National Archives, Lewis & Clark's Expedition to the Complex West

This interactive map, created by the National Archives, highlights the different groups of people that were impacted by and involved in the Louisiana Purchase. The map depicts the territory included in the Louisiana Purchase in red as well as the route that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark took on their 1804 expedition to chart the Louisiana Territory in green. When the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, most of the land was uncharted by Europeans, leading to the famous Lewis and Clark expedition commissioned by President Jefferson. The  map includes five primary source documents from the time of the expedition, with each document including information on a different group of people involved in and impacted by the Louisiana Purchase. The interactive map asks students to pair the documents with various hints placed along the  route. These hints provide further historical context for each document and inform students about where events occurred.