Top line
Donald Trump Jr. traveled to Greenland on Tuesday amid renewed calls from President-elect Donald Trump for the US to take control of Danish territory – but the island is unlikely to become the first addition to new US territory since the Northern Mariana Islands 50 years ago, as leaders in Greenland have refused Denmark is Trump's proposal.
A plane carrying Donald Trump Jr. arrives in Nuuk, Greenland on January 7, 2025.
Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
Timetable
The United States took over the Northern Mariana Islands near Guam in 1944 and later administered them as part of the Trust Territory of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands became a US territory in 1975.
The United States paid Denmark $25 million in gold for the US Virgin Islands in 1917, and granted US citizenship to residents of the US Virgin Islands in 1927. The purchase, today worth about $674 million, was seen as a strategy for controlling the Caribbean due to its proximity Islands from each other. Proximity to the Panama Canal and the US East Coast.
The Treaty of Berlin of 1899 divided the Samoan Islands into two political entities, and American Samoa, off the east coast of Australia, was handed over to the United States over a period of 25 years, beginning in 1990, when local chiefs of the region's largest island, Tutuila, declared it ceded to the United States. The Manoa Islands followed in 1904 and Swain Island joined the territory by act of Congress in 1925.
Spain ceded the island of Puerto Rico to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898, which ended the Spanish-American War. Puerto Rico became a US territory and its people became US citizens in 1917.
The United States also acquired Guam from Spain after the Spanish-American War, and defended the island from Japanese capture during World War II.
Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898. It became a territory in 1900 and became a state in 1959. Hawaii was seen as a strategic location for a naval base in the Pacific, a gateway for Asian trade, and served President William McKinley's goal of expanding American influence. outside.
The United States paid Russia $7.2 million for the Alaskan territory, less than 2 cents an acre at the time. The deal, valued today at $120 million, made Alaska a territory and achieved statehood in 1959.
Mexico ceded 529,000 square miles of territory—consisting of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming—to the United States after the Mexican-American War. The United States paid $15 million through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
The United States annexed the Republic of Texas, making it the 28th state in the Union, a decade after Texas' successful War of Independence against Mexico.
The United States acquired Florida from Spain in 1819 through the Adams-Onís Treaty, which did not provide for the United States to pay for the state directly, but America agreed to bear responsibility for damages to American citizens who rebelled against Spain, amounting to five Millions of dollars.
The largest land acquisition in American history saw the United States purchase 827,000 square miles of land from France in the Louisiana Purchase – which included parts of more than a dozen modern states including Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa. . The $15 million price tag would cost about $342 million today.
Get text alerts for breaking news from Forbes: We fire up text message alerts so you always know the top stories making up the day's headlines. Text Alerts to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here.
Stake News
Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., arrived in Greenland on Tuesday for a personal visit. He will not meet with government officials and described himself as a tourist on his podcast on Monday.
Big number
14. This is the number of territories controlled by the United States, although only five of them are inhabited. The other nine islands – Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll, Wake Island, and Navassa Island – are remote and uninhabited.
Surprising fact
This is not the first time the United States has considered seizing Greenland. Then-Secretary of State William Seward in 1868 described the idea of purchasing both Greenland and Iceland as “worthy of serious consideration” and commissioned a lengthy report on the possibility, but it never came to fruition. Other proposals were discussed throughout the 20th century, including a 1946 offer to buy Greenland for $100 million in a deal that would have involved swapping oil-rich territory in Alaska with Denmark.
Main background
Greenland, which already houses a major US military base, has become increasingly important in recent years as new North Atlantic shipping lanes, made possible by the melting Arctic Circle, have attracted the interest of Russia and China. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump discussed buying Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, during dinners and meetings with advisers in August 2019. The report said Trump repeatedly discussed, “with varying degrees of seriousness,” Trump has expressed interest in purchasing the world's largest island due to its importance to national security and economic potential, and talk of a purchase died down relatively quickly in 2019 after Danish leaders objected, but Trump He reintroduced the idea shortly after. After his re-election last year, on December 22, Trump told Truth Social that “America’s ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” during his appointment of former PayPal CFO Ken Howery as ambassador to Denmark.
Top critics
Greenland's Prime Minister, Miot Egedy, said last month that Greenland “is not for sale and will never be for sale.” In 2019, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiks called the idea of a US acquisition of the island “ridiculous,” adding, “Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland.” Her comments led Trump to cancel a scheduled visit to Copenhagen, and he said that she “was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark through her direct dealings.” Former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen tweeted in 2019 that Trump's idea “should be an April Fool's Day joke…but it's completely out of season!”
Shadow
Trump also threatened to reassert US control over the Panama Canal, which was transferred to Panama at the end of the 20th century under a treaty signed by President Jimmy Carter. Last month, Trump accused Panama of charging exorbitant prices to use the corridor, and told a crowd of his supporters that he would not let the canal fall into the “wrong hands,” warning of potential Chinese influence. He then posted a photo on Truth Social with the caption, “Welcome to the US channel!” Panamanian President José Raul Molino responded by posting on Trump then responded, “We'll see about that!”
Further reading
