![]() ![]() Reputedly the first European to view the Allegheny and Ohio rivers was Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in 1669–1670, but the evidence is questionable. The Ohio takes it name from the Iroquois language and means "Great River." The Native American societies included the Iroquois (especially Seneca, Erie, and Mingo) in western Pennsylvania the Delaware and Seneca in southern Pennsylvania and West Virginia the Delaware, Miami, Ottawa, Shawnee, Seneca, and Wyandot in Ohio the Miami in Indiana and the Delaware and Shawnee in northern Kentucky. The valley was occupied by a number of protohistoric and historic Native American societies, some indigenous to the river drainage basin and others who migrated westward, displaced by European colonization in the east. The middle Woodland Hopewell culture, centered in southern Ohio and characterized by earthworks, elaborate burial practices, and long-distance trade, is notable, as is the Fort Ancient culture (1400–1600), located in southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, and eastern Indiana. Human occupation in the Ohio valley began over sixteen thousand years ago, and the region was home to a series of cultures: Paleo-Indian (before 9500 b.c.e.), Archaic (9500–3000 b.c.e.), late Archaic–early Woodland (3000–200 b.c.e.), middle Woodland (200 b.c.e.–500 c.e.), late Woodland (500–1600 c.e.), and late Prehistoric (c. Since prehistoric times the Ohio River and its tributaries have served as a major conduit for human migration, linking the Atlantic seaboard and Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi valley. See also: Erie Canal, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, National Road, Northwest Ordinance, Ohio, Old Northwest, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, Steamboats, West Virginia Within a year three more settlements were made in the territory. The first settlement founded under the Northwest Ordinance was Marietta, Ohio, which was named the capital of the Northwest Territory in 1788. In 1787 Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, which set guidelines by which territories became states. Congress sold the company 750,000 acres (304,000 hectares) in what is today southeastern Ohio. Shares were sold to raise enough money to petition the Congress of the Confederation to purchase land beyond the Ohio River. The Ohio Company of Associates was organized in 1786 in Boston, Massachusetts. But conflicts with the French stymied British efforts to settle the region and the company failed. The first was the Ohio River Valley Company (sometimes called the Ohio Company of Virginia), formed in 1747 when England's King George II granted London merchants and landed Virginians 200,000 acres (81,000 hectares) west of the Allegheny Mountains. Two companies also helped develop the region. Settlement of the Ohio River Valley was aided by the federally built National Road (completed 1852), New York's Erie Canal (1825), and by Pennsylvania's Main Line Canal (1837). By 1820, more than 60 steamboats plied the Ohio, which remained the main westward route into the region until 1825. Soon many settlers traveled the Ohio River westward. government established the Northwest Territory (the present-day states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota). In 1783 it became part of the new republic of the United States. The Ohio River Valley passed to British control (from the French) in 1763. Numerous battles were fought in the valley, including the French and Indian War (1754 –1763), the last major conflict in North America before the American Revolution (1775 –1783). The fur trade flourished, making the region a coveted possession for both the French and the British. In the first half of the 1700s, traders traveled the Ohio River, finding the surrounding valley a plentiful hunting ground. The Ohio was first seen in 1669 by a European, French explorer Sieur de La Salle (1643 –1687). Commercial cities -trade centers that grew as transportation along the principal waterway increased -also dot the region. The region surrounding the Ohio River is rich farmland. Navigable by barges its entire length of 975 miles (1,569 kilometers), the Ohio River empties into the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois. ![]() The river then turns west-northwest to form the border between Ohio and Kentucky before turning southwest again between Indiana and Kentucky, and between Illinois and Kentucky. From there the Ohio flows southwest, forming the border between Ohio and West Virginia. The river is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Ohio River drains into a fertile basin that measures 203,000 square miles (528,101 square kilometers) -stretching across Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. ![]()
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