Montana History

This is a broad outline of the history of Montana in the United States. For thousands of years indigenous peoples inhabited what would be Montana. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 included this land and it was explored during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The first permanent settlement by Euro-Americans was St. Mary's, established in 1841 near present-day Stevensville. The Montana Territory was established in 1864 and Montana officially became a state on November 8, 1889.