Editing Wisconsin (section)

===European settlements===
{{Main|New France|Canada (New France)|French and Indian War|Treaty of Paris (1763)|Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Indian Reserve (1763)}}
[[File:Jean Nicolet.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2| [[Jean Nicolet]], depicted in a 1910 painting by Frank Rohrbeck, was probably the first European to explore Wisconsin. The mural is located in the [[Brown County Courthouse (Wisconsin)|Brown County Courthouse]] in Green Bay.]]
The first European to visit what became Wisconsin was probably the French explorer [[Jean Nicolet]]. He canoed west from [[Georgian Bay]] through the [[Great Lakes]] in 1634, and it is traditionally assumed that he came ashore near [[Green Bay, Wisconsin|Green Bay]] at [[Red Banks, Brown County, Wisconsin|Red Banks]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Jean Nicolet|url=http://www.uwgb.edu/wisfrench/library/articles/nicolet.htm|author=Rodesch, Gerrold C.|year=1984|publisher=[[University of Wisconsin–Green Bay]]|access-date=March 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117084337/http://www.uwgb.edu/wisfrench/library/articles/nicolet.htm|archive-date=January 17, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Pierre Radisson]] and [[Médard des Groseilliers]] visited Green Bay again in 1654–1666 and [[Chequamegon Bay]] in 1659–1660, where they traded for fur with local Native Americans.<ref>{{cite web|title=Turning Points in Wisconsin History: Arrival of the First Europeans|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-006/?action=more_essay|publisher=[[Wisconsin Historical Society]]|access-date=March 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319211019/https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-006/?action=more_essay|archive-date=March 19, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1673, Jacques Marquette and [[Louis Jolliet]] became the first to record a journey on the [[Fox-Wisconsin Waterway]] all the way to the [[Mississippi River]] near [[Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin|Prairie du Chien]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jaenen|first=Cornelius|year=1973|title=French colonial attitudes and the exploration of Jolliet and Marquette|journal=Wisconsin Magazine of History|volume=56|issue=4|pages=300–310|url=http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/wmh/id/26553|access-date=January 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202080523/http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/wmh/id/26553|archive-date=February 2, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Frenchmen]] like [[Nicholas Perrot]] continued to ply the [[fur trade]] across Wisconsin through the 17th and 18th centuries, but the French made no permanent settlements in Wisconsin before [[British Empire|Great Britain]] won control of the region following the [[French and Indian War]] in 1763. Even so, French traders continued to work in the region after the war, and some, beginning with [[Charles de Langlade]] in 1764, settled in Wisconsin permanently, rather than returning to British-controlled Canada.<ref name="Wisconsin Historical Society">{{cite web|title=Dictionary of Wisconsin History: Langlade, Charles Michel|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=2266&search_term=Langlade%2C+Charles+Michel|publisher=[[Wisconsin Historical Society]]|access-date=March 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204150014/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=2266&search_term=Langlade%2C+Charles+Michel|archive-date=December 4, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>

The British gradually took over Wisconsin during the French and Indian War, taking control of Green Bay in 1761 and gaining control of all of Wisconsin in 1763. Like the French, the British were interested in little but the fur trade. One notable event in the fur trading industry in Wisconsin occurred in 1791, when two free African Americans set up a fur trading post among the Menominee at present-day [[Marinette, Wisconsin|Marinette]]. The first permanent settlers, mostly [[French Canadian]]s, some Anglo-[[New England]]ers and a few African American freedmen, arrived in Wisconsin while it was under British control. Charles de Langlade is generally recognized as the first settler, establishing a trading post at Green Bay in 1745, and moving there permanently in 1764.<ref name="Wisconsin Historical Society"/> Settlement began at Prairie du Chien around 1781. The French residents at the trading post in what is now Green Bay, referred to the town as "La Baye". However, British fur traders referred to it as "Green Bay", because the water and the shore assumed green tints in early spring. The old French title was gradually dropped, and the British name of "Green Bay" eventually stuck. The region coming under British rule had virtually no adverse effect on the French residents as the British needed the cooperation of the French fur traders and the French fur traders needed the goodwill of the British. During the French occupation of the region licenses for fur trading had been issued scarcely and only to select groups of traders, whereas the British, in an effort to make as much money as possible from the region, issued licenses for fur trading freely, both to British and to French residents. The fur trade in what is now Wisconsin reached its height under British rule, and the first self-sustaining farms in the state were established as well. From 1763 to 1780, Green Bay was a prosperous community which produced its own foodstuff, built graceful cottages and held dances and festivities.<ref>Wisconsin, a Guide to the Badger State page 188</ref>

Joseph Roi built the [[Tank Cottage]] in [[Green Bay, Wisconsin|Green Bay]] in 1776. Located in [[Heritage Hill State Historical Park]], it is the [[List of the oldest buildings in Wisconsin|oldest standing building]] from Wisconsin's early years and is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="NRHP">{{cite news|last1=Anderson|first1=D. N.|title=Tank Cottage|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/70000028_text|access-date=March 21, 2020|work=[[NRHP]] Inventory-Nomination Form|publisher=National Park Service|date=March 23, 1970|archive-date=February 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225163106/https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/70000028_text|url-status=live}}</ref>