this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
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Prior to the advent of the Haber process, actual battles were fought between empires over claims over islands of bird shit. The nitrogen was a really big deal but also access to this as a readily-accessible source of phosphate was extremely important up until the modern era to use for gunpowder as well.
You can imagine exactly what happens next given these conditions, right? Some fuckass empire discovers the next guano island and their war machine hungers ceaselessly so they go and displace a people, maybe fight a small war over it too, and all so they can maintain their monopoly on violence over their colonies and start more wars.
Many such cases. Even bird shit itself is not safe from capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism.