Wanting to limit British influence along their frontier, the French built a string of forts from Lake Erie towards the forks of the Ohio (present-day Pittsburgh). Because rivers were so important to transportation, the forks of the Ohio was a strategically important location, one that both nations wanted to control.
It means "year of our lord" in Latin, meaning the number of years since Jesus.
The years before the AD ones are labeled 'BC', for "Before Christ".
Both of those labels are the reasons why many people, especially
non-Christians, such as for example Jews and Muslims, prefer to
label the years as 'BCE' and 'CE', meaning "Before the Common Era"
and "Common Era".
Texas' annexation was December 29th, 1845.
