tle was one of the decisive ones of the world, for, as will be
seen, its results were of momentous importance to mankind. The conquest
of Canada followed in 1760, and the other French forts fairly tumbled
into the possession of the English. Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawas, was
so angered at the turn of events that he refused to be bound by the
terms of the surrender. He brought a number of tribes into an alliance,
captured several British posts in the West, and laid siege to Detroit
for more than a year, but in the end he was defeated, his confederacy
scattered, and Pontiac himself, like Philip, was killed by one of his
own race.

The war was over, so far as America was concerned, but England and
France kept it up for nearly three years, fighting on the ocean and
elsewhere. In 1762, Spain joined France, but received a telling blow in
the same year, when an English expedition captured the city of Havana.
In this important event, the provincials gave valuable aid to the
British regulars. The colonies also sent out a number of privateers
which captured many rich prizes from the Spaniards.

By 1763, Great Britain had completely conquered France and Spain, and a
treaty of peace was signed at Paris. France and Spain agreed to give up
all of North America east of the Mississippi, and England ceded _Cuba to
Spain in exchange for Florida, exchanging Florida in 1783 for the Bahama
Islands. The former_ was a victory for Spanish diplomacy, since Florida
was practically worthless to _Spain_, while Havana, _the capital of
Cuba_, was an enormously wealthy city, and the island possessed
marvelous fertility and almost boundless resources.

France, after her wholesale yielding to England, paid Spain her ally by
ceding to her all her possessions west of the Mississippi, including the
city of New Orleans. This enormous territory, then known as Louisiana,
comprehended everything between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi
River, from British America to the Gulf of Mexico. In extent it was an
empire from which many of the most important States of the Union have
been carved. When it is remembered that these changes were the result of
a war in which the capture of Quebec was the decisive conflict, it will
be admitted that there was ample warrant for pronouncing it one of the
great battles of the world.

The thirteen original colonies were now "full grown." Their population
had increased to 2,000,000 and was fast growing. Their men had pro