"Guano Islands" redirects here. For the island in Kiribati, see Enderbury Island. For the island in Antarctica, see Guano Island (Antarctica).
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
the 34th United States Congress
Effective
August 18, 1856
Citations
Public law
Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 34–164
Statutes at Large
11 Stat. 119
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 339 by William H. Seward (R–NY) on May 26, 1856
Committee consideration by Foreign Relations
Passed the Senate on July 24, 1856[1]
Passed the House on August 16, 1856[2]
Signed into law by President Franklin Pierce on August 18, 1856
The Guano Islands Act (11 Stat. 119, enacted August 18, 1856, codified at 48 U.S.C. ch. 8 §§ 1411-1419) is a United States federal law passed by the Congress that enables citizens of the United States to take possession in the name of the United States of unclaimed islands containing guano deposits. 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 president to use the military to protect such interests and establishes the criminal jurisdiction of the United States in these territories.
^"XXXIVth CONGRESS----First Session.; SENATE. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES". The New York Times. July 25, 1856. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
^"Article 12 -- No Title". The New York Times. August 18, 1856. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
The GuanoIslandsAct (11 Stat. 119, enacted August 18, 1856, codified at 48 U.S.C. ch. 8 §§ 1411-1419) is a United States federal law passed by the Congress...
A number of islands were claimed as insular areas on behalf of the United States under the GuanoIslandsAct of 1856. These claims were made by private...
United States contested the British annexations, based on the U.S. GuanoIslandsAct of 1856, which allowed for very wide-ranging territorial claims. It...
the island through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The U.S. has claimed the island, as an appurtenance, since 1857, based on the GuanoIslandsAct of...
established claims in respect of Baker Island and Jarvis Island which was recognized under the U.S. GuanoIslandsAct of 1856. Beginning in 1858, several...
Conspiracy, was stranded at Malden Island. Malden was claimed by the U.S. Guano Company under the GuanoIslandsAct of 1856, which authorized citizens...
States Minor Outlying Islands. At one time, the United States laid claim to all the Phoenix Islands under the 1856 GuanoIslandsAct. However, when Kiribati...
United States Guano Company to exploit the guano on Howland Island, with this claim being recognised under the U.S. GuanoIslandsAct of 1856. However...
Pierce passed the GuanoIslandsAct with the exclusive purpose of addressing American scarcity over guano. Under the GuanoIslandsAct, any piece of uninhabited...
Congress enacted the GuanoIslandsAct that year, authorizing the president to take possession of unclaimed islands to mine guano. The U.S. has taken control...
Geography portal Oceania portal Islands portal List of GuanoIsland claims List of islands Desert island The name means "East" in Russian. Armstrong, Terence...
and Enderbury islands; the remaining Phoenix Islands were still claimed by the U.S. under the GuanoIslandsAct, but aside from Hull Island were either...
island in 1857, claiming it under the GuanoIslandsAct of 1856. Its guano deposits were mined by the American Guano Company from 1859 to 1878. Laborers...
the GuanoIslandsAct of 1856), neighboring independent islands, such as Dominica, and European states controlling the surrounding dependent islands, such...
coconut palms from the islands of Manra, Orona and Nikumaroro. Islands portal List of GuanoIsland claims List of islands Desert island Brian Clark Howard...
approaching boat Stand of Pisonia on Flint IslandIslands portal List of GuanoIsland claims List of islands Desert island Warne, Kennedy (September 2014). "A...
Western Samoa. Unlike Atafu and Nukunono, no U.S. claims under the GuanoIslandAct were ever made on Fakaofu. Despite this, in 1979, as part of the Treaty...
1856 with the passage of the GuanoIslandsAct, causing many small and uninhabited, but economically important, islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific...
of the Pinnacle in the morning. Islands portal List of GuanoIsland claims List of reefs List of islands Desert island "Papahānaumokuākea Marine National...
claims, ended the Canton and Enderbury Islands Condominium, which had begun under the terms of the GuanoIslandsAct. In Art. 3 the US have reserved the...
the island 24 July 1898, the previous United States claim from 1889 according to the GuanoIslandsAct not being officially acknowledged. The island was...
States Guano Company in 1860, under the GuanoIslandsAct. However, there is no evidence that guano or guano mining was present on the island. Jennings...
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