Page 190 - NS-2 Textbook

MARITIME GEOGRAPHY 185

in that huge country. Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Mon- face that are important from a milita'Y standpoint. The
tevideo, Uruguay, export beef to the United States and Atlantic side of the European coast has a number of
export beef and wheat to Europe. They also import man- strategic waterways. The two most important of these
ufactured products from the United States and Europe. are the Strait of Gibraltar and the Danish straits Skager-
West African ports of special trading interest to the rak (Skag' -e-rak) and Kattegat (Kat' -e-gat).
United States include Casablanca, Morocco, for lead and The Sh'ait of Gibraltar is the western entrance to the
cobalt; Monrovia~ Liberia, for iron ore; Lagos, Nigeria, Mediterranean Sea. It also is the door to the Atlantic
for oil; Accra, Ghana, for cocoa and gold; and Cape Ocean for Russian Black Sea and Mediterranean Squad-
Town, South Africa, for gold, diamonds, platinmn, and ron naval vessels. Under control of Britain, Gibraltar is
chromillin, among other strategic minerals. also vital to allied interests in southern Europe and
Strategic GeograpllY. When we use the word strategic North Africa.
with geography! ,ve are referring to areas on Earth's sur- Russian naval vessels from the Baltic Sea Fleet must
go through the Danish straits to get into the North Sea
and North Atlantic. The main Russian naval bases and
shipbuilding cities on the Baltic Sea are St. Petersburg
and Kaliningrad. Other important East European ports
are Riga, Latvia, and Gdynia (Ga-din'-e-a) and Gdansk
(Ga-dansk'), Poland.
Atlantic Ocean Another strategic area from the standpoint of de-
fending allied shipping in the North Atlantic is known as
the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (G-I-UK) gap.
Sirail of Git"al.'ar·~---'
This is a wide expanse of water between Greenland, Ice-
land, the Faeroe Islands, and northern Scotland. It is
through tlns seaway that Russian naval warships and
submarines from their northern fleet based at Mur-
mansk, on the Barents Sea, and Archangel on the White
The Strait of Gibraltar. Sea, have to proceed to gain access to the Atlantic Ocean.

FINLAND
NORWAY

Osloe

RUSSIA

The Baltic Sea ports and bases. The strategic straits Skagerrak and Kattegat are the only access in and out.