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Swedes' Landing
Swedes' Landing is the warehouse road found along the Minquas Kill in Wilmington, Delaware that is close to the Delaware River. This was the site where the initial Swedish landing took place and marks the spot where the New Sweden colony began. The first Swedish expedition to North America, under the command of Peter Minuit, embarked from the port of Gothenburg in late 1637. The members of the expedition, aboard the ships ''Fogel Grip'' and ''Kalmar Nyckel'', sailed into Delaware Bay, which lay within the territory claimed by the Dutch West India Company and anchored at a rocky point on Swedes' Landing on March 29, 1638. They built a fort on the site which they named Fort Christina after Queen Christina of Sweden. Today Swedes Landing Road is a short stretch from 4th Street to 7th Street and ends at a long two-story mural depicting the area from the time before the Swedes came through the modern Wilmington waterfront. At the far end of the mural is the entrance to Fort Christina Na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dutch West India Company
The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx (1567–1647) and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was granted a charter for a trade monopoly in the Dutch West Indies by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over Dutch participation in the Atlantic slave trade, Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America. The area where the company could operate consisted of West Africa (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Cape of Good Hope) and the Americas, which included the Pacific Ocean and the eastern part of New Guinea. The intended purpose of the charter was to eliminate competition, particularly Spanish or Portuguese, between the various trading posts established by the merchants. The company became instrumental in the largely ephemeral Dutch coloni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swedish-American History
Swedish Americans ( sv, svenskamerikaner) are Americans of Swedish ancestry. They include the 1.2 million Swedish immigrants during 1865–1915, who formed tight-knit communities, as well as their descendants and more recent immigrants. Today, Swedish Americans are found throughout the United States, with Minnesota, California and Illinois being the three states with the highest number of Swedish Americans. Historically, newly arrived Swedish immigrants settled in the Midwest, namely Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa, and Wisconsin, just as other Scandinavian Americans. Populations also grew in the Pacific Northwest in the states of Oregon and Washington at the turn of the twentieth century. Migration Colonial The first Swedish Americans were the settlers of New Sweden: a colony established by Queen Christina of Sweden in 1638. It centered around the Delaware Valley including parts of the present-day states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. New Sweden was incorporate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geography Of New Castle County, Delaware
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. The first recorded use of the word γεωγραφία was as a title of a book by Greek scholar Eratosthenes (276–194 BC). Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding of Earth and its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but also how they have changed and come to be. While geography is specific to Earth, many concepts can be applied more broadly to other celestial bodies in the field of planetary science. One such concept, the first law of geography, proposed by Waldo Tobler, is "everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things." Geography has been called "the world discipline" and "the bridge between the human and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Shorto
Russell Anthony Shorto (born February 8, 1959) is an American author, historian, and journalist who is best known for his book on the Dutch origins of New York City, ''The Island at the Center of the World''. Shorto's research for the book relied greatly on the work of the New Netherland Project, now known as the New Netherland Research Center, as well as the New Netherland Institute. Shorto has been the New Netherland Research Center's Senior Scholar since 2013. In November 2017, he published ''Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom'', which tells the story of the American Revolution through the eyes of six Americans from vastly different walks of life. His most recent work is ''Smalltime: The Story of My Family and the Mob'', published in February 2021. The book is a memoir, covering Shorto's own family history and his ancestors involvement in the American Mafia in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Personal life Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on February 8, 1959, Shorto is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amandus Johnson
Amandus Johnson (October 27, 1877 – June 30, 1974) was a Swedish- American historian, author and museum director. He is most associated with his epic two volume history '' The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware 1638-1664'', which was also published in Swedish as ''Den första svenska kolonien i Amerika'' (1923). Biography Amandus Johnson was born at Långasjö in Emmaboda Municipality, Kalmar, Sweden. His family emigrated to America and settled in Rice Lake, Minnesota in 1880. Johnson studied at Gustavus Adolphus College and in 1904 took a bachelor's degree. He earned a master's degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He received his doctorate in 1908 from the University of Pennsylvania where he wrote his doctoral dissertation ''Swedish Settlements on the Delaware, 1638-1664'' on the Swedish colony of New Sweden. In 1908, Johnson was one of the cofounders of the Swedish Colonial Society. Amandus Johnson was a senior lecturer in Scandinavian languages at the Univ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First State National Historical Park
First State National Historical Park is a National Park Service unit which lies primarily in the state of Delaware but which extends partly into Pennsylvania in Chadds Ford. Initially created as First State National Monument by President Barack Obama under the Antiquities Act on March 25, 2013, the park was later redesignated as First State National Historical Park by Congress. Description The park covers the early colonial history of Delaware and the role Delaware played in the establishment of the nation, leading up to it being the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. It tells the unique story of the early settlement of the Delaware Valley by the Dutch, Swedes, Finns, and English and their relationship with Native Americans. It also seeks to preserve the cultural landscape of the Brandywine River Valley. Russ Smith, the park's first superintendent, described its mission in part as, "I think it's... the recognition that it's not all about Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Christina Of Sweden
Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December (New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death at the Battle of Lützen in 1632, but began ruling the Swedish Empire when she reached the age of eighteen in 1644. The Swedish queen is remembered as one of the most learned women of the 17th century. She was fond of books, manuscripts, paintings, and sculptures. With her interest in religion, philosophy, mathematics, and alchemy, she attracted many scientists to Stockholm, wanting the city to become the "Athens of the North". The Peace of Westphalia allowed her to establish an academy or university when and wherever she wanted. In 1644, she began issuing copper in lumps as large as fifteen kilograms to serve as currency. Christina's financial extravagance brought the state to the verge of bankruptcy, and the financial difficulties cau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Christina
Fort Christina (also called Fort Altena) was the first Swedish settlement in North America and the principal settlement of the New Sweden colony. Built in 1638 and named after Queen Christina of Sweden, it was located approximately 1 mi (1.6 km) east of the present-day downtown Wilmington, Delaware, at the confluence of the Brandywine River and the Christina River, approximately 2 mi (3 km) upstream from the mouth of the Christina on the Delaware River. History Following plans by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden to establish a Swedish colony in North America, the Swedes arrived in Delaware Bay (fort Christina) on March 29, 1638, aboard the ships ''Kalmar Nyckel'' and ''Fogel Grip'' under the command of Peter Minuit, the former director of the New Netherland colony. They landed at a spot along the Christina River at a stone outcropping which formed a natural wharf, known as "The Rocks." Minuit selected the site on the Christina River near the Delaware as be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is bordered inland by the states of Delaware and New Jersey, and the Delaware Capes, Cape Henlopen and Cape May, on the Atlantic. Delaware Bay is bordered by six counties: Sussex, Kent, and New Castle in Delaware, along with Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem in New Jersey. The Cape May–Lewes Ferry crosses Delaware Bay from Cape May, New Jersey, to Lewes, Delaware. The bay's ports are managed by the Delaware River and Bay Authority. The shores of the bay are largely composed of salt marshes and mudflats, with only small communities inhabiting the shore of the lower bay. Several of the rivers hold protected status for their salt marsh wetlands bordering the bay, which serves as a breeding ground for many aquatic species, including horseshoe crabs. The bay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley metropolitan area. Wilmington was named by Proprietor Thomas Penn after his friend Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, who was prime minister during the reign of George II of Great Britain. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 70,898. The Wilmington Metropolitan Division, comprising New Castle County, Delaware, Cecil County, Maryland and Salem County, New Jersey, had an estimated 2016 population of 719,887. Wilmington is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan statistical area, which also includes Philadelphia, Reading, Camden, and other urban are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalmar Nyckel
''Kalmar Nyckel'' (''Key of Kalmar'') was a Swedish ship built by the Dutch famed for carrying Swedish settlers to North America in 1638, to establish the colony of New Sweden. The name Kalmar Nyckel comes from the Swedish city of Kalmar and nyckel meaning key in Swedish. The name was also a tribute to Kalmar Castle which was a symbol of power during the time of the Swedish Empire when Sweden was a military great power. A replica of the ship was launched at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1997. History ''Kalmar Nyckel'' was constructed in about 1625, and was of a design called a pinnace. The ship was originally named ''Sleutel'' (Dutch for key), and to distinguish it from several other ships called ''Key'' it was known by the name of the city of Kalmar, which purchased the ship in 1629, as its contribution to a state-sponsored trading company, ''Skeppskompaniet''. It was later purchased into the Swedish Navy. When Sweden decided to establish a trading colony in the New World under the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
