Mummy of Christopher Delano; image from the 1864 French translation of the 1854 A Descriptive Narrative of the Wonderful Petrifaction of a Man into Stone. Image Credit: Courtesy of Garrett Scott Bird ...

Among the most peculiar alibis the world’s maritime powers used for their programme of conquest and occupation was guano – seabird excrement rich in nitrogen, potassium and phosphates, sought after as ...

A far-flung maritime empire built on guano, chemical weapons, coal, and just because: these are the stories of the U.S. territories, outposts of coral, sand, and palm trees lost in the endless blue ...

Because no day is complete without further investigation of fertilizer’s historic role in the evolution of the global economy, How the World Works intends to brighten your Friday with some deep ...

Blame it on "guano mania." A craze for natural fertilizer made from bird droppings spurred the U.S. to take possession of a group of remote Pacific islands in the 19th century, and now those islands ...

In 1856, seabird guano was an in-demand fertilizer, so the the United States Congress passed The Guano Islands Act. This legislation was a precursor to American imperialism, as it allowed citizens to ...

It isn’t every day that the U.S. Congress passes legislation that encourages and protects American access to bird excrement, but the Guano Islands Act did just that. It passed this week (Aug. 18) in ...

In the fall of 1802, the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt arrived in Callao, Peru’s major port, just west of Lima. Humboldt had timed his visit to coincide with a transit of Mercury, which he ...

The worldwide boom in commodities has come to this: Even guano, the bird dung that was the focus of an imperialist scramble on the high seas in the 19th century, is in strong demand once again. ISLA ...

The real guano grab was made by the USA in the Pacific. In 1856 the US Congress passed the Guano Islands Act that authorised American citizens to take posses... The real guano grab was made by the USA ...

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. It was a treasure for the Incas, the cause of a war, and once a backbone of Peru's economy. Now as the world hungers for sustainable ...