Vermont was first inhabited by the  Abinaki people. In 1609, a French explorer named Lewis de Champlain arrived and claimed the land for his country, France. He helped the Abinaki people by giving them guns to fight off the Iroquois people. The first European settlement in Vermont was St. Anne, which was built by the French to protect their fur trading routes. In 1724, the British established Ft. Dummer to protect Massachusetts from raiding. In 1754, the French and British went to war. It was called the French and Indian war, which ended in 1763 with Britain claiming Vermont. When the American Revolution began, people in Vermont joined together for independence. Ethan Allen led a group of Vermont settlers in 1775 called the Green Mountain Boys to capture the British Fort Ticonderoga. This was an important early victory. Two years later Vermont declared its independence. At first, it was called New Connecticut. But it later changed to Vermont, which means green mountain. They even created their own constitution, postal service, money and government. The United States had issues with the independent country of Vermont. People from New York and New Hampshires had land in Vermont, and some people even wanted to invade Vermont so it would have to be part of the United States. In 1790, Vermont agreed to pay a $30,000 fine to settle the dispute and one year later, Vermont joined the United States as the 14th state.