ON THIS DAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY
January 17, 1917
The United States Buys the Virgin Islands
from Denmark for $25 Million
On this day in 1917, the United States purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million. The were
purchased by the U.S. partially out of fear that Germany would sieze the islands to be used as a submarine base
during World War I. U.S. citizenship was not granted to the inhabitants of the island until 1927.
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