Geopolitical Analysis of the Importance of the Persian Gulf for Maritime Powers (From the Beginning of Colonization until Now)

Halford Mackinder, British geographer, and Alfred Thayer Mahan, naval officer and historian, divided world powers into land powers, with Russia at the center, and sea powers, with America and Britain as the great players, in the world. Later other geographers developed this idea, and many of them introduced the countries on the coasts of the Persian Gulf as the most important parts of the Rimland Belt and the Caucasus and the Persian Gulf as the energy heartlands of the world.Accordingly, as a part of this belt, the Persian Gulf has always been a conflict zone for maritime powers such as Britain and, later, the USA. They have continued the reinforcement of their military presencein this region until today. Following an analytic-descriptiveapproach, this paperexamines the geopolitical interests of sea powers in preserving and controlling the Persian Gulf. The findings of this study demonstrate that, at the time being, one of the most important geopolitical codes of maritime powers is to maintain their military presence in the Persian Gulf.