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{{Short description|British colony in North America (1664–1776)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox former country
|conventional_long_name = Lower Counties on<br/>the Delaware
|common_name            = Delaware
|status                 = Colony of [[Kingdom of England|England]] (1664–1707)<br> Colony of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] (1707–1776)
|government_type        = [[Dependent territory|Semiautonomous]] [[proprietary colony]]
|event_start            = 
|year_start             = 1664
|event_end              = [[United States Declaration of Independence|Independence]]
|year_end               = 1776
|date_end               = 
|p1                     = New Netherland
|flag_p1                = Statenvlag.svg
|s1                     = State of Delaware
|flag_s1                = Flag of the United States (1776-1777).svg
|image_flag             = Colonial-Red-Ensign.svg
|image_coat             = 
|image_map              =A map of Maryland with the Delaware counties and the southern part of New Jersey (page 1 crop).tiff 
|image_map_caption      =Delaware in 1757 
|capital                = [[New Castle, Delaware|New Castle]]
|common_languages       = [[English language|English]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Munsee language|Munsee]], [[Unami language|Unami]]
|currency               = [[Delaware pound]]
|leader1                = ''Territory contested''
|leader2                = [[William Penn]] (first)
|leader3                = [[John Penn (writer)|John Penn]] (last)
|year_leader1           = 1664–1682
|year_leader2           = 1682–1718
|year_leader3           = 1775–1776
|title_leader           = [[List of colonial governors of Pennsylvania|Proprietor]]
|legislature            = [[Delaware General Assembly|General Assembly]]
|today = [[United States]]
|demonym=|area_km2=|area_rank=|GDP_PPP=|GDP_PPP_year=|HDI=|HDI_year=}}
The '''Lower Counties on the Delaware''', was a semi-autonomous region of the [[Proprietary colony|proprietary]] [[Province of Pennsylvania]] and a ''[[de facto]]'' [[British colonization of the Americas|British colony]] in [[North America]].<ref name=Munroe>{{cite web|url=https://archivesfiles.delaware.gov/ebooks/Colonial_Delaware.pdf|title=Colonial Delaware: A History|first=John A.|last=Munroe|publisher=Delaware Heritage Press|year=2003|access-date=December 22, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220215858/https://archivesfiles.delaware.gov/ebooks/Colonial_Delaware.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Although not [[Kingdom of Great Britain|royally sanctioned]], Delaware consisted of the three counties on the west bank of the [[Delaware Bay|Delaware River Bay]]. 

In the early 17th century, the area was inhabited by [[Lenape]] and possibly [[Assateague tribe|Assateague]] Indian tribes. The first European settlers were [[Swedes]], who established the colony of [[New Sweden]] at Fort Christina in present-day [[Wilmington, Delaware]], in 1638. The [[Netherlands|Dutch]] captured the colony in 1655 and annexed it to New Netherland to the north. [[Kingdom of England|England]] subsequently took control of it from the Dutch in 1664. In 1682, [[William Penn]], the [[Quakers|Quaker]] proprietor of the [[Province of Pennsylvania]] to the north leased the three lower counties on the [[Delaware River]] from [[James II of England|James, the Duke of York]], who went on to become King James II. 

The three lower counties on the [[Delaware River]] were governed as part of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1701, when the lower counties petitioned for and were granted an independent colonial legislature; the two colonies shared the same governor until 1776. The English colonists who settled in Delaware were mainly Quakers. In the first half of the 18th century, New Castle and [[Philadelphia]] became the primary ports of entry to the new world for a quarter of a million [[Protestantism|Protestant]] immigrants from [[Ulster]], referred to as Scotch-Irish in America and Ulster Scots in [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]]. Delaware had no established religion at this time.

The [[American Revolutionary War]] began in April 1775, and on June 15, 1776, the Delaware Assembly voted to break all ties with Great Britain, creating the independent [[Delaware|State of Delaware]].<ref name=Munroe/> On July 4, 1776, Delaware joined 12 other British colonies to form the [[United States of America]].

==Dutch and Swedish settlements==
{{Historical populations
|type= USA
|1670|700
|1680|1005
|1690|1482
|1700|2470
|1710|3645
|1720|5385
|1730|9170
|1740|19870
|1750|28704
|1760|33250
|1770|35496
|1774|37219
|1780|45385
|footnote=Source: 1670–1760;<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas L.|last=Purvis|editor-first=Richard|editor-last=Balkin|title=Colonial America to 1763|year=1999|place=New York|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]]|isbn=978-0816025275|pages=[https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128 128–129]|url=https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128}}</ref> 1774<ref>{{cite book|last1=Purvis|first1=Thomas L.|editor-last=Balkin|editor-first=Richard|title=Revolutionary America 1763 to 1800|year=1995|place=New York|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816025282/page/160 160]|isbn=978-0816025282|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816025282/page/180}}</ref> 1770–1780<ref name="Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics">{{cite web|title=Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|page=1168|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2-13.pdf|access-date=May 11, 2020|archive-date=December 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229191314/https://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2-13.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

From the early [[Netherlands|Dutch]] settlement in 1631 to the colony's rule by Pennsylvania in 1682, the land that later became the U.S. state of Delaware changed hands many times. Because of this,  Delaware became a heterogeneous society made up of individuals who were diverse in country of origin and religion.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}

The first European exploration of what would become known as the [[Delaware Valley]] was made by the Dutch ship ''[[Halve Maen]]'' under the command of [[Henry Hudson]] in 1609. He was searching for what was believed to be a  [[Northwest Passage]] to Asia. Hudson sailed into what now is the [[Delaware Bay]]. He named it the South River, but this would later change after [[Samuel Argall]] came across the mouth of the river in 1610, after being blown off course. Argall later renamed this waterway as the [[Delaware River|river Delaware]], after [[Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr|Thomas West, Lord De La Warr]], the second governor of Virginia.<ref name="brief">[http://delaware.gov/facts/history/delhis State of Delaware (A Brief History)]{{dead link|date=July 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}. ''State of Delaware''. Accessed March 18, 2017.</ref> 

Follow-up expeditions by [[Cornelius Jacobsen May|Cornelius May]] in 1613 and [[Cornelius Hendrickson]] in 1614 mapped the shoreline of what would become the colony and state of Delaware for inclusion in the [[New Netherland]] colony. Initial Dutch settlement was centered up the Delaware River at [[Fort Nassau (South River)|Fort Nassau]] at [[Big Timber Creek]], south of what is now [[Gloucester City, New Jersey]].

Neither the Dutch nor the English showed any early interest in establishing settlement on this land. It was not until 1629 that agents of the [[Dutch West India Company]], [[Gillis Hossitt]] and [[Jacob Jansz]], arrived to negotiate with the Native Americans to purchase land for a colony. (The Dutch always purchased land from the Native Americans, rather than take it by force, but the peoples had differing concepts of property and use. The Native Americans often considered the Dutch "payments" to be gifts in keeping with their Native custom, and expected to share use of the common land.) Hossitt and Jansz secured a treaty granting the Dutch a parcel of land running along the shore eight Dutch miles long and half a Dutch mile deep (roughly 29 by just under 2 US miles). This nearly coincided with the length of the coast of modern Sussex and Kent counties in Delaware.

In 1631 the Dutch sent a group of twenty-eight men to build a fort inside Cape Henlopen on Lewes Creek to establish the [[Zwaanendael Colony]].<ref name="encyclopedia">Faragher, John Mack, ed. (1990) ''The Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America.'' New York: Sachem Publishing Associates, Inc., pp. 106–108.</ref>  This first colony was intended to take advantage of the large whale population in the bay and to produce whale oil. A cultural misunderstanding with the Native Americans resulted in their killing of these 28 colonists before a year had passed.<ref name="encyclopedia"/> [[Patroon]] [[David Pietersz. de Vries]] arrived shortly thereafter with an additional 50 settlers. Although he concluded a treaty with the Indians, de Vries, his partners in Holland, and the [[Dutch West India Company]] decided the location was too dangerous for immediate colonization. They took the additional settlers to [[New Amsterdam]] (New York) instead.

In March 1638, the Swedish colony of [[New Sweden]] was established as the first permanent European settlement in Delaware. The ''[[Kalmar Nyckel]]'' anchored at a rocky point on the Minquas Kill.<ref>'' A History of the Kalmar Nyckel and a New Look at New Sweden'' by John R.Henderson [http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/kalmar.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706034429/http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/kalmar.html|date=July 6, 2008}}</ref> Today this site is called [[Swedes' Landing]]; it is located in [[Wilmington, Delaware]].<ref name="encyclopedia"/> The expedition was led, and had been instigated by [[Peter Minuit]], the founding governor of [[New Netherland]]. He had been dismissed by the Dutch West India Company, which operated the colony as a concession. Minuit resented the company and was well aware that the Dutch had little settlement in the ''Zuyd'' (Delaware) river valley. New Sweden was a multicultural affair, with Finns, Dutch, Walloons (Belgians), and Germans, in addition to Swedes among the settlers.

The first outpost of the Swedish settlement was named [[Fort Christina]] (now Wilmington) after [[Queen Christina of Sweden]]. The Swedes introduced log cabin construction to the New World and the humble house form was later spread to the American backcountry by Scotch-Irish immigrants who entered the colony through the port of New Castle. Swedish colonial Governor [[Johan Björnsson Printz]] administered the colony of New Sweden from 1643 to 1653. He was succeeded by [[Johan Risingh|Johan Classon Risingh]], the last governor of New Sweden.<ref name="brief"/> The Dutch had never accepted the Swedish colony as legitimate, and the Dutch West India Company competed with the officials and backers of New Sweden. In 1651, New Netherland Governor [[Peter Stuyvesant]] had Fort Nassau dismantled and  reassembled downriver of Fort Christina as [[Fort Casimir]]. This meant that the Dutch effectively encircled the Swedish colony. The Swedes abandoned [[Fort Beversreede]], a short-lived attempt to establish a foothold at the end of the [[Great Minquas Path]] (in modern Philadelphia). 

Three years later, the New Sweden colony attacked and seized Fort Casimir, renaming it Fort Trinity. The struggle finally came to an end in September 1655. With the [[Second Great Northern War]] raging in Europe, Stuyvesant assembled an army and naval squadron sufficient to capture the Swedish forts, thus re-establishing control of the colony. The Dutch renamed Fort Casimir/Trinity as [[New Amstel]] (later translated to [[New Castle, Delaware|New Castle]]). It became their center for fur trading with Native Americans and the colony's administration headquarters.<ref name="brief"/> The area's European population grew rapidly.

==English conquest==
In 1664, after English Colonel [[Richard Nicolls]] captured [[New Amsterdam]], Robert Carr was sent to the [[Delaware River]] settlements. He took over New Amstel, pillaging it and mistreating its settlers, some of whom he sold into slavery in Virginia.<ref>{{cite book| author=Scharf, John Thomas|title=General history|publisher=L. J. Richards & Company|date=1888|page=67}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Gerrit van Sweeringen's account of the settling of the Dutch and Swedes at the Delawaare in: Pennsylvania archives|date=1877|publisher=J. Severns & Company|page=752}}</ref> Carr translated the name of the post from Dutch into English and it has been known since as [[New Castle, Delaware|New Castle]].<ref name="encyclopedia"/> Carr and his troops continued down the shore, ravaging and burning settlements, including a Mennonite utopian community led by [[Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy]] near present-day [[Lewes, Delaware]]. This effectively ended the Dutch rule of the colony and, for that matter, ended their claims to any land in colonial North America. The English took over New Netherland, renaming it New York. Delaware was thenceforth claimed by New York under a Deputy of the [[James II of England|Duke of York]] from 1664 to 1682, but neither the Duke nor his colonists controlled it. The proprietors of Maryland took action to take advantage of this situation.<ref name="encyclopedia"/>

== New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties, Pennsylvania ==

The area now known as Delaware was owned by William Penn, the Quaker owner of Pennsylvania. In contemporary documents from the early [[American Revolution|Revolutionary]] period, the area is generally referred to as "The Three Lower Counties on the Delaware River" (''Lower Counties on Delaware'') or by the names of [[List of counties in Delaware|the three counties]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rodney |first1=Richard S |title=Early Relations of Delaware and Pennsylvania |url=https://journals.psu.edu/index.php/pmhb/article/view/28200 |website=Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |publisher=Historical Society of Pennsylvania |access-date=November 16, 2019 |page=209 |date=June 1930 |archive-date=November 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116164633/https://journals.psu.edu/index.php/pmhb/article/view/28200 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After William Penn was granted the [[province of Pennsylvania]] by [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]] in 1681, he asked for and later received the lands of Delaware from the Duke of York.<ref name="brief"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Rodney |first1=Richard S |title=Early Relations of Delaware and Pennsylvania |url=https://journals.psu.edu/index.php/pmhb/article/view/28200 |website=Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |publisher=Historical Society of Pennsylvania |access-date=November 16, 2019 |pages=211–214 |date=June 1930 |archive-date=November 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116164633/https://journals.psu.edu/index.php/pmhb/article/view/28200 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Penn had a very hard time governing Delaware because the economy and geology resembled those of the Chesapeake Bay colonies more than that of Pennsylvania. The lowland areas were developed for tobacco plantations and dependent on enslaved Africans and African Americans for labor. Penn attempted to merge the governments of Pennsylvania and the lower counties of Delaware. Representatives from each area clashed strongly and, in 1701 Penn agreed to allow two assemblies to be elected and conduct their separate affairs. Delawareans would meet in New Castle, and Pennsylvanians would gather in Philadelphia.<ref name="encyclopedia"/> Delaware, like Philadelphia and more so than Maryland, continued to be a melting pot of sorts. It was home to Swedes, Finns, Dutch, and French, in addition to the English, who constituted the dominant culture.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* [[Amandus Johnson|Johnson, Amandus]]. ''The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware, 1638–1664'' (Philadelphia: Swedish Colonial Society, 1911)
* Weslager, C. A. ''A Man and His Ship: Peter Minuit and the Kalmar Nyckel'' ( Kalmar Nyckel Foundation. Wilmington, Delaware. 1989)

{{Thirteen Colonies}}
{{British overseas territories}}
{{Portal bar|British Empire|Monarchy|North America}}<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add "Portal: United States" as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. -->
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Delaware Colony| ]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Delaware]]
[[Category:Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas]]
[[Category:Former English colonies]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1664]]
[[Category:1664 establishments in the British Empire]]
[[Category:1776 disestablishments in the British Empire]]
[[Category:Colonial United States (British)]]
[[Category:Middle Colonies]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1776]]