1917
1917: The United States purchases the Virgin Islands from Denmark to bolster its strategic control over the approaches to the Panama Canal.
1917: The United States purchases the Virgin Islands from Denmark to bolster its strategic control over the approaches to the Panama Canal. This acquisition was part of the same Caribbean regional strategy that included the occupation of Haiti and Nicaragua.
Source · p. 144
Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier, 144