more in line with the Lewis & Clark fairytale. . . John Reda, From Furs to Farms The communities established by the French in the early 18th century were by the eve of the 7 years war, parts of a prosperous, multi-ethnic, multi-racial society with an economy tied to international markets through the Great Lakes and the St. Laurence River, and via the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic beyond.===== By looking at the Illinois Country as a whole, I have argued here for their value of an approach to American History that places specific geographic areas at the center of their own histories instead of treating them reflexively as peripheries of an Eastern seaboard core.===== Doing so helps us better appreciate the social, economic, and demographic complexities that existed in various parts of North America prior to the creation of the United States, and challenges the conventional regional designations that obscure the richness and varities of our local histories. =====