Pacific Islands and the Politics of Fertilizer

Abstract

Seabirds by the millions inhabit the islands of the tropical Pacific, especially in the equatorial regions of Peru where their phosphate-rich excrement (guano) has accumulated for thousands of years. The discovery of guano's use as a fertilizer in the 1840s led to commercial mining of it, especially along the coast of Peru where it had dramatic economic, social and political effects, including the use of slaves in the mining industry, declarations of war, and permanent border changes. The United States responded to its essential exclusion from this market by the approval of the Guano Islands Act of 1856, which enabled American business interests to claim uninhabited Pacific Islands with guano deposits. This led to claims and counterclaims between businesses as well as among competing countries. The island landscape changed on many island groups along with issues of ownership. The end of the guano trade was ushered in by the discovery of superphosphate deposits on certain isolated islands, and as the resource was being exploited, the strategic position of islands across the Pacific was becoming evident as the world prepared for war.