Editing Kentucky (section)

===Early explorations: the discovery of Kentucky===
{{See also|Kentucke's Frontiers}}
European explorers arrived in Kentucky possibly as early as 1671. While French explorers surely spied Kentucky during expeditions on the Mississippi, there is no evidence French or Spanish explorers set foot in the lands south of the Ohio, notwithstanding speculations about Hernando de Soto and Robert de la Salle. The terrain in those days was not surveyed, so there is some uncertainty whether and to what extent the early English explorers out of Virginia set foot on the land. Confounding the issue is that the region south of the Ohio/Allegheny later known as ''Kentucky country'' was larger than the state of Kentucky today, encompassing most of today's West Virginia and (vaguely) part of southwestern Pennsylvania.<ref>"South of the Ohio" was almost, but not quite, synonymous with ''Kentucky country''.</ref> Notable expeditions were Batts and Fallam 1671, Needham and Arthur 1673.<ref>The First Explorations of the Trans-Allegheny Region by the Virginians 1650–1674</ref> Thomas Walker and surveyor Christopher Gist surveyed the area now known as Kentucky in 1750 and 1751.