Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.THE VICTIMS of the Nato bombs would surely prefer the seabird droppings - guano - which first prompted American expansion. In 1856, during the Presidency of Franklin Pierce, Congress asserted that, to undercut Peru's supplies, anybody who found an unclaimed island could annex it and use the phosphate-rich dung for American fertiliser.
From the Spanish, and first noted in English at the beginning of the 17th century, guano soon become such a trade that 300 laden ships regularly sailed into Liverpool, and it turned into a metaphor. In a Disraeli novel one aristocrat "guanoed her mind by reading French novels", while, in one of Ouida's, it was said, "I find soda-water and brandy the best guano for the cultivation of my intellect".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments