Not a Penny more. Not a Penny less
Famous & infamous land purchases. Some are well known, others are little obscure.
Manhattan: The Delaware Indian received trade goods worth 60 Guilders in 1626 from the Dutch in exchange of this island at the mouth of the Hudson River. Dutch interest in Manhattan were originally focussed on Fort Amsterdam as protection from possible attacks. They sought ownership of this land to protect their farms & investments. Fort Amsterdam slowly grew into what is now New York City. The original deed of purchase has been lost so exact details of the trade goods are not known.
Gold Coast, West Africa: United Kingdom paid Denmark 10 million pounds in 1850 for their forts and settlements on the “Gold Coast”. Reasons for the British purchase included preventing the illegal slave trade and to curtail the aspirations of other colonial powers notably Belgium & France as this region was rich in gold, petroleum, crude oil & natural gas. Sadly the local population got nothing.
Alaska: President Andrew Johnson’s Secretary of State William Henry Seaward negotiated the purchase of this empty land for the price of 2 cents per acre. Tsar Alexander II, was worried about British power and realized that he would not able to defend this territory. So the historic ‘Treaty of Cession’ was signed on March 30, 1867 whereby Alaska was ceded to United States of America. The final price: US $ 7.20 million.
Melbourne: On June 6th, 1835, John Batman purchased nearly 2000 sq kms of land from the Wurundjeri tribe for a variety of objects that included blankets, shirts, tomahawks, scissors, looking-glass, knives and flours. However this sale was invalid under British Law as the tribe did not have the right to sell the land. Nevertheless, the site of Melbourne was established and it became the first national capital of Australia.
Louisiana: In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson did not have the US $ 15 million dollars needed for this acquisition of nearly 83,000 sq miles of land, so he borrowed the money from Great Britain at 6% interest. Although arguably unconstitutional at the time, there was wide spread support for Jefferson’s ‘ Louisiana Purchase’. The acquired land almost doubled the size of the USA. The price at the time was less than 3 cents per acre.
Singapore: In 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles, acting on behalf of the East India Company agreed to annual payments of 5000 to Sultan Hussein Mohamed Shah and 3000 Spanish Dollars to Temenggong Abdul Rahman. In return the ‘Company’ was allowed to set up a permanent trading post. Raflles was also a key figure in the conquest of Java from French and Dutch forces during the Napoleonic Wars.
Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo:1848, USA paid US $ 15 million to Mexico for a mammoth area which includes the present day states of California, Nevada & Utah as well as parts of New Mexico, Colorado & Wyoming. The treaty and the subsequent land transfer were direct outcomes of the Mexican-American War. This treaty also established the present international boundary of the Rio Grande.
Java: Under the terms of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 between UK and Netherlands, the island of Java was returned to the Netherlands for 100,000 pounds. The agreement also included clauses where each side agreed to oppose piracy but not to use civilian or military force to hinder trade. Java remained under Dutch control until Indonesian Independence in 1945, but this control was significantly weakened during the Japanese occupation during World War II.
U.S. Virgin Islands: In 1917, USA paid Denmark US 25 million for these islands situated just to the east of Puerto Rico. The sale was mutually beneficial as the Danes were very concerned about the financial costs of maintaining an unproductive asset and the Americans were keen to prevent Germany seizing the islands as a possible submarine base.
“ I really want this land, but it’s very expensive and there’s no use for it”.- Thomas Jefferson