Chapter 547

When it comes to the Pontiac uprising, stone bear has really understood it in his previous life.

If the seven-year war changed the pattern of European powers in the new continent of North America, and the war of independence resulted in the birth of a powerful country, then the Pontiac uprising at the end of the seven-year war opened the prelude of the struggle between the North American Indians and the European colonists and even the Americans after independence!

As we all know, before the seven-year war, French Louisiana and New France controlled a vast area from the south to New Orleans, north to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River Valley. However, in terms of the area of colonies, the area of colonies controlled by the French was much larger than that controlled by the British.

Of course, the so-called control of the French is just a happy way to say it. After all, the French strategy in the North American colonies was totally different from that of the British. In North America, French colonists attached more importance to trade than to land. Everything was based on fur trade, and they paid little attention to controlling and occupying land.

The British, especially the British colonists, were extremely greedy for land. Their colonial strategy in North America was to emphasize land over trade.

This is also the reason why the French colonized North America earlier than the British, but the strength of the French colonists in North America was far less than that of the British colonists.

You know, during the seven-year war, there were only tens of thousands of French colonists in North America. At that time, the number of British colonists in North America had exceeded 1.5 million!

Although the main battlefield of the seven-year war was in Europe, in the Atlantic, North America, India and other regions, human brains were as fierce as dog brains. The seven-year war in the new world of North America is known as the "French Indian War".

In this war, the vast majority of Indian tribes living on the east coast were involved in the war. For their own interests, more Indian tribes chose the French to form an alliance, while a few tribes chose the British as their allies and fought against the enemies. The whole East of North America was united.

The final result of the seven-year war between 1756 and 1763 was that France and its Indian allies were defeated and had to swallow the bitter fruit. According to the armistice agreement, the British took over many French territories and dominions in North America and became the new rulers of the French colonies in North America.

In this war of several years, the local fur trade in the new world of North America has suffered a heavy blow, and the previously profitable fur trade has dropped to the freezing point. However, in 1760, when the British seized control of the fortress of Detroit, they began to reestablish peaceful relations with many Indian tribes who had been on the French side or neutral in the war, in an attempt to revive the fur trade which had been blocked by the war, and to enrich the supply of goods cut off during the war.

Although the Indians were ignorant and backward, their interests still made them forget their blood feuds. Especially after the British continuously transported rum, ironware and other cheap goods to the new continent of North America, the British immediately won the goodwill of the local Indian tribes at the end of the seven-year war.

Still, the strategy of the British in the new world of North America was not based on trade. What they coveted was the vast and rich land occupied by the Indians!

In particular, the arrogant British regarded the Indians as uncivilized barbarians who needed to be controlled, rather than business partners who could trade with them on an equal footing. These colonial officials looked down on the Indians from the bottom of their bones, so they changed their trading tradition, no longer respected the Indian culture, but carried out a high handed policy, In the fur trade with the closest communication between the two sides, they set various restrictions and requirements on the Indians in order to reduce their own costs.

Before the British occupied the French colonies and carried out the high handed policy, the Indians had great freedom in fur trade. As the main fur suppliers, they could sell their fur to whoever they wanted. European fur traders who wanted to buy Indian fur had to please the Indians first if they wanted to do business with them.

Generally, gifts should be given to the Indians before the official trading as a witness of friendship. The value of gifts can be large or small, such as wine, tobacco, knives, snacks and European handicrafts. The value of these gifts is generally not high, they are all small things, which are not worth mentioning compared with the income that fur dealers can get.

But now the British who have completely occupied the area regard giving gifts as the obedience of spending money to buy Indians. The colonial government thinks that they are the only buyers in the area. Once the Indians can't get gifts from themselves, they can only hunt fur harder to get European goods, and then use fur to buy the goods they want from the British.

So the British began to change! Start to become unreasonable! Start to become more and more greedy! It's becoming more and more aggressive! Start to continue to expand westward!

Detroit castle and 12 other military fortresses around the Great Lakes are a good example. Originally used as forts for fur trade, these forts became bridgeheads for British expansion after they were occupied by the British in 1760.

For the Indians, the continued expansion of the British colonies was a clear threat to them. A British officer reported that the aborigines "said we intended to use them as slaves" because the British took their land

The contradiction between Indians and Englishmen is getting deeper and deeper. But because of the seven-year war, the Indian tribes living in the great lakes could not unite against the British.

However, in 1763, the third year after the British occupied the fortress of Detroit, niolin, the high priest of Ottawa people at that time, said in a religious epiphany: the supreme sun god instructed his people to reject European technology and liberate themselves from their commercial relations with Europeans and their dependence on alcohol, All the people of the Sun God should wear the clothes of their ancestors and drive the British out of their territory!

So Pontiac, the chief of the Ottawa people, stood up!

At that time, the Ottawa people were very powerful, and they were also a famous middleman tribe in the five Great Lakes region, and they were also a bridge between the white people and the more western Indians. The Ottawa people would exchange their goods for the fur of the Western Indians at a low price, and then sell them to the white people in the east at a high price to earn a difference, And they have allies with many Indian tribes.

I'm afraid the British have never thought how much trouble this chief Pontiac will bring to them!