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The Virgin Islands were originally inhabited by the Arawak and Carib, many of whom are thought to have perished during the colonial period due to enslavement, foreign disease, and war brought about by European colonists.[2]

European colonists later settled here and established sugar plantations, at least one tobacco plantation, and purchased people for slavery taken from Africa. The descendants of the enslaved people remain the bulk of the population, sharing a common African-Caribbean heritage with the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean.

Like mainland Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands that belonged to Spain were ceded to the United States in 1898. The United States took possession of the islands after the signing of the armistice that put an end to military operations in the Spanish–American War.

A 1916 treaty between the United States and Denmark (not ratified by the United States until 1917) resulted in Denmark selling the Danish Virgin Islands to the United States for $25 million in gold.

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On October 18, 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. Indigenous peoples settled the unforgiving territory thousands of years earlier. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiastically expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson.

U.S. Takes Possession of Alaska - HISTORY

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1901-02: Military control. America enacts the Platt Amendment, consenting to withdraw troops from Cuba once the island territory agrees that the U.S. has an ongoing right to intervene militarily to protect strategic and business interests. It also leases land at the southern portion of Guantanamo Bay to build a naval base.
1902: Cuban Republic. U.S. ceases military occupation of Cuba and establishes diplomatic relations, effectively launching the Republic of Cuba.

A Timeline of US-Cuba Relations - HISTORY

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Following the deliberations of the U.S. Isthmian Canal Commission and a push from President Theodore Roosevelt, the United States purchased the French assets in the canal zone for $40 million in 1902. When a proposed treaty over rights to build in what was then a Colombian territory was rejected, the U.S. threw its military weight behind a Panamanian independence movement, eventually negotiating a deal with the new government.
On November 6, 1903, the United States recognized the Republic of Panama, and on November 18 the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed with Panama, granting America exclusive and permanent possession of the Panama Canal Zone.

Panama Canal: History, Definition & Canal Zone - HISTORY - HISTORY

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Only one year after Spain granted Puerto Rico self-rule, American troops raise the U.S. flag over the Caribbean nation, formalizing U.S. authority over the island’s one million inhabitants.

In July 1898, near the end of the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launched an invasion of Puerto Rico, the 108-mile-long, 40-mile-wide island that was one of Spain’s two principal possessions in the Caribbean. With little resistance and only seven American deaths, U.S. troops were able to secure the island by mid August.

U.S. takes control of Puerto Rico - HISTORY

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The only reason America annexed Guam and its Chamorro inhabitants all those years ago was because the U.S. was at war with Spain. When the Spanish-American War broke out in April of 1898, Guam was under Spanish control (as it had been since the 1600s). The U.S. was actually more interested in conquering the Spanish Philippines, but it figured it needed to take Guam to secure the larger territory. The Philippines and Guam are only 1,500 miles apart.

How the United States Ended Up With Guam - HISTORY