N, P, r Donald Trump is now officially the 47th President of the United States and if Trump gets his way, what we even think of as the United States might come to look very different.
And we're not talking metaphorically, we're talking geographically, topographically, maybe you caught this statement of his a couple weeks ago.
Well, we need Greenland for national security purposes.
I've been told that for a long time, long before I even ran.
Trump has been kicking this idea around for years, which is that the U .S.
should take quote, ownership of Greenland, a partially self -governing territory of Denmark People really don't even know if Denmark has an illegal right to it.
But, if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security.
That's for the free world.
So short of using military force or economic coercion, which he has not ruled out, how exactly does Trump imagine the US taking ownership of Greenland?
Well, one thing he's proposed, simply buying it.
To which many observers then said, wait, really?
This is the indicator for Planet Money.
I'm Adrienne MA. And I'm Waylon Wong.
Can the US just buy itself a country?
Is that a thing? Turns out, when you look at our history it is absolutely a thing.
It's called a sovereignty purchase.
Today on the show, how these massive land deals shape the country we live in today, and why the idea of the U .S.
buying Greenland is a lot more complicated than it would have been in the past.
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For those of you who didn't immediately Google Greenland after Trump's press conference, here is a quick primer.
It is a great big landmass, bigger than Texas and California combined.
Greenland sets way up north in the Atlantic Ocean between Canada and Europe, to semi -autonomous territory of Denmark, with a population around 56 ,000 people.
Now, because of its location and natural resources, the territory has long been eyed with interest by countries like China.
So this goes to why Trump has proposed buying Greenland.
And while a lot of people heard his comments and thought, But well that's just bananas.
Steven Press sent insane Great landmass bigger than Texas and California combined.
Greenland sets way up North in the Atlantic ocean between Canada and Europe, a semi -autonomous territory of Denmark with a population around 56 ,000 people.
Now because of its location and natural resources the territory has long been eyed with interest by countries like China.
So this goes to why Trump has proposed buying Greenland.
And while a lot of people heard his comments and thought, well, that's just bananas!
Stephen Press says it's not as bananas as you might think.
Stephen's a history professor at Stanford University who studies Europe and International Affairs.
And to start, he just wanted to makes one thing clear.
I don't endorse the specific talk about Greenland that has come from President Trump.
I do, however, think there's a real deep history here that involves the United States and really a large portion of the world.
He says the idea that one country might buy a territory from another is called a sovereignty purchase.
And it's a practice that actually happened all around the world and dates back thousands of years.
So the first thing I'd say has a long history of doing it.
Alaska, Florida, California, and basically the whole middle section of the continental U .S.
Those are part of the U .S.
today because the U .S.
bought the rights of that land from some other colonial power.
If you just kind of quickly add things up, you're talking about an enormous portion of territory, past and present.
Stephen says about 40 % of the United States was acquired through sovereignty purchases.
This is not to say, though, that these deals don't have some very troubling aspects.
Yeah. For example, in 1803 President Thomas Jefferson persuaded Congress to fund the Louisiana Purchase.
For about $15 million, France sold off a chunk of its empire.
this vast territory in the middle of the continent.
And specifically in the deal, the French gave the US exclusive authority to take control of the territory from indigenous tribes, whether they did that through contracts or through force.
That's problematic, but it's a big part of the United States' history.
Another problematic aspect to sovereignty purchases, sometimes a key ingredient is coercion.
Some of the purchases made in relation to Mexico, for example, a big part of the United States' history.
leadership, another problematic aspect to sovereignty purchases, sometimes a key ingredient is coercion.
Some of the purchases made in relation to Mexico, for example, were in the context of ongoing, often armed disputes over territory.
Maybe you've heard of the Mexican American war.
In the 1840s, the U .S.
expanded its borders by annexing Texas.
Then it declared war on Mexico.
That war ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which was followed a few years later by something called the Gadsen Purchase.
As part of these agreements, Mexico ceded over half its territory to the U .S., in exchange for $25 million dollars and taking on some back debt.
And that territory today includes what we call California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, plus parts of Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming.
and all that for 25 million dollars I think that's what you call a steal at least the mexicans probably did it's a kind of a weird chapter of international affairs or relations but sometimes sovereignty purchases are seen as a real yeah it certainly came on the other hand it isn't always we know of cases
that were by comparison free of coercion here's one example in the late 1860s Russia was contemplating selling off the territory of Alaska.
The US Secretary of State at the time, William Seward, was like, yeah, we should buy it.
It would be great for commerce.
And so for about $7 .2 million, the US did just that.
And believe it or not, this is when Greenland first appears on the US shopping wish list.
So Seward saying, OK.
Purchase Alaska from Russia.
Also look at Denmark, a relatively good old imperial natural power and one that, looking ahead, doesn't really have the means to maintain its presence in far -flying places.
It's like the Amazon recommender that's, like, you just bought Alaska.
People like you also looked at Greenland.
But on a much larger scale.
William Seward, he's like scrolling, it's like, hmm, I am interested in these recommendations.
I used to. career. Any arrangement that doesn't kind of center the potential benefits and consent of the affected people is really flawed, not just practically speaking, but also morally.
It's really hard to justify this in terms of public opinion and public perception.
And even if Denmark would entertain the idea of selling Greenland, which it's not, there are currently about 56 ,000 people living there, and many of those folks want Greenland to declare complete independence from Denmark.
Greenland, for its part, has said that the country is not for sale, but it is open to doing business with the US.
Steven says while sovereignty purchases for big swaths of territory don't happen as often as they used to, they've sort of lived on in a smaller scale.
And perhaps by a different name.
For example, a lot of countries will pay other countries for the right to install military bases.
The US has these all over the world.
And you might not quite call that a sovereignty purchase.
Maybe something more like a sovereignty lease.
What about like a sovereignty buy now pay later?
I think you might've just come up with a new purchase.
Maybe something more like a sovereignty lease.
What about like a sovereignty buy now, pay later.
I think you might've just come up with a new business idea.
I'm gonna pitch of VC right now.
This episode was produced by Cooper Katz & task with engineering by Sina Lofredo and Neil scenarios.
It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez.
Patty Hirsch edited this episode, Kakeet Cannon is our editor and the indicators for production of NPR.
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