Saudi Arabia Purchased Tiran Island and Sanafir Island From Egypt in 2017

Back in the 1800s, territories were purchased by one country from another country all the time. Alaska was bought by the United States from Russia, Singapore was bought by the United Kingdom from Johor, and Saint Croix was purchased by Denmark-Norway from France, just to name a few.
In the 1900s, the pace of purchases slowed down dramatically - in fact, just seven transactions have been completed since the turn of the 19th century, including the purchase of the Danish West Indies by the United States from Denmark as well as the purchase of Gwadar by Pakistan from Muscat and Oman.
The most recent transaction took place in 2017, when Saudi Arabia purchased Tiran Island and Sanafir Island from Egypt in exchange for $22 billion in oil and development aid. This purchase came about as a result of a maritime border agreement between Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The two islands hold significant strategic importance for Saudi Arabia - in fact, Israel took over the island twice in the 1900s during the Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War.
These two islands, which were virtually uninhabited (aside from military personnel), totalled just 113 square kilometres.
In fact, the only significant purchase (in terms of land size) over the last hundred years belongs to Pakistan's purchase of Gwadar from Muscat and Oman, which ended up covering a land mass of just over 15,000 square kilometres.
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The fact of the matter is that the United States would have an extraordinarily hard time completing a purchase of Greenland from Denmark.
The two sides would need to first come to an agreement, which would be a very long and arduous process that would cover millions of tiny details.
After that, Greenland would need to hold a referendum in order to approve the deal, as they are an autonomous region within the Kingdom of Denmark. The people of Greenland would need to vote in the majority to agree to the deal.
After that, the process of completing the purchase would need to take place, with the United States likely having to agree to transfer Denmark and/or Greenland a monstrous amount of money.
In short - don't hold your breath on this transaction ever taking place.
Filed under: General Knowledge