Detroit is the oldest city in the midwest. In 1701, Frenchman Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and his men established a fur trading 1701 - First fur trading post established by Frenchman Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac
1760 - Detroit surrenders to the British
1805 - Fire destroyed Detroit city
1812 - Detroit surrendered to Indians
1825 - Erie Canal completed
1903 - Henry Ford starts up automotive factory post and erected a Fort at the Detroit River to protect the waterways against the British.
They called the Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, détroit being French for strait. In 1760, Detroit surrendered to the British and most of the French inhabitants departed for Saint Louis. They were replaced by Dutch, Scottish and other immigrants.
In 1805, the same year Detroit was named capital of the Michigan Territory, the city burned to the ground. All structures except one stone storehouse were destroyed. The city was rebuilt with a classical French layout designed by Judge Augustus Woodward, one of the administrators of the Michigan territory.

In 1812 the city was surrendered to the Indians without a fight, but it was again reoccupied a year later. From then on, there were less hostilities with the native inhabitants, causing the city to grow and with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, Detroit attracted many new immigrants and trade with the east coast flourished.
By the mid 19th century, Detroit had become a major railroad and shipbuilding center and had developed a large logging industry. At the end of the 19th century, many inventors and engineers started to closely follow the progress made in the new automotive industry in France and Germany. Investors started to back the auto engineers and at the beginning of the 20th century, many small automotive factories had been established in Michigan. One of the factories was founded by Henry Ford in 1903. He built his first car in 1896 and would become famous as the inventor of the assembly line in 1913, which would revolutionize the automotive industry and helped Detroit establish itself as the Motor City. The industry attracted flocks of immigrants and were the main source of the boom of Detroit in the first half of the century.
Today, the three main manufacturers in the United States, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all still have their headquarters in the Detroit area.

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