New Sweden

New Sweden was a Swedish colony on the lower reaches of the Delaware River, in what is now Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It existed from 1638 to 1655. The Swedish South Company, chartered in 1626 with Swedish, Dutch and German shareholders, promoted the venture, but Gustavus Adolphus's involvement in the Thirty Years' War delayed the first expedition. The colonists established settlements on both banks of the Delaware, with Fort Christina, near present-day Wilmington, as the principal stronghold and capital. New Sweden was small and sparsely populated, but it maintained a strong trading relationship with the Susquehannock and supported them in their war with Maryland. Its governors, including Johan Printz, tried to extend Swedish authority over the river trade. In 1655 the Dutch governor of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, led a force that captured Fort Christina and incorporated the colony into New Netherland. The Swedish and Finnish settlers remained, and their log-cabin building tradition left a lasting mark on the region.