The map sets Graf Spee's cruise against the Royal Navy's maritime protection problem in 1939. The raider had ranged through the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean before approaching an area rich in merchant targets. Success there could cause repercussions out of proportion to the number of ships directly attacked because the trade route itself was strategically important. A comparison with later Somali piracy shows that established trade routes retained their importance many decades later.
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Trade routes define Graf Spee's operating space
A map-based explanation shows why Graf Spee's move toward dense South Atlantic trade routes threatened British shipping far beyond the vessels she could attack directly.