DONALD Trump is not the first US President to consider acquiring Greenland.

In 1946, the Truman Administration offered Denmark $100 million in gold—roughly $11 billion today—to purchase the island, but Denmark rejected it, viewing the proposal as an affront to sovereignty. Greenland, the world’s largest island at about 836,000 square miles, has long held strategic significance. During World War-II, the US assumed control of Greenland after Nazi Germany occupied Denmark, establishing military bases that persist today, including Pituffik Space Base. Interest continued under Eisenhower and even earlier, President Andrew Johnson explored Arctic acquisitions following Alaska’s purchase. Secretary of State William H. Seward recommended acquiring Greenland and Iceland for their mineral wealth and fishing grounds, while President Taft considered exchanging Mindanao for Greenland. Today, Trump’s renewed proposals, including Canada, face strong domestic and international opposition, with polls showing over three-quarters of Americans against annexing Greenland.

Secretary of State William H. Seward once attempted to negotiate with Russia to acquire Greenland, recommending in a report that the United States also seek Iceland, citing their mineral wealth and strategic fishing grounds. No formal offer was made to Denmark. Later, during President William Howard Taft’s Administration, US Ambassador Maurice Francis Egan proposed exchanging the Philippine island of Mindanao for Greenland, but the idea never progressed. Nearly a century later, President Trump revived interest........

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