The territory of the United States and its overseas possessions has evolved over time, from the colonial era to the present day. It includes formally organized territories, proposed and failed states, unrecognized breakaway states, international and interstate purchases, cessions, and land grants, and historical military departments and administrative districts. The last section lists informal regions from American vernacular geography known by popular nicknames and linked by geographical, cultural, or economic similarities, some of which are still in use today.
For a more complete list of regions and subdivisions of the United States used in modern times, see List of regions of the United States.
Colonial era (before 1776)
Thirteen Colonies
Connecticut Colony
Delaware Colony
Province of Georgia
Province of Maryland
Province of Massachusetts Bay
Province of New Hampshire
Province of New Jersey
Province of New York
Province of North Carolina
Province of Pennsylvania
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
Province of South Carolina
Colony and Dominion of Virginia
Pre-Revolutionary War regions
† - indicates failed legal entities
New England
Acadia
Dominion of New England†
Equivalent Lands
King's College Tract
Provinces of Maine†
Territory of Sagadahock
Popham Colony (or Sagadahoc Colony)†
Gorges-Mason Grant†
Mason Lands
Gorges Patent†
Lygonia Patent†
New Somersetshire†
Muscongus Patent (also known as the Waldo Patent and, eventually, the Bingham Purchase) Massachusetts Bay Colony Narragansett Country† New Hampshire Grants New Haven Colony Plymouth Colony Saybrook Colony Wessagusset Colony†
Mid-Atlantic
Granville District
East Jersey
West Jersey
New Netherland and its settlements
New Sweden†
Southern
Province of Carolina
Fort Caroline†
Charlesfort†
La Florida
San Agustín (St. Augustine) San Miguel de Gualdape† (in present-day South Carolina) Mocama Province† Jamestown Northern Neck Proprietary (or "Fairfax Grant") The Lost Colony of Roanoke† Stuarts Town†
Interior
District of West Augusta
Illinois Country
Indiana Company
The Indian Reserve
Ohio Country (or The Ohio Company of Virginia)†
Province of Quebec (lower portion below the Great Lakes)
Far West
Unlike the land to the east, most of the land west of the Mississippi River was under French or Spanish rule until the first years of the 19th century. La Louisiane (French Louisiana, 1682–1762 and 1802–1803) Arkansas Post The German Coast Luisiana (Spanish Louisiana, 1762–1802) Tejas Fort Saint Louis† Santa Fe de Nuevo México Las Californias
Colonies settled but unrecognized
Transylvania†
Watauga Republic
Colonies proposed but unrealized
Charlotina Colony
Mississippi Colony
Vandalia Colony
Westsylvania
Independent entities later joined to the Union
Kingdom of Hawaii, later the Republic of Hawaii
Republic of Texas
Vermont Republic (also known as the Republic of New Connecticut)
Regions purchased from foreign powers
Louisiana Purchase, 1803, from France, for $15,000,000
Florida Purchase (or the Spanish Cession), 1819 (effective 1821), from Spain, for $5,000,000; included: East Florida, West Florida, and Sabine Free State or Neutral Ground Gadsden Purchase, 1853, from Mexico, for $10,000,000 Alaska Purchase (also called "Seward's Folly"), 1867, from Russia, for $7,200,000 Virgin Islands, 1917, from Denmark, for $25,000,000