What was the 1803 U.S. purchase of territory from France called?

The 1803 U.S. purchase of territory from France was called the Louisiana Purchase.

The agreement transferred the Louisiana Territory to the United States during Thomas Jefferson's presidency. Although the name suggests the present-day state alone, the purchase covered a vast region reaching from the Mississippi Valley to the Rocky Mountains.

Jefferson initially wanted access to New Orleans and the Mississippi River for western farmers and merchants. French leader Napoleon Bonaparte unexpectedly offered the entire territory after abandoning plans to rebuild a French empire in North America.

The treaty was signed in Paris on April 30, 1803, and the United States took formal possession later that year. The purchase led to exploration by the Lewis and Clark Expedition and intensified debates about slavery, Indigenous sovereignty, and the future expansion of the republic. It is distinct from the Alaska Purchase, which the United States made from Russia in 1867.