Editing Frontier (section)

===Colonial North America===
{{See also|Colonial America|British colonization of the Americas|French colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonization of the Americas}}
[[File:Voyageur canoe.jpg|thumb|[[French Canadians|French-Canadian]] [[Voyageurs]] passing a waterfall]]
In the earliest days of European settlement of the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] Coast, the frontier was essentially any part of the forested interior of the continent beyond the fringe of existing settlements along the coast and the great rivers such as the [[Saint Lawrence River|St. Lawrence]],  [[Connecticut River|Connecticut]], [[Hudson River|Hudson]], [[Delaware River|Delaware]], [[Susquehanna River]] and [[James River (Virginia)|James]].

British, French, Spanish, and Dutch patterns of expansion and settlement were quite different from one another. Only a few thousand French migrated to Canada; the [[habitants]] settled in villages along the St. Lawrence River, built communities that remained stable for long stretches, and did not leapfrog west the way that the Americans would. Although French fur traders ranged widely through the [[Great Lakes (North America)|Great Lakes]] and [[Mississippi River]] watershed, as far as the [[Rocky Mountains]], they did not usually settle down. Actual French settlement in those areas was limited to a few very small villages on the lower Mississippi and in the [[Illinois Country]].<ref>Clarence Walworth Alvord, ''The Illinois Country 1673-1818'' (1918)</ref>

Likewise, the Dutch set up fur trading posts in the Hudson River Valley, followed by large grants of land to [[patroons]], who brought in tenant farmers who created compact permanent villages but did not push westward.<ref>Arthur G. Adams, ''The Hudson Through the Years'' (1996); Sung Bok Kim, ''Landlord and Tenant in Colonial New York: Manorial Society, 1664-1775'' (1987)</ref>

In contrast, the British colonies generally pursued a more systematic policy of widespread settlement of the [[New World]] for cultivation and exploitation of the land, a practice that required the extension of European [[property rights]] to the new continent. The typical British settlements were quite compact and small: under a square mile. Conflict with the Native Americans arose out of political issues on who would rule. Early frontier areas east of the [[Appalachian Mountains]] included the Connecticut River Valley.<ref>Allan Kulikoff, ''From British Peasants to Colonial American Farmers'' (2000)</ref> The [[French and Indian Wars]] of the 1760s resulted in a complete victory for the British, who took over the [[French colonial territory]] west of the Appalachians to the Mississippi River. The Americans began moving across the Appalachians into areas such the Ohio Country and the [[New River Valley]].