USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Since 1762, Spain had owned the territory of Louisiana, which included 828, 000 square miles.

Detailed explanation-2: -French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle first claimed the Louisiana Territory, which he named for King Louis XIV, during a 1682 canoe expedition down the Mississippi River.

Detailed explanation-3: -In this transaction with France, signed on April 30, 1803, the United States purchased 828, 000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Kingdom of France had controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. In 1800, Napoleon, the First Consul of the French Republic, regained ownership of Louisiana as part of a broader effort to re-establish a French colonial empire in North America.

Detailed explanation-5: -In October, Congress ratified the purchase, and in December 1803 France formally transferred authority over the region to the United States. The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory for the bargain price of less than three cents an acre was Thomas Jefferson’s most notable achievement as president.