Northwest Territory

Northwest Territory, region between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, extending north around the Great Lakes. It was the first national territory of the United States, eventually forming Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. Won by Britain (1763) from the French, who had explored it in the 1600s, it was ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris (1783). The Ordinance of 1787, or the Northwest Ordinance, provided the region with a governmental system that would eventually allow the different territories to become states.