Britain claimed the same land. When the king gave land in North America to someone, the land was considered to extend from the east coast to the west coast -- although no one knew where the west coast was. The land along the east coast had become crowded, and settlers were moving west. White people were destroying the Indians' hunting areas. And Indians became worried that they would lose the use of their land.
The Indian tribes might have been able to resist the people moving west if they had been united. But their own conflicts kept the tribes apart. When Britain and France started fighting each other, some Indians helped the British. Others helped the French.
The French settlers lived mainly in what was called New France. Today it is part of Canada. Life there was different from life in the British colonies to the south. For example, there was no religious freedom. All settlers in French territories had to be French and belong to the Roman Catholic Church. So, many French people who belonged to Protestant groups settled in the British colonies. These French Protestants were known as Huguenots.
France also did not like the fact that the British paid the Indians high prices for animal furs. France was more interested in the fur trade than in settling the land. The British hurt the French traders' business when they bought fur from the Indians.
One of the French trading centers was built in the area where the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is today. The French called it Fort Duquesne. The British claimed it was in Virginia and – therefore - that the land belonged to them. In seventeen fifty-four, the governor of Virginia sent a twenty-one-year-old colonist named George Washington to tell the French to get out. This was the same George Washington who would later become the first President of the United States.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25