US Territorial Acquisitions and Interest in Greenland | 25 Dec 2024
Recently, US President-elect Donald Trump has expressed interest in buying Greenland, highlighting ongoing US ambitions in strategically important regions like the Arctic.
- This move reflects the US's long history of territorial acquisitions, crucial to its growth as a global power.
- Territorial Acquisitions by the US:
- Louisiana Purchase (1803): The US acquired 828,000 square miles of land from France for USD 15 million, doubling its size and securing control of the Mississippi River.
- The Gadsden Purchase (1853): A 30,000 square-mile region in Arizona and New Mexico was bought to facilitate a southern transcontinental railroad.
- The Alaska Purchase (1867): The US purchased nearly 600,000 square miles from Russia for USD 7.2 million.
- Initially seen as a strategic acquisition with low immediate value, it gained importance after the Klondike Gold Rush,1896 (gold was discovered in the Klondike) and became vital to US influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Key Facts About Greenland: It is the world’s largest island, is located in the North Atlantic Ocean and is a territory of Denmark.
- Greenland features major mountain ranges like the Watkins Range and Stauning Alps, and rivers such as Borglum, and Majorqaq.
- Greenland has been a mining nation since the late 1700s, extracting coal and later mining gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, graphite, and marble.
Read more: World's Northernmost Island