The present configurations of the Earth’s oceans and its land masses have been in place for many millions of years, and it is over this span of time that human beings evolved to where we are today. Hardly steady, in view of the ice-age and interglacial cycles that have occurred over the past million years, the Earth’s climate has at least settled into a certain rhythm, allowing for the civilizations as we know them to develop, especially during the present interglacial period that began some 8000 years ago subsequent to the last glacial maximum that peaked around 20,000 years ago.