51:
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pertaining to the United States. 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. Both 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.
1164:
615:
601:
253:
588:, 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, as well as to protect Jamaican fishing. Neither the US nor Jamaica recognized his claim before the raft was destroyed in a storm in 1966.
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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
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While more than 100 islands have been claimed for the United States under the Guano
Islands Act, all but 10 have been withdrawn. The Act specifically allows the islands to be considered possessions of the U.S. The Act does not specify what the status of the territory is after it is abandoned by
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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
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in August 1856. The Act authorizes U.S. citizens to take possession of unclaimed islands containing guano for the U.S., empowered the
President to protect such claims with military intervention, and established jurisdiction of criminal offenses under the laws of the United States within the
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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
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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. The "guano mania" of the 1850s led to high prices in an
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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 its ever becoming a state in the Union.
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235:. 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 the
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territories thus claimed. This encouraged
American entrepreneurs to search and exploit new deposits on tiny islands and reefs in the Caribbean and in the Pacific.
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by the
International Court of Justice in 2001, against a claim by Nicaragua. The US and Honduras have asserted claims. Colombia has granted fishing rights to
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in U.S. territories. Up to this time, any territory acquired by the U.S. was considered to have become an integral part of the country unless changed by
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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.
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to use the military to protect such interests and establishes the criminal jurisdiction of the United States in these territories.
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Under the act the US gained control of around 94 islands. By 1903, 66 of these islands were recognized as territories of the US.
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private U.S. interests or the guano is exhausted, creating neither obligation to nor prohibition of retaining possession.
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The Act continues to be part of the law of the United States. The most recent Guano
Islands Act claim was made in 1997 to
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920:"Latest developments | Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia) | International Court of Justice"
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An Act to authorize
Protection to be given to Citizens of the United States who may discover Deposits of Guano
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the high seas". The provision was considered and ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in
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715:
Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the
Transformation of World Food Production.
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As of 2022, the islands still claimed by the United States under the Act are:
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Guano importation was a major business, as this 1873 advertisement attests.
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Surveying the American Tropics: A Literary Geography from New York to Rio
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17:
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946:"Contents of a Country: Leicester Hemingway's Republic of New Atlantis"
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585:
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499:
277: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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659:"XXXIVth CONGRESS----First Session.; SENATE. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES"
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The Great Guano Rush: Entrepreneurs and American Overseas Expansion
337:, fear of resource exhaustion, and eventually the enactment of the
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948:. University of Texas Humanities Research Center. Archived from
30:"Guano Islands" redirects here. For the island in Kiribati, see
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1025:
246:
576:, attempted to establish a country (or more appropriately, a
1018:, U.S. Department of State Legal Advisor, January 9, 1933. .
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several islands first claimed under the guano island law
1016:
The Sovereignty of Guano Islands in the Pacific Ocean
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A few islands claimed by the United States under the
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227:to take possession of unclaimed islands containing
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1154:Acquisition of the Northern Mariana Islands (1986)
94:
785:"A Man's Claim to Guano Knee-Deep in Bureaucracy"
730:Philadelphia: Temple University Press, pp. 54-70.
498:; no evidence that guano was mined. Claimed by
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1671:United States federal public land legislation
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8:
43:
634:United States Miscellaneous Pacific Islands
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1200:
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1053:Territorial expansion of the United States
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1022:
1681:Law of insular areas of the United States
345:This was the beginning of the concept of
293:Learn how and when to remove this message
1222:Political divisions of the United States
541:Serranilla Bank and the Bajo Nuevo Bank.
1149:Treaty of the Danish West Indies (1917)
650:
207:, enacted August 18, 1856, codified at
1001:Text of U.S. Code, Title 48, Chapter 8
886:. Palgrave Macmillan US. p. 213.
825:"Acquisition Process of Insular Areas"
42:
27:Congressional act of the United States
1676:History of United States expansionism
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813:
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809:
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7:
976:. Liverpool University Press. 2013.
717:Massachusetts: The MIT Press, pp.42.
639:United States Minor Outlying Islands
275:adding citations to reliable sources
34:. For the island in Antarctica, see
1134:Treaty of Cession of Tutuila (1900)
855:Seward: Lincoln's Indispensable Man
772:– via www.washingtonpost.com.
1139:Treaty of Cession of Manuʻa (1904)
726:Skaggs & Wines, R. A. (1985).
375:Section 1 of the Guano Islands Act
99:Tooltip Public Law (United States)
25:
768:Underhill, Kevin (July 8, 2014).
1162:
872:; Kindle location 2856 of 15675.
857:. New York: Simon and Schuster.
783:Fesperman, Dan (July 19, 1998).
613:
599:
251:
49:
1011:43rd Congress Statutes at Large
1006:34th Congress Statutes at Large
333:market, government attempts to
262:needs additional citations for
1230:List of states and territories
550:were ruled to be territory of
1:
1144:Annexation of Oklahoma (1906)
740:The Ecology of Agroecosystems
317:became a prized agricultural
225:citizens of the United States
1686:Presidency of James Buchanan
1129:Tripartite Convention (1899)
526:To cement the U.S. claim to
231:deposits in the name of the
1666:34th United States Congress
1617:List of Indian reservations
1119:Annexation of Hawaii (1898)
751:Guano Islands Act (11
629:List of Guano Island claims
143:in the Senate as S. 339 by
71:34th United States Congress
1717:
833:Department of the Interior
563:Private unrecognized claim
29:
1691:1856 in American politics
1627:International concessions
1227:
1171:
1160:
1074:Louisiana Purchase (1803)
1059:
882:Skaggs, Jimmy M. (1994).
530:against Haiti, President
339:Guano Islands Act of 1856
217:United States federal law
136:
48:
44:Guano Islands Act of 1856
36:Guano Island (Antarctica)
1531:Northern Mariana Islands
1109:Guano Islands Act (1856)
1084:Adams–Onís Treaty (1819)
1079:Red River Cession (1818)
1064:Thirteen Colonies (1776)
829:United States Government
687:"Article 12 -- No Title"
582:Republic of New Atlantis
488:(disputed with Colombia)
176:on August 16, 1856
1104:Gadsden Purchase (1853)
1089:Texas Annexation (1845)
909:, 137 U. S. 202 (1890).
770:"The Guano Islands Act"
159:Committee consideration
1124:Treaty of Paris (1898)
1114:Alaska Purchase (1867)
1099:Mexican Cession (1848)
1069:Treaty of Paris (1783)
907:Jones v. United States
853:Stahr, Walter (2012).
728:Fertilizer in America.
713:Smil, Vaclav. (2004).
389:Jones v. United States
378:
310:
170:on July 24, 1856
381:Criminal jurisdiction
308:
1696:1856 in American law
1094:Oregon Treaty (1846)
952:on November 11, 2013
572:, brother of author
368:peaceable possession
271:improve this article
1609:Indian reservations
1541:U.S. Virgin Islands
570:Leicester Hemingway
215:§§ 1411-1419) is a
130:Legislative history
45:
1701:August 1856 events
692:The New York Times
664:The New York Times
472:(claimed by Haiti)
311:
186:on August 18, 1856
1661:Guano Islands Act
1648:
1647:
1189:
1188:
893:978-0-312-10316-3
864:978-1-4391-2794-0
695:. August 18, 1856
520:Navassa Island —
513:Guano Act of 1856
303:
302:
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197:Guano Islands Act
193:
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168:Passed the Senate
163:Foreign Relations
155:) on May 26, 1856
145:William H. Seward
111:Statutes at Large
16:(Redirected from
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1551:Outlying islands
1505:Washington, D.C.
1499:Federal district
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667:. July 25, 1856
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548:Bajo Nuevo Bank
544:Serranilla Bank
515:are disputed.
509:
507:Disputed claims
486:Serranilla Bank
478:(disputed with
476:Bajo Nuevo Bank
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524:US control.
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1655:Categories
1474:Washington
1394:New Mexico
1389:New Jersey
1264:California
645:References
621:Law portal
319:fertilizer
283:March 2010
243:Background
141:Introduced
90:Public law
58:Long title
1484:Wisconsin
1449:Tennessee
1354:Minnesota
1329:Louisiana
929:April 30,
568:In 1964,
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323:saltpeter
237:president
209:48 U.S.C.
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77:Effective
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1640:Pituffik
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593:See also
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1464:Vermont
1369:Montana
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586:Jamaica
556:Jamaica
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360:Wording
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1459:Utah
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