Balikpapan, in the province of East Kalimantan, is the region's main gateway, with air and sea connections to Jakarta and other points in Indonesia.
Many islands in Greece are particularly difficult to reach, most do not have airports, and sea connections can be cut off by bad weather in winter.
To the west, Thailand has some of the best air and sea connections in South East Asia; and to the east, across the narrow strip of Laos, are the markets of Vietnam and China, bursting with the wealth of their new economies and hungry for the flesh, skin, claws and bones of exotic wildlife.
Mainland European countries draw electricity across borders to meet local shortages, but as an island nation this is less of an option for the UK. Britain's grid is interconnected with France and the Netherlands, and it is considering making further long distance under sea connections with Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and Norway.
The nearby physical wealth is poor to mediocre, and they are now far off-centre on the national map; but a prosperous mercantile beginning, good land and sea connections with distant places, and a rich local accumulation of talent, capital, and initiative were sufficient to bring about the growth of one of the world's largest concentrations of industry, commerce, and people.
Fig. 2 Number of active sea connections (1890 2000).
This data enabled us to construct snapshots of the network of sea connections at different moments in time and to follow its evolution.
NOAA scientists are looking for basic geological information on the deep sea connections between the islands and ridges of this island chain.
