However, this land between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River, given by Great Britain and accepted by the United States, was not an uninhabited wilderness awaiting settlement. This land was already occupied by farmers, traders, trappers, and hunters. These people, predominantly Native Americans, had already settled in the area with their own families, communities, laws, traditions, religions, businesses and cultures. They did not participate in the Paris Peace Treaty negotiations and did not invite the rising tide of foreigners that came flooding over the Allegany's. The Forks of the Wabash marks one spot where these divergent cultures met and interacted.