Pacific Rim
Categories: International
Before Ocean’s Eleven was stealing money from casinos, the biggest bucks to be found were on the ocean. Like on the Pacific ocean (think: pirates).
The Pacific Rim refers to the land-edges surrounding the Pacific ocean. We’re talking the west coasts of North America and South America on one side. The Pacific ocean spans from there to allll the way over to Australia, Japan, and east/southeast Asia. These land borders of the Pacific Ocean make up the Pacific Rim.
Lots of your Amazon orders, before you ordered them, were shipped over the Pacific Ocean. Since the Pacific Ocean is such a large shipping highway, Pacific Rim countries have profited handsomely.
On the Asian side of the Rim, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore have earned the nickname “Four Asian Tigers” for their super-fast industrialization and economic expansion. No doubt their geolocation on the Pacific Rim helped them climb their way to the top of the international economic food chain.
![](https://media1.shmoop.com/images/finance-glossary/manhattan-skyline-night.jpg)