Time-lapse Territorial Evolution of the United States

Question

As described in the linked article this "is the perfect visual aid to understand how the United States evolved from the Thirteen Colonies to its current form."  I think this is particularly useful to genealogists working with territorial lands vs later formed states, etc. Enjoy.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/us-territorial-expansion/

Comments

Wow!  This is an awesome resource.  Thanks for sharing!

---

How neat! Thank you for sharing that! Very educational.

---

My ancestors migrated across America. Your historical map helps me understand one of the reasons that may have motivated the family to migrate.

---

I love it.  It's great a a macro level, alas we really need one at the micro level as well, town boundaries in Middlesex County Mass come to mind.  They shifted all over the place.

Answer 1

I love that! It’s so interesting! We added one for Native American Tribes when we put up that project. There are actually several:

https://www.wikitree.com/photo.php/5/5a/Profile_Photo_s-3.gif

https://www.wikitree.com/photo.php/2/21/Profile_Photo_s-8.gif

https://www.wikitree.com/photo.php/b/bf/Photos-244.gif

Comments

For a sobering experience, view either the original map posted by Todd, or one of the maps showing the First Peoples -- or view both -- in tandem with reading Kent Nerburn's "Neither Wolf nor Dog" (as I just did, quite coincidentally).

Answer 2

That is very helpful. I knew about some of these territories and stuff, but I had no idea the original Louisiana Territory was so large. I often come across records for people from Louisiana, now I'll have to match up the years and see if it was Louisiana Territory or what?

Comments

You have to look it up for each area. Whatever the present day name is, you can typically search when it was founded and it’s history and you will see how the area was named throughout its history.

Answer 3

This is great!

So if, for example, I'm entering someone who died or was born in what is either present day Wyoming, Nebraska or Montana in 1840 would the appropriate location be "Unorganized Territory, United States" ?

Answer 4

really interesting and helpful.  Thanks Todd.

Answer 5

I added that to the top links on the WikiTree Spreadsheet under the STATES tab. (3I and 3J)

Spreadsheet

Answer 6

Love it!  

thanks.