Louisiana Territory
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The United States in 1810, following the Louisiana Purchase. |
Louisiana Territory was a historic,
organized territory of the
United States from
July 4,
1805 until
December 11,
1812. It consisted of the portion of the
Louisiana Purchase that was not partitioned off into
Orleans Territory, which later became the state of
Louisiana. The Louisiana Territory was everything in the Purchase north of the
33rd parallel (the southern boundary of the present state of
Arkansas). The seat of government was
St. Louis.
Louisiana Territory in some contexts can refer to the French or Spanish colonial territories of Louisiana; see
French colonization of the Americas,
Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term is often used informally as synonymous with all of the area included in the
Louisiana Purchase.
Both
Meriwether Lewis (1807-1809) and
William Clark (1813-1820) served as territorial governors of the Louisiana Territory.
The Louisiana Territory had five subdivisions
St. Louis District,
St. Charles District,
Ste. Genevieve District,
Cape Girardeau District and
New Madrid District. In
1806, the territorial legislature created the
District of Arkansas from lands ceded by the
Osage Nation. The remainder was known as the
Upper Louisiana Territory.
On
October 1,
1812, Governor Clark organized the five administrative districts of Upper Louisiana Territory into counties, which later became the first five
counties of
Missouri Territory. In
1818, Franklin and Jefferson counties were formed out of the original St. Louis County, leaving St. Louis County with the land that today comprises St. Louis County and St. Louis.
The Louisiana Territory was renamed
Missouri Territory in
1812 to avoid confusion with the new state of
Louisiana.
See also:
Historic regions of the United States
