Historic regions of the United States

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Map showing North American Territorial Boundaries leading up to the American Revolution and the founding of the United States: British claims are indicated in red and pink, while Spanish claims are in orange and yellow.
Early map showing claims and grant boundaries. Some colonies seen here are: Nova Scotia, First Province of Maine, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, New Netherland, New Sweden, and Lord Baltimore's Land (Maryland)

This is a list of historic regions of the United States.

New World settlements of The Netherlands, collectively called New Netherland
The Massachusetts Bay Colony
French settlements and forts in the so-called Illinois Country, 1763, which encompassed parts of the modern day states of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky)
Vandalia was the name of a proposed British colony in North America. The colony was to be located south of the Ohio River, primarily in what is now the U.S. states of West Virginia and eastern Kentucky
A proposal for the creation of Westsylvania was largely deterred by the Revolutionary War

Colonial era (before 1776)[edit]

The Thirteen Colonies[edit]

Main article: Thirteen Colonies

Pre-Revolutionary War regions[edit]

Main article: European colonization of the Americas

{* -indicates failed legal entities}

New England region[edit]

Mid-Atlantic region[edit]

Southern region[edit]

Southwestern region[edit]

Interior[edit]

Colonies settled but unrecognized[edit]

National Atlas map of United States territorial acquisitions

Colonies proposed but unrealized[edit]

Seward's Folly. The controversial purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 turned out to be a great deal for the U.S. when the area proved to contain a treasure trove of natural resources.

Independent entities later wholly admitted to the union[edit]

Regions purchased from foreign powers[edit]

The Oregon Country. The dispute over Oregon, between Britain and the U.S., led to an uneasy, "parallel" governing of the territory for almost 30 years.
See also: United States territorial acquisitions and Manifest Destiny

Regions annexed from or ceded by foreign powers[edit]

The Republic of West Florida would cut across three modern day states
  • Some historic and current U. S. Territories

  • The Philippines was a commonwealth of the United States, 1935–1946

  • Worldwide location of current U. S. insular areas:

  • The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Native regions ceded to, ceded or purchased[edit]

Progression of the Indian Territory separation from the Arkansaw Territory, 1819–1836
Indiana lands acquired through treaties

Interstate, territory, or the federal cessions[edit]

The first State Cessions. The 13 original states ceded their western claims to the federal government, allowing for the creation of the country's first western territories and states.

The following are state cessions made in the building of the U.S.

Former organized territories[edit]

See also: Organized incorporated territories of the United States
The Northwest Territory was a large and (at times) ill-defined territory ceded by Great Britain to the U.S. at the end of the Revolutionary War. British troops still occupied parts of the area well past 1800.
United States territorial expansion since 1803, by William R. Shepherd (1923)
Census Bureau map depicting territorial acquisitions and effective dates of statehood

The following is a list of the 31 organized U.S. territories that have become states, in the order of the date organized.

Internal land of the United States[edit]

Internal United States land grants, cessions, districts, departments, claims and settlements
The Ohio Country indicating battle sites between settlers and Native American Tribes, 1775–1794

The following are land grants, cessions, defined districts (official or otherwise) or named settlements made within an area that was already part of a state of the Union or U.S. territory that did not involve international treaties or Native American cessions or land purchases.

Alaska[edit]

Colorado[edit]

Iowa[edit]

Nebraska[edit]

New York[edit]

Selected tract purchases of western New York State

Ohio[edit]

Main article: Ohio Lands
Map of the Ohio Lands
Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory, along with No Man's Land (also known as the Oklahoma Panhandle). The division of the two territories is shown with a heavy purple line. Together, these three areas would become the State of Oklahoma in 1907.
Pennsylvania land purchases from Native Americans.

Oklahoma[edit]

Indian Reserves[edit]

Pennsylvania[edit]

U.S. mainland military districts/departments[edit]

See also: Reconstruction Era § Military reconstruction

These entities were sometimes the only governmental authority in the listed areas, although they often co-existed with civil governments in scarcely populated states and territories. Civilian administered "military" tracts, districts, departments, etc., will be listed elsewhere.

Central United States[edit]

  • Department of the Northwest (1862–1865) Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska[2]
    • District of Minnesota (1862–1865)
    • District of Wisconsin (1862–1865)
    • District of Iowa (1862–1865)
    • District of Dakota (1862–1866)
    • District of Montana (1864–1866)
  • Department of the Missouri (1861–1865) Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, part of Kentucky, and later Kansas; re-configured in 1865 as part of the Division of the Missouri.
  • Division of the Missouri (1865–1891).
    • Department of Dakota (1866–1911) Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and parts of Idaho, South Dakota and the Yellowstone portion of Wyoming.
    • Department of the Missouri (1865–1891) Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Indian Territory, and Territory of Oklahoma.
    • Department of the Platte (1866–1898) Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Dakota Territory, Utah Territory, Wyoming (except Yellowstone), and a portion of Idaho.
    • Department of Texas (1871-1880) (originally part of the Department of the Gulf) Texas after 1865.
  • Department of New Mexico (1854–65) New Mexico Territory; previously part of the District of California and the Department of the West.

Pacific area[edit]

  • Pacific Division (1848–1853) lands won in the Mexican–American War; became the original Department of the Pacific in 1853.
    • Military Department 10 (1848–1851) California.
    • Military Department 11 (1848–1851) Oregon Territory.

During the Civil War the Department of the Pacific had six subordinate military districts:

  • Department of California (1858–1861) the southern part of the Department of the Pacific: California, Nevada, and southern part of Oregon Territory; merged into the Department of the Pacific as the District of California.
  • Department of Oregon (1858–1861) the northern part of the Department of the Pacific: Washington Territory and Oregon Territory.
Post-Civil War Military Districts were set up to aid in the repatriation process of the southern states during "Reconstruction".
The Panama Canal Zone was once a territory of the United States.
  • Military Division of the Pacific (1865–1891).
    • Department of Alaska (1868–1884) became the civilian-ruled District of Alaska.
    • Department of Arizona (1865–1891) Arizona Territory; included New Mexico Territory after 1885.
    • Department of the Columbia (1865–1891) Oregon, Washington Territory, part of Idaho Territory, and Alaska after 1870.
      • District of Oregon (1865–1867) Washington Territory, Oregon Territory and Idaho Territory.
    • New Department of California (1865–1891) California, Nevada Territory, Arizona Territory, and part of New Mexico Territory.

The south[edit]

  • Department of the Gulf (1862–1865; created by the U.S. for the Civil War) Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas.
  • Trans-Mississippi (or Trans-Mississippi Department; CSA) (1862–1865) Formerly "Military Dept. 2"; Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), Kansas, and Louisiana west of the Mississippi River.

The west[edit]

Retroceded possessions and overseas territories[edit]

U.S. military overseas regions[edit]

Functioning but non-sanctioned territories[edit]

These "territories" had actual, functioning governments (recognized or not):

Civil War related[edit]

Animated Map of Secession and Repatriation of the Confederacy, 1860–1870. (Click on map to begin.)
Competing Union and Confederate claims in Arizona and New Mexico (1861-1865). The 1863 date reflects the establishment of the U.S. Arizona Territory.

Functioning governments created as a result of the attempted secession of the Confederacy. Some were enclaves within opposing territories:

These were regions disassociated from neighboring areas due to opposing views:

Proclaimed but non-extant entities[edit]

The failed State of Lincoln, with its proposed 1868 boundaries

These entities have been proclaimed (or have existed de facto) in the past, but have never had an elected, recognized, or functioning government:

  • Some Flags of Historic U. S. Regions

  • The unrecognized Sovereign State of Muskogee declared by William Bowles in 1799

  • The original Bear Flag only flew over California for 25 days, unrecognized by any country

  • Contemporary U.S. flag raised 23 June 1846 by Army Major John C. Frémont claiming California as a territory of the United States, replacing the short-lived Bear Flag Banner

  • Flag of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, 1894-1898.

  • Flag of the U.S. Territory of the Panama Canal Zone, flown 1903–1979

Proposed but non-existent entities[edit]

The proposed State of Superior. The red areas show the counties of the Upper Peninsula that are generally accepted as being part of the proposed state. The pink areas show the counties of the "expanded" proposal.

Failed proposals[edit]

These are failed state or territorial proposals actually brought to either a congressional, legislative or popular vote; but which never became a functioning entity:

Proposals never voted on[edit]

These are failed state or territorial proposals whose establishment proposals never were voted on, or never made it out of committee:

Native American-related proposed regions[edit]

  • Aztlán (a future reincarnation of a defunct, mythical Aztec Empire to be "re"-established in lands now found in the Southwestern U.S., a central theme in Chicano political activism.)
  • Comancheria, area inhabited and intermittently controlled by the Comanche and their allies.
  • Dinétah, the claimed original Navajo homeland
  • Republic of Lakotah, the proposed Sioux upper Midwestern mega-state.
  • Lenapehoking, would be named for the Delaware or Lenilenape Indians.
The four United States Census Bureau Regions separated by color, with the Nine Census Divisions further delineated by shading.

Regional nicknames[edit]

Main article: List of regions of the United States

Belts[edit]

Belts are loosely defined sub-regions found throughout the United States:

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Luisiana". Artifacts.org. Retrieved 2012-09-17. 
  2. ^ Heidler, David Stephen; Heidler, Jeanne T.; Coles, David J.; Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History; W. W. Norton & Company; New York; 2000; p. 590.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Historical regions of the United States.
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