Frontier

:This article is about the Frontier term. For the computer game, see Frontier (computer game). For the games developer see Frontier Developments.

Colonial frontier

See also: Colonial America, British colonization of the Americas, French colonization of the Americas

Related Topics:
Colonial America - British colonization of the Americas - French colonization of the Americas

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the earliest days of European settlement of the Atlantic coast, the frontier was essentially any part of the forested interior of the continent beyond the fringe of existing settlements along the coast and the great Atlantic rivers, such as the St. Lawrence, Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna River and James.

Related Topics:
Atlantic - St. Lawrence - Connecticut - Hudson - Delaware - Susquehanna River - James

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English and French (as well as Dutch) patterns of expansion was generally quite different. With some exceptions, notably in Acadia, French expansion into the continent in the colonial era was largely by traders, who often lived among the Native Americans with whom they did business. Such traders moved widely through the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watershed as far as the Rocky Mountains.

Related Topics:
French - Dutch - Acadia - Native American - Great Lakes - Mississippi River - Rocky Mountains

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Actual French settlement in these areas, however, was limited to small communities on the lower Mississippi and in the Illinois Country, accompanied by garrisoned military forces to protect the trading communities against other European powers. Likewise early Dutch expansion in the Hudson was intended largely for commercial purposes. The immigrants who arrived at the New Amsterdam settlement seeking to homestead the land were tolerated by colonial officials as necessary for provided food and other services for the trading operations. These patterns developed because both the French and Dutch colonies relied mainly on the fur trade which only needed small numbers of people but large amounts of wilderness and cooperation from the natives.

Related Topics:
Illinois Country - New Amsterdam - Homestead - Fur trade

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In contrast, the English agriculture based colonies generally pursued a more aggressive policy of widespread settlement of the New World for cultivation and exploitation of the land, a practice that required the extension of European property rights to the new continent and which brought the English into frequent and bloody conflict with the Native Americans starting in the 17th century, such as King Philip's War. Early frontier areas east of the Appalachian Mountains included the valleys of the Mohawk and Connecticut rivers.

Related Topics:
New World - Property rights - 17th century - King Philip's War - Appalachian Mountains - Mohawk - Connecticut

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By the middle of the 18th century, much of the prime areas of the British colonies east of the Appalachian Mountains had been settled, resulting in a desire among many colonists to expand settlement into French-held Trans-Appalachia areas, such as the Ohio Country.

Related Topics:
British - Appalachian Mountains - Trans-Appalachia - Ohio Country

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This pressure of settlement west of the Appalachians was a large cause of the French and Indian Wars in the middle 18th century. The result of the war was a complete victory for the British, who absorbed the claim to the French territory west of the Appalachians to the Mississippi River. Despite this victory, the British Crown, in part to preserve good relations with the Native Americans of the region, sought to keep the Trans-Appalachian frontier closed

Related Topics:
French and Indian Wars - Mississippi River

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

with the Proclamation of 1763, which defined a boundary line of allowed settlement along the Appalachians.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Despite the policy of the Crown, colonists began encroaching across the Appalachians into areas such the Ohio Country and the New River Valley. The attempts of the Crown to forbid such settlement is regarded by historians as a significant cause of the American Revolution in the following decade.

Related Topics:
New River Valley - American Revolution

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~