Swedish branches and colonies in America
The Swedish settlements and colonies in America 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.
Finland was an integral part of Sweden until 1809 and many settlers in the Swedish colonies spoke Finnish as their mother tongue or even came from today's Finland. The Finns who came to America came from the remote regions of Savo and Kainuu in particular , where slash and burn was the livelihood for many and where people were used to being pioneers in the wilderness.
The Swedes and Finns brought their log house construction method to America, the typical "from the Log Cabins " developed the pioneers.
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 (for example, Philadelphia ) and New Jersey (for example, Bridgeport - formerly New Stockholm and Swedesboro ). The colony was conquered by the Dutch , who viewed the presence of Swedish settlers in North America as a threat to the interests of their Nieuw Nederland colony .
Caribbean
On July 1, 1784, Sweden acquired the island of St. Barthélemy (St. Barts) from France against trading rights in Gothenburg , which was operated as "porto franco" ( free port ). In 1877 the Caribbean island was sold back to France. Even today, the name of the capital, Gustavia, reminds of the Swedish colonization.
After the coalition wars , Great Britain passed Guadeloupe to King Charles XIII on March 3, 1813 . from Sweden and his descendants. It became the basis of the Guadeloupe Fund . In the Peace of Paris in 1814, Sweden gave it back to France against payment of 24 million francs.