Exploration and Settlement | Did Sweden Have Any Colonies In The New World?
Did Sweden have any colonies in the New World?
New Sweden was the only Swedish colony in the New World (the European term for North and South America). It was established in 1638 at Fort Christina (present-day Wilmington), Delaware. The settlement was gradually extended from the mouth of the Delaware Bay (south of Wilmington) northward along the Delaware River as far as present-day Trenton, New Jersey. Most Swedish settlers engaged in fur trading, although some were farmers. In 1655 a Dutch military expedition led by Peter Stuyvesant (c. 1610–1672), the director general of New Netherlands (a Dutch colony that is now New York State), took over New Sweden. For the next nine years the territory was part of New Netherlands. In 1664 England claimed New Netherlands and reorganized New Sweden as Delaware, which was run as a proprietary colony (headed by proprietors appointed by the British king) until the outbreak of...
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