Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 5.2
International tourism arrivals, 2005
Millions
Europe
441.6
East Asia
128.2
South Asia
8.0
Oceania
10.1
North America
90.1
Central America
6.5
Caribbean
18.1
South America
16.2
North Africa/Middle East
49.1
Sub-Saharan Africa
20.7
Total
808.0
Source:
World Tourism Organization 2006.
they are unable to utilize these strategic waterways, the geography of mari-
time shipping has witnessed the growth of pendulum services over the Paci
c
and North Atlantic Oceans (Fleming and Hayuth 1994). The maximum
speed of large ships, however, has remained relatively unchanged at 25 knots.
Given the continued salience of shipping even in the age of digital capital,
ports remain important interfaces between land- and water-based trans-
portation, vital interfaces within global commodity chains that seamlessly
integrate production, trade, and services (Robinson 2002; Panayides 2006).
More recently, the industry has seen the introduction of just-in-time and
door-to-door services, further expediting the velocity of shipment (Slack and
Fremont 2005).
fi
Obliterating earth space from outer space through satellites
Satellites have long been a major means by which national sovereignty has
been both extended and contested above the earth's atmosphere, and at times
they blur national borders by facilitating the international communication of
information. While they are often depicted in technocratic terms, satellites are
deeply embedded in terrestrial political relations: although satellites circulate
in outer space, their origins and impacts occur very much on the ground.
Access to satellite technology, for example, both mimics and reinforces ter-
restrial relations of wealth and power, and the regulation of international
satellite tra
c mirrors the changing power-geometries of states in the con-
temporary world-system.
Starting with the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik in 1957, satellites
played a key role in the militarization of space during the cold war (DeVorkin
1992; Edwards 1996; Cloud 2001; Richelson 2001). The
first U.S. satellite,
Explorer I, was put into orbit one year later. In 1960, the CIA established the
National Reconnaissance O
fi
ce to operate an emerging satellite espionage
Search WWH ::
Custom Search