Chart Detail of Pisco Bay, Peru, Showing Chincha Islands

This is a detail of a nautical chart of the west coast of South America, "Peru: Independencia Bay to Begueta Bay." Though published in 1864, the original date of publication was 1836, and it was surveyed by Capt. Robert Fitz Roy, who was captain of the Royal Navy ship Beagle on which Charles Darwin sailed. The detail shows where the Chincha Islands are, off the coast of Peru and outside of Pisco Bay. They are about 120 miles south-southeast of Lima. The Chincha Islands had tremendous deposits of seabird guano, which was mined for fertilizer.