Editing Ellsworth County, Kansas (section)

===Early history===
{{See also|History of Kansas}}

From the 16th century to 18th century, the [[Kingdom of France]] claimed ownership of large parts of [[North America]] both east and west of the Mississippi River. In 1762, after losing the [[French and Indian War]] to Great Britain, France secretly ceded [[New France]] to [[Spain]], per the [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]]. In 1763 France ceded its territories east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain.

It regained the western territory under [[Napoleon]], who sold it in 1803 to the United States in the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. He had decided to get rid of the New World territories after failing to regain control of [[Saint-Domingue]], where a slave rebellion had toppled colonial control. In 1804 [[Haiti]] declared independence as the second republic of the Western Hemisphere.

The Plains Indians retained control of much of their territory until the late 19th century, giving way finally before superior United States arms and technology. Their territories were invaded by settlers, and crossed by the development of improved routes for settlers' emigrant wagon trains to the West Coast, followed by more permanent construction of transcontinental railroads. These brought tens of thousands of settlers to the Plains.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}