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The Seven Years War: The French And Indian War

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The Seven Years’ War, or The French and Indian War, personified the beginning of British-colonial relations altering as overall control of North American territories, shipping trade, and the seas for which these interactions occurred were greatly impacted. Known as the last major conflict before the French Revolution to involve all the great powers of Europe, The Seven Years’ War officially began with England declaring war on France in 1754. Spain, siding with France, found British forces taking hold of several of their territories across the globe, region by region, while vastly increasing their overall empire and thus, reducing that of Spain and France in its wake. The British continued and in the end won decisively, capturing Quebec in 1759 and defeating French forces in India. …show more content…

The British, similarly, took hold of Spain’s essential mercantile system in that of Havana, Cuba, in addition to Puerto Rico and Manila in the Philippines (Martin & Wasserman, 2012). By 1763, French and Spanish diplomats arranged for peace talks which ultimately resulted in the Treaty of Paris. The U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, details that with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Great Britain secured significant territorial gains in North America, including all French territories east of the Mississippi river, as well as Spanish Florida, along with returning Havana, Cuba to Spain. However, the British return of Havana to Spain did not come without significant monetary amendments where during a period of 11 months, 700 merchant ships from Britain and North America, resided in Havana, thus encouraging Cuba to grow and become the world’s leading producers of sugar, and in turn, stimulating the overall sugar

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