As far back as 1867, White House officials have viewed Greenland, and Iceland, as having immense strategic value
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hortly before the United States descended into civil war and senior administration officials made a forceful case to purchase Greenland for its natural resources, an American ship appeared in Nuuk’s harbour. Its arrival at Greenland’s largest outpost was newsworthy enough to merit a large picture in the local newspaper.
The clipping, published in 1861, comes from the pages of the Atuagagdliutt, a Kalaallisut-language weekly that was the first in the world to use colour illustrations.
The image of early US interest in Greenland forms part of a newly opened exhibition on 19th-century Arctic exploration at the University of Toronto’s Thomas Fisher rare book library.
