The Mississippi River is a chief waterway in the United States and the country's second-longest river. Bordering ten states, it flows from Minnesota through Louisiana into the Gulf of Mexico. Major cities along the Mississippi River include St. Louis, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and New Orleans. Native Americans lived along the Mississippi River for thousands of years, and during the age of colonization it was used as a border between New Spain and New France and later the United States. The river has an important connection to US history. The United States secured control of the river with the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, and much westward expansion, including the voyage of Lewis and Clark, involved exploring west of the Mississippi and ideally reaching the Pacific Ocean as part of the United States's narrative of manifest destiny. Steamboat travel was very common on the Mississippi, especially in the nineteenth travel, and the river features prominently in literature by noted American author Mark Twain.