New Sweden: Sweden's Lost Colony in America

In 1638, Sweden launched a small but audacious colonial venture across the Atlantic, planting the colony of New Sweden on the Delaware River. Led by former Dutch director Peter Minuit, the expedition aboard the ships Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip established Fort Christina near present-day Wilmington, Delaware. Over the next seventeen years, Swedish and Finnish settlers traded furs and tobacco with the Lenape, introduced the log cabin to North America, and attempted to build a Lutheran outpost in the New World. Governor Johan Printz ruled with an iron hand, but the colony's small size and the hostility of neighboring Dutch and English colonies led to its conquest by Peter Stuyvesant in 1655. Despite its short life, New Sweden left a lasting imprint on American culture and architecture. Join Lucas and Luna as they explore the forgotten story of Sweden's brief empire across the Atlantic and the legacy that survived the colony's fall.

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