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Ohio is named in honor of the great Ohio River, which Thomas Jefferson described as "the most beautiful river on earth". Ohio's name is derived from the Iroquois Indian word for 'large or beautiful river.' Ohio served as the young America's gateway to the new frontier.

Ancient burial mounds and forts throughout the region showed evidence of the Hopewell Indians. In the 1600's, European explorers found the Delaware, Shawnee, Mingo, Wyandot, and Miami Indian tribes living there. At one time both France and Great Britain both held claims to the Ohio area. After the Northwest Territory was established, and the Treaty of Greenville signed, thousands of settlers came to the Ohio region. Among the early settlers were Revolutionary War soldiers who had been given land grants in southeast Ohio.

The Harrison Land Act in 1800 which enabled common people to purchase land in the Northwest Territory, which they did rapidly helping Ohio to become the 17th on on March 1, 1803.

To connect with trade to the Eastern states, Ohio built a 1,000-mile long system of interlocking canals called the Erie Canal, opening in 1825. This made an outlet for the Ohioian's farms, forests and mines to conduct trade with the outside communities. The railroad arrived in the mid 1800's, turning Ohio into a crossroads for trade and migration.

Ohioans were instrumental in smuggling slaveson their quest for freedom to Canada by using the Underground Railroad. This resulted in a scattering of small Africian American communities serving as temporary safe havens In southeastern Ohio.