Historic 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 modern American would no longer immediately recognize as a regional description.

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1 Colonial Areas Not Among the Original 13
2 Regions Ceded, Annexed or Purchased from States or Foreign Powers
3 Independent Nations Turned States
4 Internal Land Grants, Cessions, Purchases, Districts, Claims or Settlements
5 Former Organized U.S. Territories (Chronological)
6 Possessions and Overseas Territories Subsequently Retroceded
7 Unrecognized Entities
8 Nicknames
9 See also
10 External links

Colonial Areas Not Among the Original 13

Main articles: Thirteen Colonies, European colonization of the Americas, British colonization of the Americas

Regions Ceded, Annexed or Purchased from States or Foreign Powers

Main articles: United States territorial acquisitions, History of United States imperialism, Manifest Destiny

Census Bureau map depicting territorial acquisitions and dates of statehood.

Independent Nations Turned States

Internal Land Grants, Cessions, Purchases, Districts, Claims or Settlements

The following are land grants, cessions, purchases, defined districts (official or otherwise) or named settlements made within an area that was already part of the original 13 colonies or a state of the Union or U.S. territory, including major land acquisitions (of varying degrees of legality) from Native Americans that did not involve international treaties or state cessions.

Arizona Territory (CSA) (Arizona, New Mexico)
Big Pasture (Oklahoma)
Carver's Tract (Wisconsin)
Central New York Military Tract (New York)
Cherokee Outlet, or Cherokee Strip (Oklahoma)
Cherokee Strip (Kansas)
Cumberland District, North Carolina aka District of Miro (Tennessee)
Department of Alaska
District of Alaska
District of Arkansas
District of Kentucky
District of Louisiana
District of Maine
Equivalent Lands (Connecticut-Massachusetts)
Erie Triangle (Pennsylvania)
Fairfax Grant (Virginia)
Gorges Patent (Maine)
Granville District (North Carolina)
The Holland Purchase (New York)
Honey Lands (disputed tract of land, Iowa-Missouri)
Indian Territory
Jackson Purchase (Kentucky)
The Mill Yard Tract (New York)
The Morris Reserve (New York)
Macomb's Purchase (New York)
Marquette District (Wisconsin)
Mobile District
New Hampshire Grants (Vermont)
New York Lands (Kansas)
Neutral Strip, or No Man's Land (Oklahoma)
Ohio Lands
- Connecticut Western Reserve
  - Firelands
- French Grants
- Toledo Strip
- Virginia Military District
- Symmes Purchase
Phelps and Gorham Purchase (New York)
Pembina Territory (Dakotas, Minnesota)
Platte Purchase (Missouri)
Pike's Peak Country (Colorado)
Saginaw Cession (Michigan)
Territory of Sagadahock (Maine)
Trans-Mississippi
Transylvania Colony (Kentucky)
The Triangle Tract (New York)
Unassigned Lands (Oklahoma)
Waldo Patent (Maine)
The Walking Purchase (Pennsylvania)
Washington District, North Carolina (Tennessee)
Welsh Tract (Pennsylvania)

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 (1790–1796)
Mississippi Territory (1798–1817)
Indiana Territory (1800–1816)
Orleans Territory (1804–1812)
Michigan Territory (1805–1837)
Louisiana Territory (1805–1812), preceded by District of Louisiana
Illinois Territory (1809–1818)
Missouri Territory (1812–1821)
Alabama Territory (1817–1819)
Arkansas Territory (1819–1836)
Florida Territory (1822–1845)
Wisconsin Territory (1836–1848)
Iowa Territory (1838–1846)
Oregon Territory (1848–1859)
Minnesota Territory (1849–1858)
New Mexico Territory (1850–1912)
Utah Territory (1850–1896)
Washington Territory (1853–1889)
Kansas Territory (1854–1861)
Nebraska Territory (1854–1867)
Colorado Territory (1861–1876)
Nevada Territory (1861–1864)
Dakota Territory (1861–1889)
Arizona Territory (1863–1912), which was also claimed as a Confederate Territory during the Civil War
Idaho Territory (1863–1890)
Montana Territory (1864–1889)
Wyoming Territory (1868–1890)
Oklahoma Territory (1890–1907), preceded, in part, by Indian Territory
Hawaii Territory (1898–1959), preceded by Republic of Hawaii
Alaska Territory (1912–1959), preceded by Department of Alaska and District of Alaska

Possessions and Overseas Territories Subsequently Retroceded

Unrecognized Entities

Nicknames

External links

Categories: Incomplete lists | Political divisions of the United States | U.S. historical regions and territories