Editing Detroit (section)

===French settlement===
{{Main|Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit}}
[[File:FortShelbyDetroit.png|thumb|upright|Topographical plan of the Town of Detroit and [[Fort Lernoult]] showing major streets, gardens, fortifications, military comple&shy;xes, and public buildings (John Jacob Ulrich Rivardi, ca. 1800)]]

On July 24, 1701, the French explorer [[Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac]] (1658–1730), with his lieutenant&nbsp;[[Alphonse de Tonty]] (1659–1727), and more than a hundred other [[Kingdom of France|Royal French]] settlers traveling south and west from [[New France]] (modern [[Quebec|Province of Quebec]]), along the [[St. Lawrence River]] valley to the [[Great Lakes]] region, began constructing a small fort on the north bank of the Detroit River. Cadillac named the settlement [[Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/thisisdetroit1700000wood_n6a3|url-access=registration|title=This is Detroit, 1701–2001|last=Woodford|first=Arthur M.|date=2001|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=0814329144|pages=[https://archive.org/details/thisisdetroit1700000wood_n6a3/page/15 15]|language=en}}</ref> after [[Louis Phélypeaux, Marquis of Phélypeaux|Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain]] (1643–1727), the [[Secretary of State of the Navy (France)|Secretary of State of the Navy]] under King [[Louis XIV]] (1638–1715, reigned 1643–1715) in the Royal government in Paris.<ref name="Riley">{{Cite book| author=Riley, John L.|title=The Once and Future Great Lakes Country: An Ecological History|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press| year=2013|isbn=978-0-7735-4177-1}}, p. 56.</ref> [[Basilica of Sainte Anne de Détroit|Sainte-Anne de Détroit]] was founded on July 26 and is the second-oldest continuously operating [[Roman Catholic]] parish in the United States.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stechschulte |first=Michael |date=March 1, 2020 |title=Pope names Ste. Anne Church a basilica, cementing historic parish's importance to Detroit |url=https://detroitcatholic.com/news/mike-stechschulte/breaking-pope-names-ste-anne-church-a-basilica-cementing-historic-parishs-importance-to-detroit |journal=Detroit Catholic |access-date=November 13, 2023}}</ref> France offered free land to colonists to attract families further west into the Great Lakes region interior of the North American continent to Detroit; when it eventually reached a population of about 800 by 1765, after the colonial conflict of the [[French and Indian War]] (1753–1763), ([[Seven Years' War]] in Europe), it became the largest European settlement between the important towns of [[Montreal]] and [[New Orleans]], both also French settlements, in the former colonies of [[New France]] and [[Louisiana (New France)|La Louisiane]] (further south on the [[Mississippi River]], on the coast of the [[Gulf of Mexico]]), respectively.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov.on.ca/ENGLISH/exhibits/franco_ontarian/detroit.htm French Ontario in the 17th and 18th centuries – Detroit] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040824111504/http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/ENGLISH/exhibits/franco_ontarian/detroit.htm |date=August 24, 2004 }}. ''Archives of Ontario'' July 14, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2008.</ref> The region's then colonial economy was based on the lucrative [[North American fur trade|fur trade]], in which numerous Native American peoples had important roles as trappers and traders.