Bird poop gives the US authority to claim an uninhabited island.
Bird poop gives the US authority to claim an uninhabited island.
According to the Guano Islands Act:
Whenever any citizen of the United States discovers a deposit of guano on any island, rock, or key, not within the lawful jurisdiction of any other Government, and not occupied by the citizens of any other Government, and takes peaceable possession thereof, and occupies the same, such island, rock, or key may, at the discretion of the President, be considered as appertaining to the United States.
Apparently more than 100 islands have been claimed for the U.S. under the Guano Islands Act, with 12 remainig under US claim.
The reason for this is that guano came to be prized as a source of saltpeter for gunpowder as well as an agricultural fertilizer.
Learn more at Wikipedia.
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