The Blue Machine

Why was it necessary to import bird poo from South America when Europe was full of birds that were presumably producing a similar quantity of poo per bird? The critical difference was the cool waters of the Humboldt Current. Since the cold ocean surface suppressed rain, South American guano dried quickly and was chemically undisturbed by rainwater, leaving pristine deposits. The wet and humid conditions prevailing in Europe meant that bird poo was either washed away or chemically changed by the rainwater. The cool ocean water not only generated the conditions for the anchoveta and therefore the birds, but it also preserved the nitrogen-rich consequences in a uniquely effective way. The profits from the guano trade dominated Peru’s economy, giving the country a new-found financial stability for the duration of the ‘Guano Era’. 15 But such a valuable resource was the source of considerable international envy. The United States of America passed the ‘Guano Islands Act’ in 1856, giving its citizens the right to take possession of guano islands on behalf of the United States, in a move widely regarded as the country’s first experiment with imperialism. The Chincha Islands War was fought over some of the most valuable islands from 1865 to 1879, and the precious guano was one of the resources under dispute in the War of the Pacific in the early 1880s, when Bolivia lost its coastline to Chile. The fact that Chile had guano wars and Florida didn’t is no accident. It happened because the structure of the ocean engine directly caused a bonanza in one place and not in another. The patterns that influence civilizations–weather, resources, culture–are often a consequence of the patterns that the ocean engine generates. Humans are usually just scooting about on the surface, dealing with the problems right in front of their noses and paying no attention to the turning of the ocean engine beneath.