b'Native Americans,Explorers, andTradersSo many changes came with thearrival of the European explorers and Graphic (II)traders. Before they landed on theshores of America and moved inland into Native Americans the Ohio region, no one owned the land. in OhioThe Native Americans who had lived and Because we have written recordsdied here had no concept of land owner- about the Native Americans in Ohioship. They believed that the land belonged after 1600, they are called historicto everyone. It was a sacred thing to tribes. Most of what we know about themthem. These early people respected the was written by the French and Englishland and the creatures that lived on it. who explored, trapped, traded, or settledThat is why the Ohio region was so in the Ohio Country during the 1600s andunchanged for such a long time. Their 1700s. These white men had a lot ofearthworks remind Ohioans of a time contact with the natives in the area,when the people belonged to the land.mostly because of the trading betweenThat would change in the 1600s and the groups. The Ohio Country was a rich1700s. As more people, invaders from land that provided food, furs, salt, andEurope, came into Ohio Country[see other natural resources to both thegraphic (EE)] , the race began to claim land natives and the Europeans.for king and country. The new people saw No historic native tribes settled inthe land as an object to be owned and the Ohio region until the early 1700s, butcontrolled. Remember: The Ohio Country this land was a great hunting ground forwas a large area that stretched from many tribes. They hunted and gatheredwestern Pennsylvania all the way west food, but did not build settlements here.toward present-day Illinois, north to Lake The land stayed as it had been for cen-Erie, and south to the Ohio River. turies because no permanent changeswere made to create settlements forthese people. No one knows why nativesdid not settle in Ohio during this period,but it is likely that the strong Iroquoisgroup from the New York area kept thisregion from being inhabited. TheIroquois were warlike people who foughtGraphic (EE)page 17'