The first European settlement in Delaware was established by the Dutch in 1631 near present-day Lewes, Delaware. However, the settlement was destroyed in a dispute with local Indians. The first permanent European settlement was Fort Christina, which was built by Peter Minuit in 1638 at present-day Wilmington. It was the first settlement of New Sweden. Like the other Middle Colonies, Delaware changed hands from the Dutch to the English. In 1681, William Penn sent agents to explore the land that had been granted to him as Pennsylvania. They found that Pennsylvania’s access to Delaware Bay was under the control of New York on the west bank and New Jersey on the east bank. Penn worked out a deal with the Duke of York to rent the land on the western shore of the Delaware River, which became known as the “Lower Counties on Delaware.”
Essential Facts
- Year Founded — 1638
- Founded By — Swedish settlers
- General Assembly Established — 1704
- Region — Middle Colonies, Chesapeake Colonies
Biographies
History
Colonial America
Key Concepts
- Agriculture in Colonial America
- Board of Trade
- Mercantilism
- Navigation Acts
- Salutary Neglect
- Transatlantic Slave Trade
- Triangular Trade
- Taxation Without Representation — Overview and History
American Revolution
- Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763)
- Proclamation of 1763
- Sugar Act (1764) — Guide
- Stamp Act (1765) — Guide
- Sons of Liberty
- Townshend Acts (1767—1768)
- Committees of Correspondence
- Tea Act (1773)
- Intolerable Acts (1774)
- Delaware — Delegates to the First Continental Congress (1774)
- First Continental Congress (1774)
- Continental Association (1774)
