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Trump's attempt to buy Greenland follows a long history of the US buying territory with cash

The idea was soundly rebuffed this week.

Trump Departs for Louisville, KY US President Donald Trump. Ron Sachs / PA Images Ron Sachs / PA Images / PA Images

“THANKFULLY, THE TIME where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over. Let’s leave it there.”

They were the words of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen this week as she rejected the idea of the United States buying Greenland from Denmark. 

That utterly bizarre episode of international relations unfolded this week with Trump being given a firm ‘no’ to his interest in acquiring the world’s largest island for the US. 

The US has also shown interest in buying Greenland twice before, in the late 1860s and again in 1946, nothing ever came of the interest.

But as Frederiksen alluded to, there was a time when nations did buy territory from one other nations.

This is not a feature of international sovereignty anymore but it was in colonial times with the United States perhaps the most well-known proponent of the practice. 

Here are some examples:

Louisiana Purchase

This is perhaps the most famous example of one nation buying territory from another, in which the US almost doubled its territory in a deal with France.

In the early 18th century, London and Paris were at loggerheads over control of North America, but French interest waned after it lost Quebec in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759.

shutterstock_525250 The huge shaded area was taken into the US under the Louisiana Purchase. Shutterstock Shutterstock

The US agreed the Louisiana Purchase with France in 1803, in what has since been dubbed the bargain of the century.

For just $15 million — or four cents an acre — France gave up 2.2 million sq km of prairie, mountain and Mississippi delta — an expanse of land that makes up almost a quarter of its modern-day territory and includes 15 states.  

Alaska

Alaska was a far-flung colony of the Russian Empire exporting mainly fish and fur for most of the 19th century.

By 1859 Russia had lost interest in the 1.7 million sq km chunk of land in the Arctic Circle but wanted to keep it out of the hands of the British Empire, which ruled Canada.

US Secretary of State William Seward oversaw the purchase for $7.2 million in 1867.

It was heavily criticised and branded “Seward’s Folly,” although Americans eventually recognised Alaska’s potential as a fertile territory for oil and gas production.

The Philippines

The US launched itself as a colonial power on 10 December 1898 when it bought the Philippines from Spain for $20 million, installing a military government.

Washington passed the Philippine Independence Act in 1934, and Manuel L. Quezon won a presidential election held in the southeast Asian archipelago in 1935.

The Japanese occupied the Philippines during World War II until the United States and Philippine Commonwealth army recaptured the country in 1945.

The US formally recognised its independence a year later.

The US Virgin Islands

shutterstock_698707786 THe US Virgin Islands pinned on a Caribbean map. Shutterstock Shutterstock

In light of the furore over Greenland this week, there are precedents for Denmark trading real estate with the US.

Washington bought the Danish West Indies in 1917 for $25 million and rebranded them the US Virgin Islands.

These days, the luxury tourist destination is among numerous US “insular areas” that are neither part of the 50 states nor federal districts, alongside American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico.

The US has also shown interest in buying Greenland twice before, in the late 1860s and again in 1946, when Harry Truman’s Secretary of State James Byrnes suggested the sale to a Danish official at a United Nations meeting in New York. Nothing ever came of the interest.

Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay is among several US “dependent territories” in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. It was leased for use as a coaling station and naval base in 1903 for $2,000 in gold per year and raised to $4,085 in 1974.

The Cuban government has protested since the 1959 revolution against America’s oldest overseas naval base, alleging that it was imposed by force, against international law.

Since 2002, it has been home to the internationally condemned prison camp in which the US detains without trial those it determines to be militants.

© – AFP 2019 with reporting by Rónán Duffy

 

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    Mute *The* Brendan Gordon
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    Aug 24th 2019, 10:17 PM

    Back in the days when the US had cash and not Chinese debt

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Aug 24th 2019, 10:50 PM

    @*The* Brendan Gordon: China has bought everything in the US and they are in debt to China.

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    Mute bmul
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    Aug 25th 2019, 12:37 AM

    @TamuMassif2019: what

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    Mute Vote4Pedro
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    Aug 25th 2019, 12:43 AM

    @TamuMassif2019: our state is 1 of the largest holders of American debt approximately $200bn

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Aug 25th 2019, 11:26 AM

    @Vote4Pedro: they owe China at least 5 times that Japan too.

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    Mute pierre johnson
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    Aug 25th 2019, 11:07 PM

    @*The* Brendan Gordon: The Chinese only own 8% of the United States foreign debt. Much of the debt is owned by domestic treasury bond holders.

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    Mute Al Fresco
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    Aug 25th 2019, 12:19 AM

    I heard that Trump put in an offer to buy Poundland thinking that it was Poland.

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    Mute Colette Kearns
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    Aug 24th 2019, 11:10 PM

    I’m just surprised our lot haven’t sold Ireland to them, oh wait maybe it’s because our oil doesn’t belong to us anymore!

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    Mute Ronan McDermott
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    Aug 25th 2019, 6:04 AM

    @Colette Kearns: there no natural resources in Ireland anyone wants. Not anywhere near enough.

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    Mute Larry Dunphy
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    Aug 25th 2019, 9:21 AM

    @Colette Kearns:
    What oil???

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    Mute P Mc G
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    Aug 25th 2019, 3:40 PM

    @Ronan McDermott: The drillship currently off the southwest coast says different

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    Mute Ger Murphy
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    Aug 25th 2019, 3:22 AM

    And what about the EU? They bought Ireland without money

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    Mute The Risen
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    Aug 25th 2019, 4:36 AM

    Great suggestion from Bill Maher, buy the Amazon rainforest instead. As a fan of breathing I fully support this idea…

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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Aug 25th 2019, 11:24 AM

    @The Risen: Is it not like 80% of our oxygen comes from plankton blooms in the ocean? Hotter oceans means more plankton, hence more oxygen?

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    Mute Iarla Ó
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    Aug 25th 2019, 12:19 AM

    Louisiana should have been returned to the native Americans.

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    Mute Frank Scanlon
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    Aug 25th 2019, 2:20 AM

    @Iarla Ó: Yeah sure they were big on altruistic gestures back in 1803

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    Mute Toffeemac
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    Aug 24th 2019, 11:29 PM

    Non story he Loves the Danish Prime minister now

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Aug 24th 2019, 10:54 PM

    All the Cuban mafia had to settle in the US after the revolution in Cuba and with their links to the US mafia they influenced US foreign policy to Cuba because of the politicians links to the mafia in the US.

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    Mute Declan Edward
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    Aug 25th 2019, 4:33 AM

    Far from being a Trump supporter, but I’d advocate the full story, or at least the reasoning behind something he said/offered. With the new shipping routes through the Arctic it makes great sense to buy it (even though it’s not for sale) or even offer to buy it; the same as Russia and China, really. Traverse the world through quicker channels, at a fraction of the cost, is surely within the US’s interest; with no deed or taxes to pay like through the Panama Canal.

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    Mute Finbarr Cooper
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    Aug 24th 2019, 11:44 PM

    When he didn’t get that deal through maybe he’ll spend the money cleaning up the rat infested he on about that US citizens are living in. Make America Clean Again. He could start by getting the rodent off his head

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    Mute sean
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    Aug 25th 2019, 1:21 AM

    @Finbarr Cooper: Walked around the White House last September and the amount if rats was unreal. Amazing they do t control them

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Aug 24th 2019, 10:49 PM

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/nordic-freeze-iceland-prime-minister-boycotts-pence-visit
    No one likes Trump outside the US except mass killers and loons…

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    Mute Darren Forde
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    Aug 25th 2019, 10:18 AM

    Can we sell Ireland to some country that actually knows what it’s doing, say €20? I’d vote for that

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    Mute Henry Gaynor
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    Aug 25th 2019, 12:59 PM

    Based on Danish PM’s comment, shouldn’t she hand Greenland back to the Inuits.

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    Mute John Legat
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    Aug 25th 2019, 3:48 PM

    Better than the Brits, French, Spanish, Italians, Russians, Japanese, Chinese, etc.,
    going in and taking countries by force.

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    Mute Denis White
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    Aug 25th 2019, 6:16 PM

    They never paid in full for Alaska either

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    Mute Moorooka Mick
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    Aug 25th 2019, 10:07 PM

    American debt is now $22 Trillion so it should be selling property to repay debt; not offering to buy property and add to this mountain of debt.
    The media is being led by the nose Trump rants instead focusing on the real issue which
    is the Federal budget deficit of $1 trillion a year. While tariffs ( a defacto tax) can add
    $50 billion to the bourse, this is peanuts when compared with a $trillion budget deficit.

    One has now to seriously ask:
    “When will market confidence in the Greenback collapse?”

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    Mute Moorooka Mick
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    Aug 25th 2019, 10:11 PM

    @Moorooka Mick:
    The USA is like an alchie: blaming everything for its debt addiction without focusing on its real cause. Just have a look at The US accruel of debt in real time:

    https://www.usdebtclock.org

    Cheers
    MM

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    Mute Colette Kearns
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    Aug 25th 2019, 2:38 AM

    He’s an idiot and so is Trump & the world knows it , but yet we let them rule us?!

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