth of worldwide trade. Coal warehouses became the key priority from the s, and specialized coal trading houses established deposits all over the maritime lines, for instance all along the Indian line through the Mediterranean Sea then the Indian Ocean. Worms & Company, a French competitor to leading British houses, opened coal deposits in Port-Said at the entrance of the Suez Canal in . Mory did the same in North-Africa and along the French coast. Energy steamers also required engine repair and maintenance, which led to the expansion of harbor maintenance facilities. The more trade was extended to new territories, the more ports had to be equipped with handling facilities, cranes, and warehouses to tackle storage of staples, customs operations and duty-free re-export moves. Chains of such equipped ports took
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shape all along Latin American coasts because of commodities trade, African coasts (because of colonization), and a new type of Asian ports, such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, or Yokohama, welcomed clippers then steamers when they joined the system of worldwide exchanges. All over the world, harbor transit companies enriched their portfolio of skills, especially in areas freshly joining modern trade. French companies of note included Saga, Mory and Scac-Socopao in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Scac and Mory in North Africa. The s began a new era when ports transformed their business model to adapt to the huge and rapid operations created by the stops of containerships (automation of cranes, change of scale for cranes, large storage spaces, forklifts) to become maritime hubs between transoceanic and tramping (or feeders) lines. Intimacy between Trade and Transport Before the s, when efficiency and reliability began to prevail in a majority of countries, traders had to get involved with developing the transport networks necessary to organize and check the goods that they intended to collect or sell—in complement to the state railway networks. In Africa, trading houses were used to control, in common or separately, a few companies that transported goods on the rivers. Messageries Africaines, for example, managed a fleet of boats on the Senegal River down to Saint-Louis. In China, big trading houses (hongs like Jardine & Matheson) supervised fleets of boats and chains of warehouses all along the Yangtze River, especially from Wuhan to Shanghai. Swire (in Shanghai since ) established The China Navigation Company (CNC) in to operate a modest fleet of paddle steamers on the Yangtze; within a decade, it had expanded its operations up and down the coast of China and had begun regular services to Australia and New Zealand. One of the company’s early successes was to take a monopoly of the previously junk-borne tramp trade in bean-cake—cartwheel-sized cakes of compressed soybean husk (the residue from making oil), which were carried from north to south China to use as a fertilizer. By the turn of the century, Cnc’s fleet was covering a complex network of Far Eastern trades, backed up by its own well-established coastal and river feeder services. Even if much of the firms assuming such river transport were independent (on the Rhine or on European or North American canals and rivers for instance), they were key pieces of the trading machinery linking harbors and hinterlands. Sometimes trade houses themselves had to invest upstream and downstream to equip and supervise harbor facilities in the name of efficiency: United Molasses, since the affiliate of sugar trader Tale & Lyle, thus developed warehouses of its sugar molasses overseas; the same was true for banana traders from America and Africa to Europe. A majority of trading houses disposed of warehouses on the stops of railway or river axis, and within the port space, or when the traffic was sufficient to foster outsourcing, they worked intimately with third-party docks, or companies that harbored their outgoing or incoming staples. Giant grain merchant Bunge & Born (created in –) relinquished its own storage facilities in several American ports to concentrate on its flows of cereals. During the industrial revolutions, a new breed of managers, influenced by Taylorism, brought their expertise to trade exchanges. By offering their skills in transit management,
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freight consolidation, and offering economies of scale, these managers impacted shipping by demonstrating how to gather cargoes to fill a ship intended to stop by some harbor along a regular weekly or monthly line, or by generating the shipping volume required for new freight routes. Because of the might reached through the representation of several trade houses, they could negotiate better fares with shipping agents. Although much is unknown about transit companies during the period, they were an essential go-between for trade houses and shipping, allowing many trade routes to develop and flourish. A second type of new management improved the handling, stevedoring, lightening facilities, and store keeping, mainly in river or sea harbors. Trade houses relied on technically efficient services, benefiting from investments in equipment (cranes, pumps for groundnuts or wine, conveyor belts, etc.), a trained and reliable workforce, and security provided by specialized companies that guaranteed the safety of warehouses. Sometimes trade houses themselves controlled a few handling company, like Manutentions Africaines in French Sub-Saharan Africa, which actively worked with houses from Marseille or Bordeaux all along the Gulf of Guinea. Trade needed rapid and sure completion of the key stage of transport, from ships to coast or vice-versa. A third type of auxiliaries to transport helped trade houses negotiating the disposal of the cargoes reaching harbors: agents of consignment, forwarding agents, various representatives of shipping companies and of traders (working generally on commission) who negotiated the conventions defining the conditions of transport, transit, or insurance of cargoes. Moreover, they handled the operations with the customs administration, either officially obtaining the documents authorizing exchanges, or discreetly negotiating the untold (or “grey”) conditions of the operations (graft agreements). Last, such representatives issued bills of lading when operations of transit (embarkation or disembarkation) were achieved, and thus fuelled the key circulation of documents, which afterwards served as the basis for documentary credits: banks provided credit pledged by the guarantee that an actual exchange had been completed and that cargoes were the material expression of the transaction of transport and exchange. They also assumed the consolidation and deconsolidation of merchandise, and customs formalities, including the international moving of personal effects. Thus, all over the world, networks of agents, specialized or general, tackled a wide realm of tasks, and also acted as go-betweens for the sake of trading and transport. The day-to-day functioning of harbors required the mobilization by trade houses of such an array of auxiliaries to transport, as a complement to the transport function itself. Those tasks of an agency were assumed by local independent companies, or by desks of corporations active in several countries, until the s saw the spread of agency companies all over the world, either affiliates to shipping groups, or independent ones. Intimacy between Trade and Shipping Before globalization of transport and trading, a large majority of trade houses were used to work intimately with the shipping companies of the harbor or region where they were active, or with those of their countries. Communities of interests prevailed often because
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state rules imposed their power to use the national pavilion for import-export, or moreover because the embedded nature of business caused intimate social and economic links between trading and shipping. On several occasions, trade houses pleaded for the creation, then for the reinforcement, of lines between their city and overseas outlets or sources of staples. Chambers of commerce grievances included the lack of regular lines, ships adapted for the needs of trade, and handling facilities in harbors located in underdeveloped areas and colonies. Permanent arguments helped create a community of business, which was reinforced by the fact that the main leaders of companies belonged to the bourgeoisie, or elite class, of harbor cities, either in Europe or in America. The state could interfere to stimulate by laws, rules, investments, or grants, the development of harbors, handling facilities, and shipping. Such convergences explain the creation of lines to join markets to be prospected and developed, the investments into new ships or new types of ships, and the negotiation of fares to try and reach a balance between contradictory interests. Traders Transition into Shipping Some trade houses invested in their own fleets as a means of leverage for better rates, and as a hedge against fluctuations in ocean freights. French leading traders in SubSaharan Africa used a few ships until the interwar; later on, giant trader Tate & Lyle managed a fleet of about , tons in the s, likewise Cargill (,, tons), Louis-Dreyfus (, tons) or André (, tons) all managed fleets. Traders invested in bulk carriers, which were easy to manage, and because they mainly specialized in cereals. One of the leading trading house, Louis-Dreyfus, started owning ships in, and reached two millions tons by ; but ceilings had always been put on such investments; first, traders rarely were able to attain enough capital to invest in shipping because they needed cash and credit to finance their trading and warehousing operations. Second, integration was often a cause of over-costs because outsourcing and a bid for freighters usually provided better prices. This explains why, generally, their policy of arbitraging between in-house and outsourcing led them to charter the majority, if not the totality of the ships they needed, on call, or through middle-term contracts—and giant Asian trader Jardine & Matheson even left shipping entirely in . The risk involved with chartering ships has been, and still is, one of the main risks that a trade house has to assume: Philip Brother (Phibro) for example freighted more than , ships in alone. Safety for Transport and Trade Another important development for maritime freight transport was the continually improving security situation following the conquest of Algeria in , and the reinforcement of war fleets all along the coast of Africa, that cut into the activities of piracy. Concurrently, the security of shipping in Asia along the coast of the South China Sea markedly improved. Military posts, colonization, and the deployment of war fleets
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allowed them to reach a rather continuous level of safety on sea against risks due to insecurity. Meanwhile, the progress in transport techniques and the motorization of shipping led to a sharp reduction in shipwrecks, which contributed to stabilizing the costs of maritime insurance and reduced uncertainty about the fate of cargoes. The reinforcement of maritime insurance itself, either through Lloyds or through commonplace insurance companies, helped to convince traders and ship-owners to cede entrepreneurial risk-taking to firms abroad. The major issue has always been pilferage in harbors, either through customs transit, or within warehouses, which requires traders to take into account some margin to amortize such potential losses along the downstream transport chain. Beginning in the s, there has been a new outbreak of piracy along a few African, Asian, and South-American coasts, which forced trading and shipping houses to work altogether in order to get military measures from local governments (China, etc.), or from international authorities. Another function linking trade and transport, is safety and certification of quality of traded or stocked products; SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing, and certification company, with more than , employees and a network of over , offices and laboratories around the world. Originally founded in in Rouen as a French grain shipment inspection house, SGS was registered in Geneva as Société générale de surveillance in . Inspection Services, which entail inspection and verification of the quantity, weight, and quality of traded goods, is its core activity and typically takes place at the manufacturer’s or supplier’s premises, or at time of loading, or at destination during discharge/off-loading.
Old Professions and New Groups for Globalized Trade (End of th Century–st Century) Paradoxically, the third industrial revolution—marked notably by outsourcing, overseas re-localizations (off shore productions), and new models of international division of production—did not change the patterns of trade even if transportation had to extend its scope all over the thoroughly opened and integrated world, that is, to China and a few other countries now inserted into the world system of production and exchanges. The portfolio of skills of maritime transport and trade kept faithful to traditions constituted for centuries, especially performing cargo charter transportations worldwide. However, they were modernized because of the introduction of the fax machine, followed by Internet practices and mobile phones, which have allowed the industry to have data and instructions transferred at once. The same was true for transfers of money; but documentary credits, bills of lading, consignments, and the like remained the basis of the life of the auxiliaries to transport and trade. The key change involved is the size reached by a few corporations. The requirement for a more acute division of tasks, of a deeper diversity of means (e.g., larger ships), and competitiveness explains a move towards amalgamation and the development of companies as multinational agents for traders and transporters. Non-vessel operating common carriers carry out the tasks of
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transiting, warehousing, providing security to cargoes, and document management. Some world leaders have been constituted for ocean freight service through networks of agents working with shipping partners and with the alliances of world shipping lines— that is consortia where almost all liners are active in some areas and share information and cargoes to improve productivity and profitability.
A Relevant Case Study: Panalpina Linking Trade and Transport Surprisingly a non-oceanic country, the Swiss company Panalpina, became a leader of this sector. The origins of Panalpina’s are closely linked with Rhine shipping. From shipping activities on the Rhine, it diversified into maritime transit beginning in following the takeover of Hans im Obersteg, a well-known forwarder whose roots date back to . The s saw further companies taken over and new ones set up in Europe and the United States, marking the inception of a transatlantic network of branches. Panalpina became independent in , and established numerous new branches in North America and later in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australia in the s and s. During the s, it increased airfreight volumes to and from the United States. Air Sea Broker, AG, was founded, establishing the cornerstone of what is still today a successful strategy of centralized procurement and management of global airfreight and ocean freight capacity. Following the takeover of the Houston-based JP Harle Group in the late s, Panalpina began building up its activities in this segment, and was able to position themselves to profit from Nigeria’s booming oil business. During the s and s, Panalpina further strengthened its position in specific segments. Among other things, it launched combined airfreight and ocean freight operations between the Far East and Europe, Africa, Oceania, and India, and initiated scheduled air freight services between Luxembourg and the United States, South Africa, and Brazil. In , Panalpina’s successful long-term commitment to freight services to and from emerging Far Eastern markets reaped an appropriate reward: China granted the company a coveted “A” license, enabling it to develop its own operational organization in this promising market. In the same year, the group consolidated its market leadership in the oil and gas business by taking over the Scottish firm Grampian International, and strengthened its position in Asia by buying the South Korea-based International Aero-Sea Forwarders. In , it further strengthened its leading market position in the oil and gas industry by acquiring the Singapore-based logistics provider Janco Oilfield Services and the Norwegian Overseas Shipping Group. Thus, Panalpina became one of the world’s leading providers of forwarding and logistics services, specializing in intercontinental airfreight and ocean freight shipments and associated supply chain management solutions. Thanks to its in-depth industry knowledge and state-of-the-art IT systems, it is able to provide globally integrated, door-to-door forwarding solutions tailored to its customers’ individual needs. Employing more than , people worldwide in , up from , in , Panalpina operates a network of some branches in countries. In another countries, the group closely
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cooperates with selected partners. Partnerships with selected leading shipping lines also ensure capacity for its ocean freight customers for all trade lanes. Conglomerates like Panalpina can provide insights into local conditions to reduce risks of administrative delays, door-to-door delivery anywhere in the world, and flexible and combined solutions to complex supply chain management demands—that is to tackle for customers the tasks of managing warehouses and the chain of supplying distribution: designing, controlling and continually improving the complex global flows of goods from suppliers to production lines and then on to resellers, from manufacture to the point of sale. They also provide integrated road feeder service, networks of ocean freight connections, and solutions to solve complex logistics tasks, despite the existence of specialized transit firms dedicated to supervise the transport of big equipment, like the French group Daher (since ). From Shipping to Logistics and Trade Logistics service providers rose from shipping because of the desire to provide global integrated solutions to customers in order to accelerate trade and the turnover of cargoes. Door-to-door delivery service demanded the integration of various elements, such as inland transport service, customs clearance and inventory control, as well as ocean shipping. Shipping groups’ activities thus spanned either transport or logistics. Japanese firms, which were at the heart of the world economy in the s, are an example for such a move. For instance, the big group Mol (from Mitsui o.s.k. Line, created in ) was able to respond to diverse global customer needs by combining strategic tie-ups with its network all over the world, such as when containership service networks and logistics partners in Japan and overseas acted as a single consignee. In Europe, beginning in the s, the Bolloré Group took control of several transit and shipping companies (Scac, Saga, Delmas-Vieljeux, Transcap, etc.) to build a group (Sdv-Bolloré) specialized in taking sea freight without shipping it (after selling its fleet to French shipping leader Cma-Cgm) through partnership cooperation with more than international shipping lines. The presence of Sdv International Logistics in all the main ports provide customers with a wide range of services: from break-bulk to container shipping, from full container loads to consolidated shipments, from general cargo to specialized transport, and from small parcel to out of gauge pieces. Not only a forwarding agent but also a fully licensed “ nvocc” (non-vessel operating common carriers), Sdv offers a comprehensive solution to any request of consolidated shipment, as well as full container loads, throughout the world. In order to promote and ensure high service standards, its network is equipped with its own tool sets: bonded warehouses, handling machinery equipments, secured distribution centers, and integrated information systems. The command of the full logistics chain gives firms an outstanding opportunity to be not only forwarding agents, but also “global-service” providers, which enhances the contribution of transport to st century worldwide trade. If booms had ever caused bottle-necks in transit operations, the tremendous upsurge of emerging countries paved the way for a race between trade and transport beginning
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in the s: ports became overwhelmed by waiting ships because there was not enough capacity at handling facilities. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), “global freight costs represented . percent of the value of world imports in , and developing countries and countries with economies in transition continued to bear the brunt of high transport costs.” Therefore, the economic international organizations gave priority to investments into transit equipment to fill the gap, and the UNCTAD called for massive allotments of resources, throughout Asia and Africa especially, and for a new step in the globalization of port logistics to face opportunities and challenges for developing countries. The privatization of port management was proposed as a solution to raise capital, which leads to private investors specialized in such a move, mainly from port authorities, to begin to manage ports worldwide (Dubai, Singapore, etc.). Hubert Bonin References and Further Reading Jones, Geoff rey. The Multinational Traders. London: Routledge, . Jones, Geoff rey. Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Oxford: Oxford University Press, . Jones, Stephanie. Two Centuries of Overseas Trading. London: MacMillan, . McCusker, John, ed. History of World Trade since . vols. Farmington Hills, MI: ThomsonGale, . Price, Jacob M. Overseas Trade and Traders. Aldershot, U.K.: Variorum, . United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Review of Maritime Transport. www. unctad.org. Yonekawa, Sinichi, ed. General Trading Companies: A Comparative and Historical Study. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, .
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Chronology
Note: Entries through originally published in Peter Jacques, Ocean Politics and Policy: A Reference Handbook (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, ). .– billion years ago
Microscopic life on the planet begins in the oceans.
million years ago
The “biologist’s big bang,” called the Cambrian explosion, occurs in the World Ocean. The explosion of life in this era unveils the major patterns and forms of life to come.
million years ago
Modern life on the planet emerges from the ocean.
b.c.
Herodotus establishes a study of tides and silt in the Nile Delta and coins the term Atlantic to describe the seas to the west of Greece.
b.c.
Aristotle passes away. Besides his famous philosophical treatises, he is known as the “Father of Natural History.” He devises and records a scientific method, names and describes many marine animals, and correctly identifies cetaceans (porpoises, whales, and so on) as mammals.
The earliest whaling begins in what would become Japan.
Norwegian, French, and Spanish whaling begins.
Magnetic compasses are widely used by Chinese mariners. Vikings sail along the northeastern seaboard of America.
Europe creates its first sea chart, the Carta Pisana, about years after the Chinese had constructed similar maps.
CHRONOLOGY
The English win the Battle of Sluys, taking control of the English Channel from the French in the opening of the Hundred Years’ War.
Early s
Henry the Navigator, “Infante of Portugal,” founds an interdisciplinary and international oceanographic institute with scholars from Italy, Spain, Arab countries, and Portugal. The institute develops charts and navigational equipment. Based near Sagres, Portugal, it spawns a wave of seafaring colonial explorers who were students at the school. These explorers included Christopher Columbus, Gil Eanes, and Vasco da Gama.
Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divides all the world’s oceans between these two countries. This move is viewed by other nations as a strategic attempt to restrict trade, and it eventually culminates in the famous Dutch response from Hugo Grotius (see ).
Magellan starts out on his voyage to circumnavigate the globe and provides the first navigational proof that the earth is round.
Spanish navigators discover the North Equatorial Current of the Pacific Ocean.
Hugo Grotius anonymously publishes Mare Liberum. Some authorities record this date as . Mare Liberum establishes the “freedom of the seas” doctrine, which sets the tone for universal and free access to the ocean for almost years. Johannes Kepler publishes Atronomia Nova seu de Motu Stallae Martis, in which he explains that tides are a result of gravitational attraction from the moon. This explanation is still considered accurate. At the same time, Galileo dismisses the idea in favor of his notion that the earth’s rotation causes the changes in tide levels.
Robert Hooke, a British member of the Royal Society (still the oldest existing scientific organization), reveals his invention of a water barometer. This barometer is able to measure water pressure, though only within serious limits. The tool is used to measure ocean depth; it proves more accurate than the previous technique of dropping a tethered weight to the bottom.
Robert Boyle, whose main contribution to science is a law on gases (which holds that the volume of gas varies according to pressure), publishes a work in which he determines that the
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bottom depths of the ocean are always cold. This knowledge will influence the way currents and subsequently global thermal regulation are understood.
American colonists begin hunting sperm whales.
The sextant is invented independently in England by mathematician John Hadley and in America by Thomas Godfrey. The sextant measures up to degrees by lining up stars and the horizon through an angled viewer; mariners navigating the high seas find it very useful for measuring distances.
John Harrison invents the first chronometer, which allows navigators to determine longitude while at sea.
Stellar’s sea cow, which resembles a large manatee, becomes extinct only years after being discovered by Western scientists.
Benjamin Franklin publishes his first map of the Gulf Stream, which proves to be remarkably accurate.
James Watt develops a steam engine. Steam-powered boats emerge years later.
The Pribiloff Islands are discovered. The area is a base for millions of fur seals that are hunted for the fur trade.
The semaphore signaling system is developed by Claude Chappe. The system uses two handheld flags that are moved into different positions to communicate alphanumeric signals. This system is useful to seafarers trying to communicate with other visible but distant ships.
Robert Fulton builds the first submarine.
The Savannah becomes the first steamship to cross the Atlantic.
The first oceangoing iron-hulled ship is built.
J. Vaughan Thomson is the first to describe planktonic stages of crabs, though the word plankton is not used until Joseph Hooker coins the term (see ).
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The first fishing trawlers (boats that pull large nets behind them) emerge, allowing for much larger catches at one time than prior methods.
Charles Darwin sets out on his famous scientific voyage aboard the HMS Beagle. He is known as the father of evolutionary theory, which he developed by visiting the Galapagos Islands. These islands are now an international reserve largely due to Darwin’s work in detailing species endemic (uniquely
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indigenous) to that archipelago (set of islands). His mission is completed in .
Samuel Morse invents a telegraph communications system and the Morse Code, which become an important part of transoceanic communication.
France and Great Britain agree to adhere to rules regarding three-mile territorial seas, ending a debate that had lasted since Hugo Grotius’s time as to how far the territorial area should extend.
Edward Forbes, claimed by some to be the first modern oceanographer (Matthew Fontaine Maury competes for this title as well), sails on the British survey ship the Beacon. Dredging the Aegean and Mediterranean seas at previously untouched depths of fathoms (about , feet), Forbes uses this opportunity to promote his belief that the bottom ocean depths are lifeless (azoic). His azoic theory, however, will later be proved patently false.
Joseph Hooker identifies planktonic diatoms (Bacillariophyta, or single-celled algae) as plants that exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen. It is now known that phytoplankton, or the whole range of microscopic drifting algae, supply most (about percent) of the oxygen for the whole planet, not just the ocean.
The first undersea cable connects the European continent to Great Britain.
Matthew Fontaine Maury, considered by some a father of oceanography, publishes the discipline’s first textbook, The Physical Geography of the Sea.
Geographer Antonio Snider-Pellegrini creates a map that illustrates how the continents could have fit together in the distant past. This map becomes the first piece of evidence for plate tectonics.
The scientist James Bertram publishes The Harvest of the Sea, which sounds one of the first warnings that ocean fisheries are not as plentiful as previously thought.
The United States purchases Alaska and the associated Aleutian and Pribiloff Islands for $. million, which touches off indiscriminate and large hunts that quickly devastate the population of seals that use these islands.
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The Suez Canal opens, connecting the Mediterranean and Red seas.
The crewmen of the HMS Challenger set out to discover all that they can about the marine world. They will document , new species and discover polymetallic nodules at the bottom of the ocean. The mission is completed in .
Challenger leader, Charles Wyville Thomson, publishes a major text in oceanography, The Depths of the Sea. Louis Agassiz establishes the Anderson School, the first U.S. marine biological laboratory. This laboratory will later become the largest private oceanographic research facility in the world, known today as the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
Renowned scientist T.H. Huxley opens the Great International Fisheries Exhibition in London with a keynote address arguing that human efforts could not affect the vast amount of fish in the ocean.
A British report indicates fisheries are in decline across several areas in British territorial waters. The first modern oil tanker, the Gluckauf, is launched from northern England. The tanker revolutionizes petroleum transportation by storing oil in its own cargo holds instead of separate barrels.
The British Parliament adopts the Sea Fisheries Act and Herring Fisheries Act to protect Moray Firth, a semi-enclosed sea, from otter trawlers because they are suspected of causing a decline in the area’s herring population. The acts are effective beyond the three-mile limit and attract international protest.
The United States and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Washington to solve the problem of the overhunting of seals in the Bering Sea.
A committee of the British Parliament concludes that fisheries in the North Sea are obviously declining.
The U.S. Congress passes the Rivers and Harbors Act, which regulates oil discharges from ships but only to the extent that they impede navigation.
King Oscar II of Sweden establishes the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Today, ICES is the oldest intergovernmental science organization in the world
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and operates under a formal international treaty created in .
Panama and the United States sign a treaty to allow the United States to begin building the Panama Canal. The canal cuts through Panama to eliminate the trip around South America for ships making coast-to-coast voyages. The United States purchases the rights to the land from France for U.S. $ million. The canal is finished and the first ship passes through it in August .
Japan begins pelagic, or open-ocean, whaling in the Antarctic.
The Hague Peace Conference determines rules for laying mines in the ocean. Among other stipulations, the conference demands that the mines should be recoverable when they are no longer needed. This conference still stands as the only international agreement on undersea mines.
The Carnegie sets out on its maiden voyage. It is the first nonmagnetic science brigantine to be built for the purpose of mapping magnetic geological areas of the ocean. There is no iron on any part of the ship or crew so as not to disturb the instruments. Later, the ship catches fire and burns in an accident in Samoa.
The North Pacific Sealing Convention is signed by the United States, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan to limit the overhunting of seals in the Bering Sea. The first diesel-powered ship crosses the Atlantic, years after Rudolf Diesel’s invention of an engine that uses oil as fuel.
On the night of April the RMS Titanic strikes an iceberg and sinks, and over , people lose their lives. (RMS stands for Royal Mail Ship; thus, the Titanic could deliver British mail. Another designation—HMS, short for His Majesty’s Ship—is typically applied to British warships but is sometimes incorrectly used in regard to the Titanic.) As a result of this accident, the first of several international conventions on safety at sea is held two years later to improve safety equipment as well as navigational and rescue gear standards on ships.
Johan Hjort, a Norwegian zoologist, receives the Alexander Agassiz Medal for distinguished work in oceanography. Hjort’s work shows that the amount of plankton available for
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young fish determines the strength of that year class, Hjort’s term to classify fish of each species born in a year.
Reginald Fessenden, a former assistant to Thomas Edison, invents the first sonar device; it is intended to detect icebergs but will also be employed to detect submarines during World War I.
On May , during World War I, the British ocean liner Lusitania is sunk by a German submarine, resulting in the death of , people. Alfred Wegener publishes his first edition of The Origins of Continents and Oceans. Wegener offers the first portion of the plate tectonics theory by arguing that all the continents were once a single mass (called Pangea) that later broke apart. Wegener supports his theory by uncovering similar fossils in different continents. Since the continents presumably drifted away from each other, the theory is called “continental drift” and is still accepted today.
In a joint resolution, the U.S. Congress indicates its first concerns over oil pollution caused by ships. Later in the year, serious oil pollution is recognized as an indisputable problem that is also correlated with declining fisheries and other marine life.
The U.S. Congress passes the Oil Protection Act of , which regulates the discharge of oil from ships. The United States and Great Britain, on behalf of Canada, create an unprecedented treaty to restrict halibut fishing in their own territorial waters. The agreement is designed to address the decade-long decline of halibut populations. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography is established in La Jolla, California. The institution originates from a research foundation created by William Ritter years earlier. Ritter was a student of Louis Agassiz, who started what would become the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (see ).
The Meteor begins a two-year expedition. The crew of this German naval ship completes the first modern oceanographic research, measuring salinity, ocean temperatures, plankton, and atmosphere.
The International Law Association adopts a draft convention that gives the coastal state jurisdiction over the seabed in territorial waters. This is the first move to establish a complete
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water column jurisdiction. The water column divides the ocean into parts: the seabed/subsea floor (benthic zone), the ocean water (pelagic zone), and the airspace above. The International Washington Conference meets to regulate oil discharges on the high seas but fails to establish a regime due to concerns about limiting the freedom of the seas.
The American Society of Mammologists urges the international community to address the wasteful procedures of whale hunting and calls for a conservation scheme to address the declining numbers of whales.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute is founded to conduct independent, private oceanographic research in Massachusetts. The institute becomes a leader in marine science (see ). The League of Nations holds the Conference for the Codification of International Law at The Hague. This conference foreshadows the first Law of the Sea convention by debating (albeit inconclusively) territorial sea parameters and exclusive fishery zones. In March, Mohandas Gandhi starts his -mile trek from Ahmedabad, India, to the Arabian Sea; it is known as the Salt March or Salt Protest. The goal of this march is to take control of everyday resources from the British Empire and restore it to Indian villagers. Gandhi walks to the sea to protest English colonization as well as the British monopoly of one of the ocean’s most plentiful natural resources, salt. Gandhi’s efforts are focused on Indians using things around them to be self-sufficient, and he demonstrates that the ocean can serve even the poorest citizen in very basic ways. Hundreds of Indians are beaten at a salt factory when they engage in nonviolent protest by lining up to take over this facility.
Zoologists William Beebe and Otis Barton are the first people to view deep-sea environments. They use a submersible that is tethered to a ship and reach a depth of meters (, feet).
World War II erupts in Europe. As a result, fisheries in the Northern Hemisphere get a respite from intensive fishing. The lull in fishing consequently rejuvenates fisheries for several years.
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On September , U.S. President Harry Truman declares jurisdiction and control of the U.S. continental shelf and U.S. coastal fisheries beyond the territorial seas where prior interest had been established (areas where the United States had been fishing prior to the declaration). This move eventually spurs the international community to convene the Law of the Sea conventions.
The burgeoning whaling industry, which had peaked in , forces whaling nations to adopt the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. At first, this convention only limits the taking of certain species and mothers with calves and the wasting of too much of the carcasses. Later, a full commercial ban on whaling will be adopted.
The International Maritime Consultancy Organization (IMCO) is created to handle technical problems of international shipping. The IMCO later becomes the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The International Whaling Commission is created by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling to handle the large whaling industry and falling whale stocks.
Chile, Ecuador, and Peru issue the Santiago Declaration, which proclaims a territorial zone of miles from their coasts. The countries cite the need to protect their food supplies and economic development as the main reasons for the declaration.
The London Oil Pollution Convention convenes to negotiate the first international oil pollution regime and later adopts the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL). The main purpose of this convention is to regulate purposeful oil pollution by tankers. The first nuclear-powered submarine is commissioned. The USS Nautilus introduces a new generation of subs that use onboard nuclear power plants to drive and operate the ship’s systems. The Soviet Union builds its first nuclear sub in , something the United Kingdom will not accomplish until with the HMS Dreadnought. France, China, and India soon follow suit.
The Suez Canal temporarily closes as the British relinquish control to Egypt under pressure of Egyptian riots. The canal is a source of international conflict as French, British, and Israeli
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troops fight Egypt over the next years. During the ArabIsraeli War of , the canal is closed to prevent Israeli ships from passing. Some newly built ships, especially oil supertankers, are too large to pass through the canal anyway, and the use of the canal becomes less important to ocean shipping.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea meets for the first time (UNCLOS-I) to establish a modern ocean law that would revise the freedom of the seas doctrine. After participants in UNCLOS-I fail to agree on a wider territorial sea limit, Iceland declares a -mile exclusive zone to protect its cod fishery from British trawlers. Britain decries the move and occasionally rams Icelandic coast guard ships as a result.
The Antarctic Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., by nations that designate the continent to be used only for peaceful purposes. The treaty also excludes any nation from extending additional sovereign claims to Antarctica and bans nuclear explosions and dumping. Later, developing nations press for application of the common heritage principle to Antarctica.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea meets for the second time (UNCLOS-II), but due to a stalemate between industrial marine powers and coastal nations, nothing is accomplished. The U.S. proposal to extend the territorial seas to six miles, in addition to a six-mile fishing zone, is defeated by one vote. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) is convened. This convention produces a major agreement regarding the safe operations of ships at sea to benefit crew and the shipping industry. The first version of the treaty was adopted in in response to the Titanic disaster in (see ). Attention to safety at sea is most important for those working on fishing boats and other mariners, whose jobs are often said to have some of the highest mortality rates in the world.
Princeton geologist Harry Hess publishes An Essay on Geopoetry, which explains that the seafloor is always spreading due to magma from the earth’s mantle welling up between rifts in the seafloor. The magma pushes the seafloor out, creating underwater mountains and valleys. It turns out this theory is only partially true. Oceans are born and die in cycles, like many
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other ecological functions. Currently, the Atlantic Ocean is expanding while the Pacific is shrinking, and estimates show that the Mediterranean Sea will shrink enough to bring Africa and Europe together at some time in the future.
The Partial Test Ban Treaty is signed to ban nuclear testing in the ocean, atmosphere, or outer space.
J. Tuzo Wilson proposes that continents drift and the seafloor expands because the earth’s crust is made up of moving pieces, or plates. Wilson’s explanation provides the mechanism that had been missing from Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift, established years earlier (see ). The Soviet Union begins disposing of nuclear reactors into the Kara Sea. Seven of the reactors dumped still have fuel in them to this day. Radioactive wastes are also dumped into the Barents Sea around the same time by the Soviets. This practice goes unreported until , when the Yablokov Report is released by the Russian government after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The Latin American Nuclear Weapon–Free Treaty bans nuclear weapons from million square miles of Latin American waters.
The United States passes the National Environmental Policy Act, which becomes a model for many nations that are working to develop environmental policy in general. One of the main contributions of this act is to institute environmental impact statements as a way of determining policy. This particular tool is used in many nations all over the world. The UN General Assembly proclaims that deep-seabed minerals on the high seas are the “common heritage of mankind,” referencing an often-cited and impassioned speech by Arvid Pardoe. The International Whaling Commission institutes its first quota system to manage the number of whales killed each year. By this time, commercial whaling has been banned for gray, bowhead, right, humpback, and blue whales. Three years later, anti-whaling nations begin to call for a full moratorium on all commercial whaling. An oil field in California’s Santa Barbara Channel ruptures on the seafloor. The ensuing spill lasts for weeks, catalyzing environmental groups to oppose all oil drilling in the channel.
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The Stella Maris leaves port in Rotterdam amid protests. The ship’s mission is to dump tons of toxic waste into the North Sea. There are no regulations to stop the ship, and as a result of this incident, the Oslo Convention is called (see ). The Soviet-U.S. Seabed Arms Control Treaty bans the placing of weapons of mass destruction on the ocean floor and in the subsea soil.
The Soviet-U.S. Incidents at Sea Treaty is signed. This agreement establishes rules to avoid accidental military incidents at sea. The Oslo Convention, or the Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft, is signed largely as a result of protests surrounding the Stella Maris incident (see ). This agreement prohibits the dumping of toxic waste into the North Sea. The Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment adopts the ideal of sustainable development for the world environment. This conference is the first international effort to recognize limits on global resources, including the ocean (particularly regarding fisheries). The conference produces a resolution for a -year moratorium on commercial whaling, which the International Whaling Commission initially rejects. The IWC finally agrees to a moratorium in , to be implemented in . The London Dumping Convention determines rules for the global dumping of toxic materials. The convention works on a three-tiered permit system of regulated, unregulated, and banned substances, and it is continually updated with new management schemes (such as making polluters pay for their actions and setting precautionary standards) and regulations on polluting at sea. Incinerating wastes and most nuclear waste dumping at sea are prohibited in this protocol.
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is signed in November. However, the convention is so objectionable to the oil industry that it is amended in and does not go into force until .
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea begins its third convention (UNCLOS-III). This final convention leads to a -year negotiation period and a -year ratification
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period. It is the most comprehensive legal tool for ocean management to date. As a companion to the Oslo Convention (see ), the Paris Convention, or the Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Land-based Sources, is signed. Together, the two regimes make up what is called OSPAR, a larger regime to prevent North Sea pollution. The Paris Convention recognizes that a majority of pollution in the ocean starts inland and that to reduce ocean pollution, management must reduce inland sources of pollution. The Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area ( Helsinki Convention) creates one of the first regional sea agreements to deal with Baltic Sea pollution. The discussions are driven by Nordic states, which have been mostly on the receiving end of this pollution. However, since the Baltic states, at this time, are a part of the Soviet Bloc, the Helsinki Convention is primarily used to create a diplomatic space for research and communication. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the agreement becomes a means for establishing effective regional pollution control.
The Australian government passes the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act, which designates the reef as a marine protected area. Later, the Great Barrier Reef also becomes a World Heritage Site (an internationally recognized area of importance). The London Convention (see ) goes into effect, banning high-level nuclear waste from being dumped into the ocean. A further agreement to the convention (in ) will ban low- and medium-level nuclear waste as well. Russia continues to dump nuclear waste, however, under a technicality in the convention.
The U.S. submersible Alvin discovers unique communities of organisms around deep-sea thermal vents formerly thought to be devoid of life. These organisms convert energy from the chemical and thermal riches of the vents instead of using solar radiation for photosynthesis. U.S. president Jimmy Carter signs an agreement with Panama to give it control of the Panama Canal in the year .
The International Maritime Organization develops rules for treating and disposing sewage at sea, in addition to amending MARPOL (see ).
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The International Whaling Commission declares most of the Indian Ocean a sanctuary due to its widespread use by whales for calving. Sanctuaries generally are in effect for years. By consensus, the IWC has agreed to keep this area a sanctuary indefinitely.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS-III) negotiations conclude, allowing nations to sign the treaty and then pursue ratification by their home governments. The Paris Memorandum gives port states, or states that receive ships, partial responsibility for inspecting vessels in their harbor for compliance with safety and environmental requirements. This strategy is employed to reduce the flags of convenience problem, but implementation of the memorandum has been sporadic and only marginally effective. The International Whaling Commission votes to place a moratorium on all commercial whaling, starting in .
MARPOL / (see ) goes into force.
The environmental group Greenpeace begins a global boycott on seafood exported from Norway and Iceland because of the continued whaling practices of those nations. The boycott, most successful in Germany, costs Iceland U.S. $ million, and a year later, whaling in that country completely ends. The Committee for the Defense of the Flora and Fauna of the Gulf of Fonseca, a grassroots environmental group, is formed by disaffected fishers who had been edged out of ocean commons in Honduras by shrimp farmers. Shrimp farmers had fenced off common-ocean access areas and blocked local use for fishing. This effort reflects the growing movement of artisanal (or small-scale subsistence) fishers who must fight to maintain their access to resources. This particular organization will win global acclaim from larger environmental groups. It will also win the Global Prize awarded by the United Nations and the th annual J. Paul Getty Prize awarded by the World Wildlife Fund for its conservation work in conjunction with local users. The World Meteorological Organization, a UN agency that studies climate, appoints the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to research global warming.
The Basel Convention, or the International Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes
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and Their Disposal, is adopted. One article of the convention prohibits exporting wastes to be dumped or incinerated at sea. The Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill occurs off the coast of Alaska. –
The Cold War ends. This international breakthrough strengthens environmental agreements such as those regarding the Baltic Sea. Among other related effects, the United States withdraws some of its marine power from East Asia, which leads to a moderate arms race in the region by nations seeking to fill the gap.
The U.S. Oil Pollution Act is passed into law as a result of the Exxon Valdez spill. The act, among other requirements, mandates all tankers in U.S. waters to have double hulls by the year . The first IPCC Report (see ) is issued. It warns that carbon dioxide levels will likely double in the next years and the global average temperature will rise between . to . degrees Celsius (. to .°F) in the same period. The authors of the report believe this will result in rising sea levels, droughts, and floods and will threaten the security of food and water supplies. The report is important because it provides the scientific background to international negotiations for the Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will come out of the Rio Conference on Environment and Development in .
The IWC’s revised management procedure is brought to the general members by the Science Commission of the International Whaling Commission. This procedure uses a wildlife management scheme to reintroduce commercial whaling. The procedure is later approved by the IWC, but it is still not implemented as of the writing of this book.
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development convenes in Rio de Janeiro to reaffirm the work of the Stockholm Conference, as well as to produce a plan for global conservation through its Agenda (see ). Among the groundbreaking agreements made at this Earth Summit are the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (see ). The climate agreement is signed by nations and sets as the benchmark year for emissions reforms.
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MARPOL (see ) requires all tankers to have double hulls by . This requirement is largely a result of lessons learned from the Exxon Valdez spill. The Kazakh Parliament condemns the Aral Sea basin as an “ecological disaster zone.” The Aral Sea, which is a salt lake or an inland sea, was at one time the world’s fourth-largest inland body of water. However, as a result of Soviet river diversions for agricultural use, it began to dry up. In fact, the Aral Sea has lost so much water that it is now two bodies—the Little Aral Sea and the Large Aral Sea—because it is dissected by a landbridge. Iceland formally withdraws from the International Whaling Commission after the IWC denies an interim plan to resume commercial whaling of specific species, even though Iceland has not hunted whales since . The North Atlantic Marine Mammals Commission (NAMMCO) is established to provide an alternative to the International Whaling Commission. NAMMCO favors commercial whaling.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS-III) goes into effect, completing a process that took nearly years. The International Whaling Commission creates the Southern Ocean Sanctuary in Antarctica. Twenty-three nations vote for the sanctuary, with only Japan opposing it. Japan has been reported by Greenpeace to have purposefully whaled within the sanctuary. Australia continues to advocate for a global marine sanctuary that would include all waters. The Alliance of Small Island States demands more dramatic emission reductions than is agreed to in the Framework Convention on Climate Change (see ). Also in this year, the climate change accord goes into force; by the time it is effective, countries are party to the agreement. (There are about countries in the world.)
On March , a Canadian coast guard boat fires shots across the bow of the Spanish trawler Estai before confiscating the vessel for fishing turbot, a straddling species. This begins the turbot war between Spain and Canada.
The Kyoto Protocol of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (see ) is signed. The importance of the
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Kyoto Protocol is that it commits industrialized nations to an average . percent cut in emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (produced by most engines) from their levels. The United States refuses to ratify this agreement.
The Galapagos Marine Preserve is created to protect the waters around the Galapagos Islands and the Galapagos National Park (), which encompasses most of these islands belonging to Ecuador. The UN Year of the Oceans is declared as a way for the international community to focus attention on ocean governance.
The scientific community reassesses global-warming predictions. The forecast maximum over the next hundred years is raised from . to degrees Celsius (. to .°F). U.S. president Bill Clinton creates the largest U.S. nature preserve in an area around northwestern Hawaii. The preserve is million acres in size and is designed to protect coral reefs and wildlife habitats in the area. Seventy percent of the nation’s reefs exist in this area. The European Scientific Committee for Food, which is concerned with food safety, warns that dioxins and other industry-made chemicals proliferate in European regional seas, such as the North Sea, to the extent that fish from the area should not be eaten on a frequent basis. Paleontologists from the University of Arizona report that dams affect ocean life. Their studies show that the dams on the Colorado River cut off the nutrients and river flow that previously fed marine life, such as clams at the mouth of the river and in the ocean. Clams in that area, which normally numbered billion, are now relatively rare.
On December , the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks goes into force. This agreement is a separate part of the Law of the Sea Treaty, which sets tangible conservation limits on fish stocks that cross international and high-seas boundaries.
From August to September , global leaders meet at Johannesburg, South Africa, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. They agree to promote more transparency (making information available to the public and press) regarding coastal management and fisheries and promise to return world fish stocks to their maximum levels by . However,
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divisions between rich and poor countries keep the leaders from making any dramatic changes in the way conservation measures are carried out on the world’s oceans. On November , a storm cracks the single hull of the oil tanker Prestige off the coast of Spain. The tanker, loaded with , tons of oil, is refused port by Spain and consequently sinks miles off the coast. Spanish coastal fishers rush to harvest what they can while hundred of miles of seashore are coated with oil. Policy requiring double-hull ships is already approved for worldwide and for in the United States and the European Union, but critics say this is too long to wait. Single-hull tankers are involved in percent of such disasters, and experts agree a double hull would probably have prevented the Prestige spill.
The United States government issues a resolution signed to establish the National Federation of Regional Associations for Coastal and Ocean Observing (NFRA), a non-profit organization in support of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). IOOS is a national program created to ensure the sustained observation of the United States’ coastal oceans and to develop information products from those observations to assist people in their lives and livelihoods. Planning begins by the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO), for Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), which will provide detailed information about climate change on a global basis.
The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy releases a Final Report recommending establishment of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) as a high priority. In January, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain names the new $ million cruise ship being constructed the Queen Mary . When completed, it is the largest passenger ship of its type ever built. In August, according to a top British Navy officer, the terrorist organization Al Qaeda announces its plan to disrupt world trade by threatening to blow up ships worldwide.
United States government releases U.S. Ocean Action Plan in response to U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy Report, which creates a new cabinet-level position for the Chairperson of the
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Committee on Ocean Policy and supports accession to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In October, Panamanian voters overwhelmingly approve a $. billion overhaul of the Panama Canal, planning to widen the canal to permit a new generation of large container ships to pass. That same month, Iceland breaks a -year-old international ban on commercial whaling by killing an endangered fin whale. In December, member nations of the European Union reach an agreement to regulate permitted fish catches in , aimed at stimulating the recovery of stocks.
In February, a number of pro-whaling nations, led by Japan, meet to seek an end to the worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling. In September, global ice loss due to climate change results in the opening of what had previously been the mythical Northwest Passage, a direct water route linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans north of Canada.
Somali pirates begin increased activity, taking over ships passing through the Gulf of Aden, delaying much needed relief shipments and leading to a rise in shipping costs due to the payment of some $ million in ransom monies during .
References and Further Reading Andresen, Steinar. “The Making and Implementation of Whaling Policies.” In The Implementation and Effectiveness of International Environmental Commitments, ed. D. Victor, K. Raustiala, and Eugene Skolnikoff. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, . Becher, Anne. Biodiversity: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, . Borgese, Elisabeth Mann. The Oceanic Circle: Governing the Seas as a Global Resource. New York: United Nations University Press, . Deacon, Margaret. Scientists and the Sea, –: A Study of Marine Science. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing, . Dimitrov, George. In Maritime Security: The Building of Confidence, ed. J. Goldblatt. New York: United Nations Press, . Electric Library. “Sextant.” Encyclopedia.com (). http://encyclopedia.com (accessed November , ). Erikson, Erik. Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence. New York: W. W. Norton, .
CHRONOLOGY Frankel, Ernst. Ocean Environmental Management: A Primer on the Role of Oceans and How to Maintain Their Contributions to Life on Earth. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, . Glassner, Martin Ira. Neptune’s Domain: A Political Geography of the Sea. Boston: Unwin Hyman, . Greene, Owen. “Implementation Review and the Baltic Sea Regime.” In The Implementation and Effectiveness of International Environmental Commitments, ed. D. Victor, K. Raustiala, and Eugene Skolnikoff. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, . International Maritime Organization (IMO). “International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), .” http://www.imo.org (accessed November , ). International Whaling Commission (IWC). . “Catch Limits, Etc.” Muro, Mark. “Silence of the Clams.” High Country News (February , ). Prager, Ellen J., with Sylvia Earle. The Oceans. New York: McGraw-Hill, . Smith, David R. “Kazakhstan.” In Environmental Resources and Constraints in the Former Soviet Republics, ed. Phillip Pryde. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, . Stanley, Denise. “David vs. Goliath: Fishermen Conflicts with Mariculturists in Honduras.” In Green Guerrillas: Environmental Conflicts and Initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean, ed. H. Collinson. New York: Monthly Review Press for the Latin America Bureau, . Stokke, Olav Schram. “Nuclear Dumping in Arctic Seas.” In The Implementation and Effectiveness of International Environmental Commitments, ed. D. Victor, K. Raustiala, and Eugene Skolnikoff. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, . Weeks, Stanley. “Measures to Prevent Major Incidents at Sea.” In Maritime Security: The Building of Confidence, ed. J. Goldblatt. New York: United Nations Press, . Westing, Arthur. “Environmental Dimensions of Maritime Security.” In Maritime Security: The Building of Confidence, ed. J. Goldblatt. New York: United Nations Press, .
Glossary
Ablation: The process of snow and ice melting and turning into liquid water. Abrasion: The removal of soil as a result of water, ice, or debris moving along a riverbank or lakeshore. Abutment: The part of a canal built into an existing hillside or stream bank to begin either an aqueduct or a culvert. Abyssopelagic Zone: The deep region of the ocean, beginning about meters below the surface and extending to the sea floor. Acid Rain: A form of polluting rain created by acids and acid-forming compounds such that occur or are introduced into the environment. Acid rain: Rainfall with a pH of less than ., which has a negative effect on aquatic life forms and the ability of a waterway to support them. Admiralty Courts: Courts of law that deal with matters pertaining to seas and waterways. Affreightment: A contract to carry merchandise. Aggradation: The gradual raising of a riverbed and floodplain due to deposition. A progressive buildup or raising of the channel bed and floodplain due to sediment deposition. Alluvium: Silt, material, and debris left by a river after it has flooded. Aquaculture: Organized human farming of fresh or saltwater organisms. Aquatic ecosystem: The totality of all water, living organisms, and nonliving matter in an environment or area, where the health of the system as a whole is dependent on the maintenance of all of its component parts.
GLOSSARY
Aqueduct: A structure designed to facilitate the transportation of water away from an existing river or stream. Aquifer: A subterranean area of rock that is permeable enough to permit the flow and storage of groundwater in a quantity large enough to allow for tapping by wells and springs. Autotroph: An plant or animal that synthesizes organic molecules from inorganic starting materials through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis. Avulsion: A change in the course of a stream when the amount of water in the stream causes it to overflow its banks. Bank stability: The ability of the bank of a stream to withstand erosion or other forces that might cause it to breach. Bar: A small accumulation of sand or other sediment resulting in an obstruction in the midst of a stream. Barratry: Intentionally sinking or damaging a ship at sea or its cargo. Base flow: The naturally occurring flow of a stream, discounting human activity and construction. Base level: The naturally occurring level of a stream, discounting human activity and construction. Basin: The area surrounding a water feature that drains into that same water feature. Bathypelagic Zone: The intermediate zone of the ocean that extends from , meters to , meters below the surface of the ocean. Bed: The bottom of a stream. Benthic: Term referring to organisms that live on or in the bottom of a body of water. Benthos: The different plants and animals either living in or living near, and associated with, a body of water. Best Management Practice (BMP): The optimal method of maintaining a body of water to minimize the effects of human activity, use, and construction. Bill of Lading: A document that lists the merchandise or other property to be shipped and outlines the agreement between the cargo’s owner and the carrier. Biodiversity: The number and variety of plant and animal species in a region. Biota: The totality of all plants and animals living in a watershed or ecosystem. Bog: Freshwater wetlands that are poorly drained and characterized by a buildup of peat. Brackish: Term used to describe water that contains a higher level of salinity and mineral content than is acceptable for human consumption, but lower than a sea or ocean. Bulkhead: The head of a breakwater, built up to protect an area from water damage. Buttress: An area of a canal lock wall that has been strengthened to allow for the lock gates.
GLOSSARY
Bycatch: Marine animals that are caught unintentionally by fishing gear. Such catches are usually unused and discarded. Canal: A constructed open stream of water normally used for transportation. Catchment: Otherwise called the “drainage basin,” this is the region that is drained by a river and its tributaries. Caving: The collapse of a streambank by erosion undermining the top soil level of the bank. Cetacean: A variety of marine mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Chamber: The portion of the lock between the gates. Channelization: The changing of the natural path of a stream usually by human activity. Closed basin: A watershed where the landscape prevents the surface outflow of water. Common Carrier: A shipper who accepts many different types of cargoes and works for anyone who wishes to contract with the carrier. Confined aquifer: A subsurface stratum that contains water, but is enclosed above and below by impermeable strata. Confluence: The junction of two or more streams, and also the stream formed by the junction of two or more streams. Confluence: The place where a river and a tributary join. Conjunctive use: The use of a groundwater basin as storage by intentionally depositing excess water. Conservation Biology: Scientific field that deals with threats to the biodiversity of a body or ecosystem. Coral Reef Conservation Act (CRCA): A law that established a National Program and Strategy to protect and monitor coral reefs. Corrasion: Where the material carried along by a river erodes its banks and bed Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ): Presidentially created group that is responsible for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act and providing environmental information to the President. Cubic Feet per Second (CFS): A unit measuring water flow. One CFS equals gallons per minute. Cultural Eutrophication: The introduction of unusual matter into a water feature due to runoff from human activity. Culvert: A buried pipe that allows a stream to pass under a road or other human construction. Deep Sea Coral: A variety of coral typically found at depths deeper than meters along continental margins, seamounts, undersea canyons, and ridges. Degradation: The gradual lowering of the level of a channel bed.
GLOSSARY
Delta: A triangular area where the silt and other materials carried by a river are deposited before it enters a lake or ocean. Dependable supply: The average amount of water that can be delivered annually during a period of drought. Deposition: The depositing of silt by a river along its bed, usually in areas of slower water speed. Dike: An embankment built to control water, especially one built along the banks of a river or seashore to prevent overflow of lowlands. Discharge: The amount of water passing through a channel, usually measured in cubic feet per second. Diversion: The transfer of water from a stream, lake, or other waterway to another, often man made, water feature. Drainage basin: The total upstream region that drains to a specific water feature. Dredging: Removing material from wetlands or waterways, usually to increase their depth and usability. Ecology: The study of the interrelationships among living organisms with their surroundings. Ecosystem Management: A comprehensive plan for the maintenance of a region dominated by a watershed that creates communally-derived standards and guidelines that, if implemented, lead to a sustainable situation for the water features and biota of the region and an equitable use of the water features by numerous constituencies. Ecosystem: A recognized, confined land area, all of the biota contained in the area, the environment, and the interactions between them. Eddy current: A current of water that travels in a circular way usually because of an obstruction. Effluent: Water and associated material flowing out from a stream or manmade facility. Endangered: A species or ecosystem that has been so reduced in number that it is threatened with extinction. Endangered Species Act (ESA): An act of Congress that created mandates for the conservation of species that are endangered or threatened with extinction. Endemic: An animal or plant species that occurs in only one region. Environmental impact: The sum total of the effects of any action on an area or water feature. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): A federal agency authorized to protect the environment. It supervises and manages the environmental effects of actions by the federal government and also develops regulations and provides public education programs. Ephemeral streams: Streams that flow only after rainfall.
GLOSSARY
Epilimnion: The closest layer of water to the surface, which is normally warmer and lighter. Erosion: Wearing away of physical matter by the gradual wearing by water, ice, wind, and other forces. Estuary: A semi-enclosed coastal body of water that connected with the ocean where salt water and freshwater mix. Eutrophication: The process by which microscopic matter, usually containing nutrients, makes its way into a water feature. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ): The area over which a nation has sovereign rights over all living and non-living resources, extending up to nautical miles from the coastline. Feeder: A stream that feeds water from lakes or rivers into a canal to maintain the required or desired water level. Fisheries: The commercial or recreational effort to capture fish populations. Fishery Management Council (FMC): Federal agency that manages the fisheries within the United States Exclusive Economic Zone. Flood Hydrograph: A chart that shows how rainfall affects the flow of a river. Floodplain: A region of flat land, adjacent to a river, that is covered by water when the river floods. This area is often very fertile due to the deposition of nutrients by the river into the soil. Floodplain: Area of land adjacent to a stream that may be covered with water as a result of flooding during times of heavy rainfall. Flow: The amount of water passing in a stream, usually measured in cubic feet per second. Glide: A portion of a stream that has little or no disruption or turbulence. Gradient: The amount of vertical drop per unit of horizontal distance. Greenbelt: A small, confined region of natural vegetation, parallel to a stream, that provides habitat for wildlife and often acts as a buffer zone for flooding. Groundwater: Water existing in underground pools and streams that can be accessed through wells or springs. Habitat fragmentation: The breaking up of areas of habitat for an animal or plant into discrete areas through human activity or construction. Hard water: Water high in specific minerals, such as calcium, lime, and magnesium. Headwater: The source or beginning point of a stream, often initiated by a naturally occurring spring. Hydraulic gradient: The angle of a water surface. Hydrologic balance: The net resulting amount of all water coming into, and being removed from, a water feature over time. Hydrologic region: An area that has a common hydrologic character.
GLOSSARY
Hydrology: The scientific study of the water of the earth, its movement, its properties, and its interaction with the rest of the environment and living things. Inflow: Water flowing into a lake. Inorganic: A chemical compound that does not include a carbon chain. Part of or derived from non-biological material. Leaching: The flushing of minerals or pollutants from soil or other material by the movement of water. Levee: A mound of material along the banks of a river, either natural or constructed, that protects an area of floodplain. Limnology: The study of freshwater features, including lakes, rivers, streams, and reservoirs. Littoral: Near the shoreline. Lock: The main structure of a canal that enables the water level of the canal to be adjusted to the surrounding land elevation, facilitating the movement of vessels from one section of the canal to another. Lock Gates: Gates at each end of a lock that are watertight. Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA): An American law establishing federal responsibility to protect and manage marine mammal populations. Marine Mammal: Animals in the Orders Sirenia and Cetacea; Superfamily Pinnipedia; or sea otters and polar bears. Meander: The winding of a stream, usually in a valley. Mesopelagic Zone: The area of the ocean from meters to meters below the surface. Metalimnion: The middle zone between the warmer, surface epilimnion and the colder, deeper hypolimnion layers in a stratified lake. Mineralization: The processes that cause the increase of salts and other minerals in water features. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): The American federal government agency responsible for overseeing water features and coastal resources. Ocean: A major body of salt water. Off-channel area: Any relatively calm portion outside of the main flow of a stream. Organic: A chemical compound that contains carbon as an essential component. Part of or derived from living organisms. Outfall: The mouth or outlet of a stream. Overfishing: Fishing in an area at a rate that reduces fish population levels below which they can replenish. Peat: Partially decomposed plants and other organic material that build up in water features. Pelagic: Referring to plants and animals that live in the open waters of the ocean rather than the ocean floor.
GLOSSARY
Percolation: The movement of water downward through the soil to a groundwater table. Perennial streams: Streams that flow continuously. Perils of the Sea: Shipping-related term referring to dangers specific to ocean marine transportation, such as heavy weather, stranding and collision. pH: A measurement of the relative level of acidity in water. Photic Zone: The surface layer of the ocean that can be easily penetrated by sunlight. Photosynthesis: The process by which plants convert carbon dioxide dissolved in water to sugars and oxygen using sunlight for energy. Phytoplankton: Microscopic plants, such as algae, that live in bodies of water. Piracy: Robbery on the high seas. Pollution: The introduction of any material that contaminates air, land, or water by the alteration of physical, chemical, or biological properties. Rapid: A section of a stream that is characterized by high-velocity, turbulent water. Recharge basin: A water feature used to increase the percolation of surface water into the groundwater. Restoration: The return of an ecosystem to something resembling its condition prior to the onset of a detrimental human activity. Riparian area: An area of land adjacent to a stream. Runoff: Water from rainfall or snowmelt that flows over land to a stream. Salinity: The concentration of mineral salts in water. Salt marsh: Saltwater wetlands that exist along a coastal area. Sediment: Soil or alluvium material deposited in streams or other water features. Sedimentation: The increasing presence of sediment in a water feature. Slough: A shallow backwater area that is regularly isolated at times of low tide or water flow. Sluice Gate: A mechanism in the bottom of the canal chamber that adjusts the water level to allow the gates to open. Soft water: Water that contains low concentrations of minerals such as calcium, lime, and magnesium. Spillway: A channel for reservoir overflow often associated with a dam. Stormwater discharge: Large flows of water after times of significant precipitation that do not become absorbed into the soil, but rather flow into a nearby water features and contain high levels of contaminants. Surface supply: Water supply from above ground water features. Threatened Species: A species likely to become endangered if certain factors are not reversed or mitigated. Total Allowable Catches (TACs): A limit placed on the number of animals of a specific species that are caught within a period of time.
GLOSSARY
Total dissolved solids (TDS): A measurement of the minerals dissolved in water, usually expressed in milligrams per liter. Tributary: A smaller river that flows into and joins a larger one. Trophic State: The nutrient level of a body of water: eutrophic (high in nutrients), mesotrophic (moderate levels of nutrients), and oligotrophic (low in nutrients). Viscosity: A measure of the resistance of a fluid to flowing. Water Cycle: The circulation of water from the atmosphere to the land and water areas of the earth, and back to the atmosphere through condensation, evaporation, and precipitation, Water reclamation: The process of making previously unusable water ready for human use, including recycling, desalination, and groundwater reclamation. Water right: A legally protected right to take possession use a portion of water occurring in a natural waterway. Watershed: The boundary between two catchments where on one side of land drains into one river, and on the other side to another. Weir: A structure built to control water levels in a stream.
Index
à la Diego Garcia Port, Abaca Ecotourism Cooperative Society Limited, Abadon Port, Aden Port, , , , Adige River, , Admiralty Law, Adriatic Sea, – ; coastal flooding, , ; offshore structures, ; ports, ; shipping control, – Aegean Sea, –; Black Sea connection, ; Bosphorus Strait connection, ; international relations/trade, ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , ; oil and natural gas, ; piracy, ; trade/transportation, Africa, , , , , , , , , , , , ; agriculture and trade, ; aquaculture, ; dams and locks, –, ; desalination, ; exploration, , –, , –; fishing issues, , , ; fuels and transportation, ; Indian Ocean connection, –, , ; international security, , , ; Lake Victoria, , –; maritime networks, –; Mediterranean Sea connection, , , ; ocean thermal energy, ; oil and natural gas, , ; piracy, , , , ; pollution, ; ports, ; privateering, ; Red Sea connection, ; research missions/vessels,
, –, ; research organizations, , , ; rivers, –; Rivers War, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; slave trade, , –; Strait of Gibraltar connection, –; Suez Canal and, ; trade/transportation, –, , , –, , – , – , – , ; whaling, , The African Queen (Forester), African Rivers War, After the Flood (Weingartner), Agriculture: ancient, ; Atlantic Revolution and the First Industrial Revolution, , ; Caribbean economies and, ; China, , ; cruise vs. cargo industry, ; dams and locks, , , , , , , ; EPA, ; FAO, ; food commodities, –; fruits and vegetables, – ; Indian Ocean, ; inland shipping services, ; plantation, ; rice, ; Russia, , ; Second Industrial Revolution and, ; tourism effects on, Air Pollution Control Act (), Ajaccio Port, Akosombo Dam, Al-Mina Port, Alaminos, Antonio, Aland Sea, Alaska: Outrage at Valdez (movie), Alaskan Peninsula, , , Albatross (research vessel), ,
INDEX Alboran Sea, Alexander the Great, , , , , , , , , , , Alexandria Canal, Algeria: coastal urban development, ; dams and locks, , ; international security, , ; Law of the Sea, ; oil and natural gas, –, , ; piracy, ; privateering, ; research missions/ vessels, ; research organizations, ; trade/transportation, Alicurá Dam, All-American Canal, Alle River, Almagro, Diego de, The Alphabet of Scientific Angling (Rennie), Alpheus River, Altamira Port, Alvin (research vessel), Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, Amazon River, , , , , , , , , Amboina Port, Amer Lake, American landbridge, America’s Cup, Amite River, Amnisos Port, Amou Daria Canal, Amsterdam Port, , , , , Amu Darya River, Amundsen, Roals, Amur River, , , Anadyr Peninsula, Anatolian Peninsula, Angel Falls, , The Angler’s Guide (Tegg), Anglo-Boer War, Angrand, Charles, Antarctica: Atlantic Ocean connection, ; Drake Passage connection, ; exploration, ; Indian Ocean connection, ; Law of the Sea, ; ocean pharmaceuticals, ; pollution, ; research missions/ vessels, , , , ; sea levels, Antofagasta Port, Antwerp Port, –, , , –, , , , Anvers Harbor, Anvers Port, Apurímac River, , Aqtau Port, Aquarium industry, –
Arabian Gulf, Arabian Peninsula, , , , Arabian Sea, –; early civilizations, ; Indian Ocean connection, ; Persian Gulf connection, ; research vessels/ missions, ; trade/transportation, , Aral Sea, , , , , , , Archaeology, underwater, – Arctic Bridge, Arctic Circle, Arctic Ocean, –; Atlantic Ocean connection, ; Bering Sea connection, ; exploration of, ; Nansen’s discovery of, ; North American rivers flowing into, ; research missions/vessels, , –, , ; Russia and, , –, ; sea levels, ; Siberian River flow into, ; and trade routes, ; whaling, , Arctic Sea Route, Argentina: agriculture and trade, –; Beagle Canal dispute, ; customs, ; dams and locks, – ; exploration, ; oil and natural gas, ; rivers, –; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; Straits of Magellan connection, ; trade/transportation, , Arica Port, Arkansas River, Army Corps of Engineers (U.S.), , , , –, Arno River, Arroyito Dam, The Art of Fly Making (Blacker), Arte of Angling (Anonymous), Arthur Port, , , Arzew Port, Asia: agriculture and trade, , , , , , –; Arabian Sea and, ; Bering Sea connections, , ; Bosporus Strait connections, ; dams and locks, –; Dardanelles connections, ; dredging, ; early aquariums, , ; English Channel and, ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, , , ; fuels and transportation, , – , ; and globalization, , ; Indian Ocean connections, –, , , –, , , ; international security, , , ; landbridges, , , , , , – ; maritime exports/imports, ; Mazatlan connection, ; Mediterranean Sea connection, ; and North American
INDEX ports and harbors, , ; ocean pharmaceuticals, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , , , ; Pacific Ocean connection, , –; Panama Canal and, ; passenger shipping industry, ; piracy, ; pollution, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, –, , ; Red Sea connection, , –; research missions/vessels, –; research organizations, , ; river/ maritime transportation history, – ; rivers, – ; Russia and, , ; Sea of Japan connection, – ; shipbuilding/ shipping, , , ; shipowners, , ; Suez Canal connection, ; trade/ transportation, , , , , , , , , , , –, , ; underwater archaeology, ; whaling, Asmara Port, Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, Astrakhan Port, Astrolabe (research vessel), Aswan Dam, , Aswan High Dam, , , Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal, Atatürk Dam, Atchafalaya River, Athens Port, Atlantic-North Sea maritime zone, Atlantic Ocean, , , , , , , , , , , , , ; agriculture and trade, , ; Arctic Ocean connection, , ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, –; Baltic Sea connection, , ; Black Sea connection, , ; cargo shipping and, ; Caribbean Sea connection, , –, ; coastal tourism, , ; containerization, ; English Channel connections, ; exploration, , , , , ; fish issues, , , , , ; freighters sustaining growth (s–s), ; fuels and transportation, , ; globalization (s), ; Great Lakes connection, , , –; Gulf of Mexico connection, ; Hudson Bay entrance from, ; international security, , , , ; Irish Sea connection, ; Lachine Canal connection, ; landbridges, , ; and Lost City of Atlantis, ; military shipping challenges of, –; th–st centuries, –; North American rivers
flowing into, ; North Sea connection, , ; Panama Canal connection, , , , ; passenger shipping industry, , , ; piracy, , ; port operations, –, ; ports and harbors, , , , , , –, , , , , , , , ; privateering, ; research expeditions, , ; research missions/vessels, , , , , , , , , , , , ; sailing/ yachting, ; sea levels, , ; seaweed cultivation, ; Second Industrial Revolution, –; shipowners, , , ; St. Lawrence Seaway connection, – , ; Strait of Gibraltar connection, , , ; Strait of Magellan connection, ; trade/transportation, , , , ; transatlantic shipping (s–s), –; transpacific trade across, ; underwater archaeology, ; whaling, , , Atlantis, Lost City of, , , , Atlantis (research vessel), Atlantis II (research vessel), , Atyrau Port, Aude River, Aufidus River, Australia: agriculture and trade, ; artificial marine habitats/reefs, ; dams and locks, –; desalination, ; exploration, , , ; fishing issues, , ; Geographic Society, ; international security, , ; lighthouses, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, – ; research missions/vessels, , , , , –; research organizations, ; sea levels, ; trade/transportation, , , ; underwater archaeology, Awash River, Azov Sea, , Baffin Bay, , Bahamas: fishing issues, ; ocean pharmaceuticals, ; offshore structures, ; piracy, ; ports and harbors, ; research missions/vessels, , ; sea levels, Bahia Port, Baja California Peninsula, , Bakhma Dam, Baku Port, Balbina Dam, Balboa, Vasco Nunez de, , , Balearic Sea,
INDEX Balkan Peninsula, , Ballard, Robert, Ballin, Albert, Baltic Sea, – , , ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, ; end of Cold War, ; ferry industry/ passenger shipping, , , – ; Finlow Canal connection, ; fishing issues, ; Hanseatic trading ports, , , , ; Isthmus of Kiel connection, ; Kiel Canal connection, , ; landbridge, , ; lighthouses, ; Middle Age connections, ; modern Europe trade, ; oil and natural gas, ; and Russia, , , ; Stecknitz Canal connection, ; submarine gas pipe construction, ; trade/transportation, , , ; vs. Hudson Bay, Baltimore Harbor, Baltimore Port, , , Banda Sea, , Bandar Port, , Bangka Port, Bangladesh: coastal urban development, ; fishing issues, ; research organizations, ; rivers, ; sea levels, Barbados Harbor, Barents Sea, , Barlow, Roger, Basque civilization: fishing issues, –, ; whaling, , Batavia Port, Baton Rouge Port, – Battle-fields of Paraguay (Burton), Bay of Bengal, Bay of Pigs, Beagle Canal, Beauharnois Canal, Beauharnois Power Canal, Beaumont Port, Belfast Port, Belgium: dredging, ; ferry industry/passenger shipping, , ; Law of the Sea, ; and North Sea, ; oil and natural gas, ; ports and harbors, , –; research organizations, , ; trade/ transportation, , ; trawling, Bélime, Émile, Belize, , , Bell Port, Bell Rock Lighthouse, Belo Monte Dam, Ben Hai River, ,
Benguela Current, Bering, Vitus, , – , , Bering Sea, – , , , Bering Strait: Arctic Ocean connection, ; Bering Sea connection, , , ; exploration, ; landbridges, , ; Pacific Ocean connection, ; research missions/ vessels, ; whaling, Berwick-upon-Tweed River, Bhagirathi River, – Bhakra-Nangal Dam, Big Tunnel, Bío Bio River, Biscay Bay, Bishop Rock Lighthouse, Black Sea, –, , , ; Bosphorus Strait connection, , ; and Byzantine Empire, ; early geography of, ; grain transport, ; Mediterranean Sea connections, –, ; methane hydrate discovery, ; Nord Stream project, ; oil transport, ; and Ottoman Empire expansion, , ; Rhine-MainDanube Canal connection, –; Russian control of, , ; Sea of Marmara connection, ; seaside resorts on, ; as Silk Road terminus, ; trade/transportation, , Blackbeard, , Blackpool Port, Bligh, William, , , , Blue Danube (Strauss), Blue Nile River, , , , Board on Geographical Names, Bogue Falaya River, Boh River, Bolivia, , , , , , Bonaparte, Napoleon, , , , , , , , , Bonnet Carré Spillway, Bonneville Dam, , Bordeaux Port, , , , , , Border Industrialization Plan (BIP), Borgese, Elizabeth Mann, , , , – Bosphorus Straight, , , – , , , , , Bostochyni Port, Boston Harbor, , Boston Lighthouse, Boston Port, , – , , Botany Bay, , , , Botton’s Bay,
INDEX Bourgas Port, Boussolle (research vessel), Brahmaputra River, Bratsk Dam, Brazil: agriculture and trade, ; Amazon River, , , , , , , , , ; aquaculture, ; Atlantic Ocean and, ; bridges, ; customs, ; dams, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; hydropower/water management, , ; Iguazu Falls, ; international security, , , ; Law of the Sea, ; naval blockade by, ; ocean thermal energy conversion, ; oil and natural gas, ; ports, ; Portuguese connection, , ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, –; seaweed cultivation, ; trade/transportation, , , , Brazil-Argentine War, Brazza, Pierre Savorgnan de, Bremen Port, , , , Bremerhaven Port, , , Brenta River, Brest Port, Brezhnev, Leonid, Bricktown Canal, The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Wilder), The Bridge on the River Kwai (Boulle), A Bridge Too Far (Ryan), Bridgetown Harbor, Bridgewater Canal, A brief Summe of Geographie (Barlow), Bristol Bay, Bristol Port, , British East India Company, , , , , – Broome Port, Brunei: connection to South China Sea, , ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, ; ports and harbors, , ; research organizations, Brunei City Port, Brunel, Isambard Kingdom, , Brunswick Peninsula, Buenos Aires Port, Buffalo Port, Buffalo River, Bug River, Bujagali Dam, Bukoba Port, Bundaberg Port, Bureau of Lighthouses (U.S.), Burkina Faso River,
The Burning of the Houses of Parliament (Turner), Burrinjuck Dam, Burton, Richard, , , , , BYMS- (research vessel), Cabot, John, , , , Cabot, Sebastian, , , , Caesar, Julius, , , , , , Cagliari Port, Cahora Bossa Dam, Cairns Port, Calais Port, Calcutta, , Calcutta Port, Calicut Port, Calypso (research vessel), , , – Cam River, Camará Dam, Cambodia, , Cameroon, , Campeche Bay, Campeche Gulf, Campos Novos Dam, Canada, , , , , , , , ; agriculture and trade, ; canals/rivers, , , , ; exploration, –, , ; fishing issues, , , , , ; Great Lakes connections, , ; hydropower/water management, , , , ; international security, ; Niagara Falls, , , , , – ; passenger shipping industry, ; pollution, ; ports and harbors, , –, , ; privateering, ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, ; sand and gravel, ; seaweed cultivation, , ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; shipowners, , ; St. Lawrence Seaway, , , , , – ; tidal energy, , ; trade/transportation, , . See also St. Lawrence River Canal du Midi, , Canal Royal, Canbral Pedro Alvares, Canning River, Canso Strait, Cape Ann, Cape Bojador, , Cape Bon, Cape Cod, , , Cape Cross, Cape Ecnomus,
INDEX Cape Horn, , , , , , , , Cape Matapan, Cape of Good Hope, , , , , –, , , , –, Cape Padrone, Cape Skagen, Cape Spartel, Cape St. Vincent, Cape Trafalgar, Captain Kidd, Caracas Port, Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM), Caribbean Current, Caribbean Sea, –; cruise/tourism industry, , , –, , –; desalination, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; fuels and transportation, ; Gulf of Mexico connection, ; international security, , , ; North American laws and treaties, ; ocean thermal energy conservation, ; oil and natural gas, ; piracy, , , , ; port operations and, ; privateering, ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, –; trade/ transportation, , ; underwater archaeology, Carnarvon Port, Caroní River, Carson, Rachel, , Cartagena Port, Carthaginian civilization, , , , , ; artificial reefs, ; international security, ; research missions/vessels, ; trade/transportation, Carthaginian Port, Cartography and hydrography, – ; cartography, ; ECDIS/GIS, –; electronic chart/navigation system, ; geodetic datum, –; hydrography/ nautical charts, – Casiquiare River, Caspian Sea, , – , , ; fishing issues, ; oil and natural gas, ; research missions/vessels, ; restoration of, ; sea level changes, ; trade/transportation, , Castile Port, Castillo, Ramón, Cataract Dam,
Catherine the Great, Cavendish, Thomas, Cayaocachi River, Cayman Islands, Cayo Arcas Port, Celtic Explorer (research vessel), Celtic Voyager (research vessel), Central America: agriculture and trade, ; aquaculture, ; canals, – ; Caribbean Sea connection, , ; exploration, , ; gold and silver resources, ; isthmus, , , ; ports and harbors, –; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, ; rivers, – ; trade/ transportation, ; travels of Columbus, – ; William Walker’s move to, Ceyhan Port, Chah Bahar Port, Chama River, Changani River, Chao Phraya River, , Charleston Harbor, Charleston Port, , , , , Chatham Port, Chef Menteur Pass, Chesapeake Bay, Chesapeake Canal, , Chicago Canal, Chicago Port, , Chicago River, Chile: agriculture and trade, , , , ; desalination, ; diving, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , ; international security, ; research organizations, ; sea levels, ; trade/ transportation, China: agriculture and trade, , , , – , , , ; aquarium industry, ; and Arabian Sea, ; artificial waterways, – ; coastal urban development, , ; containerization, ; customs, ; dams, canals, terrace construction, , ; dredging, ; exploration, , , ; fishing issues, –, , –, –, –, , ; fuels and transportation, ; Hoang Ho, Yangtze rivers connections, ; Hong-Gou Canal, ; hydropower/water management, , ; international security, , , , ; landbridges, ; Law of the Sea, ; lighthouses, ; migration from, via Pacific Ocean, ; ocean pharmaceuticals, –, ; oil and natural gas, ;
INDEX opium trading/Opium War, , , , ; overland trade routes, , ; piracy, , ; pollution, , ; and Port of Manila establishment, ; research missions/vessels, , , ; research organizations, , , ; sand and gravel, ; sea levels, ; shipbuilding/ shipping, , , , ; South China Sea, –, , , , , , ; surfing, ; tea trading, ; Three Gorges Dam, , , , , , ; tidal energy, ; trade/transportation, , , , –, , , , ; and Treaty of Nerchinsk, ; treaty ports of, , ; wave energy, ; wind energy, ; Yangtze River, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ; Yellow River, , , , , ; Zhu Jiang River, , Chinese Civil War, Christie, Agatha, Chu Yai Port, Chunnel (English Channel Tunnel), , Churchill, Winston, , , , Churchill Port, Churchill River, Cincinnati River, Civil War (U.S.), , , , , , , , , , , , , Clark, William, Clean Air Act, , Clean Water Act (U.S.), , Cleveland Port, , Clyde Canal, Coastal tourism industry, – Coastal urban development, – Coastal Zone Management Act (), Coatzacoalcos Port, Cobequid Bay, Cod Wars, , COFC (Container-on-Flatcar), Cofu Channel, Coinga-Herald National Reserve, Cold War, , , , , , Coliban River, Colombia, Colombo Port, Colonia del Sacramento Port, , Colonia Port, Colorado River, , , –, Columbia Basin Irrigation Project, Columbia Lake, Columbia River, , –, , , ,
Columbus, Christopher, , –, , , , , , , , , , , , , , Coming Down the Seine (Gibson), Coming down the Wye (Gibson), Committee for the Oceans (U.S.), The Compleat Angler (Walton), Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, The Confessions of a Beachcomber (Banfield), Congo River, , , , , Containerization, –; agriculture and trade, –; containerization and trade, ; containerships, –; for fruit/ vegetable trading, Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefish Tuna, Convention on the North Sea, Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea, Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (), – Coode Canal, Cook, James, , , , , , , , , , , , , Cook, Thomas, , Cook Inlet, , Cooktown Port, Copenhagen Harbor, Copenhagen Port, Coral Sea, –, Cordouan Lighthouse, Corfu Port, Cork Port, Cornwall Canal, Corsica Port, Cortés, Hernando, , , , , Côte-Saint-Catherine Lock, Cotter Dam, Council of European and Japanese National Shipowners’ Association (CENSA), The Count of Monte Cristo (Dantes), Cousteau, Jacques, , , , , , , , , , , , The Cousteau Odyssey (TV), Cousteau Society, Cowlitz River, Crimean War, , , Croatia, , , , , Cuba: fishing issues, ; piracy, ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, ; trade/transportation, Customs, –
INDEX Cuxhaven Port, Cycladic civilization, –, Da Gama, Vasco, , , , , , Dadu River, Dammam-Dhahran Port, Danger Port, Danger Port Lighthouse, Danube River, , , –, –, , , , , Danzig Port, Dardanelles Strait, , –, , , , Darwin, Charles, , , , , , Darwin Port, , David Strait, Davis Strait, , Dead Sea, , Death on the Nile (Christie), Deep Sea Drilling Project (U.S.), Delaware Canal, , Delaware River, Delores River, Delos Port, Denmark: fishing issues, ; international security, ; lighthouses, ; trade/transportation, ; trawling, Department of Energy (U.S.), Department of the Interior (U.S.), , , –, Derwent River, Desalination, – Detroit Port, , Detroit River, Deva Lighthouse, Devils River, Devonport Port, Dezhnyov, Semyon, , Dholavira Port, Diadochi War, , Dismal Swamp Canal, Diving, – Djibouti Port, Dnieper Dam, Dnieper River, , , , , , Dniester River, , Dolores River, Domesday Book (), Dominican Republic, –, Domoto, Akiko, Don River, , , , Dordogne River, Dortmund-Ems Canal,
Dos Bocas Port, Douro River, Dover Port, Dover Strait, , , Drake, Francis, , , , , , , , , , , , , – Drake Passage, Dredging, – Dubai Port, Dublin Port, , Dubrovnik Harbor, Dubrovnik (Ragusa) port, Dukan Dam, Dulce River, Dunkirk Port, Dutch East India Company, , , , , Dutch Harbor, Dutch West India Company, Dwight D. Eisenhower Lock, Dzhubga Port, Earle, Sylvia, , East China Sea, East Indies: trade/transportation, , East River, , , Eastern Mediterranean Sea, , , , , , –, , , Eastmain River, Ebro River, , , , EC (electronic chart), ECDIS (Electronic Chart and Information System), – Ecotourism, – Eddystone Lighthouse, Edea Dam, Eden in the East (Oppenheimer), Edo Bay, Egerton’s Travellers Crossing the Brook (Thomas), Egypt, , , , , , ; agriculture and trade, , , ; dams and locks, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , , , , ; Indian Ocean connection, ; international security, , ; landbridges, ; Law of the Sea, ; lighthouses, ; Mediterranean Sea connection, ; Nile River and, , , ; offshore structures, ; piracy, ; Red Sea connection, , , ; research missions/vessels, , –, ; research organizations, , , ; sea levels, , ; trade/transportation, –,
INDEX , ; underwater archaeology, . See also Suez Canal Eider Canal, Eisenhower, Dwight D., El Cajón Dam, El Carrizal Dam, El Chocón Dam, El Niño, , , Elbe River, , , , , , , Elbe-Seitenkanal Canal, Elizabeth River, EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency): European directives, Endangered Species Act (), –, , England, , , , , , , , , ; Asian trade routes, ; Caribbean Sea and, –; cruise/tourism industry, , , ; dams and locks, ; exploration, –; ferry industry/passenger shipping, , ; fishing issues, , , , , ; fuels and transportation, ; hydropower/water management, , –; international security, , ; Irish Sea connection, – ; lighthouses, ; Nine Years War, ; offshore structures, ; piracy, –, ; pollution, , , ; ports and harbors, –, , , , ; privateering, , ; research missions/vessels, , , ; research organizations, , ; rivers, , , ; sailing/ yachting, ; sea levels, ; shipowners, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, , ; tidal energy, , ; trade/transportation, , , , – , ; whaling, –; wind energy, . See also Strait of Gibraltar English Channel, – ; bridges, ; conservatism and change, ; European/Mediterranean ports/harbors, , , ; exploration, ; ferry industry/passenger shipping, , , , – ; fishing issues, , ; fuels and transportation, ; laws and treaties, , ; and North Sea, ; oil and natural gas, ; privateering, ; and Sea of Japan, ; trade/ transportation, , English Civil War, , The English Pilot: The Fourth Book (Thornton), Enipeus River, Enoggera Dam,
ENS (Electronic Navigation System), , , Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), , , , –, , Enz River, Erie Canal, , , , , , , Erikson, Leif, , , Erkan Dam, Esbjerg Port, Esperance Port, Euphrates River, , , , , , , , Eurasian landbridge, Europe, , , , , , , , , , , , , ; and Aegean Sea, , ; agriculture and trade, –, , –, ; aquariums, , , , ; and Asian rivers trade, – ; Atlantic Ocean connection, –, , , , , ; Baltic Sea connection, – , ; Black Sea connection, , –; Bosphorus Strait connection, , , ; canals, –; Caribbean Sea and, –, , ; coastal tourism, , , ; coastal urban development, ; cruise/ferry/passenger/ shipping industry, , , , , , , , ; customs, –; dams and locks, –; Dardanelles connection, ; English Channel and, , ; exploration, –, , , , , , , , , –, , , ; fishing issues, , , , , , , , , –, –; fuels and transportation, – , , , ; hydrogen fuel, ; hydropower/water management, –; and Indian Ocean, , , –; international security, , , , –; landbridges, , , , , , ; Law of the Sea, ; laws and treaties, – ; collective efforts, – ; directives, – ; proactive decisions, – ; maritime strategy, – ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , , ; North Sea connection, – , , ; ocean pharmaceuticals, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , –, –, ; and Pacific Ocean, , , , , –; and Panama Canal, , , ; piracy, , , ; pollution, , ; port operations, , , ; ports and harbors, –, , , , –, , , , , ; privateering, ; research missions/vessels, , , , , ,
INDEX , , ; research organizations, , , ; rivers, –, , ; sailing/ yachting, ; and Sea of Japan, ; shipbuilding/shipping, , , ; shipowners, –, , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; and South China Sea, , ; storm and flood control, ; Strait of Gibraltar connection, , ; and Suez Canal, , , , , ; tidal energy, – , ; trade/transportation, , , , , , , – , , , , , , , , ; wave energy, ; whaling, , , ; wind energy, , , , , European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO), , European Shipowners’ Association (ESPO), Eurotas River, Everglades Port, Evita (movie), Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), , , , , , , , , Exploration, – exploration, Explorer (research vessel), Faifo Port, Falcon Dam, Falklands War, The Family Aquarium (Butler), Faro a Colón Lighthouse, Farran’s Point Canal, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (), Federal Water Pollution Control Act (), Federal Water Quality Administration (U.S), Fei River, Felixstowe Port, Fiji: coastal tourism, ; Coral Sea connection, ; ecotourism, –; Indian Ocean connection, ; Pacific Ocean connection, ; research missions/vessels (pre-), ; research organizations, Finland: Baltic Sea connection, , ; ferry industry/passenger shipping, , ; Law of the Sea, ; lighthouses, ; research organizations, ; wind energy, Finow Canal,
Fish and shellfish farming, – Fish and Wildlife Act (), , Fishing, sport, – Fishing methods and technology: ancient technologies, –; conservatism and change, –; demersal fishing, –; farm fish vs. wild fish, –; mediaeval developments, –; modern development, , –; modern methods, –; new world expansion, ; pelagic fishing, –; shell fishing, –; third world fishing developments, ; trawling, –; th Century, –; up to late th century, – Fleet River, Flinders, Matthew, , Fly River, Food and Agriculture Organization, fish capture trend (FAO), Forth Canal, Forth River, Fouad Port, Foyle River, Fram (research vessel), France: aquariums, ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, , , ; hydropower/water management, ; international security, , , ; lighthouses, , ; piracy, , , , ; port operations, ; privateering, , , ; research missions/vessels, , , , , , ; research organizations, , , ; trade/transportation, , , , , , , , , , Franco-German War, Frankfurt-am-Main River, Franklin, John, Franklin River Dam, Fray Bentos Port, Freedom of the Seas Convention, Freeman, Edward A., Freemantle Port, French and Indian War, French Revolutionary War, , , Fuels, transportation, – ; from Asia, Europe, Middle East, – ; North American consumption, –; oil maritime economy apex, – ; prehistory (until WW II), – Fundy Bay, , Furnas Dam,
INDEX Gabon River, , Gaillard Cut, , , Galapagos Islands, Galilee Sea, Gallipoli Peninsula, Galops Canal, Galveston Port, Gama, Vasco da, , , , , , Gambia River, , , Gandhi, Mohandas, , , Ganges-Brahmaputra River, Ganges River, , , , , Garagum Canal, Garonne River, Gäta Älv River, Gatun Dam, Gatun Lock, Gauss (research vessel), Gedney Channel, Geelong Port, General Dam Act (U.S.), General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates (Defoe), General Survey Act (U.S.), Genoa Port, , , Geographe (research vessel), Geographical Society of London, Geological Survey (USGS, U.S.), , – , Georgetown Port, Georgian Bay, Geraldton Port, Germany, , , , , , , , , , , , ; agriculture and trade, ; aquariums, , ; Baltic Sea connection, ; canals, , ; Danube River and, , ; dredging, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; Frankfurt-amMain River, ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, , , ; ITLOS, ; lighthouses, ; North Sea connection, ; oil and natural gas, , , ; pollution, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, , , , , , ; research missions/vessels, , , , ; research organizations, , ; Rhine River, ; ship design and construction, , ; shipowners, ; whaling, ; wind energy, ; World War I, , , , , , Gesoriacum Lighthouse, Gesoriacum Ostia Lighthouse, Gila River,
GIS (Geographical Information Systems), Glacier Bay, , Gladstone Port, Glasgow Harbor, Glasgow Port, , Glen Canyon Dam, , Glomar Challenger (research vessel), Goethals, George Washington, , Gokasho Bay, Gold Creek Reservoir, Golden Bay, The Golden Fish (movie), Gorbachev, Mikhail, Gordon Dam, Gorgas, William, – Göta Canal, Gothenburg Port, Goulburn River, GPS (Global Positioning System), , , , , Grand Canal, , , Grand Coulee Dam, , , , Grand Inga Dam, Grande River, Grande Rivière River, Granicus River, Grass, Günter, Great Amer Lake, Great Barrier Reef, , –, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act (), Great Britain, , ; aquariums, ; Atlantic Ocean connection, , , ; and Bering Sea, ; coastal tourism, ; conservatism and change, ; desalination, ; English Channel connection, , ; exploration, , , , ; fishing issues, ; international security, , , , , , , ; lighthouses, , , , ; offshore structures, ; Opium War and, ; piracy, , , , , ; pollution, , ; port operations, , ; ports and harbors, ; privateering, –, , ; research missions/vessels, , , , , , , ; research organizations, , , , ; sea levels, , ; ship design/construction, , , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, , , ; storm and flood control, ; trade/ transportation, , , , , , , , ,
INDEX Great Lakes (U.S.), –; and Atlantic Ocean, , ; dams/canals/locks, , –; fuels and transportation, ; Lachine Canal connection, ; North American laws and treaties, , , ; oil and natural gas, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, , ; research organizations, ; and St. Lawrence River, –; and St. Lawrence Seaway, , , – Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Association, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, Great Nordic War, Great Salt Lake, – , Great Salt Lake Desert, Greece, , , , , , , , , ; Aegean Sea connection, , –, , ; agriculture and trade, , , , ; Black Sea connection, , ; Dardanelles connection, ; desalination, ; and European rivers, , , ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, , , ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, –; landbridges, – ; Law of the Sea, ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , , , ; offshore structures, , ; oil and natural gas, ; passenger shipping industry, ; piracy, ; ports and harbors, ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, ; sea levels, ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; shipowners, , ; trade/transportation, –, , ; underwater archaeology, – Green Globes program, – Green River, Greenpeace, , , Grotius, Hugo, , –, Guadiana River, Guangzhou Lighthouse, Guayaquil Harbor, Guayaquil Port, Guide (research vessel), Guinea Gulf, , , , Gulf at the Rigolets, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Gulf of Aden, , , Gulf of Alaska, , – , , , Gulf of Aqaba, Gulf of California, – , , Gulf of Carpentaria, Gulf of Guinea, , , , , , Gulf of Maine,
Gulf of Mexico, – ; Atlantic Ocean connection, ; Caribbean Sea connection, ; Lake Pontchartrain connection, , ; landbridges, , ; North American laws and treaties, ; North American rivers flowing into, , , –; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, –; ports and harbors, ; research vessels/missions, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, Gulf of Ob, Gulf of Oman, , Gulf of St. Lawrence, Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Tonkin, Gulf St. Vincent, Gulf Stream, , Gunnison River, Guri Dam, Gwydir River, Hachi Falls, Hagatna Port, Hague Convention, Hai River, Haifa Port, Haiti, Hakluyt, Richard, Hale, J.H., Halifax Harbor, , Halifax Port, , , Hamburg Harbor, , Hamburg Port, , , , , , , , , , Hampton Port, Hampton Roads Harbor, Hampton Roads ports, Hansa civilization, Happy Valley Reservoir, Havana Harbor, , Havel Canal, Havel River, Hay-on-Wye River, Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (), Heart of Darkness (Conrad), Heath River, Hedland Port, Heligoland Lighthouse, Hemingway, Ernest, Hepburn, Katharine, Heyerdahl, Thor, , , , , ,
INDEX History of the Norman Conquest (Freeman), HMS Adventure (research vessel), HMS Beagle (research vessel), HMS Carcass (research vessel), , HMS Challenger (research vessel), HMS Discovery (research vessel), , HMS Endeavour (research vessel), HMS Erebus (research vessel), HMS Investigator (research vessel), HMS Racehorse (research vessel), HMS Resolution (research vessel), HMS Terror (research vessel), HMS Titanic, Hoang Ho River, Hobart Port, Hoi An Port, Holland: agriculture and trade, ; dredging, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; international security, , ; piracy, , ; port operations, , ; ports and harbors, ; privateering, ; research organizations, ; shipowners, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; trade/transportation, , , ; trawling, ; whaling, , ; wind energy, Honduras, Hong-Gou Canal, Hong Kong Port, , Honiara Port, Honolulu Port, Hooghly River, , Hoover Dam, , , , , Horn of Africa, , , , , , Horsburgh Lighthouse, , House of the Royal Geographical Society, Houston Port, , , , How To Tie Salmon Flies (Hale), Hu Lou Falls, Huatanay River, Hudson, Henry, , , , Hudson Bay, – , , , , , Hudson Bay Company (HBC), , , Hudson River, , , , , , , , , , Hudson Strait, Hue River, Hull Harbor, Hull Port, , Humber River, , Hun He River,
Hundred Years’ War, , , Hunter River, Huntington Tristate Port, Hydaspes River, Hydro-Québec dams, Hydrogen, –; marine applications, –; production research, – Hydropower and water resource management, – Iberian Peninsula, , , Iceland, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , , , , , , , ; hydrogen fuel, ; international security, ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, ; ports and harbors, ; research missions/ vessels, , ; research organizations, ; sea water and, ; trade/transportation, , ; wave energy, ; whaling, , ; whitewater rafting, , Iguacu River, Iguazu Falls, Illinois River, , Illinois Waterway, Imjin River, , Imperial Canal, Imperial Dam, India: coastal tourism, ; coastal urban development, ; exploration, , , ; Indian Peninsula, Indian Ocean, , , –, , ; agriculture and trade, ; Arabian Sea connection, , ; coastal tourism, , ; exploration, , , , ; international security, ; offshore structures, ; Pacific Ocean connection, ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, ; piracy, , ; ports and harbors, , , ; Red Sea connection, ; research missions/vessels, , , , , , , ; research organizations, , , ; trade/transportation, , , , , , Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System, Indian Southwest Monsoon Current, Indochine (movie), Indonesia, , ; exploration, , ; fuels and transportation, , ; Indian Ocean connection, –, , ; international security, ; oil and natural gas, ; Pacific Ocean connection, , , ; piracy, ; pollution, , ; ports
INDEX and harbors, ; research organizations, ; sand and gravel, ; seaweed cultivation, ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; and Suez Canal, ; trade/transportation, , ; transatlantic shipping, ; wave energy, Indus River, , , , Indus Valley civilization, , Industrial Canal, Inga (I, II, II) Dam, Ingeniero Ballester Dam, Inguri Dam, inland-waterway system (U.S.), Inside Passage, Institute for Water Resources (IWR), Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO), International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Convention (IAMSAR), International Boundaries Water Treaty, International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (IWC), , , , , , , International Convention of Bills of Lading, International Court of Justice (ICJ), , , International Energy Agency (IEA), International environmental laws and treaties, – International Hydrographical Organization, International Joint Commission, International Law of the Sea, International Maritime Committee, International Maritime Organization (IMO), , , , , , , , , , International Mercantile Marine (IMM), International Ocean Institute, International Regulations for Avoiding Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), International Seabed Authority, International security, – International shipping, trade laws and treaties, – International Straits Commission, International Surfing Association, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), –; caseload, –; history, –; international environmental laws and treaties, ; legal principles, ;
membership and participation, –; procedure, –; staffing, International Whaling Commission (IWC), , , , , , , , , Ionian Sea, , Iquique Port, Iran-Iraq War, Iraq, Ireland: fishing issues, ; Irish Sea, – ; ports and harbors, ; research vessels/ missions, ; seaweed cultivation, ; tidal energy, ; trade and transportation, ; whaling, ; wind energy, Irish Sea, – Irish Sea Glacier, Irkutsk Dam, Iron Gate Dam, Iron Gate passage, Iroquois Dam, , Irrawaddy River, , Irtysh River, , Islands ports and harbors, – Ismailia Port, ISO (International Standard Organization), Israel, Isthmus of Central America, , , , Isthmus of Kiel, , Isthmus of Panama, , , , , , , , , , , , Isthmus of Suez, , , , , , , Isthmus of Tehuantepec, , , , Istrian Peninsula, Itaipú Dam, , Italian Peninsula, Italy, , , , , ; Adriatic Sea connection, ; agriculture and trade, ; European rivers and, , , , ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, , ; hydropower, ; international security, , , , ; Law of the Sea, ; lighthouses, ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , , ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , , ; passenger shipping industry, ; piracy, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, , ; research organizations, ; sea level change, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; storm and flood control, ; trade/transportation, , , , , –
INDEX Jackson Port, Jamaica: Caribbean Sea connection, ; fuels and transportation, ; offshore structures, ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, ; piracy, ; ports and harbors, , , , ; privateering, ; research organizations, ; sea levels, Jamaica Channel, James, Thomas, James Bay, , , Japan: agriculture and trade, ; artificial marine habitats/reefs, ; diving, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , , , , , , ; hydrogen fuel, ; international security, , , , , ; port operations, , ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, , ; sea levels, ; shipbuilding/ shipping, , , , , ; shipping/ trade laws/treaties, ; trade/transportation, , , , , Jason Jr. (research vessel), Jebel Ali Port, Jinja Port, John Murray Expedition, , Johnson, Lyndon, Jolly Roger, Jones, Indiana, Jordan River, , Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (Speke), Jucar River, Just So Stories (Kipling), Jutland Peninsula, , , Kainji Dam, Kalabagh Dam, Kama River, Kamchatka Peninsula, Kanawha River, Kansu Dam, Kariba Dam, Karlesfni Thorfinnr, Karun River, Karwar Port, Katsamba Port, Katse Dam, Kenya, Kerep River, Khan, Genghis, , Khone Falls, Khrushchev, Nikita, Kiel, Isthmus of, ,
Kiel Canal, , , Kiev Port, Kingdom of Mataram civilization, Kingsford-Smith, Charles, Kingston-upon-Hull River, Kingston-upon-Thames River, Kipling, Rudyard, Kiribati, , Kirkwall Port, Kislaya Bay, Kisumu Port, Kitchener, Horatio, Kobe Port, Kocher River, Koh, Tommy Thong Bee, , Kootenay River, Korea: dams and locks, , ; diving, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , , , ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, , ; Law of the Sea, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , , ; Pacific Ocean connection, , , , ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, ; research organizations, ; rivers, , , , ; sea levels, ; Sea of Japan connection, , ; seaweed cultivation, ; shipbuilding/shipping, , , , , ; trade/transportation, , , ; underwater archaeology, Kossou Dam, Kotor port, Kotri Dam, Koyukuk River, Krasnoyarsk Dam, Krishna River, Kvalsund Channel, Kwai River, , Kyoto Protocol, La Gran Sabana Falls, La Grande-Rivière, La Paz Agreement, La Rochelle Port, , Laanecoorie Dam, Lachine Canal, , Lachine Rapids, , , Lacombe Bayou, Lagos Port, Lake Albert, Lake Albert Nyanza, Lake Atlin, Lake Baikal,
INDEX Lake Bigler, Lake Bonneville, Lake Borgne, Lake Chad, , , Lake Champlain, Lake Erie, , , , , , , , Lake Eyre, Lake Furnas, Lake Gatun, , , Lake Huron, , , , , , Lake Itasca, Lake Maracaibo, Lake Maurepas, Lake Mead, Lake Michigan, , , , , , Lake Nasser, Lake Okwata, Lake Ontario, , , , , , , , , , Lake Pedder, Lake Pontchartrain, – Lake Saint-Pierre, Lake St. Clair, Lake St. Francis, Lake St. Louis, Lake Superior, , , , , , Lake Tahoe, – Lake Tana, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Teslin, Lake Titicaca, – Lake Tonle Sap Lake, Lake Ukerewe, Lake Van, Lake Vänern, Lake Victoria, , – Lancaster Sound, Landbridges, – ; early times, – ; modern era, – Lanterna of Genoa Lighthouse, Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs), Laudot River, Launceston Port, Laurentian Great Lakes, Lausanne, Treaty of, Law of the Sea, , – Lázaro Cárdenas Port, Le Havre Port, , , , Lea River, Leakey, Mary, Leakey, Richard, Leakey, S.B., Lemos, Gaspar de,
Lena River, , , Lend-Lease Agreement, Lesseps, Ferdinand de, , , , , , Levant Sea, Levering, Miriam, Lewes River, Lewis, Meriwether, Libyan Sea, Lighthouse of Alexandria, , Lighthouse Society, Lighthouses, electricity and lighting, – Ligurian Sea, Lihou Reef National Reserve, Lilla Edet Falls, Lima Port, Limay River, Limon Bay, Limpopo River, , , , Lindbergh, Charles, Linnaean Society, Lisbon Port, , , , , Little Colorado River, Liverpool Port, , , , , , , , Livingstone, David, , , , Livorno Lighthouse, Loire River, , Lombok Strait, London Harbor, London Port, , , , , , , , , , , , Long Beach Port, , , , , The Longest River (movie), Long Island Sound, Long Sault Dam, , Lopez, Francisco Solano, – LORAN (Long Range Aid to Navigation), Los Angeles Port, , , , , Los Molinos Dam, Los Molinos River, Los Quiroga Dam, Los Reyunos Dam, Lost City of Atlantis, , , , Louis XIV, King, , Louisbourg Port, Lower Rhine River, Lower Rio Grande Regional Seawater Desalination Project, Lübeck Port, , , , Lusatian Neisse River, Luxembourg,
INDEX Maastricht, Treaty of, Mabahiss (research vessel), , , Macao Port, Macassar Port, Maccabee War, Mackay Port, Mackenzie River, Macquarie Lighthouse, Macquarie Port, Madagascar: Indian Ocean connection, ; piracy, ; ports and harbors, , ; research missions/vessels, ; Russia Pacific fleet, Madeira River, Mae Ping River, , Magdalena Channel, Magellan, Ferdinand, , , , , , , , , , Magellan, Straits of, , , –, , , – Magnuson-Stevens Act, Mahajanga Port, Mahakam River, Main River, Malacca Port, Malacca Strait, , , Malay Peninsula, Malayan Peninsula, Malaysia: cartography/hydrography, ; fishing issues, ; fuels and transportation, ; laws and treaties, ; lighthouses, ; oil and natural gas, ; piracy, ; pollution, ; research organizations, ; rivers, ; South China Sea connection, , ; trade/transportation, Maldives: Arabian Sea connection, ; Indian Ocean connection, , , ; research organizations, ; sand and gravel, ; sea levels, ; wave energy, Mamanguate River, The Man with the Iron Mask (Dumas), Manaus Port, , Manchac Pass, Manchester Dam, Manchester Port, Manicouagan River, Manila Port, , Manzanillo Port, , maps, ; Adriatic Sea, ; Aegean Sea, ; Arabian Sea, ; Arctic Ocean, ; Bering Sea, ; Black Sea, ; Bosphorus Strait, ; Caspian Sea, ; Coral Sea, ; Gulf of Alaska, ; Lake Pontchartrain, ; Lake
Victoria, ; Panama Canal, ; Persian Gulf, ; Red Sea, ; Sea of Japan, ; South China Sea, ; Suez Canal, Maputo Bay, Maputo River, Maracaibo Gulf, Maranón River, Marine Mammal Protection Act (), – , Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (), , – Maritime Administration (MARAD), , , – Maritime Commission (U.S.), , , Maritime Industrial Development Areas (MIDAS), Maritime Pollution Regulations (MARPOL), , , Maritsa River, Marmago Port, Marmara Sea, , , , Marne River, , , Marseille-Fos Port, Marseille Port, , , , Marshall Islands, , Massalia Port, Matanzas Bay, Matson Port, Maumee River, Maye River, Mazandaran Sea, Mbidizi River, Measurement of Pollution in the Troposhere (MOPITT), Mediaeval trade, , Medical Waste Tracking Act (), Mediterranean Sea, , , , , , , , , , –, ; Adriatic Sea connection, ; Aegean connection, , ; agriculture and trade, , , , ; Bosphorus Strait connection, , ; coastal tourism, ; coastal urban development, ; Dardanelles connection, ; ecotourism, ; European canals and, ; European rivers and, ; exploration, , ; ferry industry/passenger shipping, ; fishing issues, , ; fuels and transportation, , ; international security, , –, ; landbridges, – ; oil and natural gas, , ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, , , ; piracy, , , , ; ports and harbors, –, ; research missions/
INDEX vessels, , , , , , , ; research organizations, ; sand and gravel, ; sea levels, , ; seaweed cultivation, ; ship design/construction, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; storm and flood control, ; Strait of Gibraltar connection, , , , , ; Suez Canal and, , , ; trade linkages, , ; trade/transportation, , –, , , , , ; underwater archaeology, , Meiji Restoration of , Mekong River, , , , , , , , , , Melbourne Port, Melford Port, Meloria Lighthouse, Mendoza, Pedro de, , Merchant Marine Act, Merchant Marines (U.S.), , , , Mersey River, , Mesopotamia, – , , , , , – Metauro River, Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act (), Methane hydrates, –; hydrate research history, – Methuen, Paul, – Meuse River, , Mexican War, , , Mexico, , , , , ; agriculture and trade, ; Caribbean Sea connection, , ; coastal tourism industry, , ; dams and locks, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; fuels and transportation, ; Gulf of California connection, ; Imperial Canal, ; landbridges, , ; oil and natural gas, ; pollution, ; ports and harbors, , , , , ; privateering, ; research organizations, ; Rio Grande River, –; trade and transportation, ; trade/transportation, ; underwater archaeology, ; whaling, Mhlatuze River, Miami Canal, Miami Port, Miami River, Micronesia: Pacific Ocean connection, ; reefs/marine habitat, ; research organizations, Middle East: desalination, , ; dredging, ; fuels and transportation, – ,
– ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; trade/ transportation, , , Middlesborough Port, Milford Haven Port, Miljacka River, Millbrook Dam, Miller Freeman (research vessel), Milwaukee (research vessel), Ming Valley Dam, Mingechaur Dam, Minoan civilization, , , Miraflores Lock, Mishima, Yukio, The Mission (Bolt), Mississippi River, , , , ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, ; dams and locks, , , ; fuels and transportation, ; Great Lakes connection, ; Gulf of Mexico connection, ; international security, ; Lake Pontchartrain connection, , , ; landbridges, , ; North American canals, , ; North American laws and treaties, ; North American rivers, , , , ; oil and natural gas, ; ports and harbors, , , , , Mississippi River Commission, Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, Missouri-Mississippi confluence, Missouri River, , Mittellandkanal Canal, Mobile Port, , Modder River, , Mohawk River, Mona Passage, Monongahela River, Monroe Doctrine, Montego Bay, Montevideo Port, , , , Montreal Harbor, Montreal Port, , , , , Montreal-Quebec Channel, Montreux Convention (), Moorehead, Alan, Moresby Port, , Morgan, Henry, Morgan, J.P., Morocco, , , , Moscow-Volga Canal, Mosel River, Moses-Saunders Dam, Moskva River, Motlawa River,
INDEX Möwe (research vessel), Muar River, Mulberry Harbor, Mumbai Port, Mundaring Dam, Muntok Port, Murray Bridge Port, Murray River, Muscat Port, Musi River, , Mutiny on the Bounty, Mwanza Port, , My Tropic Isle (Banfield), Myanmar, Mycenaean civilization, – Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, Nagasaki Bay, Nagasaki Port, , , , Nagoya Port, Nakhodka Port, Nam Theun Dam, Nampo Dam, Nansen, Fridtjof, , , Nantes Port, Napo River, Napoleonic Wars, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Narmada River, Narrows Strait, Nassau Harbor, Nasser, Gamal Abdel, , National (research vessel), National Energy Laboratory (NELHA), National Environmental Education Act (), National Environmental Policy Act (), National Environmental Policy Act of (U.S.), National Geographic Society, , National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, , , , National Pollution Control Administration, National Shipping Authority (U.S.), The Naturalist on the River (Bates), Naturaliste (research vessel), Navy Ports, –; Berbera-type, ; Bombay-type, ; Cochin-type, ; Pure-type, – Ncome River,
Neckar River, Neman River, , Neptune Group, Nerchinsk, Treaty of, Neretva River, Netherlands: desalination, ; fishing issues, , ; research organizations, ; sea level change, ; storm and flood control, Neuquén River, Neva River, , , A New Account of the East Indies (Hamilton), New Basin Canal, New Bedford Port, New Caledonia, , New Orleans Port, , New York Harbor, , , , New York Port, , , , , , , , New York State Barge Canal, New Zealand: agriculture and trade, ; customs, ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, ; Gallipoli Peninsula and, ; international security, ; Law of the Sea, ; Pacific Ocean connection, ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, , ; sailing/ yachting, ; trade/transportation, ; whaling, Newcastle Port, Newcastle-upon-Tyne River, Newfoundland, ; conservatism and change, ; fishing issues, ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, Newport News Port, , Newport Port, NGO (Nongovernmental Organizations), , Niagara Falls, , , , , – Niagara River, Nicuesa, Juan de, Nieuwe Waterweg (New Waterway), Niger River, , , , , , –, Nigeria Dam, Nile River: agriculture and trade, ; dams and locks, –, ; Egyptian civilization and, –; Egyptian control, ; exploration, –, –; fishing issues, , ; Lake Victoria connection, , , ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, ;
INDEX research organizations, , ; sailing/ yachting, ; sea levels, ; trade/transportation, Nine Years War, Nixon, Richard, Nixon Administration, , Nootka Sound, Norfolk Port, , , , Normandy, , ; port operations, Norse civilization, , , , , , North America: agriculture and trade, , ; Alaska land connection, ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, –; canals, –; coastal tourism, –; conservatism and change, ; containerization, ; customs, ; dams and locks, –; exploration, , , , ; fishing issues, , , , , , , , ; Great Lakes, – ; Great Salt Lake, – ; Gulf of Alaska, – ; Gulf of Mexico connection, ; Lake Ponchartrain, – ; Lake Tahoe, – ; landbridges, , , , , , ; lighthouses, ; North-Atlantic maritime track connection, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, ; pollution, ; ports and harbors, – ; privateering, ; research missions/vessels (pre-), , , ; sand and gravel, ; ship ownership, ; shipbuilding/ shipping, ; tidal energy, ; trade/ transportation, , , , , , , , , , ; transatlantic shipping, ; wave energy, ; whaling, , North America rivers, , –, . See also Colorado River; Columbia River; Mississippi River; Rio Grande River; Saint Lawrence River; Yukon River North American Inland Waterways Map and Index (Weems and Plath), North American laws and treaties, – ; Army Corps of Engineers, , , , –, ; Department of the Interior, , , –, ; Environmental Protection Agency, , , , –, , ; Maritime Administration, , , – ; U.S.Geological Survey, , – , North Atlantic Marine Mammals Commission (NAMMCO),
North Atlantic Ocean: Baltic Sea connection, ; fishing issues, , , ; Great lakes connection, ; North Sea connection, ; privateering, ; research missions/ vessels, , , , ; seaweed cultivation, ; shipowners, ; trade routes, , ; whaling, , North Channel, , The North Country Angler (Anonymous), North Magnetic Pole, North Pacific Ocean, , ; Bering Sea connection, ; Gulf of Alaska connection, ; international security, ; Japan and, ; ports, ; research missions/vessels, ; Russia and, – North Pacific Sealing Convention, North Pass, North Pole, , , , North River, North Sea, –; Atlantic-North Sea maritime zone, ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, ; Baltic Sea connection, ; conservatism and change, ; English Channel connection, ; European canals and, , ; European laws and treaties, ; ferry industry/passenger shipping, ; fishing issues, , , , , , , , ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, ; landbridges, ; lighthouses, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , ; ports and harbors, , , , , , ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, ; transatlantic shipping, ; trawling, North Sea Canal, , Northern Equatorial Current, Northern Sea Route, Northwest Passage (NWP), , , , , , , , , Norton Sound, Norway: exploration, , , ; fishing issues, , , , , ; international security, ; pollution, –, ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, ; trade/transportation, , Norwegian Sea, Nova Scotia: exploration, , ; fishing issues, ; ports and harbors, , , ; privateering, , ; research or-
INDEX ganizations, ; tidal energy, ; trade/ transportation, Novosibirsk Ob’ Dam, Nuclear Waste Policy Act (), Nurek Dam, Oahu Port, Oakland Port, , , Ob River, , , Oc-Eo Port, Ocean Dumping Act (), Ocean Dumping Ban Act (), ocean pharmaceuticals, Ocean thermal energy conservation, –; commercialization challenges, –; history, – Odense Port, Oder Canal, Oder-Havel Canal, Oder River, , , Offshore structures, – Oglio River, Ogooué River, , Ohio Canal, Ohio River, , , , , , , , , , , Ohio River System, Oil and natural gas, –; African maritime networks, –; Asian maritime exports/imports, ; European maritime strategy, –; globalized maritime/ trading economy of oil/gas, ; Russian maritime energy dominance, ; U.S. oil and gas dominance, – The Oil Rig (Roderus), Oil Rivers Protectorate, Ojeda, Alonso de, Okanogan River, Okhotsk Sea, , , , The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway), Olinda Port, On the Waterfront (movie), OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), , Opium War, , , , Oporto Port, Orange/Sengu River, , Oregon, Treaty of, Oreille River, Orellana, Francisco de, Øresund Strait, , , , Orinoco River, , , ,
Osaka Port, Oslo Port, Ostia Lighthouse, Oswego Canal, OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion), – The Other Side of the River (Snow), Ottawa River, , Outardes River, OWC (oscillating water columns), The Ox Cart (Post), Pacific Islanders, Pacific Northwest (U.S.): agriculture and trade, , –; fishing issues, ; hydropower/water management, , ; North American laws and treaties, Pacific Ocean, –; agricultural and trade, ; Arctic Ocean connection, ; Atlantic Revolution and First Industrial Revolution and, –, ; Bering Sea connection, , ; Columbia River connection, ; containerization, ; Coral Sea connection, ; dams and locks, ; desalination, ; exploration, , , , , , , , ; fishing issues, , , , ; fuels and transportation, ; globalization and, ; Gulf of Alaska connection, ; international security, , , , ; landbridges, , ; Law of the Sea, ; North American Laws and Treaties, ; North American rivers and, ; oil and natural gas, , ; Pacific War and, , , ; Panama Canal and, , , , , , , , ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, , ; Philippine Sea connection, –; pollution, , ; port operations, , , ; ports and harbors, , , , , , , , , ; research missions/ vessels, , , , , , , , , , ; research organizations, , ; Russia and, , , ; sailing/ yachting, ; sea levels, ; Sea of Japan connection, – ; Seven Years War and, ; shipbuilding/shipping, , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, , ; South China Sea connection, , ; Straits of Magellan connection, ; Suez Canal and, ; surfing, ; tidal energy, ; trade routes, ; trade/transportation, , ; transatlantic shipping, ; vs. Indian
INDEX Ocean, –; wave energy, ; whaling, ; World War I and, Pacific War, , , , , , , , PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), Padirac River, Pajaritos Port, Pakistan: connection to Arabian Sea, ; dams, , ; research organizations, ; rivers, ; trade/transportation, Palembang Port, Palermo Port, Palestine, Panama, Isthmus of, , , , , , , , , , Panama Bay, Panama Canal, –; Caribbean Sea and, ; Central/South American economic growth and, ; containerization, ; containerships, ; dams and locks, ; Ferdinand de Lessups and, , ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, ; landbridges, , – , – , ; ports and harbors, , ; research missions/vessels, , ; shipping/military, , ; shipping/trade laws/ treaties, , , ; trade/transportation, ; vs. St. Lawrence Seaway, ; vs. Straits of Magellan, , ; vs. Suez Canal, , , Panama Canal Authority, , , –, , Panama Canal Convention, – Panama Canal Railway landbridge, Panama River, Panthalassa Ocean, Paolo Verde Dam, Papua New Guinea: Coral Sea connection, , ; diving, ; Great Barrier Reef connection, ; research missions/vessels (-present), ; research organizations, Pará River, Paradeep Port, Paraguay, , , , , ; exploration, ; hydropower/water management, , , ; international security, ; shipping/ trade laws/treaties, , ; trade/transportation, , Paraguay River, , , Paramaribo Port, Paramore (research vessel),
Paraná River, , Pardo, Arvid, Paris, Treaty of, , Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law, Paris Port, Park, Mungo, , Parker Dam, Parry, William, Pasquotank River, Passamaquoddy-Cobscook Bay, Passenger shipping: cruise industry, –; ferry industry, – ; passenger industry, – The Paulo Alfonso Falls (Schutte), Pearl Harbor, , , Pearl River, , Pecos River, Pedro Miguel Lock, Peiho River, Pelly Rivers, Peloponnesian Wars, , , Penang Harbor, Penang Port, Pend River, Peron, Juan, , Persia, , ; fuels and transportation, , ; international security, ; lighthouses, ; oil/natural gas, ; piracy, ; trade/transportation, , , ; wind energy, Persian Gulf, –; Arabian Sea connection, ; desalination, , , ; fuels and transportation, ; Indian Ocean connection, , , , , ; lighthouses, ; maritime jurisdictional zones and, ; offshore structures, ; oil and natural gas, , ; piracy, ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, ; trade/transportation, , , ; World War I and, Persian Wars, Perth Port, Peru: agriculture and trade, ; customs, ; El Nino, ; exploration, , ; fishing issues, , –; Lake Titicaca and, –; research organizations, ; seaweed cultivation, ; trade/transportation, , , Peter the Great, , , , , Peter the Hermit, Pharmaceuticals from the sea, – Philadelphia Harbor,
INDEX Philadelphia Port, , Philippine Sea, –, Philippines: agriculture and trade, ; Coral Sea connection, ; exploration, , ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, ; Pacific Ocean connection, , ; Panama Canal, ; ports and harbors, , ; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, ; rivers, ; seaweed cultivation, ; South China Sea connection, , ; Suez Canal, ; trade/transportation, Phillip Bay Port, , Phoenicia: agriculture and trade, ; exploration, , ; research missions/vessels (pre-), ; trade/transportation, , Pichi Picún Dam, Piedra del Aguila Dam, Pillars of Hercules, , , , Pinarus River, Piracy, –; ancient pirates and their successors, – ; Blackbeard, , ; golden age, –; modern piracy, –; th Century, Pirates of the Caribbean (movie), Plamschleuse Lock, Planet (research vessel), Plate River, , , , , , , Plymouth Port, Po River, , , , , Pola (research vessel), Polarstern (research vessel), Pollution, –; air pollution, –; marine pollution, – Polo, Marco, , Polynesia: exploration, ; fishing issues, ; Pacific Ocean connection, , , , , ; research missions/vessels (pre), –; research organizations, ; surfing, , ; trade/transportation, A Popular History of British Seaweeds (Landsborough), Porcupine River, Port-au-Prince Harbor, Port Newark-Elizabeth, , , Port Operations: cargo containerization, –; economic analysis, –; First Industrial Revolution and, –; global containerization/terminals, –; pre Age of Steam, ; Second Industrial Revolution/bulk cargo shipping, – Port operations, –
Port Royal, , Port Royal Harbor, Portland Port, Portsmouth Port, Portugal: exploration, , , , , ; international security, , , , ; piracy, ; research missions/vessels, , , , , ; research organizations, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; trade/ transportation, , , , , , Post, Fran, Potomac River, Prince Rubert Port, Prince William Sound, The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation (Hakluyt), Privateering, – Protection of Wrecks Act (), Providence Harbor, Prudhoe Bay, Prussia, , , , –, Puerco River, Puerto Rico, , Puget Sound, , , Punic War, , , , Qiantang River, Qiantang River Lighthouse, Qingdao Port, Quebec Port, , , Quebrada de Jaspe Falls, Quebrada de Ullum Dam, Quiberon Bay, And Quiet Flows the Don (Sholokhov), Raleigh, Walter, Rapide Platt Canal, Recife Port, , Red River, Red Sea, –; agriculture and trade, ; Arabian Sea connection, ; coastal tourism, ; Indian Ocean connection, , , ; landbridges, – ; piracy, ; ports and harbors, ; research missions/ vessels, , , , , ; seaweed cultivation, ; Suez Canal and, , , ; trade/transportation, Reed Sea, Reefs and building artificial marine habitat, – Reeves, Peter, Reilly, Sidney,
INDEX Research missions and vessels: before , –; –present, – Research organizations, – Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (), Revolutionary War (U.S.): Atlantic Revolution and the First Industrial Revolution, ; Battle of Lake Erie, ; Battle of the Saints (Hudson Bay), ; British naval supremacy, ; control of Caribbean Sea, , ; piracy, ; privateering, ; shipowners, ; Three-Mile Limit and, ; underwater archaeology, Rey, Jacobus H. de la, Reykjavik Port, Reza Shah Dam, Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, – Rhine River, , , , , , , , , Rhodesia, Rhodian Sea Law, Rhône River, , , , Rideau Canal, , Ridgeway Dam, Ring Cycle (Wagner), Río Atrato River, Rio Chagres Dam, Río de Janeiro River, Río de la Plata River, , , , , , , Río Espolón River, Río Futaleufú River, Río Gauya, Rio Grande River, –, Río Gualeguaychu River, Río Magdalena River, Río Paraguay River, , , Rio Parana River, , Río San Francisco River, Río San Juan River, , Río Uruguay, , Rios Chagres River, River Ilissus, River Styx, The River War (Churchill), Rivers and Harbors Acts, , , Robe Port, Robert H. Saunders Dam, Robert Moses Dam, Rockhampton Port, Rogun Dam, Roma Port, Rome, , , , ; agriculture and trade, , –; artificial marine habitats/
reefs, ; desalination, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, , , , ; hydropower/water management, ; international security, ; lighthouses, ; offshore structures, ; piracy, , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; storm and flood control, ; Tiber River, , ; trade/transportation, , , , , Rønne Port, Roosevelt, Franklin, , Roosevelt, Theodore, , , Roosevelt Dam, Roskilde Port, Rostov-na-Don River, Rotterdam Port, , , , , , , , Rouen Port, Rovuma River, , Rubicon River, , Rufiji River, Rupert River, Russia, , , , , , , , , , ; Amur River, ; Baltic Sea connection, , , , ; Bering Sea connection, , , ; Caspian Sea connection, , ; dams/canals/locks, ; Dardanelles and, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; fuels and transportation, – ; hydropower/water management, ; international security, , , , ; maritime energy dominance, ; Northern Sea Route, ; oil and natural gas, , ; Opium War, ; privateering, ; research missions/vessels, , , ; research organizations, ; Sea of Japan connection, , ; shipbuilding/shipping, , ; trade/transportation, , ; waterways, – ; whaling, Ryan, Cornelius, Safe Drinking Water Act (), Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), , , Sag Harbor, Saguenay River, , Said Port, , , , , , , , , , Sailendras civilization, Sailing and yachting, – Saint Ferréol Dam, Saint-Lambert Lock, Saint-Laurent Canal, Saint-Laurent Waterway,
INDEX Sakata Port, Salamis Port, Salem Port, Salina Cruz Port, Salt Springs Dam, Salto Aponguao Falls, Salto el Sapo Falls, Salto Grande Dam, Salton Sea, Salvage, – Salween River, , , Samoa, , , San Bernardino Strait, San Francisco Bay, , , , , San Francisco Port, , San Gabriel Dam, San Juan River, , , , San Martin, Jose’ de, San Roque Dam, San Roque Lake Falls, Sand and gravel, – Sandy and Beaver Canal, Sanmen Dam, Sansanding Dam, Santa Marta Port, Santiago Falls, Santo Domingo Harbor, Sany Hook Lighthouse, Sao Francisco River, Saragossa, Treaty of, Sargassum Sea, Saudi Arabia, , , , Sault-Sainte Marie Canal, Savannah Port, Saxon civilization, , , , , , Scandinavia: fishing issues, ; piracy, ; pollution, Scandinavian Peninsula, Scheldt Port, Scheldt River, Schlüse zu Bockhorst (aka Plamschleuse Lock), Scotia (research vessel), , Scotland: fishing issues, , , ; research missions/vessels, , ; trade/ transportation, SCUBA (Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), , , The Sea Around Us (Carson), Sea-Bed Disputes Chamber, , , Sea level changes, – Sea of Cortéz, ,
Sea of Japan, – , Sea Peoples, , , , , Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, , , , Sea water, – Seaside resorts and tourism, – Seattle Port, , Seawater Desalination Plant (Tampa Bay), Seaweed and other plants, – Seawitch (Maclean), The Seine at Courbevoie (Angrand), The Seine at Night (Virgil), Seine Port, Seine River, , , Senegal: dams and locks, , , ; Law of the Sea, ; research vessels/missions, ; rivers, ; trade/transportation, , Senegal River, , , Senji port, Seven Years’ War, , , , , , , , Severn Port, Severn River, , Seward’s Folly, Shakespeare, William, Shanghai Port, , Shari River, Shatt al-Arab Waterway, , , , , , , Shawinigan Falls, Shepody Bay, Ship design and construction, – Shipowners, – ; ship owning, –, – ; shipowner emergence, –; shipowning organization, – Shipping and shipbuilding, government policy impact, – ; conclusion, – ; nurturing capitalism, – ; underdevelopment and, – ; war and depression, – Sholokhov, Mikhail, Shore Protection Act (), Shoreline Erosion Control Demonstration Act (), Shoreline Erosion Protection Act (), Shout at the Devil (Smith), Sierra Leone River, , Silent Spring (Carson), , The Silent World (Cousteau), , Silver River,
INDEX Simonstown Port, Sinai Peninsula, Singapore: coastal urban development, ; fuels and transportation, ; international security, , ; Law of the Sea, ; lighthouses, ; oil and natural gas, ; Panama Canal, ; piracy, ; pollution, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, , ; research organizations, ; sand and gravel, ; shipbuilding/ shipping, , , , ; shipping/ trade laws/treaties, ; South China Sea connection, ; trade/transportation, , Singapore Port, Sino-Japanese War, , Siraf Port, Six Day War, Skagerrak Strait, Slim River, Smith, Wilbur, Snake River, , , , , Snowy Mountain Hydroelectric Scheme, Sobradinho Dam, Socotra Port, Solid Waste Disposal Act (), Solis, Juan de, Solomon Islands: Coral Sea connection, ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, Somali Current, Somme River, Son La Dam, Soo Lock, Soulange Canal, The Sound of Waves (Mishima), South America: agriculture and trade, ; customs, ; dams and locks, – ; early exploration, ; exploration, , , ; Lake Titicaca, –; landbridges, ; lighthouses, –; Mazatlan connection, ; and North America migration, ; Panama Canal connection, , ; passenger shipping/cruise industry, , ; Philippine Sea connection, ; piracy, ; pollution, , ; Polynesian migration to, ; ports and harbors, –; research missions/vessels, , ; research organizations, ; rivers, –; Straits of Magellan connection, ; trade/transportation, , , ; whaling, ; wind energy,
South Asia Network On Dams, Rivers & People, International River Network, South Atlantic Ocean, , South China Sea, –, , , , , , ; Indian Ocean and, , , ; international security, ; oil and natural gas, ; Pacific Ocean connection, ; piracy, ; pollution, ; ports and harbors, ; research organizations, ; trade/transportation, , , , , South Louisiana Port, , South Pacific Ocean, , ; fishing issues, , ; Law of the Sea, ; research missions/vessels, ; whaling, South Seas, , , , , , Southampton Port, Southeast Asia: agriculture and trade, , ; aquariums, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; international security, ; offshore structures, ; pollution, ; research missions/vessels, ; research organizations, ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; trade/transportation, , Southern Equatorial Current, Southern Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, , Southern Sea, SP- (research vessel), Spain: coastal tourism, ; ecotourism, ; exploration, ; fishing issues, ; international security, , ; lighthouses, ; piracy, , , ; privateering, , ; research missions/vessels, , , , , ; research organizations, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, , ; trade/transportation, , , , , , , , ; trawling, Spanish-American War, Speke, John Hanning, , , , Split port, Spokane River, Sri Lanka: Indian Ocean connection, , , , , ; ports and harbors, ; research organizations, ; shipbuilding/ shipping, , Sri Lanka Port, St. Clair River, St. George’s Channel, St. John Bayou, St. Johns Harbor, St. Lawrence: Stairway to the Sea (movie),
INDEX St. Lawrence River: exploration, , ; fuels and transportation, ; Great Lakes and, , , ; International Rapids, ; Lower Estuary, , ; Middle Estuary, ; North American Ports, , ; Quebec Lowlands, –; research organizations, ; St. Lawrence Seaway connection, , ; Upper Estuary, , St. Lawrence Seaway, , , , , – St. Lawrence Seaway Bill, St. Louis Port, St. Mary’s Falls Ship Canal, St. Maurice River, St. Petersburg Port, Stalin, Joseph, Standards for Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW), Stanley, Henry Morgan, , , , Stecknitz Canal, , Stewart (research vessel), , Stockholm Harbor, Stoke-on-Trent River, Storm and flood control, – Strait of Florida, Strait of Georgia, Strait of Gibraltar, –; and Black Sea, ; and Caspian Sea, ; exploration, ; international security, , ; Mediterranean Sea connection, , , , ; ports and harbors, ; research missions/ vessels, , ; sea levels, ; shipping and military and, ; trade/transportation, Strait of Melaka, Strait of Messina, , Strait of Otranto, , , Straits of Magellan, , , –, , , – Stratford-upon-Avon River, Strauss, Johann, Subic Bay, Suez, Isthmus of, , , , , , , Suez Canal, – ; Egypt and, –, ; Ferdinand de Lessups and, , , ; freight shipping and, ; fuels and transportation, – , ; international security, , ; landbridges, , – , , – ; Mediterranean Sea connection,
, , , , ; oil and natural gas, ; ports and harbors, ; Red Sea connection, , ; salvage and, ; ship salvage, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; trade/transportation, ; vs. Panama Canal, , ; vs. Strait of Gibraltar, Suez Canal Authority, , Suez Crises of , Suez Harbor, Suez Port, , Sukki Dam, Sumerian civilization, , , , Surabaya Port, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (), Surfing, – Susquehanna River, Suva Port, Swansea Port, Sweden, , , Sweet Thames Runs Softly (Gibson), Switzerland, , Sydney Port, Syr Darya River, Syracuse Port, , Tacoma Port, , Taedong River, , , , Taganda Bay, Tagus River, , Tahiti, , , , Talas River, Talbot Port, Tales of Fishing (Grey), Tampa Bay, Tampa Port, Tanana River, Tanaro River, Tangipahoa River, Tapti River, Tarbela Dam, Tarentum Port, Tarn River, Tasman, Abel, , , Tasmania, , , , Tatu River, Tauber River, Taz River, Tchefuncte River, Teach, Edward (Blackbeard), , Tehri Dam, Tehuantepec, Isthmus of, , , ,
INDEX Tehuantepec Gulf, Tennessee River, , Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), , Tethys Sea, TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent), Tevere River, Tewfik Port, Thailand: agriculture and trade, ; coastal tourism, ; coastal urban development, ; ecotourism, ; fishing issues, , ; Indian Ocean connection, ; research missions/vessels (pre-), ; research organizations, ; rivers, ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; South China Sea connection, ; underwater archaeology, Thames estuary, Thames River, , , , , , , , , Third Anglo-Dutch War, Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Thomas Washington (research vessel), Thorndon Park Dam, A Thousand Miles Up (Edwards), Three Gorges Dam, , , , , , Three Saints Bay, Thresher (research vessel), Thunderball (Fleming), Tianjin Port, Tiber River, , , , Ticinus River, Tickfaw River, Tidal energy, –; tidal mills, – ; tidal power, – Tigris-Euphrates water system, Tigris River, , , , , , , , , , Tijuana River, Tikrit River, The Tin Drum (Grass), Tobol River, TOFC (Trailer On Flat-Car), Tokyo Bay, , , Tokyo Harbor, Tokyo Port, Toledo Canal, Toledo River, Tonga, , , , Tonle Sap River, Tordesillas, Treaty of, , , , , , Torres Strait,
Tower of Hercules Lighthouse, Townsville Port, Toxic Substances Control Act (), Trade and transportation: communities of interest, – ; economics of, ; th–th Century, – ; harbor facilities, – ; logistics, –; modernization of, –; th–th Century, –; Panalpina, –; pre-th Century, –; safety/ security, –; trade houses, – ; trade houses/shipping, Trans-Polar Current, Travels in the Interior of Africa (Park), Treaty of Lausanne, Treaty of Maastricht, Treaty of Nerchinsk, Treaty of Oregon, Treaty of Paris, , Treaty of Saragossa, Treaty of Tilsit, Treaty of Tordesillas, , , , , , Treaty of Utrecht, Treaty of Versailles, Trebia River, Trent-Severn Waterway, Tres Marias Dam, Trieste port, Trinity House Lighthouse, Tripoli, Tripoli Port, Tripolitan War, , Troikas (research vessel), , Trojan War, , , , , The Troller’s Guide (Salter), Trollhättan Falls, Trollhättan Lock, Tullumayo River, Tunisia, , Tunuyán River, Turkey: agriculture and trade, ; international security, , , ; trade/ transportation, , ; underwater archaeology, Turkmenbashy Port, Tuvalu, Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Verne), Twickenham Ferry (Theophilus), Tynemouth Port, Tyrrhenian Sea, , ,
INDEX Uatumä River, Ubanui River, Ulanga River, Ulverstone Port, Umm Qasr Port, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau (TV series), , Underwater Studies and Research Group, UNESCO World Heritage site, , , United Kingdom, , , , ; canals, , ; coastal/ecotourism, , ; customs, ; ferry industry, ; fishing issues, , , , , ; ITLOS, ; North Sea and, –; passenger shipping, , ; port operations, , ; research organizations, ; trawling, ; wave energy, , ; wind energy, United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), , , United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UNCLNUIW), United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS): cartography and, ; coastal state shipping rules and, ; environmental concerns and, , , ; International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and, –, ; Koh, Tommy Thong Bee and, ; North Sea territorial claims, ; part twelve excerpt of, – ; piracy and, United States: aquariums, , , ; artificial marine habitats/reefs, ; coastal tourism, ; coastal urban development, ; dams and locks, ; desalination, ; diving, ; exploration, , , ; fishing issues, , ; global food trade, , , ; hydrogen fuel, , ; hydropower/water management, , , , ; international security, –, , , ; landbridges, ; laws and treaties, ; lighthouses, ; ocean research schools, ; oil and gas dominance, –; piracy, , , , , , ; pollution, , , , ; port operations, , , , , , , ; ports and harbors, ; privateering, , , ; research missions/ vessels, , , , , ; research organizations, , , ; sea levels,
; shipbuilding/shipping, , , , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, , ; storm and flood control, ; trade/transportation, , Upper Bay, Upper Plenty River, Upper Volta River, Ural River, Urquiza, Justo José de, Uruguay River, USAID, USS Tuscarora (research vessel), Ust-Kamenorgorsk Dam, Utrecht, Treaty of, Vaca, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de, Valdez Port, Valdivia (research vessel), Valparaiso Port, Vancouver Port, , , Venetian civilization, , – , – Venezuela, Venice Port, Veracruz Port, , , , , Versailles, Treaty of, Vespucci, Amerigo, , , , , , Victoria (research vessel), Victoria Port, Victoria Reservoir, Vienna Port, Vienne River, Vietnam: agriculture and trade, , ; coastal tourism, ; dams and locks, , ; exploration, ; Indian Ocean connection, ; international security, , ; oil and natural gas, ; port operations, ; ports and harbors, ; research organizations, ; rivers, , , ; sea levels, ; seaweed cultivation, ; South China Sea connection, , ; trade/ transportation, , , ; underwater archaeology, Visakhapatnam Port, Vistula River, Vitoria Port, Vladivostok Harbor, Vladivostok Port, Volga River, , , , , , , Volta reservoir, Volta River, , Von Humboldt, Alexander, Vøringen (research vessel),
INDEX Wabash River, War of , , War of Austrian Succession, , , , , War of Spanish Succession, , , , , War of the Pacific, War of the Triple Alliance, , Waranga Reservoir, Warren Dam, Warrnambool Port, Wars of Independence, Water Hygiene and Solid Waste Management (U.S.), Water Music (Handel), Watson, Charles, Wave energy, – Wei River, Welland Canal, , , , , Weser River, , West Desert Pumping project, West Indies, , , , , , ; international security, ; passenger shipping/ cruise industry, ; ports and harbors, , , ; research missions/vessels, ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; trade/transportation, West Norwegian Current, Western Heights Lighthouse, Western Mediterranean, , WGS- (World Geodetic System-), Whaling: before , – ; Modern, – White Nile River, , , , White Sea, , , White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal, Whitehorse Rapids, Whitewater Canal, Wiley-Dondero Ship Canal, Willamette River, William Scoresby (research vessel), Williamstown Port, Wilson Dam, , Winchelsea Port, Wind energy, offshore and coastal, – Windward Passage, Wolf Creek Dam, Wollongong Port, World Canals (Hadfield), World Health Organization (WHO), World Lighthouse Society, World War I: African Rivers War and, ; Atlantic Ocean and, ; Australian dams
and, ; Baltic states and, ; Battle of Midway, ; Bosphorus Strait and, ; Caspian Sea and, ; cruise/passenger shipping disruption, ; Dardanelles and, –; English Channel and, ; European shipping and, ; food blockades and, –; Great Lakes and, ; Hague Convention and, ; Hamburg Port and, ; hydroelectric power and, ; Lake Victoria and, ; Meiji Restoration of , ; North Sea and, ; Pacific ports and, ; Philippine Sea and, ; privateering, ; research missions/ vessels, , , ; research organizations, , , ; Rhine River and, ; salvage operations, ; sand usage, ; Sea of Japan and, ; seaweed usage and, ; ship design and construction, , , ; ship owning sector and, , ; ship salvage, ; shipbuilding/shipping, ; St. Lawrence Seaway and, ; Suez Canal and, , ; Tigris River and, ; Treaty of Versailles and, World War II: Asian export/import growth, ; Atlantic Ocean battles, ; Australian coastal engineering, ; Baltic states and, ; Caribbean Sea and, –; Caspian Sea and, ; Chinese Pacific coast and, ; containerization of cargo, , , ; Coral Sea and, ; Danube River and, ; Dardanelles and, ; desalination and, ; English Channel and, ; ferry industry advances and, , , , ; food blockages, –; German European river control, ; Gulf of Alaska and, ; Hamburg Port and, –; hydropower and, , ; Indus River and, ; international security, ; Lake Titicaca post-war expansion, ; LendLease Agreement and, ; maritime shipping/trade disputes, ; North Sea and, ; offshore structures, ; Pacific ports and, ; Panama Canal and, , ; Philippine Sea and, ; Plate River battle, , ; post-war coastal development, , ; post-war cruise/passenger shipping growth, , , ; post-war fishing advancements, , ; privateering, ; Red Sea and, ; research missions/vessels, , , ; research organizations, , ; river fortifications, ; Rotterdam Port and, ; ship owning sector and, –; ship salvage,
INDEX ; shipbuilding/shipping, , , ; shipping/trade laws/treaties, ; South China Sea and, ; St. Lawrence Seaway and, ; Suez Canal and, , , , ; underwater archaeology and, , ; warship construction, World without Sun (movie), Wyse, Bonaparte, , Xingu River, Xiushui River, Yacyretá Dam, Yakima River, Yakutat Bay, Yalong Jiang Dam, Yalu River, , , , Yamuna River, Yan Yean Dam, Yangon (Myanmar),
Yangtze River, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Yarra River, Yellow River, , , , , Yellow Sea, Yenissei River, , Yichang-Ghezouba Dam, Yokohoma Port, Yorke Peninsula, Yucatan Channel, , Yucatan Peninsula, , Yukon River, Zambezi River, , Zanzibar Port, Zara port, Zedong, Mao, , Zhu Jiang River, , Ziemo-Avtchal Dam, Zulu civilization,