TIL that the small Pacific island nation of Nauru was once the richest country in the world thanks to phosphate mines, but as the phosphate was depleted it descended into poverty, reaching 90% unemployment.

submitted by Jashfior from telegraph.co.uk

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[–]iraelmossadreddit 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think they were mining rock phospate...not guano. The island probably still has plenty of guano from bats.

edit: maybe not bats..there are some caves...but they should have seabird guano...oh wait says they ate the birds during hard times hmm lol oh and (the impact of phosphate mining, however, has wiped out much of the marine life). sweet! there fucked and then the ship that stuff over to other countries and it fucks up their marine life and water too. wooo!