Trade density explains the value of Gibraltar and other chokepoints

Trade continues, but its routes and investment patterns respond to political and economic choices. Currency manipulation can make one country's mines and resources more attractive to investors, changing where goods originate and travel. Concentrated shipping around Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, Suez, and Gibraltar exposes many countries to disruption at the same locations. Bab el-Mandeb, Suez, and Gibraltar form successive chokepoints along a heavily used shipping corridor. Gibraltar also mattered before the Suez Canal because a British presence there could obstruct the junction of French Mediterranean and Atlantic fleets. A country's exposure includes finance, insurance, business ownership, and goods carried along these routes, which helps explain naval interests beyond its own coastline.