Louisiana Purchase
In 1800 AD, Native Americans still controlled most of North America, but Spain, France, Britain and the United States were busy fighting over who got to conquer it.
Spain was trying to conquer the land along the West Coast and the Southwest, and Florida, although most of that land was still ruled independently by the Navajo, the Pueblo, the Apache, the Ute, and other native people. Spain, England and the United States were arguing over who should control the Pacific Northwest, but most of it was really still ruled by the Chinook and the Nez Perce and other native people.
France wanted to control the middle of North America: the Mississippi Valley and the Great Plains, though again most of that land was still ruled by the Sioux, the Cree, and other native peoples.
Britain claimed the whole northern part of North America, even though really the Inuit and Algonquin and Cree were still pretty much independent there as well.
In the East, the newly created United States of America really did control most of the East Coast except for Florida, and also most of the Midwest, although there were still areas really controlled by the Cree, the Cherokee, and the Algonquin.
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But France was involved in a big war with England, and needed money to pay their army. In 1803, Napoleon, the emperor of France, decided to sell France's part of North America to the United States for $15 million dollars (which would be a lot more in today's dollars, but it was still a total bargain). Thomas Jefferson, the President of the United States, agreed to buy the land. The Louisiana Purchase made the United States twice as big as it had been before, at least on paper - but the Native Americans still really controlled most of the land.
More about the Louisiana Purchase - Lewis and Clark
To find out more about North American history, check out these books from Amazon or your local library:
North American Economy
North American People
North American Government
Later North America page
History of Early North America
Main North America page
Kidipede - History for Kids home page
