President Trump’s stated desire to make the island of Greenland a U.S. territory has been greeted with some surprise and scorn on both sides of the Atlantic, but the fact is that it wouldn’t be the first time the Americans acquired an island from Denmark (which owns the huge North Atlantic island landmass), and for the same reason of strategic military security.
In 1672, a Danish company in the Caribbean took control of St. John and St. Thomas, adding nearby St. Croix in 1733. These three islands just to the east of Puerto Rico became known as the Danish West Indies, and soon they were a major rum and sugar producer.
Danish plantation owners imported and used African slaves to produce rum and sugar, and from 1750 to 1850, the islands’ trade flourished. However, by the mid-19th century, U.S. domestic sugar production severely diminished the Danish Caribbean islands’ trade, and their prosperity abruptly ended. Slaves were emancipated in 1848, but most of them continued to live in poverty, and the islands became a burdensome expense for Denmark.
In 1864, Denmark attempted to trade the Danish West Indies to Prussia. But that endeavor failed, and negotiations then began to sell the island colony to the U.S., which had at the outset of the American Civil War taken an interest in the Danish islands as a naval base.
The Danish parliament ratified the sale of St. Thomas and St. John to the U.S. for $7.5 million in 1867, but the U.S. Senate, then embroiled in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, failed to ratify the sale.
In 1899, negotiations were resumed, and the U.S. agreed to buy the islands for $5 million. This time, however, it was the Danish parliament which balked at the deal.
Finally, in 1915, a U.S. labor leader visited Copenhagen and convinced the Danes that living conditions in the Danish West Indies had become disastrous. The Danish parliament no longer wanted to support the distant colony. Since Denmark and the U.S. at that time were both neutral in World War I, then raging in Europe, the Danes felt an urgency to transfer the islands to the U.S. before they entered the war. The Danes feared that the sale of the islands to the U.S. might provoke Germany to invade their small country.
Nonetheless, in 1916 the sale was finalized by both sides after months of secret negotiations. The U.S. paid Denmark $25 million in gold (worth about $800 million in today’s dollars).
Notably, Denmark also demanded as a condition of the transfer that the U.S. waive any claims it might have to Greenland. Because of earlier explorations of Americans Charles Francis Hall and Robert Peary, the U.S. then had a potential claim to northern Greenland.
Heavily involved in the building of the Panama Canal (completed in 1914), the U.S. concluded that the nearby Danish West Indies were more important than distant Greenland, and it agreed to the Danish demand.
The treaty was signed on August 4, 1916, at the Biltmore Hotel in New York City by the Danish minister and the U.S. secretary of state. The U.S. Senate ratified it on September 7. Denmark held a referendum on December 14, and the Danish parliament ratified the agreement on December 22. Ratifications were formally exchanged on January 17, 1917. President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation on January 25. Danish King Christian X also issued a proclamation on March 4.
On March 31, a warrant for $25 million in gold was presented to the Danish minister in Washington, D.C. It should be noted that the price of gold on that date was $35 an ounce. On March 14, 2025, the price of gold reached $3,000 an ounce for the first time.
The 1917 purchase of the Danish West Indies underscored America’s growing strategic ambitions and willingness to invest in territorial security. While Greenland was set aside in the deal, its significance would resurface decades later, proving that geopolitical interests are rarely settled for good.
Barry Casselman is a writer for AMAC Newsline.
This is how President Trump negotiates. He starts out with a high target and then ultimately comes down to what he knows both sides will really settle for in the end. The MSM nor most Democrat politicians have any clue how most business deals are done in the real world, so they can’t grasp anything but the literal hand in front of their own faces holding up a sign saying “Please wake up!”. Does Trump really want to buy Greenland? Not unless the people of Greenland want us to, and they have said no.
So, all President Trump really wants from Greenland is a strategic security agreement, so we can properly secure the North Atlantic and Artic waters from the growing presence of both Russia and China naval forces already building up in those areas. He knows that Denmark can’t really protect either Greenland or the waters around the Artic and the North Atlantic against the growing and far superior forces of either the Russian or Chinese Navies. So, rather than sit idly by like most Presidents would until a clear and present danger exists to the United States, Trump is being proactive and looking to head off a potential problem down the road.
Trump needs Denmark to at least grant Greenland the independence they want. Thus, making Greenland able to sign a protectorate agreement between the United States and Greenland, while they remain an independent, self-governing country. The people of Greenland have already stated multiple times their desire for independence from Denmark.
The shared mineral rights agreement, similar to what has been floated with Ukraine, to mine for various rare earths and other minerals would be a win-win for both Greenland and the United States. We get the valuable minerals we need and the people of Greenland get the shared revenue stream, which they can surely need.
What will the true cost be if Greenland is obtained? What are the resources available that will support the US and its economy? Lots of ice to go through besides fighting the weather all the time. Just a thought.
The United States has a long history of purchasing land – see the Louisiana Purchase and Alaska to name just a few – so the deal involving the Danish East Indies does not surprise. And, in the light of history, neither will Greenland (and dare we say) Canada.
It would not hurt Greenland to stand under the the American umbrella, not to be it’s territory but to be protected from danger and undesirable company. I don’t think Denmark has a capacity to provide that security.
Having waived rights to Greenland in 1916 might throw a wrench in the deal. However, I suppose another deal could reverse that. Needs change in over a hundred years. Nothing is forever.
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