The Franco-Indigenous alliance was an alliance between North American indigenous nations and the French, centered on the Great Lakes and the Illinois country during the French and Indian War (1754–1763). The alliance involved French settlers on the one side, and the Abenaki, Ottawa, Menominee, Winnebago, Mississauga, Illinois, Sioux, Huron-Petun, Potawatomi, etc. on the other. It allowed the French and the natives to form a haven in the middle-Ohio valley before the open conflict between the European powers erupted.