Timeline of the Louisiana Purchase
The story of the Louisiana Purchase spans 150 years — from France's 1682 claim to the Mississippi watershed to the $15 million sale that nearly doubled the size of the United States in 1803.
1682
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, claims for France all territory drained by Mississippi River from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and names it Louisiana.
1718
New Orleans is founded.
1762
France cedes New Orleans and Louisiana west of the Mississippi to Spain.
1763
France cedes territories east of the Mississippi and north of New Orleans to Britain.
1783
Treaty of Paris gives newly independent United States free access to the Mississippi.
1784
Spain closes lower Mississippi and New Orleans to foreigners.
1789
The French Revolution begins.
1790
Slaves revolt on Caribbean island of Saint Domingue, France's richest colony.
1795
Spain reopens the Mississippi and New Orleans to Americans.
1799
Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power in France.
1800
Spain secretly agrees to return Louisiana to France in exchange for Etruria, a small kingdom in Italy.
1801
President Jefferson names Robert Livingston minister to France.
1802
Spain cedes Louisiana to France. New Orleans is closed to American shipping. French army sent to re-establish control in Saint Domingue is decimated.
January
Jefferson sends James Monroe to join Livingston (pictured third from left) in France.
Februrary
Napoleon decides against sending more troops to Saint Domingue and instead orders forces to sail to New Orleans.
March
Napoleon cancels military expedition to Louisiana.
April 11
Foreign Minister Talleyrand tells Livingston that France is willing to sell all of Louisiana.
April 12
Monroe arrives in Paris and joins Livingston in negotiations with Finance Minister Barbé-Marbois.
April 30
Monroe, Livingston, and Barbé-Marbois agree on terms of sale: $15 million for approximately 827,000 square miles of territory.
