The
Louisiana Purchase ( "Sale of Louisiana") was the acquisition of the
Louisiana territory (828,000 square miles) by the
United States from
France in 1803. The U.S. paid fifty million
francs ($11,250,000 USD) and a cancellation of debts worth eighteen million francs ($3,750,000 USD) for a total of sixty-eight million francs ($15,000,000 USD). The Louisiana territory included land from fifteen present
U.S. states and two
Canadian provinces. The territory contained land that forms
Arkansas,
Missouri,
Iowa,
Oklahoma,
Kansas, and
Nebraska; the portion of
Minnesota west of the
Mississippi River; a large portion of
North Dakota; a large portion of
South Dakota; the northeastern section of
New Mexico; the northern portion of
Texas; the area of
Montana,
Wyoming, and
Colorado east of the
Continental Divide; Louisiana west of the Mississippi River (plus
New Orleans); and small portions of land within the present Canadian provinces of
Alberta and
Saskatchewan. Its population was around 60,000 inhabitants, of whom half were colored.
