The Treaty of Albany also known as the Great Treaty of 1722 was signed in Albany, New York by leaders of the Five Nations of Iroquois, Province of New York, Colony of Virginia, and Province of Pennsylvania.
The Governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood used this treaty as a way to bring more settlers to North America and expand the British Empire.
The 1722 Treaty of Albany shows that the Blue Ridge, and not the Alleghanies, was fixed as the boundary line between the Five Nations and the Tributary Indians of Virginia. Some writers have asserted that this Treaty prohibited white men from settling in the Valley of Virginia, under penalty of death. This, however, is an error.
The prohibitions, pains and penalties of the Treaty applied only to the Virginia Indians and the Five Nations. The Tributary Indians of Virginia, protected by the Treaty, consisted of the following tribes: The Nottoways, Nansemonds, Meherrins, Pamunkeys and Chickahominys, together with the tribes living at Fort Christanna. These latter were remnants of various tribes—The Saponis, Ocheneeches, Stengenocks, Meipontskys and Toteroes. (Colonial History of New York, Vol. V, pp. 655-677.) The Carolina Indians were also embraced in the terms of the Treaty.
The 1722 Treaty of Albany (Great Treaty of 1722), is the oldest treaty still recognized by the U.S. State Department.