"the United States sent two diplomats to France to meet with Napoleon and offer to buy just one city, but somehow ended up buying the entire Louisiana territory for almost the same price. But let's start from the beginning. 1802. France and Britain make peace after years of war, but both know it's just a short break before the next war begins. Napoleon controls a huge territory in North America, Louisiana, and has grand plans to bring back the French Empire and the key to his success lies in France's richest colony in the Caribbean, Saint-Domingue, today's Haiti. It was literally a money-making machine. They grew sugar and coffee on massive plantations, all thanks to hundreds of thousands of people working there, for free. Yeah, slavery. But at some point, they had enough and started a revolution, after which France basically lost control of the island. Napoleon used the truce to retake control of Saint-Domingue and sent a huge army there. At first, the French were successful, but then yellow fever wiped out much of the army, and France lost the island for good. And without Saint-Domingue, Louisiana suddenly made no sense. At the same time, the U.S. western border ran along the Mississippi River, an important route for western trade, carrying goods to the ocean through New Orleans, which at the time belonged to France. So President Thomas Jefferson sent two diplomats with an offer to buy New Orleans for 10 million dollars. With war against Britain coming, Napoleon needed money, and Louisiana was too far away to defend. So to everyone's surprise, he offered to sell the entire territory for 15 million dollars. Funny enough, the diplomats weren't authorized to make a deal that big, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime offer, so they agreed, almost doubling the size of the United States in a single day for just four cents an acre."