How did the Ohio River get its name?
It received its English name from the Iroquois word, Oyo, meaning The Great River. For thousands of years, Native Americans, like the European explorers and settlers who followed them, formed numerous civilizations along its valley and used the river as a major transportation and trading route.
Who was the first person to cross the Ohio River?
The first known European to traverse the length of the river, from the headwaters of the Allegheny to its mouth on the Mississippi, was a Dutchman from New York, Arnout Viele, in 1692. In 1749, the Ohio Company was established in the Thirteen Colonies to settle and trade in the Ohio River region.
What did the French call the Ohio Valley?
The French called the Ohio „La Belle Rivière,“ and the explorer Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville made a historic trip down the Allegheny and Ohio to the Miami River in 1749, placing lead plates at the junctions of major tributaries that claimed the region for France.
Where does the Mississippi River and the Ohio River meet?
Where the Ohio joins the Mississippi is the lowest elevation in the state of Illinois, at 315 feet (96 m). The Mississippi River flows to the Gulf of Mexico on the Atlantic Ocean. Among rivers wholly or mostly in the United States, the Ohio is the second largest by discharge volume and the tenth longest and has the eighth largest drainage basin.
Why are the Ohio River islands so important?
The Ohio and its islands have been identified as one of the most important ecosystems for conservation. The Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge includes two islands in Pennsylvania – Phillis and Georgetown. The refuge works to protect, restore, and enhance habitat for wildlife native to the river’s floodplain.
Why was the Ohio River important to the Civil War?
The Ohio River is considered to separate Midwestern Great Lakes states from the Upper South states, which were historically border states in the Civil War. The colonial charter for Virginia defined its territory as extending to the north shore of the Ohio, so that the riverbed was „owned“ by Virginia.