The name is a misnomer, b/c the state of LA was the smallest portion of it..........the USA bought all that land from France, under Pres. Tom Jefferson...............

Louisiana Purchase

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Louisiana Purchase (disambiguation).

Louisiana Purchase Vente de la Louisiane
expansion of the United States
←  1803–1804  →  →
Flag of the United States
The modern United States, with Louisiana Purchase overlay (in green)
History
-	Established	July 4, 1803
-	Disestablished	October 1, 1804

1804 map of "Louisiana", edged on the west by the Rocky Mountains.

The Louisiana Purchase (French: Vente de la Louisiane "Sale of Louisiana") was the United States' acquisition of 828,000 square miles (2,144,000 square kilometers or 529,920,000 acres) of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S. paid 50 million francs ($11,250,000) plus cancellation of debts worth 18 million francs ($3,750,000), a total sum of 15 million dollars (around 4 cents per acre^[1]), for the Louisiana territory ($236 million in 2014 dollars, less than 42 cents per acre).^[2][3]

The Louisiana territory encompassed all or part of 15 present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The land purchased contained all of present-