Louisiana Purchase

The United States’ 1803 acquisition from France of a vast territory west of the Mississippi River, nearly doubling the nation’s area.

Treaty of San Ildefonso: A 1800 agreement in which Spain secretly returned Louisiana to France. This agreement restored French control of Louisiana before its sale to the United States.
Louisiana Purchase Treaty: The treaty signed in Paris on April 30, 1803, transferring Louisiana from France to the United States. It established the legal terms of the acquisition.
Lewis and Clark Expedition: An 1804–1806 expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark across the western United States to the Pacific. The expedition surveyed routes and gathered information about lands acquired in the purchase.
Territorial evolution of the United States: The historical growth and reorganization of territory under United States sovereignty. The purchase was a major early enlargement of the country’s territorial footprint.
Louisiana Territory: A United States organized territory established in 1805 from the northern portion of the Louisiana Purchase. The organized territory was only one political subdivision of the much larger acquired region.
Napoleon Bonaparte: French military and political leader who ruled as First Consul and later emperor. Napoleon abandoned plans for a French empire in the Americas and authorized the sale.
Louisiana Purchase Exposition: A 1904 world’s fair held in St. Louis to commemorate the centennial of the purchase. This later commemoration is distinct from the 1803 territorial transaction.
Zebulon Pike: An American army officer and explorer who led expeditions across the southern and central Great Plains. Pike’s expeditions explored parts of the purchase and helped map its southwestern reaches.
Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains: The diverse Indigenous nations and communities whose homelands span the Great Plains of North America. The acquired territory was already home to Indigenous nations whose sovereignty the United States disregarded.
Mississippi Territory: A United States territory formed in 1798 from lands east of the Mississippi River. Its name can cause confusion, but it was not the vast western region acquired in 1803.

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