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