14 : The Atlantic 



surface of the water hemisphere, as the name impUes, is practically 

 entirely composed of ocean. It contains only 6 per cent of the land 

 area of the world including the uninhabited Antarctic continent and 

 it includes only a small fraction of the people and of the natural 

 resources of the world. 



3. The land hemisphere contains 94 per cent of the land of the globe 

 and most of the population and the physical resources of the world. 



4. The Atlantic Ocean is central to the land hemisphere. The Atlan- 

 tic touches all five of the great continents and its shore line is made 

 up of parts of their coasts. The only major land mass that it does 

 not touch is Australia. 



5. The Atlantic Ocean is the major drainage basin of all the major 

 continents and by an overwhelming percentage it receives the waters 

 of the major river systems of the world. Since the watershed of the 

 western continents lies far to the west and the watershed of the east- 

 ern continents lies far to the east, practically all of the productive 

 agricultural lands of the temperate zones of the earth lie along rivers 

 that drain into the Atlantic basin. 



Sir John Murray estimates that the continental areas drained by 

 rivers emptying into the Atlantic are about twice as great as those 

 emptying into the Pacific and Indian combined. 



6. The Atlantic Ocean has a greater continental shore line than 

 the Pacific and the Indian Oceans combined. 



7. In the Old World in classic times the writers and the military 

 leaders gave the name "Mediterranean" to a sea. They recognized its 

 importance because it was surrounded by practically all of the impor- 

 tant nations of the then-known world. So today we might give the 

 name "Mediterranean Ocean" to the Atlantic because it is sur- 

 rounded by the world's major land masses. 



8. The Atlantic story tells how man first learned to travel on the 

 seas and on the ocean. It shows that the ocean has had an important 

 effect on the way in which men think and feel and behave. The use 

 of the sea has compelled man to develop some of his most important 

 arts and sciences. The Atlantic story shows how structure and the 

 behavior of the ocean have entered into human history; how the great 

 winds and currents of the Atlantic have assisted man in some direc- 

 tions and held him back in others; how they have helped to deter- 

 mine the routes followed by the explorers, the colonists and the trad- 

 ers. 



9. Often the routes which the early settlers followed across the At- 

 lantic set the pattern for later travel and exploration on the continent. 



