Montana Territory

The Montana Territory ( engl. Montana Territory ) was a historical territory in the northwest of the United States, which existed 1864-1889. It arose from three former U.S. territories and is the forerunner of today's state of Montana.

The areas west of the Continental Divide belonged until 1864 to the Idaho Territory, the eastern territories were part of the Dakota Territory and the Nebraska Territory. This eastern areas had come in 1803 by the so-called Louisiana Purchase by President Thomas Jefferson to the United States. The western territories acquired the U.S. in 1846 in the so-called Oregon contracts. Over time, the vast territory was divided into different territories. In this way the three predecessor territories of Montana Territory had arisen. On May 28th 1864 President Abraham Lincoln signed the founding charter of the Montana Territory.

In its 25-year history of the region, the country was ruled by a total of twelve territorial governors. As the capital city since 1865, first Virginia City and from 1875 served Bannack, then to Helena today. On November 8, 1889, the area was almost unchanged admitted as a new state in the United States.