From the Reconstruction era to the Cold War, multiple administrations have tried (and failed) to acquire the Arctic island. Here’s why Greenland has always remained out of reach—and why it always mattered so much.

Greenland as a state would add two Democrats to the Senate and at least one Democrat to the House, and they would be European-style socialists.

But there’s another option, one that would better serve the interests of both the U.S. and Greenland: Greenlandic independence. An independent Greenland is not a new idea. In 1953, in the aftermath of Icelandic independence from Denmark,

Donald Trump spent a noteworthy chunk of the transition period provoking controversy—and insulting NATO allies—with his proposals for expanding the U.S. Maybe most prominently, he has repeatedly discussed buying Greenland from Denmark,