66 : The Atlantic 



sible for ladies to assume the interesting and complicated contours 

 that were then regarded as the height of fashion. The ocean has also 

 yielded countless acres of furs to keep the ladies warm and stylishly 

 attired and the whale has yielded ambergris to serve as a base for 

 their perfumes. 



A chapter in the next section of the book deals with the chief types 

 of whales and the types of vessels that have hunted them. 



Travel and Transport: The ocean is the great highway of man- 

 kind. Man's farthest journeys and most successful journeys have 

 been made by way of the sea, and all of the continents, subcontinents 

 and major island groups of the world were discovered, developed 

 and colonized by people traveling in sailing vessels. The oceans have 

 always been and still are the prevailing means of international trade 

 and the cheapest method of transport ever devised. 



What has made the Atlantic so important in human exploration, 

 colonization, communication, trade, travel and general progress de- 

 pends partly on this ocean's central position among the continents, 

 but two other factors are almost equally important. One is the length 

 and complexity of the Atlantic continental coast lines, greater than 

 the other two oceans combined. This provides easy junction of land 

 activities of man and ocean transport — the ports, harbors and safe 

 anchorages. The second factor is the river systems and drainage ba- 

 sins that we have already examined. The rivers supplement the ports 

 and open up the continents, providing the natural channels by 

 which articles of trade reach the interior valleys and the products of 

 the land flow to the sea and so to world markets. 



There are a number of quite satisfactory maps of all the methods 

 of transport and travel of the world which show quite clearly that 

 the North Atlantic is the greatest highway ever developed in human 

 history both for the transportation of goods and for the travel of 

 people. A major part of the remainder of this book is devoted to the 

 history, development and meaning of this great natural channel of 

 contact. 



The central position of the Atlantic has inevitably exercised a 

 powerful influence on human history. In order to avoid the possi- 

 bility of creating the impression that this is an argument in favor of 

 a form of geographic determinism, the idea may be rephrased. His- 

 tory in the western world, that is to say in the major continents 

 which surround the Atlantic Ocean, has been a drama of nature in 

 which man and the ocean have each played a leading part. 



The Atlantic has been the scene of some of man's most intense 



