Abstract
In his classic collection of essays on maritime geography The Interest of America in Sea Power, Present and Future, Alfred Thayer Mahan opined that the importance of “portions of the earth’s surface, and their consequent interest to mankind, differ from time to time.”1 Just as the Mediterranean Sea once transfixed the minds of European strategists and policy makers, Mahan believed, at the turn of the twentieth century, the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea would obtain similar prominence in American strategic thinking. A century later, as we observe the relative balance of economic and military powers shifting to Asia and the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Mahan’s teachings on geography are again instructive, as once seemingly insignificant bodies of water and island chains take on a new importance in regional security matters.
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