|
American Colonies |
Kirke takes Quebec |
English Newfoundland
| Phips |
Treaty of Utrecht |
War of Austrian
Succession |
Capture of Louisbourg |
Treaty of Aix la
Chapelle | Halifax |
French Indian War |
Governor Murray
The British colonies along the
Atlantic coast of North America were well established by
the 1730's and were growing rapidly. The natural barrier
to westward expansion was the Appalachian Mountains. This
ancient mountain range ran south to north from Georgia
right up into the Quebec hinterland. The political
barrier was the French expansion through the Great
Lakes, along the Ohio valley and down the Mississippi
River. The Indians had been attacking settlers,
explores, the British military and any other Englishmen
that crossed over this barrier since the 1600's. This territory was secured by the French by
building alliances with the native people in these areas
and by building forts to trade with those natives. These
lands were extremely attractive to the British settlers
in the colonies and as they were explored and woodsmen
began to penetrate the area, passes through the
mountains were discovered and trails for migration
established. The British Government
began to establish forts along the boundaries of the
disputed areas such as Fort Oswego, and Halifax. Various
clashes between native peoples and settlers had occur
beginning with the arrival of the first settlers but the
outbreaks of violence had continued throughout the
development and expansion of the British colonies. The
British also granted lands to various ventures such as
the Ohio company which was given lands in the Ohio
valley. As a result of the war of Austrian Succession
Britain and France met in Paris to work out an agreement
as to where the boundaries between these two competing
empires would be established in North America. They
could not come to agreement and each empire began to
take action to enforce it's claims to these native
lands. By 1752 France had sent a new
Governor to New France with instructions to establish a
presence in the Ohio Valley and prevent English
settlement in the area. Governor Duquesne had a fort
built in 1753 at Presque Island and Riviere aux Boeufs.
The English under orders of the Virginia Lieutenant
Governor, Robert Dinwiddie began sending settlers into
the Ohio valley and commissioned a young Virginian named
George Washington to deliver a letter to the French
which demanded they leave the area. He failed to deliver
the letter but was on the look out for favourable
locations to build forts.
This began the
guerrilla war which led to conventional confrontations
and eventually triggered the Seven Years War. |
