United States territorial expansion
E38720
United States territorial expansion refers to the historical process by which the United States grew from a cluster of Atlantic coast colonies into a transcontinental nation through purchases, wars, treaties, and settlement.
All labels observed (20)
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T300845 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: United States territorial expansion Context triple: [Old Northwest, partOf, United States territorial expansion]
-
A.
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was an 1803 land deal in which the United States bought a vast territory from France, doubling the nation's size and securing control of the Mississippi River region.
-
B.
Alaska Purchase
The Alaska Purchase was the 1867 transaction in which the United States bought the Alaska territory from the Russian Empire, significantly expanding U.S. land holdings in North America.
-
C.
European colonization of the Americas
European colonization of the Americas was the period beginning in the late 15th century when various European powers explored, conquered, and settled the Western Hemisphere, profoundly transforming its indigenous societies, environments, and global history.
-
D.
Indian Removal policy of the United States
The Indian Removal policy of the United States was a 19th-century federal strategy that forcibly displaced Native American nations from their ancestral homelands in the East to territories west of the Mississippi River, leading to widespread suffering and events such as the Trail of Tears.
-
E.
Spanish colonization of the Americas
The Spanish colonization of the Americas was the extensive imperial expansion by Spain from the late 15th century onward that conquered and settled vast territories in the Western Hemisphere, reshaping indigenous societies, economies, cultures, and demographics across the New World.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: United States territorial expansion Target entity description: United States territorial expansion refers to the historical process by which the United States grew from a cluster of Atlantic coast colonies into a transcontinental nation through purchases, wars, treaties, and settlement.
-
A.
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was an 1803 land deal in which the United States bought a vast territory from France, doubling the nation's size and securing control of the Mississippi River region.
-
B.
Alaska Purchase
The Alaska Purchase was the 1867 transaction in which the United States bought the Alaska territory from the Russian Empire, significantly expanding U.S. land holdings in North America.
-
C.
European colonization of the Americas
European colonization of the Americas was the period beginning in the late 15th century when various European powers explored, conquered, and settled the Western Hemisphere, profoundly transforming its indigenous societies, environments, and global history.
-
D.
Indian Removal policy of the United States
The Indian Removal policy of the United States was a 19th-century federal strategy that forcibly displaced Native American nations from their ancestral homelands in the East to territories west of the Mississippi River, leading to widespread suffering and events such as the Trail of Tears.
-
E.
Spanish colonization of the Americas
The Spanish colonization of the Americas was the extensive imperial expansion by Spain from the late 15th century onward that conquered and settled vast territories in the Western Hemisphere, reshaping indigenous societies, economies, cultures, and demographics across the New World.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
aspect of United States history
ⓘ
historical process ⓘ |
| appliesToTerritory |
Caribbean
ⓘ
surface form:
Caribbean region
North America ⓘ Pacific Ocean region ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| hasConsequence |
creation of new states
ⓘ
displacement of Indigenous peoples ⓘ emergence of the United States as a continental power ⓘ emergence of the United States as an overseas imperial power ⓘ growth of slavery in new territories ⓘ sectional conflict over slavery ⓘ |
| hasPart |
Alaska Purchase
ⓘ
Gadsden Purchase agreement ⓘ
surface form:
Gadsden Purchase
Homestead Act settlement ⓘ Indian Removal ⓘ Louisiana Purchase ⓘ United States territorial expansion self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Manifest Destiny
Mexican–American War territorial gains ⓘ Northwest Territory expansion ⓘ Convention of 1818 ⓘ
surface form:
Oregon boundary settlement
Pacific island territories acquisition ⓘ Spanish–American War territorial changes ⓘ Texas annexation ⓘ American Samoa ⓘ
surface form:
acquisition of American Samoa
acquisition of Guam ⓘ acquisition of Puerto Rico ⓘ acquisition of the Philippines ⓘ acquisition of the U.S. Virgin Islands ⓘ annexation of Hawaii ⓘ insular areas acquisition ⓘ reservation system ⓘ westward expansion ⓘ |
| motivatedBy |
United States territorial expansion
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Manifest Destiny ideology
economic interests ⓘ settler colonialism ⓘ strategic military interests ⓘ |
| significantEvent |
Alaska Purchase
ⓘ
surface form:
Alaska Purchase treaty
Gadsden Purchase agreement ⓘ Homestead Act of 1862 ⓘ Indian Removal policy of the United States ⓘ
surface form:
Indian Removal Act
Louisiana Purchase ⓘ Mexican–American War ⓘ Newlands Resolution ⓘ Oregon Treaty of 1846 ⓘ Spanish–American War ⓘ Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ⓘ Treaty of Paris (1898) ⓘ
surface form:
Treaty of Paris 1898
purchase of the Danish West Indies ⓘ |
| startTime | late 18th century ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: United States territorial expansion Description of subject: United States territorial expansion refers to the historical process by which the United States grew from a cluster of Atlantic coast colonies into a transcontinental nation through purchases, wars, treaties, and settlement.
Referenced by (54)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
United States expansion into the Old Northwest
this entity surface form:
United States westward expansion
this entity surface form:
United States expansion into the Old Northwest
this entity surface form:
United States territorial expansion era