 Colonization efforts primarily occurred in the northern aspects (e.g., Illinois) and the Mississippi River valley; Oklahoma would be untouched by French colonial efforts.At the conclusion of the Seven Years' War and its North American counterpart, the French and Indian War, France was forced to cede the eastern part of the territory in 1763 to the British as part of the Treaty of Paris.France had already ceded the entire territory to the Kingdom of Spain in 1762 in the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau; the transfer to Spain was not publicly announced until 1764.