EDUCATORS ’ PERSPECTIVE
Guano Finance
By Brian Grinder and Dan Cooper
The Chincha Islands of Peru are not on anyone ’ s list of must-see tourist destinations . These three islands lie a few miles off the coast of Peru 100 miles south of Lima . They are massive chunks of granite that burst out of the Pacific Ocean . There are no beaches , no luxury resorts and no potable water , but there are birds — lots of birds .
Every year guanay cormorants , bluefooted boobies , pelicans and other winged species find their way to these islands to mate , to find sustenance and to defecate . The warm Humboldt Current provides the birds with abundant meals of anchoveta and other small fish . These nutrient-rich fish are then translated into guano rich in nitrate and phosphorous that , thanks again to the dry Humboldt Current , does not leech out over the years but retains its potent potential
“ Manure does not rank high in the world ’ s economies . It is refuse . Garbage . We organize efficient and sometimes elaborate systems to collect it , haul it away , get it out of sight and smell . But the observant and wise know that this apparently dead and despised waste is teeming with life — enzymes , numerous microorganisms . It ’ s the stuff of resurrection .”
as fertilizer . This prodigious production of guano piled up relatively undisturbed on these islands over thousands of years .
The Incas understood the value of guano . There is evidence that they not only used it as fertilizer for their crops , but that they protected the islands by making them off limits to the public . The
— Eugene H . Peterson
Spanish , initially attracted to Peru by gold and silver , also made some use of guano as fertilizer , but it was not until the 19th century that the agricultural industries of Europe and North America began to take guano seriously as a commercial fertilizer .
Successful agricultural experiments with guano in Europe in the early 19th
1866 sketch of the Chincha Islands of Peru .
www . MoAF . org | Fall 2017 | FINANCIAL HISTORY 9