Business and Industry
Ohio Company
The French and Indian War

In 1747, a number of prominent Virginia planters, including George Washington, formed the Ohio Land Company, primarily to invest in lands to the west of the Appalachian Mountains. They hoped to purchase a large tract, subdivide it and sell portions to settlers for profit. A secondary interest was to participate in the lucrative fur trade, which then was largely the preserve of the French.

A charter, which secured rights to 200,000 acres near the forks of the Ohio River, was granted to the company by the British crown in 1749. In return, the Virginians promised to settle 100 families in the area and erect a fort to protect them and the British claim to the area.

In 1750, Christopher Gist was sent into the Ohio Country to explore it and conduct a survey to prepare for settlement. On the basis of his report, the company selected an area in western Pennsylvania and present-day West Virginia.

The interest of British colonists in these western lands quickly became known to the French, who had no interest in sharing the region with their rival. They responded by constructing a string of forts in the contested area (see New France). The effort to control the Ohio Country was the most direct cause of the French and Indian War.

Efforts by the Ohio Company were thwarted first by the war with France, then later by the Proclamation of 1763, a British policy intended to restrict the American colonists to areas east of the Appalachians.

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