Imagine walking into a store with ten dollars to buy a bicycle, and the owner says you can have the bike, the entire store, and the whole city block for just fifteen dollars! That is exactly what happened to the United States in 1803 in the greatest real estate bargain in human history: the Louisiana Purchase! Back then, America was only 27 years old and stopped right at the Mississippi River. President Thomas Jefferson was nervous because the powerful French ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte, controlled the river and the important port city of New Orleans. Jefferson sent diplomats to Paris with 10 million dollars just to buy the city. But Napoleon, desperate for cash to fund his wars and defeated by freedom fighters in Haiti, made a shocking offer. For 15 million dollars, he would sell the ENTIRE western territory! With one quick signature, the diplomats bought 828,000 square miles of land, doubling the size of the United States overnight! It cost roughly three cents an acre! Join Mira and Finn as they uncover this massive shopping trip, the crazy bank loans that made it happen, and the epic journey of explorers Lewis and Clark!
South Africa