Old Southwest

The "Old Southwest" is an informal name for the southwestern frontier territories of the United States from the Revolutionary War era through the early 19th century, when the territory was organized into states.

The territory of the Old Southwest eventually formed the states of Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida.

Historians usually describe the Old Southwest as bounded by the Ohio River to the north, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, the Red River to the west, and to the east, the western boundaries of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. Much of northern, western, and southern Georgia is part of the Old Southwest, as the state did not grow into its modern boundaries until 1827. Some authors set the northern boundary of the Old Southwest at the Tennessee River rather than the Ohio. In the field of literature, the term is refers to the entire American Southeast.

Historians usually include West Florida in the Old Southwest, but the peninsula of Florida, or "East Florida," is often excluded. The Appalachicola River was the boundary between the Spanish provinces of West Florida and East Florida until 1820.

The Florida Parishes of Louisiana, lying west of the Mississippi, were originally part of the Old Southwest. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 added the city of New Orleans to the region.

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Wikipedia