Line #52 UsefulNotes/TheSevenSeas


1	[[quoteright:204:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oceanus_9719.jpg]]
2
3	The major bodies of water on Earth, with a discussion of their role in fiction.
4
5	What the "seven seas" are [[http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/sevensea.htm has varied over the years]]. We are going with the modern definition, associating relevant seas with their respective oceans.
6
7	'''North Atlantic'''
8
9	Primarily known for, well, not much. Takes about a week to cross on a ship, although the record is about three and a half days.
10
11	* Scene of the Battle of the Atlantic in UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, where the Germans tried to stop North American supplies getting to the UK.
12	** Many WorldWarThree works have the USSR trying to do something similar.
13	* Also where the UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic made its only voyage.
14	* Don't forget the [[DerelictGraveyard Bermuda Triangle]]
15	* Also, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_stream Gulf Stream]] current bringing warm water from the Caribbean east across the Atlantic maybe helping to keep Europe from freezing. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutdown_of_thermohaline_circulation There's a theory]] that climate change may shut this down, to undesirable effects most recently grossly exaggerated in ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow''. In RealLife, the effects of this, while not as severe as in the movie, are already observable in Scandinavia.
16
17	''Mediterranean Sea''
18
19	Connecting the Atlantic and Indian Oceans via the Suez canal, the Med is known for being hot and a major tourist destination, especially if you live in NW Europe.
20
21	Best known by Greco-Roman culture: to them it was the centre of the world, and that is in fact what the name means (''Medi-Terra'', world's middle). Of course, it can also mean "sea surrounded by land" which it also is; indeed, "mediterranean sea" with a small "m" is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_sea_(oceanography) a technical oceanographic term]] for seas mostly (but not entirely, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorheic_basin that's another thing]]) cut off from the ocean, and whose circulation is therefore dominated by salinity and density rather than wind.
22
23	''Black Sea''
24
25	One of Russia's main seas and also Turkey's. The only access from the Med to this is via the Dardanelles and international treaties limit the amount of warship tonnage you can have in there if you're not a local state.
26
27	''Baltic Sea''
28
29	A major trade sea of Northern Europe. The Hanseatic League of medieval merchants operated here. This sea was very important for the Russian Empire since the times of Peter the Great, who built St.Petersburg as a Baltic port.[[note]]if you wonder how committed Peter was to his vision of a Russia connected to Western Europe, he actually started building the town on Swedish territory before he had won any significant victories over the Swedes, and made it his capital nine years before the war ended[[/note]] Many Ruritanias were/are located on the coast of this sea.
30
31	''Caribbean Sea/Gulf of Mexico''
32
33	Known as one of the former homes of {{Pirates}}. Has hurricanes, bananas and historically {{Banana Republic}}s. Many countries from UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealthOfNations are found here.
34
35	'''South Atlantic'''
36
37	Also known for not much, except UsefulNotes/TheFalklandIslands. Cape Horn, the Atlantic-Pacific crossing point, is known for seriously strong trade winds and is considered the toughest part of any global circumnavigation by boat.
38
39	'''North Pacific'''
40
41	Known for not all that much. There's Japan, obviously, but most of the stuff round here are cold islands with US radar stations on, and Russian Pacific fleet.
42	* Well, there's the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch Great Pacific Garbage Patch]]
43	* Also, many of the islands were used for nuclear testing by the US during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar.
44	* The UsefulNotes/RussoJapaneseWar was fought here.
45
46	'''South Pacific'''
47
48	A large collection of low-lying atolls, best known for their scantily-clad natives and diverse wildlife. And nuclear testing.
49
50	The location of many major UsefulNotes/WorldWarII campaigns and the [[Literature/TheBountyTrilogy Mutiny on the Bounty]].
51
52	'''Arctic'''
53
54	Largely covered in ice for much of the year, there is no real permanent land mass here, except for several inhospitable island chains such as Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya. The main stuff you find here are submarines under the ice pack.
55
56	''Barents Sea''
57
58	Traditionally, a home for the Russian Navy.
59
60	''White Sea''
61
62	The inland sea of Russia, and home to its Arctic Navy. Submarine bases and ancient monasteries on islands.
63
64	''Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Chukotsk Sea''
65
66	Ice-bound Arctic seas along the northern coast of Russia. Tundra shores, icy glacial islands with old Soviet nuclear test sites separating them. Russian submarines under the ice, polar bears, [[EskimoLand native peoples]] and crusty Russian miners (historically also Gulag inmates) at the shores. In the Soviet era, they also featured giant atomic icebreaker ships leading supply convoys from west to east and back.
67	** The shores also boast some of the northernmost railroads in the world, such as the isolated Norilsk Railroad and the ill-fated Transpolar Mainline, built in Stalinist times by gulag inmates, fallen into disrepair for decades and currently being brought back into working order by [[CompanyTown corporate]] natural gas drillers from the monopolistic MegaCorp Gazprom.
68
69	''Bering Sea''
70
71	North of the Aleutian Islands, this area's more known for seal hunting when it was OK, and being near where the Bering Land Bridge was.
72
73	'''Antarctic/Southern'''
74
75	Best known for penguins and scientific observation bases, no-one actually owns any of the land mass that is Antarctica, as per international treaty.
76
77	'''Indian'''
78
79	Has a couple of large island groups in the middle of it, but mostly ignored.
80	* In the West, anyway. The [[WhenItRainsItPours Monsoon]] used to aid in navigation on the "Maritime Silk Road" between China and Europe and feeds a billion people (give or take) across Southern Asia.
81	* Still important in international trade. According to Website/TheOtherWiki a quarter of all of the world's trade pass through the Strait of Malacca each year.
82	* [[MakingASplash Boxing Day]] [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom Tsunami of 2004]]
83	* And then there's this place called UsefulNotes/{{Somalia}}
84
85	''Persian/Arabian Gulf''
86
87	The area from Iraq to the Straits of Hormuz and a major oil transit route. The name you use may annoy some people.
88
89	''Red Sea''
90
91	Moses parted it, according to Literature/TheBible. Very popular with divers.

Context UsefulNotes / TheSevenSeas