Editing New Sweden (section)

== Founding and Early Years ==

The colony of New Sweden was established in 1638 when an expedition sponsored by the New Sweden Company landed at a site they named [[Fort Christina]] (present-day Wilmington, Delaware). The expedition was led by Peter Minuit, a Dutch colonial administrator who had previously purchased Manhattan for the Dutch West India Company before falling out with his employers and offering his services to Sweden. Minuit had recruited two shiploads of Swedish and Finnish colonists, along with Dutch soldiers and sailors, for the venture. The Swedes selected a site at the confluence of the Christina River (named for the young Queen Christina of Sweden) and the Delaware, establishing a fortified trading post as the foundation of their American enterprise.<ref name="ward">{{cite book |last=Ward |first=Christopher |title=The Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware 1609-64 |year=1930 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia}}</ref>

The primary purpose of New Sweden was trade, particularly the fur trade with the [[Lenape people]] and other indigenous nations of the Delaware Valley. The Swedes exchanged European goods—cloth, metal tools, and weapons—for beaver pelts and other furs that commanded high prices in European markets. Unlike some colonial ventures, New Sweden initially maintained relatively peaceful relations with the Lenape, purchasing land through negotiated agreements rather than conquest. However, the colony struggled from the outset with insufficient supplies, inadequate support from Sweden, and competition from the better-established Dutch and English colonies to the north and south.<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>