USA Wisconsin - The History : USA  

USA Wisconsin - The History - Travel guide

USA

USA Wisconsin - The History

The History

Wisconsin's original inhabitants were the Winnebago, Dakota (Sioux) and Menominee Indians. The spread of settlers in the East brought the Ottawa, the Huron, and other Native American tribes into Wisconsin, where they in turn displaced native tribes. The Ojibway drove Wisconsin's Sioux Indians westward. Only the Menominee remained relatively settled in Wisconsin. American territorial disputes between Britain and France launched the French and Indian War in 1754.

The fur trade flourished despite the 50-year war between the Fox and the French, and the historic Fox-Wisconsin portage was used by generations of traders from Green Bay and Prairie du Chien in their search for beaver and other furs.

Later, invading settlers again provoked confrontations with Native Americans. In what was known as the Black Hawk War, Sauk Indians (led by Black Hawk) made their last stand in Wisconsin in 1832. Outnumbered by volunteer militia and regular troops, the Indians were defeated. This revolt was the last serious Native American resistance in the area.

The first European explorer to visit what is now Wisconsin was a Frenchman named Jean Nicolet. He landed on the shore of Green Bay in 1634 while searching for fur pelts and the Northwest Passage. French traders and missionaries who followed Nicolet included Radisson and Groseilliers, Marquette and Joliet (who discovered the upper Mississippi), and Aco and Hennepin (from La Salle's party). Green Bay became the center of the Wisconsin fur trade, and Nicolet formally claimed all the region for France in 1686.

In 1763, the Treaty of Paris ceded formerly French-controlled land, including the Wisconsin region, to the British, who later passed it on to the United States. The population boomed during the 1820s as miners flocked to lead mines in southwest Wisconsin.

As the region's great agricultural potential became apparent, many easterners began arriving via the new Erie Canal and the Great Lakes after 1825, settling in the Milwaukee area and along waterways.

Wisconsin belonged to France and Britain before it was acquired by the United States.

In 1774, Britain passed the Quebec Act, making Wisconsin part of the province of Quebec. The British owned the region even after the end of the American Revolution. The Old Northwest (which included Wisconsin) formally passed to the United States in 1783 and was made a part of the Northwest Territory in 1787. Northwestern strongholds were turned over to the Americans after Jay's Treaty was signed in 1794. However, the British still dominated the fur trade from the Canadian border, and they regained Wisconsin during the War of 1812. With the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, the U.S. finally owned Wisconsin.

Present-day Wisconsin was transferred from Illinois Territory to Michigan Territory in 1818. The Wisconsin Territory was established in 1836. It included parts of present-day Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota.

Wisconsin became the 30the State to Unite under America on May 29, 1848.