Territory purchased by the U.S. from France in 1803 for $15 million.
It extended from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to British America (Canada). In 1762 France had ceded Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain, but Spain returned it to French control in 1800. Alarmed by this potential increase in French power, Pres. Napoleon then sold the U.S. the entire Louisiana Territory, although its boundaries remained unclear; its northwestern and southwestern limits were not established until 1818–19. The purchase doubled the area of the U.S.