That Other Time the U.S. Bought a Danish Colony

The United States wants to buy Denmark’s colonies in North America while war rages in Europe and the Middle East. Denmark, of course, has no choice but to agree. Yes, the year is 1917 and the U.S. is expanding its sphere of influence by buying colonies in the Caribbean.

Those who think of Denmark as the land of LEGO and “hygge” may forget that it was once a mighty superpower. At the beginning of the 19th century, its domains reached through Norway towards Russia in the north and almost to the suburbs of Hamburg in Germany. It had colonies in Africa in present-day Ghana and there was even a Danish India, comprising towns on both sides of the Indian coast. The Danish realm also spread across the North Atlantic via the Faroe Islands and Iceland to North America, including the giant island of Greenland and the somewhat smaller Danish West Indies in the Caribbean.

Then things took a turn for the worse from the Danish point of view. Winding up on the wrong side in the Napoleonic Wars, they were forced to surrender Norway to Sweden in 1814. The British Empire now ruled the waves, and Ghana was sold to the English in 1850, along with the colonies in India between 1839 and 1869. Worse still, a war was lost against the German states in 1864, leading to the Duchies of Slesvig and Holstein becoming part of the German Empire. This included over a million people, many of them Danish-speakers, and this loss hurt the most.

The United States wanted to get in on the action of carving up the Danes. After the Civil War ended, Secretary of State William Seward wanted to buy both Greenland and Iceland. He was interested in whales which were plentiful in our waters, maybe having read Moby Dick the previous decade and seeing this as a way to get back at them. More importantly, he wanted to surround Canada in hopes of annexing it. To this end he did manage to buy Alaska from the Russians in 1867, but did not get a deal with the Danes, nor did he manage to buy their Caribbean Islands which he saw as a necessary naval base.

A Game of Musical Chairs with the Germans

The United States made another play for Greenland in 1910. A complicated scheme arose where Denmark would instead get the Philippines’ island of Mindanao, then under U..S control, which the Danes could then trade to Germany in exchange for Slesvig. Nothing came of it this time, but business would soon be conducted. Denmark did sell their Caribbean Islands to the U.S. in March 1917, to this day known as the United States Virgin Islands.

This was in the nick of time, for soon after the United States would enter World War I and President Wilson was now firmly in favour of the self-determination of nations rather than rulers selling and buying them. The Danes rather liked this idea and in 1918 Iceland became a sovereign nation under the Danish crown, a similar arrangement to the one that Greenland and the Faroe Islands have today. But the Danes did not leave empty handed. In 1920, a plebiscite was held in Slesvig in the newly defeated Germany. The northern half elected to go back to Denmark and have remained there ever since.

Things did not settle down for long. On April 9, 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. The British responded by invading the Faroe Islands on April 12 and Iceland on May 10. The United States then started to take an interest again, mostly to defend against Germany to also to pre-empt Britain. A plan called Rainbow 4 was drawn up. In the event of war with the rest of the world, the U.S. would seize all French, Dutch and Danish possessions in the Western Hemisphere, including Greenland.

U.S. Coast Guard vessels were sent to Greenland, some of the crew having first been formally discharged so they could now be called volunteers. The Danes were in a complicated position, occupied by Germany, but in 1941 the Danish ambassador in Washington, D.C., agreed to the U.S. presence. That same year, on July 7, U.S. troops came to Iceland, having first made an agreement with the local government as well as the British. This was an expansion of U.S. power into Europe while still remaining neutral.

Warring Weathermen Fight It Out

By the end of the year, the United States had entered the war against the Axis. Airfields were built in both Greenland and Iceland, with Keflavík airport being one of the main routes to Europe, while Narsarsuaq in Greenland was a well-placed backup. Greenland was also important for its cryolite mine, used to make aluminium, and for weather reports which could affect invasion plans for Europe. The Germans landed weathermen on the largely uninhabited east coast and some sporadic fighting took place.

Things became calmer after World War II. Iceland became fully independent in 1944, but joined NATO in 1949. The U.S. military base in Keflavík would reopen in 1951 and remain for 55 years, with increasing activity there lately. The Faroe Islands remained a part of the Kingdom of Denmark but secured home rule in 1948.

In 1946, the Americans offered to buy Greenland again, but the Danes politely declined. They instead asked the Americans to leave but were politely declined. The result was that Greenland remained in Danish hands but both countries joined NATO. U.S. military presence continued, with mortally wounded soldiers being sent to Thule base to quietly die during the Korean War. Now renamed Pituffik, it is currently run by Space Force, one of President Trumps’ creations.

Greenland finally received home rule in 1979 and promptly left the EEC, now EU, after a dispute about seal hunting. Further independence was achieved in 2009, with Denmark now only responsible for foreign policy and defence. With only 56.000 inhabitants living in a large and rugged country, infrastructure is expensive and Danish subsidies constitute half the national budget. Still, most Greenlanders do wish to be fully independent. Perhaps they will go for an “Icelandic solution” and declare independence under U.S. protection. In any event, the decision is theirs to make.

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