By 1753 tensions on the American frontier were high between European rivals Great Britain and France over competing imperial claims in the Ohio River valley. At the same time, members of the Mohawk nation traveled to New York City and declared an end to the alliance between the British colonies and the Iroquois Confederacy—a union of six tribes, including the Mohawk, that served as a peacekeeping alliance between the tribes and the northern British colonies. When the British Crown learned of the Mohawks' complaints of land fraud and diplomatic neglect, it ordered colonial governments to convene in Albany to address the Mohawks' grievances and restore the alliance. With a looming war against France, Britain could not afford to lose its alliance with the Iroquois.