1755 map of the western portion of New France shows a territory that is very much dominated by various American indigenous nations though nominally under a tenuous French hegemony. The vast lands of the Miami, the Iroquois, the Erie, the Huron, the Renard, the Mascouten, and the Illinois overwhelm tiny bastions of French power in the form of various forts and missions. The French, without the vast colonial resources of the English and Spanish, relied heavily on an alliance with, rather than outright control of, indigenous populations.