Global Position and International Relations

Abstract

The fundamental contrast between the two superpowers derives from the disposition of land and sea over the surface of the globe. If Wegener’s convincing hypothesis is true, the land originally formed a single mass, the outer parts of which have drifted away to form the separate continents.¹ They are still close enough together, however, for it to be possible to divide the globe into two halves in such a way that one half is covered almost entirely by sea, while the other contains most of the land. This land hemisphere consists of one large unbroken central area and a surrounding zone of peninsulas and islands, some small and some of continental size.