Arizona gained statehood in 1912 as the 48th state completing the present-day picture of the "lower forty-eight." It was formed from what was then the Arizona Territory, but from lands that previously had belonged to Mexico and New Mexico. At the end of the Mexican War in 1848, a disputed piece of land along the international border became known as the Gadsden Purchase, named for the minister to Mexico, James Gadsden who negotiated for the United States to purchase the 50,000 square miles of land for ten million dollars. The area was south of the Gila River and extended west from the Rio Grande River to the California border.