Swedish colonization of the Americas

The Swedish branch offices and colonies in the Americas consisted of a small settlement in the 17th century on the Delaware River in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, and two possessions in the Caribbean during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Until 1809 Finland was an integral part of Sweden and many settlers in the Swedish colonies spoke Finnish as their native language or even originated from present-day Finland. The Finns, who came to America, came especially from the remote regions of Savo and Kainuu, where slash and burn for many formed the basis of life and the people were accustomed to it, as pioneers to live in the wilderness.

The Swedes and Finns brought their block house design to America, the typical " Log Cabins " the pioneers developed from the get.

North America

The colony New Sweden (1638-1655) extended along the Delaware River with settlements in what is now Delaware (for example, New Castle and Wilmington ), Pennsylvania (eg, Philadelphia ) and New Jersey (for example, Bridgeport - formerly New Stockholm and Swedesboro ). The colony was conquered by the Dutch, who regarded the presence of Swedish settlers in North America as a threat to the interests of their New Netherland colony.

Caribbean

On July 1, 1784 against Sweden acquired trading rights in Gothenburg the island of St. Barthelemy (St. Barts ) of France, which as a " porto franco " ( Freeport ) has been operated. 1877, the Caribbean island was sold back to France. To this day, the name of the capital Gustavia to the Swedish colonization.

After the Napoleonic Wars Great Britain Guadeloupe occurred on March 3, 1813, King Charles XIII. of from Sweden and his descendants. It was based on the Guadeloupe funds. In the Treaty of Paris in Sweden, there were 1814 against payment of 24 million francs to France again back.