President Donald Trump has said he believes the US will gain control of Greenland, after showing renewed interest in acquiring the autonomous Danish territory in recent weeks. "I think we're going to have it," he told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday, adding that the island's 56,000 residents "want to be with us".

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.