In 2019, then-President Donald Trump suggested the United States “buy Greenland” — as a matter of national security. Now in office again, Trump has continued to push for acquisition of the island, illustrated by a recent “horrendous” call with Denmark’s Prime Minister just last week on the matter.

In 1865, in the wake of the Civil War, the U.S. began looking to expand its influence on the world stage. This happened at precisely the moment when Russia, having just lost the Crimean War, was seeking to counterbalance British power in the Pacific. This proved to be the perfect recipe for American expansion in the Arctic.