1803

Louisiana Purchase

Mississippi basin and beyond; numerous sovereign Indigenous nations

The United States bought France’s imperial claims over a vast region. Indigenous peoples were not parties to the sale, and later U.S. occupation required further diplomacy, coercion, and war.

Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.

Context / qualification

Purchase of a European claim did not mean purchase from Native owners.

Sources

• Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (2014), chapter 6
• Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (2014), chapter 10

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