DE1st
Delaware
US States · South
Delaware
First State · Capital: Dover
First State. Capital: Dover. Named after Sir Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, first colonial governor of Virginia
Entered the Union · Dec. 7, 1787First State · Capital: Dover
First State. Capital: Dover. Named after Sir Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, first colonial governor of Virginia
Entered the Union · Dec. 7, 1787Fort Christina (later renamed Fort Altena; Swedish: Fort Kristina) was the first Swedish settlement in North America and the principal settlement of the New Sweden colony. Built in 1638 and named after Queen Christina of Sweden, it was located approximately 1 mi (1.6 km) east of the present downtown Wilmington, Delaware, at the confluence of the Brandywine Creek and the Christina River, approximately 2 mi (3 km) upstream from the mouth of the Christina on the Delaware River..
The church was built in 1698–99 in the Swedish colony of New Sweden from local blue granite and Swedish bricks that had been used as ship's ballast. The church was situated on the site of the Fort Christina's burial ground, which dates to 1638. It is claimed that it is "the nation's oldest church building still standing as originally built". There are reportedly over 15,000 burials in the churchyard. Lutheran Church services were held in the Swedish language well into the 18th century.[4]
New Castle was originally settled by the Dutch West India Company in 1651, under the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant, on the site of a former aboriginal village, "Tomakonck" ("Place of the Beaver"), to assert their claim to the area based on a prior agreement with the aboriginal inhabitants of the area. The Dutch originally named the settlement Fort Casimir, but this was changed to Fort Trinity (Swedish: Trefaldighet) following its seizure by the colony of New Sweden on Trinity Sunday, 1654