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Territorial Evolution of the United States


  

US Territorial Acquisitions

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Learn more about the territorial evolution of the United States.
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Louisiana Purchase #1

On April 30, 1803 the Louisiana Purchase was made, expanding the United States west of the Mississippi River. The Union later had a dispute with Spain regarding whether France had included Spanish West Florida, located east of the Mississippi River, in the sale. West of the Mississippi, it was defined as the Mississippi Basin, whose extent was not known at the time and extended slightly north of the modern Canada-US border. It consisted of the whole of present-day Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, and portions of Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. It also included the southernmost portions of the present-day Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
US States  US Territories  Disputed areas  Other states


  

Louisiana Purchase #2

On October 1, 1804 the Louisiana Purchase was split into the District of Louisiana, which was temporarily under the authority of Indiana Territory, and the organized Territory of Orleans, which corresponded to part of present-day Louisiana with a small portion of Texas. The western border of Orleans Territory caused further conflict with New Spain, specifically over the region between the Sabine River on the west and the Arroyo Hondo (River) on the east, which became known as the Sabine Free State. This land was later confirmed as US territory by the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819. On July 4, 1805 the District of Louisiana was organized as Louisiana Territory.
US States     US Territories  Disputed areas  Other states



Louisiana Purchase #3

Present-day federal states formed out of land from the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

Former Louisiana Territory (Louisiana Purchase)



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