History of delaware

Before Europeans settled on the territory of Delaware, the Indians of the Algonkin peoples Lennie Lenape (or Delaware, in the north of the state) and Nantikouk (in the south), Susquehannoki and other Indian peoples inhabited it. ^[1] In the second half of the 17th century, under the pressure of the Iroquois, most of them moved west to the Allegany mountains.

England claimed ownership of the Delaware basin based on the research of John Cabot in 1497 , captain John Smith and others, this land was named after Thomas West, 3rd Baron de la Varra , Governor of Virginia from 1610 to 1618 . At this time, the territory of modern Delaware was considered part of the Virginia colony.

However, the Dutch claimed the lands of modern Delaware on the basis of the expedition of 1609 by Henry Hudson under the patronage of the Dutch West Indies company , which founded the first European settlements on this land. They founded commercial settlements : Fort Wilhelmus in 1624 on Hooghe Eyland (High Island), the modern island of Burlington , opposite Burlington ( New Jersey ); Fort Nassau , near Gloucester in 1626 ; and Svanendal , now Lewis (Delaware) in 1631 . ^[2] Peter Meenate , the Governor of the New Netherlands during this period, may have spent some time on Burlington Island, exploring his region.

However, Minøyt quarreled with the leaders of the Dutch West Indies company and was recalled from the New Netherlands to Europe, where he immediately offered his services to numerous friends from Sweden, who at that time played a major role in European politics. They founded the New Swedish Company , and after a series of negotiations, Minoyt led an expedition flying the flag of Sweden to the Delaware River in 1638 . They founded Fort Christina Trading Post, modern Wilmington (Delaware). Minoyt proclaimed the possession of the west bank of the Delaware River, establishing the first European settlement here. Unlike the Dutch West Indies Company, the Swedes intended to populate the territory outside the fort, thereby developing their colony.

Minejt drowned in a storm upon returning home that same year, but the Swedish colony continued to grow gradually. By 1644, Swedish and Finnish settlers lived along both banks of the Delaware River from Fort Christina to the Skulkil River . The most famous governor of New Sweden , Johan Prince moved his residence to the New Gothenburg fort he founded in the current county of Delaware , Pennsylvania , where he intended to concentrate the bulk of the settlers.

When the Dutch settlement in Svanendal , modern Lewis, was destroyed in the war with the Indians, the Dutch, who had never given up claims to the territory of Delaware, founded Fort Casimir , now New Castle (Delaware) , under the leadership of Peter Stewesant , in 1651 . 3 years later, in 1654 , Johan Riesing , the governor of New Sweden, captured Fort Casimir from the Dutch. This led to a disaster for the Swedes themselves, since the very next summer of 1655 , the Dutch sent an expedition led by Peter Stuyvesant and exceeding the strength of the Swedes to the Delaware River . She successfully attacked all Swedish settlements, thereby ending the existence of the New Sweden colony and again including these lands in the New Netherlands colony. ^[3]

However, the Dutch did not long own the territory of modern Delaware, it was soon captured by the British , who had claims to it before. In 1664, James, the Duke of York and the brother of King Charles II, equipped an expedition that easily drove the Dutch from the banks of the Delaware and Hudson Rivers, establishing the authority of the Duke of York here.

However, Cecilius Calvert, the second Baron of Baltimore , the owner of Maryland , had rights to the west coast of the Delaware Bay, which included the entire territory of modern Delaware. But given the status and will of King Charles II, and to please his brother James, Duke of York , Calvert did not make his claims. The Duke of York himself was convinced that the land mined in the battle belonged to him rightfully. The territory was ruled from New York as part of the New York colony.

William Penn , the founder of Pennsylvania, whose lands excluded New Castle and territory within a radius of 12 miles from him, wanted for his colony to have access to the sea. He persuaded the Duke of York to rent him the west coast of the Delaware Bay. Thus, in 1682, Penn arrived in New Castle with two documents: a charter of the province of Pennsylvania and leases, which became known as the "Law of the Lower Counties of Delaware."

William Penn inherited the Duke of York's rights to the lands of modern Delaware, and an almost 100-year litigation began between Penn and Lord Baltimore, their heirs, at the High Chancellor's Court in London. The resolution of this long-standing confrontation was the negotiations between Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon between 1763 and 1767 . Their result was the creation of the famous Mason Line - Dixon . However, the issue of the ownership of settlements was not finally resolved until the start of the American Revolution .

• New England History

• Hancock, Harold Bell. Delaware during the Civil War. - Wilmington, Delaware: Historical Society of Delaware , 1961. - ISBN 0-924117-24-9 .
• Hoffecker, Carol E. Democracy in Delaware. - Wilmington, Delaware: Cedar Tree Books, 2004 .-- ISBN 1-892142-23-6 .
• Martin, Roger A. A History of Delaware Through its Governors. - Wilmington, Delaware: McClafferty Press, 1984.
• Martin, Roger A. Memoirs of the Senate. - Newark, DE: Roger A. Martin, 1995.
• Munroe, John A. The Philadelawareans. - Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 2004 .-- ISBN 0-87413-872-8 .
• Munroe, John A. History of Delaware. - Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 1993 .-- ISBN 0-87413-493-5 .
• Scharf, John Thomas. History of Delaware 1609-1888. 2 vols .. - Philadelphia: LJ Richards & Co., 1888.
• Wilson, Emerson. Forgotten Heroes of Delaware. - Cambridge, Massachusetts: Deltos Publishing Company, 1969.

• Borden, Morton; The Federalism of James A. Bayard (Columbia University Press, 1955)
• Delaware Federal Writers' Project; Delaware: A Guide to the First State (famous WPA guidebook 1938)
• Johnson, Amandus The Swedes in America 1638-1900: Vol. I, The Swedes on the Delaware 1638-1664 . (1914)
• Johnson, Amandus The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware 1638-1664, Volume II (1927)
• Myers, Albert Cook ed., Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey, and Delaware, 1630-1707 (1912)
• Ward, Christopher Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware, 1609-1664 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1930)
• Wiener, Roberta and James R. Arnold. Delaware: The History Of Delaware Colony, 1638-1776 (2004
• Weslager, CA New Sweden on the Delaware, 1638-1655 (The Middle Atlantic Press, Wilmington. 1988)

• Boston Public Library, Map Center. Maps of Delaware , various dates.