Historical regions of the United States
These are historic regions of the United States, meaning regions that were legal entities in the past, or which the average American would no longer recognize as a regional description.
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Historical Regions Ceded, Annexed, Purchased or Settled
Main articles: United States territorial acquisitions, History of United States imperialism, Manifest Destiny
- Alaska Purchase
- Gadsden Purchase
- Illinois Country
- Jackson Purchase
- Louisiana Purchase
- Mexican Cession
- Ohio Country
- Oregon Country
- Pike's Peak Country
- Platte Purchase
- Red River Basin
- Sabine Free State
- West Florida
- Yazoo Lands
Colonial Areas Not Among the Original 13
Main articles: 13 colonies, European colonization of the Americas, British colonization of the Americas
Internal Land Grants, Purchases or Settlements
The following are land grants, purchases or settlements made within an area that was already part of the original 13 colonies or a state of the Union or U.S. territory.
- Big Pasture (Oklahoma)
- Cherokee Outlet (Oklahoma)
- Cherokee Strip (Oklahoma)
- Gorges Patent (Maine)
- Granville District (North Carolina)
- The Holland Purchase (New York)
- The Mill Yard Tract (New York)
- The Morris Reserve (New York)
- Macomb's Purchase (New York)
- New Hampshire Grants (Vermont, more or less)
- Neutral Strip (Louisiana)Neutral Strip (Louisiana)
- Neutral Strip (Oklahoma)
- Ohio Lands
- Phelps and Gorham Purchase (New York)
- Territory of Sagadahock (Maine)
- Transylvania Colony (Kentucky)
- The Triangle Tract (New York)
- Unassigned Lands (Oklahoma)
- Waldo Patent (Maine)
Historic Land Designations
- Cumberland District, North Carolina aka District of Miro (Tennessee)
- Washington District, North Carolina (Tennessee)
- Mobile District
Former Organized U.S. Territories (Chronological)
The following is a list of organized U.S. territories that have become states, in the order of the date organized.
- Northwest Territory (1789–1803)
- Southwest Territory
- Mississippi Territory
- Indiana Territory
- Orleans Territory
- Michigan Territory
- Louisiana Territory, preceded by District of Louisiana and succeeded by Missouri Territory
- Illinois Territory
- Alabama Territory
- Arkansas Territory
- Florida Territory
- Wisconsin Territory
- Iowa Territory
- Oregon Territory
- Minnesota Territory
- New Mexico Territory
- Utah Territory
- Washington Territory
- Kansas Territory
- Nebraska Territory
- Colorado Territory
- Nevada Territory
- Dakota Territory
- Arizona Territory, which was also claimed as a Confederate Territory during the Civil War
- Idaho Territory
- Montana Territory
- Wyoming Territory
- Oklahoma Territory, preceded, in part, by Indian Territory
- Hawaii Territory, preceded by Republic of Hawaii. (See History of Hawaii for more detail.)
- Alaska Territory, preceded by Department of Alaska and District of Alaska
Official Non-Territory Regions No Longer in Use
- Department of Alaska
- District of Alaska
- District of Arkansas
- District of Kentucky (Judicial, historic colloquial)
- District of Louisiana
- District of Maine
- Trans-Mississippi
Formerly Independent Nations Now States
Unrecognized
- Conch Republic
- Confederate States of America
- Free City of Tri-Insula
- Kingdom of Beaver Island
- Republic of California
- Republic of Indian Stream
- Republic of Vermont
- Republic of West Florida
- State of Deseret
- State of Franklin
- State of Jefferson
- State of Sequoyah
- State of Westmoreland
- Territory of Cimarron
- Territory of Jefferson
- Transoconee Republic
- Westsylvania
Informal names, no longer used
Possessions and Overseas Territories
See also
- Political divisions of the United States
- United States territory
- List of regions of the United States
- List of U.S. states that were never territories
- European colonization of the Americas
- Reconstruction military districts
- List of extinct U.S. counties