Nauru's Phosphate Collapse
Phosphate from millennia of seabird guano was mined from 1907, first by Germany and then under an Australian-administered trusteeship, with royalties to Nauruans a small fraction of proceeds. Independence in 1968 transferred the operation, and for a period in the 1970s and 1980s Nauru's income per head rivalled the wealthiest states; the government bought property abroad, ran an airline and famously financed a London musical about Leonardo da Vinci. The deposit ran down as the interior became a moonscape of limestone pinnacles. A trust fund intended to outlast the phosphate was depleted through poor investment and alleged corruption. Nauru sold passports, became a jurisdiction blacklisted for money laundering, sold diplomatic recognition, and from 2001 accepted Australian payment to detain asylum seekers — an arrangement that has since supplied a substantial share of government revenue.
- Year: 1989 CE
- Category: Economic
