Brazil and Chile could not ignore the sea

Brazil's dreadnoughts provide the starting point for asking why the country maintained a navy despite political turmoil and extensive land borders. Public support made a minimum level of maritime power an enduring political expectation. Brazilian governments could not simply invoke the continental frontier and ignore the sea without consequences. Chile is presented as a parallel case in which changing governments still had to reckon with maritime interests. Together the examples show how public understanding of geography can sustain naval policy through domestic political change.