A 1755 map of the Great Lake region by John Mitchell, which was is the most comprehensive map of eastern North America made during the colonial era.

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Around 1620 -- about the same time Pilgrims were settling in Plymouth, Massachusetts -- French explorer Etienne Brule was paddling across Lake Huron through the St. Mary's River and into Lake Superior, the first European known to reach Michigan.

But while the Pilgrims were only the first wave of hundreds of thousands moving to the 13 colonies over the next 150 years, Michigan was still very much a sparsely populated frontier when colonists launched their war of independence against Great Britain.

In fact, in July 1776, Michigan was still 61 years away from statehood, and the American flag didn't fly over Detroit until 20 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence

As we mark the nation's 243rd birthday, here are some facts about Michigan's beginnings as part of the United States.

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Vyana Slattery, 75, of Grand Rapids, and of the Wyandot Nation, waits in the shade of the pavilion before the start of 4th annual Sweet Grass Moon Pow Wow held in Hopkins. (MLive file photo)

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Native Americans were the dominant population until the 1800s

Long before Europeans arrived, Michigan was populated by Native Americans.

It's estimated the first human activity in the Great Lakes dates back to 11,000 to 9,000 B.C.

When European exploration began in the 1600s, it's estimated about 15,000 Native Americans lived Michigan. To put that in perspective, Michigan's Census count in 1820 was 7,452.

The main Native American tribes -- also known as the "Three Fires" -- were the Chippewa, or the Ojibway, who lived mainly in the Upper Peninsula and eastern Lower Peninsula; the Ottawa in the western Lower Peninsula, and the Potawatomi, in southwestern Michigan.

Other significant tribes in this region included the Huron (sometimes known as the Wyandotte) in southeastern Michigan; the Sauk in the Saginaw River valley; the Miami along the St. Joseph River ; and the Menominee in the western Upper Peninsula.

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This map is from 1718 and is said to be the first map that shows Detroit.

Michigan was part of New France for almost a century

French explorers were the first Europeans to reach Michigan and the first to establish settlements.

It's believe Brule explored the Sault Ste. Marie area around 1620 and subsequently went as far west as the Keweenaw Peninsula. Jean Nicolet, another French explorer, went through the Straits of Mackinac in 1634 on his way to Green Bay.

In 1668, France officially established New France in a region that included present-day eastern Canada and the Great Lakes region.

At its peak in 1712, New France extended as far west as the Canadian prairies and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.

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Sault Ste. Marie was Michigan's first permanent settlement

MIchigan's first permanent settlements were in the Upper Peninsula.

Sault Ste. Marie was Michigan's first permanent European settlement, founded in 1668 by the French missionary Jacques Marquette. Marquette founded St. Ignace in 1671.

French Catholic missions were established in Keweenaw Bay in 1660 and on Mackinac Island in 1670.

Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinac City was established in 1715 and became a major trading post on the Great Lakes.

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Nineteenth century painting of Jacque Marquette, a French missionary.

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First European settlement in the Lower Peninsula was near Niles

In the 1680s, a French Catholic mission was established along the St. Joseph River in what is today the city of Niles, a few miles north of the Indiana border.

In 1691, the French built Fort St. Joseph as a fur trading post on land granted to the Jesuits by King Louis XIV. The post was located at the intersection of two major Native American trails: The east-west Old Sauk Trail and the north-south Grand River Trail.

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U.S. 12, also known as Chicago Road through downtown Sturgis, follows the historic Sauk Trail and has been named a Heritage Trail by the Michigan Department of Transportation. (MLive file photo)

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Historic Indian trail is now U.S. 12

Before the 1800s, both the Native Americans and Europeans who lived in Michigan tended to live near the Great Lakes -- the region's interior was very sparsely populated, and mainly used for travel.

The best known Indian trail was the Old Sauk Trail, the east-west route from the Detroit River to the southern part of Lake Michigan. In time, the trail became a stagecoach route that connected present-day Detroit to present-day Chicago. Today, it's U.S. 12.

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Detroit was largest French village between Montreal and New Orleans

In 1701, Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac moved the French garrison at St. Ignace to a new settlement: Fort Pontchartain du Detroit, today's city of Detroit.

Cadillac brought about 100 other French Canadians to the new village, which was intended to block British expansion into the Michigan peninsula.

The settlers immediately started construction of Ste. Anne de Detroit Catholic Church, the first permanent building in Detroit. Today. Ste. Anne's is the second-oldest continuously operating Catholic parish in the U.S. (The current church building was constructed in 1886.)

Detroit was a major fur-trading post, and in the early 18th century was the largest French village between Montreal and New Orleans.

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Drawing of Detroit in 1701

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Detroit had a slave trade involving Native Americans

Cadillac invited numerous Native American tribes to settle around Detroit. But rivalries between the Fox tribe and tribes allied with the French resulted in the Fox Wars in the early 1700s.

Fox tribe members captured in the Fox Wars were enslaved by other tribes and sometimes sold to the French settlers in Detroit.

French and British colonists also brought African-American slaves to Detroit, and slavery in and around Detroit didn't end until the early 1800s.

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Map of Potawatomi, French, Wyandot (Huron), and Ottawa settlements, circa 1750.

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French-Indian War ended French rule over Michigan

Tensions between French and British colonists led to the French and Indian War from 1754 to 1763. The French were defeated, and turned over all of their North American colonies east of the Mississippi River to Britain.

That did not go over well with the Native Americans, who found the British to be much more hostile towards them compared to the French.

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Native Americans rebel against the British

Before the American colonists went to war with the British, Ottawa leader Pontiac led a rebellion of Native Americans against the British in 1763.

A number of forts were attacked, including Fort Detroit, Fort Michilimackinac and Fort St. Joseph.

At Fort Detroit, Pontiac and his allies killed all of the British soldiers and settlers they could find, including women and children.

The Native Americans hoped the French would join them in helping to oust the British. That didn't happen, and the British eventually quelled the Native American rebellion.

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The British flag flies high over Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City on Friday, Sept. 25, 2015. The fort was built by French soldiers in 1715 and was taken over by the British 1761 after the French and Indian War. (Neil Blake | MLive.com)

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During American Revolution, Michigan was part of Province of Quebec

In 1774, present-day Michigan was folded into the British-controlled Province of Quebec, which extended from Labrador west to the Mississippi River and south to the Ohio River.

Detroit was the third-largest city in the province, after Montreal and Quebec, with a population of 2,144 in 1778.

Still, the Michigan peninsulas were part of the sparsely populated western frontier, and most European settlers were associated with fur-trading, Catholic missions or military garrisons.

During the Revolutionary War, Michigan was firmly controlled by the British and remote from battles occurring along the East Coast.

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MLive file photo of Western Michigan University doing an archaeological dig in Niles at the site of the former Fort St. Joseph near Niles.

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Spanish flag raised over Michigan

During the Revolutionary War, Fort St. Joseph near Niles was used by the British to equip Native Americans who were their allies in their fight against the American colonists.

In 1780, a Spanish expedition from St. Louis -- then controlled by Spain -- conducted a raid on Fort St. Joseph, promising the Potawatomi half the bounty if they stayed neutral. One possible motive: Plundering the fort would ward off an attack on Spanish territory.

The Spanish temporarily captured Fort St. Joseph and raised the Spanish flag for a day before returning to St. Louis.

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Revolutionary War didn't end fight over control of Michigan

At the end of the Revolutionary War, Britain surrendered its territories east of the Mississippi River, including the Great Lakes region.

That made Michigan officially part of the United States. But the fledging U.S. government didn't have the means to eject the British, and it would be another 13 years before British relinquished control of Fort Detroit, Fort Michilimackinac and Fort St. Joseph.

It wasn't until the signing of Jay's Treaty in 1794 that British control of Michigan ended, and then the British took their time leaving. The American flag finally flew over Detroit on July 11, 1796.

The U.S. and Great Britain continued to tussle over control over the Upper Peninsula until 1818 and over Drummond Island until 1847.

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Painting of the Detroit waterfront, “View of Detroit, July 25, 1794.”

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Wayne County was originally the whole state and more

In 1796, six weeks after the British left Fort Detroit, Wayne County was created as the sixth county in the Northwest Territory.

With Detroit as its seat, Wayne County initially included encompassed Lower Peninsula, most of the Upper Peninsula, and parts of northern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.

In 1800, the region was reorganized again, and the western half of Michigan and the U.P. became part of Indiana Territory.

The subdivision of Michigan into more counties began in 1817 and continued through 1891, when Dickinson became the 83rd county.

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1822 map of Michigan.

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Michigan became a separate territory in 1805

Michigan finally became a separate territory in 1805, with Detroit as its capital.

Only the eastern part of the U.P. was included, and the territory's southern boundary was based on a bad map that eventually led to the Toledo War.

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Detroit is only U.S. city to surrender in war

During the War of 1812, British forces captured Detroit and Fort Mackinac, making Detroit the only U.S. city in history since the Revolutionary War to surrender to a foreign army.

American troops retook Detroit a year later, and Fort Mackinac was returned by the British at the end of the war in 1815.

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Letter celebrating 1812 British victory in Detroit.

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Native Americans forced out in 1820s

In the 1820s, the U.S. government assigned Indian agents to work with the tribes in Michigan, including arranging land cessions and relocation.

They forced most of the Native Americans to relocate from Michigan to Indian reservations west of the Mississippi. Most Native Americans were gone by the mid-1830s, which not-so-coincidentally dovetailed with an influx of white settlers.

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A man leads a horse pulling a canal boat on the Erie Canal in this detail of a mural painting by artist Oscar Velasquez. (Lisa DeJong/The Plain Dealer)

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After the Erie Canal opened, 'Michigan fever'

European settlement of Michigan finally began in earnest after construction of the Erie Canal in 1825.

The canal made it much easier for families from New York and New England to migrate west into Michigan. Another big factor: Farmland in the East was becoming scarce, and Michigan was seen as a "promised land" of open spaces.

"Michigan fever" was an actual thing in the 1830s. Michigan was one of the fastest-growing regions of the country, going from less than 9,000 residents in 1820 to almost 32,000 in 1830 to more than 212,000 by 1840.

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Michigan ultimately the winner in Toledo War

As Michigan petitioned to become a state, a dispute broke out over the "Toledo strip," a 5- to 8-mile strip along the Michigan-Ohio borders.

The strip was considered economically important due, in part, to its location on Lake Erie.

Armed men from both Michigan and Ohio took to the field, and a series of border skirmishes broke out.

Finally, a compromise was crafted ion 1836: Ohio would get the Toledo strip, and Michigan was given the western half of the Upper Peninsula.

At the time, Ohio was seen as the winner. But in short time, vast mineral deposits were found in the U.P., sparking a mining boom that rivaled the California gold rush.

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Michigan's first capitol building in Detroit.

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Michigan became a state, led by the 'Boy Governor'

Michigan became the 26th state on Jan. 26, 1837 and its first governor was Stevens Mason, who hold the record for being the youngest state governor in American history.

Mason was appointed as Michigan's territorial secretary at age 19. and became the acting territorial governor in 1834 at age 22. He shepherded the statehood process, and was elected Michigan's first state governor at 23 and took office when he was 24.

Interesting factoid: Mason became governor in 1835, two years before Michigan became a state. The explanation is that Michigan voters elected Mason right after they approved a constitution in 1835, but Congress refused to recognize Michigan as a state for another two years, until the dispute with Ohio was resolved.