Editing North Dakota (section)

===European exploration and colonization===
The first European to reach the area was the [[French-Canadian]] trader [[Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye|Pierre Gaultier, sieur de La Vérendrye]], who led an exploration and trading party to the [[Mandan]] villages in 1738 guided by Assiniboine Indians.<ref name="atlas of canada">{{cite web | title = Audio Transcript of Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye 1738 | publisher = The Atlas of Canada | year = 2003 | url = http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/historical/exploration/1738_verendrye.mov/view | access-date = August 19, 2007 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071013180956/http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/historical/exploration/1738_verendrye.mov/view | archive-date = October 13, 2007 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>
 
From 1762 to 1800, the region formed part of [[Louisiana (New Spain)|Spanish Louisiana]].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/349302/Louisiana-Purchase|title= Louisiana Purchase—History, Facts, & Map|website= Britannica.com|access-date= September 4, 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150501010249/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/349302/Louisiana-Purchase|archive-date= May 1, 2015|url-status= live}}</ref>
[[File:Fort Union Trading Post NHS.JPG|thumb|[[Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site]]]]On 1 October 1800, the [[Third Treaty of San Ildefonso]] was signed, and the territory of Spanish Louisiana was transferred to France as part of [[Louisiana (New France)|French Louisiana]], which was later sold to the United States in the [[Louisiana Purchase]].

The northwestern portion of the state, corresponding to the [[Red River Valley]] and the drainage basin to the [[Hudson Bay]] was, at the time, part of [[Rupert's Land]], a [[British North America]]n territory.  It remained under control of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] until the [[Treaty of 1818|Anglo-American Convention of 1818]], which set the border between it and the United States to the [[Canada–United States border|49th parallel]].