Wanderlust World Wanderlust World 1. The Louisiana Purchase (1803): The United States purchased the vast Louisiana territory from France for $15 million. It spanned from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada and stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains.
2. The Florida Cession (1819): Spain ceded Florida to the United States as part of the Adams-Onis Treaty, which also established the boundary between the US and Spanish territories in the West.
3. The Mexican-American War (1846-1848): The US victory in the Mexican-American War resulted in the acquisition of the present-day Southwest, including states such as California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona and New Mexico.
4. The Oregon Treaty (1846): The United States and Great Britain agreed to the division of the Oregon territory, with the US gaining the area south of the 49th parallel (present-day Oregon, Washington, and parts of Idaho and Montana).
5. The Gadsden Purchase (1853): The US acquired the southern part of what are now Arizona and New Mexico from Mexico to facilitate building a transcontinental railroad.
6. Alaska Purchase (1867): The United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, expanding its territory in the northwest.
These territorial expansions significantly enlarged the size of the United States and shaped its continental boundaries as we know them today.