Pontiac

(noun)

An Ottawa leader who became famous for his role in the American Indian uprising of 1763, in which a pan-tribal coalition of American Indians resisted British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War.

Related Terms

Examples of Pontiac in the following topics:

  • Pontiac's Uprising

    • British expansion into American Indian land after the French and Indian War led to resistance in the form of Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763.
    • The most organized resistance, Pontiac’s Rebellion, highlighted tensions the settler-invaders increasingly interpreted in racial terms.
    • Despite previous rumors of war, Pontiac's Rebellion began in 1763.
    • The war began at Fort Detroit under the leadership of Ottawa war chief Pontiac and quickly spread throughout the region.
    • The total loss of life resulting from Pontiac's Rebellion is unknown.

  • Discontent on the Frontier

    • Colonial relations with American Indian tribes were severely tested following the events of Pontiac's Rebellion and the Conestoga Massacre.
    • Two events in 1763 severely tested colonial relations with American Indian tribes on the frontier: Pontiac's War and the Conestoga Massacre.
    • The war was named after the Ottawa leader Pontiac, the most prominent of many native leaders in the conflict.
    • Almost immediately, many British colonists and land speculators objected to the proclamation boundary, since there were already many settlements beyond the line, some of which had been temporarily evacuated during Pontiac's War, as well as many existing land claims yet to be settled.

  • The Loyalists

    • The Loyalist exodus also included Ohio Valley farmers who had relied on British military security against Pontiac's armies.

  • The Holy Experiment

    • With the war just over and Pontiac's War beginning, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 banned colonization beyond the Appalachian Mountains in an effort to prevent settlers invading lands which the Native Americans considered their own.

  • The Northwest Territory

    • However, the war was a key part of a long offensive in the Ohio Country, which included the Beaver Wars (1650s), the Seven Years' War (1754–1763), Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–1764), Lord Dunmore's War (1774), and the American Revolution (1775–1783).