Commercial guano fertilizer
Guano como fertilizante comercial
- Date
- 1840-1845 · confidence medium
- Place
- Chincha Islands, Peru; Liverpool, United Kingdom (import)
- Credited to
- Alexander von Humboldt (description, 1802); Francisco Quirós and Antony Gibbs & Sons (trade, 1840-1842)
- People
- 👤 Alexander von Humboldt1769–1859👤 Francisco Quirós1798–1867
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Industrial exploitation of Peru's deposits of seabird droppings, rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, exported to Europe and the United States. The first concentrated fertiliser imported on a global scale.
Guano had been known since Inca times; the leap was its conversion into a global commodity in 1840-1845.
What it led to
- The guano era in Peru (1840-1880) and the War of the Pacific
- The US Guano Islands Act (1856) and island imperialism
- Semi-slave labour by Chinese coolies
- The search for substitutes: Chilean nitrate and nitrogen fixation
Built on
- Inca use of guano
- Liebig's agricultural chemistry
- Steam navigation
Made possible
- Superphosphate fertilizer1840-1842
- Superphosphate (as a competitor)
- Chilean nitrate
- High-input agriculture