![Delaware Bay Vinckeboons 14](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Delaware_Bay_Vinckeboons_14.jpg)
or was a short-lived
Dutch colonial settlement in
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
. It was built in 1631. The name is
archaic Dutch for "swan valley." The site of the settlement later became the town of
Lewes, Delaware
Lewes ( ) is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delawar ...
.
History
Two directors of the Amsterdam chamber of the
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 ( ...
,
Samuel Blommaert
Samuel Blommaert (''Bloemaert'', ''Blommaerts'', ''Blommaart'', ''Blomert'', etc.) (11 or 21 August 1583, in Antwerp – 23 December 1651, in Amsterdam) was a Flemish/Dutch merchant and director of the Dutch West India Company from 1622 to 1629 ...
and
Samuel Godyn
Samuel Godin, Godyn or Godijn (Antwerp, 1561 or around 1566 – September 29, Amsterdam, 1633) was a wealthy merchant, originally from Southern Netherlands, trading on Spain, Brazil and the Levant. He was one of the administrators of the Noor ...
, bargained with the natives for a tract of land reaching from
Cape Henlopen
Cape Henlopen is the southern cape of the Delaware Bay along the Atlantic coast of the United States. It lies in the state of Delaware, near the town of Lewes, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. Off the coast on the bay side are two ...
to the mouth of
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...
. This was in 1629, three years before the charter of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, and is the oldest deed for land in
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
. Its water-front nearly coincides with the coast of
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
and
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
counties. The purchase was ratified in 1630 by
Peter Minuit
Peter Minuit (between 1580 and 1585 – August 5, 1638) was a Wallonian merchant from Tournai, in present-day Belgium. He was the 3rd Director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1631, and 3rd Governor of New N ...
and his council at
Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently the ...
. The estate was further extended, on May 5, 1630, by the purchase of a tract twelve miles square (31 km²) on the coast of
Cape May
Cape May consists of a peninsula and barrier island system in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is roughly coterminous with Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May County and runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay fro ...
opposite, and the transaction was duly attested at Fort Amsterdam.
The
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 ( ...
was formed to colonize the tract that included Blommaert, Godyn,
Kiliaen van Rensselaer (
Patroon
In the United States, a patroon (; from Dutch ''patroon'' ) was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Freedoms a ...
of
Rensselaerswyck
The Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Manor Rensselaerswyck, Van Rensselaer Manor, or just simply Rensselaerswyck ( nl, Rensselaerswijck ), was the name of a colonial estate—specifically, a Dutch patroonship and later an English manor—owned by the va ...
),
Joannes de Laet Joannes or Johannes De Laet (Latinized as ''Ioannes Latius'') (1581 in Antwerp – buried 15 December 1649, in Leiden) was a Dutch geographer and director of the Dutch West India Company. Philip Burden called his ''History of the New World'', " ...
(the geographer),
David Pietersen de Vries
David Pieterszoon de Vries ( – 13 September 1655) was a Dutch navigator from Hoorn.Joris van der MeeKoopman in de West; De indianen en de Nieuw Nederlanders in het journaal van David Pietersz. De Vries, 2001 (Dutch)
Biography
In 1617, De ...
and Mathijs Jansen Van Keulen. A ship of eighteen guns, ''The Walvis'' was fitted out to bring over the colonists and subsequently defend the coast, with incidental whaling to help defray expenses. A colony of twenty-eight people was planted on ''Blommaert's Kill'' (now Lewes creek), a little north of Cape Henlopen, and its governorship was entrusted to Gillis Hosset. This settlement antedated by several years any in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, and the colony at
Lewes
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...
practically laid the foundation and defined the singularly limited area of the state of
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
, the major part of which was included in the purchase. A palisaded fort was built, with the "red lion, rampant," of Holland affixed to its gate, and the country was named Swaanendael or Zwaanendael Colony, while the water was called ''Godyn's Bay'' (now Delaware Bay).
The existence of the little colony was short, for the Indians came down upon it as the result of a misunderstanding and it was destroyed, with only two boys, Pierre and Hendrick Wiltsee, surviving to tell the tale. The details of the attack were later recounted to de Vries by
Nanticoke Indians when he arrived with the second wave of an additional 50 colonists:
He then showed us the place where our people had set up a column to which was fastened a piece of tin, whereon the arms of Holland were painted. One of their chiefs took this off, for the purpose of making tobacco-pipes, not knowing that he was doing amiss. Those in command at the house made such an ado about it that the Indians, not knowing how it was, went away and slew the chief who had done it, and brought a token of the dead to the house to those in command, who told them that they wished that they had not done it; that they should have brought him to them, as they wished to have forbidden him not to do the like again. They went away, and the friends of the murdered chief incited their friends, as they are a people like the Indians, who are very revengeful, to set about the work of vengeance. Observing our people out of the house, each one at his work, that there was not more than one inside, who was lying sick, and a large mastiff, who was chained, - had he been loose they would not have dared to approach the house, - and the man who had command standing near the house, three of the stoutest Indians, who were to do the deed, bringing a lot of bear-skins with them to exchange, sought to enter the house. The man in charge went in with them to make the barter, which being done, he went to the loft where the stores lay, and in descending the stairs one of the Indians seized an axe and cleft his head so that he fell down dead. They also relieved the sick man of life, and shot into the dog, who was chained fast, and whom they most feared, twenty-five arrows before they could dispatch him. They then proceeded towards the rest of the men, who were at work, and, going amongst them with pretensions of friendship, struck them down. Thus was our young colony destroyed, causing us serious loss.
Arriving December 5, 1632, at the charred remains of the settlement,
de Vries
De Vries is one of the most common Dutch surnames. It indicates a geographical origin: "Vriesland" is an old spelling of the Dutch province of Friesland (Frisia). Hence, "de Vries" means "the Frisian". The name has been modified to "DeVries", "deV ...
(who had received reports of the slaughter before leaving Europe) negotiated a treaty with the Indians and sailed up the Delaware River, attempting to trade for beans and corn. Failing his objective there, de Vries sailed to Virginia, where was successful in obtaining provisions for the new colonists in Zwaanendael, to which he returned. The massacre convinced the Dutch to retrench their settlements and de Vries shortly thereafter removed the new colonists to
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...
(New York City). The Zwaanendael claims were then resold to the
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 ( ...
.
Later Blommaert assisted with the fitting out of the first Swedish expedition to
New Sweden
New Sweden ( sv, Nya Sverige) was a Swedish colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now the United States from 1638 to 1655, established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a great military power. New Sweden form ...
in 1637 and engaged
Peter Minuit
Peter Minuit (between 1580 and 1585 – August 5, 1638) was a Wallonian merchant from Tournai, in present-day Belgium. He was the 3rd Director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1631, and 3rd Governor of New N ...
(by then no longer Governor of New Netherland) to command it.
Franciscus van den Enden
Franciscus van den Enden, in later life also known as 'Affinius' (Latinized form of 'Van den Enden') ( – 27 November 1674) was a Flemish Jesuit, Neo-Latin poet, physician, art dealer, philosopher, and plotter against Louis XIV of France. Born i ...
had drawn up charter for a utopian society (that included equal education of all classes, joint ownership of property, and a democratically elected government.
Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy
Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy (also Pieter Cornelisz Plockhoy van Zierikzee or Peter Cornelius van Zurick-zee; c. 1625, possibly in Zierikzee, Netherlands – c. 1664–1670, Lewes, Delaware) was a Dutch Mennonite and Collegiant utopist wh ...
attempted such a settlement near the site of Zwaanendael, but it soon expired under English rule.
[Bart Plantenga. (April 2001)]
The Mystery of the Plockhoy Settlement in the Valley of Swans
". ''Mennonite Historical Bulletin''.
Legacy
A monument commemorating the colony named
De Vries Palisade
De Vries Palisade, also known as DeVries Palisade of 1631, is an archaeological site located at Lewes, Sussex County, Delaware. It is the site of the Zwaanendael Colony, the first permanent European presence on the Delaware Bay in 1631, settled b ...
was dedicated on September 22, 1909 on the site of the former settlement.
The
Zwaanendael Museum
In Lewes, Delaware the Zwaanendael Museum was created to honor the 300th anniversary of Delaware's first European settlement, Zwaanendael, founded 1631. The museum models the former City Hall in Hoorn, Netherlands. It has 17th century Dutch elem ...
was opened in 1931.
See also
*
Patroon
In the United States, a patroon (; from Dutch ''patroon'' ) was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Freedoms a ...
ship
*
New Netherland settlements
New Netherland (''Nieuw-Nederland'' in Dutch) was the 17th century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory was the land from the Delmarva Peninsula t ...
*
Vriessendael, New Netherland
Vriessendael was a patroonship on the west bank of the Hudson River in New Netherland, the seventeenth century North American colonial province of the Dutch Empire. The homestead or plantation was located on a tract of about about an hour's walk ...
*
Zwaanendael Museum
In Lewes, Delaware the Zwaanendael Museum was created to honor the 300th anniversary of Delaware's first European settlement, Zwaanendael, founded 1631. The museum models the former City Hall in Hoorn, Netherlands. It has 17th century Dutch elem ...
*
New Sweden
New Sweden ( sv, Nya Sverige) was a Swedish colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now the United States from 1638 to 1655, established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a great military power. New Sweden form ...
References
Sources
*
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...
Narrative New Netherland, by J.F. Jameson, Ed - https://web.archive.org/web/20031206134310/http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext02/nwnth10.txt - includes a footnote about Blommaert.
*America's Historylands: Landmarks of Liberty, National Geographic Press, 1967
*Delaware: A Guide To The First State, ed. Jeanette Eckman, Hastings House Press; New York, 1955
*
The Zwaanendael Museum
{{authority control
Dutch-American culture in Delaware
New Netherland
Lewes, Delaware
Massacres by Native Americans
Former populated places in Delaware
Populated places established by the Dutch West India Company
1631 establishments in the Dutch Empire
Destroyed towns