PACIFIC Ocean: characteristics and location

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The oceans are a very important part of human life, their waters occupying the vast majority of the surface of our planet and, therefore, most of the Earth is water. All oceans are important, but some are more recognized for their large surface than others, the leader of this classification being the great Pacific Ocean. To know this incredible body of water, in this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to talk about the characteristics and location of the Pacific Ocean.

Index

1. Location of the Pacific Ocean
2. Characteristics of the Pacific Ocean
3. Brief history of the Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is located in the continents of Asia, Oceania and America, occupying its waters the coasts of a large part of the three continents. When talking about the Pacific geographers generally speak of the delimitation in two parts, one being the North Pacific and the other the South Pacific, which helps us to delimit the area where the area is located.

• Regarding the North pacific we can delimit it to the north and southwest by the Eastern Malay Islands, to the west and northwest by the Philippine Sea and the Sea of Japan, to the north by the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, to the east by Alaska and the Gulf of California, and to the south by Ecuador.
• On the other side the South Pacific It is delimited by the west a meridian that is between Tasmania and Antarctica, to the southwest and northwest by different small seas such as that of Coral, to the north by Ecuador, to the east by a line between the Virgin Islands and Cape Espíritu Santo, and to the south by the continent Antarctic.

To understand the great importance of this world ocean, we must also talk about the large number of countries those affected by its waters, so below we are going to list all those countries that have a coastline that overlooks the Pacific. Some of the main countries whose coasts are washed by waters of the Pacific are as follows:

• Australia
• Brunei
• Cambodia
• Canada
• chili
• China
• Colombia
• South Korea
• North Korea
• Costa Rica
• Ecuador
• The Savior
• USA
• Philippines
• Fiji
• Guam
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Cook islands
• Mariana islands
• Marshall Islands
• Pitcairn islands
• Solomon Islands
• Japan
• Malaysia
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• New Zealand
• Panama
• Peru
• Russia
• Samoa
• Singapore
• Thailand
• Taiwan
• Vietnam

One of the most wonderful things about our planet is that not all elements that look the same are, which is why that between two oceans, which are still two great masses of water, there are numerous differences that make the one so different from the other. That is why there are unique characteristics for the Pacific Ocean, so we should talk about some of them in this lesson.

• The mean depth of the Pacific is 4270 meters.
• The temperature of the Pacific is highly variable, there are points close to freezing and others that reach up to 30º.
• The water salinity it also varies greatly depending on the location, with much more in mid-latitudes than near the equator.
• exist 5 types of weather in the ocean area, being the equator, the middle latitudes, the monsoons, the tropics and typhoons.
• Half is basic igneous stones and the other half of acid igneous rocks, being divided by the so-called andesite line.
• Several are the gulfs of the Pacific, the best known being California and Panama.
• The majors land masses found in the Pacific are Australia, New Zealand, and Easter Island.
• The Pacific ocean basin is The oldest of the world.

To continue with this lesson on the characteristics and location of the Pacific Ocean, we must talk briefly about the history of this ocean to understand its great importance in the history of the humanity.

The history of the Pacific with Europe dates back to the fourteenth century, when it was spotted by Vasco Nunez de Balboa, being called by South Sea for its situation with respect to the Atlantic, which was called the North Sea. Even with this, the Pacific was not crossed until years later, when Magellan He used the canal that bears his name to reach the Philippines.

After the action of Magellan, the Pacific Ocean was dominated by the Spanish during the following century and a half, being considered almost Hispanic-owned for the enormous number of Spanish expeditions that crossed its waters to cross between America and the Philippines.

In subsequent centuries new powers became interested in the Pacific, reaching a point during the 19th century imperialism in which all the great western powers had occupied territories in their waters and had begun to fight to dominate the commerce in their waters. At first these occupations were carried out by the European powers, but little by little others States such as Japan and the United States began to occupy the Ocean, this being very relevant in years later.

Between all these struggles for dominance the most relevant was that of China and Japan, that was even part of the wars that made up the Second World War, and that in a certain way was the cause of the United States entry into the war and the subsequent victory of the Allies. For this reason, it could be said that the relevance of the Pacific in World War II was very important.

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