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"Delaware's
history is a long and proud one. 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 white 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 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."
- From the State of Delaware
website
To learn more about Delaware visit http://delaware.gov/
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