During the seventeenth century, European countries established permanent colonies in North America. While the Europeans, and, later, the European histories, viewed the Americas as a vacant wildness sparsely inhabited by nomadic Indians who lived like animals, the reality was that North America, particularly the eastern area, had been densely inhabited by American Indian farmers.
In his book Laboring in the Fields of the Lord: Spanish Missions and Southeastern Indians, archaeologist Jerald Milanich describes the reasons for the European expansion:
“The driving force behind these initiatives was a desire for wealth: precious stones or metals, fertile lands suitable for productive plantations, human populations to be sold into slavery, and animals and plants that could be hunted or harvested and exported.”
While today’s histories tell of the Spanish, English, French, and Dutch colonies in seventeenth-century North America, the Swedish attempts to expand their empire into the region are seldom described. In the seventeenth century, Sweden was one of the great European powers. The Swedish Empire included Finland, Estonia, and parts of Russia, Poland, Germany, Norway, and Latvia.
The New Sweden Company (also known as the Swedish South Company) had been founded in 1626 to create an agricultural (primarily tobacco) and fur-trading colony somewhere between Florida and Newfoundland which could bypass the French, English, and Dutch colonial efforts. The Company included Swedish, Dutch, and German stockholders.
In late1637, the first Swedish colonial expedition sailed from the port of Gothenburg. The expedition had been organized by Clas Larsson Fleming (1592-1644), a Swedish admiral from Finland, and was led by Peter Minuit (ca. 1580-1638), the former governor of New Netherland. In 1638 two Swedish ships, the Fogel Grip and the Kalmar Nyckel, landed in what would later become Delaware. In his book The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America, Russell Shorto describes the scene this way:
“Outfitted in battle armor, with the blue-and-yellow flag of Sweden flying from the mainmast of his ship, the Kalmar Nychel, and looking for all the world like some latter-day medieval knight set to conquer, Peter Minuit was returning to North America—a German native of French extraction and recent Dutch ties, proclaiming a colony on behalf of Sweden in the wilderness that would become the state of Delaware.”
While the Dutch had vague claims to this territory, it was, in fact, the homeland of the Lenni Lenape (Delaware), an Algonquian-speaking people. Other Algonquian-speaking groups in the region often referred to the Lenni Lenape as Grandfather because they considered the Lenni Lenape territory as the original homeland of all Algonquians.
Immediately upon landing, Minuit called a council with the chiefs of the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) and Susquehannock, gathering them in the cabin of his flag ship. He persuaded them to sign a deed assigning ownership of the land over to the Swedes. Russell Shorto reports:
“The point was not, of course, to satisfy tribal notions of land ownership, nor did the Swedish government care much about executing legal transactions with natives.”
Minuit’s concerns were not really about tribal ownership of the area. Rather, Minuit was concerned about possible Dutch claims to the land and wanted to forestall any legal argument with them. The Swedes purchased lands on the west side of the river—an area which would later become the states of Delaware and Maryland, and a portion of Pennsylvania which would become Philadelphia.
The expedition constructed Fort Christina (named for the twelve-year-old Swedish Queen) and garrisoned it with 25 men. Minuit then returned to Sweden where he hoped to put together another expedition, one with colonists as well as soldiers.
Eventually 600 Swedes and Finns, together with a few Dutch and Germans who were in Swedish service, settled in New Sweden. The Finns were mostly Forest Finns from central Sweden. The colonists established farms and small settlements along both sides of the Delaware River. Peter Minuit became the first governor of the new colony.
Following Minuit’s death, Johan Bjornsson Printz (1592-1663) was appointed governor (1643 to 1653). The New Sweden Company expanded its territory along the river from Fort Christina, establishing Fort Nya Elfsborg on the east bank of the Delaware River and Fort Nya Gothenborg on Tinicum Island. The Swedish colony initially prospered.
During the time of the Swedish colony, the Susquehannocks, an Iroquoian-speaking people not affiliated with the Iroquois League of Five Nations, were living in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Susquehannocks were in conflict with both the Iroquois League of Five Nations and the English colonists.
In 1643, the Susquehannocks, under threat of conquest by the colonists in Maryland, obtained advice and firearms, including artillery, from New Sweden. Maryland sent two expeditions against the Susquehannock. The first expedition encountered the Susquehannock, but the Indians simply “melted away” as the firing began. The second Maryland expedition was routed by Susquehannock warriors using firearms obtained from New Sweden. The Susquehannock captured two cannons and 15 prisoners.
In 1655, the Dutch took control of the Swedish colonies and New Sweden vanished into history. The Finns, who had been brought in by the Swedes as laborers, were offered incentives to continue their efforts at clearing the forests. As a result of the change in colonial power, the Susquehannock were forced to make peace with the Mohawk.
More seventeenth-century American Indian histories
Indians 101: The Dutch and American Indians in the 17th century
Indians 101: The Dutch, the Indians, and Fort Orange
Indians 101: The French and American Indians in the 17th century
Indians 201: American Indians and the establishment of Jamestown
Indians 101: Iroquois Indians and the French 400 years ago, 1624
Indians 201: The Pueblo Revolt of 1680
Indians 101: English wars against Indians in the 17th century
Indians 101: Virginia and the Indians, 1606 to 1608
