The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in February 1826.
The story takes place in 1757, during the French and Indian War (the Seven Years’ War), when France and Great Britain battled for control of the North American colonies. During this war, the French called on allied Native American tribes to fight against the more numerous British colonists.
The Last of the Mohicans has been James Fenimore Cooper’s most popular work, and it has remained one of the most widely read novels throughout the world, and it has impacted the way many view both the American Indians and the frontier period of American history.
The romanticized image of the strong, fearless, and ever resourceful frontiersman (i.e. Natty Bumppo), as well as the stoic, wise, and noble “red man” (i.e. Chingachgook) were notions derived from Cooper’s characterizations more than from anywhere else. And the phrase “the last of the Mohicans” has now been used oftentimes proverbially to refer to the sole survivor of a noble race or type.
(from wikipedia).
