{"id":11680,"date":"2012-09-30T11:58:03","date_gmt":"2012-09-30T16:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=11680"},"modified":"2022-01-18T10:21:13","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T15:21:13","slug":"new-sweden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/new-sweden\/","title":{"rendered":"New Sweden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The New Sweden colony first made an appearance in Twelve Mile Circle a few weeks ago. Back then I spoke of an ancient trust<\/a>, on Burlington Island in the Delaware River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swedes don’t get much attention for their colonial history in North America. The narrative generally focuses upon English, Spanish and French interests. Sometimes Dutch efforts gain a mention because of New Netherland, probably because their capital at New Amsterdam later became New York City under British control. However Sweden’s colonial aspirations hardly generate more than a footnote when mentioned at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kartskiss<\/a>
New Sweden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sweden transformed into a significant European power<\/a> during the 17th Century: “By mid-century, the kingdom included part of Norway, all of Finland and stretched into Russia. Sweden’s control of portions of modern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Germany made the Baltic Sea essentially a Swedish lake.” Meanwhile, colonization began to sort the first-tier powers from the runners-up. Sweden wanted to be a player. They had to reach across the ocean or risk being left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Colonizing the New World<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

They formed the New Sweden Company and appointed Pieter Minuit to lead an effort to establish a colony. Although not Swedish, Minuit (a Walloon<\/a>) understood the target area well. He’d already been credited with “purchasing” Manhattan from a local Lenape tribe of Native Americans for 60 guilders worth of trinkets and beads, and he’d led the New Netherland colony for several years thereafter. He had the requisite experience and he was available. The Dutch government later recalled him and essentially fired him<\/a> “presumably for granting privileges to the patroons at the expense of the Dutch West India Company.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minuit understood that the Dutch were in no position to defend their southern boundaries in New Netherland. He sailed a Swedish expedition directly into Delaware Bay and up to where it narrowed to form the Delaware River. Here he took the expedition up to its confluence with a smaller river and built a fortification at a strategic point, naming it Fort Christina in honor of the Swedish queen. He contrived another “purchase” from the local Native Americans in an attempt to legitimize this Swedish incursion upon Dutch claims. New Sweden (Nya Sverige) was born in 1638 at what is now modern-day Wilmington, Delaware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Heyday<\/h2>\n\n\n\n