The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the
United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14,
1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to
the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several
countries (see Oregon Country), the region was divided between the UK
and the US in 1846. When established, the territory encompassed an
area that included the current states of Oregon, Washington, and
Idaho, as well as parts of Wyoming and Montana. The capital of the
territory was first Oregon City, then Salem, followed briefly by
Corvallis, then back to Salem, which became the state capital upon
Oregon's admission to the Union.Originally inhabited by Native
Americans, the region that became the Oregon Territory was explored by
Europeans first by sea. The first documented voyage of exploration was
made in 1777 by the Spanish, and both British and American vessels
visited the region not long thereafter. Subsequent land-based
exploration by Alexander Mackenzie and the Lewis and Clark Expedition
and development of the fur trade in the region strengthened the
competing claims of Great Britain and the United States.The competing
interests of the two foremost claimants were addressed in the Treaty
of 1818, which sanctioned a "joint occupation", by British and
Americans, of a vast "Oregon Country" (as the American side called it)
that comprised the present-day U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and
Idaho, parts of Montana and Wyoming, and the portion of what is now
the Canadian province of British Columbia south of the parallel
54°40′ north. Oregon Territory Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter