Search results
The Dutch founded the first European settlement in Delaware at Lewes (then called Zwaanendael) in 1631. They quickly set up a trade in beaver furs with the Native Americans, who within a short time raided and destroyed the settlement after a disagreement between the two groups.
Feb 10, 2024 · 1638 — Fort Christina, the first permanent European settlement in present-day Delaware and the entire Delaware River Valley was established by the New Sweden Company, a joint Dutch-Swedish trading corporation, led by Peter Minuet. The first colonists were 23 men, including Minuet, Captain Mans Kling, and Hendrick Huygen, the commissary.
- Randal Rust
Before Delaware was settled by Europeans, the area was home to the Lenni Lenape (also known as the Delaware), Susquehanna, Nanticoke, and other Native American tribes. After the Swedes, Dutch colonists settled Delaware, with the native people trading with European settlers for around a half-century.
The first European settlers were Swedes, who established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina in present-day Wilmington, Delaware, in 1638. The Dutch captured the colony in 1655 and annexed it to New Netherland to the north. Great Britain subsequently took control of it from the Dutch in 1664.
Dec 10, 2020 · Martin Kelly. Updated on December 10, 2020. The Delaware colony was founded in 1638 by European colonists from the Netherlands and Sweden. Its history includes occupations by the Dutch, Swedish, British—and the colony of Pennsylvania, which included Delaware until 1703. Fast Facts: Delaware Colony. Also Known As: New Netherland, New Sweden.
The colony of New Sweden extended along the western bank of the Delaware River between what became Philadelphia and New Castle, Delaware. This map of New Sweden is attributed to Swedish engineer Peter Lindestrom in 1654, a year before the colony was conquered by the Dutch.
Exploration and Settlement of Delaware. The early history of Delaware is one of conflict between Dutch and English forces, with the Swedes playing a lesser role. The Dutch claim to the area was established in 1609 by Henry Hudson when he sailed into Delaware Bay in his search for a Northwest Passage. The following year, Sir Samuel Argall ...
