Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

established colonies in the Americas in the mid-17th century, including the colony of

New Sweden New Sweden () was a colony of the Swedish Empire between 1638 and 1655 along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a g ...

(1638–1655) on the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

in what is now

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, as well as two possessions in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

during the 18th and 19th centuries.

North America

The colony of

was founded in 1638 by the first expedition of Swedish South Company, a consortium of Swedish, Dutch and German business interests formed in 1637. The colony was located along the

with settlements in modern

(e.g., Wilmington),

(e.g.,

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

) and

(e.g., New Stockholm and Swedesboro) along locations where Swedish and Dutch traders had been visiting for decades.See or copy American Heritage Book of Indian cites,

Susquehannock The Susquehannock, also known as the Conestoga, Minquas, and Andaste, were an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian people who lived in the lower Susquehanna River watershed in what is now Pennsylvania. Their name means “people of the muddy river.” T ...

peoples. At the time (until 1809)

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

was part of the

Kingdom of Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic country by both area ...

, and some of the settlers of Sweden's colonies came from present-day Finland or were Finnish-speaking. The Swedes and Finns brought their

log house A log house, or log building, is a structure built with horizontal logs interlocked at the corners by notching. Logs may be round, squared or hewn to other shapes, either handcrafted or milled. The term "log cabin" generally refers to a smal ...

design to America, where it became the typical

log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a minimally finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first-generation home building by settl ...

of pioneers. The Swedish colonists established a trading relationship with the

, and supported them in their successful war against

colonists.See text and cites of Province of Maryland#Relations with the Susquehannock While a

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

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

Royal Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy () is the maritime service branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet (), formally sometimes referred to as the Royal Navy () – as well as marine units, the Amph ...

was incapable of protecting the colony. Subsequently, the young colony was eventually annexed by the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

, who perceived the presence of Swedish

colonist A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among the first settli ...

s in North America as a threat to their interests in the

New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

colony.

Caribbean

The

Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy The Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy existed for nearly a century. In 1784, one of French king Louis XVI's ministers ceded Saint Barthélemy to Sweden in exchange for trading rights in the Swedish port of Gothenburg. Swedish rule lasted unti ...

(1784–1878) was operated as a ''porto franco'' (

free port A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to ...

). The capital city of Gustavia retains its Swedish name.

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

(1813–1814) came into Swedish possession as a consequence of the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. It gave rise to the Guadeloupe Fund. In addition to these the Swedes briefly attempted to settle

Tobago Tobago, officially the Ward of Tobago, is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger islan ...

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 Essequibo region between the lower

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

and Barima rivers in

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

's present-day

Barima-Waini Barima-Waini (Region 1) is a Regions of Guyana, region of Guyana and is located in the northwest of the country. Barima-Waini has three sub-regions: Mabaruma, Matakai, and Moruca. The region is located in the northwest of the country and has a p ...

region. The Swedes, settled in the area in July 1732, 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 Antonio José de Sucre y Alcalá (; 3 February 1795 – 4 June 1830), known as the "Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho" (), was a Venezuelan general and politician who served as the president of Bolivia from 1825 to 1828. A close friend and associate ...

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 During the 19th and early 20th centuries, about 1.3 million Swedes left Sweden for the United States of America. While the land of the American frontier was a magnet for the rural poor all over Europe, some factors encouraged Swedish emigrati ...

. 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 New Upsala (Swedish: ''Nya Uppsala'') also referred to as the Pine Lake Settlement, was an early pioneer Swedish-American community in Wisconsin. The short-lived settlement of Swedish immigrants was founded by Gustaf Unonius. It was located in ...

. Approximately 1.3 million Swedes subsequently settled in the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

, and there are currently about four million

Swedish-Americans Swedish Americans () are Americans of Swedes, Swedish descent. The history of Swedish Americans dates back to the early colonial times, with notable migration waves occurring in the 19th and early 20th centuries and approximately 1.2 million ...

, as of 2008. Dom

Pedro II '' Dom'' PedroII (Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga; 2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed the Magnanimous (), was the second and last monar ...

, the second Emperor of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, encouraged immigration, resulting in a sizeable number of Swedes entering Brazil, settling mainly in the cities of

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the Southern Brazil, Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitib ...

and

Ijuí Ijuí () is a Brazilian municipality of Rio Grande do Sul, situated from the state capital, Porto Alegre. In 2020 its population was 83,764, making it the third most populous city of the Missões region, behind Passo Fundo and Erechim. Demo ...

. In the late 19th century,

Misiones Province Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the Provinces of Argentina, 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia, Argentina, Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

was a major centre for Swedish immigration, and laid the foundations of a population of Swedish-Argentines. ''Svenska Föreningen Historia''
(Svenska Föreningen)

References

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) * Johnson, Amandus (1927) ''The Swedes on the Delaware'' (International Printing Company, Philadelphia)

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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Swedish Colonization Of The Americas

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

European colonization of the Americas Sweden–United States relations Swedish-American history