The territory and state of Indiana emerged from conflict between Native American and European peoples and the eventual victory of American colonists over British domination.
Native Americans (including Miamis, Weas, Piankesaws, Kickapoos, and Potawatomis) were the first to occupy the Indiana country. The Frenchman René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, arrived in 1679, opening the way for the French to establish the fur trade and erect fortified trading posts at Fort Miami (renamed Fort Wayne, 1715), Fort Ouiatenon (renamed Lafayette, c.1718), and Fort Vincennes (1732). As British colonies in the East expanded, Great Britain and France contested the American interior and sought to protect their respective interests in trade and land. By winning the French and Indian War (1756-1763), Britain, through the Treaty of Paris (1763), gained control of lands east of the Mississippi. The Proclamation of 1763 prevented white settlement west of the Appalachians until Britain acquired Indian lands and established an orderly system for settlement. Native Americans challenged British authority, resulting in Ottawa chief Pontiac's failed effort in 1763-1764 to expel the British.
During the American Revolution Native Americans, recognizing that American colonists posed a greater threat to their lands, sided with the British against the Americans. In 1777 Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark, sponsored by the Virginia General Assembly, launched a campaign to gain control of the Ohio River Valley. He captured several posts in the Illinois country and, after a long wintry trek, recaptured Fort Sackville at Vincennes to force a British surrender (1779). The British continued to resist, however, until their eventual defeat in October 1781. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 led to British recognition of American independence and cession of all lands up to the Mississippi River, including the Indiana country, to the United States.
Unsettled Indiana benefited when Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, adopted two ordinances for the economic and political organization of the newly acquired western lands. The Land Ordinance (1785) prescribed a survey and public auction of lands. The Northwest Ordinance (13 July 1787) organized lands north of the Ohio River as the Northwest Territory, established a three-stage process for achieving statehood, and adopted a standard of civil rights, including the prohibition of slavery. In a further effort to weaken Indian control of the interior, President George Washington sent General Anthony Wayne against the tribes. Wayne's victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 led to the Treaty of Greenville (1795).
On 7 May 1800, the U.S. Congress approved the division of the Northwest Territory into two separate governments, which led to the formation of the Indiana Territory. The white population of Indiana at this time was 5,641. President John Adams appointed William Henry Harrison as territorial governor, and Vincennes became the territorial capital. The population grew steadily, and in 1805 the Indiana territorial legislature convened to adopt territorial laws, including laws allowing indentured servitude. The Indiana Territory was decreased in size when the Michigan Territory split off in 1805 and the Illinois Territory in 1809. By 1810 the Indiana population, including 237 slaves, numbered 24,520.
As territorial governor, Harrison pursued an aggressive policy of land acquisition. He negotiated land cession treaties with tribes, sometimes using military intimidation, to chip away at Indian possessions and effect the demise of native culture. Seeking to regain their dwindling land, Shawnee leader Te-cumseh and his brother "The Prophet" Tenskwatawa established a confederacy of tribes to attack Indiana settlements. Continued tensions led to the Battle of Tippecanoe (7 November 1811) near Tecumseh's village of Prophetstown, where the confederacy was damaged. The subsequent death of Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames (1813) in Canada marked the demise of Indian resistance in Indiana.
After enduring the War of 1812, the territorial legislature convened in December 1815 at Corydon, which had succeeded Vincennes as capital in 1813, to draft a petition for statehood. With the approval of Congress, the representatives wrote a constitution, and on 11 December 1816 Indiana became the nineteenth state of the Union. Although the Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery, there were unsuccessful efforts during both the territorial and early statehood stages to reintroduce slavery to Indiana. Jonathan Jennings, an opponent of slavery who was instrumental in drafting the constitution, became the first governor.
With Native Americans still occupying most of the central and northern parts of Indiana, the first decade of statehood witnessed numerous treaties that gradually removed the Indians, making way for settlers migrating primarily from the upland South. The Treaty of St. Mary's (1818), or the "New Purchase," opened the central third of the state to white settlement, and by 1820 the population had increased to 147,178. In that year the General Assembly chose a centrally located capital on the White River, and in January 1825 the legislature convened at the new capital of Indianapolis.
The new state quickly pursued policies of economic development by chartering a state bank (1817), encouraging agriculture and manufacturing, and promoting a system of internal improvements. As the state prospered the population grew, totaling 343,031 in 1830. Towns such as Madison, located on the Ohio River, profited as improved transportation spawned increased migration and continued economic growth for the Hoosier state.