Control of the area south of the Great Lakes and north of the Ohio River was contested for centuries. European influence first began when the Dutch and English supported the Iroquois in the 17th century Beaver Wars. In the 18th century, the region became a focal point for conflicts between France and Great Britain, especially in the Ohio Country. The French and Indian War initiated when France and Virginia disputed control of the area, and the different Native nations in the region supported their favored trade partners (French or British) or remained neutral. In the Treaty of Paris (1763), France ceded control of the region to the British, although many French settlers remained and several Native nations, dissatisfied with British policies, launched Pontiac's War. Eager to avoid a new conflict, the British Crown issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix in an attempt to fix the boundary between Virginia, Pennsylvania, and native lands. However, this created discontent among the American colonists who wanted to settle in the region, and was one of the early causes eventually leading to Lord Dunmore's War and the American Revolutionary War.