The Ohio Country, showing present-day U.S. state boundaries

The Ohio Company, more formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the colonization of the Ohio Country. The activities of the company helped to provoke the outbreak of the French and Indian War. Ohio Country © 2004 Matthew Trump File links The following pages link to this file: Chillicothe, Ohio Ohio Country Categories: GFDL images | Historical maps of the United States ... Ohio Country © 2004 Matthew Trump File links The following pages link to this file: Chillicothe, Ohio Ohio Country Categories: GFDL images | Historical maps of the United States ... The Ohio Country, showing the present-day U.S. state boundaries The Ohio Country (sometimes called the Ohio Territory) was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake... Combatants France and its Indian allies Britain and its Indian allies Strength 3,900 regulars 7,900 militia 2,200 natives (1759) 50,000 regulars and militia (1759) The French and Indian War was the nine-year North American chapter of the Seven Years War. ...

Formation

In the mid 18th century, many within the British Empire viewed the Ohio River Valley, a region west of the Appalachian Mountains thinly populated by American Indians, as a source of potential wealth. In the 1740s, British and Irish businessmen such as George Croghan and William Trent were moving into the area and competing with French merchants in the lucrative fur trade. Land speculators looked to the Ohio Country as a place where lands might be acquired and then resold to immigrants. The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ... A rainy day in the Great Smoky Mountains, Western North Carolina The Appalachian Mountains (French: les Appalaches) are a vast system of North American mountains, partly in Canada, but mostly in the United States, forming a zone, from 100 to 300 miles wide, running from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, 1... An Aani (Atsina) named Assiniboin Boy. ... There are articles for more than one person named George Croghan. ... Major William Trent was born in Western Pennsylvania. ... // Indian trade The fur trade (also called the Indian trade) was a huge part of the early history of contact in North America between European-Americans and American Indians (now often called Native Americans in the United States and First Nations in Canada). ...

Thomas Lee, president of the Virginia Council of State, organized the Ohio Company of Virginia in 1747.

In 1747, a number of influential men organized the Ohio Company of Virginia in order to capitalize on these opportunities. The Ohio Company was composed of Virginians, including Thomas Lee and two brothers of George Washington, Lawrence Washington (who succeeded to the management upon the death of Lee) and Augustine Washington, Jr., as well as Englishmen, including the Duke of Bedford and John Hanbury, a wealthy London merchant. A rival group of land speculators from Virginia, the Loyal Company, was organized about the same time, and included influential Virginians such as Thomas Walker and Peter Jefferson (father of Thomas Jefferson). Image File history File links Portrait of Thomas Lee File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Portrait of Thomas Lee File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Thomas Lee (1690–1750), Viriginia colonist and cofounder of the Ohio Company. ... George Washington (February 22, 1732–December 14, 1799) led Americas Continental Army to victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and was the first President of the United States, from 1789 to 1797. ... Lawrence Washington (1718-1752) was George Washingtons brother and mentor. ... John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford (1710-1771), second son of Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford, by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Howland of Streatham, Surrey, was born on 30 September 1710. ... John Hanbury was one of a dynasty of ironmasters responsible for the industrialisation and urbanisation of the Afon Llwyd (in English eastern valley) in Monmouthshire, south Wales, around Pontypool. ... Dr Thomas Walker was an English physician and explorer who led an expedition to what was then the Transalleghany area of British North America in the mid-18th century. ... Peter Jefferson was the father of President Thomas Jefferson. ... Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 N.S. – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and an influential founder of the United States. ...

In 1748, the British Crown approved the Ohio Company's petition for a grant of 200,000 acres (800 km²) near the "forks" of the Ohio River (present Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). In July 1749, the governor and council of Virginia made the grant on the condition that the company would, within seven years, settle 100 families in the area and erect a fort to protect both them and the British claim on the land. A secondary purpose of this settlement was to establish a regular trade with the local Native Americans, necessary in order to maintain friendly relations. The Ohio River is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River. ... Nickname: Steel City, Iron City, City of Champions, City of Bridges, City of Colleges Location in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Allegheny County Founded 1758 Mayor Luke Ravenstahl (D) Area    - City 151. ...

French and Indian War

In 1750, the Ohio Company hired Christopher Gist, a skillful woodsman and surveyor, to explore the Ohio Valley in order to identify lands for potential settlement. Gist travelled as far west as the Miami Indian village of Pickawillany (near present Piqua, Ohio). Upon the basis of his report, the Ohio Company settled in an area in Western Pennsylvania and present-day West Virginia. In 1752 the company had a pathway blazed between the small fortified posts at Wills Creek (Cumberland, Maryland), and at Redstone Creek (Brownsville, Pennsylvania), which it had established in 1750. Christopher Gist (1706 – 1759) was one of the first white explorers of the Ohio Country in what would become the United States, credited for providing Great Britain and her colonists with the first detailed description of the Ohio Country. ... The Miami are a Native American tribe originally found in Indiana and Ohio. ... Pickawillany was a Miami Indian village located on the current site of the city of Piqua, Ohio in the United States. ... Piqua is a town in Miami County, Ohio, United States. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Official language(s) English Capital Charleston Largest city Charleston Area  Ranked 41st  - Total 24,244 sq mi (62,809 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 240 miles (385 km)  - % water 0. ... Location in Maryland Coordinates: Country United States State Maryland County Allegany County founded 1787 incorporated 1815 Mayor Lee N. Fiedler Area    - City 23. ... Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 35 miles (56 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. ...

The Ohio Valley was also claimed by France, however, as it was nominally part of the vast territory of New France. The French were not pleased to hear of British activity in the region. The French were very interested in the land, because they believed the milder climates and more fertile soil would prove more beckoning to French settlers than the cold winters and barren soil of French Canada. Additionally, the Ohio River watershed provided a vital link between Canada and French Louisiana. To forestall British expansion, in 1753 the French began constructing a series of forts in the Ohio Valley. Robert Dinwiddie, governor of Virginia as well as a shareholder of the Ohio Company, responded by sending a military unit under the command of George Washington to the region, which led to the outbreak of the French and Indian War. The war and its sequel, Pontiac's Rebellion, prevented the Ohio Company from fulfilling its obligation to establish settlements. New France (French: la Nouvelle-France) describes the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1763. ... Robert Dinwiddie (1693–July 27, 1770) was a British colonial administrator who served as Lieutenant Governor of colonial Virginia from 1751 to 1758, first under governor Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle, and then, from July 1756 to January 1758, as deputy for John Campbell, 4th Earl of... Combatants France and its Indian allies Britain and its Indian allies Strength 3,900 regulars 7,900 militia 2,200 natives (1759) 50,000 regulars and militia (1759) The French and Indian War was the nine-year North American chapter of the Seven Years War. ... Combatants British Empire American Indians Commanders Jeffrey Amherst Henry Bouquet Pontiac Guyasuta Pontiacs Rebellion was a war launched in 1763 by North American Indians who were dissatisfied with British rule in the Great Lakes region and the Ohio Country after the British victory in the French and Indian War...

Grand Ohio Company

Ultimately, the Ohio Company was merged in the Grand Ohio Company, also known as the Walpole Company or the Vandalia Company, an organization in which Benjamin Franklin was interested. In 1772, the Grand Ohio Company received from the British government a grant of a large tract lying along the southern bank of the Ohio as far west as the mouth of the Scioto River. However, the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War interrupted colonization and nothing was accomplished. Benjamin Franklin (January 17 [O.S. January 6] 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the most well known Founding Fathers of the United States. ... Combatants American Revolutionaries, France, The Netherlands, Spain, American Indians Great Britain, German mercenaries, Loyalists, American Indians Canadian Indians Commanders George Washington, Comte de Rochambeau, Nathanael Greene, Bernardo de Gálvez Sir William Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Cornwallis (more commanders) The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the...

References

• Abernethy, Thomas Perkins. Western Lands and the American Revolution. New York: Russell & Russell, 1959.
• Bailey, Kenneth P. The Ohio Company of Virginia and the Westward Movement, 1748–1792. Originally published 1939. Reprinted Lewisburg: Wennawoods Publishing, 2000. ISBN 1-889037-25-7.
• James, Alfred Procter, The Ohio Company: Its Inner History. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1959.
• Mulkearn, Lois, ed. George Mercer Papers Relating to the Ohio Company of Virginia. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1954. Collection of many original documents, including Christopher Gist's journal.
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.