Can America Buy Greenland from Denmark?

Icy Greenland (credit to Google)

Two monumental history in term of land purchased was done by US administration to foreign governments in 1803 and 1859.

US bought huge land from France in 1803, about 828,000 square mile which separated into 15 states, from Dakota to Louisiana.

Second purchased was from Russia in 1859. Russian empire sold Alaska with price of US$ 7.2 million to US government.

Moreover, US had tried to buy Greenland from Denmark several times:

- in 1867 (don’t know price tag)

- in 1946 with price tag US$ 100 million

- in 1996 (idea to buy Greenland re-promoted by Pat Buchanan, president candidate)

- in 2019 (recently)

All attempted by USA are fails. Denmark rejected to sell Greenland even though Denmark faced financial difficulty to maintain Greenland autonomous administration.

A corner in Greenland (credit to Google)

Denmark spends US$ 600 million per-year to subsidize Greenland, then why Danes rejects to sell the icy land to USA?

Among the reasons are:

- vast natural resources

- strategic location, between Arctic and the Atlantic oceans

A fishermen village (credit to Google)

Denmark understands that various of Greenland natural resources is highly possible to be exploited due to melting of ice in Arctic.

Some of the natural resources in Greenland are:

- oil

- lead

- zinc

- gold

- diamonds

- uranium

Nuuk, capital of Greenland (credit to Google)

Greenland has total population no more than 60,000 people. 15 thousand population concentrates in Nuuk, capital city.

Tourist industry is promising sector, in addition to its strategic location and natural resources. Thus, Denmark will not sell Greenland for America for sure.