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This early Swedish settlement in America was founded at the site of today’s Wilmington, Delaware, in March 1638. Two ships, Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip, arrived under the command of Peter Minuit (former governor of the Dutch colony on Manhattan).
During the next 17 years, 11 more ships arrived with 600 Swedes and Finns, extending the colony along both banks of the Delaware River. Even after a defeat by the Dutch in 1654, the colony remained Swedish until 1681, when William Penn claimed the area.
Find out more about New Sweden
Learn about New Sweden from the Swedish Colonial Society and at sites such as <www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digital/pahistory/folder_1.html> and <www.founders
patriots.org/articles/swedish.php>.
For genealogy info, including names of Swedish-American “forefathers,” see <www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/New_Sweden>, <www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycoloni/nwswdn.html> and <www.geni.com/projects/New-Sweden-Main-Project/9016>.
A version of this article appears in the October/November 2016 issue of Family Tree Magazine.
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