ABSTRACT
Human societies depend on land to obtain their food. This is why wars have been, by and large, about gaining or defending a territory. In most countries, however, land can generally be bought and owned by individuals (or corporations), and in some cases foreigners can also buy land. When land ownership passes to foreigners, there could be major consequences to the national identity of the country, often accompanied by violent conflicts. In this chapter, three such recent cases are examined, including Hawaii, Palestine, and several countries in Central and South America. Land transfers to foreigners in these three parts of the world were associated with the cultivation of three main crops – sugarcane, oranges, and bananas. The specific motives and circumstances of the acquisition of land by foreigners were different in each case, but all had major consequences. Hawaii was eventually annexed by the United States, in Palestine the Jewish state of Israel was established, and some Latin American countries have suffered major civil wars.
