You probably don't know it, but in December of 2023, the United States got a lot bigger.

Specifically, the U.S. added about 1 million square kilometers to its national territory.

That's approximately 386,000 square miles, or roughly the size of two Californians.

Now, you would think that something like this would have made front page news across the country,

but it actually went largely unnoticed, probably because the area in question is not a physical

land mass.

Instead, the U.S. gained a million square kilometers of premium seafloor real estate.

This expansion, just from a sheer size perspective, is the most significant enlargement of the US since the year 1867,

which is the year that we purchased Alaska from Russia.

And at least one mapping expert is saying that from a strategic location perspective, this edition

is as consequential as the Louisiana purchase.

However, before we get into the details of the U.S.'s newfound expansion, let's take a quick moment

to go through the relevant laws of the seas that govern expansions like this.

To start, back in the 20th century, as developed countries began to expand their mining and fishing technologies,

as well as their offshore research capabilities, it became apparent that the largely unexplored ocean floor was going to be

very important moving forward. Just in terms of the valuable assets that might be down,

there are things like marine life, oil and gas, mineral deposits, and things like that.

And so, because clashes over these underwater assets were essentially inevitable, the United Nations set out to establish

globally recognized ground rules for who exactly owns what. This effort of theirs

culminated in 1982 when the UN adopted the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,

also known as the Law of the Sea Treaty. Now, it took a little while for that treaty to go into effect.

However, as of today, the treaty has been ratified by 169 nations

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