USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In all likelihood, the first Europeans to arrive in the area of what is now Ohio were Frenchmen. During the winter of 1668-1669, Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur La Salle learned from several Iroquois natives that a great river supposedly could be found in the interior of North America.

Detailed explanation-2: -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-3: -The rivers were their main way of traveling. The French wanted to control the American Indian trade in the Ohio River Valley and keep the Pennsylvania traders out. They also needed the American Indians living there to be their allies. Unlike the British, the French did not plan to settle in the Ohio River Valley.

Detailed explanation-4: -The French and Indian War, the North American phase of the larger Seven Years’ War, began after a series of incidents in the upper Ohio River valley, which the French and British governments both claimed as their territory.

Detailed explanation-5: -Initially colonized by French fur traders, Ohio became a British colonial possession following the French and Indian War in 1754. At the end of the American Revolution, Britain ceded control of the territory to the newly formed United States, which incorporated it into the Northwest Territory.