Native American Clashes with European Settlers Emergence of Tribes
As the Confederacy fought smaller tribes for control of western Virginia, European colonists set their own designs on the Ohio Valley. In 1607, English colonists landed at Jamestown, Virginia. Based on various explorations, the British and French laid claim to the territory comprising present-day West Virginia and Native Americans were forced west. Many of the tribes were destroyed by constant warfare and catastrophic diseases. At the same time, trade with the Europeans proved a strong attraction, enabling the Indians to acquire valuable new products, such as guns, steel hatchets, cloth, and kettles. The fur trade in particular made many tribes powerful and more aggressive. The Indian nations successfully played one European power against another. For instance, the British formed an alliance with the Iroquois Confederacy to cut the French out of the lucrative fur trade. However, the Six Nations also negotiated treaties and traded with the French. Treaties
As part of their negotiations, the British secured three treaties which opened the western Virginia frontier to European settlement: Treaty of Albany (1722) and Treaty of Lancaster (1744) with the Six Nations and Treaty of Logstown (1752) with the Delaware and Shawnee. At Lancaster, Virginia negotiators convinced the Six Nations to surrender their land to the "setting sun," which the Confederacy interpreted as the crest of the Alleghenies and the British interpreted as all of western Virginia. Following the Treaty of Lancaster and the end of King George's War (1748) between England and France, Virginia pioneers pushed west of the Alleghenies. | |
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