French and Indian War

War over colonial possessions in North America 1756-63 between France and Britain, and the last in a series of conflicts in the late 17th and 18th century. It was named the French and Indian War to indicate that France was allied with American Indians against the British and the American colonists, although American Indian alliances were not so straightforward. Fighting broke out in 1754 when the governor of Virginia sent a force under George Washington to challenge French expansion in the Ohio valley. His attack proved unsuccessful and sporadic fighting continued in 1755, although war was not officially declared until 1756. The French and Indian War continued as a major part of the Seven Years' War (1756-63) between the European powers over their colonial possessions.

The conflict was ended by the Treaty of Paris, 1763, which gave Britain all of Canada, America east of the Mississippi Valley, Florida, and several islands in the Caribbean. The revenue-generating measures used in the American colonies to finance these new territories were one of the causes of the American Revolution.