New Sweden on the Delaware, 1638-1655 by C.A. Weslager

The new Governor began to build a new fort, called Fort Nya Göteborg, on the island of Tinicum. Ī new company, the New Sweden Company, was formed and a new Governor, John Printz, was appointed he arrived in the colony in February 1643. Swedish and Dutch settlements on the South River (Delaware). In 1642 a windmill was inaugurated at Fort Christina. During the first years of the Nya Sverige colony the immigrants were almost entirely Dutch. In 1641 the Dutch associates of the Company were forced to sell their part to the Crown of Sweden. In the fall of 1640 more Dutch colonists settled near Fort Christina and in 1641 two ships with more Finnish colonists arrived from Sweden. Between 16 the Swedes sent 12 separate expeditions to the colony. In 1640 the new Director Peter Hollander Ridder arrived at Fort Christina with reinforcements and a goodly number of Swedish colonists. The Dutch, who were at Fort Nassau, strongly protested. The fort was garrisoned with twenty-four men. Here a small piece of land was purchased from the Lenape Indians and a fort was built and named Fort Christina. Two Swedish ships with Dutch, Walloons and Flemish colonists and Kalmar Nyckel and Gripen or Grip arrived on the South River (Delaware) under the Walloon commander Peter Minuit in March 1638.

He planned to establish a Swedish colony in North America. In 1632 the Walloon, a former Governor of Dutch New Netherland, Peter Minuit offered his services to Sweden. The King of Sweden as early as 1624, encouraged by Willem Usselinx, was planning an expedition to North America, but the Thirty Years’ War stopped his plans. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.

New Sweden on the Delaware, 1638-1655 by C.A. Weslager