The 1916 treaty transferred the Danish West Indies to the United States for $25 million in gold, marking one of the most recent permanent expansions of U.S. territory.
Key Facts
- Purchase Price
- $25,000,000 in gold
- Equivalent Value (2025)
- approximately $740 million USD
- Date Signed
- August 4, 1916
- Territories Transferred
- Danish West Indies (from Denmark to USA)
- US Concession
- Agreement to cede US interest in Greenland
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The United States had long sought to acquire the Danish West Indies for their strategic value in the Caribbean, particularly to secure sea lanes near the Panama Canal. Wartime concerns during World War I heightened American fears that Germany might seize Denmark and thereby gain a foothold in the Western Hemisphere, intensifying pressure to conclude a purchase agreement.
On August 4, 1916, the United States and Denmark signed the Convention for Cession of the Danish West Indies. The treaty transferred full Danish sovereignty over the islands to the United States in exchange for $25,000,000 in gold, with the United States also agreeing to recognize Danish interests in Greenland.
The treaty resulted in the Danish West Indies becoming the United States Virgin Islands, administered by the U.S. from 1917 onward. It stands as one of the most recent permanent territorial expansions of the United States, while Denmark subsequently used U.S. acquiescence to solidify its own claim over Greenland.
Political Outcome
Denmark ceded the Danish West Indies to the United States; the islands became the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1917.
Danish West Indies under Danish sovereignty
Islands transferred to United States sovereignty as the U.S. Virgin Islands