Timothy Pesi

For much of the 20th century, the global oil trade resembled a risky maritime gamble. Tankers the length of skyscrapers ferried crude across oceans, often with minimal safety safeguards. When accidents happened, they were not minor mishaps—they were environmental catastrophes measured in hundreds of thousands of tonnes of oil. The map above tells the story of the largest oil tanker spills since 1967, plotting where they occurred and how massive they were.

In the 1970s, the global oil trade had a dirty secret—literally. Oil tankers, the massive ships carrying crude across oceans, spilled oil with alarming regularity. Between 70 and 100 tanker spills occurred every year, turning the world’s shipping lanes into environmental hazard zones. At the time, a spill every week was almost routine.

Money sent home by migrants rarely makes front-page economic headlines. Yet for millions of families across Africa, these quiet transfers—often sent in modest monthly installments—are the difference between subsistence and stability. According to the World Bank, remittances include both personal transfers and compensation of employees working abroad. In economic terms, they represent one of the most direct and personal forms of globalization: wages earned in London, Dubai, or New York.