Editing Tinicum Island (section)

== Life at the Colonial Capital ==

Tinicum under Governor Printz was a tiny outpost struggling to survive on the edge of a vast wilderness. The total population of New Sweden probably never exceeded 600 people, and Tinicum itself housed only a fraction of that number—the governor's household, garrison soldiers, and perhaps a few dozen settlers and their families. Life was difficult, marked by chronic shortages of supplies, conflict with Dutch competitors, and the challenges of maintaining a European settlement thousands of miles from home. Printz governed with an iron hand, and his autocratic rule generated considerable resentment among the colonists, some of whom complained to authorities in Sweden.<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>

Despite these hardships, Tinicum served as a functional colonial capital for over a decade. Ships from Sweden anchored here to unload supplies and passengers and to take on cargoes of furs for the return voyage. The church at Tinicum provided religious services for Swedish colonists throughout the region, and the governor's court administered justice according to Swedish law. Printz established additional trading posts and settlements up and down the Delaware, attempting to control access to the fur trade that was the colony's economic lifeblood. Relations with the [[Lenape people]] remained generally peaceful, with regular trade benefiting both parties, though the presence of European diseases devastated indigenous populations throughout the region.<ref name="ward"/>