Editing New Sweden (section)

== Legacy ==

Though New Sweden lasted only seventeen years as an independent colony, its legacy in the Philadelphia region endures. [[Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church]], built between 1698 and 1700 by the descendants of Swedish colonists, is the oldest church building in Pennsylvania and stands in [[Queen Village]] as a National Historic Landmark. Tinicum, the site of the Swedish colonial capital, is commemorated by Governor Printz Park in what is now Essington, Pennsylvania. The Swedes' log cabin building technique spread across the American frontier, influencing vernacular architecture for centuries. And the pattern of relatively peaceful land purchase from indigenous peoples that the Swedes established influenced William Penn's later approach to relations with the Lenape.<ref name="hoffecker"/>

Historical markers and museums throughout the region commemorate the Swedish colonial period. The American Swedish Historical Museum in South Philadelphia, founded in 1926, preserves the heritage of Swedish settlement in America. The Gloria Dei Church maintains its historic building and cemetery as a memorial to the colonial period. These institutions ensure that the brief but significant Swedish presence in the Philadelphia region is not forgotten, preserving the memory of a European settlement that predated Philadelphia itself by nearly half a century.<ref name="ashm">{{cite web |url=https://americanswedish.org/ |title=American Swedish Historical Museum |access-date=December 29, 2025}}</ref>