@IvanSanchez yes, it's a fun one, but no point.
You may enjoy our Finland ๐ซ๐ฎ #geoweirdness thread
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/112230840920256747
Attached: 1 image This week's #geoweirdness thread is dedicated to our friends up north in Finland ๐ซ๐ฎ since in two day's time (on ๐๏ธ April 9th) Geomob Finland will take place in Turku. So what's geoweird about Finland? ๐๐งต๐ Details of #geomobfin on April 9th: https://thegeomob.com/post/april-9th-2024-geomobfin-details #finland
@zkarj you may enjoy our New Zealand ๐ณ๐ฟ #geoweirdness thread
Attached: 1 image Last week in #geoweirdness we covered Canada ๐จ๐ฆ in the far north of the globe. This week we head far south to New Zealand ๐ณ๐ฟ So what's geographically odd about New Zealand? 1/n
@KerryMitchell yes, we discussed it a bit in our Canada ๐จ๐ฆ #geoweirdness thread
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/109970277198086308
but not sure it is a choke point currently
Attached: 1 image Last week's #geoweirdness thread about France ๐ซ๐ท really resonated, thanks everyone for sharing ๐ This week we'll stay (at least partially) in the French-speaking world and consider the geographic oddities of Canada ๐จ๐ฆ #geoweirdness #canada 1/n
9/ That's it for our overview of โด๏ธ maritime choke points. What did we overlook?
We have more threads about the #geoweirdness of specific countries, border disputes, geocoding, etc linked on our blog:
https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads
If you enjoyed this thread you might enjoy our thread about geocoding the oceans ๐ https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110207789147450417
3/ At the northern end of the Red Sea we have the Suez Canal, passing through Egypt ๐ช๐ฌ.
The Canal's critical importance to global logistics and the route from Europe to Asia came into focus a few years ago when it was blocked by a container ship that ran aground.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Suez_Canal_obstruction
Our #geoweirdness thread about Egypt: https://en.osm.town/@opencage/115729051480488048
In the Americas the most important maritime choke point is the Panama Canal, which passes through Panama ๐ต๐ฆ and connects the Caribbean (Atlantic) with the Pacific.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal
Until 1979 the Canal Zone was a territory of the United States ๐บ๐ธ
5/ At the other end of the Mediterranean is the Strait of Gibraltar, connecting the Med with the Atlantic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Gibraltar
Since 1704 Britain ๐ฌ๐ง has controlled Gibraltar ๐ฌ๐ฎ though this is contested by Spain ๐ช๐ธ. Meanwhile Spain has the "autonomous city" of Ceuta bordering Morocco ๐ฒ๐ฆ on the southern side of the Strait.
As we covered in our Morocco #geoweirdness thread, nearby Tangier was it's own "international zone" until 1956.
The world's attention remains fixed on the US ๐บ๐ธ / Israel ๐ฎ๐ฑ / Iran ๐ฎ๐ท conflict generally and the Strait of Hormuz, the entry to the Persian Gulf, specifically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_hormuz
While the conflict hopefully de-escalates we thought for this week's
#geoweirdness thread we would feature the list of strategic maritime "choke points".
1/
4/ Heading north we find the ๐น๐ท Turkish straits (the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles) linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_straits
The strategic location of Istanbul (previously Constantinople) connecting Asia and Europe has been clear for millennia, but the on-going Russia ๐ท๐บ / Ukraine ๐บ๐ฆ war has brought renewed focus to this critical waterway.
Our #geoweirdness thread about Turkey
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110326676703792569
2/ Not far from the Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea we find the Bab-el-Mandeb passage between Yemen ๐พ๐ช on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti ๐ฉ๐ฏand Eritrea ๐ช๐ท in the Horn of Africa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bab-el-Mandeb
Nearby is Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia ๐ธ๐ด in 1991 and operates as its own country, but is recognized by only one UN member: Israel ๐ฎ๐ฑ
OpenCage ๐๐