A Re-Working of Resources - this Weekend
The prospect of the US buying Greenland, by choice or by force, as mentioned by US President Donald Trump, gives historians a sense of déjà vu.
The 19th-century was a period of territorial acquisitions for the expanding country:
- Louisiana (from France) in 1803, then
- Florida (from Spain) in 1819,
- Alaska (from the Russian Empire) in 1867 and the
- Philippines (from Spain) in 1898.
"The idea of acquiring Greenland is not new.
It's been around since the 19th-century,"
---Henry William Brands Jr, a specialist in American history and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told Le Monde.
It was linked to the acquisition of Alaska, which was then under Russian control.
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