Explanation: The US negotiators for what would become the Louisana Purchase were initially only going to buy New Orleans for 10 million dollars, which they thought was all that was for sale.

Instead, as Napoleon was attempting to refocus his efforts on Europe, the French offered ALL of their continental claims for only 15 million dollars.

One expects the discount was irresistible, and the US did, indeed, purchase the entirety of the claim.

Did America know where the Louisiana Purchase ended? Had anyone actually explored that far at the time?

Considering that Napoleon used the money for his war chest and achieved the height of his territorial power in 1807 (treaties of Tilsit) or maybe 1812, it wasn’t even that bad of a trade for the French - clearly, central Europe was worth more than a big swath of mostly undeveloped and extremely thinly populated land that was still occupied by unconquered natives.