In the New World, conflict had already begun between Britain and France. The French colonies were at an enormous demographic disadvantage; there were less than 70,000 French colonists spread over a territory from the Saint Lawrence River to the Great Lakes extending down the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys down to Louisiana (named for Louis's grandfather, Louis XIV); compared with 300,000 in the British colonies. To defend its territories. France had constructed Fort Duquesne to defend their frontier against the indigenous Americans; Britain sent the young George Washington with a small force to construct his own fortification, Fort Necessity, nearby. In 1752, after the killing of French envoy, Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, the French sent reinforcements and compelled Washington and his men to withdraw.