Guano Islands Act of 1856

Long title	An Act to authorize Protection to be given to Citizens of the United States who may discover Deposits of Guano
Enacted by	the34th United States Congress
Effective	August 18, 1856
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 34–164
Statutes at Large	11 Stat. 119
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 339 byWilliam H. Seward (R–NY) on May 26, 1856 Committee consideration byForeign Relations Passed the Senate on July 24, 1856[1]  Passed the House on August 16, 1856[2]  Signed into law by PresidentFranklin Pierce on August 18, 1856

TheGuano Islands Act (11 Stat. 119, enacted August 18, 1856, codified at48 U.S.C. ch. 8 §§ 1411-1419) is aUnited States federal law passed by theCongress that enablescitizens of the United States to take possession of unclaimed islands containingguano deposits in the name of theUnited States. The islands can be located anywhere, so long as they are not occupied by citizens of another country and not within the jurisdiction of another government. It also empowers thepresident to use the military to protect such interests and establishes the criminal jurisdiction of the United States in these territories.

In the 1840s,guano became a prized agriculturalfertilizer and source ofsaltpeter for gunpowder.

The U.S. began importing it in 1843 through New York. By the early 1850s, the U.K. imported over 200,000 tons a year, and U.S. imports totaled about 760,000 tons.^[3] The "guano mania" of the 1850s led to high prices in anoligopolistic market, government attempts tocontrol prices, fear of resource exhaustion, and eventually the enactment of theGuano Islands Act of 1856 in August 1856.^[4] The Act authorizes U.S. citizens to take possession of unclaimed islands containing guano for the U.S., empowers the President to protect such claims with military intervention, and establishes jurisdiction of criminal offenses under the laws of the United States within the territories, thus claimed. This encouraged American entrepreneurs to search for and exploit new deposits on tiny islands and reefs in the Caribbean and Pacific.

This was the beginning of the concept ofinsular area in U.S. territories. Up until this time, any territory acquired by the U.S. was considered to have become an integral part of the country unless changed bytreaty and eventually to have the opportunity to become a state of the Union. With insular areas, land could be held by the federal government without the prospect of it ever becoming a state in the Union.

On November 22, 1971, the United States handed over theSwan Islands toHonduras after signing theTreaty of the Swan Islands [es].^[5] Honduras began exercising this sovereignty on September 1, 1972.^[6]

Under the Act, the U.S. gained control of around 94 islands. By 1903, 66 of these islands were recognized as territories of the U.S.^[7]

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 takespeaceable 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.

Section 6 provides that criminal acts on or adjacent to these territories "shall be deemed committed on the high seas, on board a merchant ship or vessel belonging to the United States; and shall be punished according to the laws of the United States relating to such ships or vessels and offenses on the high seas".^[8] The provision was considered and ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court inJones v. United States,137 U.S.202 (1890).

The Act continues to be part of the law of the United States. The most recent Guano Islands Act claim was made in 1997 toNavassa Island. However, the claim was denied because an American court ruled the island was already under American jurisdiction (a claimHaiti disputes).^[9][10]

While more than 100 islands have been claimed for the United States under the Guano Islands Act, all but ten have been withdrawn. The Act specifically allows the islands to be considered possessions of the U.S. The Act does not specify the territory's status after private U.S. interests abandon it or the guano is exhausted, creating neither obligation nor prohibition of retaining possession.

Current islands still claimed by the United States under the Act are:

• Baker Island^[11]
• Howland Island^[11]
• Jarvis Island^[11]
• Johnston Atoll^[11]
• Kingman Reef/Danger Rock^[11]
• Midway Atoll^[12]
• Navassa Island^[11] (claimed by Haiti)
• Bajo Nuevo Bank^[11] (disputed withColombia)
• Serranilla Bank^[11] (disputed with Colombia)
• Swains Island (part ofAmerican Samoa; no evidence that guano was mined. Claimed byTokelau)^[13]

A few islands claimed by the United States under theGuano Act of 1856 are disputed.

• Navassa Island —de facto US control. To cement the U.S. claim toNavassa Island against Haiti, PresidentJames Buchanan issued Executive Orders establishing United States territorial jurisdiction beyond just the Guano Act of 1856. The United States Supreme Court in 1890 ruled the Guano Act constitutional and, citing the actions of the Executive Branch, amongst other points in law, determined Navassa Island as pertaining to the United States.^[14] Control of Navassa Island was transferred by the Department of the Interior to the Director of the Office of Insular Affairs under Order No. 3205 on January 16, 1997. The Department of the Interior and Insular Affairs would later grant administration responsibilities to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service under Order No. 3210 on December 3, 1999. Order No 3210 also established a 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) territorial sea boundary for the United States around Navassa Island.
• Serranilla Bank and the Bajo Nuevo Bank.Serranilla Bank and theBajo Nuevo Bank were ruled to be territory ofColombia by the International Court of Justice in 2001, against a claim by Nicaragua.^[15] The U.S. and Honduras have asserted claims. Colombia has granted fishing rights toJamaica.

• In 1964,Leicester Hemingway, brother of authorErnest Hemingway, attempted to establish a country (or more appropriately, amicronation) dubbed theRepublic of New Atlantis, on an 8-by-30-foot (2.4 m × 9.1 m) bamboo raft anchored with an engine block outside the territorial waters ofJamaica, using the Guano Islands Act as part of a claim to sovereignty. His apparent intention was to use the new country as the headquarters for his own International Marine Research Society, with which he planned to further marine research and protect Jamaican fishing. Neither the U.S. nor Jamaica recognized his claim before the raft was destroyed in a storm in 1966.^[16][17]

• List of Guano Island claims
• United States Miscellaneous Pacific Islands
• United States Minor Outlying Islands

• Burnett, Christina Duffy (September 2005)."The Edges of Empire and the Limits of Sovereignty: American Guano Islands".American Quarterly.57 (3, Legal Borderlands: Law and the Construction of American Borders):779–803.

• Text of U.S. Code, Title 48, Chapter 8
• 34th Congress Statutes at Large
• 43rd Congress Statutes at Large
• The Sovereignty of Guano Islands in the Pacific Ocean, U.S. Department of State Legal Advisor, January 9, 1933.

• Guano Islands Act
• 34th United States Congress
• United States federal public land legislation
• History of United States expansionism
• Law of insular areas of the United States
• Presidency of James Buchanan
• 1856 in American politics
• 1856 in American law
• August 1856

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