Donald Trump wants to buy Greenland!
Last week, the United States President Donald Trump had a rather wacky proposition. He offered to buy Greenland, the largest island on earth.
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Greenland is an autonomous Danish territory. It has home rule, but defence and foreign affairs remain under Danish governance. The island also receives an annual subsidy of about $500 million from Denmark.
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No wonder the Danes weren’t amused. A former Denmark prime minister even asked if the US President was joking! The present prime minister Mette Frederiksen called the idea absurd.
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The US has built several military bases and weather stations since World War II in Greenland. In 1968, a B-52 bomber carrying nuclear weapons crashed near the Thule air base in northwestern Greenland, causing radioactive contamination.
Greenland’s population of just 56,000 is concentrated around its coastlines. More than 80% of Greenland’s 2.2 million sq. km are covered in ice, and the island has attracted considerable attention recently amid concerns that climate change is causing that ice to melt at a record pace.
But the US is not the only one to show interest in Greenland. China too wants some land there. The US has been trying to buy Greenland for a long time. In 1946, President Harry Truman offered $100 million for the island.
Greenland may not sell, but other nations have been dealing in this kind of trade. Take a look…
- America bought Alaska for $7.2 million in 1867 since the Russians felt it would be difficult to defend the territory in case of a war.
- The US’ biggest purchase was Louisiana from France for $15 million in 1801.
- The US bought Florida from Spain in 1819 for $5 million.
- China struck a deal with Tajikistan in 2011 to buy 1,000 sq km in the Pamir Mountains area.
- Germany bought Caroline & Mariana Islands from Spain in 1899.
- Former USSR bought Janiskoski-Niskakoski territory from Finland for 700 million Finnish markka in 1947.
- Pakistan bought the port city from Oman in 1958 for 5.5 billion Pakistani rupees.
- France bought Saint Barthelemy in the West Indies from Sweden for 320 thousand French Franc in 1878.
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