Gibraltar one of the world’s most important choke points. Likewise, the Strait of
Malacca, which separates Malaysia fromthe Indonesian island of Sumatra, is a
vital economic conduit that carries much of the oceangoing traffic between the
Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. For countries as far away as Japan and
South Korea, the strait is a lifeline to the global economy, and a primary source
of energy from the Middle East, although the largest oil tankers cannot use the
strait due to its relatively shallow depth. By some estimates, a third of the world’s
trade by value passes through the strait in an average year, making it arguably the
most important economic connection in the world. As a result of the enormous
wealth traversing the strait, it is also plagued by modern piracy, a growing problem
that Malaysia and Indonesia have struggled to contain in recent years.
Canals that connect international bodies of water are strategic bodies of water
by design. The two most important canals in the world are the Panama Canal
and the Suez Canal, both of which allow for the transport of billions of dollars of
goods in an average year. The Panama Canal is a locked canal that connects the
Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. A locked canal is one where locks, or sealed
compartments, allow the vessel traversing the canal to be lifted by flooding the
compartment and raising it to the next level, much like a series of steps on a stair-
case. This has to be done when the terrain the canal crosses is rugged or elevated.
Such a canal is much more difficult and expensive to build than one where there is
no intervening topographic barrier. The Panama Canal, begun by the French and
completed by the United States, carriesthousands of ships per year and billions
of dollars of goods. Since 1999 it has been under the control of Panama. The Suez
Canal, linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, is a somewhat different
type of canal from the Panama Canal. Because there is no intervening topographic
barrier along the western side of the Sinai Peninsula between the terminal ports of
Suez and Port Said, the Suez Canal does not require locks. The modern canal was
opened in 1869, but Egypt, the country which now controls the canal, did not gain
sovereignty over the Suez until 1956. The strategic importance of the canal may be
seen in events such as the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the blockade of the canal in
1967, which led to war between Egypt and Israel.
Stream Erosion and Deposition
Streams are predominant shapers of the terrestriallandscape. Main streams and
their innumerable tributaries are responsible for much of the landscape we see.
Even in arid areas, stream water can do significant work when available because
of the lack of protective vegetative cover fostering increased surface erosion and
Stream Erosion and Deposition 325