USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -French explorers had been the first Europeans in the areas around the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Detailed explanation-2: -By the middle of the 1700s, British fur traders had crossed the Appalachian Mountains into the Ohio River Valley into land that was claimed by both Great Britain and France. The French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle had laid claim to a huge land area called New France.

Detailed explanation-3: -The French claimed the Upper Ohio River Valley. They wanted to trade with the American Indians and control the area. The British also claimed the Upper Ohio River Valley.

Detailed explanation-4: -In 1762, during the French and Indian War, France ceded its America territory west of the Mississippi River to Spain and in 1763 transferred nearly all of its remaining North American holdings to Great Britain.

Detailed explanation-5: -Specifically, regions around the Ohio Valley into the Ohio River and up near the Great Lakes produced the largest controversy. France, who first discovered the Ohio country, claimed control because they had not only arrived in that area first but also established trading centers to ensure a lasting hold on the region.