Land Acquisition and Dispossession Mapping the Homestead Act, 1863-1912

The Homestead Act of 1862 offered Americans the opportunity to claim parcels of "public land," occupy and improve it for five years, and then receive title to it. This map visualizes over time and space the more than 2.3 million claims and 900,000 "patents" granting ownership made and issued in the half century after passage of the act.