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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.
Main articles: 13 colonies, European colonization of the Americas, British colonization of the Americas
Main articles: United States territorial acquisitions, History of United States imperialism, Manifest Destiny
See also: List of Maine land patents, List of Native American land cessions to the United States
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.
The following is a list of organized U.S. territories that have become states, in the order of the date organized.