ABSTRACT
So population movement and improved transportation led increasingly to regional specialization. The world began to separate into areas of primary production and areas of industrial processing. That the power of the developed North Atlantic area was greater than that of the outer feeder regions early became apparent, as in the curious history of guano, a commodity briefly in vogue as a fertilizer. For a couple of decades at midcentury the demands of British, American, and German farmers made this product the primary
. basis of Peruvian prosperity. In response to these demands the Chincha Islands, products of centuries of avian effort, were loaded aboard ship by a labor force especially imported from China. So impressive a new El Dorado brought out the old conquistadors. Briefly, in 1864-1866, the islands were seized by Spain. But soon the deposits were exhausted, substitute manures were developed, the Peruvian economy collapsed, the Spanish went home, and the Chinese remained.3
