Editing Dutch Conquest of New Sweden (section)

== Background and Causes ==

The Dutch and Swedish colonies in North America had coexisted uneasily since the founding of New Sweden in 1638. The Dutch claimed the Delaware Valley by right of prior exploration—Henry Hudson had sailed into Delaware Bay in 1609—and viewed the Swedish settlement as an intrusion on territory rightfully belonging to New Netherland. The Swedish colonists, for their part, established their presence through land purchases from the [[Lenape people]] and argued that actual settlement, not mere exploration, established legitimate claims to land. For nearly two decades, this dispute remained unresolved, with both powers maintaining competing posts along the Delaware River and seeking to dominate the profitable fur trade with indigenous peoples.<ref name="gehring">{{cite book |last=Gehring |first=Charles T. |title=New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch |year=1977 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing |location=Baltimore}}</ref>

Relations between the colonies remained tense but generally peaceful through the 1640s and early 1650s, as neither power had sufficient resources to force a confrontation. Governor Johan Printz of New Sweden adopted an aggressive policy of building trading posts to intercept furs before they reached Dutch traders, but he lacked the military strength to challenge Dutch positions directly. The Dutch, preoccupied with conflicts elsewhere and with the demanding task of developing their more extensive colonial holdings, tolerated the Swedish presence as an annoyance rather than treating it as a military threat requiring immediate action.<ref name="dahlgren">{{cite book |last=Dahlgren |first=Stellan |last2=Norman |first2=Hans |title=The Rise and Fall of New Sweden |year=1988 |publisher=Coronet Books}}</ref>

The trigger for Dutch intervention came in 1654 when the new Swedish governor, Johan Rising, arrived with reinforcements and instructions to strengthen the Swedish position. Rising made the fateful decision to seize Fort Casimir, a Dutch post on the Delaware River below Fort Christina. The Swedish attack caught the small Dutch garrison by surprise, and Fort Casimir fell on Trinity Sunday, May 31, 1654. Rising renamed it Fort Trinity and believed he had secured Swedish control of the entire Delaware River. Instead, he had provoked the powerful Dutch West India Company into decisive retaliation.<ref name="johnson">{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Amandus |title=The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware 1638-1664 |year=1911 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |location=Philadelphia}}</ref>