The Guano Islands Act (48 U.S.C. ch.8 §§ 1411-1419) is federal legislation passed by the U.S. Congress, on August 18, 1856, which enables citizens of the U.S. to take possession of islands containing guano deposits. The islands can be located anywhere, so long as they are not occupied and not within the jurisdiction of other governments. It also empowers the President of the United States to use the military to protect such interests, and establishes the criminal jurisdiction of the United States.
“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.”
—first section of Guano Islands Act
Background
In the early 19th century, guano came to be prized as an agricultural fertilizer. In 1855, the U.S. learned of rich guano deposits on islands in the Pacific Ocean. Congress passed the Guano Islands Act to take advantage of these deposits.
The act specifically allows the islands to be considered a possession of the U.S., but it also provided that the U.S. was not obliged to retain possession after the guano was exhausted. However, it did not specify what the status of the territory was after it was abandoned by private U.S. interests.
This is the beginning of the concept of insular areas 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 treaty, and to eventually 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.
The provision of the Act establishing U.S. criminal jurisdiction over such islands was considered and ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Jones v. United States, 137 U.S. 202 (1890).
Claims
More than 100 islands have been claimed. Some of those remaining under U.S. control are Baker Island, Jarvis Island, Howland Island, Kingman Reef, Johnston Atoll, Palmyra Atoll and Midway Atoll. Others are no longer considered United States territory. In the Caribbean, Navassa Island is claimed by both the United States and Haiti. An even more complicated case deals with Serranilla Bank and the Bajo Nuevo Bank, where multiple countries claim ownership. In 1971, the U.S. and Honduras signed a treaty recognizing Honduran sovereignty over the Swan Islands. The island of Navassa between Haiti and Jamaica, long recognized as Haitian, was occupied and has never been returned, along with
the Swan Islands between Honduras and Cayman, and a large number of islands in
the Pacific that rightfully belong to their historical owners: the people of
Kiribati, Samoa, and other states. France and Britain similarly occupy
numerous uninhabited islands in the Indian Ocean, most notoriously the
Chagos Archipelago of Mauritius. In effect, uninhabited islands have been
treated with might makes right, and possession is nine tenths of the law.
On the other hand, the issue of new or artificial islands is very interesting
– one that is undefined legally. The technology now exists to build and grow
such islands where there were none, to expand existing ones, and to create
tethered or free-ranging floating islands. Such islands may offer numerous
possibilities: for instance, they can play a key role in protecting coastlines
from global sea-level rise, in compensating low lying island nations that will
be drowned, and in greatly enhancing fisheries in coastal and open ocean
waters.
