Delaware's history is long and proud. Early explorations of our
coastline were made by the Spaniards and Portuguese in the sixteenth
century, by Henry Hudson in 1609 under the auspices of the Dutch, by
Samuel Argall in 1610, by Cornelius May in 1613, and by Cornelius
Hendricksen in 1614.
During a storm, Argall was blown off course and sailed into a strange
bay which he named in honor of his governor. It is doubtful that Lord
De La Warr ever saw, or explored, the bay, river, and state which today
bears his name. In 1631, 11 years after the landing of the English
pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts, the first European settlement was
made on Delaware soil.
A group of Dutchmen formed a trading company headed by Captain David
Pietersen de Vries for the purpose of enriching themselves from the New
World. The expedition of about 30 individuals sailed from the town of
Hoorn under the leadership of Captain Peter Heyes in the ship De Walvis
(The Whale). Their settlement, called Zwaanendael, meaning valley of
swans, was located near the present town of Lewes on the west bank of
the Lewes Creek, today the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal.
Arriving in the New World in 1632 to visit the colony, Captain de Vries
found the settlers had been killed and their buildings burned by the
Indians.
This settlement is commemorated by the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes.
No further attempts at colonization were made on Delaware soil until
1638, when the Swedes established their colony in present Wilmington,
which was not only the first permanent settlement in Delaware, but in
the whole Delaware River Valley and North America. The first
expedition, consisting of two ships, Kalmar Nyckel (Key of Kalmar) and
Vogel Grip (Griffen), under the leadership of Peter Minuit, landed
about March 29. The location of the first Swedish settlement was at
"The Rocks," on the Christina River, near the foot of Seventh Street. A
fort was built called Fort Christina after the young queen of Sweden,
and the river was likewise named for her.
The most important Swedish governor was Colonel Johan Printz, who ruled
the colony under Swedish law for ten years, from 1643 to 1653. He was
succeeded by Johan Rising, who upon his arrival in 1654, seized the
Dutch post, Fort Casmir, which the governor of the Colony of New
Netherlands had built in 1651, on the site of the present town of New
Castle.
Rising governed the Swedish Colony from his headquarters at Fort
Christina until the autumn of 1655, when Peter Stuyvesant came from New
Amsterdam with a Dutch fleet, subjugated the Swedish forts, and
established the authority of the Colony of New Netherlands throughout
the area formerly controlled by the Colony of New Sweden. This marked
the end of Swedish rule in Delaware, but the cultural, social, and
religious influence of these Swedish settlers has had a lasting effect
upon the cultural life of the people in this area and upon subsequent
westward migrations of many generations. Old Swedes (Holy Trinity)
Church built by the Swedes at Wilmington in 1698 was supplied by the
Mother Church with missionaries until after the Revolution. It is one
of the oldest Protestant Churches in North America.
Fort Christina State Park in Wilmington, with the fine monument created
by the noted sculptor, Carl Milles, and presented by the people of
Sweden, perpetuates the memory of these first settlers and preserves
"The Rocks" where they first landed.
Following the seizure of the colony of New Sweden, the Dutch restored
the name of Fort Casmir and made it the principal settlement of the
Zuidt or South River as contrasted with the North or Hudson River. In a
short time the area within the fort was not large enough to accommodate
all the settlers so that a town, named New Amstel (now New Castle), was
laid out.
The year 1681 marked the granting of the Province of Pennsylvania to
William Penn by King Charles II and the arrival of Penn's agents on the
Delaware River. They soon reported to the proprietor that the new
province would be landlocked if the colonies on either side of the
Delaware River or Bay were hostile. As a result of Penn's petition to
the Crown for the land on the west side of the Delaware River and Bay
below his province, the Duke of York in March 1682 conveyed, by deeds
and leases now exhibited by the Delaware State Archives in the Hall of
Records at Dover, the land included in the Counties of New Castle, St.
Jones, and Deale. On October 27 of the same year, William Penn landed
in America first at New Castle and there took possession from the Duke
of York's agents as Proprietor of the lower Counties. On this occasion,
the colonists subscribed an oath of allegiance to the new proprietor,
and the first general assembly was held in the colony. The following
year the three Lower Counties were annexed to the Province of
Pennsylvania as territories with full privileges under Penn's famous
"Frame of Government."
Also in this year, the counties of St. Jones and Deale were renamed Kent and Sussex Counties respectively.
After 1682, a long dispute ensued between William Penn and Lord
Baltimore of the Province of Maryland as to the exact dominion
controlled by Penn on the lower Delaware.
The dispute continued between the heirs of Baltimore and Penn until
almost the end of the colonial period. In 1776 at the time of the
Declaration of Independence, Delaware not only declared itself free
from the British Empire, but also established a state government
entirely separate from Pennsylvania. Delaware's boundaries were
surveyed in 1763-68 by the noted English scientists, Charles Mason and
Jeremiah Dixon.
With the advent to the Revolution nearly 4,000 men enlisted for service
from the small state. The colonial wars had built up the militia system
and supplied a number of capable officers who led the troops of
Delaware in all the principal engagements from the battle of Long
Island to the siege of Yorktown. The only Revolutionary engagement
fought on Delaware soil was the battle of Cooch's Bridge, near Newark,
on September 3, 1777.
An important stimulus to the recovery of the state's economy after the
war was the invention in 1785 by Oliver Evans of Newport, Delaware, of
automatic flour milling machinery, revolutionizing the industry.
In the following year, John Dickinson of Delaware presided over the
Annapolis Convention, which called for the Federal Constitutional
Convention, that met in Philadelphia the next year. When the new
Constitution was submitted to the states for ratification, Delaware was
the first of the thirteen original states to ratify the Constitution of
the United States. This unanimous ratification took place in a
convention of Dover on December 7, 1787, whereby Delaware became "The
First State" of the new Federal Union. Proud of this heritage,
Delawareans continue to honor the traditions which made them the First
State to ratify the United States Constitution, the document that
continues to protect our nation's justice, strength, and liberty.
For more information on the history of Delaware, please contact the Government Information Center in Dover, Delaware:
Government Information Center
121 Duke of York
Dover, DE 19901
gic@state.de.us
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