S8 Ep277: HEART OF DARKNESS AND THE OHIO COMPANY LAND GRAB Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. The book's title draws on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to describe the bewilderment and horror

HEART OF DARKNESS AND THE OHIO COMPANY LAND GRAB Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. The book's title draws on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to describe the bewilderment and horror inherent in the 18th-century American backcountry. In 1754, George Washington retreated through Oldtown, Maryland, the home of the Cresap family, following a failed expedition against the French. Washington and the Cresaps were partners in the Ohio Company, a speculative venture claiming half a million acres of Native land near the Forks of the Ohio. This era was marked by imprecise maps and border disputes between colonies like Maryland and Pennsylvania, creating a chaotic environment where land speculators operated like rival tribes. NUMBER 2