Editing Swedish colonies in the Americas

{{Short description|Part of European colonization of the Americas}}
{{more citations needed|date = March 2014}}
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[[File:SwedishColonialEmpire.png|thumb|308x308px|[[Swedish overseas colonies]]]]
[[Sweden]] established '''colonies in the Americas''' in the mid-17th century, including the colony of [[New Sweden]] (1638–1655) 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]] was founded in 1638 by the first expedition of [[Swedish South Company]], a consortium of Swedish, Dutch and German business interests formed in 1637.<ref name=SwColSoc>{{Cite web |url=http://www.colonialswedes.org/History/History.html |title=''A Brief History of New Sweden in America'' (The Swedish Colonial Society) |access-date=2016-01-23 |archive-date=2005-12-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051211144259/http://www.colonialswedes.org/History/History.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Thompson2013">{{cite book|author=Mark L. Thompson|title=The Contest for the Delaware Valley: Allegiance, Identity, and Empire in the Seventeenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gCvndqXYhJEC|year= 2013|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=978-0-8071-5060-3}}</ref> The colony was located along the [[Delaware River]] with settlements in modern [[Delaware]] (e.g., [[Wilmington, Delaware|Wilmington]]), [[Pennsylvania]] (e.g., [[Philadelphia]]) and [[New Jersey]] (e.g., [[Bridgeport, New Jersey|New Stockholm]] and [[Swedesboro, New Jersey|Swedesboro]]) along locations where Swedish and Dutch traders had been visiting for decades.<ref name=NewAmHerEncyl>See or copy American Heritage Book of Indian cites, [[Susquehannock]] peoples.</ref>

At the time (until 1809) [[Finland]] was part of the [[Kingdom of Sweden]], and some of the settlers of Sweden's colonies came from present-day Finland or were [[Finnish language|Finnish]]-speaking.<ref name=Finns>{{Cite web |url=http://www.genealogia.fi/emi/art/article182e.htm |title=A. R. Dunlap & E. J. Moyne. The Finnish Language on the Delaware. American Speech, Vol. 27, No. 2 (May, 1952), pp. 81–90 |access-date=2007-05-12 |archive-date=2007-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930194011/http://www.genealogia.fi/emi/art/article182e.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Swedes and Finns brought their [[Log home|log house]] design to America,<ref name=SwColSoc/> where it became the typical [[log cabin]] of pioneers. The Swedish colonists established a trading relationship with the [[Susquehannock people|Susquehannock]], and supported them in their successful war against [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]] colonists.<ref name=NewAmHerEncyl/><ref name=PofMaryland>See text and cites of [[Province of Maryland#Relations with the Susquehannock]]</ref>

While a [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] naval power, the international power of the Swedish Empire was rooted in land-based military power, and when another general war engulfed northern Europe, the [[Swedish Navy|Royal Swedish Navy]] was incapable of protecting the colony. Subsequently, the young colony was eventually annexed by the [[Dutch Republic|Dutch]], who perceived the presence of Swedish [[Settler|colonist]]s in North America as a threat to their interests in the [[New Netherland]] colony.

== Caribbean ==
The [[Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy]] (1784–1878) was operated as a ''porto franco'' ([[free port]]). The capital city of [[Gustavia, Saint Barthélemy|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]].<ref>[http://www.st-barths.com/en/saint-barthelemy-guide/saint-barthelemy-history.html ''St. Barts island history''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175155/http://www.st-barths.com/en/saint-barthelemy-guide/saint-barthelemy-history.html |date=2016-03-03 }} (St.Barths Online)</ref>
In addition to these the Swedes briefly attempted to settle [[Tobago]] in 1733, but were driven away by native tribes, and Tobago was eventually claimed by the British.

==Esequibo==
During the 18th century, the Swedes attempted to colonize the [[Guyana–Venezuela territorial dispute|Essequibo region]] between the lower [[Orinoco]] and [[Barima River|Barima]] rivers in [[Guyana]]'s present-day [[Barima-Waini]] region.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgYAAAAYAAJ&q=suecos|title = Arbitramiento sobre los límites entre Venezuela y la Guayana Británica: Alegato y contra-alegato|year = 1981}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RnUzAQAAIAAJ&q=suecos|title=Biblioteca de la Academia Nacional de la Historia: Fuentes para la historia colonial de Venezuela|year=1966}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cYcnAQAAMAAJ&q=swedish+orinoco|title = The Swedish-American Historical Quarterly|year = 1960}}</ref> The Swedes, settled in the area in July 1732,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cYcnAQAAMAAJ&q=orinoco|title=The Swedish-American Historical Quarterly|year=1960}}</ref> were expelled in 1737 by forces led by Major Sergeant Carlos Francisco Francois Sucre y Pardo (grandfather of Venezuelan independence leader [[Antonio José de Sucre]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cronologiadevenezuela.blogspot.com/2013/06/carlos-de-sucre-gobernador-de-nueva.html|title = CRONOLOGÍA DE VENEZUELA / Américo Fernández: Carlos de Sucre, gobernador de Nueva Andalucía y Guayana|date = 6 June 2013}}</ref>

==Other settlements==
Swedish emigrants continued to go 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]]. In 1841, a group composed of former Upsala University students and a couple of relatives established the first Swedish colony west of the Allegheny Mountains on the east shore of Pine Lake 30 miles west of Milwaukee and named their settlement, [[New_Upsala,_Wisconsin|New Upsala]]. Approximately 1.3&nbsp;million Swedes subsequently settled in the [[United States|U.S.]], and there are currently about four million [[Swedish Americans|Swedish-Americans]], as of 2008.<ref>{{cite web|title=U.S. Census website|url=https://www.census.gov|website=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=31 January 2018|language=en}}</ref>

Dom [[Pedro II of Brazil|Pedro II]], the second Emperor of [[Empire of Brazil|Brazil]], encouraged immigration, resulting in a sizeable number of Swedes entering 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 immigration, and laid the foundations of a population of [[Swedish-Argentines]].<ref>[http://www.clubsueco.com.ar/home.asp?seccion=his&ids=256  ''Svenska Föreningen Historia''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151221085537/http://www.clubsueco.com.ar/home.asp?seccion=his&ids=256 |date=2015-12-21 }} (Svenska Föreningen)</ref>

==See also==
* [[Swedish overseas colonies]]
* [[Possessions of Sweden]]
* [[Swedish Empire]]
* [[List of colonial governors in 1816#Sweden|Colonial governors in 1816]]
* [[Swedish Argentines]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Other sources==
*[[H. Arnold Barton|Barton, H. Arnold]] (1994) ''A Folk Divided: Homeland Swedes and Swedish Americans, 1840–1940.'' (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis).
*[[Adolph B. Benson|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}}
*[[Amandus Johnson|Johnson, Amandus]] (1927)  ''The Swedes on the Delaware'' (International Printing Company, Philadelphia)

==Further reading==
* [[J. Franklin Jameson|Jameson, J. Franklin]] (1887) ''Willem Usselinx: Founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies'' (G.P. Putnam's Sons)

==External links==
*[http://www.colonialnewsweden.org The New Sweden Centre], museum tours and reenactors.
* [http://www.memoirestbarth.com/EN/ 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.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Swedish Colonization Of The Americas}}
[[Category:Former Swedish colonies|Americas]]
[[Category:European colonization of the Americas]]
[[Category:Sweden–United States relations]]
[[Category:Swedish-American history]]