History of Missouri

The history of Missouri traces the region from Indigenous societies and French colonial rule through U.S. statehood, slavery, westward expansion, and modern political and economic change.

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Mississippian culture: A network of Indigenous societies in eastern North America, known for large settlements, maize agriculture, and monumental earthen architecture. Its regional legacy includes Cahokia, near present-day St. Louis, before European colonization.
Louisiana Purchase: The 1803 acquisition of French Louisiana by the United States, which doubled the country’s territory. The purchase transferred Missouri from European empires to U.S. administration.
Cahokia: A major pre-Columbian Indigenous city near the Mississippi River, flourishing from about 1050 to 1350. Its proximity shows the depth of Indigenous urban history around modern Missouri.
Border states (American Civil War): The slaveholding states that remained in the Union during the American Civil War. Missouri’s divided loyalties placed it among the Union’s strategically important border states.
History of Kansas: The history of Kansas from Indigenous societies and territorial conflict through statehood and modern development. Its antislavery settlement movement stood in sharp contrast with Missouri’s slaveholding politics.
Osage Nation: An Indigenous nation whose ancestral territory included much of present-day Missouri and surrounding regions. Osage power and diplomacy shaped the region as French and later U.S. influence expanded.
Missouri Territory: A U.S. territory organized in 1812 from part of the former Louisiana Territory. Its organization preceded Missouri’s application for statehood.
Louisiana Purchase Exposition: The 1904 world’s fair held in St. Louis to mark the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase. The exposition showcased Missouri’s ambitions and the era’s unequal racial and colonial visions.
Missouri Executive Order 44: The 1838 order by Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs directing the expulsion or extermination of Mormons from the state. It records state-sanctioned violence against Latter-day Saint settlers in Missouri.
History of Illinois: The history of Illinois from Indigenous societies and French settlement through statehood and modern development. Illinois entered the Union as a free state while neighboring Missouri entered as a slave state.