page_title: Treaty of Fort Niagara
section_title: Treaty of Niagara (1764)
hierarchical_section_title: Treaty of Fort Niagara / Treaty of Niagara (1764)
caption_attribution_description: English: The Covenant Chain Wampum presented by Sir William Johnson at the conclusion of the Council of Niagara. This replica was commissioned by Nathan Tidridge and created by Ken Maracle of the Seneca Nation.
context_page_description: The Treaty of Fort Niagara is one of several treaties signed between the British Crown and various indigenous peoples of North America.
context_section_description: The 1764 Treaty of Niagara was agreed to by Sir William Johnson for the Crown and 24 Nations from the Haudenosaunee, Seneca, Wyandot of Detroit, Menominee, Algonquin, Nipissing, Ojibwa, Mississaugas, and others who were part of the Seven Nations of Canada and the Western Lakes Confederacy.  The Treaty was concluded on August 1, 1764.  The treaty transferred possession of a narrow four mile strip of land 69 by the Niagara River's western shore, as well as established the relationship that was supposed to be honoured by the new settlers moving into what would become Canada. This treaty signaled the assembled Indigenous Nations ratification of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and extended the Silver Covenant Chain of Friendship into the Great Lakes Region of the continent.
  The Royal Proclamation of 1763 established the British definition of Indian Country. On these lands the Crown claimed sovereignty but it also decreed that the land was to be considered in the possession of the Indigenous peoples who occupied them.  Consequently, in order to transfer ownership of the land to the Crown through the surrendering of the land from the indigenous peoples, Great Britain began formalizing the Treaty of Niagara with the First Nations on July 8, 1764, through this Treaty Council.  In protest, the Ottawa of Detroit, the Wyandot of Sandusky, and the Lenape and Shawnee of the Ohio refused to attend the Treaty Council.  This treaty created a new Covenant Chain between Britain and the First Nations of the western Great Lakes.  During the War of 1812, Nations involved with this treaty allied themselves with the British, as the Nations believed the treaty bound them to the British cause.
caption: The Covenant Chain Wampum presented by Sir William Johnson to the assembled Nations at the conclusion of the Council of Niagara (1764)
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