Swedish colonization of the Americas

The Swedish colonization of the Americas included a 17th-century colony on the Delaware River in what is now Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, as well as two possessions in the Caribbean during the 18th and 19th centuries.

North America

The colony of New Sweden (1638–1655) was located along the Delaware River with settlements in modern Delaware (e.g., Wilmington), Pennsylvania (e.g., Philadelphia) and New Jersey (e.g., New Stockholm and Swedesboro). Until 1809, Finland was part of Sweden, and some of the settlers of Sweden's colonies came from present-day Finland or were Finnish-speaking.^[1] The Swedes and Finns brought their log house design to America, where it became the typical log cabin of pioneers. The colony was conquered by the Dutch, who perceived the presence of Swedish colonists in North America as a threat to their interests in the New Netherland colony.^[2]

Caribbean

Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy (1785–1878) was operated as a porto franco (free port). The capital city of Gustavia retains its Swedish name. Guadeloupe (1813–1814) came into Swedish possession as a consequence of the Napoleonic Wars. It gave rise to the Guadeloupe Fund.^[3]

Other settlement

Swedish immigrants continued to come to the Americas to settle within other countries or colonies. The mid-19th and early 20th centuries saw a large Swedish emigration to the United States. Approximately 1.3 million Swedes settled in the United States during that period, and there are currently 3,998,310 Swedish Americans.

Dom Pedro II, the second Emperor of Brazil, encouraged immigration resulting in a sizable number of Swedes entered Brazil, settling mainly in the cities of Joinville and Ijuí. In the late 19th century, Misiones Province in Argentina was a major centre for Swedish emigration, and laid the foundations of a population of Swedish-Argentines.^[4]

See also

• Swedish overseas colonies
• Possessions of Sweden
• Swedish Empire
• Colonial governors in 1816
• Swedish Argentine

References

1. A. R. Dunlap & E. J. Moyne. The Finnish Language on the Delaware. American Speech, Vol. 27, No. 2 (May, 1952), pp. 81-90
2. A Brief History of New Sweden in America (The Swedish Colonial Society)
3. St. Barts island history (St.Barths Online)
4. Svenska Föreningen Historia (Svenska Föreningen)

Other sources

• Barton, H. Arnold (1994) A Folk Divided: Homeland Swedes and Swedish Americans, 1840–1940. (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis).
• Benson, Adolph B. and Naboth Hedin, eds. (1938) Swedes in America, 1638–1938 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press) ISBN 978-0-8383-0326-9
• Johnson, Amandus (1927) The Swedes on the Delaware (International Printing Company, Philadelphia)

Related reading

• Jameson, J. Franklin (1887) Willem Usselinx: Founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies (G.P. Putnam's Sons)

External links

• The New Sweden Centre, museum tours and reenactors.
• Mémoire St Barth | History of St Barthélemy (archives & history of slavery, slave trade and their abolition), Comité de Liaison et d'Application des Sources Historiques.