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.

Colonial Areas Not Among the Original 13

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

• Dominion of New England
• East Jersey
• Jamestown Settlement
• New Haven Colony
• New Netherland
• New Sweden
• Plymouth Colony
• Popham Colony
• Province of Carolina
• Province of Maine
• Roanoke Colony
• Salem Colony
• West Jersey

Regions Ceded, Annexed or Purchased from States or Foreign Powers

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

• Alaska Purchase
• Gadsden Purchase
• Louisiana Purchase
  • Sabine Free State
• Mexican Cession
• Oregon Country
• Red River Basin
• Florida Purchase
  • East Florida
  • West Florida
• State Cessions
  • Illinois Country
  • Ohio Country
  • Yazoo Lands
• Texas Annexation

Independent Nations Turned States

• Kingdom of Hawaii
• Republic of Hawaii
• Republic of Texas

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)
• 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

• Panama Canal Zone
• Commonwealth of the Philippines
• Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

Unrecognized Entities

• Conch Republic
• Confederate States of America
• Free City of Tri-Insula
• Kingdom of Beaver Island
• Long Republic
• Republic of California
• Republic of Indian Stream
• Republic of Madawaska
• Republic of Vermont
• Republic of West Florida
• State of Deseret
• State of Franklin
• State of Jefferson
• State of Kanawha
• State of Sequoyah
• State of Westmoreland
• Territory of Cimarron
• Territory of Jefferson
• Transoconee Republic
• Westsylvania

Nicknames

• Burnt-Over District
• Dust Bowl

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

External links

• Chronological List of Territories 1787-1890
• Official Name and Status History of the several States and U.S. Territories
• Indian Land Cessions in the United States, United States Digital Map Archives
• LOC: Indian Land Cessions in the United States, 1784-1894, United States Serial Set, Number 4015
• United States Territorial Maps 1775-1920