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New Sweden

March 31, 2023

For other uses, see New Sweden (disambiguation).

New Sweden (Swedish: Nya Sverige)[1] was a Swedish colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now the United States from 1638 to 1655,[2] established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a great military power. New Sweden formed part of the Swedish efforts to colonize the Americas. Settlements were established on both sides of the Delaware Valley in the region of Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, often in places where Swedish traders had been visiting since about 1610.[3] Fort Christina in Wilmington, Delaware, was the first settlement, named after the reigning Swedish monarch. The settlers were Swedes, Finns, and a number of Dutch. New Sweden was conquered by the Dutch Republic in 1655 during the Second Northern War and incorporated into the Dutch colony of New Netherland.

New Sweden
Nya Sverige
1638–1655
Map of New Sweden, c. 1650
by Amandus Johnson
StatusSwedish colony
CapitalFort Christina
Common languagesSwedish, Finnish, Munsee, Unami
Religion
Church of Sweden
Native American religion
Monarch of Sweden 
• 1632–1654
Christina
• 1654–1660
Charles X Gustav
Governor 
• 1638
Peter Minuit
• 1638–1640
Måns Nilsson Kling
• 1640–1643
Peter Hollander Ridder
• 1643–1653
Johan Björnsson Printz
• 1653–1654
Johan Papegoja
• 1654–1655
Johan Risingh
Historical eraColonial period
• Established
1638
1655
1655
CurrencySwedish riksdaler
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Today part ofUnited States

History

Further information: Swedish Empire

By the middle of the 17th century, the Realm of Sweden had reached its greatest territorial extent and was one of the great powers of Europe; it was the stormaktstiden ("age of greatness" or "great power period").[4] Sweden then included Finland and Estonia, along with parts of modern Russia, Poland, Germany, and Latvia under King Gustavus Adolphus and later Queen Christina. Other northern European nations were establishing colonies in the New World and building successful trading empires at this time. The Swedes sought to expand their influence by creating their own plantation (tobacco) and fur-trading colony to circumvent French and English merchants.[citation needed]

The Swedish South Company (also known as the Company of New-Sweden) was founded in 1626 with a mandate to establish colonies between Florida and Newfoundland for the purposes of trade, particularly along the Delaware River. Its charter included Swedish, Dutch, and German stockholders led by directors of the company, including Samuel Blommaert.[5][6] The company sponsored 11 expeditions in 14 separate voyages to Delaware between 1638 and 1655; two did not survive.

The first Swedish expedition to America sailed from the port of Gothenburg in late 1637, organized and overseen by Clas Larsson Fleming, a Swedish admiral from Finland. Flemish Dutch Samuel Blommaert assisted the fitting-out and appointed Peter Minuit (the former Governor of New Amsterdam) to lead the expedition. The expedition sailed into Delaware Bay aboard the Fogel Grip and Kalmar Nyckel, which lay within the territory claimed by the Dutch. They passed Cape May and Cape Henlopen in late March 1638[7] and anchored on March 29 at a rocky point on the Minquas Kill that is known today as Swedes' Landing. They built a fort in Wilmington which they named Fort Christina after their Queen.[8]

 
The relative locations of New Netherland (magenta) and New Sweden (blue) in America; modern state boundaries and postal abbreviations are shown

In the following years, the area was settled by 600 Swedes and Finns, a number of Dutchmen, a few Germans, a Dane, and at least one Estonian,[9] and Minuit became the first governor of the colony of New Sweden. He had been the third Director of New Amsterdam, and he knew that the Dutch claimed the area south to the Delaware River and its bay. The Dutch, however, had pulled back their settlers from the area after several years in order to concentrate on the settlement on Manhattan Island.[10]

Governor Minuit landed on the west bank of the river and gathered the sachems of the Delawares and Susquehannocks. They held a conclave in Minuit's cabin on the Kalmar Nyckel, and he persuaded them to sign deeds which he had prepared to solve any issue with the Dutch. The Swedes claimed that the purchased land included land on the west side of the South (Delaware) River from just below the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and coastal Maryland. Delaware sachem Mattahoon later claimed that the purchase only included as much land as was contained within an area marked by "six trees", and the rest of the land occupied by the Swedes was stolen.[11]

Willem Kieft objected to the Swedes landing, but Minuit ignored him since he knew that the Dutch were militarily weak at the moment. Minuit completed Fort Christina in 1638, then sailed for Stockholm to bring the second group of settlers. He made a detour to the Caribbean to pick up a shipment of tobacco to sell in Europe in order to make the voyage profitable. However, he died on this voyage during a hurricane at St. Christopher in the Caribbean. The official duties of the governor of New Sweden were carried out by Captain Måns Nilsson Kling, until a new governor was selected and arrived from Sweden two years later.[12]

The company expanded along the river from Fort Christina under the leadership of Johan Björnsson Printz, governor from 1643 to 1653. They established Fort Nya Elfsborg on the east bank of the Delaware near Salem, New Jersey, and Fort Nya Gothenborg on Tinicum Island to the immediate southwest of Philadelphia. Printz also built his manor house, The Printzhof, at Fort Nya Gothenborg, and the Swedish colony prospered for a time. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their war against Maryland colonists.[13] In May 1654, soldiers from New Sweden led by Governor Johan Risingh captured Fort Casimir and renamed it Fort Trinity (Trefaldigheten in Swedish).[citation needed]

Sweden opened the Second Northern War in the Baltic by attacking the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Dutch sent an armed squadron of ships under Director-General Peter Stuyvesant to seize New Sweden. In the summer of 1655, the Dutch marched an army to the Delaware River, easily capturing Fort Trinity and Fort Christina. The Swedish settlement was formally incorporated into Dutch New Netherland on September 15, 1655, although the Swedish and Finnish settlers were allowed local autonomy.[citation needed] They retained their own militia, religion, court, and lands.[14] This lasted until the English conquest of New Netherland, launched on June 24, 1664. The Duke of York sold New Jersey to John Berkeley and George Carteret to become a proprietary colony, separate from the projected colony of New York. The invasion began on August 29, 1664, with the capture of New Amsterdam and ended with the capture of Fort Casimir (New Castle, Delaware) in October. This took place at the beginning of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.[15]

In 1669, New Sweden was under British rule, but most of the population was still Swedish. A man named Marcus Jacobsson, posing as a member of the Königsmarck family, attempted to instigate a rebellion against the British to return New Sweden to Swedish rule.[16] The rebellion, known as the Revolt of the Long Swede due to Jacobsson's height, failed. Jacobsson was sold into slavery in the Caribbean and the families that had supported him were fined for their participation in the revolt.[17]

New Sweden continued to exist unofficially, and some immigration and expansion continued. The first settlement at Wicaco began with a Swedish log blockhouse located on Society Hill in Philadelphia in 1669. It was later used as a church until about 1700, when Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church of Philadelphia was built on the site.[18] New Sweden finally came to an end when its land was included in William Penn's charter for Pennsylvania on August 24, 1682.[citation needed]

Hoarkill, New Amstel, and Upland

 
The C. A. Nothnagle Log House in Gibbstown, New Jersey, built in 1638, the oldest house in New Jersey

The start of the Third Anglo-Dutch War resulted in the Dutch recapture of New Netherland in August 1673. They restored the status which predated the English capture, and codified it in the establishment of three counties: Hoarkill County,[19] New Amstel County,[19] and Upland County, which was later partitioned between New Castle County, Delaware, and the Colony of Pennsylvania.[19] The three counties were created on September 12, 1673, the first two on the west shore of the Delaware River and the third on both sides of the river.[citation needed]

The Treaty of Westminster of 1674 ended the second period of Dutch control and required them to return all of New Netherland to the English on June 29, including the three counties which they created.[20] After taking stock, the English declared on November 11 that settlements on the west side of the Delaware River and Delaware Bay were to be dependent on the Province of New York, including the three Counties.[21] This declaration was followed by a declaration that renamed New Amstel as New Castle. The other counties retained their Dutch names.[21]

The next step in the assimilation of New Sweden into New York was the extension of the Duke's laws into the region on September 22, 1676.[22] This was followed by the partition of some Upland Counties to conform to the borders of Pennsylvania and Delaware, with most of the Delaware portion going to New Castle County on November 12, 1678.[23] The remainder of Upland continued in place under the same name. On June 21, 1680, New Castle and Hoarkill Counties were partitioned to produce St. Jones County.[24]

On March 4, 1681, what had been the colony of New Sweden was formally partitioned into the colonies of Delaware and Pennsylvania. The border was established 12 miles north of New Castle, and the northern limit of Pennsylvania was set at 42 degrees north latitude. The eastern limit was the border with New Jersey at the Delaware River, while the western limit was undefined.[25] In June 1681, Upland ceased to exist as the result of the reorganization of the Colony of Pennsylvania, with the Upland government becoming the government of Chester County, Pennsylvania.[citation needed]

On August 24, 1682, the Duke of York transferred the western Delaware River region to William Penn, including Delaware, thus transferring Deale County and St. Jones County from New York to Delaware. St. Jones County was renamed Kent County, Deale County was renamed Sussex County, and New Castle County retained its name.[26]

Swedish explorer and botanist Pehr Kalm visited the descendants of the early Swedish immigrants to New Sweden in the mid-18th century and documented their experiences with the Native American Indians who resided in those parts, in a book entitled Travels into North America.[27]

Significance and legacy

 
U.S. Postage stamp commemorating the founding of Wilmington, Delaware (1938)

Historian H. Arnold Barton has suggested that the greatest significance of New Sweden was the strong and lasting interest in America that the colony generated in Sweden,[28] although major Swedish immigration did not occur until the late 19th century. From 1870 to 1910, more than one million Swedes arrived in America, settling particularly in Minnesota and other states of the Upper Midwest.

 
Old Swedes Church (Christ Church) in Swedesburg, Pennsylvania

Traces of New Sweden persist in the lower Delaware valley, including Holy Trinity Church in Wilmington, Delaware, Gloria Dei Church and St. James Kingsessing Church in Philadelphia, Trinity Episcopal Church in Swedesboro, New Jersey, and Christ Church in Swedesburg, Pennsylvania. All of those churches are commonly known as "Old Swedes' Church".[29] Christiana, Delaware, is one of the few settlements in the area retaining a Swedish name, and Upland survives as Upland, Pennsylvania. Swedesford Road is still found in Chester and Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania, although Swedesford has long since become Norristown. Swedeland, Pennsylvania, is part of Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County. The American Swedish Historical Museum in South Philadelphia houses many exhibits, documents, and artifacts from the New Sweden colony.[30]

Perhaps the greatest contribution of New Sweden to the development of the New World is the log house building technique. The colonists of New Sweden brought with them the log cabin, which became such an icon of the American frontier that it is commonly thought of as an American structure.[31][32] The C. A. Nothnagle Log House on Swedesboro-Paulsboro Road in Gibbstown, New Jersey, is one of the oldest surviving log houses in the United States.[33][34]

Finnish influence

The settlers came from all over the Swedish realm. The percentage of Finns in New Sweden grew especially towards the end of the period of colonization.[35] Finns composed 22 percent of the population during Swedish rule, and rose to about 50 percent after the colony came under Dutch rule.[36] A contingent of 140 Finns arrived in 1664. The ship Mercurius sailed to the colony in 1665, and 92 of the 106 passengers were listed as Finns. Memory of the early Finnish settlement lived on in place names near the Delaware River such as Finland (Marcus Hook), Torne, Lapland, Finns Point, Mullica Hill, and Mullica River.[37]

A portion of these Finns were known as Forest Finns, people of Finnish descent who had been living in the forest areas of Central Sweden. The Forest Finns had moved from Savonia in Eastern Finland to Dalarna, Bergslagen and other provinces in central Sweden during the late-16th to mid-17th century. Their relocation had started as part of an effort by Swedish King Gustav Vasa to expand agriculture to these uninhabited parts of the country.[citation needed] The Finns in Savonia traditionally farmed with a slash-and-burn method[38] which was better suited to pioneering agriculture in vast forest areas. This was also the farming method used by the American Indians of Delaware.[citation needed]

Forts

 

Permanent settlements

Rivers and creeks

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Finnish: Uusi Ruotsi; Latin: Nova Svecia
  2. ^ "Delaware". World Statesmen. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  3. ^ Copy the cite data from the New American Heritage book of Indians on Susquehannock.
  4. ^ See, e.g., Jan Glete, The Swedish fiscal-military state and its navy, 1521–1721.
  5. ^ "A Brief History of New Sweden in America". The Swedish Colonial Society.
  6. ^ Mark L. Thompson (2013). The Contest for the Delaware Valley: Allegiance, Identity, and Empire in the Seventeenth Century. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-5060-3.
  7. ^ McCormick, p. 12; Munroe, Colonial Delaware, p. 16.
  8. ^ Thorne, Kathryn; Ford, Compiler; Long, John H., eds. (1993). New York Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. The Newbury Library. p. 5.
  9. ^ "Estonians in North America, 1627–1896". www.oocities.org.
  10. ^ Shorto, Russell (2004) The Island at the Center of the World New York: Vintage Press. pp. 43,58. ISBN 978-1-4000-7867-7
  11. ^ Jennings, p. 117
  12. ^ Shorto, Russell, The Island at the Center of the World, Part II; Chapter 6; Pages 115–117.
  13. ^ Jennings, p. 120
  14. ^ "Upland Court". West Jersey History Project.
  15. ^ Munroe, History of Delaware, pp. 30–31
  16. ^ "Chronology of Colonial Swedes on the Delaware 1638–1713". colonialswedes.net. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
  17. ^ Haefeli, Evan (2006). "The Revolt of the Long Swede: Transatlantic Hopes and Fears on the Delaware, 1669". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 130 (2): 137–180. ISSN 0031-4587. JSTOR 20093851.
  18. ^ "Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church". National Park Service.
  19. ^ a b c Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York. Vol. 12. pp. 507–508.
  20. ^ Parry, Clive, ed. Consolidated Treaty Series.; Vol. 13, p. 136; Dobbs Ferry, New York; Oceana Publications, 1969–1981.
  21. ^ a b Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York. Vol. 12. p. 515.
  22. ^ Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York. Vol. 12. pp. 561–563.
  23. ^ Armstrong, Edward (1860). Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Volume 119; Record of the Court at Upland, in Pennsylvania, 1676 to 1681. Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania. p. 198.
  24. ^ Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York. Vol. 12. pp. 654, 664, 666–667.
  25. ^ Armstrong, Edward (1860). Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Volume 119; Record of the Court at Upland, in Pennsylvania, 1676 to 1681. Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania. p. 196.
  26. ^ Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd series, Vol. 5: pp. 739–744.
  27. ^ Kalm (1772), p. 345
  28. ^ Barton, A Folk Divided, 5–7.
  29. ^ Project Canterbury. Swedish Folk within Our Church (Thomas Burgess. New York: Foreign-Born Americans Division, Episcopal Diocese of New York. National Council, 1929) http://anglicanhistory.org/lutherania/swedish_folk
  30. ^ "Museum Galleries | American Swedish Historical Museum". www.americanswedish.org. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  31. ^ Henry C. Pitz, The Brandywine Tradition, Weathervane Books, 1968. pp. 4–5.
  32. ^ Mary Trotter Kion, "New Sweden: The First Colony in Delaware". July 23, 2006; accessed 2010.03.10.
  33. ^ . Art and Archtitecture of New Jersey. Richard Stokton College of New Jersey. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2011.
  34. ^ Oldest – Log House in North America – Superlatives on. Waymarking.com. Retrieved on July 23, 2013.
  35. ^ "genealogia.org". www.genealogia.org.
  36. ^ Wedin, Maud (October 2012). (PDF). American-Swedish Organization. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 10, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  37. ^ Spiegel, Taru. "The Finns in America". European Reading Room. Library of Congress. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  38. ^ "Finland monument at Concord Avenue in Chester, Pennsylvania". Historical Markers. ExplorePAhistory.com. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  39. ^ The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware 1638–1664 Volume I (Amandus Johnson Reprint Services Corp. 1911)
  40. ^ Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware 1630–1707 (ed. Albert Cook Myers. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1912) [1]
  41. ^ The Swedes and Finns in New Jersey (Federal Writers' Project of WPA. Bayonne, New Jersey: Jersey Printing Company, Inc. 1938)
  42. ^ History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, by Henry Graham Ashmead. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co. 1884 [2]
  43. ^ Kingsessing: Swedish Settlement to Urban Blight, Elizabeth D. Day, University Archives and Records Center. University of Pennsylvania, October 10, 2005) [3]
  44. ^ History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Henry Graham Ashmead. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co. 1884 [4]
  45. ^ . Delaware Public Archives. State of Delaware. Archived from the original on August 21, 2010. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  46. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Johnson, Amandus. The Swedish settlements on the Delaware, 1638–1664.. Swedish Colonial Society, 1911.
  47. ^ Chandler, Alfred N. (2000) [1945], Land Title Origins: A Tale of Force and Fraud, Beard Books, p. 242, ISBN 1-893122-89-1
  48. ^ Sheridan, Janet L. (2007). "Their houses are some Built of timber": The colonial timber frame houses of Fenwick's Colony, New Jersey. University of Michigan Ann Arbor. p. 182. ISBN 9780549186526. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
  49. ^ Howe, Henry; Barber, John W. (1844), Salem, NJ, New York: S. Tuttle, In 1641, some English families, (probably emigrants from New Haven, Conn.,) embracing about 60 persons, settled on Ferken's creek (now Salem.) About this period, the Swedes bought of the Indians the whole district from Cape May to Raccoon creek; and, in order to unite these English with the Swedes, the Swedish governor, Printz, who arrived from Sweden the year after, (1642,) was to "act kindly and faithfully toward them; and as these English expected soon, by further arrivals, to increase their numbers to several hundreds, and seemed also willing to be subjects of the Swedish government, he was to receive them under allegiance, though not without endeavoring to effect their removal."
  50. ^ Williams, Rev. Dr. Kim-Eric. . The Swedish Colonial Society. Archived from the original on January 15, 2008.
  51. ^ . Trinity Episcopal "Old Swedes" Church. Trinity Episcopal "Old Swedes" Church. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008.
  52. ^ Roncace, Kelly (May 14, 2012). "What's in a Name? Raccoon Creek". South Jersey Times. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  53. ^ "The Kepharts: Cohawkin, Raccoon Creek, Narraticon all names left by Lenni-Lenape in Gloucester County". November 7, 2010.

Bibliography

  • Barton, H. Arnold (1994). A Folk Divided: Homeland Swedes and Swedish Americans, 1840–1940. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis
  • Benson, Adolph B. and Naboth Hedin, eds. (1938) Swedes in America, 1638–1938. The Swedish American Tercentenary Association. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press ISBN 978-0-8383-0326-9
  • Jennings, Francis, (1984) The Ambiguous Iroquois. New York: Norton ISBN 0-393-01719-2
  • Johnson, Amandus (1927) The Swedes on the Delaware. Philadelphia: International Printing Company
  • Kalm, Pehr (1772). Travels into North America: containing its natural history, and a circumstantial account of its plantations and agriculture in general, with the civil, ecclesiastical and commercial state of the country, the manners of the inhabitants, and several curious and important remarks on various subjects. Translated by Johann Reinhold Forster. London: T. Lowndes. ISBN 9780665515002. OCLC 1083889360.
  • Munroe, John A. (1977) Colonial Delaware. Wilmington, Delaware: Delaware Heritage Press
  • Shorto, Russell (2004) The Island at the Center of the World. New York: Doubleday ISBN 0-385-50349-0
  • Weslager, C. A. (1990) A Man and his Ship, Peter Minuet and the Kalmar Nyckel. Wilmington, Delaware: Kalmar Nyckel Foundation ISBN 0-9625563-1-9
  • Weslager, C. A. (1988) New Sweden on the Delaware 1638–1655. Wilmington, Delaware: Middle Atlantic Press ISBN 0-912608-65-X
  • Weslager, C. A. (1987) The Swedes and Dutch at New Castle. Wilmington, Delaware: Middle Atlantic Press ISBN 0-912608-50-1

Further reading

  • Jameson, J. Franklin (1887) Willem Usselinx: Founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
  • Mickley, Joseph J. (1881) Some Account of William Usselinx and Peter Minuit: Two individuals who were instrumental in establishing the first permanent colony in Delaware. The Historical Society of Delaware.
  • Myers, Albert Cook, ed. (1912) Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey, and Delaware, 1630–1707. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons
  • Ward, Christopher (1930) Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware, 1609–1664. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to New Sweden.
  • The American Swedish Historical Museum
  • A Brief History of New Sweden in America, at The Swedish Colonial Society
  • The New Sweden Centre – museum, tours and reenactors
  • New Sweden at the FamilySearch Research Wiki
  • Johnson's detailed map of New Sweden
  • 350th Anniversary of the Landing of the Swedes and Finns in Delaware

Coordinates: 39°44′12″N 75°32′19″W / 39.73667°N 75.53861°W / 39.73667; -75.53861

March 31, 2023
sweden, other, uses, disambiguation, swedish, sverige, swedish, colony, along, lower, reaches, delaware, river, what, united, states, from, 1638, 1655, established, during, thirty, years, when, sweden, great, military, power, formed, part, swedish, efforts, co. For other uses see New Sweden disambiguation New Sweden Swedish Nya Sverige 1 was a Swedish colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now the United States from 1638 to 1655 2 established during the Thirty Years War when Sweden was a great military power New Sweden formed part of the Swedish efforts to colonize the Americas Settlements were established on both sides of the Delaware Valley in the region of Delaware New Jersey Maryland and Pennsylvania often in places where Swedish traders had been visiting since about 1610 3 Fort Christina in Wilmington Delaware was the first settlement named after the reigning Swedish monarch The settlers were Swedes Finns and a number of Dutch New Sweden was conquered by the Dutch Republic in 1655 during the Second Northern War and incorporated into the Dutch colony of New Netherland New SwedenNya Sverige1638 1655Flag of SwedenMap of New Sweden c 1650 by Amandus JohnsonStatusSwedish colonyCapitalFort ChristinaCommon languagesSwedish Finnish Munsee UnamiReligionChurch of SwedenNative American religionMonarch of Sweden 1632 1654Christina 1654 1660Charles X GustavGovernor 1638Peter Minuit 1638 1640Mans Nilsson Kling 1640 1643Peter Hollander Ridder 1643 1653Johan Bjornsson Printz 1653 1654Johan Papegoja 1654 1655Johan RisinghHistorical eraColonial period Established1638 Dutch conquest1655 Peach Tree War1655CurrencySwedish riksdalerPreceded by Succeeded byNew NetherlandSusquehannock New NetherlandToday part ofUnited States Contents 1 History 1 1 Hoarkill New Amstel and Upland 2 Significance and legacy 3 Finnish influence 4 Forts 5 Permanent settlements 6 Rivers and creeks 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksHistory EditFurther information Swedish Empire By the middle of the 17th century the Realm of Sweden had reached its greatest territorial extent and was one of the great powers of Europe it was the stormaktstiden age of greatness or great power period 4 Sweden then included Finland and Estonia along with parts of modern Russia Poland Germany and Latvia under King Gustavus Adolphus and later Queen Christina Other northern European nations were establishing colonies in the New World and building successful trading empires at this time The Swedes sought to expand their influence by creating their own plantation tobacco and fur trading colony to circumvent French and English merchants citation needed The Swedish South Company also known as the Company of New Sweden was founded in 1626 with a mandate to establish colonies between Florida and Newfoundland for the purposes of trade particularly along the Delaware River Its charter included Swedish Dutch and German stockholders led by directors of the company including Samuel Blommaert 5 6 The company sponsored 11 expeditions in 14 separate voyages to Delaware between 1638 and 1655 two did not survive The first Swedish expedition to America sailed from the port of Gothenburg in late 1637 organized and overseen by Clas Larsson Fleming a Swedish admiral from Finland Flemish Dutch Samuel Blommaert assisted the fitting out and appointed Peter Minuit the former Governor of New Amsterdam to lead the expedition The expedition sailed into Delaware Bay aboard the Fogel Grip and Kalmar Nyckel which lay within the territory claimed by the Dutch They passed Cape May and Cape Henlopen in late March 1638 7 and anchored on March 29 at a rocky point on the Minquas Kill that is known today as Swedes Landing They built a fort in Wilmington which they named Fort Christina after their Queen 8 The relative locations of New Netherland magenta and New Sweden blue in America modern state boundaries and postal abbreviations are shown In the following years the area was settled by 600 Swedes and Finns a number of Dutchmen a few Germans a Dane and at least one Estonian 9 and Minuit became the first governor of the colony of New Sweden He had been the third Director of New Amsterdam and he knew that the Dutch claimed the area south to the Delaware River and its bay The Dutch however had pulled back their settlers from the area after several years in order to concentrate on the settlement on Manhattan Island 10 Governor Minuit landed on the west bank of the river and gathered the sachems of the Delawares and Susquehannocks They held a conclave in Minuit s cabin on the Kalmar Nyckel and he persuaded them to sign deeds which he had prepared to solve any issue with the Dutch The Swedes claimed that the purchased land included land on the west side of the South Delaware River from just below the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia southeastern Pennsylvania Delaware and coastal Maryland Delaware sachem Mattahoon later claimed that the purchase only included as much land as was contained within an area marked by six trees and the rest of the land occupied by the Swedes was stolen 11 Willem Kieft objected to the Swedes landing but Minuit ignored him since he knew that the Dutch were militarily weak at the moment Minuit completed Fort Christina in 1638 then sailed for Stockholm to bring the second group of settlers He made a detour to the Caribbean to pick up a shipment of tobacco to sell in Europe in order to make the voyage profitable However he died on this voyage during a hurricane at St Christopher in the Caribbean The official duties of the governor of New Sweden were carried out by Captain Mans Nilsson Kling until a new governor was selected and arrived from Sweden two years later 12 The company expanded along the river from Fort Christina under the leadership of Johan Bjornsson Printz governor from 1643 to 1653 They established Fort Nya Elfsborg on the east bank of the Delaware near Salem New Jersey and Fort Nya Gothenborg on Tinicum Island to the immediate southwest of Philadelphia Printz also built his manor house The Printzhof at Fort Nya Gothenborg and the Swedish colony prospered for a time In 1644 New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their war against Maryland colonists 13 In May 1654 soldiers from New Sweden led by Governor Johan Risingh captured Fort Casimir and renamed it Fort Trinity Trefaldigheten in Swedish citation needed Sweden opened the Second Northern War in the Baltic by attacking the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Dutch sent an armed squadron of ships under Director General Peter Stuyvesant to seize New Sweden In the summer of 1655 the Dutch marched an army to the Delaware River easily capturing Fort Trinity and Fort Christina The Swedish settlement was formally incorporated into Dutch New Netherland on September 15 1655 although the Swedish and Finnish settlers were allowed local autonomy citation needed They retained their own militia religion court and lands 14 This lasted until the English conquest of New Netherland launched on June 24 1664 The Duke of York sold New Jersey to John Berkeley and George Carteret to become a proprietary colony separate from the projected colony of New York The invasion began on August 29 1664 with the capture of New Amsterdam and ended with the capture of Fort Casimir New Castle Delaware in October This took place at the beginning of the Second Anglo Dutch War 15 In 1669 New Sweden was under British rule but most of the population was still Swedish A man named Marcus Jacobsson posing as a member of the Konigsmarck family attempted to instigate a rebellion against the British to return New Sweden to Swedish rule 16 The rebellion known as the Revolt of the Long Swede due to Jacobsson s height failed Jacobsson was sold into slavery in the Caribbean and the families that had supported him were fined for their participation in the revolt 17 New Sweden continued to exist unofficially and some immigration and expansion continued The first settlement at Wicaco began with a Swedish log blockhouse located on Society Hill in Philadelphia in 1669 It was later used as a church until about 1700 when Gloria Dei Old Swedes Church of Philadelphia was built on the site 18 New Sweden finally came to an end when its land was included in William Penn s charter for Pennsylvania on August 24 1682 citation needed Hoarkill New Amstel and Upland Edit The C A Nothnagle Log House in Gibbstown New Jersey built in 1638 the oldest house in New Jersey The start of the Third Anglo Dutch War resulted in the Dutch recapture of New Netherland in August 1673 They restored the status which predated the English capture and codified it in the establishment of three counties Hoarkill County 19 New Amstel County 19 and Upland County which was later partitioned between New Castle County Delaware and the Colony of Pennsylvania 19 The three counties were created on September 12 1673 the first two on the west shore of the Delaware River and the third on both sides of the river citation needed The Treaty of Westminster of 1674 ended the second period of Dutch control and required them to return all of New Netherland to the English on June 29 including the three counties which they created 20 After taking stock the English declared on November 11 that settlements on the west side of the Delaware River and Delaware Bay were to be dependent on the Province of New York including the three Counties 21 This declaration was followed by a declaration that renamed New Amstel as New Castle The other counties retained their Dutch names 21 The next step in the assimilation of New Sweden into New York was the extension of the Duke s laws into the region on September 22 1676 22 This was followed by the partition of some Upland Counties to conform to the borders of Pennsylvania and Delaware with most of the Delaware portion going to New Castle County on November 12 1678 23 The remainder of Upland continued in place under the same name On June 21 1680 New Castle and Hoarkill Counties were partitioned to produce St Jones County 24 On March 4 1681 what had been the colony of New Sweden was formally partitioned into the colonies of Delaware and Pennsylvania The border was established 12 miles north of New Castle and the northern limit of Pennsylvania was set at 42 degrees north latitude The eastern limit was the border with New Jersey at the Delaware River while the western limit was undefined 25 In June 1681 Upland ceased to exist as the result of the reorganization of the Colony of Pennsylvania with the Upland government becoming the government of Chester County Pennsylvania citation needed On August 24 1682 the Duke of York transferred the western Delaware River region to William Penn including Delaware thus transferring Deale County and St Jones County from New York to Delaware St Jones County was renamed Kent County Deale County was renamed Sussex County and New Castle County retained its name 26 Swedish explorer and botanist Pehr Kalm visited the descendants of the early Swedish immigrants to New Sweden in the mid 18th century and documented their experiences with the Native American Indians who resided in those parts in a book entitled Travels into North America 27 Significance and legacy Edit U S Postage stamp commemorating the founding of Wilmington Delaware 1938 Historian H Arnold Barton has suggested that the greatest significance of New Sweden was the strong and lasting interest in America that the colony generated in Sweden 28 although major Swedish immigration did not occur until the late 19th century From 1870 to 1910 more than one million Swedes arrived in America settling particularly in Minnesota and other states of the Upper Midwest Old Swedes Church Christ Church in Swedesburg Pennsylvania Traces of New Sweden persist in the lower Delaware valley including Holy Trinity Church in Wilmington Delaware Gloria Dei Church and St James Kingsessing Church in Philadelphia Trinity Episcopal Church in Swedesboro New Jersey and Christ Church in Swedesburg Pennsylvania All of those churches are commonly known as Old Swedes Church 29 Christiana Delaware is one of the few settlements in the area retaining a Swedish name and Upland survives as Upland Pennsylvania Swedesford Road is still found in Chester and Montgomery Counties Pennsylvania although Swedesford has long since become Norristown Swedeland Pennsylvania is part of Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County The American Swedish Historical Museum in South Philadelphia houses many exhibits documents and artifacts from the New Sweden colony 30 Perhaps the greatest contribution of New Sweden to the development of the New World is the log house building technique The colonists of New Sweden brought with them the log cabin which became such an icon of the American frontier that it is commonly thought of as an American structure 31 32 The C A Nothnagle Log House on Swedesboro Paulsboro Road in Gibbstown New Jersey is one of the oldest surviving log houses in the United States 33 34 Finnish influence EditThe settlers came from all over the Swedish realm The percentage of Finns in New Sweden grew especially towards the end of the period of colonization 35 Finns composed 22 percent of the population during Swedish rule and rose to about 50 percent after the colony came under Dutch rule 36 A contingent of 140 Finns arrived in 1664 The ship Mercurius sailed to the colony in 1665 and 92 of the 106 passengers were listed as Finns Memory of the early Finnish settlement lived on in place names near the Delaware River such as Finland Marcus Hook Torne Lapland Finns Point Mullica Hill and Mullica River 37 A portion of these Finns were known as Forest Finns people of Finnish descent who had been living in the forest areas of Central Sweden The Forest Finns had moved from Savonia in Eastern Finland to Dalarna Bergslagen and other provinces in central Sweden during the late 16th to mid 17th century Their relocation had started as part of an effort by Swedish King Gustav Vasa to expand agriculture to these uninhabited parts of the country citation needed The Finns in Savonia traditionally farmed with a slash and burn method 38 which was better suited to pioneering agriculture in vast forest areas This was also the farming method used by the American Indians of Delaware citation needed Forts Edit Fort Christina 1638 at the Brandywine Creek and Christina River in Wilmington Delaware later renamed Fort Altena 1655 39 Fort Mecoponacka 1641 in Chester near Finlandia or Upland in Delaware County Pennsylvania 40 Fort Nya Elfsborg 1643 between present day Salem Creek and Alloway Creek near Bridgeport New Jersey 41 Fort Nya Gothenborg 1643 on Tinicum Island near the site of The Printzhof in Essington Delaware County Pennsylvania 42 Fort Nya Vasa 1646 at Kingsessing on the eastern side of Cobbs Creek in Philadelphia 43 Fort Nya Korsholm 1647 on the Schuylkill River near the South River in Philadelphia 44 Fort Casimir 1654 also known as Fort Trinity in Swedish Trefaldigheten located at the end of Chestnut Street near Harmony amp 2nd streets in New Castle Delaware 45 Permanent settlements EditChristina 1638 and 1641 modern Wilmington Delaware 46 Finland Finlandia or Chamassungh 1641 and 1643 modern Marcus Hook Pennsylvania 46 Upland or Uppland 1641 and 1643 modern Chester Pennsylvania 46 Varkens Kill 1641 modern Salem County New Jersey 47 48 49 Printztorp 1643 modern Chester Pa 46 Tequirassy 1643 modern Eddystone Pennsylvania 46 Tenakonk or Tinicum 1643 modern Tinicum Township Delaware County Pennsylvania 46 Provins Druweeyland or Manaiping 46 1643 modern southwest Philadelphia on Province Island on the Schuylkill River Minquas or Minqua s Island 1644 modern southwest Philadelphia Pennsylvania 46 Kingsessing 1644 modern southwest Philadelphia Pennsylvania 46 Molndal 1645 modern Yeadon Pennsylvania 46 Torne 1647 modern West Philadelphia 46 Sveaborg 50 51 c 1649 modern Swedesboro New Jersey Nya Stockholm c 1649 modern Bridgeport New Jersey Sidoland 1654 modern Wilmington Del 46 Oversidolandet 1654 modern Wilmington Del 46 Timmeron or Timber Island 1654 modern Wilmington 46 Strandviken 1654 modern Wilmington 46 Ammansland 1654 modern Darby Pennsylvania 46 Rivers and creeks EditDelaware River South River Sodre Rivier as opposed to the Hudson Swedish River Swenskes Rivier New Sweden River Nya Sweriges Rivier 46 Schuylkill River Schuyl Creek Schuylen Kyl 46 meaning hidden river Brandywine Creek Fish Creek Fiske Kyl Christina River Susquehanna Minquas or Christina Creek Christina Kyl Raccoon Creek Narraticon Lenape meaning Raccoon 52 53 Salem River Varkens Kill Hogg Creek Mullica River named for an early Finnish settler Eric Palsson MullicaSee also Edit Philadelphia portal Delaware portalAmerican Swedish Historical Museum C A Nothnagle Log House European colonization of the Americas Finnish American Flag of Philadelphia Kalmar Nyckel Laurentius Carels Swedish American Lutheran pastor Lower Swedish Cabin New Sweden Farmstead Museum Olof Persson Stille first chief justice of the Upland Court Possessions of Sweden Rambo apple Swedish American Swedish emigration to North America Old Swedes Church Upland Court Wedge border References EditNotes Finnish Uusi Ruotsi Latin Nova Svecia Delaware World Statesmen Retrieved January 18 2015 Copy the cite data from the New American Heritage book of Indians on Susquehannock See e g Jan Glete The Swedish fiscal military state and its navy 1521 1721 A Brief History of New Sweden in America The Swedish Colonial Society Mark L Thompson 2013 The Contest for the Delaware Valley Allegiance Identity and Empire in the Seventeenth Century Louisiana State University Press ISBN 978 0 8071 5060 3 McCormick p 12 Munroe Colonial Delaware p 16 Thorne Kathryn Ford Compiler Long John H eds 1993 New York Atlas of Historical County Boundaries The Newbury Library p 5 Estonians in North America 1627 1896 www oocities org Shorto Russell 2004 The Island at the Center of the World New York Vintage Press pp 43 58 ISBN 978 1 4000 7867 7 Jennings p 117 Shorto Russell The Island at the Center of the World Part II Chapter 6 Pages 115 117 Jennings p 120 Upland Court West Jersey History Project Munroe History of Delaware pp 30 31 Chronology of Colonial Swedes on the Delaware 1638 1713 colonialswedes net Retrieved October 13 2022 Haefeli Evan 2006 The Revolt of the Long Swede Transatlantic Hopes and Fears on the Delaware 1669 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 130 2 137 180 ISSN 0031 4587 JSTOR 20093851 Gloria Dei Old Swedes Church National Park Service a b c Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York Vol 12 pp 507 508 Parry Clive ed Consolidated Treaty Series Vol 13 p 136 Dobbs Ferry New York Oceana Publications 1969 1981 a b Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York Vol 12 p 515 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York Vol 12 pp 561 563 Armstrong Edward 1860 Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Volume 119 Record of the Court at Upland in Pennsylvania 1676 to 1681 Pennsylvania Historical Society of Pennsylvania p 198 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York Vol 12 pp 654 664 666 667 Armstrong Edward 1860 Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Volume 119 Record of the Court at Upland in Pennsylvania 1676 to 1681 Pennsylvania Historical Society of Pennsylvania p 196 Pennsylvania Archives 2nd series Vol 5 pp 739 744 Kalm 1772 p 345 Barton A Folk Divided 5 7 Project Canterbury Swedish Folk within Our Church Thomas Burgess New York Foreign Born Americans Division Episcopal Diocese of New York National Council 1929 http anglicanhistory org lutherania swedish folk Museum Galleries American Swedish Historical Museum www americanswedish org Retrieved February 7 2018 Henry C Pitz The Brandywine Tradition Weathervane Books 1968 pp 4 5 Mary Trotter Kion New Sweden The First Colony in Delaware July 23 2006 accessed 2010 03 10 Nothnagle Log Cabin Gibbstown Art and Archtitecture of New Jersey Richard Stokton College of New Jersey Archived from the original on July 19 2011 Retrieved May 24 2011 Oldest Log House in North America Superlatives on Waymarking com Retrieved on July 23 2013 genealogia org www genealogia org Wedin Maud October 2012 Highlights of Research in Scandinavia on Forest Finns PDF American Swedish Organization Archived from the original PDF on August 10 2014 Retrieved November 7 2012 Spiegel Taru The Finns in America European Reading Room Library of Congress Retrieved August 26 2010 Finland monument at Concord Avenue in Chester Pennsylvania Historical Markers ExplorePAhistory com Retrieved August 26 2010 The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware 1638 1664 Volume I Amandus Johnson Reprint Services Corp 1911 Narratives of Early Pennsylvania West New Jersey and Delaware 1630 1707 ed Albert Cook Myers New York Charles Scribner s Sons 1912 1 The Swedes and Finns in New Jersey Federal Writers Project of WPA Bayonne New Jersey Jersey Printing Company Inc 1938 History of Delaware County Pennsylvania by Henry Graham Ashmead Philadelphia L H Everts amp Co 1884 2 Kingsessing Swedish Settlement to Urban Blight Elizabeth D Day University Archives and Records Center University of Pennsylvania October 10 2005 3 History of Delaware County Pennsylvania Henry Graham Ashmead Philadelphia L H Everts amp Co 1884 4 Site of Fort Casimir Delaware Public Archives State of Delaware Archived from the original on August 21 2010 Retrieved September 14 2010 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Johnson Amandus The Swedish settlements on the Delaware 1638 1664 Swedish Colonial Society 1911 Chandler Alfred N 2000 1945 Land Title Origins A Tale of Force and Fraud Beard Books p 242 ISBN 1 893122 89 1 Sheridan Janet L 2007 Their houses are some Built of timber The colonial timber frame houses of Fenwick s Colony New Jersey University of Michigan Ann Arbor p 182 ISBN 9780549186526 Retrieved July 24 2013 Howe Henry Barber John W 1844 Salem NJ New York S Tuttle In 1641 some English families probably emigrants from New Haven Conn embracing about 60 persons settled on Ferken s creek now Salem About this period the Swedes bought of the Indians the whole district from Cape May to Raccoon creek and in order to unite these English with the Swedes the Swedish governor Printz who arrived from Sweden the year after 1642 was to act kindly and faithfully toward them and as these English expected soon by further arrivals to increase their numbers to several hundreds and seemed also willing to be subjects of the Swedish government he was to receive them under allegiance though not without endeavoring to effect their removal Williams Rev Dr Kim Eric Trinity Episcopal Church The Swedish Colonial Society Archived from the original on January 15 2008 History Early Settlement Trinity Episcopal Old Swedes Church Trinity Episcopal Old Swedes Church Archived from the original on September 5 2008 Roncace Kelly May 14 2012 What s in a Name Raccoon Creek South Jersey Times Retrieved July 22 2013 The Kepharts Cohawkin Raccoon Creek Narraticon all names left by Lenni Lenape in Gloucester County November 7 2010 Bibliography Barton H Arnold 1994 A Folk Divided Homeland Swedes and Swedish Americans 1840 1940 Uppsala Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis Benson Adolph B and Naboth Hedin eds 1938 Swedes in America 1638 1938 The Swedish American Tercentenary Association New Haven Connecticut Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 8383 0326 9 Jennings Francis 1984 The Ambiguous Iroquois New York Norton ISBN 0 393 01719 2 Johnson Amandus 1927 The Swedes on the Delaware Philadelphia International Printing Company Kalm Pehr 1772 Travels into North America containing its natural history and a circumstantial account of its plantations and agriculture in general with the civil ecclesiastical and commercial state of the country the manners of the inhabitants and several curious and important remarks on various subjects Translated by Johann Reinhold Forster London T Lowndes ISBN 9780665515002 OCLC 1083889360 Munroe John A 1977 Colonial Delaware Wilmington Delaware Delaware Heritage Press Shorto Russell 2004 The Island at the Center of the World New York Doubleday ISBN 0 385 50349 0 Weslager C A 1990 A Man and his Ship Peter Minuet and the Kalmar Nyckel Wilmington Delaware Kalmar Nyckel Foundation ISBN 0 9625563 1 9 Weslager C A 1988 New Sweden on the Delaware 1638 1655 Wilmington Delaware Middle Atlantic Press ISBN 0 912608 65 X Weslager C A 1987 The Swedes and Dutch at New Castle Wilmington Delaware Middle Atlantic Press ISBN 0 912608 50 1Further reading Jameson J Franklin 1887 Willem Usselinx Founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies New York G P Putnam s Sons Mickley Joseph J 1881 Some Account of William Usselinx and Peter Minuit Two individuals who were instrumental in establishing the first permanent colony in Delaware The Historical Society of Delaware Myers Albert Cook ed 1912 Narratives of Early Pennsylvania West New Jersey and Delaware 1630 1707 New York Charles Scribner s Sons Ward Christopher 1930 Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware 1609 1664 Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania PressExternal links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to New Sweden The Finns in American Colonial History The American Swedish Historical Museum A Brief History of New Sweden in America at The Swedish Colonial Society The New Sweden Centre museum tours and reenactors New Sweden at the FamilySearch Research Wiki Johnson s detailed map of New Sweden 350th Anniversary of the Landing of the Swedes and Finns in Delaware Coordinates 39 44 12 N 75 32 19 W 39 73667 N 75 53861 W 39 73667 75 53861 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title New Sweden amp oldid 1147485808, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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