Editing New Sweden (section)

== Relationship with Indigenous Peoples ==

New Sweden's relationship with the [[Lenape people]] was generally more peaceful than many colonial encounters, though not without tension. The Swedes, unlike some later colonists, recognized Lenape ownership of the land and purchased territory through negotiated treaties rather than simply claiming it by right of discovery or conquest. These land purchases, while perhaps not fully understood by the Lenape in European legal terms, established a pattern of relatively cooperative relations. The fur trade provided mutual benefits: the Swedes gained valuable pelts for export, while the Lenape acquired European manufactured goods that enhanced their material culture and military capabilities.<ref name="soderlund">{{cite book |last=Soderlund |first=Jean R. |title=Lenape Country: Delaware Valley Society Before William Penn |year=2015 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia}}</ref>

However, the Swedish presence contributed to the disruption of traditional Lenape life. European diseases, against which the Lenape had no immunity, spread through indigenous communities, causing significant mortality even before English colonization began. The fur trade altered traditional economic patterns and drew the Lenape into increasing dependence on European goods. Competition among European powers for Lenape trade alliance created new political pressures. And the steady expansion of Swedish settlements onto previously Lenape-controlled lands foreshadowed the more extensive dispossession that would follow under English rule.<ref name="kraft">{{cite book |last=Kraft |first=Herbert C. |title=The Lenape-Delaware Indian Heritage: 10,000 BC to AD 2000 |year=2001 |publisher=Lenape Books |location=Elizabeth, NJ}}</ref>